Abstract:

Since the 1950s, Chomsky’s transformational-generative linguistics, considered a “Chomskyan revolution”, has become a great focus of attention in the field of linguistics for his new linguistic concepts and methodologies. It has not only underpinned the structural analysis of structuralism, but also absorbed useful elements from the prevailing cognitive theories, endeavoring to probe into the psychological representation of knowledge structure, and to interpret the psychological mechanisms of the language itself. It is a valuable guide to linguistic research, foreign language teaching and cross-discipline research. Though Chomsky’s transformational generative linguistics is widely applied to the second language acquisition and foreign language teaching, it is seldom used to guide translation research. The present study aims to further explore and expound on the English-Chinese translation process in light of Chomsky’s transformational-generative concepts. It is found that, in Chomsky’s view, the generation of language undergoes transformations from deep structure to surface structure, a process that is common to all languages. Analogously, translation also experiences transformations, but rather the other way around, namely, from surface structure to deep structure at first, and from deep structure to surface structure in the end. This study simulates an English-Chinese translation model featuring a “step-by-step analyzer” and a “five-Chinese-character blender” as primary operators. It is hoped that the findings will shed light on the exploration of the nature of translation process, and the teaching and research.

Keywords: Transformational-Generative concepts; English-Chinese translation process; working mechanism; Step-by-Step Analyzer; Five-Chinese-Character Blender

摘要：

自20世纪50年代以来,乔姆斯基的转换生成语言学以其新的语言观和方法论受到语言学界的普遍关注,有语言学“乔姆斯基革命”的美誉。它继承了结构主义语言学偏重形式分析的传统,又吸收了认知科学的有益成分,探究知识的心理表征结构并对其心理机制进行阐释。转换生成语言学的相关理念及研究方法已被广泛应用于语言研究、二语习得和外语教学,但是,将转换生成语言学与翻译相结合的研究却极为鲜见。本文借鉴乔姆斯基的转换生成理念,重新探索和诠释英汉翻译过程。转换生成语言学认为,语言的生成经历从深层结构到表层结构的转换,各种语言在深层结构上非常相似;而翻译语言的生成则经历从表层结构到深层结构,再由深层结构到表层结构的系列转换。鉴于此,笔者拟构了以“层层深入分析法”和“五字整合法”为主要操作手段的英汉翻译模型,揭示了转换生成理念视角下翻译过程的实质,以期对翻译研究和翻译教学提供启示。

关键词: 转换生成理念, 英汉翻译过程, 运作机制, 层层深入分析法, 五字整合法