羅瑗瑗

I Introduction

As negation plays a very important role in the communication between different languages， the study of negation has been regarded as an important research topic for linguists for a long time. Negation has captured the interest of grammarians and pragmaticians alike.

II Literature Review

As one of the most inconsistent and complex phenomenon in language， negation has been studied in disciplines such as linguistics， logic， psychology and philosophy since the times of Pluto. However， most of the researches are confined to one language. With the communications between China and western countries getting more and more frequent， the research of negation has now begun to be conducted from the cross-linguistic perspective， which will naturally include the contrastive study and the translation of negation.

2.1 Studies on negation

Negation has been approached from several perspectives for years. Some studies have concentrated on their linguistic features， and some on their pragmatic features. In the following content， the approaches will be introduced in two perspectives， grammatical approaches and pragmatic approaches.

Many Chinese and English grammarians have probed into negation by focusing on their semantic features and syntactic forms. In the west， the first man who made an important contribution to the research of negation was Aristotle， a Greek philosopher， who distinguished contradictory negation and contrary negation in view of meaning. According to him， contradictory negation means that the two terms involved are contradictory to each other and there are no middle terms between them， such as white and not white， rich and not rich， while the contrary negation means that the two terms involved are contrary to each other and there are many middle terms between them， such as white and black， rich and poor （Fei Yafu， 1991：2-3）.

The study of negation conducted by Chinese grammarians is concentrated on the syntactic forms and semantic meanings of negation， especially on negative words. Jin Zhaozi 1（qtd. in Wen Zhenhui 2003：13） holds the view that the only way to distinguish between negative sentences and affirmative sentences in Chinese is the use of negative adverbs such as不、無(wú)、非、弗、莫and more. His idea that negative sentences should contain negative markers has been widely accepted. The scope of negation is the constituents behind the negative word， and sometimes， the parts before the negative word， while the focus of negation is the stress of negative meanings within the scope of negation.

2.2 Studies on translation of negation

Though notions of negation are universal for English and Chinese， both English people and Chinese people have their unique ways to express negation. How to translate negation between English and Chinese has all been a controversial topic for a long time. Up to now， a few people have done research on the translation of negation.

What principles to follow or what standards to adopt in translating are a heatedly discussed topic in the translators' community. Many scholars have advanced various theories concerning it. In the west， Cicero is unforgettable for his famous essay The Best Kind of Orator. He believes that content and style are more important than form in translation. He says： I do not translate them as an interpreter， but as an orator， I do not hold it necessary to render word for word， but I preserve the general style and force of the language. For I do not think I ought to count them out to the reader like coins， but to pay them by weight， as it is.（Tan Zaixi， 1991：23-24）