Applying the Discourse Dynamics Approach to metaphors for women in the Spanish translation of the Chinese novel Wei Cheng

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Discourse Dynamics Framework (DDF) assumes that the dimensions of metaphor (e.g., linguistic, cognitive, affective, physical, cultural) are interconnected, which facilitates our understanding of the use of metaphor in discourse. However, DDF is not yet widely used in translation studies of metaphors. Moreover, the translation of metaphors for women has not yet received sufficient attention despite its high social value. Therefore, this study applies the DDF to analyse the Spanish translation of the metaphors for women in the modern Chinese novel Wei Cheng, aiming to propose a multi-level model to help us interpret the metaphors and their translation issues in complex discourses. To this end, we proposed three most important systematic metaphors in the data collected and carried out a qualitative analysis of their Spanish translation. They are WOMAN IS ANIMAL, WOMAN IS PLANT and WOMAN IS FOOD. This study shows that DDF can provide insight into the cognitive, semantic, affective and socio-cultural-historical contexts of metaphor translation and how the ideas, attitudes and values they convey in source text are presented in target text.