A Study Of Register Analysis And Its Application In The Translation Of Political Speeches From English To Chinese-From Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective

The concept of register, or context of situation, with its significant role in communication activities, deserves more and more emphasis in translation practice. Register theory proposed by Halliday and other systemic functional theorists, has among others, provided a solid ground for the study of the link between context and language form. It enables us to uncover the range of linguistic resources that are available to make meaning, and gives us insight into the how contextual factors determine meaning manifested in linguistic choices.Register theory from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective starts with what Halliday proposed as Metafunctions—the"ideational","interpersonal"and"textual"function of a discourse. Then it elucidates the realization chain between metafunctions and register variables of Field, Mode and Tenor. It serves as a scientific guide and framework for translation studies where the key issue is to guarantee faithful and effective communications by achieving functional equivalence between source and target language.Political speech has been marked by typically mixed functions of ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings. Therefore, register analysis that could activate the three metafunctions should be been given full play in translation practice of political speech. It first helps translator distinguish and decide the meanings of a speech by identifying register indicators, then it guides the translator in reconstructing the same situational context by selecting proper linguistic forms in the target language. In doing so the register-equivalence between the original speech and the translated speech could be achieved, so that the metafunctions of the original speech could be realized in the target language.