a-semantic-analysis-of-the-differen本科学位论文

英语毕业论文：A

Semantic

Analysis

of

the

Differen

【Abstract】Translation

deals

with

transfer

of

meaning,

and

Semantics

is

the

study

of

meaning.

So

we

cannot

study

translation

without

some

knowledge

of

semantics.

This

paper

discusses

the

different

types

of

meanings

in

translation

from

the

perspective

of

Semantics.

The

results

of

the

study

can

help

to

further

comprehend

the

original

language

and

improve

translation.

【Key

words】Semantics;

Meaning;

Translation

1.

Introduction

According

to

Peter

Newmark,

translation

is

“rendering

the

meaning

of

a

text

into

another

language

in

the

way

that

the

author

intended

the

text”

(Peter

Newmark,

1988:

4).

Since

translation

deals

with

transfer

of

meaning,

and

semantics

is

the

study

of

meaning,

we

cannot

study

translation

without

some

knowledge

of

semantics.

Usually

we

may

consider

the

process

of

translation

as

consisting

of

two

stages:

accurate

comprehension

and

adequate

representation.

The

former

is

the

precondition

of

the

latter.

If

we

compare

this

process

with

that

of

building

a

house,

accurate

comprehension

is

laying

the

foundations.

To

have

an

accurate

comprehension

of

the

source

text

is

of

vital

importance.

However,

when

we

translate,

we

may

suddenly

find

that

understanding

is

not

really

something

we

can

take

for

granted.

A

sound

understanding

of

the

source

language

does

not

take

place

naturally,

and

usually

it

takes

a

great

deal

of

effort.

Generally

speaking,

there

are

three

ways

for

analyzing

the

meaning:

semantic

analysis,

contextual

analysis,

and

pragmatic

analysis.

This

paper

tries

to

find

out

the

meaning

of

“meaning”

through

semantic

analysis.

2.

Meaning

is

complicated

A

word’s

meaning

cannot

be

simply

gained

by

consulting

the

dictionary,

because

the

dictionary

definitions

of

a

word

are

“context-free”,

e.g.:

（1）Out

in

the

west

where

men

are

men.

（2）Do

you

mean

funny,

peculiar,

or

funny,

ha

ha?

（3）

He

helped

many

young

writers

to

find

themselves

and

then

to

find

publishers.

In

the

above

examples,

the

two

men,

funny,

and

find

have

different

meanings,

and

it

is

just

through

this

difference

of

meaning

that

the

effect

of

humor

is

achieved.

No

wonder

that

Wittgenstein

said,

“The

meaning

of

a

word

is

its

use

in

the

language.”(Wittgenstein,

1953)

In

deciding

the

precise

meaning,

we

would

have

to

distinguish

different

kinds

of

meanings.

Besides,

the

semantic

relations

should

also

be

taken

into

consideration,

such

as

polysemy,

synonymy,

antonymy,

etc..

3.

Different

types

of

meanings

Meaning

is

complicated.

The

first

difficulty

in

the

study

of

meaning

is

that

the

word

“meaning”

itself

has

many

different

meanings.

In

their

book

the

Meaning

of

Meaning

written

in

1923,

C.

K.

Ogden

and

I.

A.

Richards

presented

16

major

categories

of

them,

with

sub-categories

all

together,

numbering

22.

Different

linguists

have

categorized

multiple

types

of

meanings.

3.1

Charles

Morris’

three

types

of

meanings

According

to

Charles

Morris,

there

are

three

types

of

meanings:

referential

meaning

(the

relationship

3.2

G.

Leech’s

seven

types

of

meanings

Leech

identified

seven

types

of

meanings.

They

are:

conceptual

meaning

(logical,

cognitive,

or

denotative

content),

connotative

meaning

(what

is

communicated

by

virtue

of

what

language

refers

to),

social

meaning

(what

is

communicated

of

the

social

circumstances

of

language

use),

affective

meaning

(what

is

communicated

of

the

feeling

and

attitudes

of

the

speaker/writer),

reflected

meaning

(what

is

communicated

through

association

with

another

sense

of

the

same

expression),

collocative

meaning

(what

is

communicated

through

association

with

words

which

tend

to

occur

in

the

environment

of

another

word),

thematic

meaning(what

is

communicated

by

the

way

in

which

the

message

is

organized

in

terms

of

order

and

emphasis).

Types

2-6

are

also

categorized

as

associative

meaning.

3.3

Peter

Newmark’s

model

of

meaning

There

are

three

types

of

meanings

according

to

Newmark:

expressive

meaning,

informative

meaning,

and

vocative

meaning.

3.4

Roman

Jakobson’s

model

of

meaning

Jakobson

classified

meanings

into

6

types:

expressive

meaning,

informative

meaning,

vocative

meaning,

aesthetic

meaning,

phatic

meaning,

and

metalinguistic

meaning.

4.

Conclusion

These

different

types

of

meaning

are

not

classified

according

to

the

same

criteria,

and

different

linguists

have

different

opinions

for

classifying

meanings.

Thus

some

types

of

meaning

are

overlapping,

which

causes

much

confusion.

All

these

meanings

can

be

stratified

into

lexical,

phraseological

(idiomatic),

sentential

(prepositional),

and

discourse

meaning.

Lexical

meaning

includes

denotational,

connotational,

affective,

collocational,

metaphorical,

and

cultural

meaning,

and

discourse

meaning

includes

literary

(hermeneutically

construed)

and

epistemic

(analytically

construed)

meaning.

Translation

is

the

transfer

of

meaning,

and

semantic

analysis

is

an

important

way

of

defining

meaning,

which

can

help

us

to

have

a

better

understanding

of

the

source

text.

We

should

combine

the

translation

studies

with

linguistics,

and

try

to

use

the

discoveries

of

the

linguistics

to

help

the

study

of

translation.

【References】

[1]Bell,

Roger

T.

2001.

Translation

and

Translating:

Theory

and

Practice.

Beijing:

Foreign

Language

Teaching

and

Research

Press.

[2]Baker,

Mona.

2000.

In

Other

Words:

A

Coursebook

on

Translation.

Beijing:

Beijing

University

Press.

[3]Fawcett,

Peter.

1997.

Translation

and

Language:

Linguistic

Theories

Explained.

Manchester:

St.

Jerome

Publishing.

[4]Guo,

Zhuzhang

&

Li,

Qingsheng.

1996.

A

Practical

Course

in

Translation

Between

English

and

Chinese.

[5]Wang,

Zhikui.

1999.

A

Collegiate

Cour