A Cognitive Study Of The Translation Of Metonymy In Hongloumeng

In the era of global communication,it has become a historical mission to introduce Chinese cultural classics to the world.The promotion of excellent Chinese classics,especially literary works,is closely related to a country’s soft power construction and image building.In the process of Chinese culture “going global”,translation plays an important role.Previous studies show that the translation of metonymy is a challenging point in translation practice,which needs more attention.Traditionally,metonymy has been regarded as a rhetorical device commonly used in literary works.In the 1980 s,there was a cognitive turn in metonymy research.Different linguists have their own definitions for metonymy.But they reach a consensus that metonymy is conceptual in nature and it is a basic cognitive phenomenon.Because of the universality of metonymy and the indivisibility of translation and cognition,the approach from Cognitive Linguistics to metonymy research provides a new perspective for metonymy translation.Hongloumeng,a representative of Chinese classical literature,contains abundant examples of metonymy.The translation of metonymy will directly affect the quality of translated versions.Among English versions of Hongloumeng,two complete versions are prominent.One is A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang,another is The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and John Minford.Taking Hongloumeng and these two English versions as the source of data,this study attempts to explore the effective strategies for the translation of metonymy from a cognitive perspective.The research questions are as follows:1.What types of conceptual metonymy exist in Hongloumeng?2.What translation strategies are employed in the two English versions and what are the underlying cognitive operations in the translation process?3.What are the complex metonymy types in Hongloumeng and constraints for complex metonymy translation?Based on the view of Radden & K(?)vecses(1999),this study identifies and classifies metonymies in Hongloumeng.It makes a cognitive analysis of the metonymies in Hongloumeng,the corresponding translation strategies used in the two English versions,and the cognitive mechanism in the process of translation.Through a detailed analysis,six translation strategies are found,which include presenting the vehicle of the source language,replacing with a vehicle within the source language,adding the target meaning to the vehicle,replacing with a unique vehicle of the target language,presenting the target of metonymy,and abandoning metonymy.For translating complex metonymies in Hongloumeng,such as chained metonymy,metaphtonymy,and Chinese culture-specific metonymy,translator’s creativity and the cognitive differences between the target language and the source language readers need to be taken into account.In summary,this study is a combination of Cognitive Linguistics and translation studies.It explores the strategies used by translators in translating metonymy and the cognitive activities behind these strategies.Translators should attach importance to cognitive differences between the source and target language readers,build up encyclopedic knowledge,and adopt creative strategies to ensure a smooth communication between the author and the reader through translation.