Translation on Deixis in English and Chinese

Junfeng Yang

Abstract： In pragmatics， deixis is a significant content. The passage induced the different categories of deixis in English. The author mainly utilized the method of analysis and induction and hopes that translators can master the usage of deixis in both English and Chinese and can make better in their translation. The creative point of in the paper is that deixis in English is induced systematically and the usage of deixis is analyzed， induced and translated.

【中圖分類號】G640

1. Introduction

Deixis is an important content of pragmatics. It can mostly represents the close relationship between the language and context. By deixis the relationship can be reflected on linguistic structure. The typical deixis information in context involves denotational information， which includes the concept of space， time and movement[1]. These deixis information， based on a series of word phrases directly related to context can be expressed by their grammatical features. These words are called "deixis" in pragmatics， such as personal pronoun， tense， some modal words and adverb of place， adverbs of time and so on.

2. Translation on Deixis

On translation of deixis， above all， the context must be act as the essential basis because it is the critical factor to correctly understand and express deixis[2]. Secondly， it should be paid attention to different expression habits of same denotation between source language and target language and regulated in translation.

2.1 Person Deixis

Person deixis refers to using special words or phrases to express the roles that participants undertake in a speech event.

On translating person deixis， it must be realized soberly that the concept of pronouns in grammar， especially person deixis， may not be absolutely simplified to equate deixis in pragmatics.

2.2 Time Deixis

In language activity， time expression with indication meaning， calculates and understand as reference point from the moment that speaker speaks. Apart from that， there still exist non-instructive absolute time expression methods[3]. In English， time expression include some adverbs and adverbial phrases， which make it as reference point from the moment of beginning to speak， such as， today， soon， recently， right away and so forth[4]. Owing to different context， instructive information that speaker use time deixis to express is also different. Generally speaking， translation to time deixis may translate directly in accordance with original text[5]. In English-Chinese translation， it is required to add some appropriate time deixis in Chinese translation according to English verb tense.

2.3 Place/ Space Deixis

Place/ space deixis refers to the place discourse involves. Place/ space deixis， in English， include adverbs expressing space position （such as， here and there） and demonstrative pronouns （such as， this and that）， while some other place/ space deixis may be expressed by prepositional phrases expressing orientation. To correctly understand and express location hints of discourse in conjunction with context becomes the key to translate deixis.

Place/ space deixis includes gestural usage and symbolic usage. Gestural usage refers to the position， which is the bearing that speaker may use gesture and wink to point towards listener. For example：

ERDEZI： （Looking around， spots Fifth Elder Ma）： Ho！ Fifth Elder Ma， I didnt know you were here. How careless of me not to have noticed you. （Goes over and drops to one knee in the traditional gesture of respect）

In some cases， the language habit of place/ space deixis in English and Chinese is different to some extent， which should be regulated in translation. For example：

He turned in the doorway and came slowly back again， frustrated. "Thats true，" he admitted. "I forgot."

The expression habit difference of place/ space deixis in English and Chinese is owing to psychological reason and habitual usage frequency. The distance is relative and it depends on speakers psychological feeling to a large extent[6]. The fundamental difference lies in whether the person or objects that refers to are close to speaker or not.

3. Conclusion

Deixis is significant in pragmatics whether it is used in English or Chinese. According to the contents mentioned above， when translating deixis must be dealt with carefully. When translators learn and master the essence of deixis in translating English or Chinese he can make it better.

References：

[1] Basil Hatim &Ian Mason. Discourse and the Translator. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. 2001

[2] J. L. Austin. How to Do Things with Words？ Oxford： The Clarendon Press. 1962

[3] J. Searle. Speech Acts. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1969

[4] Lian Shuneng， Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese. Beijing： Higher Education Press. 1993

[5] Mona Baker. In Other Words. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000.

[6] S. Levinson. Pragmatics. Cambridge： CUP， 1983.