A Study On Journey To The West From The Perspective Of Register Theory

Register theory plays an essential role in linguistics field;and many scholars at home and abroad adopt this theory to many fields, such as education and literature analysis. In recent years, more researches on the application of register in translation are implemented, having achieved some results.Xi You Ji,one of the Four Classical Novels in China, holds a significant position in Chinese literature. Many scholars elucidate it from the perspective of culture, religion and mythical images. Meanwhile, many translated versions emerge, and of all translated versions, Journey to the West translated by W.J.F. Jenner acquires the great popularity. Nevertheless, few researches are preceded from the aspect of register theory.Register refers to a variety of language determined by what the speaker is doing socially. It is consisted of three variables, namely, field, tenor, mode. Field refers to what is going on:to the area of operation of the language activity. Tenor refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question. Mode refers to the means of communication, and fundamental to the mode of discourse is the distinction between speaking and writing. This thesis will study Journey to the West from the perspective of register, and much importance will be attached to the analysis of translations of different fields, modes and tenors in Journey to the West, which in turn indicates that the significance of application of register. It will be beneficial in reproducing the style of the original and character image of the novel so as to reach "the style is the man". Meanwhile, through the analysis, it is legible that the register theory has been of great value and guiding significance to novel translation and translation assessment. At the same time, this thesis is attempted to illustrate the approaches to realizing the register transference in the translation so as to reach the register equivalence in the translated version. In the process of translation, it is a major premise to master the three variables of register, and then compare the register markers between the original version and the translated version, which in turn can judge whether the register attains equivalence or not. In addition, this thesis points out the success of Journey to the West through the comparison analysis between the original version and the translated version from the perspective of register theory.Besides the introduction and conclusion, this thesis can be divided into five parts. The first part is a brief introduction to Journey to the West. The second part serves the introduction of the register theory and the related researches on register theory. The third part is the register analysis of discourses of different fields, including daily talk, poem, poster, official document, letter and descriptive discourse. The fourth part is the register analysis of dialogues of different tenors, mainly focusing on Sun Wukong's dialogues.The last part is the register analysis of discourses of different modes, and the spoken text and the written text are selected as the objects.