An Investigation Into Social Deixis Translation In The Light Of Adaptation Theory (C-E)

The present study intends to explore social deixis translation in the light of adaptation theory. First, previous studies regarding social deixis and adaptation theory will be recounted in detail. Second, the author will point out the necessity and significance of this thesis. Thirdly, the methodology adopted by this thesis will be presented. Finally, we will draw a conclusion to the present study. Besides, limitations and suggestions for future study will be provided.Adaptation theory was proposed by Verschueren, general secretary of the International Pragmatics Association and as a Belgium pragmatist, he published his monograph Understanding Pragmatics in 1999. In that book, Vershueren holds that pragmatics is a perspective on language. Besides, he puts forward the adaptation theory, attempting to understand and study pragmatics from a brand-new perspective. He points out that we should take variability, negotiability, and adaptability into consideration in order to better understand pragmatics. As for the language adaptation, he maintains that it should be viewed from the following aspects:1) Contextual Correlates; 2) Structural Objects; 3) Dynamics of Adaptability; 4) Salience of the Processes.Deixis, a basic category of linguistics, is a category of linguistic signs applied to denote or indicate something. It is often described as uncertain and relative in meaning, which cannot be fully understood without turning to the context involved. The term deixis (originating in Greek, meaning pointing or indicating) is now used in linguistics to refer to the function of personal and demonstrative pronouns, of tense and of a variety of other grammatical and lexical features which relate utterances to the spatio-temporal coordinates of the act of utterance (Lyons,1977:636). It is also an important part of pragmatics for the reason that it is considered as the narrow sense of pragmatics(Green,1989:17). The relationships between utterance and context, addressor and addressee become determinable in a sentence structure because of the role deixis plays. Traditionally, deixis can be divided into three categories:person deixis; time deixis; and place deixis. Fillmore (1971) and Levinson (1983) add discourse deixis and social deixis to the classification. The present thesis mainly focuses on social deixis translation from the four angles of the adaptation theory and translators'subjectivity. In recent decades, deixis has been the focus of language philosophy, semantics, pragmatics, psychological linguistics, and the like (Sun Lei, 2002:70). However, there is still no research touching upon the translation of deixis from the perspective of adaptation theory.According to the adaptation theory, language use is a process of continuous choice-making, consciously or unconsciously, for intra-linguistic (i.e. structural) and or extra-linguistic reasons. So the translator, the author of the translated work, must also turn to different kinds of adaptation in his or her translation. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the translation of social deixis within the framework of adaptation theory, expecting to shed light on deixis translation. Hong Lou Meng, a rich source of material for social deixis, is one of the classic novels in ancient China. Therefore, all the examples employed in the present study are chosen from it (the first forty chapters, to be exact).