On the Study of Translatability of Puns

Abstract：As a figure of speech， puns are frequently created and used both in ancient times and at present， in literary works and in our daily life; however， because of the differences of languages and cultures， some translators hold that puns can not be translated. Here， this paper intends to put forward the commonly used methods that are supposed to be adopted in the translation of puns.

Key words： functional equivalence;pun;translatability

中图分类号：H059 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1005-5312（2015）09-0094-01

Puns seem omnipresent. People can easily find puns when they are reading， watching TV programs， going shopping etc. As time goes on， more and more new puns are invented by people from all walks of life. Besides， as a rhetorical device， puns frequently appear in some great works， such as Hamlet. Numerous puns are created through creative and ingenious work of writers; and these puns make works much more effective， meaningful and thought-provoking. The translation of puns is quite interesting as well as extremely tough. The study of the translation of puns in the West is much more developed than that in China. Western culture emphasizes a lot on humor; as a result， translation of humor and other similar rhetorical devices has been studied in a considerable degree. In contrast， the study of the translation of puns between English and Chinese is quite inadequate in China.

How can translators deal with these puns， and how can they reproduce the rhetorical effect that these puns bring to the original？ Can puns be translated at all？ Up to now， these questions have not been solved yet. Experts on translation cling to different ideas about these problems， and no agreement has been achieved yet on whether puns can be translated or how they are translated. Therefore， it needs to be studied further.

In whatever kind of languages in the world， there are words which look or sound alike， but have different meanings， or connotations， and there are also words that have more than one meaning， or have developed figurative meanings. Thus some other classifications are based on the two types of similarities in words.

On highways， there is a sign， which says：“Better late than the late.”

In this sentence， the word “late” means “coming， occurring， or remaining after the correct， usual， or expected time; delayed”， and the phrase “the late” denotes “someone who had died recently”. This sentence can be found on highways to advise the drivers to control the speed. Besides， “Better late than the late” is similar to “better late than never”. So it can remind the drivers that if they did not control the speed on highways before， they’d better control it from now on. So the sentence can be translated as“迟到总比永远不到好”. With the pun in this sentence， it can give drivers deep impression， thought-provoking and attention value can be achieved.

Paronomasia refers to the use of two words or expressions with the same or similar sound and different spelling. There is a telephone advertisement：Make your every hello a real good-buy.（使你的每次通话都圆满结束。）

The “good-buy” here has the same pronunciation of the word “goodbye”， namely， they are homophones （同音词）. People often begin a call with “hello” and end the call with “goodbye”. If every call from the “hello” to “goodbye” is smooth; this telephone is real a “good-buy”.

In English Writing and Rhetoric written by Prof. Wen Jun， a more specific means of classification brings about five categories of puns： homophonic pun （同音双关）， paronomasia （谐音双关）， antalaclasis （一词异义双关）， sylleptic pun （一词多义双关） and asteismus （歧解双关）.

Almost all languages in the world own words with more than one meaning. There are different words with the same/similar spelling/pronunciation and words that are synonymous or near-synonymous. On this ground， puns can be found in every language. Puns may be considered the perfect illustration of the close tie between language and thought， and the use of puns is a means of creating a strong expression and rhetorical effect mainly of the humorous and satirical type.

Pun is one of the common rhetorical figures in English. It is widely used in our daily life. The use of English pun can enrich the expression of language and prompt people to appreciate the beauty of language. And homonyms， homophones and homographs provide many chances to use English pun. A pun often has double meanings， one is the surface meaning， the other is the implied meaning， and the implied meaning is often what the author intends to tell us. Therefore， to understand and translate English pun is very difficult. As an English learner， we must learn the characteristics of English pun， only when we master the features of English pun can we use it easily and effectively.

In conclusion， through the study and analysis， this thesis puts forward its own translation-methods categories for translating puns from English into Chinese. Because of the limited condition of research and limited knowledge of the author， this thesis may own some limitations， so it needs to be further studied in the future.