英语论文--浅析语境在翻译中的重要地位

，

the translator

realizes that in a word-for- word translation of the text or utterance

，

the meaning may

still remain untranslated

．

“That is because text becomes comprehensible only in the

context

of

the

whole

way

of

life

of

which

they

form

part

．

，

1980).T herefore

，

it is evident that an adequate and effective translation work does not

result

from

a

narrowly

formal

approach

that

matches

the

verbal

elements

of

source

language

and

target

language

alone,

but

from

a

wider

consideration

and

keep

sensitivity to its overall contextual elements

．

In this thesis

，

the theory of context is introduced into the translation study. The

writer

tries

to

systematically

discuss

the

importance

of

context.

In

the

process

of

1

translation

，

one

of

the

most

essential

issues

which

a

translator

has

always

been

confronted

is

how

to

acquire

the

maximum

and

optimal

understanding

towards

the

original

text

．

This

requires

the

translator

pay

great

attention

to

the

context

which

exists in the original text.

1. A Brief Introduction of Context

Context

，

as a linguistic conception

，

is still a controversial issue

．

It originally came

from

the

Latin

word

??contextus??

，

meaning

??a

joining

together'?

．

Later

it

was

extended to mean ??the whole structure of a connected passage regarded in its bearing

upon

any

of

the

parts

which

constitute

it

：

the

parts

which

immediately

precede

or

follow

any

particular

passage

or

text

and

determine

its

meaning

．

”(The

Concise

Oxford Dictionary).Context now has gained more and more attention in every subject

of linguistics

，

but people have different opinions about them.

1.1The Definitions of Context in Previous Studies

It

was

Bronislaw

Malinowski

who

put

forward

the

basic

notion

of

context

in

1923

．

Working with people who belonged to remote culture---Melanesian peoples in

the

Trobri

and

Islands

of

the

Western

Pacif ic

，

Malinowski

made

painstaking

endeavors

to

translate

the

local

dialects

meaningfully

for

English

—

speaking

readers

．

For example

，

a man called his oar as “wood”

，

that was the substance of which

the trunks and branches of trees

．

So Malinowski found that “Meaning does not come

from contemplation of things

，

or analysis of occurrences

，

but in practical and active

acquaintance with relevant situations

．

The real knowledge of a word comes through

the practice of appropriately using it within certain situation

．

，

1923).

At

the

same

time

，

he

also

classified

two

kinds

of

linguistic

applied

2

situations

．

One was called “magic” situation

，

which meant a word or a sentence could

directly

make

the

outer

world

change

；

the

other

one

was

a

deriving

usage

of

the

former,

there

was

no

relation

between

language

and

its

environment

．

Malin owski

offered

two

types

of

narrative

speech

environments

：

(1)the

environment

for

the

narration

，

such

as

the

people?s

social

attitude,

cultural

level

and

feelings

．

(2)the

environment which the narration was involved in

，

such as the situation in a myth

．

In

the book

The Scientific Theory of

Culture

(1944)

he thought

that the meaning of a

word was therefore neither a thing nor an abstract entity, but emerged from the use of

words in context

，

in short

，

in the “context of

situation

．

”After noting how words

became

comprehensible

when

one

took

into

account

the

larger

cultural

framework

with which they were embedded

，

Malinowski broadened his conception of context by

putti

ng

forward

the

notion

“context

of

culture”

，

which

included

the

totality

of

the

cultural surrounding

，

the act of text production and reception

．

In other words

，

only

within

the

overall

context

of

situation

and

context

of

culture

were

the

utterances

people produced comprehensible

．

Malinowski?s views were later accepted and developed by all English linguist

－

J

．

R

．

Firth, one of the founders of London Linguistic School

．

Keenly influenced by

his

association

with

Malinowski

，

Firth

moved

further

into

the

exploration

of

meaning

．

He gave illustration on context in detail in 1950

，

and put up the theory and

method in studying utterance in linguistic environment

．

Firth

also

believed

that

utterance

was

closely

related

to

people?s

social

communicative activity

．

He extended the meaning of context, and got a conclusion

that context

was made up of two parts

．

One was a previous or following part of a

sentence or a paragraph

；

the other was the social relation with utterance

．

Firth treated

the first part as “context” which was

constituted by verbal factors

；

the second part was

“situational context? which was by social environment

．

So he categorized the context

of

situation

as

foll ows

：

A

．

The

relevant

features

of

participants

：< /p>

persons

，

personalit ies

．

(i)The verbal action of the participants

．

(ii)The non-verbal action of the

participants

．

B

．

The relevant objects

．

C

．

The effect of the verbal action

．

(Firth

，

1957 ).

3

His definition could be understood as the relation between verbal action and its

participants

．

He thought that verbal context would be involv

ed in a person?s whole

experience

and

cultural

background

．

It

melted

the

past

，

present

and

future

togeth er

．

Furthermore

，

he

emphasized

that

context

of

situation

should

include

economical

，

religious

，

socia l structural, linguistic classification and function

．

Then

Halliday,

descending

directly

from

Firth?s

perspective

of

theory

of

context

，

took

a

functional

approach

to

view

language

as

an

instrument

of

social

interaction

．

He(1976)

pointed

out

that

every

language

was

language

in

use

，

in

a

context

of

situation

，

and

all

of

it

related

to

the

situation

．

Halliday

presented

the

semiotic structure of a situation under three headings

，

namely, field

，

mode and tenor,

which formed the integrated system of ??register”

，

a different description about the

context of situation

．

Hall

iday?s register theory offered a new direction for context studies

．

In such a

theory, the features of language variation were examined in terms of the combination

of the context of culture and situation

．

Hence

，

when applied to translation

，

it provided

the translator with the awareness and insight into the extralingual contextual factors

that should be considered during the translating process

．

Much research in linguistics

had recognized the necessity of taking context into account

．

Another important sociolinguist made a further elaborate description

of context and formulated the eight elements that formed context

．

He used the word

SPEAKING

as

all

acronym

for

the

elements

he

deemed

to

be

relevant

．

These

elements

include

：

Setting(S)

，

Partic ipants(P)

，

Ends(E)

，

Act(A)

，

Key(K)

，

Instrumentalities(I)

，

Norms(N)

，

Genre( G)

．

These eight components had far-reaching

influence on the studies of theory of context

．

1.2 The Classification of Context

Malinowski(1923)

classified

context

into

“context

of

utter ance”

、

“context

o

f

4

situation??

and

“context

of

culture”

．

His

classification

did

not

involve

in

the

contextual

problem

in

inner

part

of

language< /p>

．

Firth(1957)

absorbed

Malinowski?s

view, and further explained the problem mentioned above

．

His model of context of

situation covered both the situational context and the linguistic context of a text.

In

China,

we

can

see

there

are

three

kinds

in

Hu

Zhuanglin?s

Discourse

Cohesion and Coherence:

linguistic context, situational context and cultural context.

There was no unified classification about context

，

because the scholars judged its

standard

from

different

perspectives.

According

to

the

classifications

we

have

mentioned above

，

we know there are many factors of context that influence the use

and

comprehension

of

language

．

In

the

light

of

the

influence

of

context

on

translation

,this

thesis

is

to

classify

it

into

linguistic

context

and

non-linguistic

context

，

with the former including phonetic context

，

lexical context

，

grammatical

context

，

semantic context

，

etc

．