An Analysis On The Application Of Salience Principle To Metonymy Translation

The text’s value lies in that it has applied Salience Principle into the metonymy’s translation process. Traditionally, metonymy is considered as a figure of speech. It uses the name of an object to stand for another subject that is adjacent to it. It is a common language decoration used in the daily communication. However, cognitive linguistics, as a new way to study language, tries to interpret the cognitive cause of language forms. Cognitive linguistic theories can be generalized as the following three points of view:the Experiential View, the Salience Principle (the Figure/Ground Theory) and the Attentional View. From the cognitive linguist’s study, we can see that metonymy is cognitive in nature; therefore, the translation of metonymy also should be studied from the cognitive perspective. To a certain extent, metonymy is very popular in our daily life. The translation strategies are put forward according to different language features to maintain the same effect can be delivered to the target language listeners. What translation concerns are not only the linguistic form differences but also the differences of culture, mentality, etc.. Those relative factors determine that translation is full of variables.According to this study, we will find that it is possible to apply Salience Principle into metonymy translation studies. Metonymy is very common in both English and Chinese language with its features of conciseness and accuracy. A study on the metonymy translation will be greatly help the communication between two countries. Moreover, it will be helpful for improving our linguistic ability and knowledge.