Comparative Analysis Of Five English Versions Of Shih Ching-the Appraisal Perspective

Shih Ching, the earliest anthology of poetry in China, undoubtedly is regarded as the most precious literature heritage and holds an important position in the development of Chinese culture over several thousands years. Although there are many academic studies on Shih Ching, few studies touch its English translation, and even fewer from appraisal perspective. Based on this point, the thesis makes an investigation on the five English versions of Shih Ching within the framework of appraisal.Appraisal theory is a new lexical-grammar framework which developed from the model of interpersonal meaning, concerning about attitudes negotiated in the text and providing an efficient tool for the analysis of interpersonal meaning.Therefore, taking the equivalence of interpersonal meaning as a base, the thesis attempts to make a comparative analysis on the five English versions of three random-sampled poems in Shih Ching from the appraisal perspective. The thesis first finds out three categories of appraisal resources of attitude, engagement and graduation, and then explores their realizations in the five English versions. Finally, a comparative analysis will be made and their respective degree of interpersonal equivalence will be evaluated.The significance of the thesis lies in the following three aspects: 1) the thesis proves that the appraisal theory can be applied into the translation study. 2) Taking the appraisal theory as a linguistic tool, the translator can have a better understanding of the original text by focusing on the appraisal resources, and realizes the better equivalence of interpersonal meaning in target text. 3) With the appraisal theory, translation criticism could get rid of the impressive and random comments. And the appraisal model itself makes a good foundation for the formation of systemic theory of translation.