A Study On The Metaphors In Australian Aboriginal Novel Carpentaria And Their Translations From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphors

The Australian Aboriginal novel Carpentaria is one of the most influential masterpieces written by Aboriginal female writer Alexis Wright.In 2007,this work has won the Miles Franklin Prize,Australia’s highest literary award,for its touching Aboriginal narratives and great literary skills.So far,the translation of the work published by Chinese translator Li Yao in 2012 has been the only authoritative translation of this novel in China,enabling Chinese readers to appreciate the true Aboriginal culture by the Carpentaria Bay.The whole content of Carpentaria is highly jumpy,transcending the rational thinking of modern people,and creating a narrative discourse that is exclusive to the Australian indigenous people.However,at present,little is known about the Australian Aborigines at home,and there are even fewer metaphor translation studies carried on Aboriginal literature.Considering this,this thesis is devoted to analyzing the metaphors in Aboriginal novels represented by Carpentaria and summarizing the translator’s general strategies for metaphor translation.Since Lakoff and Johnson put forward the conceptual metaphor theory in 1980,the study of metaphor in the academic circle has risen to the level of human thinking,which is an innovative breakthrough to the traditional study of metaphor.Conceptual metaphor theory holds that people’s conceptual system is largely constructed and defined by metaphors,so metaphors are everywhere,which expands the definition of the concept of "metaphor".In addition,the conceptual metaphor theory divides metaphors into three categories: structural metaphors,orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors.Therefore,this thesis studies the three types of the metaphors in Carpentaria and their translations.The research questions include:(1)What indigenous conceptual characteristics are reflected by the three types of metaphors in Carpentaria?(2)What are the specific manifestations of metaphors in the translations?(3)What are the factors that lead to different metaphor translation strategies?It is found that there are strategies of metaphor retention,metaphor absence and metaphor transformation in translations.Whether there are similar mapping conditions or having the same language expressions in the two languages is the key to the retention,absence and transformation of metaphors.In general,with the primary task of restoring the spiritual world of Aborigines and carrying forward the Aboriginal core culture,the translator has built a bridge for the Chinese readers to explore the mystery of the Aborigines’ world view in a way that is relatively consistent with Chinese expressions.