Translation Of Euphemism: An Adaptational Approach

As a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages, euphemisms have been used in all times and all countries. They are pervasive in literary works. The formation of euphemisms is influenced by the norms and structure of the language wherein they are used. Culture also exerts its influence on the use of euphemisms. Therefore, euphemisms used in one culture can be quite different from those used in another in terms of motivation, formation, and cultural connotation. Besides, situational factors also have an impact on the use of euphemisms. Thanks to linguistic and cultural differences, the translator will encounter various kinds of difficulties in understanding and translating euphemisms. This thesis attempts to find a workable principle guiding the translation of this type of language. The principle is expected to help the translator tackle successfully the said difficulties and convey the major meaning(s) of a source text (ST for short) euphemism to the target text (TT for short) reader.Part one of this thesis is a brief introduction. Part two presents a survey of general knowledge concerning euphemism. Part three demonstrates the relationship between euphemism and context. Part four and part five are the center of this thesis.At the outset of part four, the author of this thesis applies Jenny Thomas's view on speaker meaning to the analysis of the euphemism speaker's meaning. Thomas holds that speaker meaning consists of contextual meaning (or utterance meaning) and force (or the speaker's intention) (Jenny Thomas, 1995: 16-18). Analyzed in light of her definition of speaker meaning, the meaning a euphemism user intends to convey can be classified into two parts: the contextual meaning (the actual sense a euphemism refers to in a specific context) and euphemistic function. In addition to speaker meaning, a euphemism can convey some social meaning and cultural connotation. Linguistic and cultural differences make it difficult for the translator to render all the possible meanings of a ST euphemism into TT. The translator,therefore, has to decide what to preserve and what to omit in TT. The range of meaning components to be translated is determined according to the translation context wherein the translator conducts his/her work.With the above mentioned settled the author of this thesis makes a survey of the basic ideas of the theory of adaptation that is put forth by Jef Verschueren. He contends that using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously for language-internal and language-external reasons. Adaptability is a property of language which enables human beings to approach points of satisfaction for communicative needs. The theory of adaptation contains four angles of investigation, i.e. contextual correlates of adaptation, structural objects of adaptation, dynamics of adaptation, and salience of the adaptation process (Jef Verschueren, 2000: 55-71). The author of the thesis claims that the translator, as a communicator, also makes a succession of choices and adapts to various contextual factors in the two phases of translation (comprehension and reproduction). The translator's choice of translation technique is a particular kind of linguistic choice resulting from the translator's adaptation to a particular kind of context-translation context-with varying degree of consciousness on the part of the translator.Translation context refers to the environment surrounding the translator's translation activity. Theoretically speaking, translation context is a complicated system that consists of understanding context and expressing context (, 2001: 63). Each of the two sub-systems can be further divided into linguistic context, situational context and cultural context. Moreover, any other factor that has an impact on the translator's choice of a particular translation technique is also part of the translation context. Translation context can exist at a macro level or micro level. A translation context that affects the translation of a euphemism is the one at micro l...