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154

到黄昏， 18

点点滴滴。 19

The three lines describe an evening scene suggested by the time adverbial ‘到黄昏’ (till evening) containing ‘梧桐’ (Chinese parasol trees) and‘细雨’ (gentle rain). ɥhey are connected with the term ‘更兼’, a conjunction meaning ‘even more with’. ‘梧桐’ (Chinese parasol trees) are associated with heart-shaped broad leaves, which depicts a scene of drizzle and trees with broad leaves. The line 19 ‘点点滴滴’ expresses the notion of the raindrops dripping consecutively. ɥhe first character ‘点’ means ‘small dot’ (Zhang 2014:282) and the second character ‘滴’ means ‘drip’ (Zhang 2014:271). This refers back to the raindrops in the line 17 with the effects of sound symbolism. The sound of these four Chinese characters generates the effect of sound symbolism relating to the intrinsic proposition they convey. Sound symbolism is a type of phonaesthesia (Firth 1957) which is ‘the study of the expressiveness of sound, particularly those sounds which are felt to be appropriate to the meaning of their lexeme’ (Wales 1990:352). Precisely, sound symbolism is used for cases where the phonetic structure might invoke a particular sound as Short explains:

There are various words in English where the phonetic make-up does appear to bear an intrinsic relation to the thing which the word refers to, and it is for this circumstance that we reserve the term sound symbolism.

(1996:115)

The effects of sound symbolism here are caused by the pitch variation created by the Pinyin of these four characters. As mentioned in 2.2 Chinese phonetic system, each Chinese character has a tone which refers to the pitch changes. In terms of Pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, the initial of the first two characters is <d> and they are on the third tone, and the initial of the last two characters is

155 also <d> and they are on first tone (see 2.2 for more details). With the doubling of each character, the pitch variation generated with the sound pattern <d><d><d><d> contains the effect of sound symbolism for readers as they might be able to put readers in mind of the sound of the consecutive raindrops dripping.

On top of this, as discussed in 2.3 Chinese writing system, because Chinese is a language which uses pictograms and Chinese characters are individually formed with various components, the four dots at the bottom of the character ‘点’, the three dots on the left side and the three dots on the top component of the right side of character ‘滴’ also help to refer the water drops. Line 19 ‘点点滴滴’ offers the readers not only the onomatopoeic effect and effect of sound symbolism regarding the sound of the raindrops, but also the visual effect through the unique writing system of pictograms.

In this scene, there are two locative relations presented, the ON image schema and the THROUGH

image schema. Both image schemas share the same elements of figure and ground. ɥhe ‘细雨’ (gentle rain) is the trajector while the ‘梧桐’ (Chinese parasol trees) are the landmark. When a raindrop falls naturally, it would either land on the tree leaves as a close-up scene (ON image schema) or it would go through the tree (THROUGH image schema) in a view from a distance. Without a specific indication regarding the locative relations mentioned in the source text, both image schemas are reasonable. The locative relation of the ON image schema expresses the process that the trajector moves onto the landmark (Jeffries & McIntyre 2010:137). For example, ‘Mao gets on the bus’ emphasizes the dynamic process that the trajector, Mao, gets onto the landmark, the bus. In the scene of the source text, the trajector, the ‘gentle rain’, moves onto the landmark, the ‘Chinese parasol trees’. ɤo the drizzle attracts more attention than the Chinese parasol tree as a dynamic item. It thus creates a vivid depiction of the process of raindrops dripping. This seems to share some similarities with what the Imagism movement in English poetry aimed to do. In the

156 early 20th-century, the Imagism Movement was initiated with poetry that favoured precision of imagery, clear and sharp language. As Hughes comments, it has been described as the most influential movement in English poetry since the activity of the Pre-Raphaelites (1931: Preface). A characteristic feature of the imagists’ poetry is the attempt to isolate a single image to reveal its essence. Take, for example, one of the American poet William Carolos Williams’s poems:

The Nightingales: My shoes as I lean unlacing them stand out upon flat worsted flowers nimbly the shadows of my fingers play unlacing

over shoes and flowers

(Cited in Tomlinson 1972:82)

The items in this poem create imagery, such as shoe laces, worsted flowers and the shadows of my fingers. They are used in the description of two motions a) the shoes stand upon the flowers and b) the shadows cover over the shoes and the flower. To me, reading the poem seems to be an experience like one of the moments when watching a movie is abruptly switched to an image. The scene is displayed with extreme slow-motion; someone steps on a flat worsted flower, attempts to unlace their shoes and the shadows of the fingers which are unlacing the shoes cover over the shoes and the flowers being stepped on. With all the details, the process of these two motions generates a vivid depiction to English readers. It is not an easy task because the limitation of elements in a simple closed-up scene restrains the possibilities of building up adequate details for readers to gain

157 full interpretations. However, as Rosenfeld comments ‘it take a maturity as great as Williams’s to be able to put the finger on anything as unobvious and fine as the vision contained in The Nightingales’ (ɥomlinson 1972:82). ɥhis is similar to the description of the process of the raindrops in the source text. Without the two image schemas, the description of the raindrop would be two dimensional and it might be difficult for the readers to perceive the prominence of the process of the raindrops’ motions. Consequently, any effects caused by this prominence could be delivered to the readers.

The locative relation of the THROUGH image schema conveys that the trajector initially moves from one side of the landmark toward the landmark in order to become a part of it; then the trajector move out of the landmark reaching a resting point on the other side of the landmark. So the mobile drizzle receives more conceptual prominence during the process of raindrops falling through the Chinese parasol trees. ɥhis contributes to enhancing the effects of sound symbolism ‘点点滴滴’ created, as a more detailed indication of the mobility of the raindrops is produced. Hence, the two image schemas presented emphasize the process of the raindrop dripping so the scene is clearly visualized to get closer to the readers’ interpretation. Linking the vivid raining scene with other sorrowful experiences in Sheng Sheng Man which have been discussed previously, such as the inadequate warmth to fight against the evening wind and the fear which is caused by the coming evening darkness, the raining scene here adds nothing but negativity to enhance the grief of all these sufferings.