英语双关语及其翻译 [6]
论文作者:潘燕琼论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-10编辑:黄丽樱点击率:14268
论文字数:6989论文编号:org200904102255414518语种:英语 English地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:English punclassificationcharacteristicsfunctiontranslation英语双关语分类本质特点作用翻译
couldn’t bear to be his uncle’s son any longer.
Keep in mind that the central and basic phenomenon on which puns operates is ambiguity. A pun intentionally employs phonemic or semantic conditions to suggest one meaning on the surface while hiding another. We can find theoretical support for the ambiguity of puns. Li Xinhua maintains that language unit has both form and content, while there is not a one-to-one relationship between form and content, that is to say, one phonemic form does not signify one meaning, and one meaning is not represented by one language form [17]. For example,
(26) Try your sweet corn; you’ll smile from ear to ear.
It is a successful advertisement. One phonemic form “ear” can be interpreted as double meaning, one is organ of hearing”, the other is “seed-bearing part of a cereal, such as wheat, etc.
3.2 The double context
Another characteristic is that a pun contains a double context. According to the American Scholar Archibald A.hill, there are three elements in analyzing and composing a pun: a double context, a hinge and a trigger [18]. Double context, which lays foundations for comprehension of punny sense, is essential for forming a pun. Hinge refers to punny word, and a trigger refers to the intention and background that lurk behind the exploitation of puns, which is often employed when we analyze puns. The exact meaning of a word is determined by its context, and different contexts may lead to different meanings. Take the following as an example,
(27) “Mine is a long and a sad tale!” said the mouse, turning to Alice and sighing.
“It is a long tail, certainly!” said Alice, looking down with wonder at the mouse’s tail; “but why do you call it sad?[19]
( L.Carol: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland )
There is no doubt that this example has a double meaning. Both the Mouse and Alice have their contexts. In this example, the hinge words are “tale” and “tail”, which is a homophone. What the Mouse wants to convey is a story, so, when the Mouse says “a sad tale”, Alice gets confused, because we can’t say “a sad tail”. Another example is as follows:
(28) A man sits down at a table in a restaurant and asks, “Do you serve crab’s here?” The waiter says, “Sure, sit down, we serve anybody.”
Here, the word “crab” is the hinge. On one hand, “crab” means a kind of seafood, on the other hand, it also means “a sour person”. In the customer’s context, he is asking if the restaurant serves the food of crabs, while in the waiter context, he understands “the crab” as “a sour person”, so he tells the customer that they serve everyone even a person who has got bad temper.
(29) After successfully delivering the first child of a Canadian couple visiting Scotland, the doctor popped into the waiting room to tell the anxious husband the good news.
“It’s a boy – eight pounds exactly!”
“Oh,” replied the flustered father. “Will you take a check?”
In the doctor’s context, “pound” is “a unit of weight”, while in the flustered father’s context, “pound” is “a unit of money”. Therefore, he answered, “Will you take a check?”
4. Functions of English pun
Pun is a witticism involving the playful use of a word in different senses or words that differ in meanings but sound alike; it is essentially a device to attract a reader’s attention. In nature, it is a word play. While in essence, it is an ambiguity. That is to say, a word or phrase has a meaning on the surface, but hiding another meaning so as to achie
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