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Beyond phonetic transfer

Semiotic dimensions and strategies for transliterating cultural terms

ORCiD logo with link | Nanjing University | CNCTST-NJU Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Terminology and Translation Studies
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Abstract
Transliteration has been widely practiced in the translation of cultural terms, yet it is commonly seen as mere phonetic transfer, neglecting its diverse semiotic potentials. Drawing from Peircean Semiotics, this paper reframes transliteration as a combination of iconic transference, indexical interpretation and symbolic interaction. It then moves to reclassify transliteration strategies of cultural terms with examples taken from the termbase of Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture, a Chinese national term translation project. Three major transliteration strategies are then presented, namely iconic transliteration, indexical transliteration and conventional transliteration, each targeting at different term functions. A three-step transliteration process is then proposed to facilitate cultural terminology translation practice. It hopes to deepen our understanding of transliteration in the translation of cultural terms, which may open new spaces for term translation studies.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Semiotic dimensions for understanding the transliteration of cultural terms
    • 2.1Defining transliteration for the present study
    • 2.2Transliteration as a three-fold semiotic practice
    • 2.3Semiotic features of Chinese cultural terms
  • 3.Transliteration strategies of cultural terms in the termbase of Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture
    • 3.1Iconic transliteration: Phonetic fidelity for cultural objects
    • 3.2Indexical transliteration: Conceptual construction for complex ideas
    • 3.3Symbolic transliteration: Norm-building for cultural identity
  • 4.Practical guide for transliterating cultural terminology
    • 4.1Step one: Determining the necessity of transliteration
    • 4.2Step two: Selecting the appropriate transliteration strategy
    • 4.4Step three: Systematic cross-checking
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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