On The Europeanization Of The Chinese Language In English-Chinese Translation

In the light of polysystem theory, this thesis aims to explore and describe Europeanized constructions in E-C translation as a special linguistic system interacting with the socio-cultural system, the literary system, and the subjective system of the translator and reader in the target culture. It uses two Chinese translations of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind as a case study.The thesis consists of three parts.The first part is a literature review, including Chapter One and Chapter Two. Chapter One is expository: it deals at some length with the definition of "Europeanized Chinese" and its relationship with translation, providing all available definitions offered by previous scholars. Based on this, a definition of "Europeanized Chinese" is provided, i.e., the lexical and syntactic constructions occurring under the influence of the English language. Chapter Two comprises a series of discussions pertaining to the phenomenon of Europeanization, outlining the most influential attitudes towards it during the May Fourth Movement, the 1930s and the 1950s respectively. It is found that most studies tend to be judgment-oriented or prescriptive, and there are not many that are devoted to a descriptive analysis of this phenomenon.The second part, consisting of Chapter Three, provides a theoretical framework for this study. Chapter Three sketches Even-Zohar's polysystem theory whose goal is to describe, explain and predict objective phenomena, constituting a rationale for this study. A general orientation for the study unfolds as the merits and defects of the theory are addressed. The central idea of polysystem theory that all elements can be viewed in relation to other elements provides this study with a clue. One major defect of the theory is that it prefers to operate at the abstract level of repertoires and textual models rather than that of actual texts and translators (Hermans 1999: 110). To make up for that, this study involves analyses of actual texts and subjective factors. The Chinese translational language is regarded as the Chinese translational linguistic system which includes the Europeanized linguistic system and the traditional linguistic system, and discussions revolving around the relationships this polysystem has with the objective systems (the socio-cultural system and the literary system) and the subjective system (the translator and the reader) are then carried out. As such, it serves as a necessary framework and background for Chapter Four and Chapter Five.The third part deals with a case study, including Chapter Four and Chapter Five.Chapter Four probes into the relationship the Chinese translational linguistic system has with the Chinese socio-cultural system and the Chinese literary system. This is an analysis of the socio-cultural and literary contexts in which the two Chinese translations of Gone with the Wind are produced. Interpretations from the systemic perspective are given for the relative positions of the Europeanized linguistic system in the Chinese translational linguistic system: first, the Chinese translational linguistic system is shaped by the Chinese socio-cultural system, so Europeanization can be accounted for by putting it into the socio-cultural context; then the position of translated literature in the Chinese translational linguistic system decides the position of the Europeanized linguistic system: when translated literature occupies a central position, the Europeanized linguistic system dominates; when translated literature assumes a peripheral position, the Europeanized linguistic system goes abated. These propositions find evidence in a comparison of the language in the two translations of Gone with the Wind. Chapter Five explores the relationship the Chinese translational linguistic system has with the subjective system of the translator and the reader. The proposition that Europeanization bears direct relations with the translator is verified by examples from the two translations of the novel. Then according to an important idea in polysystem theory that systems are no...