The Translation Of Puns In The English Version Of Hong Lou Meng By The Yangs: A Socio-semiotic Approach

Hong Lou Meng is regarded as one of the four most famous classical novels published in the Chinese literature history. Puns used in this novel manifest the beauty of the Chinese language and also show the author's superior techniques and skills of language application. With the development of communication between China and western countries, more and more classical Chinese novels have been translated into foreign languages. The English translation of Hong Lou Meng has enjoyed great popularity in the western world. Recent years has witnessed an in-depth research on the English translation of Hong Lou Meng from various perspectives. This thesis carries out a comprehensive study on Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang's English translation of the puns in Hong Lou Meng from socio-semiotic perspective and analyzes how problems in pun translation are stirred by the language and culture barriers and how the Yangs deal with these problems in their translation.This M.A. thesis consists of six parts. In the beginning a general introduction of Hong Lou Meng is given and the socio-semiotic approach to translation is explained. Chapter Two focuses on the theoretical framework, namely the development of socio-semiotics. Chapter Three is a survey of pun, including its properties, classification and barriers in translation of puns. Chapter Four goes further to specific analysis, elaborating on the socio-semiotic approach to the translation of puns. Chapter Five is a detailed analysis of the Yangs'translation of puns in Hong Lou Meng under the framework of the socio-semiotic approach of translation. Chapter Six sums up the whole process.Generally speaking, the Yangs are very successful in reproducing the designative, pragmatic meaning of puns and their corresponding functions, yet the linguistic meaning is not well reproduced in most cases, which is caused by the language barriers between Chinese and English.