Translation Of Illocutionary Functions From The Functional Equivalence Perspective With Reference To Two English Versions Of Hong Lou Meng

Hong Lou Meng is regarded as the encyclopedia of Chinese language and culture. With its translation and introduction into other parts of the world, the studies on the translation of Hong Lou Meng are attracting more and more attention. These studies are made from diversified perspectives, such as aesthetics, culture, rhetoric, style and so on, but few are made from the illocutionary functions of language. Illocutionary functions of language often reflect the writer or speaker's real intention. Successful reproduction of illocutionary functions in translation can help TL readers better understand the work, thus is of great significance. This thesis makes a tentative study on the translation of illocutionary functions with reference to two English versions of Hong Lou Meng, translated by the Yangs and David Hawkes respectively. Eugene Nida's functional equivalence theory is the theoretical basis of this thesis.This thesis first introduces the research background, significance of the research as well as the structure of the thesis. Then it offers literature review of relevant studies and theories, including illocutionary functions and Nida's theory of functional equivalence. Functional equivalence theory attaches great importance to readers' response, and it advocates the closest natural equivalence rather than the formal equivalence between the source text and the target text. After that, the author discusses illocutionary language use in English and Chinese as well as its translation from five levels, namely, the graphemic level, phonological level, lexemic level, syntactic level and stylistic level. The translation of speech acts is also discussed in this part. Speech acts are categorized into five subtypes—declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives. According to the relationship between communicative functions and sentence structures, it can be divided into direct speech acts and indirect speech acts.In the main body of the thesis, the author makes a comparative study on the translation of illocutionary functions in the two translated versions of Hong Lou Meng under the guidance of functional equivalence theory, including the translation of illocutionary language use on the five levels and the translation of speech acts. A conclusion is presented at the end of the thesis, summarizing the major findings, pointing out the limitations of the present study and proposing some suggestions for further research.Generally, the Yangs are faithful to the original text, but the faithfulness is often achieved at the cost of illocutionary functions, and sometimes it even leads to the confusion or misunderstanding of TL readers. Hawkes, on the contrary, attaches great importance to readers' response. His translation is more flexible, reproducing the illocutionary functions and beauty of the original language. Therefore, Hawkes is better in the translation of illocutionary functions by achieving a higher degree of functional equivalence.