On Translation Of The Idioms In Outlaws Of The Marsh From The Perspective Of Sociosemiotics

Shuihuzhuan, one of the greatest works in Chinese traditional literary classics describing the feudal society in the Song Dynasty, is regarded as an encyclopedia. Having been translated into many languages, Shuhuzhuan has exerted great influence on the whole world. Of all the English versions, Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh is the most popular one. The epic novel is notable for its colloquial expressions in language, especially the large number use of idioms. Idiom, which is considered as the treasure of language, embodies the history, customs, psychology and the ethics of a nation. So the translation of Shuihuzhuan, especially idiom translation has a far-reaching influence in spreading the Chinese culture. However, the cultural-loaded terms in idioms are so rich that they pose great difficulties and bring challenge to translators. Therefore, the translation of the Chinese idioms in Shuihuzhuan is of great importance and worth studying.Sociosemiotics is a discipline which deals with all the systems of signs and the social meaning with the theory of semiotics. It goes beyond the pure linguistic level, and focuses on other factors such as culture, context and register which affect translation. The criterion for the translation theory of sociosemiotics is"corresponding in meaning and similarity in function". It stresses that both verbal and nonverbal signs contribute to the formation of textual meaning and translation process, and offers us a relatively new perspective characterized by the sign of language.Based on theory of meaning in sociosemiotics, the thesis makes contrastive analyses of idiom translation in Shapiro's version of Outlaws of the Marsh on the transfer of three meanings: referential meaning, linguistic meaning and pragmatic meaning, and tries to conclude the major strategies adopted by the translator and further show the gains and losses with the criterion of"corresponding in meaning and similarity in function". In a word, through systematically studying of idiom translation in Outlaws of the Marsh, the thesis intends to prove that the sociosemiotic approach is of theoretical and practical significance to the translation of the Chinese literary works, and thereby gives some enlightenment to the new versions of Shuihuzhuan and the research in the field.