Construction Of Interpersonal Meaning In The Translation Of Wang Xifeng's Speech

To describe characters'image and personality is one of the key techniques in the creation of a novel. The character's individual speech is always an important way to reflect his/her image and personality. It is no doubt that translation is basically the transformation of two languages. It is important for target readers to understand the character's image through his/her speech. Wang Xifeng, as one of the most successfully-shaped characters in the famous Chinese classical fiction Hong Lou Meng, is a fully-deserved language artist with her superior capability of dealing with different people. Lots of scholars have studied Wang Xifeng from various aspects, but the study on Wang Xifeng from the perspective of interpersonal meaning is rarely found. Therefore it is worthwhile to carry on the study from the perspective of interpersonal meaning. In the thesis the writer tries to make a tentative study on the translation of Wang Xifeng's speech in Hong Lou Meng in Yang Hsien-yi's version. It is expected that the thesis can do a little contribution to the future translation of Chinese classics especially on the basis of interpersonal function.The theoretical basis for the thesis is interpersonal function, one of the three metafunctions of Systemic-functional Grammar proposed by M. A. K. Halliday. Systemic-functional Grammar lays stress on social study of languages. Interpersonal function not only shows speaker's attitude, judgment, social status and personality, but also reflects the relationship between the speaker and the listener in a certain context. According to Halliday interpersonal meaning is realized through the mood, modality and key system, etc. Based on this theory, the thesis makes a study on Wang Xifeng's speech from three aspects, namely, vocatives, mood system and modality system. The purpose is to evaluate whether the translated version keeps the interpersonal meaning reflected in the original as fully as possible and to explore the reasons if there is the loss of interpersonal meaning.The thesis is carried out through the combination of theory and practice. It is composed of five parts. Chapter one is the introduction part to the thesis, including the introduction of Hong Lou Meng and its English versions, significance of the study, the goal and organization of the thesis. Chapter two is exactly the literature review part which concentrates on interpersonal function and its realization. In addition, the researches on Hong Lou Meng and interpersonal meaning will be presented in this chapter. Chapter three is the analysis part. The writer does a tentative study on the translation of Wang Xifeng's speech in Yang Hsien-yi's version based on interpersonal function from three aspects, that is, vocatives, mood system and modality system. During the analysis, the writer will point how Yang rebuilds interpersonal meaning through these three manners and give an evaluation of Yang's translation. Chapter four presents three factors which are behind the loss of interpersonal function. That is, the author of Hong Lou Meng Cao Xueqin, different cultures and different languages. Chapter five is the conclusion part of the thesis which presents the achievements and limitations of the thesis.By analyzing Wang Xifeng's speech in Yang Hsien-yi's version on the basis of interpersonal function, it can be concluded that Yang's version is almost faithful to the original and reconstructs the image of Wang Xifeng successfully based on the interpersonal meaning. Yang's translation, with vocatives, mood and modality words well chosen, brings a vivid and lifelike Wang Xifeng to English readers. However, there is some absence of interpersonal meaning in the translated version. There are three reasons why there is the loss of interpersonal meaning. That is, the writing style of the author, Cao Xueqin, two different cultures and different languages. Thus the translator should employ some techniques to rebuild the interpersonal meaning in translated version faithfully and make the translation accepted by target readers.