Cognitive linguistic perspective of metaphor translation in Northern Shaanxi and Hua’er folk songs

The translation and dissemination of Chinese culture has become increasingly important in the context of globalization. Northern Shaanxi and Hua’er folk songs, which represent the rich traditions of northwest China, are recognized as national intangible cultural heritage. These songs often employ “bi-xing,” a technique similar to metaphor in Western literature. Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By revolutionized metaphor research by introducing a cognitive perspective in which metaphor is seen as a fundamental way of thinking and understanding abstract concepts rather than just a linguistic tool. This thesis constructs a Chinese-English parallel corpus of Northern Shaanxi and Hua’er folk songs to: 1. classify metaphors in Northern Shaanxi and Hua’er folk songs, 2. analyze translation methods of metaphors according to mapping conditions, 3. explore the factors affecting these songs’ metaphor translation process. Using Charteris-Black’s metaphor identification approach and Mandelblit and Toury's cognitive translation models, the study explores the effectiveness of various metaphor translation methods in similar and different conceptual mappings. This study identifies three main types of metaphor: orientational, ontological, and structural metaphors. Five subtypes of orientational metaphors - Up- Down, Inside-Outside, Deep-Shallow, Front-Back, and High-Low - are characterized by cultural and social contexts. Ontological metaphors, which represent abstract ideas as concrete entities, occur 215 times, while structural metaphors, which organize one concept through another, occur 511 times, with plant-related metaphors being the most common. Five translation methods were identified: Retention of metaphor (in 75.81% of structural metaphors), omission (47.87% for ontological metaphors), replacement (67.95% for structural metaphors), partial retention (69.44% for structural metaphors), and borrowing (used sparingly). These methods reflect the cognitive and linguistic challenges of translating metaphors between cultures. 'Retention of metaphor' was most effective when the conceptualizations matched between Chinese and English, while `omission’ was more common when there were significant differences. The study also highlights four key factors that influence the translation of metaphors, which are compared to the essential elements of a young girl from northwest China: Language, poetic structure, culture and the translator. Dialect and reduplication in the language pose a challenge, while the poetic structure and rhyme schemes emphasize the lyrical nature of the songs. Cultural elements such as flora, fauna and marriage customs have a great influence on the translation of metaphors. Like a matchmaker, the translator must skillfully bridge the gap between the source and target languages. This study contributes to translation theory by addressing gaps in the translation of metaphors in Chinese folk songs, proposing new methods and laying a foundation for future studies. Further research could expand the corpus and explore the role of translator styles, translation universals, and linguistic features.

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