Translation Shifts in Sound and Sense: A Study on the English Version of Seeing-off Poems in the Tang Dynasty

唐詩英譯之音韻、句法及意義層面轉移與抒情效果：以送別詩為例

吳怡萍(Yi-ping Wu)

《SPECTRUM ： NCUE Studies in Language, Literature, Translation》 14卷2期 (2016/07) Pp. 1-23

摘要

Rhyme and rhythm structure are the most important components for creating the sound and the sense in poetry. Due to the fact that each language has its own phonological system, translation shifts are considered inevitable when a poem is translated in another language. This paper aims at investigating into the English translation of two seeing-off poems in the Tang dynasty. The investigation is centered around the following three aspects: (1) shift analysis, in particular level shift, is conducted via comparing the Chinese and Western translators' works in terms of metrical movement, syntactic structure, and parallel patterning in order to uncover their prosodic foregroundings, (2) the internal nexus between sound and sense is analyzed from the perspective of iconicity to explore the relation between semantic expression and affective communication, (3) effectual translation strategies for producing affective communication are induced. As the findings show, metrical movement, syntactic structure, and parallel patterning presented in the original can be taken as imagic iconicity that produce prosodic foregrounding to readers. Due to the phonological differences in each language, translation shifts often appear when the translators deal with these iconic devices. As a result, the shift of stylistic features, i.e. metrical movement or parallel patterning, can bring out different foregrounding effect in translation. This research thus suggests that when translating poetry, translators should search for the phonetic-syntactic- semantic foregrounding effect(s) by means of diagrammatic structuration (i.e. changing rhyme, rearranging syntactic structure, employing run-on lines or punctuations). In doing so, poetry translators are able to think outside the binary relation of form and content.

關鍵字

poetry translation ； translation shifts ； iconicity ； foregrounding effect

並列摘要

格律和音韻為詩歌音樂性和意義的重要來源，中文近體詩與英詩皆然，然而每種語言的語音系統相去甚遠，翻譯時難免會出現明顯的轉移現象，本論文擬以兩首送別詩作品為例，主要探究以下這三個部分：（1）對各家譯本的音韻形式、語法結構及語意呈現的轉移進行層面轉移分析，並探究其前景化與抒情效果，（2）從語言臨摹性視角探究音韻型式與語法結構的設計如何與詩作中語意的呈現及其所欲傳達的情感產生聯繫，（3）歸納送別詩翻譯的原則與技巧，盼能透過音韻－語法－語意的前景化方式帶出送別詩中深沉的情愫。研究結果顯示，近體詩中聲韻對偶、音節對仗及語法結構可視為一種映像像似，於讀者而言，其前景化效果相當鮮明，但礙於語言符碼之間語音差異甚大，中西方譯者處理這些像似手法時常會出現翻譯轉移現象，即譯詩背離原唐詩中鮮明的音韻節奏與詞性／意義相呼應的對偶結構，造成原詩作中的像似性手法無法完全用目的語來呈現，因此譯者對於原詩文體形式所作的改變，會產生不同層面的轉移方式與其前景化效果。此外，英譯唐詩時譯者容易顧此失彼，亦即做到形式對等卻犧牲原文語意，譯出原詩深奧的語意而形式卻無法兼顧，無論是哪種作法都無法在形式與內容上兩者得兼，故本計畫建議唐詩英譯時應該尋求更有彈性的譯法，即透過擬像結構化方式，例如：轉韻、語序對調、跨行、使用特殊 標點符號等，來強化譯詩時音韻－語法－語意的前景化效果，幫助譯者跳脫形式與內容二元對等關係的桎梏。

並列關鍵字

詩歌翻譯 ； 翻譯轉移 ； 語言臨摹性 ； 前景化效果