A Contextual Approach To Two Chinese Versions Of The Scarlet Letter

Context is an important concept in systemic functional linguistics, translatingbears an indispensable relationship to the context. During the translating process, theaccurate understanding of the source text and appropriate expression in the target textdepend largely on context. As an important factor in language use, context determinesthe meanings and functions of language. The aim of translation is to realize themeaning equivalence between source text and target text, as it were. Since meaning isconditioned by situational and cultural context of a language, then the meaningequivalence between the source text and the target text is the equivalence of languagefunctions in the different contexts. In the process of translation, a translator should tryone's best to carry the contextual features of the source text over to the target text, andconvey to the fullest extent the meanings and functions embedded in the source text.The Scarlet Letter, a masterpiece of the prominent romantic novelist NathanielHawthorne in the nineteenth century, plays a significant role in the history ofAmerican literature for its perfect harmony in both art and thought. The source texthas specific context of situation and context of culture. Hence, in order to convey thecontextual meanings and functions of the source text into the target text, a translatormust make a thorough and accurate analysis of the context in the source text. ThoughThe Scarlet Letter was introduced to China early and it has many translations so far,the study on different translations seems to be rare, and the contextual approach to thestudy of Chinese versions of this masterpiece is seldom seen. Based on the review onHalliday's register theory in a critical way, Professor Peng Liyuan's new perspectiveon the three contextual parameters is introduced in this thesis. Starting from theperspective of the particularity of context, a comparative study on whether the contextof the source text is reproduced or not in Shi Heng's version and Yao Naiqiang'sversion in aspects of religion, culture, mood, rhetoric and so on is conducted.In conclusion, the thesis points out that context theory is also applicable to the translation studies of literary texts. Besides the understanding of the generality ofcontext, the particularity of context should be paid more attention, which can helpachieve the accuracy of the translations.