（英语语言文学专业论文）英语法律文本中同义、近义词的并列及其在英汉互译中的运用.pdf

synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation v 摘要摘要 英语在其发展、演变的过程中，受到法语、德语、拉丁语等外来语的大量涌 入以及文艺复兴时期文风的影响，形成了今天英语中词义相同、相近或相关的词 语和词组并列的现象，其中以同义、近义词的并列最为常见。 同义、近义词并列使用是英语重要的词汇特征之一，最典型的体现就是英语 法律文本。由于法律文本是最严肃、最庄重的文体，其中的每个词语甚至标点符 号对文本的理解和解释都具有重要的意义，因此，法律文本更需要字斟句酌。正 确判断法律文本中并列使用的同义、 近义词语或词组的内涵及其在上下文中的具 体差异，对于法律文本的正确翻译起着至关重要的作用。 在另一方面，汉语在其发展、演变过程中，尽管也有多种外来语词语大量进 入汉语的情形，但并未出现两个或两个以上来自不同语言的、词义相同、相近词 语或词组大量并列使用的情形。即使汉语法律文本也不例外。然而，古代汉语是 以单字为词语单位的，大量使用词义相同、相近或相关的单字，形成了现代汉语 中以两个字为主的词语，极少再使用单字。 英汉在词语和词汇上的这种不同，以及中西方在法律体系、法律制度、传统 和文化等方面的巨大差异，为法律文本的英汉互译带来了极大困难。虽然翻译一 般以句子为单位，但作为句子组成部分的词语在句意的理解中举足轻重，需要特 别注意。奈达的“功能对等”翻译理论，要求在译语中使用最切近而又最自然的对 等词语再现原语词语链传递的信息。因此，从词汇角度上说，在将英语法律文本 翻译成汉语时，一方面需要考虑英语词语在汉语中是否有对应词，另一方面则需 要考虑根据上下文这种英语词语并列能否或者需要在译入语汉语中一一表现出 来；而在将汉语法律文本翻译成英语时，则需主要考虑某些汉语词语是否需要使 用一个以上的词语作为其他对应词，以符合英语法律文本的行文习惯。 针对上述情况，作者通过研究和翻译实践发现，英语法律文本中并列使用的 同义、近义词，可按照其内涵为三类：完全同义词、相容性同义词和近义词。在 英语法律文本翻译为汉语的过程中，对于并列使用的完全同义词，一般只需翻译 为汉语中的一个词语；对于包含性同义词，一般只需使用一个语义最广的一个汉 语词语作为其等对词；而对于词义相近的并列使用的近义词，则需判断这些词语 在词义上的差异是否重要，然后决定翻译为一词或多词。而在汉语法律文本翻译 synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation vi 为英语的过程中， 则需充分考虑到汉英词汇在内涵上的差异， 及时使用词语并列， 以免缩小源语的词义。另外，在某些情况下，特别是在英译中的过程中，某些词 语会出现语义空缺，这时候的翻译也只能用语义最相近的词语来代替。 同时，作者还注意到，虽然自上世纪七十年代的“简明英语运动”以来，法律 文本已经开始简化， 许多西方法律工作者呼吁减少英语法律文本中词语并列这一 “赘述”现象，但时至今日，含有大量词语并列的相对复杂的传统型法律文本依然 大行其道。因此，研究上述问题仍然具有重要的意义。 关键词关键词：同义、近义词，并列，差异，英译汉，汉译英，功能对等 synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation vii abstract amplification by synonymy, termed as “synonymous chain” in this thesis, one of the major lexical features of english, has long been part of the english language, and especially a part of the language of the law, largely as a result of the english languages extensive borrowing from latin, french and roman. the use of synonymous chains is attributed to both etymology, when writers in the middle ages and renaissance period paired a french or latinate term with an anglo-saxon approximation as a gloss on the foreign word, and to rhetoric, when doubling occurred abundantly in old english, plus lawyers prudence against omission and insufficient knowledge of the differences in the synonymous chain. since a legal text is so serious, formal and grave in style that each word and even each punctuation mark in it deserve full attention, clear awareness of differences in the connotations of chain synonyms in a specific context is vital to a decent translation of english legal texts. on the other hand, the chinese language, including legal chinese, is not marked by synonymous chains in the process of its evolution, presumably attributed to little predominating inference by or substantial borrowing from foreign languages. modern chinese contains a wealth of bigram words formed by juxtaposition of mainly two synonymous or antonymous characters which were designated less context-dependent meanings and used to dominate classic chinese and, in case of idioms, of two synonymous or antonymous words of relatively context-free meanings. such marked differences in legal glossary as well as in jurisprudence, legal system, trade and culture between english and chinese cause enormous difficulties in e-c and c-e translation of legal texts. although translation is usually based on sentence, understanding of words, components of sentence, is of decisive importance for proper translation. under the translation theory of “functional equivalence” by nida, who advocates “a high degree of language-culture correspondence between the source and target languages and an unusually effective translation so as to produce in targets the capacity for a response very close to what the original readers experienced,” the difficulties in e-c translation of legal texts, in a lexical sense, are, synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation viii for one, availability of lexical equivalence in chinese, and for another, appropriateness and necessity to represent such equivalents in certain chinese context. in c-e translation, on the other hand, our main concern is whether and what synonymous chain is needed as equivalent to that in english so as to be both semantically and stylistically equivalent. accordingly, the author, through his research and translation practice, finds out that chain synonyms can be generally classified into three categories in accordance with their connotations: absolute, inclusive and near synonyms. in e-c translation of a legal text, usually merely one chinese word is necessary as equivalent of the string of absolute synonyms, usually only a chinese word which sufficiently contains the meanings of the broadest english word is necessary as equivalent of the chain of inclusive synonyms, while for the chain of near synonyms, judgment is required first to determine whether the semantic differences between the chain synonyms are important as not to be slighted before chinese choice of word can be determined. in c-e translation of chinese legal texts, however, full consideration shall be given to the connotative differences between the legal chinese and english gloss, and synonymous chain should be used where necessary so as not to abate the semantic meaning of the chinese word. in addition, under certain circumstances, particularly in e-c translation, a lexical gap is likely to be encountered, and the closest semantic equivalent can be used as a substitute. moreover, despite the consequential simplifying trend of current legal texts under the effect of the “plain english movement” which stresses simplicity and readability of legal texts, including minimizing synonymous chains, the study is still of constructive importance as traditional english legal texts where numerous chain synonyms exist continues its predominance. keywords: synonymous chain; differences; e-c translation; c-e translation; functional equivalence synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation i 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下， 独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本 论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。 对本 文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。 本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名：李俊兵 日期： 2006年 1月 17日 synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation ii 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定， 同意学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版， 允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权上海交通大学可以将本学位论文的 全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫 描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密保密，在 年解密后适用本授权书。 本学位论文属于 不保密 不保密 。 （请在以上方框内打“”） 学位论文作者签名：李俊兵 指导教师签名：周国强 日期：2006年 1月 17日 日期：2006年 1月 18日 synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation iii acknowledgments as with my effort for this thesis, there are a number of people who have contributed to it in different ways. without their help, this thesis would not be possible. my special thanks are for my advisor, professor zhou guoqiang, who, with his ever-present smiles, approachability and open-mindedness, encourages, guides and inspires me in working hard on the thesis. most of my ideas supporting it would have been dust-laden without his academic edification and personal care. i would also like to thank my wife for her typing work done for me in the thesis, especially for her love for me, which largely eased the distresses i felt and warmed my way to the completion of the thesis. furthermore, my gratitude is also owing to my teachers in shanghai jiaotong university, whose instructions enlighten me on my thinking which, i believe, would benefit me all my life as cornerstones to the broader realm of human knowledge. synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation page 1of 70 chapter 1: introduction a proud and proficient graduate of english is likely to be frustrated in understanding the text of an english act, a salesman of insurance can hardly fight through the pages of an insurance policy, and a translator may have to spend a full hour translating only one sentence of an english contract into chinese. one will scarcely doubt these once he recognizes that legal english highly differ from other varieties of english. english legal texts, in a syntactic sense, are characterized by its unbearably ponderous, complicated and inclusive sentences, mostly compound sentences, capitalization, nominalization, frequent parentheses, and flexible positioning of adverbials, and, in a lexical sense, by its abundant archaisms, borrowed words, repetitions, synonymous chains, all of which have contributed to the complexity of english legal texts. to better illustrate his point as well as to entertain the reader, the author would like to borrow from legal drafting (2004:1-3) by thomas r. haggard, professor of law at the law school of the university of south carolina, a parodic sales contract between the seller, a small fruit-stand owner, and the buyer, a lawyer, on the latters buying one orange from the former. the italicization is made by the author of this thesis to invite the readers special attention of those parts. contract, covenant, and agreement of sale know all men by these presents: sams market, inc., a georgia corporation, doing business in south carolina as sams market, by and through same jones, an individual, who is said sams market, inc.s duly authorized and commissioned agent acting on its behalf pursuant to the applicable provisions of georgia and south carolina law (hereinafter referred to as “seller”), in and for consideration of one dollar ($1.00) and other good, sufficient and valuable consideration in hand paid this date by john smith, an individual acting on his own behalf and not on behalf of smith, withe, and deathe, llc, of which he is a principal (hereinafter referred to as “purchaser”), the receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged by said seller, does herein grant, sell, assign, transfer, alienate, and deliver unto said purchaser, his heirs, successors, and synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation page 2of 70 assigns, from this time to have and to hold henceforth and forevermore, and classified as a citrus sinensis (hereinafter referred to as “orange”), together with all of its appurtenant rinds, skin, juice, pulp, and pits and with all rights and advantages therein, with full power to bite, cut, suck, and otherwise consume, dispose of, or alienate same; and said seller hereby covenants, agrees, and warrants with said purchaser that said seller is the true and lawful owner of the said goods and chattels; that they are free from all liens, encumbrances, and security interests; that said seller has good right, permission, and authority duly granted to sell the same as aforesaid; and that said seller will truly warrant and defend the same against the lawful claims and demands of all persons, anything hereinbefore or hereinafter in any wise to the contrary notwithstanding; but said seller herein expressly and conspicuously disclaims, denies, repudiates, and will not be bound by any, all, and every warranty of merchantability, fitness for any, all and every purpose, and any other warranties, express or implied in law or fact, contained herein. this, especially the italicized parts, reads unbelievably ridiculous; however, such chain synonyms, usually shorter in length of chain though, do frequently occur in english legal texts ascribable to the evolution of the english language and universally recognized prudence in the legal profession. the once contention for dominance or supremeness in english legal history by norman, french, middle english (derived from anglo-saxon), and latin gave rise to possibility in english that the same legal concept could be expressed in three different languages, and further to the common practice of chain synonyms, near-synonyms or even correlative words and expressions in the legal profession when so many of those words from different sources devolved into the english language being used today. despite the “dull, ponderous, repetitive, pretentious nonsense, one does not have to look far to find actual documents that are drafted in a similar style with the one shown above. (haggard, 2004:4)” the mock sales contract of roughly 320 english words vividly represents most of the stylistic salience of legal texts, typically an agreement or contract. among other things, scattering here and there in it are more synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation page 3of 70 than 20 different synonymous chains as shown by italicization, which are the subject matter of the authors present study. this thesis is an attempt to elaborate the existence and translations of synonymous chains, one of the thorniest problems in both e-c and c-e translation of legal texts. it includes five main parts. chapter 1 is a general introduction, which introduces the problem to be addressed, reviews precedent researches, presents the theoretic framework, and contains the definitions of some key terms used in this thesis. chapter 2 explains the research methodology of the present study, including research perspectives, data collection methods, and data analysis method. chapter 3 illustrates the major differences between english and chinese legal texts by analyzing the causes, purposes, effects and types of english legal texts, depicting characteristics of chinese legal texts, and the ongoing tendency of both languages in terms of legal texts. in chapter 4 some translation principles are proposed respectively with regard to english-chinese and chinese-english translation of synonymous chains, evidenced by specific examples which are analyzed one by one before conclusion of this thesis is drawn. in this part of the thesis, the author presents the problem of his study, makes a detailed literature review, and defines the key terms in the study. 1.1 problem statement the foregoing parodic contract in itself is self-evident proof of the wide application of synonymous chains in legal english texts. the following is an extreme example of use of synonymous chains from haggards legal drafting (2004:324), with synonymous chains italicized: no person shall obstruct, block, hinder, impede, retard, prevent, delay, or otherwise interfere with the transportation, shipment, delivery, consignment, transmission, or other movement of any food product, edible commodity, or victuals that have been purchased, bought, seized, acquired, obtained, or procured by the united states government. this apparently grotesque wording style entails great difficulties in reading and translation for legal practitioners and laymen and for both english-chinese (e-c) and synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation page 4of 70 chinese-english (c-e) translation. being a nuisance in almost all aspects, synonymous, near-synonymous and correlative chains have long been an unavoidable headache for both english-speaking and chinese legal-document drafters and translators. it has been touched upon in many publications in and out of china though, the author wishes to furnish the reader with a panoramic view of it, and most importantly, propose some workable translation principles accordingly. this part of the thesis describes the problem the author expatiates in the thesis, explains its background, and indicates its significance. 1.1.1 research background china, currently one of countries most favored by foreign investment and one of the robust economies in the world, is accelerating its economic and cultural exchange with other countries in the world since its opening up in 1979, especially since its entry into wto in 2001. as china is participating in wider range of exchange with other parts of the world, increasing number of legal texts, the most important written commitment and evidence of transactions between involving parties in their economic and commercial activities, have to be translated between english and chinese. in his study of legal english, especial in his translation of legal texts, such as agreements, contracts, leases, articles of association and powers of attorney, from and into english, the author was dazzled by synonymous chains in english, and felt desperately unsure about their translation. then, the author began to collect examples of synonymous chains in english, and read papers to that effect. 1.1.2 research problem english vocabulary derives from the widest possible sources. the extensive borrowing from latin, french and roman led to a wealth of synonyms in english. for the english king, for instance, there is the roman emperor and the french monarch, and the english house could be a french mansion or a roman villa. so is true with its legal english glossary, in which french and latin, plus archaisms from old english are dominating. the harmonious coexistence of synonymous words and expressions with similar connotations from those dominant synonymous chains in english legal texts and their application in english-chinese and chinese-english translation page 5of 70 sources leads to synonymous chains in english. a drafter or translator, either of legal english, or of any other variety, thus feels at ease to choose at his or her own convenience from synonymous words and expressions originated from