Cover not available
Discussion published In:
Target
Vol. 22:2 (2010) ► pp.331–346
Discussion

Indeterminacy, multivalence and disjointed translation

| Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macao
One of the most prominent linguistic features of classical Chinese poetry is syntactic indeterminacy, which brings about multivalence, i.e. multiplicity of connotation, and poses a great problem as well as daunting challenge to Chinese-English translators, for English is basically a language with syntactic determinacy. This paper examines two aspects of indeterminacy involved in classical Chinese poetry, arguing that ‘disjointed translation’ is probably the most inspiring way to cope with Chinese syntactic indeterminacy.
Keywords: indeterminacy,, translation,, classical Chinese poetry
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.What is indeterminacy?
  • 3.Multivalence from indeterminacy
    • 3.1Indeterminacy from absence of pronouns
    • 3.2Indeterminacy resulting from absence of connectives
  • 4.Disjointed translation: A mimesis of syntactic indeterminacy
  • 5.Summary
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 January 2011
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.22.2.07jia
References (33)
References
Cluysenaar, Anne. 1976. Introduction to literary stylistics. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Coffman, S. K. 1951. Imagism. New York: Grove Press.Google Scholar
De Beaugrande, Robert. 1978. Factors in a theory of poetic translating. Amsterdam: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Empson, William. 1930. Seven types of ambiguity. London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Friedrich, Paul. 1986. The language parallax: Linguistic relativism and poetic indeterminacy. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin. 1993. Contemporary translation theories. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gutt, Ernst August. 1991. Translation and relevance. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jenyns, Soame. 1940. Selections from the three hundred poems of the Tang Dynasty. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Kenner, Hugh. 1971. The Pound Era. Berkeley: University of California Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miner, Earl. 1985. The Japanese tradition in English and American Literature. New York: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Nida, Eugene. 1993. Language, culture, and translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Google Scholar
Nida, Eugene and de Waard, Jan. 1986. From one language to another: Functional equivalence in Bible translating. Nelson: Nashville.Google Scholar
Perrine, Lawrence. 1963. Sound and sense. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Pratt, William. 1963. The Imagist poem. New York: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Seung, Thomas Kaehao. 1982. Semiotics and thematics in hermeneutics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Steiner, George. 1975. After babel. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Xu, Yuanzhong. 1992. On Chinese verse in English rhyme. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
丁往道 1989. 《英诗入门：佳作百篇赏析》。 上海: 上海译文出版社。Google Scholar
Ding, Wangdao. 1989. 100 Best English Poems. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Press.Google Scholar
古苍梧 1987. 诗人卞之琳谈诗与翻译。收录于《中国编译》编辑部（编）1987, 《诗词翻译的艺术》 （第97至101页）。 北京: 中国对外翻译出版公司。Google Scholar
Gu, Cangwu. 1987. “Bian Zhilin on Poetry and Translation”. Editorial Department of Chinese Translators Journal (ed.). The Art of Poetry Translation. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
胡 壮麟. 1994. 《语篇的衔接与连贯》. 上海: 上海教育出版社.Google Scholar
Hu, Zhuanglin. 1994. Cohesion and coherence in Text. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Google Scholar
翁显良 1981. 以不切为切。《外国语》 1981年第5期。Google Scholar
Weng, Xianliang. 1981. “Fuzziness for Accuracy”. Journal of Foreign Languages 5.Google Scholar
袁 行霈. 1987. 《中国诗歌艺术研究》。 北京: 北京大学出版社。Google Scholar
Yuan, Xingpei. 1987. An Approach to The Art of Traditional Chinese Poetry. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
陈振 濂. 1989. 《空间诗学》。 上海: 三联书店。Google Scholar
Chen, Zhenlian. 1989. Spatial poetics. Shanghai: Sanlian Shudian Press.Google Scholar
闻一多 1926. 英译李太白诗。 收录于《中国编译》编辑部（编）1987, 《诗词翻译的艺术》。 北京: 中国对外翻译出版公司。Google Scholar
Wen, Yidou. 1926. “An Approach to English Translations of Li Bai’s Poems”. Editorial Department of Chinese Translators Journal (ed.). 1987. The Art of Poetry Translation. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
赵 毅衡. 1990. 《文学符号学》。 北京: 中国文联出版公司。Google Scholar
Zhao, Yiheng. 1990. Literary Semiotics. Beijing: China Wenlian Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Yue, Yan
2021. The role of registerial expertise in translators’ logical choices: A case study of the Chinese medicine classic Huang Di Nei Jing. Meta: Journal des traducteurs 66:3 ► pp. 690 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.