An Experiential Journey

The thesis explores the metaphor translation of classical Chinese poetry (CCP) by drawing upon the latest theoretical achievements of cognitive linguistics, especially experientialism.Traditional theories restrict the research of metaphor to a rhetorical vehicle. With the rising of cognitive linguistics, metaphor has been systematically studied as a cognitive tool. Poetic metaphor, as the extension of conceptual metaphor, is also central to cognition. On this account, metaphor translation theories should no longer be peripheral to translation studies; instead, it has opened the door for the discussion of some major concerns of translation studies, such as translatability, subjectivity, equivalence and translation strategies. The study of metaphor translation (MT) has also proved an effective way to touch upon the essence of translation since metaphor underlying the human cognitive system depicts the most creative aspect of linguistic extension..The study is done on the philosophical base of experientialism, which is proposed in rejection of both objectivism and subjectivism. Objectivism claims that there is absolute truth independent of human cognition. As for the objectivists, the theories of meaning and truth are purely mathematical enterprises untainted by any human involvement; they are capable of being analyzed in and of themselves, independently of contexts or the way people understand them. Objectivism leads to many translation traps such as the negligence of contexts, absolute equivalence and the illusion of universal rules for translation. Subjectivism goes to the other extreme by over-exaggerating the role of human involvement. Subjectivists contend that meaning is unconstrained; it is not based on truth-value. Subjectivism also gives rise to some translation problems, such as ultra-freedom of the translator and absolute untranslatability.Since objectivism has been prevailing in the West for centuries, many westerntranslation theories are stamped with objectivist tradition. Thus, the thesis especially canvasses some common traps in metaphorical translation theories, which stem from objectivism: MT study merely at lexical or syntactical level, the illusion of equivalence and rigid typologies in MT.Experientialism bridges the gap between objectivism and subjectivism by proposing that truth is relative to the conceptual system, which is grounded in our experiences. Both objectivism and subjectivism isolate human from the situation thus fail.to offer a sound philosophical base for translation theories. By expelling the extreme doctrines of both, however, experientialism holds an in-between position, proving an ideal yardstick for translation study. The tenet of translation studies in the light of experientialism is that translation is not merely linguistic manipulation; rather, it is a dynamic process, which largely depends on the ST author's experience and should be placed in the macro-context of situation and culture. Thus, the extra-freedom of translators is discouraged; contexts are highly valued; absolute equivalence and non-translatability are expelled. The tenet is confirmed by the analysis of the flexible application of four basic MT strategies, namely, metaphor retaining, metaphor reconstruction, demetaphorization and metaphorization. Since experiential realism emphasizes on human experience, the translator's experience should be crucial in translation. It can also be concluded that MT translation studies in line with experientialism highlights the translator's subjective status.Although many translation theorists and linguists have produced a good number of MT theories, most of them, even including many cognitive linguists, have still been bogged down by objectivism. The integrated approach proposed by Mary Snell-Hornby is considered to be in line with experientialism, namely, ideal for MT translation. Based on some recently developed linguistic theories, such as prototype semantics, scenes-and-frames semantics and the speech act theory, the integrated approach develops three basic principles, namely,...