Metaphorical Framing in Political Translation: Translating Xi Jinping’s Ecological Progress

Year 2024, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 1 - 20, 30.06.2024

Enci Huang Qijun Song

https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.62

Abstract

Metaphors are intricate linguistic devices and potent cognitive-discursive tools for persuasion in both source texts (ST) and target texts (TT). They primarily function in framing, namely the selection and clarification of cognitive domains, a function that is particularly vital in political communication. Yet, metaphorical framing, aka metaphor framing, as a pivotal cognitive strategy remains underexplored within political translation. In light of this, our study investigates how metaphorical framing operates in translating the Ecological Progress chapter of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. We find that metaphorical framing in political translation involves cognitive manipulation, emphasizing certain cognitive domain aspects and incorporating models of moral reasoning. In the case of Ecological Progress, institutional translators make explicit urgency and cooperation frames by personifying ‘ecology’ and establish a resolution frame through the translation of ‘red line’ and ‘thunder pool.’ This mediation helps to present China’s positive image and manifest its official stance. While ST and TT may differ in metaphor configurations, the TT frames resonate with the ST’s ideological and moral principles and align with the moral cognitive model of the target community. As such, the TT seeks to reinforce the moral authority of China’s call for international ecological cooperation, legitimate its ecological policies, and shape an image of a responsible, forward-thinking nation committed to ecological protection.

Keywords

metaphor translation, framing, Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, translatorial mediation, institutional translation

References

• Boeynaems, Amber, Christian Burger, Elly Konijn, and Gerard Steen. 2017. “The Effects of Metaphorical Framing on Political Persuasion: A Systematic Literature Review.” Metaphor and Symbol 32 (2): 118–134. doi:10.1080/10926488.2017.1297623.
• Brugman, Britta, Christian Burgers, and Barbara Vis. 2019. “Metaphorical Framing in Political Discourse Through Words vs. Concepts: A Meta-Analysis.” Language and Cognition 11 (1): 41–65. doi:10.1017/langcog.2019.5.
• Cao, Lingmei, and Hong Wang. 2017. “Xi Jinping Huayu Zhong De Zhongguo Tese Yinyu Ji Yingyi Yanjiu—Tiyan Zhexue De Shijiao.” [English translation of metaphors with Chinese characteristics in Xi Jinping’s speeches: From the perspective of embodied Philosophy.] Languages and Translation 33 (3): 65–70. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=z-1yOu6aphMsCKL1KaF8jvZCKlWvLVpbBLNaNiDiXqBgvCih-ZlR_VaUMJ18AKlUwKRuivgISa4gpVVD7IKp6T3VWflnvpFarcf8TrFQSytTPQSaAyhzwNj-BsSO_-3DCaBV-Tld3X8=&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS.
• Charteris-Black, Jonathan. 2011. Politicians and Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Metaphor. 2nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Entman, Robert. 2004. Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and US Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Foss, Sonja. 2017. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. Long Grove: Waveland.
• Gu, Chonglong. 2022a. “Concordancing Develop* at the Interpreter-Mediated Press Conference: A Corpus-Based CDA on Reform and Opening-up (RoU) as an Overarching Metadiscourse Justifying China’s Recent Development.” Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, no. 21, 55–84. doi:10.52034/lanstts.v21i.721.
• Gu, Chonglong.. 2022b. “Interpreters as Vital (Re)Tellers of China’s Reform and Opening-Up Meta-Narrative: A Digital Humanities (DH) Approach to Institutional Interpreters’ Mediation.” Frontiers in Psychology, no. 13, 1–13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.892791.
• Gu, Chonglong.. 2023. “Low-hanging Fruits, Usual Suspects, and Pure Serendipity: Towards a Layered Methodological Framework on Translators and Interpreters’ Ideological Language Use Drawing on the Synergy of CDA and Corpus Linguistics.” Perspectives 31 (6): 1014–1032. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2022.2148545.
• Hart, Roderick, Suzanne Daughton, and Rebecca LaVally. 2018. Modern Rhetorical Criticism. 4th ed. New York: Routledge.
• Lakoff, George. 2002. Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Lakoff, George. 2006. Whose Freedom: The Battle over America’s Most Important Idea. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. 1st ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Li, Jingjing, and Saihong Li. 2015. “New Trends of Chinese Political Translation in the Age of Globalisation.” Perspectives 23 (3): 424–439. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2014.983530.
• Li, Ke. 2020. “Xiuci Piping Shiyu Xia Zhiguo Lizheng Shengtai Huayu De Yinyu Yanjiu.” [A study of metaphors in ecological discourse of the governance of China from the perspective of rhetorical criticism.] Journal of Hunan University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition) 23 (3): 105–111. doi:10.13582/j.cnki.1672-7835.2020.03.013.
• Li, Shuguang. 2022. “Shengtai Wenming Hexin Wenti De Yinyu Bianqian—Jiyu Renmin Ribao (1949-2021) De Lishi Fenxi.” [Metaphor changes of core issues in ecological civilization: A longitudinal analysis based on ‘People’s Daily’ (1949-2021).] Foreign Languages Research 39 (3): 7–14. doi:10.13978/j.cnki.wyyj.2022.03.007.
• Li, Tao, and Feng Pan. 2021. “Reshaping China’s Image: A Corpus-Based Analysis of the English Translation of Chinese Political Discourse.” Perspectives 6 (1): 71–77. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2020.1727540.
• Liu, Dong. 1996. “Zhou Enlai Guanyu Huanjing Baohu De Lunshu Yu Shijian.” [Zhou Enlai’s discourse and practice on environmental protection.] Beijing Dangshi 11 (3): 30. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=z-1yOu6aphODHBwMwFWBEyqRoqpGJO768BBie3Ek_UL6jwZ0OKrnheq7ayLU_Y8d9qXUNlQtNIcANSITRv4_yd228gt4CYeZvfkvwhMYrtZCmQcNgmVDCyP9F6X1tnj2&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS.
• Milman, Oliver. 2017. “US Federal Department is Censoring Use of Term ‘Climate Change’, Emails Reveal.” The Guardian. August 7. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/07/usda-climate-change-language-censorship-emails.
• Mio, Jeffery Scott. 1997. “Metaphor and Politics.” Metaphor and Symbol 12 (2): 113–133. doi:10.1207/s15327868ms1202_2.
• Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Tice Hall.
• Pragglejaz Group. 2007. “MIP: A Method for Identifying Metaphorically Used Words in Discourse.” Metaphor and Symbol 22 (1): 1–39. doi:10.1080/10926480709336752.
• Semino, Elena, Zsófia Demjén, and Jane Demmen. 2018. “An Integrated Approach to Metaphor and Framing in Cognition, Discourse, and Practice, with an Application to Metaphors for Cancer.” Applied Linguistics 39 (5): 625–645. doi:10.1093/applin/amw028.
• Simpson, Paul, and Andrea Mayr. 2009. Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.
• Snell-Hornby, Mary. 2006. The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting View-points? Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Song, Qijun. 2024. “(De-)metaphorisation and Ideology in Political Discourse: A Critical Framing Analysis of ‘Gene’ in Chinese and English Contexts.” In (Critical) Discourse Studies and the (New?) Normal, edited by Stefania Maci and Mark McGlashan. Berlin: Peter Lang.
• Song, Qijun, and Junfeng Zhang. 2024. “Ideological Mediation: Metaphor Shifts in Translating the Communist Party of China’s Centenary Speech.” Critical Arts 37 (6): 1–17. doi:10.1080/02560046.2024.2303431.
• Stibbe, Arran. 2015. Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By. London: Routledge.
• Thibodeau, Paul. 2016. “Extended Metaphors Are the Home Runs of Persuasion: Don’t Fumble the Phrase.” Metaphor and Symbol 31 (2): 53–72. doi:10.1080/10926488.2016.1150756.
• Thibodeau, Paul. 2017. “The Function of Metaphor Framing, Deliberate or Otherwise, in a Social World.” Metaphor and the Social World 7 (2): 270–290. doi:10.1075/msw.7.2.06thi.
• van Dijk, Teun A. 2018. “Sociocognitive Discourse Studies.” In The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, edited by John Flowerdew and John Richardson. London: Routledge.
• Wang, Cungang. 2022. “Zhizhengdang Renzhi Guojia Zhanlue Yu Quanqiu Zhili Jizhi Biange—Yi Zhongguo Gongchandang Yu Quanqiu Qihou Zhili Jizhi Weili.” [Shifts of the ruling party’s cognition, national strategy, and global governance mechanism: A case study of the communist party of China and global climate governance mechanism.] Northeast Asia Forum 31 (6): 18–35. doi:10.13654/j.cnki.naf.2022.06.002.
• Wang, Shaohua, and Wei Zhang. 2018. “Hou Zhenxiang Shidai Huayu Yanjiu De Xin Lujing: Piping Jiagou Fenxi.” [New approach in discourse studies in the post-truth era: Critical framing analysis.] Foreign Language Education 39 (4): 29–34. doi:10.16362/j.cnki.cn61-1023/h.2018.04.006.
• Wodak, Ruth. 1999. “Critical Discourse Analysis at the End of the 20th Century.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 32 (1-2): 185–193. doi:10.1080/08351813.1999.9683622.
• Xi, Jinping. 2014. Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
• Zhang, Hui, and Yanmin Zhang. 2020. “Piping Renzhi Yuyanxue: Lilun Yuanliu Renzhi Jichu Yu Yanjiu Fangfa.” [Critical cognitive linguistics: Theoretical origins, cognitive foundations, and research methods.] Modern Foreign Languages 43 (5): 628–640. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=z-1yOu6aphNSMeqnpBCZWI70vLzpcmZPmN4CXuxkT22fRqUhFtVr1RzyVz1GqENPM5tnsYk1gVnzdq6h2EQA5EVQH98otZXuHwzL_6xEnbjhJyLnHm3bxPp7vzcRbijUVc5DoKRGaP0=&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS.
• Zhang, Shouxian. 2014. “Zhongguo Shengtai Wenming Jianshe De Huayu Xingtai Ji Dongli Jichu.” [The discursive forms and driving forces of China’s ecological civilization construction.] Studies in Dialectics of Nature 30 (10): 119–123. doi:10.19484/j.cnki.1000-8934.2014.10.022.
• Zhao, Dingxin. 2009. “The Mandate of Heaven and Performance Legitimation in Historical and Contemporary China.” The American Behavioral Scientist 53 (3): 416–433. doi:10.1177/0002764209338800.
• Zhu, Chunshen, and Junfeng Zhang. 2015. “Dancing with Ideology: Grammatical Metaphor and Identity Presentation in Translation.” Meta 60 (3): 387–405. doi:10.7202/1036135ar.
• Zhu, Yuchao. 2011. “Performance Legitimacy and China’s Political Adaptation Strategy.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 16 (2): 123–140. doi:10.1007/s11366-011-9140-8.
• Zimmer, Ben. 2013. “The Long History of the Phrase ‘Red Line’.” The Wall Street Journal. July 19. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20150120155955/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323993804578612210634238812.