A?Comparison?of?Chinese?and?English Oxymoron?and?Its? Application in?Translation?and?English?Teaching

【摘要】英語和漢語都有悠久歷史，都具有非常豐富的表達方式。比較兩種語言的修辭格，特別是比較中英矛盾修辭法的異同及其在翻譯與英語教學中的應用，可以真正做到語言上的互相借鑒，互相補充。在英語學習中掌握這種語言的辭格還能有效地提高英語學習者的閱讀能力及語言表達能力。

【關鍵詞】比較；矛盾修辭法；翻譯；教學

【作者簡介】楊薇，廣東海洋大學寸金學院。

【基金項目】廣東省高等教育教學研究和改革項目“創新創業融入應用型大學英語教學研究”（立項文號：粵教高函【2016】236號）和廣東省2016年重點培育學科建設項目英語語言文學學科（GD2017011102）成果之一。

1. Introduction

At present， an increasing number of Chinese learners are taking English as a foreign language. Oxymoron， as a common phenomenon in English and Chinese spoken and written language， plays a significant role in the application in rhetoric， translation and teaching.

2. A Comparison of Chinese and English Oxymoron

2.1 Comparison in structure

The formation of English and Chinese oxymoron has great similarity with each other， which can be reflected in the following ways.

（1）adjective + noun：He called my conviction a glorious defeat.他把我的審判結果稱為一場表面的敗仗，實際的勝仗。（2） noun +noun：They had a love-hate relationship.他們的關系是愛中有恨，恨中有愛。（3）noun + prep. + noun：禍兮福所倚，福兮禍所伏。No great loss but some small profit.（4） verb + adverb：他被活活地燒死。He was burned alive。（5） verb-ing/-ed +noun： a living death半死不活（6） adjective + adjective：a miserable merry Christmas.又悲又喜的圣誕節。

However，the difference of the formation of English and Chinese oxymoron is shown by the following aspect.

For English：（7） adverb+ verb- ing/-ed： She was agreeably grieved by the news.那消息使她感到悲喜交集。（8） adverb+ adjective： A mercifully fatal blow.慈悲致死的打擊。

For Chinese：（9） modifiers + headwords：這是我黨歷史上的一場喜劇，一場可悲的喜劇。This is a comedy in the history of our party， a tragic comedy.

2.2 Comparison in meaning

2.2.1 The relations of two contradictory elements in English oxymoron

（1）Troponym：the modified word is the act or state or existing way presented.

a careless observation. 粗心的觀察。

（2）Cross-relation： indicated by the modified words whose meanings mutually mingle and reciprocally permeate.

Serious vanity： a sentiment both serious and vain. 既莊重又輕慢。

2.2.2 The differences of two contradictory elements in Chinese oxymoron

In English：

（1）Cause-and-effect relationship：the modified word which usually is the cause of the condition which the modified word wants to express.

Cruel kindness： kindness that result in cruelty. 害人不淺的仁慈。

In Chinese：

（2） reciprocal or complementary relation

雅得這樣俗。

2.3 Comparison in pragmatic function

2.3.1 Pragmatic analysis in daily spoken language

2.3.1.1 Cooperative Principle

Paul Grice thinks that in making conversation， the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate. The general principle is called the Cooperative Principle， abbreviated as CP. To be more specific， there are four maxims under this general cooperative principle proposed by Grice which includes 4 maxims： quality， quantity， relation and manner.

2.3.1.1.1 Violation of the maxim of quality

（17） Wife：What the relationship between you and that woman， what are you doing when Im out？ Husband： oh， dear， it is just a normal aberration. （正常的越軌）

Wife： Normal aberration！ You take me as a fool？！Ok， never next time！

It is difficult to understand normal aberration in （1）. How can aberration be normal？ Here， the husband says what he believes to be false and that for which he lacks adequate evidence. Apparently， he has violated the maxim of quality.

2.3.1.1.2 Violation of the maximum of quantity

Violation of the maximum of quantity not to make your contribution as informative as required or make your contribution more informative than is required.

（18）A： What about the matter yesterday night？B： Oh， it was a stormy tranquil night.

A： Oh， thanks for God！ （Chen， 1990： 40）

2.3.1.1.3 Violation of the maxim of manner

A： whos it， do you know the person in the picture？B：Intimate stranger.

A： Oh， you mean you dont know him exactly？ B： Yes.

From the first answer of B， B wants to express his purpose of “though I don not know this person he seems familiar to me as if I have met him before.” From the speed， the acts and a series of relevant factors It can be known that B doesnt know the person in the picture but has the feeling of familiarity.

2.3.2 Pragmatic analysis in written language

2.3.2.1 The violation of the CP rule

The violation of the CP rule is not limited in oral speech， but also occurs in lots of literary works among which the Shakespeares most obviously reveals. We can see this from one dialog from Romeo and Juliet.

寶玉說：“關了院門吧。”襲人笑道：“怪不得人家說你無事忙。”

Pao-yu said： “The court gate is shut， isnt it？” “No wonder，” said shi-ren in a smile， “they say you made much ado about nothing.”

3. Oxymoron in English-Chinese translation

3.1 Word-to-word translation

Because the oxymoron of English and Chinese are similar in some grammatical construction， the form can be transplanted between the two. This kind of translation is called word-for-word translation.