A Comparative Study Of The English And Chinese Versions Of Gone With The Wind

Systemic-functional linguistics (SFL) consists of three meta-functions of language:ideational, interpersonal and textual. Interpersonal function embodies all use of language to express social and personal relations.(Hu Zhuanglin&Jiang Wangqi,2002:72) Appraisal theory(AT) can be treated as extension of interpersonal function and is concerned with the linguistic resources by which texts/speakers come to express, negotiate and naturalize intersubjective and ultimately ideological position, (White,1998) with the aim to explore how language users use linguistic resources to express evaluation on happenings, people and phenomena, to investigate all language resources by which writers/speakers make evaluation, adopt stances, construct textual personas and manage interpersonal relationships. It is composed of three sub-systems: Attitude, Engagement and Graduation. This thesis studies differences in attitudinal meaning between the source text (ST) and two target texts (TT).SFL holds that the translation means the search for functional equivalence between ST and TT, i.e. equivalence in terms of ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings. Just as Hu Zhuanglin put it, equivalence should not be restricted to the ideational and textual meanings, it is equally important to search for the equivalence in respects of conveying attitude meaning, author's intentions and interpersonal meaning as well as their realization. (Hu Zhuanglin,1989:188) It is often the case that translators involve his/her own values in translation and understanding of the original version. Therefore, whether or not the original attitude, its intensity and values are faithfully embodied in TT is considered as a significant translation criterion within the framework of AT.Within the framework of attitude system of AT, this thesis firstly investigates 60 paragraphs of the English version of Gone With the Wind, attempting to explore how attitude resources are distributed in the text and what kind of attitude, stances, values and ideology the writer tried to negotiate with readers. Then, on the basis of former analyses of attitudinal meanings, the study compares correspondent 60 paragraphs in two Chinese translations with the original version, aiming to explore the degree to which the two Chinese translations are faithful to the original work, as well as the potential reasons for unfaithfulness. This study intends to prove that AT can provides a new perspective for translation studies so as to enhance translation quality.The thesis is composed of six parts, Chapter 1 briefly introduces the background, rationales, significance, methodology of the study. Chapter 2 is concerned with the previous studies of Chinese translations of Gone With the Wind as well as relevant research applying AT. Chapter 3 introduces the theoretical framework of three sub-systems of AT:Attitude, Engagement and Graduation. Chapter 4 and 5 are the central parts of the thesis. Chapter 4 focuses on quantitative study of the occurrence of attitude resources in Gone With the Wind as well as exploring authentic attitudinal stances and values of the writer. Chapter 5 compares the two Chinese versions of Gone With the Wind with the original work to investigate the degree of faithfulness by the translation criterion within the framework of A T. Chapter 6 presents the major findings and limitation, suggesting for further research.By analyzing the attitude resources in the source text and comparing the two Chinese translations with the original novel, we have come to the following results:(1) Attitude resources are widely used by the writer in negotiating with readers; evaluating meanings are mainly conveyed at lexical, clause and grammatical level, such as, clauses of mental process and behavior process as well as sentences with token of evaluation. The sources of appraisal mainly come from Scarlett and the author.(2) The affect resources are employed most frequently, followed successively by the items of judgement and appreciation, with the number of affect and judgement resources dominating over the appreciation ones.(3) In affect system, affect resources about Scarlett occupy the largest percentage, of which, negative emotions are dominant. These facts indicate that the author tended to align readers to be sympathetic with her. Meanwhile, in the translation of affect meanings, both translations are generally faithful to the original text. Comparatively, Fu Donghua's translation is a bit better than Li Meihua's in affect system. The shortage of Fu Donghua's version includes under-representation. over-representation and zero-value translation, whose over-representations center on the negative feelings of Scarlett; Li Meihua's inadequacy is characterized by under-representation that results in softness of the force of affection and fails to reproduce the same power of emotions.(4) In judgement system, evaluation resources about Scarlett account the largest percentage, with those about Rhett ranking the second. Yet, the distribution pattern of judgement resources about Scarlett and Rhett turn out to be similar, with positive items outweighing the negative ones. In this system, the frequencies of equivalence in both translations are higher than those of unfaithful phenomena, with Li Meihua's translation a bit better than Fu Donghua's. As far as unfaithful phenomena are concerned, the phenomenon of under-value translation is typical in Li Meihua's version. Fu Donghua's shortcoming also includes under-representation, over-representation and zero-value translation, with over-representation concentrating on the negative judgement associated with Rhett and the old southerners.(5) The number of Judgement items about Melaine comes the third, Ashley the forth. The most of evaluation on Melaine are mainly positive, while on Ashley and the old southerners negative. Thus, the data and analyses prove that the narrator intended to pass to readers her admiration for Melaine and disapproval of the personality of Ashley and public opinion.(6) In appreciation system, Appreciation resources associated with Rhett account for the largest part, those about Scarlett rank the second, followed successively by Ashley and Mammy. In this section, Li Mei Hua did a better job in conveying the appreciation meanings than Fu Donghua. However, her shortcoming is also featured by under-value translation. At the same time, the phenomenon of zero-value representation in Fu Donghua's verstion is most prominent in appreciation system.(7) In the whole attitude system, the majority of investigated data in both translations are generally in equivalence with the original work; Li Meihua's translation is a bit better than Fu Donghua's, with 529 cases of equivalence (about 74.61%); While, in Fu Donghua's, there are 490 cases (about 69.11%).(8) The differences of unfaithfulness in the two translations can be attributed to three reasons:the first is gender difference between the two translators; the second is different translation criterion; the third is differences of world views and values of the two translators.(9) This study shows that AT provides a new perspective for evaluating translation.