“PoliticalCorrectness”Imp lication in Addressing Translation

◆Dan Yang

(Schoo lof Foreign Languages,Yanshan University)

“PoliticalCorrectness”Imp lication in Addressing Translation

◆Dan Yang

(Schoo lof Foreign Languages,Yanshan University)

In America,the 1960s’CivilRightsMovem entbrought forth a new trend of thought:PoliticalCorrectness(PC).The use of PC language is farbeyond a single linguisticm atter.Thispaper exp lores the imp lication on translation transition in addressing from the sem antic perspective and System ic FunctionalL inguistics, and findsout the significant cause-that is,the princip le of PC pushing behind.

po litical correctness translation transition add ressing

1 In troduction

In recent two decades,changesoccurred to certain addressing,for instance, physically challenged was rep laced by the handicapped/the disabled;mentally challenged by the lunatic/the insane;financially challenged by the deprived/ the lesswell off;visually challenged by the blind;fo llically challenged by the bald;and those offensive language such asO riental,A siatic,Chinks,Kikes, Dagos,Polack,Jap were also rep laced by A sian,Chinese American,Jew ish A-m erican,Italian Am erican,Po lish Am erican,and Japanese Am erican.

W hy did such changes happen?Thispaper,selecting one pair ou tof those add ressing-physically challenged vs.the disabled,traces the fact from perspectivesof Semantics and.

2 D iscussion

2.1 From Semantic Perspective

A cco rding to G.Leech in his Sem antics,“It is“denotative"in that it is concerned w ith the relationship between aword and the thing it refers to.Philosophers use connotation,opposite to denotation,tomean the propertiesof the entity aword denotes.And affectivem eaning isw hat is comm unicated of the feelings and attitudesof the speaker/w riter."

A s exp lained in Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese D ictionary (Extended Fourth Edition),the term"disab led"in its denotativemeaning, means"unab le to do something,esp.bymaking a limb or limbsuseless"/"suffering from a seriousphysicalormental disability".M eanwhile,its connotative m eaning conveys the fact that thiskind ofpeop le are already notab le to do som ething,esp.the k indsof thingswhich shou ld be done/m ade by a lim b,and they have already lost the ability desperately.A s this connotation conveys som e kind of"notab le"it totally desperate the d ream of"able"w ithoutcare and consideration of the feelingsof the targetperson it refers to,and thisw ill affect the affection of the person invo lved.From the affective angle,the speaker/w riter can be assumed to be very passionlessand objective to the targetperson this term refers to,and seem s to have less sympathy.W hile theword challenge,in denotation, means"test the ability of(sb);stimu late"so that"the physically challenged" refers to the kind ofpeop lewho are tested or stimulated in physical.The connotation of it conveys that the person invo lved is just dem anded o r tested by physical capability,butnot received the ruth less verdictof“notab le”and this,to large extent,offers a sortof com fortand consideration to the targetperson it refers to. From the affective angle,this typeofaddressing ismore hum ane,w ithmore sympathy to peop le’s feeling.

2.2 From System ic FunctionalL inguistics Perspective

In System ic FunctionalL inguistics,"tenor refers to the participants in a discourse,their relationships to each other,and their purposes.Field refers to the subjectmatteror contentbeing discussed."

From the tenor and field angle,we could observe the fact that in public speaking,if the po litician orpub lic speaker addressed some of the audience he/ she is speaking to,as"the physically challenged"instead of"those d isab led"it wou ld possib ly gain great am ities by this kind of rem arks,for he/she treats the peop le as he/shewould treat his/her fam ily,andmore importantly,thiswou ld reduce the politicalbias and attain friend ly relationship among all races of peop le.

Based on the discussion above,it is very easy to find out that the physically challenged’add ressing ismore sensitive than the disab led’,and it can acquire more common ground w ith the target readers/hearers,thusmuchmore reduces the political prejudice and isolation,just because it soundsmore sympathetic, more hum ane and friend ly.

3 Conclusion

Such translation transitions in addressing discussed above does reflect the impercep tible changesof socialawareness,and this trend of addressing cou ld be conc luded aspolitical correctness,aim ing at acquiring equal rights and freedom inwaysofpo litics,culture and religion,againsthegemony and racialdiscrim ination and gender bias.A lso,in cu ltu ral sense,it cou ld be referred as cu ltural sensitivity-the ability to correctly understand,respectand successfu lly dealw ith the peop le ofother cultures.

PC in American English show s peop lew ithdraw from various kinds of language disc rim inations.The use of po litically correct language is far beyond a single linguisticm atter,but influenced by the righ tof free speech and the tim es.It is also the reflection in language ofAmerican concep tion“L ive and let live”.

[1]Leech,G.1981[1974]Semantics:The Study ofM eaning,2nd edn. Harmondsworth:Penguiin.1981.

[2]Tenor(linguistics)From W ikiped ia,the free encyclopedia.2009-4-25.

[3]肖安法.政治上正確的語言[J].四川教育學院院報,2007,(5):91 -94.