Study On Outlaws Of The Marsh From Theory Of Meaning In Semiotics

Shuihuzhuan, one of the greatest works in Chinese Classics describing the feudal society in the Song Dynasty, is no less than an encyclopedia. China needs the world and the world needs China as well. The translation of Shuihuzhuan has a far-reaching influence in spreading Chinese culture, but the cultural information in this masterpiece is so rich that it poses great difficulties to translators. The value and the challenge of translation of Shuihuzhuan make it worth studying. Today, translation studies turns to an interdisciplinary field. With the introduction of various theories from other subjects, the study of translation is flourishing and fruitful. As a methodology, semiotics is prosperous and has infiltrated into a variety of subjects momentously. The approach to translation studies from semiotics appeared in the late half of 20th century and is developing vigorously contemporarily. Especially, the theory of meaning in semiotics has great influence on translation studies. On these conditions, the paper studies the translation of Shuihuzhuan from the theory of meaning in semiotics.The thesis contains a body of five chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion.The introduction explains the background, the significance and the methods of the study on Shuihuzhuan from theory of meaning in semiotics.In Chapter One, the main ideas and the history of translation of Shuihuzhuan are introduced. Among the four English versions of Shuihuzhuan,Outlaws of the Marsh is regarded to be the best translation unanimously.In Chapter Two, the contribution of the semioticians Saussure, Peirce and Morris to theory of meaning is reviewed. And it is believed that meaning is relation in semiotics. As Nida put it, translation means translating meaning. Therefore, the ideal translation is the equivalent transfer of the three folds of meaning of signs: referential meaning, pragmatic meaning and linguistic meaning. However, absolute equivalence is nearly an illusion. In translation, translator often has to make a choice on which type of meaning should be transferred first and foremost.In Chapter Three, the transfer of referential meaning in Outlaws of the Marsh is discussed. The referential meaning is the relation between the sign and the referent, which is divided into three categories in the thesis: equivalence, partial equivalence and non-equivalence.In Chapter Four, the transfer of pragmatic meaning in Outlaws of the Marsh is analyzed. The pragmatic meaning is the relation between the sign and the sign user. The paper mainly discussed the transfer of pragmatic meaning in rhetorical devices (metaphor, simile and metonymy) and cultural background.In Chapter Five, the transfer of linguistic meaning in Outlaws of the Marsh is studied. Linguistic meaning is the relation between the sign and the sign, which is also called the formal meaning. The comparison of the linguistic meaning is extended on the level of phone, word, phrase, sentence and text between the source language and the target language.The conclusion summarizes the main idea of the thesis. The relation of sign and referent, the relation of sign and sign at the level of phone, word, phrase, sentence and text, and the relation of sign and the sign user in translation are all studied in this paper, which proved semiotic approach to translation is a comprehensive way.The contrast of languages is the foundation of translation study. In order to check the transfer of meaning in Outlaws of the Marsh, the present results of contrastive study of Chinese and English are invoked in the paper. Translation is communication among cultures. Differences are universal and absolute in people's language, culture, the way of thinking and many other aspects. So the thesis holds that the referential meaning, pragmatic meaning and linguistic meaning can hardly be reproduced in the target language simultaneously, that is to say, the absolute equivalence in translation can not be achieved mostly. Hence, translator should try his best to bring out the referential meaning, pragmatic meaning and linguistic meaning in translation, but in most cases, he has to give priority to some meaning in his translation on condition that he cannot keep all of them. Viewed as a whole, the transfer of the three folds of meaning in Outlaws of the Marsh is proper and well arranged. Separately, in Outlaws of the Marsh, the transfer of the referential meaning is accurate, which can bring the original Chinese culture to the World. The transfer of pragmatic meaning is concise, which is efficient in communication. The transfer of linguistic meaning is creative and the beauty of the source language can be revealed.