On Text-Based Translation From The Perspective Of Coherence

Since the publication of Cohesion in English in 1976 by Halliday and Hasan, textual coherence has been an important notion in textual analysis and translation. The term "coherence" is defined and approached from very diverted perspectives and on different levels. So far there is no complete agreement reached over the definitions of it. The author of this paper holds, based on the study of some influential text linguists, that coherence, an invisible network for the text organization, embodies the logical or functional relation underlying a given text. Because textual coherence is a rather complicated phenomenon requiring the participation of many aspects of disciplines, such as semantics, pragmatics, logic and psychology, no any individual theory can claim it is able to offer inclusive explanations of it. As a result, textual coherence must be approached both intra-textually and extra-textually for successful communication.Intrinsically translation should be text-based. Translation, coherence and text are essentially related to each other. To translate means to induce a coherent target text from a source text. Substantially translating is one process of recognizing and reestablishing coherence in the target text. By investigating into the varied applications of coherence in text-based translation from the perspectives of semantics, textual structure, logic, and cognition, this thesis aims at illustrating the importance to reestablish coherence from different perspectives in the target text in order that " The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did" (Nidal998: 317). In this thesis, abundant textual examples are cited to demonstrate the necessary adjustments of linguistic form resulting from cultural pattern for the sake of textual coherence.The structure of this paper goes as follows:The first chapter serves as a theoretical basis for this paper by giving a brief introduction to some basic terms relevant to this topic: text, text as a translation unit and the interrelationship between translation and coherence.The second chapter firstly presents a couple of different interpretations about coherence by some influential theorists. It is clear to readers that coherence is approached from a wide variety of perspectives and at different levels based on divergent classifications. Next this proposal is briefed, that coherence in text translation be discussed from the following four angles: semantic coherence, text structural coherence, cognitive coherence, and logical coherence.The subsequent chapter moves on to detail the four kinds of coherence respectively in terms of text translation on the basis of comparisons between Chinese and English language and culture. It is pointed out that proper shifts of linguistic expression pattern caused by linguistic and cultural disparities are frequently required to ensure a coherent translation.The conclusion summarizes the contents of this thesis, and points out the limitations and problems that remain to be solved. The author's hope is also presented.