ERIC Number: EJ1079765
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1916-4742
EISSN: N/A
A Typological Approach to Translation of English and Chinese Motion Events
Deng, Yu; Chen, Huifang
English Language Teaching, v5 n8 p70-75 2012
English and Chinese are satellite-framed languages in which Manner is usually incorporated with Motion in the verb and Path is denoted by the satellite. Based on Talmy's theory of motion event and typology, the research probes into translation of English and Chinese motion events and finds that: (1) Translation of motion events in English and Chinese is a re-lexicalization process; (2) For translation of Path, English-Chinese translators can usually convert Path verbs in English into Path satellites in Chinese and vice versa for Chinese-English translation. Translation of continuous and complex Path is a lexical conversion between pattern [Motion] + [Path[subscript 1]+ Path[subscript 2]…Path[subscript n] in English and pattern [Motion[subscript 1] + Path[subscript 1] + [Motion[subscript 2] + Path[subscript 2]] +… [Motion[subscript n]+ Path[subscript n] in Chinese; (3) For translation of Manner, Chinese-English translation tends to replace the structure of [Chinese adverbial + Motion verb] with the corresponding Manner-conflating verb in English, while English-Chinese translation has to add adverbial to the Chinese verb or use general Chinese Manner verbs to encode the specific Manner verbs in English; (4) Different narrative styles and conceptualization of time and space in both languages should be taken into consideration in translation of English and Chinese motion events.
Descriptors: Translation, Chinese, Verbs, English, Form Classes (Languages), Second Languages, Phrase Structure, Language Classification, Motion
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A