CSI 上海：探討張愛玲短篇小說英法譯本中的文化詞翻譯

Abstract

To a certain extent, all language is a reflection of the culture in which it originates; yet, there are some lexical units which are inextricably culture-bound. Known as culture-specific items (CSIs), these words and/or expressions refer to abstract ideas or concrete objects which only exist in a given language-culture or deviate in meaning or connotation when rendered into another. Since each has its own particular degree of opacity and cultural specificity, some may prove transparent and accessible, while others obscure and unrecognizable. Elusive by nature, CSIs do not simply exist in and of themselves—their actualization depends on the source- and target-language pair in question, the textual function of the given item, and the context of publication. This thesis attempts to explore the interesting challenge of non-equivalence such items pose to the translator, who is tasked with conveying their referents across intercultural gaps and linguistic borders. Traditionally, approaches to their treatment have been classed as either foreignizing or domesticating, but scholars have begun to remodel this time-worn dichotomy into a fluid spectrum to highlight intermediate alternatives. Exploring a wide range of possibilities, this thesis investigates how CSIs are treated in translation from Chinese into English and French, seeking to determine if they are preserved, neutralized or replaced by target-culture equivalents. As compared to previous selective studies which limit analysis to specific CSI categories, this study takes a more comprehensive, inclusive approach and examines the translation of all items which meet stipulated selection criteria. This thesis also proposes a new framework to evaluate and classify the translation procedures by which Chinese CSIs are processed. Building upon existing models in the literature, this framework accounts for (un)lexicalization, semantic (ir)regularity, and (non)synonymy, and consists of nine procedures which contribute to three overall translation strategies, i.e. foreignization, domestication, and most importantly neutralization. The data is then subjected to quantitative analysis to determine the distribution of CSI procedures and cultural transposition value of each target text. For the purposes of this investigation, two Eileen Chang stories, entitled 等 (“Deng”) and 桂花蒸 阿小悲秋 (“Guihua”), and their English and French translations were selected as primary source material. Data was collected from the eight texts—four of which being produced by Chang as author and translator—and compiled into trilingual CSI corpora. The findings of this analysis indicate that, regardless of translator or target language, CSIs were more often than not neutralized and extreme procedures were typically avoided. However, there were discrepancies between translators’ approaches. Whereas the English translators Kingsbury and Patton adopted more cautious and moderate orientations, the French translator Pechenart and self-translator Chang experimented more with unlexicalized and ungrammatical language. However, translators, particularly Chang, did not treat CSIs uniformly across texts. As part of its important academic contribution, this case study demonstrates the validity of quantitative analysis of CSI translation and its potential for enriching and substantiating qualitative research. The framework proposed herein can also be adapted for use in other translation studies research, thus facilitating contrastive textual analysis across different language pairs, texts, and authors.