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    28 October 2022, Volume 22 Issue 5 Previous Issue    Next Issue
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    Articles
    The Spatial Imagination of Dante’s Paradiso
    LU Yang
    2022, 22 (5):  5-11.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.001
    Abstract ( 320 )   HTML ( 3 )   PDF (1377KB) ( 171 )  

    In his “Letter to Can Grande Della Scala” which was presented to his patron in exile along with his unfinished Paradiso, Dante reiterates the allegorical meaning of poetry. This poetics can be traced back to Aquinas’ scholasticism. Dante let Aquinas, who inherits Aristotle’s philosophy, to host the Sphere of the Sun, which coordinates faith and reason, is then a perfect spatial location. Allegorically, the nine fold space structure in Paradiso echoes the eleven major medieval learning based on the “seven arts”. The images of Beatrice reflect each other in divine and secular worlds, which lead to an intertexual reading of Paradiso and Vita Nuova. Harold Bloom wonders if Dante’s Beatrice really exists in history, even if she is the daughter of a banker indeed, for after all she is in the ideal projection of Dante’s unique personality and poetic talent. The farewell between Dante and Beatrice in the background of the “white rose” reveals the poet’s everlasting sorrow.

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    Archaeology of Knowledge, Discourse Restructuring and International Communication of Chinese Culture: Reflections on American Sinologist Burton Watson’s translation of Chinese Cultural Classics into English
    HU Anjiang
    2022, 22 (5):  12-21.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.002
    Abstract ( 331 )   HTML ( 3 )   PDF (1598KB) ( 301 )  

    From a transknowletological perspetive, this paper discusses the cultural behavior and social practice of “knowledge processing, reconstruction and retransmission” of the renowned American Sinologist Burton Watson in his process of translating Chinese culture into English, especially his translational practical aesthetics of “knowledge archaeology” and “discourse restructuring ”. Under the background of this new era, it has extremely important theoretical value, practical value and immediate significance to strengthen the theoretical research of international communication, construct the international discourse system, improve the art of discourse communication, promote the global expression, regional expression and focused expression of Chinese stories and Chinese voices, and enhance the affinity and effectiveness of Chinese discourse translation and international communication. Meantime, if we examine the feedback mechanism such as communication and distribution channels, library collections, Amazon book sales ranking and reader evaluations, we also need to reflect upon the deficiencies and shortcomings of Watson’s translation practice and find practical ways to solve them.

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    Translational Knowledge and Its Threefold Forms
    YU Xudong, FU Jingmin
    2022, 22 (5):  22-30.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.003
    Abstract ( 342 )   HTML ( 5 )   PDF (1317KB) ( 331 )  

    Knowledge is the ladder for human progress and the first productive force of modern society. The reproduction, dissemination and regeneration of knowledge can only be achieved in actions, and translating is naturally a type of knowledge action. However, people used to merely focus on the structured knowledge transferred in translation, putting translation in a subordinate position, which has shadowed its function in terms of knowledge reconstruction and innovation, and ignored the contributions of translation studies to the human knowledge. From the perspective of modern knowledge science, translational knowledge is not just structured knowledge rendered by translation, but can be knowledge reconstructed through translation. In addition, it can be thematic knowledge concerning the topic of translated knowledge. For this reason, this paper proposes that translational knowledge is a complex entity which consists of thematic, reconstructed as well as structured forms. Only when we clarify this threefold form of translational knowledge and their internal logic, can we reveal the true value of translation in knowledge accumulation and (re)production.

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    An Interpretation of the Relationship between Transknowletology and Cognitive Translatology
    PAN Yanyan
    2022, 22 (5):  31-39.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.004
    Abstract ( 450 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (1279KB) ( 285 )  

    Translation is a cultural behavior and social practice based on the translator’s cognitive activities of cross language knowledge processing, reconstruction and redissemination. From the perspective of human cognitive mechanism, this paper attempts to clarify the necessity and rationality of Knowledge Translatology, and promote the breakthrough of this new concept in theory and method. This paper discusses the similarities and complementarities between Knowledge Translatology and Cognitive Translatology and points out that Cognitive Translatology can be regarded as one part of the studies of Knowledge Translatology, and suggests future research topics from the perspective of cognitive science,i.e.: the use of metaphor, metonymy and mental space in conceptualizing knowledge; brain thinking activities and language psychological processing in the complex translation space; realization of the constructive functions of cognition, evaluation, changing and interpretation of knowledge generated and transmitted through translation, etc.

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    Rationality and Frontier of Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics from the Perspective of History of Philosophy: The Philosophical Foundation of Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics II
    LI Hongru
    2022, 22 (5):  40-48.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.005
    Abstract ( 356 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (1235KB) ( 194 )  

    Founded by Chinese scholar professor Wang Yin, Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics is under vigorous development. Based on his critical reference from the three turns in the history of Western philosophy and his proposal of its fourth turn, this article attempts to clarify one of the scientific bases of Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics (focusing on the subjectivity and objectivity of language at the same time) and demonstrate its scientific and advanced natures, thus laying foundation for the establishment of Embodied-Cognitive Philosophy from the perspective of history of Western philosophy. The research finds that from ontology to epistemology, then to language theory, development of the whole history of western philosophy shows a shift from ignoring subjectivity to attaching importance to subjectivity, from ignoring language to attaching importance to language. The nature of language is the integral combination of subjective and objective factors. Precisely because of the attention on the duality of unified subjectivity and objectivity of language nature, Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics successfully avoids the bias in language study: either attaching great importance to objectivity, or attaching great importance to subjectivity, and scientifically meets with the requirements of language itself; Because of the balanced focus on subjectivity and objectivity, it transcends the research paradigms of separate concern on objective or subjective nature of language, which generates its characteristic of advanced nature.

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    “Face Score”: Its Route of Birth, Meaning of Development and Argument of Embodiment-Cognition from the Perspective of Linguistic Phenomenon
    LIN Keqin
    2022, 22 (5):  49-57.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.006
    Abstract ( 370 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (1683KB) ( 189 )  

    The birth of the neologism “Face Score” was influenced by the wide spread of visual culture. In the times of advocating Visual Aesthetics, the expression “Face Score” was produced through a movement of creating words based on the frame of value applied before linguistic surface features. From the perspective of ECL, the birth of new words is the outcome of mapping the objective world by human beings as subjectivity, which magnify ECL’s core principle of “reality-cognition-language”. The linguistic idea of embodiment-cognition emphasizes the important role of embodiment in the process of language emerging. Those meme complexes appearing from the embodied reactions manufactured many new words such as “Face Score” based on the cavity and module affix of language. Though language has fuzziness and ambiguity from its birth, the system of cognitive processing in the brain reconstructs and extends a trend of fuzziness, ambiguity, iconicity and inclusiveness from its original meaning.

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    Two Question Formats in Mandarin Chinese Conversation: An Epistemic Approach
    QUAN Lihong, MA Jinlong
    2022, 22 (5):  58-69.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.007
    Abstract ( 282 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (1618KB) ( 239 )  

    Questions are pervasive in ordinary conversation and institutional talk. Using the methodology of conversation analysis, this study examines the differences between the ma-formatted questions and the a-formatted questions in Mandarin Chinese conversation in terms of form, function, and epistemic stance. The results show that: (1) ma-formatted questions tend to involve a range of self-repair operations such as replacing and addition, while a-formatted questions are usually in the form of partial or full repeats; (2) ma-formatted questions are inquiry-implicated while a-formatted questions contribute to constructing surprise, (dis)agreement, or (dis)belief; (3) a-formatted questions tend to present a stronger epistemic stance than ma-formulated questions.

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    Theoretical Interpretation of Ontogenesis in SFL: Connotation, Origins and Implications
    ZHOU Haiming
    2022, 22 (5):  70-79.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.008
    Abstract ( 355 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (1265KB) ( 209 )  

    The systemic-functional school innovatively employed the biological term ontogenesis, with a view to revealing the characteristics and patterns of language development. Most of the previous research has been undertaken in the form of case study, while few attempts have been made to interpret the theory itself. From the semogenetic perspective, the connotation of ontogeny has been greatly enriched. The systemic-functional school has absorbed ideas from linguistic anthropology, evolutionary biology and constructivist psychology to build a solid foundation for the ontogenesis theory. Ontogenesis in SFL is not merely a theory about language, but also a metatheory concerning the interrelation between human, language and society. It is argued that ontogenesis has positive implications for accounting for the nature of grammar and its function of construing experience.

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    Language and Its Crisis in the Post-Truth Era
    LIN Yi
    2022, 22 (5):  80-87.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.009
    Abstract ( 484 )   HTML ( 9 )   PDF (1358KB) ( 238 )  

    The word“post-truth”has remained its popularity in fields of politics and communication since it became word of the year of Oxford Dictionary. Language constitutes an important dimension of post-truth research given its use as a medium for spreading truth and ideology. The article traces how “post-truth” came into being as a buzzword and evaluates the role language plays in presenting or misinterpreting “truth”. The overuse of rhetoric by public speakers and the powerful effect of media on our emotions lead to the spread of post-truth and the declining of confidence in language. Attributing to the crisis is the manipulation of language in communication, the abuse of it in mass media, and the generational language gap brought by new media. The author holds that the truth and aesthetic value of language can be maintained only with a genuine commitment to language itself and the proper use of it.

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    New Thought of Ecolinguistics and Its Implications to Ecological Discourse Analysis
    HA Changchen, HUANG Guowen
    2022, 22 (5):  88-96.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.010
    Abstract ( 816 )   HTML ( 14 )   PDF (1316KB) ( 308 )  

    Arran Stibbe defines the term “ecolinguistics” as “the study of the role of language in the life-sustaining interactions of humans with other species and the physical environment” in the monograph of second edition entitled Ecolinguistics (Stibbe 2021). Previous studies inclined to “influencing how humans treat ecosystems”, however, it has been changed into “seeing language as part of ecosystems” under the guidance of new thought. Starting from Stibbe’s recent thought, this study reviews ecolinguistics studies and the general framework of discourse analysis, focusing on implications for ecological discourse analysis in China. The results show that our ecological discourse analysis should concentrate on three aspects: (1) exploring the ecological value of our traditional culture, (2) refining the types of ecological discourse, and (3) improving the level of ecological literacy. This is of great significance in terms of further developments of ecolinguistics studies in China.

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    A Reductive Analysis of Conceptual Metaphor from the Perspective of Philosophy of Dialogue
    WANG Yu, DU Shihong
    2022, 22 (5):  97-109.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.011
    Abstract ( 310 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (1438KB) ( 140 )  

    The theory of conceptual metaphor proposed by Lakoff and Johnson has a fundamental claim: A great deal of ordinary language is metaphorical. This claim triggers a question to be thought about in the present study: What is the nature of the small portion of non-metaphorical language? Unfortunately, this question has not been further tackled by Lakoff and Johnson, only to have left it over unanswered in the academic world. Accordingly, the present study attempts to investigate into two basic questions with regard to conceptual metaphor: What is the nature of conceptual metaphor? What characteristic can be found from the small portion of non-metaphorical language? Centering on the two questions, the present study is to conduct a reductive analysis of conceptual metaphor from the perspective of Buber’s philosophy of dialogue. Based on a series of analysis, the present study has found that the conceptual metaphor in nature is the secondary product of language and thought, and a language has a basic part consisting of primary words which cannot be metaphorical, and all metaphors are secondary and creative products in language use. Such expression as “I am you” cannot be interpreted as conceptual metaphor, simply because in terms of Buber’s philosophy of dialogue the primary words “I” and “you” are not conceptually descriptive but contextually sensitive instead.

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    On Emergency Language Comforting
    LIU Xiaoyu
    2022, 22 (5):  110-119.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.012
    Abstract ( 224 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (1628KB) ( 154 )  

    The mental health status of humanity is facing severe challenges in public emergency events, while the traditional mental health guarantee system is no longer satisfactory to deal with global catastrophe. As a component of emergency language service, emergency language comforting is an effective tool to managenegative psychological conditions of people. This paper reviews the rise and development of language comforting, analyzes the background of Chinese emergency language comforting, tries to define its research domains and major elements. It is hoped that this paper may facilitate the standardization and systematization of emergency language comforting, contribute to emergency language service system and help to make full use of the positive effect of language on building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind Health.

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    On Capital Operation in the Translation Field in Modern China: A Case Study on Translator Ma Junwu
    SONG Jing
    2022, 22 (5):  120-128.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.013
    Abstract ( 328 )   HTML ( 3 )   PDF (1511KB) ( 228 )  

    In Modern China, translators played an important role in enlightening new ideas and initiating the new era. Ma Junwu, one of the most outstanding representatives of the first generation of translators, enjoyed a nationwide reputation for introducing western learning to China. This paper examined the interaction between translation field and Ma Junwu’s capital operation mode, and explored the coordination of power relations in the translation process in that specific context. Ma’s translation activities were characterized by the interpenetration, interaction and coexistence of all kinds of capital. His capital operation met the demands for awakening the nation and establishing the new era, and exerted a far-reaching impact on the construction of Chinese modernity in Modern China.

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    New Interpretation of the Death of Roderick Usher:The Result of the Declining Ecostate and Ecorole
    MEI Cuiping
    2022, 22 (5):  129-136.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.014
    Abstract ( 364 )   HTML ( 5 )   PDF (1419KB) ( 428 )  

    As one of the most thrilling stories written by Adgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher, still leaves the room for the critics to explore. In the study, the niche ecostate-ecorole theory is employed to explain the death of Roderick Usher. On the one hand, his ecostate is poisoned by the unfavorable environment around the House of Usher, and worsened by the lonely living atmosphere, which distorted him both physically and psychologically. On the other hand, his useless ecorole in his living surrounding and demonically burying his twin sister Miss Madeline adversely affected his ecostate. When his ecostate and ecorole was finished, his niche as a natural human ended. It is supposed that the ecolinguistical explanation provides a new angle for the analysis of the death of Roderick Usher.

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    An Intercultural Analysis of the Manifestation and Evolution of Ethnocentrism in Amy Tan’s the Bonesetter’s Daughter
    HU Yanhong, SHUAI Lina
    2022, 22 (5):  137-145.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.015
    Abstract ( 365 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (1479KB) ( 306 )  

    The Bonesetter’s Daughter is another novel focusing on mother-daughter relationship, written by the Chinese-American female writer Amy Tan who had already published the Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife. From the perspective of intercultural communication, this paper analyzes the ethnocentric tendency of the main characters, Mother Ruling and Daughter Rose, and its negative impact on their conflicting relationship. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the mother and daughter learn to understand each other and get reconciled by crossing the barrier of ethnocentrism. The analysis illustrates that the choice of daily-used language, nonverbal signals and educational concepts are three ethnocentric manifestations causing their conflicts. This paper further analyzes the strategies to go beyond ethnocentrism and diminish cultural conflicts, appealing for an open, tolerant attitude towards different cultural values, norms and ways of thinking in order to achieve appropriate and effective intercultural communication.

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    An Empirical Study of the Awareness of English as a Lingua Franca in Classroom Teaching
    WANG Yangyu
    2022, 22 (5):  146-154.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.016
    Abstract ( 258 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (1272KB) ( 263 )  

    With the frequent communications among speakers of different L1 backgrounds, English as a lingua franca has been more frequently used in intercultural settings in the context of globalization. However, language education in China is still predominated by native speakers’ norms. There is a mismatch between the kinds of English that are taught in classrooms, and the kinds of English that are needed for communication, thus it is urgent to improve the awareness of English as a lingua franca among classroom participants. This study investigates into ELF awareness through document analysis, classroom observation and teacher interview in China’s English classroom teaching in the higher education context. It finds that the general lack of ELF awareness among classroom participants, analyzes the factors that hinder stakeholders’ awareness of ELF, and provides feasible suggestions for the ELF-oriented classroom teaching.

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    Multi-perspective Analysis of National Translation Capacity Building: A Summary of “The Second Symposium on National Translation Capacity: Theory and Practice”
    ZHANG Yingjie, ZHU Yuben
    2022, 22 (5):  155-160.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2022.05.017
    Abstract ( 339 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (893KB) ( 193 )  

    On May 28, 2022, the Second Symposium on National Translation Capacity: Theory and Practice was convened at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Held one year after China’s central leadership’s call to action to enhance the country’s international communication capacity, the symposium provided an occasion for translation scholars to review the latest progress and challenges in the area. This paper summarizes the various new topics of and approaches to national translation capacity building raised at the symposium, and identifies ways to further strengthen China’s national translation capacity in the future.

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