A Corpus-Based Study Of English Translation Of Story-Telling Formulae In Hongloumeng

Based on the two groups of parallel corpora, i.e. the Chinese and English corpora of ADream of Red Mansions and those of The Story of the Stone, the present dissertation, fromthe multi-perspectives of narratology, stylistics, translation studies and systemic functionalgrammar, aims to conduct a qualitative and quantitative research on the English translationof the story-telling formulae (STF) found in Hongloumeng, including the chapter formulae,the narration-division formulae, the addressing formulae, and the formulae before a versecomment.There are two points where the research purposes are concerned. For one thing, withthe translated texts by the Yang’s and Hawkes as examples, the STF translation methodsand strategies in Hongloumeng are to be studied. For the other, the translation and therepresentation of the simulated story-telling situation in the source texts is to be examined,to which the narrative style of both the translated versions in general are closely related.The research has so far produced three results. To begin with, the above-mentionedtwo translated versions are proved to be quite similar to each other in terms of the style ofthe STF translation, for they both have failed to reveal the simulated story-telling situationof the original versions. As far as the average STF translation rate is concerned, Hawkes’version is a bit higher than that of the Yang’s. Furthermore, the appearance of either ablank line before a story-telling formula or the existence of the formulae in pairs plays, to acertain degree, a positive role in the STF translation.Second, studies show that the aforementioned versions have generally applied sixmethods in the STF translation in Hongloumeng, i.e. strict literal translation, addition, shifttranslation, conversion, division, and combination, each of which could be furtherclassified into several sub-types. In detail, strict literal translation takes place at the level ofwords and clauses. Addition is related to syntax, plot and ways of addressing. Included inshift translation are extension in meaning and shift of modifiers. Conversion is comprised of five categories, i.e. conversion of parts of speech,conversion of sentence patterns, conversion from the active voice to the passive one,conversion from negation to affirmation as well as conversion of sentence order. Anddivision includes that of the verbal formulae and that of the adverbial ones. Combinationconsists of nominal combination and prepositional one. Among those mentioned above,addition in plot and that in ways of addressing are unique in STF translation.Third, a phenomenon concerning the narrative style has been discovered in theresearch, which lies between the complete translation and the variety in translation. It is inthis dissertation named the losing translation (LT) for the time being,①meaning that thesimulated story-telling situation in the original texts has been changed in the completetranslated versions, partly because of the disappearance of the STF signifiers in thetranslation and partly because of the already altered significance of the translatedsignifiers.The sources of the LT could be found from the Five Deviations from the Originalproposed by Dao’an, one of the earliest Buddhist translators in China. The location of LTin translation studies lies within the relationship of the complete translation and the varietyin translation. The LT, as a necessary active element in the complete translation, preparesfor and finally leads to the variety in translation.Based on the above analysis, the LT is defined as a kind of translation in a completetranslated version, in which the cultural meaning or/and the style of the original has beenaltered with the disappearance of certain signifier(s) in the translated version or thechanged meaning of the translated signifier(s) in it.The LT has been classified into two types, the overt losing translation (OLT) and thecovert losing translation (CLT). As far as the OLT of the story-telling formulae isconcerned, the dissertation discusses three sub-types respectively from the grammatical,semantic and stylistic perspectives. And as for the CLT, it focuses on the analysis of thetranslation of the chapter-ending formulae and the addressing formulae of kanguan. All in all, the dissertation holds that the story-telling formulae, as an immanentstylistic and narrative mark of Hongloumeng as well as other Chinese classical vernacularnovels, should have been fully reproduced in a complete translated version. Unfortunately,however, it is found that there are quite a few of LT phenomenon in both the Yang’s andHawkes’ versions. Either the OLT or the CLT has, to some extent, had a negative effect onthe revelation of the simulated story-telling situation in the original texts. As a result, thenarrative style in the original has been changed and its unique stylistic and narrativefeatures have been diminished to a certain degree.Finally, it is suggested that the high rate of LT in Hongloumeng should be lowered inthat the Chinese culture is going abroad to have a communication with others in days tocome. Meanwhile, the complete STF translation, with those successful translations asexamples, could be fixed and standardized to a reasonable degree, so that a solidfoundation could be laid for our classical vernacular novels to be known and appreciatedthroughout the world by revealing their significance of “speaking-listening” interpersonalrelation and other oral narrative features.