SOUND SYMBOLISM AND ITS TRANSLATION COMPENSATION
——WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ONOMATOPOEIA
by
WU Lijing
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate School and College of English
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Arts
Under the Supervision of Professor Shi Zhikang
Shanghai International Studies University
December 2007
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
i
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to my teachers and friends at Shanghai International Studies University
who made it possible for me to have the privilege of living and studying in a linguistically
and culturally rich environment. I also thank Hefei Teachers’ College whose financial
support enhanced the above privilege.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Professor Shi Zhi-kang, my
supervisor. It has been a great honor and joy to work under his guidance and with his
encouragement. I thank him for opening my eyes to the wonders of two of the most
precious gifts we have: the human mind and the ability to share what is in it with others.
I thank Professor Feng Qinghua, Professor Mei Deming, Professor Xu Yulong, Professor
Xie Tianzhen, Professor Zhang Jian, Professor Luo-ping and Professor Li Mei for their
insightful lectures which provides with the foundations and thoughts underlying this
dissertation.
Finally, a very special “thank you” goes to my wife Zhang Jia-jia for supporting a
husband whose mind was not always free to give her the attention she needed. It is my
pleasure to dedicate this essay to her.
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
ii
Abstract
There are two controversial schools of thoughts concerning the relationship between
sound and meaning, namely Conventionalists and Naturalists, or to put it more concretely,
arbitrariness and non-arbitrariness. The former holds that there is no intrinsic connection
between sound and meaning, that the relations between sound and meaning are
conventional and arbitrary; and the latter insists that the connection does exist, first and
foremost, in onomatopoeia, that the origin of language lies in onomatopoeia, that people
begin talking by creating iconic signs to imitate the sounds heard around them in nature.
Whether or not there is a natural connection between sound and meaning remains unsolved
and will be a hot issue under debate for years to come. However, it goes without saying
that the effective use of sound has great impact on the expression of meaning, which can be
testified by many examples in English and Chinese literary texts as well as ordinary
discourses, as we shall cite in this dissertation, that sound is, if not meaning-bearing,
certainly meaning-enhancing.
According to Eugene A. Nida, the significant features of sound consist primarily of
repetitions, e.g. alliterations and rhyme; punning, that is the use of words that are alike or
nearly alike in sound but different in meaning, and sound symbolism, which is the use of
words with sounds that reinforce lexical meaning, e.g. snip-snap, zig-zag, jim-jams, the flsound in flare, flash, fly, flutter, fitter, flicker, or the use of the s- sound to suggest the
activity of a snake, as in hissing, slithering, slippery, sneaking. Alliteration and rhyme have
been analyzed constantly in the discussion of English poetry and many insightful views
have been contributed to this area; meanwhile, punning has arrested everlasting attention in
the research domain of translation studies for its divertingness and complexity; whereas
sound symbolism, though arousing much interest in the linguistic circles, is still a fresh
ground in the translation studies field.
This thesis focuses on sound symbolism in English, which refers to some certain
English sounds or properties of sounds and their partial and systematic correspondence
with their meanings, and its translation strategies into Chinese. Since sound symbolism
exists in many English language resources and is diversified in forms, we will choose
onomatopoeia, the most direct and imitative representation in particular for the
convenience of our discussion. The thesis consists of five chapters:
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
iii
Chapter One explains the purpose and significance of the present research. It contains
a brief review of previous work on sound symbolism and its translation, the object and
research methodology of this study.
Chapter Two begins by an investigation of the sound/meaning debate in linguistic
history and follows by the generalization of the three leading schools of thoughts. Then a
detailed illustration is given about sound symbolism in English and its major traits;
meanwhile, the possible existence of sound symbolism in Chinese is also discussed. By a
comparison between English and Chinese writing system the author concludes that sound
symbolism is typical in English and has apparent significance in its literal expression,
while Chinese is weak at this point.
Chapter Three examines the translatability of sound symbolism and its compensation
strategies. Most of the translators hold that sound effects are untranslatable since English
has a totally different sound and spelling system from Chinese. However, still many argue
that sound effects are frequently created by English writers to reinforce their meaning or
convey aesthetic feelings. A translator cannot ignore these sound effects and focus sorely
on the transference of meaning. If he does, he will sacrifice the aesthetic aspect of the
original work. Therefore, the transference of sound effects is very important in the
translating process. Nevertheless, theorists holding the above view are not at all blind to
the difficulties in the transference of sound effects. As a result compensation theory is put
forward as a solution. Firstly the author introduces the form/meaning paradox in translation
and the limitations in translating sound effects. Then he discusses compensation theory and
its possible application in communicating sound effect between different languages.
Finally the author tries to summarize some feasible ways in the transference of English
sound effects into Chinese.
Chapter Four chooses onomatopoeia as the basis of discussion about the translation of
sound symbolism and its concrete compensation strategies, since onomatopoeia is the most
direct and basic representation of sound symbolism and exists both in English and Chinese.
The author probes into the characteristics of onomatopoeia and gives a simple comparison
between English and Chinese onomatopoeic words. Then he explores different methods in
the translation of English onomatopoeic words into Chinese and the use of compensation
strategies. In the end, the author offers some useful hints in the translation of sound
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
iv
symbolism, which might shed some light on the future study in this area.
Chapter Five concludes the dissertation with a summary of the main discussions of
the present work and suggests the topics that need further study in the future.
Sound symbolism is a very important property of English language and has hitherto
been employed by many insightful authors to impress those sensitive readers and add
aesthetic value to their writing. Successful translators are keen to these sound effects and
are ready to rack their brains to convey them, if not possible, at least they may use other
equivalent means to compensate for those effects in return. It is these efforts interweaved
into a translation that makes it lasting and analogous to the original. And it is in dealing
with these translation works that we can tell a truly translator from a mere translation
craftsman.
中文摘要
v
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
语言学界对语音与语义的关系问题历来存在两种观点，即任意说和非任意说。持
任意说的人认为词的声音与意义之间没有必然的联系，音义之间的对应关系是任意而
约定俗成的。一旦这种对应关系得以确立，就相对稳定下来，难以更改。持非任意说
的人则认为词的声音与意义之间有一定的联系，最明显的例证便是拟声词，它可以直
接让人联想到发出声音的物体。除了拟声词以外，还有一些属类相同或相近的词，它
们的发音也存在或多或少的联系。不论这两派的争论孰是孰非，语音的重复或交替可
以对意义产生影响是不可否认的事实，英汉语言中很多例证都可以说明这一问题。
奈达认为英语语音突出的表现特征有三点，即重复，如头韵和脚韵；同音异义，
如双关；语音象征，即某些特定的音节或音节组合具有特定的联想意义。这些语音手
段的使用无疑可以增强语义的表达效果。辜振坤和孙迎春也认为汉语里的四声和押韵
现象可以有效的增强文章的表现力，并进而指出汉语里也存在音义同构现象。头韵和
脚韵的探讨在英诗研究和翻译领域已经司空见惯，双关研究在语言学和翻译领域也成
果迭出，唯有语音象征现象近年来虽在英美语言学界方兴未艾，并在此基础上形成了
音义学这一专门学科，但从翻译学角度来观察语音象征现象的研究成果尚不多见，或
者说还没有形成一定规模。随着翻译学与语言学、文学、心理学、哲学以及文化学的
交叉结合，翻译研究的多学科属性和研究途径已经广为人知，近年来语言学的发展和
深化也进一步为翻译学提供了新的研究视角。
本文旨在讨论英语中的语音象征现象在翻译成中文的过程中所面临的损失以及
相应的补偿策略，并以拟声词为例具体探讨英汉表音系统的相同和相异之处，以及在
翻译转换过程中的相互借鉴和补偿措施，试图将理论与实践相结合，总结出英语中的
音义关联现象在汉语中的体现手法。本文共分五章：
第一章引言，说明本论文的研究目的和意义，综述前人对语音象征现象的分析以
及翻译补偿策略的由来，并明确本论文的研究范围和研究方法。
第二章总结了音义关系争论中的主要流派和代表观点，并进而讨论英语中语音象
征现象的特征及其表现，以及汉语中语音象征现象存在的可能性。所谓语音象征现象，
就是某些特定的英语语音具有一定的联想意义，因而含有这些语音的词汇也具有相同
的联想意义。由于英语是拼音文字，汉语是象形文字，所以英语在摹写声音方面具有
汉语难以比拟的优越性，语音象征现象在英语中也就显得更为普遍。汉语在长期的发
展和变化之中也形成了独特的表音体系，可以描摹自然界的各种声响，音义同构的现
象在一定程度上也存在于汉语之中，只是数量不多，也未形成体系。
第三章讨论了音韵效果在翻译中的传达及其补偿策略。音韵效果指通过精心运用
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
vi
元音、辅音、音节以及词语与句子结构的重复等手段使文字具有一定的韵律，阅读时
可以产生不同于一般散文的效果。由于文字的内容与形式是一个有机的整体，音韵效
果对增强文字的表现力具有重要作用，因而，在翻译过程中译者应力求在译作中再现
原作的音韵效果。然而，形式与意义又是翻译中一对难以调和的矛盾，译者在处理音
义关系的过程中难免顾此失彼，有时不得不择其一端，这样就出现了舍音求意或者抑
意就音两种倾向，无论译者选择哪种策略，所产生的译文相对于原文来说都面临不可
避免的损失。这种损失对于文学作品的翻译是不可估量的，既削弱了译文的表达效果，
也减弱了原文的美学价值，从而在整体了背离了原文。针对翻译中的种种损失，很多
翻译理论家提出了翻译补偿理论，即充分利用译入语的表达优势，将源语特有的语言
形式在译文中以另外的方式加以补偿。这一理论的提出，在一定程度上弥补了音韵效
果在译文中面临的严重损失。具体到英汉翻译来说，即译者可以利用汉语的音韵和构
词特征，将英语中丰富的语音象征现象以汉语特有的形式加以补偿。
第四章集中探讨了英语拟声词的特征及其翻译策略，并以此为基础总结语音象征
现象的翻译策略和补偿措施。拟声词是人类运用发音器官单纯模仿自然界声音的结
果，是语音象征现象最直观最形象的表达，因而它也成为研究语音象征现象的翻译及
其补偿策略的最佳例证。英汉两种语言尽管在书写与发音方面存在诸多差异，但面对
拟声词这一特殊现象时却存在个别对应的情况，这是因为人类对自然界的模仿存在相
似之处，不过这样的例子及其罕见。由于英汉两种语言表音和表义系统更多的是相异
而非相同，英语中某些特有的语音是汉语所无法复制无法模仿的，而英汉两种语言在
模仿自然界声音的角度和方法方面也存在很大的差异，因此在翻译的过程中需要采取
相应的手段加以转化，有时还需要寻求相应的补偿措施来传达原文的独特效果。在这
一部分里作者希望通过拟声词的翻译方法的探讨来达到由个别到一般，探寻语音象征
现象在翻译中的普遍补偿措施。
第五章结束语，总结了本论文讨论的内容，并提出了今后需要进一步研究的课题。
语音象征是英语中比较常见的语言现象，是英语作为拼音文字的特殊优势。而汉
语是象形文字的语言，在语音描写方面存在先天的缺陷，因而英汉翻译当中有些损失
是不可避免的，在音义难以兼顾的情况下有时不得不牺牲形式来达到意义的最大等
值。然而是否意识到原文的语音效果，是否努力在译文中传达这种效果，往往成为区
分译者水平高下的分水岭，翻译匠往往进退维谷，翻译家却能进退裕如。
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………............…1
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
vii
1.1. The Purpose and Significance of the Present Research………………..…………..3
1.2. Literature Review of the Previous Study………………………………..…………5
1.3. The Scope and Research Methods of the Thesis………………………...…….….10
Chapter 2 The Nature of Sound Symbolism ……………………………………...........11
2.1 The Sound/Meaning Relationship………………………………………...….....…11
2.1.1 The Naturalist Overgeneralization.…………...………………………....…..12
2.1.2. The Conventionalist Overgeneralization.…………………...…………...….13
2.1.3. The Combination of Arbitrariness and Non-Arbitrariness. ………………...14
2.2. Sound Symbolism. ………….….…………….………………………….…....….15
2.2.1. The Definition and Representations of Sound Symbolism……....................15
2.2.2. Types of Sound Symbolism….……………….………………….………....17
2.2.2.1. Corporeal Sound Symbolism…………………………………...…...19
2.2.2.2. Imitative Sound Symbolism……………………………………....…19
2.2.2.3. Synaesthetic Sound Symbolism………………………..…...…….…20
2.2.2.4. Conventional Sound Symbolism…………………………...………..20
2.2.3. Sound Symbolism in Chinese….……………….…………………………...21
2.3. Sound-symbolic Form……………………………………………………...…......23
2.4. Conclusion. ………….….……………….………………………………...……...24
Chapter 3. The Losses in Translating Sound Symbolism and the Compensation Strategies……26
3.1. The Translators’ Dilemma ….….………………………………………….……...27
3.1.1. The Uniqueness of Literary Language…….….……………………...…..…28
3.1.2. The Losses in Translation….….……………….………………...…….……29
3.2. Sound Effect and its Translation……….….……………….……...………..….…31
3.2.1. The Decision-Making Process……………….…………………...….……..33
3.2.2. Sound in Poetry Translation: A Way Out?………………………...…..……34
3.3. Translation Compensation….……………….…………………………...…….…37
3.3.1. The Definition of translation Compensation………………………………..38
3.3.2. Types of Compensation…………………………………………………..…39
3.4. The Compensation Strategies for Translating Sound Symbolism ………………..42
3.5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…..45
Chapter 4 Onomatopoeia and its Translation………………………………………….46
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
viii
4.1. The Definition of Onomatopoeia…………………………………………………46
4.2. Classifications of Onomatopoeia…………………………………………………47
4.2.1. Onomatopoeia Produced by Human………………………..……….……...48
4.2.2. Onomatopoeia Produced by Animals…………………….…….……..…….48
4.2.3. Onomatopoeia Produced by Other Things………………….…………....…49
4.3. Onomatopoeia in Chinese……………………………………………...……..…..50
4.3.1. Characteristics…………………………………………….…………….…..51
4.3.2. Reduplication………………………………………….………………....…52
4.4. The Translation of Onomatopoeia……………………………………........…..…53
4.4.1. Transliteration……………………………………………..………….....…53
4.4.2. Substitution…………………………………………………...……....……55
4.4.3. Adaptation…………………………………………………………….....…57
4.4.4. Repetition…………………………………………………………..…..….58
4.4.5. Four-character Idioms…………………………………………...……...…60
4.4.6. Generalization……………………………………………….…………….62
4.4.7. Omission…………………………………………………………………..63
4.4.8. Amplification………………………………………………….….…….…64
4.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….……64
Chapter 5 Conclusion………………………………………………………….……….66
Bibliography………………………………………………………………….……..…..68
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
1
Chapter 1 Introduction
There is a parable about the cuckoo who tells her neighbors in the province about the
wonderful song of the nightingale she heard in a far-away country. She learned this song,
and is willing to reproduce it for the benefit of her neighbors. They are all eager to hear
that marvelous song, so the cuckoo starts singing: "kukuk, kukuk, kukuk". The moral of
the parable is that that's what happens to bad translators of poetry. When we translate from
one semiotic system to another, we are constrained by the options of the target system. The
cuckoo had no choice but to use cuckoo-language for the translation. The question is
whether she utilized those options of cuckoo-language that are nearest to the nightingale's
song. The bird emits neither the speech sound [k] nor [u]; it uses no speech sounds at all.
But a poet in human language is constrained by the phoneme system of his language; he
can translate the cuckoo's song only to those speech sounds. His translation will be judged
adequate if he chooses those speech sounds that are most similar in their effect to the
cuckoo's call.
In poetry, people tend to be on the look-out for reinforcements for schematic
patterns. They are therefore sensitive to suggestive qualities of sound which pass
unnoticed in other kinds of discourse. However, a configuration of sounds suggests a
particular type of reference only if that reference is in any case invoked by the meaning.
“John Crowe Ransom has a witty illustration of this point: only two slight changes of
pronunciation, he notes, can turn Tennyson’s evocative phrase ‘the murmuring of innumerable bees’
into ‘the murdering of innumerable beeves’—a phrase from which the pleasant suggestion of
humming on a sultry summer afternoon is utterly banished.”（Geoffrey N. Leech, 2001:96）
In the first place, certain sounds—the voiceless /s/, for example—possess a range
of potential suggestibility, rather than a fixed or single capability. Thus a prominence of
ss is capable of suggesting certain classes of sounds （ rustling, hissing, sighing,
whispering）but not other classes（booing, humming, hammering, or groaning）. In the
second place, this power of suggesting natural sounds or other qualities is relatively
weak—too weak to operate unsupported by meaning—and because of its range, is only
latent. The semantic content of words has to activate and focus this imitative potential. If
the semantic content does not do this, then the collocations of sounds are in most cases
neutral.
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
2
The question of what and how a sound pattern communicates is one of the most
mysterious aspects of literary appreciation. To a great extent, the music of phonological
schemes, however difficult that quality may be to analyze, is its own justification. One
does not feel cheated because the alliteration of measureless to man, sunless sea, etc. do
not seem to have any external significance—for example, any imitative effect. On the
other hand, there are ways in which external considerations may add point to the
patterning of sound. A very different kind of reinforcement takes the form of a
resemblance between what a piece of language sounds like, and what it refers to. This is
onomatopoeic, in a broad sense of that often loosely used word.
Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds by speech sounds. It can be
understood in a number of different ways. In its narrowest and most literal sense, it refers
to the purely mimetic power of language—its ability to imitate other （ mostly
non-linguistic）sounds. In the opening lines of Spenser’s Prothalamion, the italicized
sibilants represent, in this literal way, the sound of the wind:
Calm was the day, and through the trembling air
Sweet-breathing Zephyrus did softly play. （Geoffrey N. Leech, 2001:97）
Like /s/ and /z/, the sighing of the wind is a fricative sound, produced by the
passage of air through gaps or past obstructions; there is consequently a resemblance on a
fundamental physical level. An example of a similar kind is Keats’s line:
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours（ibid）
where the consonances of /st/ and /z/ are perhaps felt to mimic the sound of apples being
squeezed in the cider-press—a kind of prolonged squishiness.
But on a wider and rather more abstract interpretation, the phonological patterns of
these two examples can be taken to represent not just the sound of what they describe, but
the activity as a whole. The connection is made not via the ear alone, but through the little
understood pathways of empathy and synaesthesia.
Onomatopoeic effects are attributable to the general color of sounds on such
dimensions hardness/softness, thinness/sonority. Although judgment of whether a sound
is hard or soft, etc. is ultimately subjective, it seems that there is enough general
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
3
agreement on such associations to form the basis of a general system or language of
sound symbolism. Moreover, this language is apparently common to different literatures.
The association between the consonant /l/ and the impression of ‘softness’, for instance,
has been traced in the poetry of several languages by Ullmann, who cites the following
lines by Keats as an English example:
Wild thyme and valley-lilies whiter still
Than Leda’s love, and cresses from the rill.
[Endymion,Ⅰ] （Geoffrey N. Leech, 2001:98）
It is, in fact, possible to list classes of English consonants impressionistically on a
scale of increasing hardness:
liquids and nasals: /l/, /r/, /n/, /1/（as in ‘thing’）
fricatives and aspirates: /v/, /7/, /f/, /s/, etc.
affricates: /t)/, /d=/.
plosives: /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/. （ibid）
1.1. The Purpose and Significance of the Present Research
The issue at stake is the translation of perceived qualities from reality to some
semiotic system, or from one semiotic system to another, such as from English to Chinese.
The precision of translation depends on how fine-grained are the sign-units of the target
system. If the target system is sufficiently fine-grained and its nearest options are chosen
to represent a source phenomenon, it may evoke a perception that the two are
“equivalent”, otherwise, translation losses are inevitable and some compensatory means
must be adopted to achieve the similar effects produced by the original.
English is based on the alphabetic writing system in which there is a correspondence
between single symbol and single sound type, although mismatches do happen between
the forms of Written English and the sounds of spoken English, while many Chinese
written symbols, or characters, are used as representations of the meaning of words
instead of the sounds of the spoken language. In this way, the sound patterns based on
phonological features of English simply cannot be reproduced in Chinese, unless a formal
correspondence is introduced by some radical distortion of the meaning. Since no two
languages have exactly the same sounds, it is inevitable that carrying over a word from
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
4
one language to another will involve some type of adjustment. This adjustment may be
based on the sounds involved, or it may be merely a type of transcription of the letters
used to identify the original word.
There is wide agreement that the main aim of the translator is to produce as nearly as
possible the same effect on his readers as was producing on the readers of the original. The
principle is variously referred to as the principle of similar or equivalent response or effect,
or of functional or dynamic equivalence under whose guidance the sound effects, if they
exist in the original, must remain in the translation. Inevitably, the translator must try to do
something about them and, if not, compensate, either by putting them elsewhere or
substituting another sound, since compensation is a technique which involves making up
for the loss of a source text effect by recreating a similar effect in the target text through
means that are specific to the target language and/or text.
The present research investigates sound symbolism in English, which refers to some
certain English sounds or properties of sounds and their partial and systematic
correspondence with their meanings, and its translation strategies into Chinese. Since
sound symbolism exists in many English language resources and is diversified in forms,
we will choose onomatopoeia, the most direct and imitative representation in particular for
the convenience of our discussion.
Having emerged onto the world stage in the late 1970s, translation studies has been
taken more and more seriously. In addition to linguistic points of view, aspects associated
with the science of communication, with psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, textlinguistics,
speech act theory, philosophy of action, and the study of literature have taken on relevance
for the science of translation. And the interdisciplinary nature of translation has been noted
for years. Sound symbolism, an old topic being studied anew, has served as the basis of a
new subject called phonosemantics1 and thus aroused much interest in the linguistic
circles. Yet it is still a fresh ground in the translation studies field. The present study
attempts to associate sound symbolism with translation studies and hopefully it will yield
some insightful hints in the theory and practice of English/Chinese translation.
1.2. Literature Review of the Previous Study.
1
Phonosemantics is a branch of linguistics and refers to the idea that vocal sounds have meaning. It is also called sound
symbolism at times.
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
5
The study of sound symbolism can be traced back to as early as Plato’s Cratylus
dialogues. In the first half of the Cratylus, Socrates argues that the foundation of word
semantics must lie in phonetics.（Margaret Magnus, 2001: 13）
In 1653, according to Genette (1976), John Wallis published a list of English
phonesthemes including among a great many others, for example:
- wr shows obliquity or twisting: wry, wrong, wreck, and wrist, “which twists itself and everything
else in all directions.”
- br points to a breach, violent and generally loud splitting apart: break, breach, brook.
- cl reflects adherence or retention: cleave, clay, climb, close, “almost all of which come from
claudo.（Margaret Magnus, 2001: 14）
John Locke（1689）argues that if there were any natural connection between sound
and meaning whatsoever, we would all be speaking the same language. Obviously he is
against the idea that sound symbolism exists in any language.
In 1808, the eighteen-year-old Charles Nodier produced his Dictionnaire des
onomatopée. The dictionary included entries such as:
Bedon (potbelly): onomatopoeia of the noise of a drum.
Biffer (to scratch out): noise made by a quill pen passed rapidly over paper.
Briquet (tinder): noise of two hard bodies that violently collide with each other, breaking one
into pieces. （Margaret Magnus, 2001: 15）
Nodier's youthful dream was to create the perfect phonosemantic language, which
proved to be too ambitious at that time.
In 1836 Wilhelm von Humboldt distinguished three types of relationships between
sound and meaning in language. The first class is generally called ‘onomatopoeia’
throughout the phonosemantic literature. The second class refers to the imitation of a
semantic ‘essence’ by the actual articulation of the phoneme, as stand, steady, stiff give the
impression of fixity. Von Humboldt’s third class is informally called ‘clustering’, which is
the designation by sound-similarity according to the relationship of the concepts to be
designated. Words whose meanings lie close to one another are likewise accorded similar
sounds. Humboldt’s classification serves as the guidance for many scholars in this field.
Grammont (1901) saw sound-meaning correspondences as the essence of poetry. He
observes that any ordinary French phrase can of course be rendered in any other language,
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
6
but that an element of meaning becomes especially prevalent in poetry that makes it
inaccessible to exact translation, and this he considers to be the contribution sound is
making to meaning. He therefore sees some utterances as more mimetic and therefore
higher or better than others.
The most celebrated opponent of sound symbolism is, of course, Ferdinand de
Saussure (1916). By declaring definitely that the link between signal and signification is
arbitrary, he is stating that a regular correspondence between sound and meaning would
render linguistic change impossible, and cause us all to be speaking the same language.
Dwight Bolinger of Harvard University was the primary proponent of sound
symbolism through the late 1940's and the 1950's. Bolinger approached the field through
an inquiry into the nature and status of the morpheme. He concluded that morphemes
cannot be defined as the minimal meaning-carrying units, in part because ‘meaning’ is so
ill-defined, and in part because there are obvious situations in which smaller units are
meaning-carrying.
Jakobson was probably the most influential representative of sound symbolism in the
latter half of the 20th Century. He felt that many distinctions, including the distinction
between form and meaning drawn by structuralists and others were not entirely valid.
Jakobson's view on the interrelatedness of sound and meaning was strongly influenced by
his studies in poetics. He studied poetry throughout his life, and especially in later years, he
wrote numerous analyses of poems seeking to get at what it was about the interrelations
and juxtapositions of sound that gave the poem its powerful emotional effect.
In 2001, Margaret Magnus explored sound symbolism thoroughly in his doctoral
dissertation entitled What’s in a Word—Studies in Phonosemantics, in which he testifies his
assumption that individual phonemes and phonetic features are meaning-carrying. Every
word which contains a given phoneme bears an element of meaning which is absent in
words not containing this phoneme. And the effect of the phoneme-meaning varies with the
position that the phoneme bears within the syllable. All phonemes which have a common
phonetic feature also have a common element of meaning. He also compiled an English
dictionary according to this sound/meaning correspondence.
Other prominent linguists such as Bloomfield（1909-1910）, Sapir（1929）and Otto
Jespersen（1922）all expressed their views in the research about sound symbolism.
Sound Symbolism and Its Translation Compensation
7
However, their studies are limited in the linguistic field and most of them are scattered in
different works. In the translation studies circle, many theorists show their concern about
the transference of sound effects.
Edward Sapir（1921）stated that literature moves in language as a medium, but that
medium comprises two layers, the latent content of language—our intuitive record of
experience—and the particular conformation of a given language—the specific how of
our record of experience. Literature that draws its sustenance mainly from the lower level,
like a play of Shakespeare’s, is translatable without two great a loss of character. If it
moves in the upper rather than in the lower level—a fair example is a lyric of
Swinburne’s—it is as good as untranslatable. There are certain things that one language
can do supremely well which it would be almost vain for another to attempt. But
generally there are compensations. The vocalism of English is an inherently drabber thing
than the vowel scale of French, yet English compensates for this drawback by its greater
rhythmical alertness. In the same way, the profound sound symbolism in English can also
be compensated by the combination of sound and grapheme in Chinese.
Nida（1964）maintained that phonological correspondences between source and
receptor languages are of three types: transliteration of borrowed lexical units; plays on
words which are phonologically similar; and patterns of form-sound style, involving
alliteration（the beginning of two or more stressed syllables of a word group by the same
sound or combination of sounds）, rhyme, and acrostic arrangements, i.e. a composition,
usually verse, in which the initial letters of the successive lines have some special
significance. A conscious literary artist will always try to make the written form of the
language communicate the same basic message that the corresponding spoken form
would convey. To do so he must use more attributive terms to characterize the activity,
employ a higher percentage of action words to suggest a sense of motion and action, and
introduce certain sound effects, e.g. alliteration and sound symbolism, thus compensating
for the personal accompaniments of actual speech, i.e. the paralinguistic elements in
language. However, it becomes a paradox for the translator if he or she ventures to keep
both the sound effects and the meaning of the original work. Even more difficult to
represent are whole series of form-sound patterns. These patterns, based on phonological
features of the source language, simply cannot be reproduced in a receptor language,