On The Use Of Splitting In E-C Translation Of Modalized Sentences

This study attempts to explore the use of splitting in E-C translation of modalized sentences. As a translation technique, splitting has been much studied. It is believed that the use of splitting results from difference in syntax, mode of thinking, and ways of expression between English and Chinese. Researches thus far made stop at giving examples to illustrate how to arrange the split elements, but little is done to detail the reason for splitting. As a result, existing theory related to splitting is not systematic and less predictable. As for E-C translation of modality, more studies on modal verbs and auxiliaries than other syntactic elements of modality are concerned. Considering this, this thesis investigates the use of splitting in E-C translation of modalized sentences.Based on English-Chinese translation pairs in Jukuu, this thesis chooses examples of E-C translation of modalized sentences which need the use of splitting. These modalized sentences contain modal adjuncts and metaphorized modality. And they are classified into four types: epistemic, evidential, deontic and dynamic modalized sentences. Then the use of splitting in each type of modalized sentences is studied.Realizations of modality in English and Chinese are different, and distribution of Chinese modal adverbs is different from that of English modal adjuncts. English modal adjuncts (especially comment adjuncts) are disjuncts, whose syntactic position is flexible:they can be placed at the beginning or end of sentences, or embedded in the sentences. Disjuncts express the speaker's attitude towards, or descriptive statement of, the propositional content of the sentence. Besides, disjuncts are not considered essential to the sentence they appear in, which means the meaning of sentence won't change without them. However, disjuncts are a necessary part for textual cohesion. Positions of Chinese modal adverbs are not that flexible. There are mainly four types of distribution of Chinese modal adverbs:1) Modal adverb (,)+NP+VP; 2) NP+Modal adverb+VP; 3) sNP+VP (,)+Modal adverb; 4) Modal adverb used separately. English modal adjuncts are always combined with the whole sentence, whereas relevant Chinese modal adverbs have different syntactic distributions, hence the use of splitting is necessary in E-C translation of modalized sentences.The thesis discusses the use of splitting in four types of modality and investigates how to arrange the split elements. English epistemic modalized sentences can be translated into structures of "NP+VP+, Chinese Modal Adverb", "NP+, Chinese Modal Adverb,+VP", and "NP+VP+, Chinese Modal Adverb". Evidential modalized sentences are often realized by the structure of "Chinese Modal Verbs,+NP+VP". As for deontic modalized sentences, structures of "Chinese Modal Verbs, +NP+VP" and "NP+VP,+Chinese Modal Verbs" are preferred. And dynamic modalized sentences are translated into the structure of "NP+VP,+Chinese Modal Verbs". The use of splitting is relative. Besides, special cases in which combining and omission are used are also considered.Since realizations of modality in English and Chinese are different, it is believed that splitting is used for expressing modality in E-C translation. While the arrangements of split elements depend on syntactic distributions of Chinese modal adverbs. This may provide implications for E-C translating practice and complement theory related to splitting and translation of English modalized sentences.