CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF THE LACUNA’S TRANSLATION MODEL IN MODERN LINGUISTICS

Abstract

The cultural turn makes translation shift from word – text to cultural register. According to the view of cultural translation, culture serves as the translational unit. The lacunarity phenomenon, which is a linguistic and cultural occurrence when two languages are compared, has grown into a significant issue that translators must resolve. Therefore, the urgency of this research has changed to how to eliminate cultural conflict and fill up lexical lacunas. In this paper, we first clarify the similarities and differences of terms related to the lacunarity phenomenon from the perspective of their relevance. Then, aiming at the compensation of linguistic lacunas (semantic and pragmatic) in literary works, we adopt inductive, deductive, and modeling research methods according to the adequacy principle of translation, and put forward for the first time the concept of constructing the lacuna’s translation model in modern linguistics (novelty), with the purpose of building a complete set of systematic solutions to the translation problem of this phenomenon, so as to make the translation harmonious and unified in three aspects: aesthetic value, text equivalence, and functional correspondence. We can draw this conclusion from the meta-theoretical analysis of the lacuna’s translation model in modern linguistics and its use in the translation of the book “Tales of Hulan River” by Chinese author Xiao Hong: The model is a systematic innovation and endeavor in the field of translation based on linguistic research, and it has practical methodological importance. It can provide a set of formulaic reference standards for translators to interpret lexical lacunas. The following are the justifications for the conclusion: First, the model’s foundation is linguistic research on the concept of “lacuna”, including the examination of the relationships between terms such as “reality”, “non-equivalent words”, and “lacuna”, as well as the investigation of their definition, nature, classification, and semantic range; Second, the model adheres to the “adequacy” principle of translation, which comprises acceptability, similarity, and transmissibility while taking into account both the reader-translator and original-author orientations. This approach is robust and universal exactly because it takes into account every side involved in the translation process; Third, the model’s three theories work well together. L. S. Barchudarov developed 6 levels of semantic equivalence for language translation units, which focused more on the text’s equivalent in translation and disregarded the text’s communicative and aesthetic purposes. As a pragmatic addition to the equivalency theory of the former, the 7 functional dimensions outlined by Juliane House in the idea of functional correspondence of text can be applied. Meanwhile, by using the 6 organization principles of Gestalt psychology, the lacuna’s translation model in modern linguistics incorporates the translation form and subjective feelings into the reference mechanism from the needs of the reader as the subject of aesthetic meaning. It can be said that the triple theory offers a variety of reference indicators for translators, and they are free to combine suitable reference indicators in the filling of lexical lacunas represented by material culture, behavioral culture, institutional culture, and conceptual culture. According to the different types of lacunas, they can use translation methods such as transformational, interlinear, pragmatic translation, as well as by combining transcription, transliteration, replacement, omission, amplification, reconstructing, permutations, explanations in the text and other translation techniques, which reflects the flexibility of the translation model. However, the lexical lacunas themselves can be interpreted as a defective vocabulary in the target language, and the primary goal of the translator should be to compensate for or fill this defect, to let the reader understand “what does this mean”, then the functional correspondence of the lacuna's translation becomes more important. In other words, the lacuna’s translation model in modern linguistics requires the translator to pay more attention to pragmatic function and aesthetic effect; when necessary, translators must abandon low-level semantic equivalence and strive for high-level equivalence.