An Exploration Into Lin Yutang's Linguistic Treatment Of Chinese "Paired Images" In Translation

The present research is intended to explore the linguistic motivation for the treatment of image pairing in translation on the basis of tentative description of image pairing in Chinese expressions.The bilingual version of"Six Chapters of a Floating Life"(thereafter"Floating Life"for short) was chosen for analysis for two reasons: one is that 50% of the images in the original is used in pairs, and the other Lin Yutang was found to be highly scrupulous in treating paired images when the researcher examined the English version of"Floating Life".Based on the identification and categorization of the paired images in"Floating Life", the present research focuses on the translator's motivation behind the different categories from the linguistic perspective. The major conclusions are summarized as follows.The structural analysis of paired images in"Floating Life"reveals that image pairing tends to be distributed in four- or two- character patterns. The existent literature reveals that parallel structure is typical of both two- and four- character expressions in Chinese, and is realized chiefly by monosyllabic character system and paratactic grammar. The paired images identified in"Floating Life"are unexceptionally framed in parallel structure. It follows that image pairing is one of the distinctive features of Chinese expressions. The description of the feature justifies the need for the examination of the way image pairing is treated in English version.The paired images in"Floating Life"are mainly realized by metaphor and metonymy. In the translation of"Floating Life", Lin preserves nearly all the paired metaphorical images, but takes two approaches to metonymy, dropping 90% of images and preserving the other 10% through explanation. Lin's treatment can be interpreted linguistically on the basis of resemblance of metaphor and relevance of metonymy. Resemblance is characterized by ambiguity. Lin chooses to preserve metaphorical images because the most economical way of dealing with the complexity of ambiguity is to preserve it. Relevance is marked by distinct and direct reference. Lin abandons or preserves metonymic images through explanation for the reason that the point of reference attainable in Chinese is no where to be found in English. If one single image is ambiguous or complex in referents, paired images are no doubt more complex. Therefore, Lin has more reason to preserve the doubled complexity in paired metaphorical images by preserving the images in line with the economical principle. On the other hand, Lin abandons paired metonymic images in favor of plain expressions or preserves images through explanation most probably due to the doubled complexity of referents.The research will raise the translator's view of image pairing to a higher level. Image pairing is not only a matter of personal preference but one derived from and in harmony with the built-in attachment to parallel expressions in Chinese language. More significantly, the research has unveiled the linguistic motivation for the treatment of image pairing in translation, which will provide translators with a theoretical guideline in their treatment of image use and image pairing in particular.