Linguistic Relativity of Zero Personal Pronouns in Rakugo Translation： Focusing on Sense of Self  

作　　者：Rieko Matsuoka Ian Smith 

机构地区：[1]National College of Nursing, Tokyo, Japan [2]British Council, Tunis, Tunisia

出　　处：《US-China Foreign Language》2012年第1期825-836,共12页美中外语（英文版）

摘　　要：In the process of translating culturally colored discourse, important features of a society can be revealed. In this study, rakugo, which is the traditional Japanese performance art of telling comic stories, is used as data for analysis According to linguistic relativity, differences in perspectives on reality often manifest themselves as specific features in language use in speech communities, and these differences seem to cause complications in translation because some words are specific to a particular language and cannot be translated literally. Translating a culturally-colored script, therefore, may necessitate the in-depth examination of given cultures or worldviews. By examining the data of a rakugo script written by Sannyuutei Kyoraku with the notion of linguistic relativity in mind, the first and second person pronouns are highlighted as focal points. Based on the frequency of first-person pronouns uttered or not uttered in Japanese where they are uttered in English, and the frequency of second-person pronouns uttered or not uttered in Japanese where they are uttered in English, the meanings of the absences of first or second personal pronouns, i.e., zero personal pronouns, will be investigated. This is related to linguistic relativity hypothesis, including the specific examples exploited, such as in Hall＇s notion of high-context and low-context societies. Furthermore, how zero personal pronouns and Japanese sense of self are related in terms of seken （life-world） is discussed within the framework of linguistic relativity hypothesis

关 键 词：linguistic relativity hypothesis rakugo translation zero personal pronouns low-context society high-context society seken （life-world） Japanese sense of self 

分 类 号：N4[自然科学总论] O412.1[理学—理论物理]