语篇结构介绍

英语语篇的结构 随着语篇语言学（text-linguistics）的兴起，人们已将语言研究的中心由句子转为语篇。句子在英汉翻译实践中出现频率最高，但句子是个语法单位，不是理想的语言单位。在实际交往中，语言的基本单位是语篇。一 什么是语篇？ 语篇是一个具有完整意义的语义单位。它与句子的关系不是大小关系，而是“实现”关系，即语篇依靠句子来实现。但语篇不是句子的任意堆砌。构成语篇的句子在意义和结构上都是相关的，有照应手段将其联系在一起。任意的句子堆砌不叫语篇。 语篇长短不一。一个句子，短语甚至一个单词都可以构成语篇。如标语、谚语、广告、请柬等常常用一句话构成一个完整的意义单位。例如：1 No parking. 禁止停车2 Forbidden fruit is sweet. (谚语) 禁果最甜；偷欢最乐。3 Mr. and Mrs. John Smith request the pleasure of the company of Mr. Richard Wilson at a cocktail party on Saturday, November 20, at 17:30-19:00. 约翰史密斯先生及夫人谨邀请理查德威尔逊先生光临十一月二十日（星期六）十七点三十分至十九点举行的鸡尾酒会。l 在实际交往中，一句话构成的语篇较少见，常见的是由许多句子或段落，甚至许多章节组成的语篇。在实用性翻译中，句子往往是较小的翻译单位，一般常见的还是语篇翻译。二 语篇的翻译要求和步骤 语篇翻译是翻译的高级阶段，是对各种翻译技巧进行综合运用的理想翻译单位。只有通过语篇翻译才能使各种技巧不断增强，最终达到融会贯通的高层境界。要求：以语篇语言学为理论指导，以语篇分析为语篇理解的手段和语篇翻译的基础，并借鉴传统的翻译理论和方法的合理部分，最大限度的使原文和译文达到意义上的对等。三 语篇的组织结构：（一）语篇的组织结构语篇的组织结构也是语篇理解和语篇翻译的重要方面。语篇的组织结构是由语篇的交际目的、环境、方式、题材、体裁、语言风格、修辞手段等多种因素决定的。语篇的组织结构关系大体有下列几种：1顺序关系结构： 指语篇按事物发展的先后顺序展开，是一种比较简单的叙述方法，适用于按步骤或按固定程序进行描叙的语篇。例如： Until 1952 I had been quite content to eke out（竭力维持）an existence in London， though even in those uninflated days an assistant lecturers salary required very carefully budgeting. At the time I had a room in a cheap boarding house in Brunswick Square. I enjoyed it enormously and after two years had begun to think of myself as a Londoner. （这个语篇的结构基本上是按时间顺序关系组织的。）My house consists of two floors: the ground floor and the first floor.On the ground floor, there is the dining-room, the lounge or sitting-room, the kitchen and the hall. In the hall, we keep a stand for hats, coats and umbrellas. A staircase leads from the hall to the landing on the first floor. On this floor there are four bedrooms, a bathroom and lavatory（这个语篇的是按空间顺序关系组织的。）2层次关系结构 是指句子不是横向直线发展，而是分几个意义层次纵向展开，但都属于一个主题或主题句。 如： There is something wrong with the morality of a saying like “Honesty is the best policy”. (1) The wrongness lies in equating virtue with profit. Any tolerably observant person must see that the equation is false. (2) There are countless occurrences in life when doing what we believe to be right does not bring us material rewards. Indeed we may sometimes suffer for it. (3) To offer sound policy as an excitement to good moral is therefore in itself dishonest. (4) Honesty, if it requires a motive, must be valued for reasons other than politics.第一句是主题句第（1）层次的两句话是对主题句的进一步阐释第（2）层次是对主题的论证第（3）层次是作者提出的反论第 (4) 层次是一句结论，用来反扣主题。 3递进关系结构句子采用环环相扣，层层推进的方式排列，语义也随之前呼后应，逐步递升，直到推出一个结论来。如： Smoking gives you bad health. That makes you unpopular. Unpopularity leads to loneliness. Loneliness drives you to smoke more heavily.4 平衡关系结构指句子以平衡方式排列。在层次上是平等的，没有先后之别；各围绕主题的某个侧面展开叙述。句子结构大体相同，总体上呈现一种平衡关系结构。但在表意上，往往采取对比手段；或两种相反事物对比、或同一事物两个对立方面对比，正反兼说，互相映衬。如： Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist, was a man of many contrasts. He was the son of a bankrupt, but became a millionaire; a scientist with a love of literature, an industrialist who managed to remain an idealist. He made a fortune but lived a simple life, and although cheerful in company he was often sad in private. A lover of mankind, he never had a wife or family to love him; a patriotic son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil. He invented a new explosive dynamite, to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it used as a weapon of war to kill and injure his fellow men四 语篇分析的主要内容：语篇翻译是建立在语篇理解的基础上的，而语篇分析又是语篇理解的一个重要手段。语篇分析要围绕构成语篇的特征进行，大致包括以下内容：（一） 分析语篇的主题或中心思想。（二） 分析语篇的情景语境（三） 分析语篇的衔接手段五 语篇的连贯和段落的分合（一） 语篇的连贯 语篇的连贯指语言片段以语篇意向为主线，所形成的语义、逻辑上的连贯性。这种连贯性可通过连接词语来衔接，也可按一定的时空、逻辑关系来贯通。译者在翻译过程中，须把每个词，每句话放在语境中去认识，从中领会原文作者的写作意图，进而做出确切翻译。例如：We owe protection to those men first, and we owe the security for their families if they die. I say it! I voice it! I proclaim it! And I care not who in heaven or hell opposes it!译文一：我们首先幸亏有了这些人的保护，如果他们不幸牺牲，我们要保护他们家人的安全。我提出它！我表达它！我呼吁它！不管谁反对！译文二：我们幸亏有了这些人的保护，如果他们光荣牺牲，我们就要肩负起保护他们家人安全的职责。我提出来！我表达已见！我呼吁！不管谁对之反对！分析：译文二恰如其分地运用原文作者使用的重复法，成功地实现了语篇的连贯，还表达出了强烈的感情色彩：我们要肩负起保护他们家人安全的职责。（二） 段落的分合一般说来，语篇翻译只需按原文的段落层次进行即可。但是，英汉语行文习惯不同，按原文的段落层次翻译有时不合汉语的行文习惯。在这种情况下，翻译时，有必要对原文的段落层次划分作适当的技术处理，予以拆分或合并。例如：1 He was a little man, barely five feet tall, with a narrow chest and one shoulder higher than the other and he was thin almost to emaciation(憔悴;消瘦). He had a crooked nose, but a fine brow and his colour was fresh. His eyes, though small, were blue, lively and penetrating. He carried his three-cornered hat under his arm and in his hand a gold-headed cane. He walked everyday, rain or fine, for exactly one hour, but if the weather was threatening, his servant walked behind him with a big umbrella. （分段处理） 他个头矮小，长不过五尺，瘦骨伶仃，身板细窄，且一肩高一肩低。他长着一副鹰勾鼻子，眉目还算清秀，气色也还好，一双蓝眼睛不大，却迥然有神。 他腋下夹顶三角帽，手上拄根金头拐杖，天天散步一小时，风雨无阻。当然落雨下雪时自有仆人亦步亦趋，为他撑伞。分析：译文对原文进行了适当的技术处理，将“他”的外貌描写作为一段，将“他”的行为描写作为另一段进行处理，显得层次分明，条理清楚。2 A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who insists that women have outgrown the jump-on-the-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era and a colonel who says that they havent. “A womans unfailing reaction in any crises,” the colonel says, “is to scream. And while a man may feel like it, he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has. And that last ounce is what counts.”这时一位年轻的女士同一位上校展开了热烈的辩论。她坚