A?Comparison?of?Chinese?and?English Oxymoron?and?Its? Application in?Translation?and?English?Teaching

【摘要】英语和汉语都有悠久历史，都具有非常丰富的表达方式。比较两种语言的修辞格，特别是比较中英矛盾修辞法的异同及其在翻译与英语教学中的应用，可以真正做到语言上的互相借鉴，互相补充。在英语学习中掌握这种语言的辞格还能有效地提高英语学习者的阅读能力及语言表达能力。

【关键词】比较；矛盾修辞法；翻译；教学

【作者简介】杨薇，广东海洋大学寸金学院。

【基金项目】广东省高等教育教学研究和改革项目“创新创业融入应用型大学英语教学研究”（立项文号：粤教高函【2016】236号）和广东省2016年重点培育学科建设项目英语语言文学学科（GD2017011102）成果之一。

1. Introduction

At present， an increasing number of Chinese learners are taking English as a foreign language. Oxymoron， as a common phenomenon in English and Chinese spoken and written language， plays a significant role in the application in rhetoric， translation and teaching.

2. A Comparison of Chinese and English Oxymoron

2.1 Comparison in structure

The formation of English and Chinese oxymoron has great similarity with each other， which can be reflected in the following ways.

（1）adjective + noun：He called my conviction a glorious defeat.他把我的審判结果称为一场表面的败仗，实际的胜仗。（2） noun +noun：They had a love-hate relationship.他们的关系是爱中有恨，恨中有爱。（3）noun + prep. + noun：祸兮福所倚，福兮祸所伏。No great loss but some small profit.（4） verb + adverb：他被活活地烧死。He was burned alive。（5） verb-ing/-ed +noun： a living death半死不活（6） adjective + adjective：a miserable merry Christmas.又悲又喜的圣诞节。

However，the difference of the formation of English and Chinese oxymoron is shown by the following aspect.

For English：（7） adverb+ verb- ing/-ed： She was agreeably grieved by the news.那消息使她感到悲喜交集。（8） adverb+ adjective： A mercifully fatal blow.慈悲致死的打击。

For Chinese：（9） modifiers + headwords：这是我党历史上的一场喜剧，一场可悲的喜剧。This is a comedy in the history of our party， a tragic comedy.

2.2 Comparison in meaning

2.2.1 The relations of two contradictory elements in English oxymoron

（1）Troponym：the modified word is the act or state or existing way presented.

a careless observation. 粗心的观察。

（2）Cross-relation： indicated by the modified words whose meanings mutually mingle and reciprocally permeate.

Serious vanity： a sentiment both serious and vain. 既庄重又轻慢。

2.2.2 The differences of two contradictory elements in Chinese oxymoron

In English：

（1）Cause-and-effect relationship：the modified word which usually is the cause of the condition which the modified word wants to express.

Cruel kindness： kindness that result in cruelty. 害人不浅的仁慈。

In Chinese：

（2） reciprocal or complementary relation

雅得这样俗。

2.3 Comparison in pragmatic function

2.3.1 Pragmatic analysis in daily spoken language

2.3.1.1 Cooperative Principle

Paul Grice thinks that in making conversation， the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate. The general principle is called the Cooperative Principle， abbreviated as CP. To be more specific， there are four maxims under this general cooperative principle proposed by Grice which includes 4 maxims： quality， quantity， relation and manner.

2.3.1.1.1 Violation of the maxim of quality

（17） Wife：What the relationship between you and that woman， what are you doing when Im out？ Husband： oh， dear， it is just a normal aberration. （正常的越轨）

Wife： Normal aberration！ You take me as a fool？！Ok， never next time！

It is difficult to understand normal aberration in （1）. How can aberration be normal？ Here， the husband says what he believes to be false and that for which he lacks adequate evidence. Apparently， he has violated the maxim of quality.

2.3.1.1.2 Violation of the maximum of quantity

Violation of the maximum of quantity not to make your contribution as informative as required or make your contribution more informative than is required.

（18）A： What about the matter yesterday night？B： Oh， it was a stormy tranquil night.

A： Oh， thanks for God！ （Chen， 1990： 40）

2.3.1.1.3 Violation of the maxim of manner

A： whos it， do you know the person in the picture？B：Intimate stranger.

A： Oh， you mean you dont know him exactly？ B： Yes.

From the first answer of B， B wants to express his purpose of “though I don not know this person he seems familiar to me as if I have met him before.” From the speed， the acts and a series of relevant factors It can be known that B doesnt know the person in the picture but has the feeling of familiarity.

2.3.2 Pragmatic analysis in written language

2.3.2.1 The violation of the CP rule

The violation of the CP rule is not limited in oral speech， but also occurs in lots of literary works among which the Shakespeares most obviously reveals. We can see this from one dialog from Romeo and Juliet.

寶玉说：“关了院门吧。”袭人笑道：“怪不得人家说你无事忙。”

Pao-yu said： “The court gate is shut， isnt it？” “No wonder，” said shi-ren in a smile， “they say you made much ado about nothing.”

3. Oxymoron in English-Chinese translation

3.1 Word-to-word translation

Because the oxymoron of English and Chinese are similar in some grammatical construction， the form can be transplanted between the two. This kind of translation is called word-for-word translation.