An Exploration Of Explicitation In The Three Different Translations Of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan

Since the formation of"Explicitation Hypothesis"by Blum-Kulka in 1986, empirical studies of explicitation have been conducted in different language pairs. Researchers aim to locate it as one of the translation universals. It needs to be demonstrated that explicitation, if regarded as a feature caused by the translation itself, should transcend specific language pairs. Up till present, empirical studies of explicitation in Chinese—English translation have not been adequately conducted. The present study explores the explicitations in the three different translations of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan (respectively by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, William Lyell, and Julia Lovell) through careful examination of the first three chapters of the source and target texts. Based on the degree of necessity, the explicitations found are categorized into four major types—Explicitations of Grammatical Necessity, Explicitations of Textual Cohesion, Explicitations of Semantic Clarification, and Explicitations of Cultural Supplementation. Analysis that Lyell's and Lovell's translations display a higher degree of explicitation than the Yangs'translation, especially in the type of Textual Cohesion, Semantic Clarification, and Cultural Supplementation. The main reasons are concerned with the intended target readers of each translation and the translators'style.