Skopostheorie-Based Pragmatic Markedness Equivalence: An Approach To Translation Studies

In view of the undue scanty investigation so far to quantitative analysis in pragmatics, translating and translation, the Skopostheorie-based thesis ventures to reconstruct the traditional Equivalence Theory and deconstruct the Pragmatic Markedness Equivalence Principle, vintages of Nida and Hou Guojin respectively. Dwelling upon the Skopostheorie, the author proposes an integrated revision: the Skopostheorie-based Pragmatic Markedness Equivalence Principle, with empirical expounding of the new model in terms of epistemological and methodological significance. The author features the grafting, integrating and optimizing of the modes from different backgrounds, hopefully contributing to the application of strategies for translating and translation assessment, and ultimately to enriching and perfecting of the inter-disciplinary construction of functionalist and pragmatic translation theories.Originated from the Germany-based functionalist approach developed by Katharina Reiss in the 1970s, Skopostheorie is fathered by Reiss's action-theory-versed disciple Hans Vermeer who lays the foundation stone by defining translation as a kind of purposeful action. American biblical translator and translation theorist E. A. Nida highlights the advocacy of"faithfulness"and"equivalence"and launches the concept of Dynamic Equivalence later revised into Functional Equivalence. Vintage Nida is transplanted by the Chinese scholar Hou Guojin to his Pragmatic Markedness Hypothesis in his establishment of Pragmatic Markedness Equivalence Principle, a quantitative approach highly feasible and instructive in describing and interpreting translating and its assessment.The research targets justifying and verifying of the Skopostheorie-based PMEP designed for qualitative and quantitative criteria for translating guidance and translation assessment. Specifically, the navigating introduction foregrounds the debates over translation focuses, equivalence in particular, followed first by a critique of PMEP and then its integrating with Skopostheorie—the Skopostheorie-based PMEP. In line with the revised version, source texts and/or target texts of various genres manifesting different contextual involvements are approached qualitatively and quantitatively from the coordinated perspective of optimizing intercultural communicative translational action via the manipulating of pragmatic markedness. The findings revealed by pragmatic markedness equivalence argue that, ascribed to the global perspective-taking, the Skopostheorie-based PMEP hereto manifests more convincingly interpretative power and instructive value, hence contributing to the justifiability, feasibility and instructiveness of this modification.