Definitional Translation Of English Metaphorical Idioms In English-Chinese Learner's Dictionaries-From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration

Metaphorical idioms have close association with a particular culture and conceptual metaphor system.As most Chinese EFL learners prefer bilingual dictionaries over monolingual ones,the quality of the metaphorical idioms' definitional translation is of great importance.The present study is an attempt to improve the definitional translation of metaphorical idioms in English-Chinese learner's dictionaries(ECLDs)in the light of Meaning-driven Multidimensional Definition Theory(MMDT)and Conceptual Integration Theory(CIT).The underlying conceptual metaphors in metaphorical idioms are analyzed first.There are three kinds of metaphorical idioms,including idioms with structural metaphors,idioms with ontological metaphors and idioms with orientational metaphors.Then,based on the comparative analysis of the four ECLDs,the study figures out the inadequacies of the definitional translation in the four ECLDs.These inadequacies include the imprecise equivalents,lack of labels,insufficient and inappropriate illustrative examples,lack of cross-references,and the absence of conceptual metaphors.Last,enlightened by MMDT and CIT,the study proposes three principles and seven methods to improve the definitional translation.The three principles are systematic presentation of the cognitive semantic structure,prominence of metaphorical motivation and prominence of cultural information.The seven methods include the provision of labels,accurate equivalents,appropriate illustrative examples,origins,cross-references,cultural hints boxes and metaphor boxes.Based on the three principles and seven methods,the optimized definitional translation of the three types of metaphorical idioms are provided.