Scientific English Discourse Cohesion In Translation

Since the establishment of cohesion theory by Halliday and Hasson in 1976, many linguists have approached cohesion from various aspects. The recent decades saw the integration of cohesion with translation studies, which has greatly enriched the translation theory .However, most of these studies are based on the observation of literature works and the findings may not be applicable to sci-tech texts featuring accuracy and succinctness. With these doubts and puzzles, the author conducts a corpora-based statistical analysis of the cohesive devices in English sci-tech texts (hereinafter called EST) and their Chinese translations under the theoretical framework proposed by Halliday and Hasson. The author selects as the corpora of the study 10 ESTs and their Chinese translations from authoritative textbooks covering the areas of mechanics, telecommunication and computer science. The first step of the study is to analyze the distribution of cohesive devices in the two corpora so as to offer readers a general picture of the cohesive devices in EST and their Chinese versions; To answer the question the author raised about the universality of conclusions on literary texts, the author also makes a comparison of the use of cohesive devices in sci-tech texts and literary texts by referring to the findings of Zuoyan. Then the author analyzes in detail the translation strategies used in translating each type of cohesive device in the ten ESTs under different contexts. Finally, the author summarizes the frequency of each translation strategy used in translating cohesive devices in ESTs and their applications in E-C translation.This thesis can be organized into 6 chapters. Chapter one offers a brief literature review of cohesion and its translation, the motivation for the study as well as the aim and objective of this thesis; Chapter two provides the theoretical framework on which the thesis is based and the relevant concepts as well; Chapter three makes a quantitative study of the distribution of cohesive devices in the two corpora and conducts a comparison between sci-tech texts and literary texts in terms of the use of cohesive devices; Chapter four analyzes the translation strategies used in translating each type of cohesive device in the corpora. Chapter 5 summarizes the frequency of each translation strategy employed in translating cohesive devices. The last chapter presents the limitations of the present thesis and makes suggestions for the future study.Through the statistical analysis, the author gets the following conclusions:1) Compared with literary texts, ESTs and their Chinese translations share more similarities than differences.2) In both ESTs and the Chinese translations, cohesive devices most frequently adopted are in the order of lexical cohesion, reference and conjunction. Ellipsis and substitution are rarely used for the sake of clarity and accuracy;On the basis of these findings and the analysis of the treatment of cohesive devices in the corpora, the author summarizes the following strategies of translating cohesive devices which are in the order of maintaining cohesive devices, omitting cohesive devices, rearranging cohesive devices and adding cohesive devices.Generally speaking,1) Maintaining cohesive devices is the most widely employed translation strategy in E-C translation;2) In addition to the maintenance of cohesive devices, omission is also widely applied to the translation of reference, especially for the translation of definite article'the'; Where demonstrative references are used separately as subjects or objects, the nominal items they refer to are often added in the Chinese translations for the sake of clarity;3) Like references, most conjunctives are also transformed accordingly into their equivalents in the Chinese translations. However, owing to the different preferences for conjunctions, conjunctives in ESTs are often rearranged when rendered into Chinese. Paired conjunctives ,particularly, causal and adversative conjunctives, are often employed when rendered into Chinese, for example:"因为…所以","尽管…但是",etc;4) Maintenance of cohesive devices is most frequently adopted in the translation of lexical cohesive devices, which guarantees the faithfulness of the translations. Moreover, to achieve succinctness, which is highly valued in sci-tech texts, lexical items can be omitted or replaced with referential pronouns on the condition that the omission will not cause any misunderstanding or the incompleteness of the target text.5) Substitution and ellipsis are seldom used in sci-tech texts and the omitted or substituted elements are often added in E-C translation; Furthermore, in some cases where ellipsis and substitution will not bring about ambiguity of any kind, they can be maintained when rendered into Chinese , which is particularly preferred in the translation of clausal ellipsis or substitution;A tentative study as it is, the practical value of the thesis lies in:1) Such findings help translators to better understand the different textual properties of the source text and the target text as well;2) The translation strategies put forward in this thesis serves as guides for E-C translation of sci-tech texts;...