Abstracts of Papers in This Issue

TheusageoflocalizersinMandarincircumpositionzai+NP+L(p. 1)

YANGChaojun(The Research Institute of Foreign Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China)

The circumposition zai+NP+L is a way to conceptualize spatial relations in Mandarin Chinese. The usage of localizers in it is barely studied nor explained persuasively. Guided by the relevant theories in cognitive linguistics, the paper explores scenes where this circumposition can occur based on substantive examples from CCL. Grounded in the qualitative and quantitative analysis, two models—map spatial construal schema and entity spatial cognitive schema are proposed. The results claim that, the bulkier the argument referent is, the more the map spatial cognitive schema is adopted with a distal perspective and the localizer is implicit; the less bulky the argument referent is, the more the entity spatial cognitive schema is adopted with a proximal perspective and the localizer is explicit. The use of localizers concerning the midway argument referent resides in the construal preference or intentionality of the viewers.

OnthecognitivemechanismofsyntacticalignmentthroughsemanticoverlappinginChineseandEnglish(p. 11)

LIXiangling
(The Research Institute of Foreign Linguistics & Applied Linguistics， Henan University， Kaifeng 475001, China)

Semantic overlapping is a universal language phenomenon. A noun or pronoun with double semantic roles combines two syntactic components and is regarded as a hidden alignment mode among syntactic components. Such a linguistic unit profiles two or more semantic substructures, which sanction their participation in two or more processes or relations aligned into a complete complex event or situation through the semantic overlapping of its two or more semantic roles.

AnexplorationofthetopologicalnatureofChinesesimulatingshapeutterance(p. 19)

LONGDeyin(School of Foreign Languages，Sichuan University of Arts and Science，Dazhou 635000，China)

Simulating shape utterance describes abstract things that are empty and formless as visible and touchable things. Topological nature includes topological equivalence, connectivity and continuity, and the production of simulating shape utterance in Chinese takes on topological nature. Simulating shape utterance as a usage event and the event on which it is produced share some identity. The structure of perceptual object is homomorphic and its nature is identical and equivalent before and after the description. Topological connectivity of simulating shape utterance is manifested by topological connectivity of shape. Before and after the description perceptual object is a shape-connected entity. Topological continuity of simulating shape utterance is manifested by supervinience of the mental property on the physical one. The physical property of perceptual object determines its mental property and the high-level mental event globally supervenes on the low-level physical event. The mental event and physical event constitute a continuum.

ThepropagandaconstructionofChina’sdiplomatismfromtheperspectiveofmulti-modalmetonymy(p. 25)

TIANYe&ZHANGJianli(Foreign Languages Department, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China)

The previous multi-modal discourse research is mainly based on static planar discourse. However, there is little research on publicity about the national image and diplomatic concept in the online video discourse. Based on the video of China Global Television Network’s “BeltandRoad” propaganda film, from the perspective of multi-modal metonymy, this study focuses on the interaction between modals, to explore how to achieve the publicity of Chinese diplomatic concept through multi-modal metonymy. The study found that the construction of multiple modal meanings such as language, image and sound in video is largely realized by metonymy. The meaning construction of these languages, images and sounds helps to highlight the Chinese diplomatic concept conveyed by the video, deepens the multi-faceted feelings of the audience, and promotes the “China Program” to the world.

AstudyoninformativityofRussianadvertisingtext(p. 31)

MALiang(School of Foreign Language and Literature, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100089, China)

Based on the theory of text informativity, this paper explains the functions of informativity in Russian advertising texts. In addition, this paper puts forward the idea that we can use different methods, such as supplementary information, precedent phenomenon, homonyms, polysemic words and subtext, to promote the informativity of advertising text and achieve the desired effects.

Subversionandconstruction:Cross-culturalinterpretationofM.Butterfly(p. 37)

LIUGuijie(School of Foreign Studies, North China University of Water Resources & Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China)

M.Butterflyoverturns the stereotype of oriental women from the perspective of Orientalism and also deconstructs the western discourse power from the perspective of occidentalism. “Butterfly”, reconstructing the discourse power relationship of national politics, is a symbol carrying meaning, a concrete image of the real world and an illusion of the spiritual and psychological world that connects the eastern and western cultures. The androgynous identity of Song Liling, the “butterfly lady”, seems absurd, but its implication surpasses the gender identity. In a word, the cultural coordination and identity game presented by the interactive relationship between the self-lost Gallimard and the alien Song Liling inM.Butterflyis exactly the same as the creative idea of “restoring the real oriental” that David Henry Hwang finally advocates by cultural transcendence through “cutting through layers of wrong feelings of culture and gender”.

IntertextualitybetweenmodernfictionIntheSkinofaLionandtheSumerianepicofGilgamesh(p. 43)

LIUDan(College of International Studies, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

IntheSkinofaLion(by Michael Ondaatje), concerned with the problem of “the subaltern” group, has rich intertexts, among which is the Sumerian Epic ofGilgamesh. The two works display strong intertexuality in content, theme and narrative style. Apart from the intertexuality reflected in the title, some quoted sentences, plot and many details of the novel, the image of “l(fā)ion’s skin” in the novel is also borrowed fromGilgameshto reflect the theme of “discourse and power”, emphasizing the “narrative” nature of history; furthermore, the oral narrative model of these two works reveal the “non-permanency” of history narration, so as to manifest how the marginalized group obtain their rights in history through overturning central discourse.

RiprapandColdMountainPoems:GarySnyder’shymnofmanuallaborskills(p. 50)

MINRuiqi(Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420, China)

InRiprapandColdMountainPoems, Gary Snyder frequently writes about the manual labor workers and their work in the wilderness. Snyder creates a bond between the labor work in the wilderness and Zen practice through Han Shan’s poems. Both his Zen meditations and simple manual labor work support himself when dwelling in the wilderness. Both Snyder and Han Shan turn to nature and wilderness that can be the ultimate residence for them, whereas Snyder considers the traditional manual labor skills as the premise of dwelling back in the wilderness harmoniously. This collection offers a chance that makes Snyder, a worker in American wilderness, recognize and accept Han Shan, a hermit Zen poet in ancient China, as a fellow worker like himself regardless of their wide span of time and space; meanwhile, Snyder categorizes his own practice of manual labor skills into the framework of Han Shan’s Zen practices. Therefore, this collection of poems can be regarded as a hymn of manual labor skills with Zen meditation.

Hookedskirtandendlessdust:OnthepoliticsofgenderinJamesJoyce’sEveline(p. 56)

CHENMinglun(Minsheng College, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, China)

The politics of gender refers to the power struggles of oppression and liberation, ruling and being ruled, dominating and being dominated between gender classes or gender individuals.Evelineis the first story in the adolescent part of James Joyce’sDubliners. By narrating Eveline’s weak and immature rebellion against the patriarchal society, Joyce shows the great oppression against women from men in Dublin during that period. Dublin and even the whole Ireland are just like the oppressed women, reflecting Joyce’s concerns for Ireland’s double dilemmas under Catholic domination and foreign cultural invasion.

Adiscussionofthedebateontherelationshipbetweenlanguageandmeaninginthecontextofmoderndiscourseontranslation(p. 60)

ZHANGYan(School of Economics and Fiance, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 200083, China)

Evolving from a Chinese philosophical topic to a poetic one, the debate on the relationship between language and meaning has exerted a great impact on literary creation and appreciation, shedding light on the understanding of the relationship between form and content in literary texts. As a special form of literary creation, literary translation follows the same rules as those of literary creation in terms of the relationship between language and meaning. The three types of relationship between language and meaning are discussed in the context of translation, namely, “l(fā)anguage exhausts meaning” “l(fā)anguage does not exhaust meaning” and “getting the meaning lies in forgetting the image/language”, aiming at bridging the debate in question and the modern discourse on translation. Translators’ role in bringing out the maximum correspondence between language and meaning is emphasized, especially their role in understanding and expressing the meaning beyond language, which determins the degree of agreement between language and meaning in translation.

AReviewoftheresearchonBonnieS.McDougall:Problemsandprospect(p. 66)

LIYi(School of English Language, Literature and Culture, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing 100024, China)

Overseas translators, among whom the Australian sinologist Bonnie S. McDougall is a prominent one, play an important role in the spread of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in the English-speaking world. In recent years many researchers focus on the study of Bonnie S. McDougall’s translation, especially the overall introduction to her life, the analysis of her translation thoughts and strategies, the review of her translation works, etc., and have made some achievements. However, the types and methods of current studies are still limited. The scope and depth of the studies need to be improved. More attention should be paid to the diversification of the types of current study, and more importance should be attached to the study of her cultural identity, her psychology in translation process, the interaction between her translation activity and the social-cultural context of the target language, her style etc. In addition, the corpus-based empirical approach should be adopted in future study of Bonnie S. McDougall.

OnXuYuanchong’sC-Etranslatingstrategiesoftangpoemsfromtheperspectiveofcognitiveconstrualmechanism(p. 72)

CAIXinjie(School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

As Xu Yuanchong’s English version of Tang poems enjoys high value among classical C-E versions of ancient Chinese poetry, studies on it will be conducive to the English translation of Chinese poems. Based on the perspective of construal mechanism initiated by Langacker, this paper systematically analyzes Xu Yuanchong’s translating strategies on Tang poems through four dimensions: scope and background, perspective, salience, and specificity. Through the research it can be found that Xu Yuanchong pursues the best rather than the greatest relevance between the cognitive meanings of the source text and the translation via supplementing the background information or replacing construal scope, transforming the text perspective, reconstructing prominent object and specifying or simplifying description, so as to consider readers’ cognitive schema carefully.

Interpretationoftheunequaltreatiesfromtheperspectiveofpost-colonialirony:AcasestudyofTreatyofNankingbetweenChinaandBritain(p. 77)

WANGYongjiang(School of Foreign Languages, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China)

This essay traces the history of irony from being a traditional literary technique to becoming a method and approach for people to know the world. It attempts to explain that irony can be used as a means to interpret the colonial texts in the post-colonial context. Using the concept, we interpret the first unequal treaty—TreatyofNankingin China’s modern history. Through the analysis of the irony in content and the external irony concerning the treaty, it aims to thoroughly reveal the aggressive nature of the treaty.

Chinese-EnglishsubtitletranslationofAmazingChinafromtheperspectiveofinternationalpublicity(p. 83)

WEIHaibo(Faculty of Business Administration, Nantong Science and Technology College, Nantong 226007, China)

Chinese-English translation of film subtitles is a form of international publicity. Its research field is expanded from the perspective of communication science, which is conducive to an overall and dynamic control of the information transformation among multi-modal media to improve the quality of translation. Based on the theory of information dissemination model and the characteristics of the subtitle translation of documentary films, this paper constructs a theoretical framework for the subtitle translation of documentary films, and further discusses the principles and methods of subtitle translation in the process of information transformation and transmission, which are illustrated with the examples from the Chinese-English subtitle translation of the documentary filmAmazingChina, in order to establish identification from the target international audience to achieve the desired effect of international publicity.

OntheselectionofresearchtopicsintranslationteachinginChinaoverthepasttenyears(2008～2018)(p. 91)

XIAOXian&JIANGLanmeng(Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420, China)

Through reviewing the research topics, papers, and books on translation teaching from 2008 to 2018 and the major academic conferences involving translation teaching in 2008, this research finds that since the establishment of BTI and MTI, the selection of research topics in translation teaching in China varies in method, trajectory, and idea. These variations include enhancing theoretical awareness by benefiting from descriptive translation studies and foreign language teaching; introducing modern information technology and statistical methods to reflect practices more directly and clearly; integrating teaching with translation theories more closely. However, there are still some problems such as the lack of integration between teaching, learning, measuring and research, which may become the focus of future selection of research topics in translation teaching.

Multimodaldiscoursetranslationfromtherelevancetheoryperspective:AreviewofMultimodalPragmaticsandTranslation—ANewModelforSourceTextAnalysis(p. 96)

XUWentao(School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong AIB Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510507, China)

Multi-modal discourse has gradually become one of the hottest research focuses, but the study of multimodal discourse translation is quite rare. The book, based on the research results of semiotics, expounds the guiding role of relevance theory of pragmatics in multimodal discourse analysis, integrates Pastra’s “cross-media interaction relations”, Halliday’s logic-semantic relationships and Baldry & Thibaul’s multimodal discourse analytical procedures, proposes a static and a dynamic multimodal discourse analysis model in the framework of Relevance Theory, analyzes three kinds of multimodal texts(expressive, informative, operative), clarifies how to identify potential problems in the process of translating multimodal discourse, and illustrates how to deal with these problems. The study provides a reference for the study of multimodal discourse analysis and multimodal discourse translation.

AprobeintopoliticalecologyofEco-translation:AbookreviewofEco-translation: TranslationandEcologyintheAgeofAnthropocenebyMichaelCronin(p. 100)

ZHANGXiaoli(Art Department, Tourism College of Zhejiang, Hangzhou 311231, China)

In 2017, Michael Cronin discussed “Translation Ecology and Global Governance” in his bookEco-translation:TranslationandEcologyintheAgeofAnthropocene, showing the relationship between translation and climate change, food safety, biodiversity, language disappearance and so on. It also paid attention to animals and other non-human entities, clarified the value of translation in building a sustainable future. This book embodies the scientific viewpoints of Michael Cronin, namely, “translation is ecology”, “translation is integrated into ecology”, and “translation is part of the ecology”. It is an excellent supplement to the literal-sense studies of Ecotranslatology in domestic translation studies.