Metonymic Reconstruction of Culture-Loaded Words: A Multidimensional Dynamic Constraint Model Based on English Translations of The True Story of Ah Q

Translation of culture-loaded metonymic expressions is influenced by both the cultural stance of the translator and pragmatic accessibility. Based on the two English translations of The True Story of Ah Q by Yang Xianyi and Julia Lovell, this paper studies socially and culturally metonymic expressions. It employs chi-square tests and binary logistic regression analysis to examine how these two factors influence translators’ choices of metonymic reconstruction strategies. The findings reveal that: (1) under conditions of low pragmatic accessibility, translators’ cultural stance exerts a significant main effect on strategy selection (Cramér’s V = 0.368, p = 0.001), with the source-language-oriented Yang Xianyi being 6.2 times more likely than Julia Lovell to adopt vehicle-retention strategies; (2) under conditions of high pragmatic accessibility, the two translators demonstrate complete strategic convergence; and (3) interaction analysis suggests that extreme cognitive resistance may function as a boundary condition that weakens the differentiating effect of subjective stance on strategy choice. Based on these findings, this study proposes a dynamic multidimensional constraint model for metonymic reconstruction, mathematically confirming the boundary constraints imposed by objective cognitive limits on translator subjectivity. The study also provides an operational paradigm for quantitative empirical research in cognitive translation studies.