What are the differences between Chinese homophonic puns and English homophonic puns?

"Comparative Study of Pun and "Pun" by Shen Zhihe

Abstract: Pun and "pun" are two rhetorical figures in English and Chinese that cannot be completely equivalent. From the definition, "Pun" means "pun on one word"; in addition to pun on "one" word, pun can also be pun on "two" words, or even "multiple" words. From the classification point of view, pun includes paronomasia, sylleptic pun, antanaclasis and ambiguity, and Chinese "pun" can only correspond to the first two but cannot include the latter two. The corresponding Chinese rhetorical figures are "change of meaning" and "ambiguity". Due to the different expression methods of English and Chinese, English pun Most puns with Chinese have their own ways. Therefore, in bilingual conversion, the original wording and concept of pun or "pun" often disappear. The author discusses several translation keywords based on examples: pun; pun; translation; research

Introduction:

"Pun" and "pun" are two figures of speech in English and Chinese respectively. However, they are often regarded as Completely equivalent words are translated into each other. This is true for English-Chinese or Chinese-English dictionaries, and some monographs on stylistics and rhetoric are no exception. In fact, not only do the definitions of "pun" and Chinese "pun" not completely correspond, but their classifications are also different. In some aspects, they are even very different” [1] (P.34). Due to the different expression methods of English and Chinese, when the English “pun” is translated into Chinese or the Chinese “pun” is translated into English, almost all Chinese and foreign translators I feel stretched and it is difficult to find an ideal translation.

1. Comparison of the definitions of "pun" and "pun"

(1) The definition of "pun" and its corresponding examples

1. The Oxford English Dictionary (The Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Vo1.xII.P832) defines "pun" as: "The use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect.” More than one meaning may cause different associations, or two or more words with the same or similar pronunciation but different meanings may be used to produce a humorous effect.)

Example (1) Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.

If you come to me tomorrow, you will find that I am already a man in the grave.

Grave has two meanings in the sentence. It can be interpreted as "grave" or "serious" or "significant".

Example (2) Learn some craft when young, that when old you may live without craft.

Learn some crafts while you are young, so that you can make a living without cheating when you are old.

The former craft in the sentence means "craft", and the latter craft means "deception", which are the same. The meanings are different, and the two meanings are related to each other, which is very interesting.

2. "Webster's Third New International Dictionary of English" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary. 1981. Springfi

eld, Massachusetts, USA: Merriam-Webster Inc. P. 1842) defined "pun" as: "The humorous of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications or of words having the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings: a play on words. A play on words.)

Example (3) More sun and air for your son and heir.

The sunshine and fresh air here are bright for your son and his career. and property inheritance - of great benefit.

This is a sentence from an advertising painting to promote a beach, which cleverly uses homonyms (i.e. homophonic puns): sun and son, Air and heir, because of their vividness and humor, have strong appeal and can easily impress parents' love for their children.

(2) The definition of "pun" and its corresponding examples

1. "Cymology" (IV) (1984. Beijing: The Commercial Press. P.3220) defines "pun" as: a pun. A word or sentence that contains two meanings. It is commonly used in folk songs of the Six Dynasties.

Example (4) Making silk

Spring silkworms should not grow old, they always carry silk day and night.

Why regret that the tiny body is gone, the lingering will come naturally.

("Collection of Yuefu Poems? Forty-Nine? Western Songs")

In the poem, "huaisi" is used as a joke to "huasi", and the "lingering" of silk is used to express the "lingering" of love.

2. "Cihai" (abbreviated version) (1980. Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House. P. 482) defines "pun" as one of the figures of speech in rhetoric. The use of homonyms or homonyms in language and characters The relationship between justice makes one sentence relate to two things.

Example (5) Looking at the sky, the snow is crystal clear in the mountains;

I will never forget the lonely forest in the fairyland.

(The fifth chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions")

"Xue" is a homologue of "Xue", referring to "Xue Baochai"; the word "Lin" is a pun on the sound and form, referring to the "Lin" of "Lin Daiyu" .

(3) The correspondence or non-correspondence between the definitions of Pun and "pun"

From the two definitions of "pun" in Chinese, it is just "the use of words or sentences "Have two meanings" or "make a sentence relate to two things", which is commonly known as "a pun". However, pun in English is not just "have two meanings" or "relate to two things", but It is "to imply two or more meanings". Therefore, the Chinese definition of "pun" only matches the first half of the English definition of pun, but the second half of the definition of pun cannot be matched by the Chinese "pun". Therefore, in addition to the "first-language pun" of Chinese, English pun can also be a "second-language pun", that is, using "two or more words with the same or similar pronunciation but different meanings" to make a fuss.

Example (6) Romeo. Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead. So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.

(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

Romeo I really can't dance. You all have light dancing shoes; only a lead-heavy soul nails my body to the ground, making my The steps are not

Able to move. (Translated by Zhu Shenghao)

Shakespeare's pun is based on the homophones of sole and soul. It is a pun on "two" and vividly depicts Romeo's troubles at that time. A state of mindless dancing.

In addition, according to the definition of pun, "to imply two or more meanings." Therefore, pun can be either a "pun" or a "multi-entendre".

Example (7) —It's everybody's right, right?

—You think all your right is right?

—This is everyone's right, right?

?

—Do you think you have the right to be justified?

The above is a pun made by two people in a conversation. There are four "right" in the conversation, and *** has three meanings , are homophones and belong to the same language with "multiple concepts".

2. Comparison between Pun and "pun" types

(1) Types of Pun and its examples

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Different dictionaries published in China classify pun differently. In this article, we adopt the following point of view to classify pun. "Pun includes three figures of speech: paronomasia, antanaclasis and ambiguity" [2] (P. 496), “According to the compositional characteristics of puns, this figure of speech can be divided into the following categories: 1. Homophonic Pun (homophonic pun); 2. paronomasia (near-sound pun); 3. Antanaclasis (homophonic pun), 4. , Sylleptic pun (ambiguity pun); 5. Asteismus (ambiguous pun)." [3] (P.323-326)

1. Ambiguity (ambiguity): in a specific context Ambiguity is a form of pun, but it is different from pun. Pun is often a pun subjectively intended by the speaker, while ambiguity is often a pun intended by the speaker. Subjectively, there is no pun intended, but due to the ambiguity of the words, objectively it creates a pun phenomenon, which can easily lead to misunderstanding.

Example (8) How To Be A guilty Parents (New York Times)

How can parents know they are guilty

The title of the article seems to be to persuade parents: How to be a guilty parent. But the content of the article is to ask parents to be more careful in their words and deeds and not to blame their children at every turn.

Example (9) He finished the race last Friday.

The word "finished the race" in the sentence has two meanings: "participated in the race" and "annihilated that race".

2. Antanaclasis (meaning change) takes advantage of the polysemy of certain words to use words that originally express the other meaning to express this meaning in a certain context, and correlates the two meanings with each other. .

Example (10) We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. .

The first hang and together in the sentence form an idiom, which means "unity", and the latter hang means "being hanged". The literal meaning is the same, but the meaning is different. The former echoes and the latter responds, and the language Vivid, concise and concise. The previous example (2) also falls into this category.

3. Paronomasia (homophonic pun) uses words with homophones or near-synonyms to form puns, which includes homophonic pun ( Homophone pun).

Example (11) On Sunday they pra

y for you and on Monday they prey on you.

They pray for you on Sunday and blackmail you on Monday.

Using the homophones pray and prey to make a pun, Satirize the ugly faces of gentlemen, ladies, and ladies in Western churches who appear to be pious.

Example (12) If he do breed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; for it must seem their guilt . (William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

If he still bleeds, I will smear it on the faces of the two guards; for we must let people see that it is their sin.

gild and guilt are a pun composed of a pair of homonyms. Its use exposes Lady Macbeth’s sin of killing people and blaming others.

Example (13) —When does the baker follow his trade?

—Whenever he kneads the dough.

—When does the baker follow his trade?

—Whenever he kneads the dough. .

In the answer, the two homophones of need (need) and knee (knead) are used, and the word "dough" has multiple meanings (including "noodles" and "money"). ), forming two puns to constitute humor.

Example (14) —What four letters of the alphabet would scare off a burglar?

—O, ICU.

—Which four English letters will scare away thieves?

—O, ICU

This is a sentence using the homophonic combination of the four letters OICU: Oh, I see you. Similar ones include: IOU (I owe you), which means "loan document"; OIC, foreign opticians use the shape of these three letters for advertising. It is shaped like glasses and sounds the same as Oh, I see. What a unique ingenuity!

4. Sylleptic pun (a word with multiple meanings) is also called syllepsis[4](P.35). But some people translate syllepsis as "a double entendre" "narrative" [5] (P.497) or "multiple narrations in one word" or "both considerations" [6] (P.331-333), which is a completely different rhetoric from the "multiple meanings and puns in one word" we are about to discuss Case. This type of pun is similar to antanaclasis. The difference is that in sylleptic pun, the pun only appears once and can have multiple interpretations. When discussing puns, domestic scholars pointed out that "puns that use multiple meanings of a word are better than homonyms." Phenomenon puns are more interesting and clever" [7] (P.89).

Example (15) Sagging Spirits in Scotland

(Newsweek, 1983)

Scottish liquor industry is in depression

The article is about the depression in Scotland's liquor industry and the closure of distilleries. The title of the report not only contains "wine production is declining", but also the relevant personnel are "depressed". Pun.

Example (16) An ambassador is an honest man who lies abroad for the good of his country.

An ambassador is an honest man who lies abroad for the good of his country. .

The word "lies" in the sentence can be understood as "lying", or it can also be interpreted as "to live in", which is a pun, interesting and humorous.

(2) "Pun" Types and their examples

In domestically published works on Chinese rhetoric, the classification of "puns" is based on the sound, form, and meaning of pun words. Although the formulations are different, they are actually the same thing. Some are simply divided into "homophonic puns" and "semantic puns" [8] (P.120-121); some are divided into four categories according to "homophonic puns", "form-borrowed puns", "implicative puns" and "mixed puns" [9](P.66-68); there are also two groups [10](P.98) based on "external and internal puns" and "mutual puns".

According to "Cihai" Given the definition of "pun" as "using the homophone or synonymous relationship between language and characters to make one sentence relate to two things", as well as the discussion of "pun" in several rhetorical works, the author believes that dividing "pun" into two categories will It seems more concise. The two categories are: 1. Puns on the same (homophone) sound; 2. Puns on the same word.

However, in order to better compare with the English pun, the author adopted the rhetoric Based on the viewpoint of the authoritative book "Rhetoric", "puns" are divided into two categories: "external and internal puns" and "mutual puns". They not only cover all types of puns in Chinese, but also can be more subtly related to English. Pun for comparison.

1. Internal and external puns: "There is a hidden meaning behind the words" [11] (P.98). From the perspective of the verbal relationship between puns and words to express ideas, including Similar sounds and similar sounds and shapes are mostly seen in ballads.

(A) Single homophonic puns:

Example (17) The spring silkworm will not run out of silk until it dies, and the wax will be gone. The torch turns to ashes and the tears begin to dry.

(Li Shangyin's "Untitled")

The expression is "Si", the inside is "Si", "Si Fang End" actually means "Thinking Fang End" ", "Silk" and "Si" are related both internally and externally.

Example (18) Pounding musk deer into dust will never extinguish the fragrance; twisting lotus into silk will be difficult to cut off.

(Wen Tingyun, "Da" "Mozhiqu")

"Xiang" is similar to the sound of "xiang", and "Si" is similar to the sound of "si", which together means "love-sickness".

Example (19) Qing The lotus covers the green water, and the hibiscus is covered with bright red;

There are lotus roots with parallel roots below, and lotus flowers with parallel eyes above.

"Furong" and "Fu Rong", "Lotus Root" and "Ou" ", "Lotus" and "Lian" are homophonic puns.

(B) The sounds and shapes can be used interchangeably, but the meanings of the words are different, so the meanings are used as puns:

Example (20) Zhu The pink is not deep and even, and the idle flowers are faintly spring.

(Zhang Xian's "Drunken Whip")

"Spring" is a pun on "spring" and "beauty" (people in the Tang Dynasty called beautiful women spring) ).

Example (21) Seeing that my mother is happy and beautiful, I wish to marry a golden orchid;

The weaving is empty and there is no warp and weft, so it is difficult to find a solution.

( "Midnight Song")

"Pi" is a pun on "cloth" and "couple".

Example (22) Since I left my husband, I have been lying on my bed without raising my head;

The flying dragon falls into the drugstore, and the bones come out just for you.

("Reading Nocturnes")

"Bone" is a pun on "flying dragon's bone" and "the missing wife's bone" .

2. Pun on each other: use the things in front of you to tell the meaning of what you are saying. The three aspects of sound, shape and meaning can relate to two things. It is more common in Pinghua novels and operas.

Example (23) ) People with high integrity value each other, and humility is what the world teaches.

(Zhang Jiuling's "Bamboo")

"High integrity" and "humility" are not only the attributes of bamboo, but also the virtues of people ."People value each other" and "the world's teachers" are obviously praises for bamboos, but they are actually praises for people.

Example (24) Beique Xiu wrote a letter, and Nanshan returned to my hut.

If you are not talented enough, your master will abandon you, and if you are sick, your old friends will be sparse.

White hair urges you to grow old, and green sun urges you to die at the end of the year.

You will always be sad and sleepless, and the window will be empty at night under the pine moon.

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The whole poem seems to be self-pitying, but in fact it is about blaming everything else. The last sentence has four characters for "empty": A, refers to the emptiness of the courtyard in space; B, refers to the emptiness of the quiet night in time, these two clearly seem to describe the scenery. C , refers to the emptiness of official career; Ding refers to the psychological emptiness of the soul. The two are really lyrical. A and B are combined into superficial bodies, while C and D are the real bodies. In fact, the "surface body" is related to the "noumenal body" , that is, puns on each other.