Lexical Cohesion In English And Chinese Legal Texts And Mutual Translation

Lexical cohesion is the semiological material base of text building and one of thetwo fundamental concepts in Cohesion in English by Michael Alexander KirkwoodHalliday and Ruquaiya Hasan. Since its initiation, cohesion theory has drawn greatattention from humanities such as linguistics, translation, semiology and philosophy.Over the last decades, works and journals in this field have grown in number at abewildering rate, providing abundant theoretical references and practical models forthe scientific building of various texts. The organizing of legal texts relays on lexicalcohesion and the translation of legal texts can not ignore lexical cohesion. Therefore,study on lexical cohesion in English and Chinese legal texts has great theoretical andpractical significance.Lexical cohesion, including repetition, synonymy and collocation, is an importantcornerstone of cohesion theory. Based on the theories of lexical cohesion, this thesiscarries out elaborate researches on lexical cohesion in English and Chinese legal textsand mutual translation. Firstly, upon systematical reviewing of lexical cohesiontheories in the West and China, Halliday’s model of lexical cohesion theory is selectedas the main theoretical framework. Secondly, concepts and classifications of the threecategories of lexical cohesion in Halliday’s model are analyzed and the general lexicalcohesion theory is introduced into legal texts. Features and cohesive effects of lexicalcohesion in English and Chinese legal texts are investigated with examples. Finally,based on the features of lexical cohesion in English and Chinese legal texts,translation strategies thereof are proposed, attempting to raise translators’ attention tolexical cohesion in the source legal texts. Through selection of lexical items,translators can convey the accurate meanings and keep the cohesive effects in thetarget language texts, so as to keep the equivalence of both the form and meaning inlegal text translation.According to this study, comparison and translation study are the key elements ofconducting research on translation of lexical cohesion in English and Chinese legaltexts; they are also the important means of conveying the meanings and the purport in the legal texts from both the form and sense perspectives with scientific methods. Dueto the limited length of the thesis and the restricted knowledge structure of the author,this study is only the preliminary research, serving as a modest spur to induce othersto further the investigation.