English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language
Mencius’ teachings, deeply entrenched in the male-dominated discourse of ancient China, have historically been interpreted from a masculine viewpoint. However, the rise of the feminist movement and advancements in global communication have significantly expanded the audience for Mencius’ philosophy....
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2025
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/1/T%2020.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848816365841940480 |
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| author | Lai, Lanlan Emily, Lau Hijjo, Nael |
| author_facet | Lai, Lanlan Emily, Lau Hijjo, Nael |
| author_sort | Lai, Lanlan |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Mencius’ teachings, deeply entrenched in the male-dominated discourse of ancient China, have historically been interpreted from a masculine viewpoint. However, the rise of the feminist movement and advancements in global communication have significantly expanded the audience for Mencius’ philosophy. Concurrently, the English language, influenced by feminist perspectives, has been evolving towards a more gender-neutral style. Against this backdrop, this study explores how translators from three different centuries interpret the unmarked gender language in Mencius. The research adopts a socio-cognitive approach to examine how the linguistic representations link to the cognitive schemas in translation studies with the aid of corpus. The parallel corpus comprises one ST and three TTs (Bloom, 2009; Legge, 1895; Zhao et al., 1999). The research finds that Zhao et al. and Legge prefer generic masculine words. In contrast, Bloom opts for gender-neutral words to interpret the gender-unspecific words in Mencius. This change from an androcentric to a gender-neutral language style reflects the evolving social norms and the translator's subjectivity in challenging or reinforcing prevailing gender stereotypes. The entrenched principle of "MALE-As Norm" deeply influences the stereotypes and cultural schemas that affect how translators behave. This can trigger automatic cognitive schemas, which, in turn, affect the translational choices in selecting generic masculine words. This research underscores the potential of corpus analysis to enrich the study of translation style from a socio-cognitive perspective. The socio-cognitive approach provides a robust theoretical framework, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the complexities of translation style through the interdisciplinary lens of cognition and translation. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T01:04:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:25466 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T01:04:43Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:254662025-06-26T03:04:42Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/ English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language Lai, Lanlan Emily, Lau Hijjo, Nael Mencius’ teachings, deeply entrenched in the male-dominated discourse of ancient China, have historically been interpreted from a masculine viewpoint. However, the rise of the feminist movement and advancements in global communication have significantly expanded the audience for Mencius’ philosophy. Concurrently, the English language, influenced by feminist perspectives, has been evolving towards a more gender-neutral style. Against this backdrop, this study explores how translators from three different centuries interpret the unmarked gender language in Mencius. The research adopts a socio-cognitive approach to examine how the linguistic representations link to the cognitive schemas in translation studies with the aid of corpus. The parallel corpus comprises one ST and three TTs (Bloom, 2009; Legge, 1895; Zhao et al., 1999). The research finds that Zhao et al. and Legge prefer generic masculine words. In contrast, Bloom opts for gender-neutral words to interpret the gender-unspecific words in Mencius. This change from an androcentric to a gender-neutral language style reflects the evolving social norms and the translator's subjectivity in challenging or reinforcing prevailing gender stereotypes. The entrenched principle of "MALE-As Norm" deeply influences the stereotypes and cultural schemas that affect how translators behave. This can trigger automatic cognitive schemas, which, in turn, affect the translational choices in selecting generic masculine words. This research underscores the potential of corpus analysis to enrich the study of translation style from a socio-cognitive perspective. The socio-cognitive approach provides a robust theoretical framework, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the complexities of translation style through the interdisciplinary lens of cognition and translation. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2025 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/1/T%2020.pdf Lai, Lanlan and Emily, Lau and Hijjo, Nael (2025) English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 31 (1). pp. 304-321. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1804 |
| spellingShingle | Lai, Lanlan Emily, Lau Hijjo, Nael English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title | English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title_full | English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title_fullStr | English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title_full_unstemmed | English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title_short | English translations of Mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| title_sort | english translations of mencius from three different centuries: a progression to more gender-neutral language |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25466/1/T%2020.pdf |