翻译中的预设问题

Presupposition in Translation

摘要: 预设(presupposition)是一种常见的语言现象，是对话人之间的既有假设，存在于词、句法以及文化等各个层面。作为一种跨文化、跨语言交际活动，翻译面临的一个重要任务就是如何处理不同层面的预设。本文探讨了词汇句法和文化两个层面的预设，指出前者范畴的预设可以通过对应的词汇或句法直接传递，对翻译构成的障碍较小，容易实现对等，而后者范畴的预设因根植于原语文化之中，难以通过文字转换本身有效传递被目标语读者接受，需要采用各种手段来弥补。通过考察张佩瑶主编的《中国翻译话语英译选集(上册)：从最早期到佛典翻译》，本文从中提炼出几种常见的弥补这些预设的策略。本研究对于理解翻译中的预设问题以及如何处理不同层面的预设具有一定贡献。

Abstract: Presupposition is a common linguistic phenomenon, which refers to the assumptions interlocutors entertain and exists across lexical, syntactic and cultural levels. One of the crucial tasks of translation, as a kind of cross-cultural, cross-linguistic communication, is to grapple with such presuppositions at distinct levels. Investigating presuppositions at the lexico-syntactical level and the cultural level, this research points out that the presuppositions at the lexico-syntactical level are minor and can be transmitted simply by direct translation, resulting in equivalence with relative ease; in contrast, the presuppositions at the cultural level are rooted in the culture of the source language, and cannot be effectively transmitted to the readership of the target language culture simply via direct translation, but requires a variety of techniques to compensate for the presupposition gaps. By examining An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation Volume 1: From Earliest Times to the Buddhist Project, this research identifies several techniques of making up for such presupposition gaps. This research contributes to our understanding of presupposition in translation and how to deal with presupposition at disparate levels.