A Study On Dialogue Translation In Sidney Shapiro's The Family From The Perspective Of Register Analysis

As one of the most influential realistic work in Chinese contemporary literature, Pa Chin's The Family is unfailing in decades since its first publication. The work is reprinted many times and adapted for the stage, and the translation by Sidney Shapiro also causes wide public concern. The study on the work is always the focus of the academic circles; therefore the translation deserves more diverse and in-depth research.Pa Chin molds many distinctive literary figures who impress the readers with their uniqueness. The dialogues portrayed in the work undisputedly make positive contribution to the characterization. As we know that people's language is influenced by the social status of the speakers, the purpose of the dialogues as well as the context of the dialogues. The change of any of the factors will influence the option of the concrete language. These factors can be generalized as three variables in register analysis:field, tenor and field. Field refers to what has taken place; tenor refers to who has participated, and mode refers to what medium has been selected for relaying the message. All the three variables determine the concrete language used in a concrete context. Shapiro's success in reproducing the literary figures mainly relies on reproducing the register of the source text.This thesis focuses on the dialogue translation in The Family with register analysis as the theoretical framework. Through study, it is found that the evaluation of the translation will be more objective if the register variables of the source text and the target text are identified and compared. Besides, this thesis will also explore how to apply register analysis to the lexcio-grammar level with The Family as the case study. After the comprehensive analysis of the source and target text, the translation techniques employed by Sidney Shapiro will be summarized, in the hope of making some contribution to the reproduction of the register of the source text.There are six parts in the thesis. The first part is Introduction, elaborating the research background, research questions and methodology, the significance of the research as well the structure of the research. Chapter Two reviews the research of application of register analysis in translation studies and its current situation, as well as the current research of the dialogue translation and The Family.Chapter Three provides the theoretical framework for this thesis, introducing the notion of register and register variables, the realization of the three variables in the lexico-grammar level, and the application of register analysis to translation.Chapter Four is the main body of the thesis, giving detailed analysis of the The Family under the theoretical framework of register analysis, exploring the realization of the register variables in the target text respectively, and evaluating the quality of the translation.Based on Chapter Four, Chapter Five summarizes the translation techniques employed by Sidney Shapiro to reproduce the register variables in the target text, in the hope of providing inspiration and reference for the further study.Chapter six is Conclusion which summarizes the whole thesis, giving answers to the research questions and pointing out the limitations of the thesis and recommendation for the further study.