On The Actualization Of The Aesthetic Motivations In Translating Chinese Ci Poems From The Semiotic Perspective

Ci poems are a great treasure of Chinese classic literary and occupy a unique place in literary history. Translations of ci poems are abundant, among which Xu Yuanchong’s100Tang and Song Ci Poems is more comprehensive, for it covers the two dynasties in which ci poems developed greatly. Centering on the actualization of the aesthetic motivations, this thesis examines the translation of ci poems by Xu Yuanchong from the semiotic perspective.Semiotics is an independent discipline, and with the development of interdisplinery study, it is applied to translation, but limited in research. As holistic and effective as it might be, semiotics is believed to be the most comprehensive system to analyze signs, especially in poetry translation. The thesis will apply this methodology and study aesthetic motivation underlying translations of the100ci poems at three levels:phonological motivation, syntactic motivation and semantic motivation.Through a rough analysis of the100ci poems, semiotics’s function as an effective methodology has been largely fulfilled. In the study of semantic motivation, semiotics is taken as a powerful analytic tool. And in the study of phonological motivation and syntactic motivation, the semiotic rationale and theoretical perspective is applied. Phonological motivation, syntactic motivation and semantic motivation are all realized to a large extent in Xu Yuanchong’s translation, so his translation is successful in the actualization of aesthetic motivation on the whole. The degree of the realization of syntactic motivation is the highest among the three while the degree of phonological motivation is the lowest. The research result shows that Xu Yuanchong has strictly followed his translation theory of "beauty in sense, in sound and in form" in his translation practice.