A Study Of Conceptual Metonymy In Translating The Contract Law Of The PRC

The language of law is a special language variant,which is the incarnation of law,to some extent.The study of legal language has achieved a lot so far.However,looking through the previous studies both at home and broad,the studies on the cognitive motivation in the process of translating legal texts are rare.Moreover,very few linguists focus on the metonymic thinking mode in legal translation.The present study aims to provide a brand-new cognitive view to examine how conceptual metonymy works in the legal translation.Based on the Contract Law of the PRC,this study analyzes the translation of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China from the perspective of conceptual metonymy,explores the cognitive functions of conceptual metonymy in the translation of legislative texts and explains how conceptual metonymy works in the process of translating.The findings can be summarized as follows:(1)Conceptual metonymy used in the process of translating the Contract Law of the PRC are mainly embodied as four types:WHOLE-PART metonymy,EVENT metonymy,POTENTIALITY-ACTUALITY metonymy,CATEGORY-PROPERTY metonymy;(2)The use of conceptual metonymy in the process of translating can make the translation more authoritative,concise,accurate and objective.(3)Conceptual metonymy is a universal way of thinking and can be used to explain the legal translation skills,such as substitution,addition and subtraction,which is a semantic metonymic relationship between the target language and the source language.The present study explores how conceptual metonymy works in translating the legislative texts and analyzes the functions of conceptual metonymy in achieving the characteristics of legislative translation,which helps to provide a new view of conceptual metonymy for studies on the translation of legislative texts.