Abstract:

When the concept of“donghua jilu pian”( 动 画 纪 录 片 , animated documentary) is deconstructed into a noun phrase or a sentence, its semantic expression proves to be insufficient. Specifically, the Chinese translation“jilu pian”(纪录片）is a compound phrase, synthesized from“jilu”(document) and “pian”(film). In English, however“, documentary”is a non-compound word—a noun derived from an adjective. Since this English term lacks inflectional endings, it falls under the category of“partial conversion”; that is, it retains its original adjectival meaning even when functioning as a noun. Consequently, its semantics can slide between those of a noun and an adjective, necessitating a judgment based on context. Once translated into Chinese, only one layer of meaning is typically fixed, which has led to incessant debates within Chinese academic discourse. From a linguistic perspective, the  word“documentary”in“animated documentary”still retains its original adjectival meaning; therefore, the term should be translated as“jishi donghua”(纪实动画）in Chinese rather than“jilu pian”(纪录片).

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