A Study On Themes And Thematic Progression Patterns In O.Henry's Short Stories And Their Chinese Versions

The thesis presents the practical values of thematic progression in discourse translation by analyzing 15 pieces of short stories written by O.Henry and their corresponding Chinese versions translated by Wang Yongnian,based on the thematic theory and TP theory respectively proposed by Halliday and Danes.The study combines the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis.It can be found that the distribution of themes and thematic progression patterns(TP patterns)of O.Henry's short stories and their Chinese versions displays both similarities and differences.The similarities can be briefly shown below.Firstly,as for the theme markedness,the unmarked theme adopts a much higher percentage than the marked theme in both the target texts(TTs)and source texts(STs).Secondly,the simple theme is the dominant type in both the STs and TTs,with the multiple theme and the clausal theme going to the second and third place respectively.Thirdly,as for the multiple theme structure,both the TTs and STs preferably adopt the structure,"textual theme+experiential theme" However,the structure of "textual theme+interpersonal theme+experiential theme" takes a rather small proportion in both the TTs and STs.Fourthly,the dominant TP patterns are both the simple linear pattern and the constant theme pattern.As for the differences,firstly,there are more marked themes in the STs than those in the TTs.Secondly,the simple theme in the TTs takes a larger part than that in the STs.And also the percentage of multiple Theme in the STs is higher than that in the TTs.Then the TTs much more favor the type of "interpersonal theme+experiential theme" than the STs.And in terms of TP patterns,the constant rheme pattern and the alternative pattern in the STs take a higher percentage,while the constant theme pattern and the simple linear pattern in the TTs take a larger part.Moreover,three factors contributing to those differences and similarities are drawn out,namely,genre,reader,and linguistic features.Finally,it illustrates how the translator adopts two methods to achieve equivalence in the TTs from the perspective of TP theory,namely,maintaining original TP patterns and adjusting original TP patterns.This thesis uses the above two theories to study the coherence and consistency of discourse,and provides new ideas for the analysis of short stories' translation.The findings can benefit short stories' teaching,translating,and creating.