On The Transferred Epithet In Chinese And Japanese Literary Works

When reading Chinese and Japanese literary works, we often encounter such expressions as“囊中羞涩”、“悲惨的皱纹”、“苍白的法律”、“寂寞的时光”and“眠れなぃ夜”、“幸せな朝”、“疲れた道”、“优しぃ味.They are actually an art of expression, but if we analyse them a little, it will not be difficult to find that these expressions do not seem to be in accordance with the common sense. For example, of“囊中羞涩”,“羞涩”1neans "being shy", which is used to describe the mood of human, but here, it is used to describe“囊”,an object noun. Another example, of“眠れなぃ夜”,“眠れなぃ”means people could not sleep, but here, it is used to describe "夜". Obviously, this is a Rhetoric which shifts the word used to describe A to describe word B which can not be originally described by it. This Rhetoric is called“移就”in Chinese, and“転移修饰”in Japanese.This paper studies on the "Transferred Epithet" in literary works of two famous writers, LUXUN and NATSUMESOUSEKI. Through sorting out "Transferred Epithet" and its three classifications, analyzing them on syntax/semantics, and the possible reasons for the similarities and differences in these three areas, explaining its Logicality from Cognitive Linguistics and Rhetorical effect, trying to recognize it from the point view of markedness and Implicational Universals, this paper mainly reaches the following conclusions:(1) Of the collected data, there are146"Transferred Epithet" cases in《LUXUN JINGDIAN ZUOPIN XUAN》 and239cases in SOUSEKI’s seven pieces of works. Of the three types of "Transferred Epithet", there are104"from people to object" cases in LUXUN’s works and174cases in SOUSEKI’s seven pieces of works, about71%and73%of the total respectively, and of the three types, this one has the largest number.(2) From the perspective of Syntax, firstly on the combination of words, There are five combination types in LUXUN’s works:1. the structure of "的"(including4subtypes, adj+的+noun, verb+的+noun, noun+的+noun, adj+的+noun.), which has105cases in LUXUN’s works and makes up72%of the total;2.adj+地+verb;3. adj+得+verb;4. discontinuous modification structure-"noun+(particle)+adj";5. structure "adj/verb+ noun" in individual words. Another five types of combination appear in SOUSEKI’s seven pieces of works:1."adj/形容動詞(na)+noun"(192cases, about80%of the total.);2." verb+noun";3."noun+の+noun";4."adj/形容動词+verb";5. discontinuous structure connected by "wa/ga/no". Secondly, on the syntactic structure, types in LUXUN’s works are as follows:1. PIANZHENG structure (118cases, about82%of the total);2.Subject-Predicate structure;3. Predicate-Complement structure. Types in SOUSEKI’s works are:1.PIANZHENG structure (221cases, about92%of the total);2. Subject-Predicate structure.(3) On semantics, semantic relation types of "Transferred Epithet" are Modified Limited relation(91%), Cause and effect relation and Side by Side relation in LUXUN’s works, while Modified Limited relation (95%) and Cause and effect relation in SOUSEKI’s works."Transferred Epithet" in Chinese and Japanese has the same semantic foundation, namely both the modifier and the modified are obliged to have Modified Limited relation with the qualified word. Based on such a foundation, this paper analyses "Transferred Epithet" following the two conditions proposed by Hall, and goes to conclude that the category of Chinese and Japanese "Transferred Epithet" has the uniformity.(4)"Transferred Epithet" has the same and different points on Usage, Syntax and Semantics in two writers’ works. The reason can be considered from the following aspects."Transferred Epithet" is built on the correlation between the universal physiology, psychology and emotion of the actors. China and Japan have a long cultural exchange, and are affecting each other, which makes the two nations have the similar physiological function, cognitive style of psychology and emotion, so "Transferred Epithet" shows some similarities in the two writers’ works. But because of the differences in the two languages, the development of national culture, the social environment and subjective factors of the two writers,"Transferred Epithet" shows differences in the two writers’works.(5) Logical contradiction exists in both Chinese and Japanese "Transferred Epithet" on syntax and semantics while the contradiction itself is reasonable. Firstly,"Transferred Epithet" in both languages is formed on basis of Adjacent Lenovo in Cognitive Linguistics. And "Transferred Epithet" is the mapping process from the qualified word C to the modified word B in the view of Concept Metaphor. Secondly, logical contradiction about "Transferred Epithet" brings unexpected rhetorical effect to literary works, making them more expressive.