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A Study On Translation Strategies Of English News Headlines-Based On Intertextuality

Posted on:2010-09-16Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J ChenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360278496899Subject:English Language and Literature
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The present thesis is a tentative study of English news headline translation from the perspective of intertextuality. With the enhancement of cultural exchange between China and Western countries, Chinese's readers have more access to authentic English news from newspapers and magazines in English-speaking countries. As an indispensable part of news, headline plays an irreplaceable role. It has three main functions: first, headline is like a filter. It helps readers to decide whether to read certain news. Second, it saves readers'time. Third, News headline is the soul of news report. It provides readers a quick access to the essence of the news article. Chinese readers have great demands for good news headline renditions. However, news headline translation is anything but a easy job. Facing the same headline, Chinese readers and westerners may have quite different understanding because of different culture backgrounds.Nowadays, intertextuality is quite popular. However research on application of intertextual theory in English news headlines translation is insufficient.After its coinage by Julia Kristeva in 1960s, intertextuality has been employed in most important branches of literary and cultural theories. In Kristeva's words,"every text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations, every text is the absorption and transformation of other texts."The theory was introduced into translation studies by Hatim and Mason in their collaborative work Discourse and Translation. As the theory of intertextuality has inherent connections with translation studies, it is the theoretical basis of this study. Studies in this area can be grouped into two major branches: one is to study intertextuality and translation from a theoretical perspective and the other is to analyze different translation methods to reproduce intertextuality. This thesis is the latter one.As intertextuality has had a rich and extremely varied history since its invention, the author traced its origin first. Based on the model proposed by Hatim & Mason, together with a demonstration of the English news headlines'linguistic features, the author intends to find the intertextual references and transfer the intertextual signals into the target text, with the purpose to improve the translation's quality. The present study describes seven types of intertexts in English news headline. According to the theory of intertextuality, texts exist in a network of already established meanings. As intertextuality emphasizes the relationship between text and its pre-texts, it is important for the translator to understand how the text is formed and to refer to the pre-texts in order to achieve a successful translation. Finally possible translation strategies drawn from intertextuality are suggested.This thesis is made up of seven chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction of the thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature to the study. Chapter 3 establishes the theoretical framework for the present study. Chapter 4 explains the linguistic features of news headlines. Chapter 5 is the key part of this thesis. It shows seven types of intertexts most frequently used in English news headlines. Possible translation strategies are also drawn from many examples in this part. This chapter also includes translators'four aspects of competence based on intertextuality. Chapter 6 is the discussion of other intertextual factors. Last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis.
Keywords/Search Tags:intertextuality, English news headline, linguistic features, translation strategies
PDF Full Text Request
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