The Realization Of Interpersonal Meanings In Translation From The Perspective Of Appraisal System

The Appraisal system is an extension and development of the interpersonal meta-function within the framework of Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics, playing an important role in the interpersonal function, which was initiated mainly by J.R. Martin and P.R.R. White. L. Tang(2004, p. 36) points out that, compared with the interpersonal meta-function within the framework of systemic functional linguistics, appraisal system covers a broader and more systemic categories of the interpersonal meaning beyond Mood and Modality. It is mainly a theory aimed at interpreting the semantics of evaluation. The Appraisal system is divided into three subsystems, namely, attitude system, engagement system and graduation system. Attitude system can be employed to analyze the emotions, judgment and aesthetics of writers or speakers; engagement system provides readers with a tool to analyze the inter-subjective positioning of writers or speakers; graduation system enables readers to analyze the intensity of attitude expressing and engagement resources. As Thompson(1996) demonstrates, the interpersonal meaning within the framework of appraisal system is central to any text. The unfaithful realization of the interpersonal meaning of the source text in novel translation will affect the equivalent presentation of the characters in the target text and target readers’ understanding and acceptance of translation works.This paper applies appraisal system to the contrastive study of two Chinese translations of Jude the Obscure, one by Zhang Guruo and the other by Geng Zhi and Xiao Liming, aiming to compare the realization of interpersonal meanings in these two Chinese versions with regard to faithfulness from three micro-levels, namely, attitude system, engagement system and graduation system and to further summarize the factors which affect the faithful realization of interpersonal meanings in novel translation.It is found that the unfaithful realization of interpersonal meanings exists in both Chinese versions from the perspective of these three micro-levels. But the most striking difference is displayed in the realization of interpersonal meanings from the perspective of engagement system where the version by Zhang Guruo is far more faithful than that co-authored by Geng Zhi and Xiao Liming. The author further summarizes the following six main factors that affect the faithful realization of interpersonal meanings in novel translation within the framework of appraisal system:(1) Translators disregard the emotional intensity the original author intends to convey to readers;(2) translators have an insufficient or mistaken understanding of the personas in the source text;(3) translators are confined by their own translation styles;(4) translators do not take the context where the appraisal resources are in into consideration;(5) translators do not take the development and changes of personas into account;(6) translators do not take the development of the plots into consideration. Additionally, the author summarizes the effects the faithful realization and unfaithful realization in novel translation have on target readers respectively.This thesis applies the appraisal system to the contrastive study of English-Chinese translation in the hope of using appraisal system to provide effective guidance in the equivalence of interpersonal meanings in novel translation and providing a new perspective for translation studies. Meanwhile, the thesis also expects to enlighten readers to take appraisal system into consideration while writing, doing critical reading and translation teaching.