A Functional Analysis Of The Discourse Coherence Reconstruction In E-C Translation

This thesis is a tentative endeavor to apply a new functional discourse analysis mode to translation study, intending to find out what kind of coherence features the translator represents in the version, how he reconstructs those coherence features as well as the significance of the coherence reconstruction by analyzing the translation sample. The significance of this thesis lies in that it may shed new light on the application of discourse coherence to translation study.The thesis begins with the main theory on which the thesis is based: the discourse coherence analysis mode based on the Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar, according to which, language is principally used to convey three kinds of meanings: ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning, and textual meaning. In order to convey meaning effectively, the language used must be able to fulfill the intended communication functions. Therefore the whole matter of discourse coherence is whether and to what extent discourse is constructed to realize the functions intended by its producer. Only when a discourse has conveyed these three strands of meaning successfully, will the target discourse receivers be able to make a sensible (coherent) interpretation of the discourse. Coherent discourses are those that successfully realize the three metafuctions of language. The process of translation can be viewed as a process of reconstruction. If a translator wants to produce a good and coherent translation work, the TT should also achieve coherence in ideational, interpersonal and textual level to the utmost. Therefore, a translator should first find out how the ST represents those coherence features, and reconstruct those coherence features from a text angle.According to the new framework of discourse coherence (Cheng, 2005) that is applied in this thesis, coherence includes three broad dimensions: ideational coherence, interpersonal coherence and textual coherence:Ideational coherence refers to the property that discourse reveals when it effectively conveys ideational meaning. Coherence discourses usually accurately and effectively represent real or fictional worlds. Discourse has ideational coherence when it shows a degree of normality;it represents the worlds in certain orderings;and it has a focal topic at both local and global levels.Interpersonal coherence refers to the property that discourse reveals when it effectively conveys interpersonal meaning. At the discourse level, there are mainly two ways to achieve interpersonal coherence: (1) subject positioning: the writer assigns appropriate communication roles for themselves and the intended audience;and (2) knowledge presupposition: coherence discourses presuppose the right quantity and quality of existing knowledge in the part of the reader.Textual coherence refers to proper organization of the discourse itself. Textual coherence is achieved when discourse is appropriately governed by micro- and macro structures such as the thematic structure, and the propositional macrostructure.The original book Walden, written by Henry Thoreau, is a long prose, which is considered as the most wonderful masterpiece of Thoreau. It is well accepted and known by Chinese reader through Xu Chi's wonderful version, of which the beautiful language, fresh tone as well as skillful translation skills win the appreciation of the reader. Since that translation can be viewed as a process of reconstructing the coherence of the original text, the author of this paper argues that the reason why Xu's version Walden achieves discourse coherence is that the translator has successfully established coherence reconstruction at ideational, interpersonal and textual levels:At ideational level, firstly, the translator creates a normal world for the TL reader through several translation techniques, so that the TL reader can establish some relationships between the text worlds and the worlds the TL reader are familiar with. Thus, they will feel the version is normal and coherent. Secondly, by grasping the "dynamic image" and "static image" of the original text in translation, the translator clearly and successfully reproduces the time and space sequences of the original text, resulting in a coherent and smooth version. Thirdly, due to the fact that a text has its global topic concerning the whole text and local topic concerning components or elements of text, the translator finds out those relations of the adjacent local topics and reconstructs the local topics according to the global topic, resulting in topic continuity in TL so as to achieve a coherent version.At interpersonal level, on one hand, during the translation process, the translator finds out the subject position of the author, or what kind of social and communicative roles the author play for himself and for the intended reader in the original text, and reconstruct this roles so as to reestablish the relationship between the writer and thereader in the original text. On the other hand, when coming across the case that the writer's existing knowledge is different from that of the TL reader, the translator supplies more information in TT in order to make the world represented in the ST fit in with the knowledge of the TL reader, resulting in reconstructing the knowledge presupposition in the version.At textual level, usually the construction of the clause is based on the thematic structure. On considering that in English, most of the subjects are Themes, while in Chinese, the Theme is actually the Topic, the translator transforms the thematic structure in the original text from the "subject + predicate" structure into "topic + comment" structure, which fits in with the conventions of the TL and achieves a coherent version. Above the clause level, the translator regroups the sentences through the macroproposition and the relevant micropropositions of the original text, reconstructing the information process in the TT, resulting in a coherent and smooth version.