Fuzzy Language in Literature and Translation: a case study of The Da Vinci Code and its two Chinese versions

Abstract

Precision in language is relative and conditional while fuzziness is an absolute and universal predicate. Based on this understanding, the present research project attempts to introduce the notion of ‘fuzziness’ into translation research. It contends that on both the operational level of translation practice and the abstract level of translation theory, there is such a feature of ‘fuzziness’: On the one hand, the translator is faced with the need to handle the fuzzy language in his/her texts during the translation process; and on the other hand, there is the problem of a theoretical fuzziness when the translator tries to decide or discuss what approaches to take in solving the problems of fuzzy utterances and texts.

To support this argument, the thesis draws on the bestseller The Da Vinci Code and its two Chinese translations as a case study. The analyses of the data from the chosen novel show that there are three kinds of fuzziness which may be described as (a) extratextual (or background) fuzziness, (b) textual (or internal) fuzziness and (c) mixed (or combined) fuzziness; and that when these features of fuzziness are realised in language form three dimensions of fuzziness may be distinguished, namely fuzziness on the temporal and spatial dimension of language, fuzziness on the dimension of culture and fuzziness on the dimension of rhetorical features. Each dimension is then further divided into two aspects: one involving the denotative and connotative meanings of the language used while the other its pragmatic significance. It is argued that a dialectical relationship exists between what is ‘fuzzy’ and what is ‘precise’ in literary language, and that this dialectics applies to the process of translation as well. Alongside this argument, it is suggested that the best approach to the translation of fuzzy utterances is that by which ‘fuzziness’ is matched with ‘fuzziness’. From this basic approach, a whole series of strategies and techniques may be derived, including the matching of different types and different degrees of fuzziness.

In its effort to search for some scientific, or less subjective, way of assessing the fuzziness of language and the extent of equivalence in fuzziness between a TT and its ST, this project applies to its data analysis ideas obtained from ‘fuzzy set theory’, ‘fuzzy mathematics’ and ‘Shannon/information entropy’. The scientific method is then followed by the more conventional type of textual analysis. Drawing insights from both fuzzy linguistics and fuzzy logic, the author hopes that this study of The Da Vinci Code and its Chinese translations could be more comprehensive. It is hoped that the detailed analysis of the various kinds of fuzziness in the texts will help bring about an enhanced understanding of how the notion of fuzziness functions in both the practice and the study of translation.

The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One, the introduction, describes the background, aims, research questions, methodology, scope and significance of the research. Chapter Two is a general literature review of the theories on fuzziness. Chapter Three begins with a classification and definition of fuzzy language from a translation studies perspective. Then, it goes on to offer a cognitive discussion of the pragmatic inference apparatus involved in

interlingual communication, before proposing an interpretation of the Buddhist translational concept of Bu Ge (不隔) or “Leaving nothing unexplained (in the act of translation)”. Chapter Four discusses the propositions that multi-valued logic and the concept of super-truth value can be applied in the handling of fuzzy features of language, and that more flexible translation methods can be employed in the actual operation of translation. The chapter demonstrates how a scientific method can be employed to assess the fuzziness of utterances - this is mainly done by analysing the fuzziness in the reader’s understanding of the information content of given texts. Chapter Five reports detailed findings of the textual analyses of examples selected from The Da Vinci Code and its Chinese translations. Finally, Chapter Six summarises the research findings of the project. Constraints are pointed out, and suggestions made for possible future studies in the field.