The Translation of Metonymic Expressions From English to Korean : An Analysis Using Conceptual Metonymy Theory

Abstract

While there has been considerable discussion of metaphors within translation studies, relatively few studies have systematically investigated how metonymy is translated. This study attempted to fill this research gap through Conceptual Metonymy Theory, developed by cognitive linguists. Based on the conceptual metonymies listed in Kovecses (2002, 2010), this study examined metonymic expressions in an English political text (Niall Ferguson’s Civilization: The West and the Rest) and the corresponding text translated into Korean. Thirty metonymic expressions were identified, which were all instantiations of the conceptual metonymies that were present in both languages. A comparative analysis of the source texts (STs) and the target texts (TTs) revealed literal translation (43.3%) to be the most common method used. The conceptual metonymy was identical in the ST and TT, and the metonymic expression in the ST was rendered in the same way in the TT. Other methods of translation included deletion of the metonymy (36.7%), replacement of the metonymic expression in the ST with another expression in the TT while preserving the same conceptual metonymy (13.3%), and addition of a metonymy in the TT (6.7%). The importance of accessing conceptual metonymies through translation is discussed with respect to its implications for English language teaching.