On The Realization Of Metafunctions In Xu Zhimo's Speech Translation

This thesis attempts to examine Xu Zhimo's speech translation in light of metafunctions proposed in the systemic functional grammar. By comparison, it analyzes the realization of ideational, interpersonal and textual functions in the target texts to testify the applicability of metafunctions in speech translation.This study is developed in four chapters. Chapter One explores the social and cultural background of Xu's speech translation and their influences in light of metafunctions, and introduces his serious translation attitudes, translation methods of achieving the integration of both form and spirit, and the vernacular style of his translation. Chapter Two investigates the realization of ideational function in his speech translation. The statistical analysis of the distribution of process types in the source and target texts declares the chief transference of ideational function in his speech translation. But the process changes are supported by the differences in idiomaticity, syntactic structure and traditional aesthetic psychology between the source and target languages, which facilitates the realization of ideational function indirectly. Chapter Three examines the realization of interpersonal function in his speech translation. By shifts of mood, he keeps the balance of mood between the source and target texts; but because of the divergence of tones and the preference of four-character phrases in the target language, he occasionally shows the inconsistency of mood and modality in his translations, which is the transposition of interpersonal function. It is realized by the adjustments in mood and modality in the target texts. Chapter Four surveys the realization of textual function in his speech translation, reporting that the textual function is basically realized whereas his adjustments towards the thematic structures sometimes result in incomplete realization, which is due to different cohesive devices, nonequivalence of mood-marking themes and the vernacular style of his translation. In a word, the metafunctions of the source texts are basically realized in Xu's speech translation. His adjustments towards the source texts in translation are reasonable and acceptable. And it also testifies the applicability of Halliday's metafunctions in speech translation.