On The Selection Of English Attributes From The Perspective Of Norm Theory

This thesis focuses on the selection of attributes. Attribute is an important syntactic component in grammar, but takes different forms in English and Chinese. In the analyses of David Hawkes’and Yang Xianyi’s English versions of Hong Lou Meng about the selection of attributes in the Third Chapter, the thesis has made studies on the attributes translation. At first, the translated attributes have been classified into groups in order to find out their sources in the source text. Then, the thesis makes comparisons between the two English versions and the source text to reveal the similarities and differences between two translated versions in attributes selection. On the basis of Toury’s Norm theory and other translation theories, the given examples in Chapter Three and Four have demonstrated the translators’ decision-making process in attributes selection. Through the analysis of selected attributes in the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng and their comparisons with the source text, this thesis has concluded with three types about selection of English attributes in C-E translation practice, namely, the selection of attributes in the source text, the selection of non-attributive syntactic components in the source text, and the selection of addition. For the norm theory of Toury, translation is an activity that is constrained by sociocultural norms. According to the comparisons, the two English versions share similarities and differences in the selection of attributes. Among all the factors that influence the translators, the dominant culture affects the initial norms of translators. The preliminary norms, which deal with the translators’ situated translating environment and translating styles, account for their differences on the selection of attributes. Based on the similarities of the two English versions, the thesis has concluded the translation norms of attributes in C-E translation practice:attributes in Chinese hold the similar syntactic position and information status so that they are usually translated into attributes in English; because of grammar differences of two languages and other factors, attributes in the ST can be transformed into other non-attribute syntactic components; there are added attributes in the TTs, whose existence are constrained by the differences between the source language and target language. The selected attributes in the TT, either by addition or by conversion from non-attributive syntactic parts are all secondary in information status in the translational context. This thesis contains three parts. The first part reviews studies of attributes in English and Chinese and their comparisons; the studies of attribute translation and Hong Lou Meng’s English versions. The second part is the main body of this thesis, including Chapter Three and Chapter Four. It reveals the sources of attributes in the TTs with a description of their similarities and dissimilarities in attributes selection after a close examination of the attributes in the two versions. It concludes with some norms of attribute selection in line with Toury’s theory of norm. The third part is the conclusion of this thesis with the findings, limitations and suggestions of this thesis.