Translation Of The Causal Complex Sentence Explained By Schema Theory

The causal complex sentence is an outcome of projecting causality between objective matters into language through human cognitive activities. Different nations share something in common and simultaneously differ from one another in cognition, which gives rise to some differences and similarities in their expression of the causal complex sentence. This thesis, under the theoretical framework of schema theory, probes into the translation of the causal complex sentences in Chapter 77 of Hongloumeng from the perspective of cognition, aiming to disclose the deep-seated cognitive psychological reasons for the differences and similarities between the Yangs'and Hawkes'versions. And this thesis attempts to interpret translation result through analyzing the roles of translators'cognitive schemata in translation process, which in a better and more thorough way explains translation phenomena and reveals the nature of translation.Virtually, translation is not only a result but also a process. A certain translation result is inevitably generated by its corresponding translation process. For this reason, the description and analysis of translation result must revert to the exploration of translation process, which in essence equals the research into the complex cognitive psychology of translators during the process of bilingual transformation, in which translators' cognitive schemata play a crucial part. As a rule, translation process consists of two steps, that is, the decoding of the source text and the encoding of the target text, and neither of them can proceed without the participation and the function of translators'relevant schemata. A translator's decoding of the source text greatly hinges upon his possession of relevant schemata and their activation, and the encoding of the target text depends on the extent to which the schema of the source language matches and adjusts to that of the target language. To conclude, the translator's cognitive schema influences the whole process of translation and eventually its result.This thesis, taking the translation of the causal complex sentences in Chapter 77 of Hongloumeng as the study object, conducts an exhaustive survey on their translations by the Yangs and Hawkes with the aid of SPSS, summarizes their differences and similarities, and makes reasonable accounts for them under schema theory. The whole thesis mainly consists of four chapters:Chapter One reviews the achievements made in the study of the causal complex sentence and its translation by scholars both at home and overseas and points out their shortcomings.Chapter Two makes an overall introduction to schema theory, including the definition, classification and structure of schema as well as the origin and development of schema theory. On this basis, it further expounds the relationship between translation and schema theory.Chapter Three first elaborates on causality, the causal complex sentence and their relationship; then conducts a comparative study on the causal complex sentence in English and Chinese; and eventually elucidates the relations between it and schema.Chapter Four is the main body of this thesis. It first introduces the research design of this study; then with SPSS it conducts a survey on all the causal complex sentences in the source text and their corresponding translations, discovering that the causal complex sentence in both the Yangs'and Hawkes'versions occupies the largest part among all the expressions of Chinese causal complex sentences, and consequently the emphasis of this comparative study is confined to it, the causal complex sentence in the target texts; next it proceeds to survey, analyze and compare the causal complex sentences in these two versions, sum up their differences and similarities in the sentence type, causal conjunctions and order; finally it expatiates on the cognitive psychological reasons for these differences and similarities through analyzing the differences and similarities between these two translators in their cognitive schemata and the function of schema in translation process.