摘 要

人类的方位概念是通过使用各种感官来感知上下、内外、前后、远近和高低等空间方位来形成的。借用某些方位词的隐喻扩展意义，人们也将这些方位概念用来理解其它抽象或者不熟悉的概念。方位词是人类最基本的并且经常用来表达空间位置关系的一类词。方位词除了原有的空间意义外，还逐渐产生了某些隐喻性的扩展意义。认知语言学认为，方位词的隐喻扩展意义不是任意的，而是具有认知动机。

近年来，众多学者对方位词的扩展意义进行了研究，但其中大部分都着眼于中英空间方位词的对比或方位词语法意义、语义和属性分类的具体分析。很少有人分析方位词的隐喻意义及其翻译。此外，对李清照及其诗歌的研究也颇为活跃，其中大部分是分析和研究其词的思想和社会意义，或者是其南渡后情感和写作风格的转变，而对其诗词隐喻意义及某些细节内容的翻译则很少受到关注。本文旨在厘清李清照词中五个方位词的翻译技巧，所使用的研究语料主要来自许渊冲的译本（包括60首词)。通过认真分析和整理，笔者将五个方位词的意义分为两类：一类仅用作方位意义，另一类则用于隐喻意义。

通过研究这篇论文，笔者希望找到诗歌中一些方位词的翻译技巧，而这些技巧将适用于人们使用方位词原本方位意义或隐喻意义的情况。笔者也希望这些技巧不仅可以用于李清照词的翻译，同时也可用于其他诗（词）人的诗词翻译，或者为其他文学作品的翻译提供一些思路。此外，本文有助于促进人们对诗词翻译的理解，并可能对英语教学和跨文化交际有所裨益。

关键词：方位词；方位意义；隐喻意义；李清照；翻译技巧

Abstract

Human’s concepts of orientation are formed through using various senses to perceive such spatial orientations as up-down, inside-outside, front-backward, far-near, and high-low. People also use these spatial concepts to understand other abstract and unfamiliar concepts by referring to the metaphorical meaning of some locative terms. Locative term is a type of word most basically and frequently used by human beings to express spatial location relationship. In addition to their original locative meaning, these locative terms also produce some extended metaphorical meaning. Cognitive linguistics believes that the metaphorical meaning extensions of locative terms are not arbitrary, but have cognitive motivations.

In recent years, numerous scholars have contributed to the study of the extended meaning of locative terms, but most of them focus on either the comparison of the Chinese and English spatial locative terms or the concrete analysis of their grammatical meaning, semantic meaning and attributive classification. Few of them analyze metaphorical meaning as well as translation of locative terms. Besides, studies on Li Ching-chao and her poems are vigorous, most of which are concerned with analyzing and researching the ideological and social significance of her Ci-poems or the change of her emotion and writing style after her travelling to the south. Few attention is paid to the metaphorical meaning existing in her poems and the translation of certain detailed contents. This paper aims to figure out some translation techniques of locative terms in Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry with the help of Xu Yuanchong’s translation version including 60 Ci-poems. By careful analyzing and sorting, the author classifies the meaning of five locative terms into two groups: one is merely used for locative meaning, and the other is used for metaphorical meaning.

By studying this paper, the author wants to find out some techniques of translating locative terms in poetry, and these techniques can be applicable to situations where people use the original locative meanings or metaphorical meanings of locative terms. The author hopes those techniques will not merely be used in translation of Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry, but also can be used to translation of other poets’ poems as well as provide some ideas to other literature works. Besides, this paper can promote people’s understanding of poetic translation, and may do something conducive to English teaching and cross-cultural communication.

Key words: locative terms; locative meaning: metaphorical meaning; Li Ching-chao; translation techniques

Contents

1. Introduction 5

1.1 Background and Significance of the Paper 5

1.2 Organization of the Paper 6

2 Literature Review 6

2.1 Previous Study on Locative Terms 6

2.1.1 Traditional Study on Locative Terms 7

2.1.2 Cognitive Study on Locative Terms 7

2.2 Previous study on Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry 8

2.2.1 Traditional Study on Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry 8

2.2.2 Cognitive Study on Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry 8

3 Locative Meanings of Locative Terms 10

3.1 Analysis of Locative Meanings 10

3.1.1 Poems about “Shang” 10

3.1.2 Poems about “Xia” 12

3.1.3 Poems about “Qian” 12

3.1.4 Poems about “Zhong” 13

3.2 Translation Techniques of Locative Meanings 14

4 Metaphorical Meanings of Locative Terms 16

4.1 Analysis of Metaphorical Meanings 16

4.1.1 Poems about “Shang” 16

4.1.2 Poems about “Xia” 18

4.1.3 Poems about “Qian” 19

4.1.4 Poems about “Zhong” 20

4.1.5 Poems about “Hou” 21

4.2 Translation Techniques of Metaphorical Meanings 21

5 Conclusion 24

5.1 Findings 24

5.2 Limitations and Suggestions 25

References 26

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

1.1 Research Background and Significance

In the expression of spatial position and orientation, locative terms have always played such a significant role. The study of locative terms can be traced back to Ma Jianzhong’s grounding breaking work Ma Shi Wen Tong (1989). Since then, works of other scholars sprang up one by one, but most of them are disperse and fragmentary. The systemic study of locative terms started from the 1940s. At this time, Lv Shuxiang specially discussed locative terms in his book Essentials of Chinese Grammar (1942~1944), and he also brought out that different locative terms can express different spatial meanings (Wang Lin, 2009). Other scholars like Zhao Yuanren, Wen Lian, Zhu Cide and so on also make great contribution to the study of locative terms. After the appearance of the book Metaphors We Live By written by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980, domestic study of locative terms shifted from the traditional way to the cognitive one. In their book, Lakoff and Johnson (2003: 14) state the significance of metaphor as a cognitive process and metaphor is pervasive, and they also put forward the concept of orientational metaphor which means attributing a spatial meaning to an abstract concept. So, under the guidance of the conceptual metaphor theory and the mapping theory, some domestic scholars started to study the metaphorical meaning of locative terms. Representatives include Chu Zexiang, Zeng Chuanlu, Fang Jingming, Qi Huyang, and Liu Ningsheng. Their works have led a new direction of studying locative terms and inspired so many later scholars.

Li Ching-chao, a dazzling star on the Qilu land, led an important position and far-reaching influence on the Chinese Ci circle. Her distinctive style of Ci-poems was honored as “Yi’an Style” and she herself was once regarded as the “pioneer and founder of Ci-Poetry”. Therefore, people’s studies on her Ci-poems have never stopped and have undergone a process of constant changes. For a long time, especially after the liberation, literary criticism focused more on analyzing and researching the ideological and social significance of Li’s works. Entering the 1990s, scholars started to further explore her Ci-poetry in depth from perspectives of artistry, comparability and overall comprehensiveness (Jin Zhenhua, 2002). Then, under the guidance of the conceptual metaphor theory, cognitive researches of Li Ching-chao’s Ci-poetry increasingly emerged. Though studies on Yi’an ci-poetry are vigorous, studies on locative terms and their metaphorical meanings are few, leaving much space for later scholars.