A Study On The Translation Of The English Subject-oriented Adverbs

There are some translation problems,such as wrong version,inappropriate omission and bad choice of words,in the E-C translation of English subject-oriented adverbs.The semantic interpretation of English subject-oriented adverbs has been one of the hot issues in the linguistic research.Most studies focus on the semantic interpretation based on the change of syntactic position,because the subject-oriented adverb can also be interpreted as manner adverb.Thus the ambiguity arises.The thesis holds that it is necessary to pay attention to the translation of English subject-oriented adverbs.The translation shows that whether the meaning of subject-oriented adverbs is understood.Only when we grasp the meaning truthfully and faithfully,can we get the good version.The research chooses Ernst’s classification of subject-oriented adverbs,namely,agent-oriented adverbs,state M-A adverbs and intentional M-A adverbs.Based on the examples selected from the parallel corpus,the thesis analyses different features of each type and explain semantic information of subject-oriented adverbs from the perspective of event semantics,and therefore summarizes some possible Chinese versions.Findings of E-C translations are summarized as follows.First,the possible Chinese realizations can be classified into three kinds—words,clauses,and omission,which shows two trends of English-Chinese translation,that is the form of word and the form of clause.And words include adverbs,verbs,adjectives,four-letter phrases and colloquial expressions.Second,ellipsis occurs in the translation of all three kinds of adverbs,but not all omissions are wrong.Some English subject-oriented adverbs can be omitted according to a larger context or the style of a text.Third,the translation of agent-oriented adverbs is the most flexible to some degree,because it can also be translated into verbs and adjectives.It is problematic for the state M-A adverbs to be translated into clauses.Fourth,the translation of English subject-oriented adverbs is flexible.The translator is free to make a choice,as long as the semantic information is expressed.Fifth,this paper distinguishes the good versions and problematic versions based on semantic representation and paraphrasing patterns,and offers revisions of the problematic translations.Moreover,this paper summarizes the proper translations,which may be regarded as the possible Chinese subject-oriented expressions.The study of C-E translations shows that:(i)Some clause which carries the meaning of subject orientation in Chinese can be translated into English subject-oriented adverbs,and such translation method is desirable.(ii)Not all Chinese expressions can be realized as adverbial forms because the translation is affected by the sentence pattern,subject consistency or context.Therefore,the research suggests that translators can use the subject-oriented adverbs in C-E translation appropriately.