3。3。1 Translation as an Ostensive-Inferential Process 9

3。3。2 Translation as a Process of Transferring Optimal Relevance 10

3。4 Translation Strategies and Suggestions 10

3。4。1 Direct Translation 10

3。4。2 Indirect Transltion 12

3。4。3 Substitution 13

4。 Conclusion 13

References 14

1。 Introduction

1。1 Research Background

Idiom translation is always a hot area attracting numerous scholars and linguists both at home and abroad。 Owing to the complexity of idiom itself, the practice of idiom translation is a big and hard job considering various factors such as history background, tradition, culture and etc。 Many scholars and professors attach great importance to idioms, especially the translation of idioms。 They made fruitful researches about idioms from different aspect。 In addition, linguists in western countries study idioms from the semantic、syntactic, pragmatic and psycholinguistic perspectives。 While Chinese linguists focus chiefly on their features, classification, sources, formation, application。论文网

However, as a matter of fact, all forerunners in these fields have only touched upon English and Chinese idioms in a very general way in translation。 As for detailed study on English and Chinese idioms with respect to parts of human body, it still remains an unexplored area。 Few achievements about body-related idioms can be found on the line。 In summary, previous studies of human body parts has been discussed in different aspects: semantic aspect, cultural aspect, cognitive aspect, anthropological aspect and aspect of diachronic changes both at home and abroad。 

The proposal of relevance theory has attracted great attention of linguists and was soon applied in the field of cognitive pragmatics, such as second language teaching, cognitive psychology, phonology and so on。 It has to be mentioned that translation is undoubtedly one of the largest subjects affected by relevance theory。 

On the whole, few achievements are provided on the translation of body-related idioms from the perspective of relevance theory。 Since relevance theory has a great explanatory power with a unified theoretic framework for translation, it is supposed to help to form a systematic guidance on body-related idiom translation。 To some extent, it helps to improve idiom translation so as to guarantee a successful and effective communication with other cultures, and meanwhile to spread Chinese culture worldwide。 

1。2 Significance of the Research

This thesis will make a study on the body-related idioms translation from the perspective of Relevance Theory。 Since Relevance Theory is powerful in explaining and applying in translation, it is necessary to have a further study on the relationship between them。 As for detailed study on English and Chinese idioms with respect to parts of human body, it still remains an unexplored area。 So it is valuable and meaningful to write this paper。 Besides, it is of great significance in EFL teaching and learning, translation and daily conversation, especially in conveying emotions of human beings。 This paper may give EFL learners a hint to use and understand body-related idioms properly in different contexts and contribute to the communication of Chinese and English culture。

1。3 Structure of the Study

This thesis is organized in following four chapters:

Chapter 1 is introduction。 It discusses the background, significance and structure of this thesis。

Chapter 2 is a literature review of former researches on Relevance Theory and related researches on idiom translation。