A Sociosemiotic Approach To Translation Of Chinese Idioms

This thesis aims to deal with the issue of English translation of Chinese idioms, which are language-specific and culture-specific expressions, from the perspective of sociosemiotic approach.Idiom is a type of linguistic expressions which are characteristics of their metaphoric or symbolic meanings. It is considered as the treasure of language, which embodies the people's wisdom and the culture of a nation. Chinese idioms cover set phrases, proverbs, sayings, and two-part allegorical saying. Characterized by its euphony and conciseness, idiom is an abundance of expressiveness. Sociosemiotics is a discipline which deals with all the systems of signs and codes used by human societies, and especially with language as the most comprehensive and complex of all the systems of signs which humans employ. It goes out of the range of pure linguistic level, and its focus is on other factors such as culture, context and register that also convey meaning.Dealing with the issue of English translation of Chinese idioms from the perspective of sociosemiotic approach, translators should consider Chinese idioms translation under the sociocultural background, so this approach can provide the profound enlightenment for cultural aspects in translation. In addition, with the principle that translation means translating meaning and six language functions put forward by Peter Newmark, sociosemiotic approach puts forward an applicable criterion: correspondence in meaning and similarity in style and function. With abiding by this criterion, translators need to employ all the possible strategies and techniques of compensation to make sure that the most function and meaning of a Chinese idiom are conveyed when rendering Chinese idioms.In this thesis, the author adopts sociosemiotic approach put forward by Eugene A. Nida as a foundation, regards the semiotic approach to meaning as a core and considers language as social semiotic presented by M.A.K.Halliday as a basis to guide Chinese idioms translation. In this case, sociosemiotic approach can fill in a gap in...