On Translation Of Pun In English Ads From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

With the deepening of reform and opening-up, along with the frequent exchanges between Chinese and foreign culture, English advertising has gradually been taking its vital place in Chinese advertising industry. Moreover, the application of puns in English advertisements enhances the charm of English advertising. Pun in advertising, as a special style, can be used to serve advertising only when it is understood well. In order to make the advertisements retain the original charm in Chinese translation, we need to consider their own language features, contextual needs, cultural background and so on, and then adopt the appropriate translation methods to reproduce the charm of English advertisements.The conceptual integration theory, also called conceptual blending theory, is a systematic elaboration about the mutual mapping and interaction of various mental spaces in the process of speech communication, which aims to reveal on-line meaning construction behind the cognitive iceberg. As a vital part of cognitive linguistics, conceptual integration theory has concentrated on the on-line construction and interpretation of meaning. It can be seen as a general speech cognitive mechanism, which has strong explanatory force for various kinds of language phenomena existing in our daily life. Using the conceptual integration theory to guide the translation of pun in English advertisements can better realize the advertisers’ intention and achieve the purpose of advertisements for sales promotion.The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is literature review, which gives an introduction to the overseas and domestic researches on translations of puns in advertising, pointing out the achievements and existing problems of study on puns and pun translation in English advertising. In Chapter Two the author will provide an overview of pun, making a brief introduction to the definition of pun, elaborating its various functions and application of puns in English advertisements, classifying puns in English advertisements and focusing on homophonic puns, homographic puns, grammatical pun and puns on parody. Then, in Chapter Three, the author will concentrate on the analysis of conceptual integration theory, including its theoretical origins, the network model of conceptual integration, the basic elements of conceptual integration, optimality principles of conceptual integration and the connection between conceptual integration theory and the production of pun. Chapter Four, the most significant part of the thesis, has focused on the cognitive analysis on four kinds of puns in English advertising. On the foundation of analyzing these commonly-used puns in English advertising, the author will summarize five translation strategies of puns in English advertisements--retention, imitation, recasting, compensation and omission. This paper mainly analyzes the translations of puns in English advertisements from the perspective of conceptual integration theory, which helps to explain the cognitive process on translations of puns in English advertisements, fully affirming the practicability and universality of conceptual integration theory on the guidance to the translations of puns in English advertising.