transliteration csub 12.ppt - san francisco state...

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Lectures in Language and Linguistics Series, California State University Bakersfield, January 22, 2013

Foreign Names into Native Tongues:How to Transfer Sound Between Chinese and English

Chris Wen-Chao Li*Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, California 94132-4163, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

This talk will look at the variables that come into play when an English name is translated into Chinese and

vice versa. Naming conventions will be examined, along with options for transliteration and phonological

translation, taking into account the different segmental inventories, phonotactic contraints and syllable

structure requirements of the two languages. The strengths and weaknesses of a number of popular

translation strategies will be examined, along with the merits of competing Chinese romanization systems

from the perspective of language planning and language attitudes.

Keywords: transliteration; phonological translation; phonological awareness; translation; faithfulness; fidelity; Chinese; Mandarin

* Tel.: 001 415 338 1034; E-mail: [email protected]

Outline

• BACKGROUND:

– Translating names between languages – a non-homogeneous process

– Particulars of translating names between Chinese and English

• CHINESE INTO ENGLISH

– Parsing the name

– Sequencing elements

– Faithfulness/fidelity• Preserving sound � romanization

• Preserving meaning

– (Localization)

• ENGLISH INTO CHINESE

– Chinese name templates

– Syllable simplification strategies• Vowel insertion

• Consonant deletion

• Consonant blending

– The role of meaning & imagery

• CONCLUSION

0. Background

roman script(French, Spanish, German)

segmental script(Greek, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi)

phonetic script(Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Korean hangul, Japanese kana)

non-roman script(Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew)

non-segmental script[mora, syllable, feature](Korean hangul, Japanese kana)

non-phonetic script(Chinese; Japanese kanji, Korean hanza, Egyptian hieroglyphics; Mayan glyphs; Sumerian cuneiforms)

• Translating names between language pairs -- not a homogeneous process

(depends on properties of languages involved)

0. Background

• Roman script (transliteration not necessary)

– Special symbols and diacritics (e.g., ü, ñ, ö, é, â, ß)

• [Spanish to English] “mañana”

– Omit diacritics – “manana”

– Keep diacritics – “mañana”

– Rewrite as segment – “manyana”

– Pronunciation (to nativize or not to nativize)

• [French to English] “Notre Dame”

• [Spanish to English] “Don Quixote”

– Source language (Spanish) phonics

» Non-nativized: [ðon kixote]

» Nativized: [dɑn kʰihowtej]

– Target language (English) phonics – c.f. “quixotic”

0. Background

• Non-roman phonetic script (transliteration required)– Cyrillic to roman:

• “Борис” � Boris

• “Светлана” � Svetlana

– Greek to roman:

• “Πανδώρα” � Pandora

• “Σολοµών” � Solomon

0. Background

• Non-phonetic script (e.g., Chinese)– “Hillary Clinton” into Chinese characters (漢字)

– “毛紅軍” into English

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0. Example (Chinese into English)

• Chinese: 毛紅軍 [mɑw2 xoŋ2 tɕɥyn1]

– Parse

•毛[mɑw2] | 紅[xoŋ2] 軍[tɕɥyn1]

• Family | Given

– Sequence• Source language (Chinese):

– Family | Given

–毛[mɑw2] | 紅[xoŋ2] 軍[tɕɥyn1]

• Target language (English):

– Given | Family

–紅[xoŋ2] 軍[tɕɥyn1]| 毛[mɑw2]



– Faithfulness/fidelity (preserve something)

• Preserve sound

• Preserve meaning



– Faithfulness/fidelity

• Preserve sound – choice of romanization (50+)

– [HANYU PINYIN] Mao Hongjun

– [WADE-GILES] Mao Hung-chün

– [YALE] Mau Hungjyun

– [GWOYEU ROMATZYH] Mau Horngjiun



– Faithfulness/fidelity

• Preserve meaning – less common

– Literal:

»紅[xoŋ2] = “red”;

»軍[tɕɥyn1] = “army”;

»毛[mɑw2] = “fur; hair” – TL template restrictions

» “Red Army Fur” not an acceptable name in English

» (Strategy may work for other names though)



– Localization / nativization

• Phonological level

– Hongjun --> Humphrey; Henry

• Semantic level

– “Red Army” --> Redd; Radcliff; Rusty

– “Fur” --> Furr; Furman; Barber

1. Chinese into English

• PARSE

– Han Chinese (syllable count restrictions; meaning-sensitive)

• Family name:

– 1 to 2 (rare) syllables;

– fixed inventory

• Given name:

– 1 to 2 syllables;

– open category (c.f. English)

Family name (FN) Given Name (GN)

FN1-GN1 姚 Yao 明 MingFN1-GN1 鞏 Gong 俐 LiFN1-GN2 毛 Mao 澤東 Tse-tungFN1-GN2 胡 Hu 錦濤 JintaoFN2-GN1 歐陽 Ouyang 修 XiuFN2-GN1 諸葛 Zhuge 亮 LiangF2-G2 司馬 Sima 相如 Xiangru

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• PARSE

– Ethnic / minority (Mongol, Manchu, Tibetan, Japanese)

• Above metrical restrictions do not apply

– Manchu: 愛新覺羅｜溥儀 (Aixinjueluo Puyi = Aisin Gioro Puyi)

– Mongol: 札奇斯欽 (Zhaqi Siqin = Jagchid Sechin)

– Japanese: 三島由紀夫 (Sandao Youjifu = Mishima Yukio)


• SEQUENCE (Family name vs given name)

– SOURCE LANGUAGE (Chinese) sequence = Family + Given (historical figures;

prominent politicians; news celebrities)

• Mao Tse-tung (Chinese revolutionary)

• Hu Jintao (Chinese president)

• Xi Jinping (Chinese president)

– TARGET LANGUAGE (English) sequence = Given + Family (ordinary citizens;

people with westernized names)

• Wen-chao Li (self)

• Yuen Ren Chao (linguist)

• Jackie Chan (actor)

– Where East meets West (entertainment)

• SOURCE LANGUAGE (Chinese):

– Wong Kai War (director); Zhang Yimou (director); Gong Li (actress); Chow Yun-fat (actor)

• TARGET LANGUAGE (English):

– Ang Li (director); Jay Chow (singer); Jet Li (actor)


• FAITHFULNESS/FIDELITY

– Preserve sound (mainstream)

• Romanization systems (50+; see Legeza 1968)

– Preserve meaning (rare)

1. Chinese into English (romanization)

• Issues

– The Mandarin consonant inventory

IPA IPA IPA IPA

labial唇音 [p] [pʰ] [m] [f]

alveolar舌尖 [t] [tʰ] [n] [l]

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前 [ts] [tsʰ] [s]retroflex捲舌 [tʂ] [tʂʰ] [ʂ] [ɻ]

alveopalatal

舌面前 [tɕ] [tɕʰ] [ɕ]velar舌根 [k] [kʰ] [x] [ŋ]


• Issue (1)


• Contrastive aspiration (c.f. English “pie” vs “spy”)

IPA IPA IPA IPA

labial唇音 [p] [pʰ] [m] [f]

alveolar舌尖 [t] [tʰ] [n] [l]

alveolar-sibilant


alveopalatal



• Issue (1)


• Contrastive aspiration (Voice Onset Time [VOT])

Spanish /b/ Spanish /p/

English /b/ English /p/

Chinese /b/ Chinese /p/

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• Issue (1)

– Contrastive aspiration (strategies)

• OPTION 1: Treat as voicing contrast (utilize existing voicing contrast in English)

• OPTION 2: Use diacritics to mark aspiration (to indicate that the contrast is different from what is found in English)


• Issue (1)

– Contrastive aspiration (strategies)

• OPTION 1: Treat as voicing contrast (utilize existing voicing contrast in English) – 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (1958);

– 通用拼音 Tongyong Pinyin (2002);

– 耶魯方案 Yale Romanization (1943);

– 注音符號第二式 Mandarin Phonetic Symbols Type II (1986)

pinyin IPA pinyin IPA

labial唇音

b [p] p [pʰ]alveolar舌尖

d [t] t [tʰ]velar舌根

g [k] k [kʰ]


• OPTION 2: Use diacritics to mark aspiration (using apostrophe or “h” to indicate that the contrast is different from what is found in English)

– 威妥瑪 Wade Giles (1892)

– 李約瑟 J. Needham (1954): Science & Civilization in China

– 高本漢 B. Karlgren (1940): Grammata Serica

– French Vissiere system (1902)

– Hungarian Academic system (1952)

– Polish Jablonski system (1934)


labial唇音

p [p] p’ [pʰ]alveolar舌尖

t [t] t’ [tʰ]velar舌根

k [k] k’ [kʰ]


• OPTION 2: Use diacritics to mark aspiration (to indicate that the contrast is different from what is found in English)

• PROBLEMS:

– Word-initial p, t, k usually pronounced as aspirated in English (opposite of Romanization design)

• 宮保雞丁 “Kung-pao chicken”

• 武當派 “Wu-tang clan”

– Apostrophes often ignored in western contexts

• 太極拳T’ai Chi Ch’uan � Tai Chi Chuan


labial唇音

p [p] p’ [pʰ]alveolar舌尖

t [t] t’ [tʰ]velar舌根

k [k] k’ [kʰ]


• Issue (1)

– Aspiration-induced spelling differences:

•功夫:

– Gongfu

– Kung-fu

•宮保雞丁：

– Gongbao Chicken

– Kung-pao chicken

•山東:

– Shandong restaurant

– Shan-tung restaurant


• Issue (2)


• How to transcribe the sibilant initial series (x3)

IPA IPA IPA IPA

labial唇音 [p] [pʰ] [m] [f]alveolar舌尖 [t] [tʰ] [n] [l]

alveolar-sibilant


alveopalatal


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• Issue (2)

– How to transcribe the sibilant initial series (x3)

• Unconventional use of symbols/letters

• Use of diacritics

• Combinations of symbols/letters

IPA IPA IPA IPA

alveolar-sibilant


alveopalatal

舌面前 [tɕ] [tɕʰ] [ɕ]


• Issue (2)


•威妥瑪Wade Giles (1892)

– Use of diacritics

– Combinations of symbols/letters

IPA IPA IPA IPA

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前 ts [ts] ts’ [tsʰ] s [s]retroflex捲舌 ch [tʂ] ch’ [tʂʰ] sh [ʂ] j [ɻ]

alveopalatal

舌面前 chi [tɕ] ch’i [tɕʰ] hsi [ɕ]


• Issue (2)


•漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (1958)

– Unconventional use of symbols/letters

– Combinations of symbols/letters

IPA IPA IPA IPA

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前 z [ts] c [tsʰ] s [s]retroflex捲舌 zh [tʂ] ch [tʂʰ] sh [ʂ] r [ɻ]

alveopalatal

舌面前 j [tɕ] q [tɕʰ] x [ɕ]


• Issue (2)

– Sibilant series-induced spelling differences:

•西安

– Xi’an

– Hsi-an

•太極拳

– Tai Ji Quan

– T’ai Chi Ch’uan

•易經

– I Jing

– I-Ching


• Issues

– The Mandarin vowel inventory

front central back

High i y ɨ

ɘ

u

Mid-high e ɤ o

Mid-low ɛ ʌ

low ɑ


• Issue (3)

– High central (apical) vowel [ɨ] – transcription strategies

• Unconventional use of symbols/letters

• Combinations of symbols/letters

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• Issue (3)

– The high central vowel–耶魯方案 Yale romanization (1943)

• “z” with alveolar sibilants (no vowel symbol used)

• “r” with retroflex consonants (no vowel symbol used)

pinyin IPA pinyin IPA pinyin IPA pinyin IPA

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前dz [tsɨ] tsz [tsʰɨ] sz [sɨ]

retroflex捲舌

jr [tʂɨ] chr [tʂʰɨ] shr [ʂɨ] r [ɻɨ]alveopalatal

舌面前ji [tɕi] chi [tɕʰi] syi [ɕi]


• Issue (3)

– The high central vowel – 威妥瑪Wade Giles (1892)

• “u” with alveolar sibilants (plus consonant rewrite – “u” vowel recycled)

• “ih” with retroflex consonants


alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前tzu [tsɨ] tz’u [tsʰɨ] szu [sɨ]

retroflex捲舌

chih [tʂɨ] ch’ih [tʂʰɨ] shih [ʂɨ] jih [ɻɨ]alveopalatal

舌面前chi [tɕi] ch’i [tɕʰi] hsi [ɕi]


• Issue (3)

– The high central vowel – 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (1958)

• “i” recycled for use as both high front vowel and high central (apical) vowel

• Unconventional use of “i” symbol achieves economy of

representation, but requires prior knowledge/training


alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前zi [tsɨ] ci [tsʰɨ] si [sɨ]

retroflex捲舌

zhi [tʂɨ] chi [tʂʰɨ] shi [ʂɨ] ri [ɻɨ]alveopalatal

舌面前ji [tɕi] qi [tɕʰi] xi [ɕi]


• Issue (3)

– High central (apical) vowel induced spelling differences:

•四川

– Sichuan

– Szu-chuan

– Szchwan

•老子

– Lao Zi

– Lao Tzu

– Lau Dz


• Issue (4)

– The high front rounded vowel [y] – transcription strategies

• Diacritic (umlaut ü)

• Combinations of letters “yu”

• Combinations of letters “iu”

• (no good solution – all strategies have major shortcomings)

IPA Hanyu Pinyin漢語拼音

Wade-Giles威妥瑪

Yale耶魯

Gwoyeu Romatzyh國語羅馬字 (base form)

女 [ny] nü nü nyu niu

綠 [ly] lü lü lyu liu

居 [tɕy] ju chü jyu chiu

虛 [ɕy] xu hsü syu shiu


• Issue (5)

– Labeling of tone• Diacritics (majority of romanizations)

• Build into spelling (國語羅馬字 Gwoyeu Romatzyh 1942)

Hanyu Pinyin漢語拼音

Gwoyeu Romatzyh國語羅馬字

DIACRITIC EXAMPLE STRATEGY EXAMPLE

Tone 1 — 媽 mâ (basic form) 媽 maTone 2 ⁄ 麻 má i/u → y/w; or add -r 麻 marTone 3 √ 馬 mǎ i/u → e/o; or double vowel 馬 maaTone 4 \ 罵 mà change/double final letter; or add -h 罵 mah

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• Issue (5)

– Labeling of tone• Diacritics (majority of romanizations)

• Build into spelling (國語羅馬字 Gwoyeu Romatzyh 1942)

Hanyu Pinyin漢語拼音

Gwoyeu Romatzyh國語羅馬字

DIACRITIC EXAMPLE STRATEGY EXAMPLE

Tone 1 — 昌 châng (basic form) 昌 chang

Tone 2 ⁄ 常 cháng i/u → y/w; or add -r 常 charng

Tone 3 √ 場 chǎng i/u → e/o; or double vowel 場 chaang

Tone 4 \ 唱 chàng change/double final letter; or add -h 唱 chanq


• Issue (6)

– Syllable boundaries• Word boundaries: space

• Word-internal syllable boundary:

– No space (Yale 1943, Hanyu Pinyin 1958, Gwoyeu Romatzyh 1942, Tongyong 2002)

– Hyphen (Wade Giles 1892, J. Needham 1954, B. Karlgren 1940, French Vissiere 1902, Hungarian

Academic 1952, Polish Jablonski 1934)

GLOSS CHARACTERS HANYU PINYIN漢語拼音

WADE GILES威妥瑪

(see name) 毛澤東 Mao Zedong Mao Tse-tung(see name) 習近平 Xi Jinping Hsi Chin-p’ing

Harvard University 哈佛大學 Hafo Daxue Ha-fo Ta-hsüeh


• Romanization in mainland China vs Taiwan

– Mainland China• Standardized since 1958

• Used in spelling and instruction

• 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin romanization (also United Nations)

– Taiwan• Use of 注音符號 Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (Bopomofo) for

spelling and instruction – no pressing need for romanization

• Free market / natural evolution (co-existence of different systems)

– Wade Giles predominant until 2000s

– Standardization attempts: 2000-2002

» NATIVIST CAMP (民進黨 Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] + green camp):

» 通用拼音 Tongyong Pinyin (regions other than Taipei)

» UNIFICATION CAMP (國民黨 Nationalist Party [KMT] + blue camp):

» 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (Taipei�all of Taiwan)

TAIWAN: Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (Bopomofo)


• The romanization debates (Taiwan, 2000-2002)– Issues

• Tool for communication vs status/identity symbol

• Target audience (Who is it designed for?)

– Chinese audience

» Phonemic correspondence

» Symmetry & systematicity

» Economy

– Foreign audience

» Which foreign? (English? European)

» Compatibility with English phonics; compatibility with phonics

of other European language

• World compatibility (with Hanyu Pinyin in mainland China)

• Computer input (avoidance of diacritics; economy)


• Dimensions of romanization design

– Economy

– Symmetry

– Compatibility with English

– Computer input

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– Economy (c.f. sibilant series)

• 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (1958)

• 威妥瑪 Wade Giles (1892)

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前 z [ts] c [tsʰ] s [s]alveopalatal

舌面前 j [tɕ] q [tɕʰ] x [ɕ]

alveolar-sibilant

舌尖前 ts [ts] ts’ [tsʰ] s [s]alveopalatal

舌面前 j [tɕ] ch [tɕʰ] hs [ɕ]



– Symmetry (c.f. sibilant series)


• 耶魯方案 Yale romanization (1942)


alveolar-sibilant


retroflex捲舌

zhi [tʂɨ] chi [tʂʰɨ] shi [ʂɨ] ri [ɻɨ]


alveolar-sibilant


retroflex捲舌

jr [tʂɨ] chr [tʂʰɨ] shr [ʂɨ] r [ɻɨ]



– Compatibility with English (c.f. high central vowel)


• 耶魯方案 Yale romanization (1942)


alveolar-sibilant


retroflex捲舌

zhi [tʂɨ] chi [tʂʰɨ] shi [ʂɨ] ri [ɻɨ]


alveolar-sibilant


retroflex捲舌

jr [tʂɨ] chr [tʂʰɨ] shr [ʂɨ] r [ɻɨ]



– Computer input

• Avoid diacritics

• Fewer keystrokes (c.f. economy)

IPA Hanyu Pinyin漢語拼音

Wade-Giles威妥瑪

Yale耶魯方案

Gwoyeu Romatzyh國語羅馬字 (base form)

女 [ny] nü nü nyu niu

次 [tsʰɨ] ci tz’u tsz tsyh


• Loss of imagery/meaning in romanization– Meaningfulness in conventional English names (associations):

• Etymological associations (e.g., Arthur, Mohammad, Vladimir)

• Gender implications (e.g., David, John, Mary, Sarah)

• Experiential associations


• Loss of imagery/meaning in romanization– Meaningfulness in Chinese names (character script)

• Character imagery

• Gender implications

– Gender-specific imagery

– Gender specific radicals

• Examples:

– Mao Hongjun:

» 毛[fur] | 紅[red] 軍 [army] (masculine imagery – male name)

– Li Lihua:

» 李[plum] 麗[beautiful] 華[flower/China] (feminine imagery = female name)

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• Loss of imagery/meaning in romanization– Meaninglessness in transliterated Chinese names

• Loss of character imagery

• Reduced to random syllables (harder to remember). e.g.,

– Mao Hongjun

– Li Lihua


• Unintentional addition of meaning

– 李安 An Li (=Ang Li)

– 尤文狄Wendi You

– 晨夙三 Susan Chen

– 宋伯興 Boxing Song

– 方龍 Long Fang


• Connotations in romanization

– Psychological associations (Wade Giles vs Pinyin)

• Examples:

– Teng Hsiao-p’ing vs Deng Xiaoping

– Ch’ien Ch’i-cheng vs Qian Qichen


• Connotations in romanization

– Deliberate archaisms• 北京大學 Peking University* (not Beijing University)

• 清華大學 Tsinghua University* (not Qinghua University)

• 北京烤鴨 Peking duck (not Beijing duck)

* Chinese Postal Map Romanization (1906)


• Localization / nativization / anglicization (westernized Chinese societies – Hong Kong, Taiwan, overseas Chinese

community)

– [HK]陳奕迅 Yixun Chen � Eason Chan

– [TW/MY] 伍思凱 Sikai Wu � Sky Wu

– [TW] 周杰倫 Jielun Zhou � Jay Chou

– [TW/US] 潘瑋柏 Weibo Pan �Wilber Pan

– [TW] 戴佩妮 Peini Dai � Penny Tai

– [CN] 王菲 Fei Wang � Faye Wong


• Why anglicize?– Chinese Americans: Assimilation into mainstream society

– Entertainment business: Trendiness; exoticness

– Business setting: Egalitarianism

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• Name translation by meaning (rare)

– 李櫻 (Ying[cherry] Li[plum]) � Cherry Li

– 高山峰 (Gao[high] Shan[mountain] Feng[peak]) � Mountain Kao

– 殷悅 (Yin Yue)� homophonous with 音樂 [music] � Melody Yin

2. English into Chinese


• Available TEMPLATES

– Most typical (Length: 2 to 3 syllables)

• 1+2 configuration:

– family name (1) + given name (2) [c.f. Sinologists]

– Anthony Neely (singer)

» 倪安東 Ni Andong ([surname] + “peace” + “east”]

– Weldon South Coblin (Sinologist)

» 柯蔚南 Ke Weinan ([surname] + “lush” + “south”)

• All family name (3) [c.f. news translations; historical figures]

– Steve Jobs

» 賈伯斯 Jiabosi ([surname] + “uncle” + [opaque])

• All given name (3)

– Hillary Clinton (public figure; news translation – first name only)

» 希拉蕊 Xilarei (“hope” + “pull” + “pistil“)



– Minority/ethnic names (not subject to length restrictions) :

• Japanese

– Yukio Mishima = 三島由紀夫 = Sandao Youjifu

– Suzuki Ichiro = 鈴木一郎 = Lingmu Yilang

– (Japanese names difficult to translate into Chinese from English news wires)

• Mongolian

– Jagchid Sechen = 札奇斯欽 = Zhaqi Siqin

– Chingeltei = 清格爾泰 = Qingge’ertai

• Manchu (Qing dynasty)

– Aisin Gioro Puyi= 愛新覺羅｜溥儀 = Aixinjueluo Puyi

– Alternative Sinicized surname: 金溥儀 Jin Puyi


• Available templates

– News translation (not subject to template restrictions; last name only [if sufficient length &

unambiguous]) :

• Amare Stoudemeyer = 史陶德邁爾 = Shitaodemai’er

• Monica Lewinski = 萊溫斯基 = Laiwensiji (NOTE: phonotactic constraints – “ki” �

“ji”)

• Don King = 唐金 = Tang Jin ([surname] + “gold”)

– Regional differences: China / Taiwan / Hong Kong

• George Bush

• Barack Obama

CHINA(Mandarin)

TAIWAN(Mandarin)

HONG KONG(Cantonese)

George Bush 布什Bushi

布希Buxi

布殊布殊布殊布殊Bushu

Barack Obama 歐巴馬歐巴馬歐巴馬歐巴馬Oubama

歐巴馬歐巴馬歐巴馬歐巴馬Oubama

奧巴馬奧巴馬奧巴馬奧巴馬

Aobama(CANTONESE “Oubama”)



– Stock translations

• David = 大衛 = Dawei (“big” + “guard”)

• William威廉 Weilian (“authoritative” + “decent”)

• Elisabeth: 伊麗莎白= Yilishabai ([opaque] + “beautiful” +

“gauze” + “white”)

• Michael– (MANDARIN) 麥可 = Maike (“wheat” + “permissible”)

– (CANTONESE) 米高 = Migao (“rice” + ”tall”)

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• Sound transfer / phonological translation

– Relative complexity of syllable structure

– Mandarin allows no syllable-final consonants (except nasals)

– Mandarin allows no consonant clusters

SYLLABLE STRUCTURE EXAMPLES

JAPANESE CVN or CVC [geminate] gen, kai, get-

MANDARIN CGVN or CGVG san, hao, niao

CANTONESE CGVC mak, lam, hou

ENGLISH CCCV...CCC strands, swirled, splashed

POLISH CCCCCV...CCCCC następstw, strwiąz, plwac



– ADAPTATION STRATEGIES

• Vowel insertion

– Bradd Pitt (2) = 布萊德彼特 = Bulaide bite (5)

• Consonant deletion

– (Michael) Bloomberg (2) = 彭博 = Pengbo (2)

• (Consonant blend)

– (Donald) Trump (1) = 川普 = Chuanpu (2)



– Different priorities

MAX-IO(do not delete segments)

DEP-IO(do not add segments)

Solution 1:VOWEL INSERTION

preserves phonemes * (sabotages rhythm)

Solution 2:CONSONANT DELETION

* (loses consonants) preserves rhythm



– Regional strategy preferences

ENGLISHMANDARIN

INSERTION DELETION BLEND

Eisenhowerai-sen-hao-wei-er 艾森豪威爾 [Ch]

ai-sen-hao 艾森豪 [Tw]

Wimbledonwen-bu-er-deng 溫布爾登 [Ch]

wen-bu-dun 溫布頓 [Tw]

Montserratmeng-te-sai-la-te 蒙特塞拉特 [Ch]

meng-sai-la-te 蒙塞拉特 [Tw]

Trinidad te-li-ni-da 特立尼達 [Ch]

qian-li-da 千里達 [Tw]

Botswana bo-ci-wa-na 博茨瓦納 [Ch]

bo-zha-na 波札那 [Tw]

Castro ka-si-te-luo 卡斯特羅 [Ch]

ka-si-chu 卡斯楚 [Tw]



– Which is better?

• Vowel insertion (V-insertion)

• Consonant deletion (C-deletion)

• Consonant blend (blend)


• Back Translation Experiment (Li 2004)

– Names from Harry Potter (Chinese editions)

• Mainland China (V-insertion)

• Taiwan (Blend and C-deletion)

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• Back Translation Experiment (Li 2004)

– Why Harry Potter ?

• Unfamiliar names -- use of familiar names

would measure memory and not phonological

processing

• Names chosen were all phonological translations


• Word list

(1) (2) (3) (4)ENG Trelawny Cedric Godric Draco

CHN China Taiwan China Taiwan China Taiwan China Taiwan

Char

Pin

Yin

特里

勞妮

te-li-lao-ni

崔老

妮

cui-lao-ni

塞德

里克

sai-de-li-

ke

西追

xi-zhui

戈德

里克

ge-de-li-ke

高錐

客

gao-zhui-ke

德拉

科

de-la-ke

跩哥

zhuai-ge


SUBJECTS (12)

• 4 U.S. subjects (native speakers of English with no prior exposure to Chinese)

• 4 China subjects (native speakers of Mandarin from mainland China)

• 4 Taiwan subjects (native speakers of Mandarin from Taiwan)


TASKS• (Listen to Chinese translation of each name)

• Back translation (Chinese into English)

• INSTRUCTIONS

– Guess the original English based on sound similarities alone

– Original English does not have to be a real word

– Syllable count (Englishguess vs Englishactual)

– Consonant cluster preservation (Englishguess vs Englishactual)

• (Reveal answer)

• Similarity rating (0-10)


RESULTS

• Syllable count deviation

(1) (2) (3) (4)

ENG Trelawny Cedric Godric Draco

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

US +1 0 +1.75 0 +1.75 +1.00 +0.67 0

CN +1 0 +1.25 -0.25 +1.00 +0.25 0 -1.00

TW +1 0 +1.50 0 +1.50 +0.50 +0.25 -0.25

TT +1 0 +1.50 -0.08 +1.42 +0.58 +0.31 -0.42


RESULTS

• Syllable count deviation

Insertion Blend/deletion[preserves consonantal units]

(preserves phonemes)[preserves number of syllables]

(preserves rhythm)

US +1.29 +0.25CN +0.81 -0.25TW +1.06 +0.04Total +1.05 +0.01

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RESULTS

• Syllable count deviation• Blend/deletion strategy better at preserving syllable count

• Insertion strategy increases syllable count

– Effect most obvious among native speakers of English

– Effect least obvious among speakers from China

– Apparent counterexample DRACO due to hypercorrection:

“derak” vs “drak”


RESULTS

• Consonant cluster restoration

(1) (2) (3) (4)


CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

US 0 0.25 0 1.00 0 0.50 0 0.75

CN 0 0.75 0 0.25 0 0.25 0 0

TW 0 1.00 0 0.75 0 0.75 0 1.00

TT 0 0.67 0 0.67 0 0.50 0 0.58


RESULTS


Insertion Blend/deletion

[preserves consonantal units] (preserves phonemes)

[preserves number of syllables] (preserves rhythm)

US 0 0.62

CN 0 0.32

TW 0 0.88

Total 0 0.61


RESULTS


– Blend strategy makes it somewhat possible (61%) to

restore clusters

– Insertion strategy restores consonants, but never

clusters

– Cluster restoration rate [blend]:

Taiwan (88%) >U.S. (62%) >China (32%)[Blends used most commonly in Taiwan, least commonly in mainland China]


RESULTS

• Similarity ratings

(1) (2) (3) (4)


CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

CHINA(insert)

TAIWAN(blend)

US 5.00 5.87 3.37 6.62 4.25 5.75 3.87 4.75

CN 7.50 9.25 5.50 7.25 5.50 8.75 3.25 7.50

TW 5.25 7.00 3.50 6.50 4.25 6.25 3.25 6.75

TT 5.92 7.37 4.12 6.79 4.67 6.92 3.46 6.33

Ratings: 10 (more similar) (less similar) 0


RESULTS

• Similarity ratings

– Blend/deletion results judged as “more similar” by

all three groups than V-insertion

– Contrary to conventional view (Lin 2003)

• V-insertion (less destructive [also traditionally seen as more faithful

approach to translation])

• C-deletion (more destructive)

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RESULTS

• Relative importance of segment vs prosody

Preserving # of syllables(prosody / rhythmic pattern)

> Preserving # of segments(consonants / individual phonemes)


• Lexical retrieval (Aitchison 2004: 137-147)– Tip of the tongue phenomena

– Malapropisms

– “Bathtub effect”• Beginning of word

• End of word

– Rhythmic pattern• Number of syllables

• Stress pattern

anecdote / antidote

meditation / medication

distinguisher / extinguisher


• Sound transfer – other issues

– Non-Mandarin-based historical precedents

• SHANGHAINESE

– Jackson 傑克遜 Djiq Kheq Sen (MANDARIN “Jiekexun”)

– Harrison 哈里遜 Ha Lij Sen (MANDARIN “Halixun”)

• CANTONESE

– Sweden 瑞典 Sui Tin (MANDARIN “Ruidian”)

– Denmark 丹麥 Dan Mak (MANDARIN “Danmai”)

– Hungary 匈牙利 Hung Nga Lei (MANDARIN “Xiongyali”)

– Washington 華盛頓 Wah Sing Tun (MANDARIN “Huashengdun”)


• Sound transfer – other issues

– English names of non-English origin

• John = 約翰 Yuehan (opaque),

– not 丈 Zhang (husband)

– not 匠 Jiang (craftsman)

• Joseph = 約瑟 Yuese (opaque),

– not 周色腐 Zhousefu ([name]-color-ferment)

• (Andre) Agassi– AMERICAN [‘ægәsi] � 阿格西 agexi [Taiwan]

– ARMENIAN [ә’gasi] � 阿加西 ajiaxi [China]


• Meaningfulness / meaninglessness of characters

– Not necessarily the closest in sound

• David

– [CHINESE-ACCENTED ENGLISH] 呆尾 daiwei (“idiotic tail”)

– [STOCK TRANSLATION] 大衛 dawei (“big guard”)

• Smith

– [CHINESE-ACCENTED ENGLISH] 死密死 simisi (“dead-dense-dead”)

– [STOCK TRANSLATION] 史密斯 shimisi (“history-dense-[opaque]”)



– Meaning avoidance (negative, overly-suggestive imagery), e.g.,

•死 si: “death”; “to die”

•呆 dai: “idiotic”

•狗 gou: “dog”

– E.g., “tango” � not 貪狗 tangou (greedy dog) but 探戈 tange (look spear)

•吼 hou: “to yell”

– E.g., “San Jose” � not 三吼賽 sanhousai (three + yell + contest) but 聖荷西 shenghexi (saint + water lily + west)

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– Meaning manufacture e.g.,

• Neutral imagery (meaning opaque or abstract)

–斯 si (Classical Chinese determiner)

–克 ke (“to subdue” – morpheme only)

–特 te (“special”)

• Positive connotations

– LeBron (James) � 雷霸龍 Lei Balong (Thunder + Tyrannosaurus)

– Coca Cola � 可口可樂 Kekou Kele (Tasty + Joyful)




• Gender explicitness

– FEMALE NAMES:

» Female radical 女: e.g., 娜; 妮; 姝; 妤

» Anna: 安娜

» Susan: 蘇姍

» Jennifer: 珍妮佛» Grass radical (flowery things):

» Barbara: 芭芭拉

» Hillary: 希拉蕊» Female imagery (jade radical; notions of beauty)

» Elisabeth: 伊麗莎白 ([opaque]-beautiful-gauze-white)




• Gender explicitness

– MALE NAMES:

» Avoidance of female connotations

» Traditional male imagery

» David大衛 dawei (“big guard”)

» William威廉 weilian (“authoritative” + “decent”)

» Sam 山姆 shanmu (“mountain” + [opaque])

CONCLUSION

• CHINESE INTO ENGLISH (preserving sound � romanization)

– Issues• Contrastive aspiration

• Sibilant consonants

• Apical vowel (high central vowel)

• High front rounded vowel

• Syllable boundaries

• Tone

– Goals• Economy

• Symmetry / systematicity

• Compatibility with English phonics

• Ease of computer input

– Loss and/or addition of meaning / imagery

• ENGLISH INTO CHINESE

– Syllable simplification strategies• Vowel insertion

• Consonant deletion (�)

• Consonant blending (�)

– Character choice and meaning / imagery• Gender specificity

• Neutral vs explicit (positive or negative imagery)

Clip from “Johnny English Reborn” (2012)

• Johnny English Reborn

REFERENCES

• Legeza, Ireneus Laszlo. 1968. Guide to Transliterated

Chinese in the Modern Peking Dialect. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

• 李壬癸。2001。「漢字拼音的幾個關鍵問題」。見李壬癸主編，《漢字拼音討論集》，頁1─8。台北：中央研究院語言學研究所。

• Li, Chris Wen-chao. 2007. “Foreign Names into Native

Tongues: How to Transfer Sound Between Languages—

Transliteration, Phonological Translation, Nativization, and

Implications for translation theory”. Target: International

Journal of Translation Studies 19-1: 45-68.

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