Syntagmatic And Associative Relations In Translating Classical Chinese Poetry

Illuminated by recent translation criticism on different English translations of classical Chinese poetry from linguistic perspectives, this thesis takes the linguistic perspective of syntagmatic and associative relations to make a comparative study of three English versions of two well-known poems by Du Fu. Well grounded on the theoretical framework of Saussure and Leech, this thesis aims to eliminate some weaknesses revealed in Wu Ruohen's analysis from the same linguistic perspective (details referring to 2.1). With the focus on formal equivalence, this thesis echoes Jiang Feng's viewpoints on the form of a poem and its importance. From the perspective of syntagmatic relations and syntagmatic foregrounding, this thesis emphasizes that some important syntactic features and rhetoric devices should be retained in the translating process by exploring syntagmatic relations in the original poems. From the perspective of associative relations, this thesis discusses different modes of presentation for "feeling" and "scene" in order that syntactic separation of these two elements and their intrinsic interrelation can be reproduced in English translations.To heighten the awareness that descriptive and analytical research work on poetry translation is really needed, Chapter One is devoted to a brief survey of five central concepts in Chinese translation circles of the 20th century: Yan Fu's "fidelity, fluency and elegance", Fu Lei's "likeness-in- spirit" and Qian Zhongshu's "realm of transformation". Xu Yuanzhong's "three criteria of beauty" for poetry translation is also included here. These criteria for poetry translation are actually of evaluative and impressionistic nature, and they are more subjective and less objective.Chapter Two is a literature review of recent translation criticism from linguistic perspectives, which falls into three parts: Wu Ruohen's application of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations to poetry translation; Liu Junping's research on intertextuality and poetry translation; Huang Guowen's approaches to poetry translation within the Hallidayan Framework. Huang's research work displays that formal equivalence inpoetry translation is of primary importance, for which this thesis is also striving.Chapter Three and Chapter Four provide a theoretical basis for this thesis. In Chapter Three, translation theory concerning the importance of formal equivalence is represented by the famous American Bible translator-theorist Nida and the Chinese poetry translator-theorist Jiang Feng. Both theorists maintain that the form of a poem is important. Eugene Nida summaries five conditions for changing form in the translating process and Jiang Feng counteracts the weaknesses of Nida's theory when he defines and elaborates the form of a poem in five points. In Jiang Feng's opinion, the form of a poem refers to all its language material comprising different constructions, division of lines, choice of words, order of words, images and rhetorical devices with formative function. Jiang Feng also emphasizes that the form of a poem itself is the content of a poem.In Chapter Four, syntagmatic and associative relations are discussed in the light of Saussure's relevant theory. Their functions in translating classical Chinese poetry are to explore syntagmatic relations between constituent parts of the original poems and the intrinsic interrelation between "feeling" and "scene". This is illustrated by analyzing Ma Zhiyuan's qu poem, 'Autumn Thoughts' and its English version. Leech's theory concerning syntagmatic foregrounding characteristic of poetic language is also presented here to emphasize that foregrounded elements should also be retained in the translating process.Chapter Five and Chapter Six are devoted to discussing two importance aspects of classical Chinese poetry, namely, some important syntactic features of classical Chinese poetry and different modes of presenting "feeling" and "scene". In Chapter Five four important syntactic features are discussed, which should be retained in the translating proces...