A Corpus-based Study On Modal Verbs In English Translations Of Chinese State Leaders’ University Speeches

As a type of public speeches, speeches made by state leaders at university are generally regarded as the verbal communication activities for expressing opinions, declaring stance, and publicizing policies on a specific theme. It is commonly assumed that these verbal activities play essential roles in the maintenance of relationship between different countries. Modal verbs deliver speakers’inferences towards propositions or attitudes towards events so that they are often used to manifest the speakers’attitudes and judgements towards the propositions. Therefore, in translating the university speeches the appropriate employment of modal verbs for expressing modality would be of great significance to the international communications and relations.On the basis of the corpus-based translation theory, Halliday’s modality theory and Martin’s appraisal theory, this paper analyzes the use of modal verbs in 12 pieces of English translations of Chinese state leaders’university speeches. The frequency of modal verbs in translational and non-translational speeches is compared and contrasted by WordSmith 6.0 retrieval software so as to summarize the distribution features of translational speeches. Then the study moves a step forward to explore the sources of modal verbs in translational speeches based on the parallel corpus. Exhibiting a marked explicitness, the modal verb "should" is taken as a case study to shed light on the motivations accounting for the translation of "should". After the data analysis by SPSS, the following tendencies demonstrating in the use of modal verbs among translational speeches are observed and summarized:1. The translational speeches exhibit statistically smaller occurrences of modal verbs in total than that of non-translational speeches, especially the underuse of high and low value modal verbs such as "must", "have/has/had to", "can", "could", "may’ and "might"2. The translational speeches show a marked preference for the median value modal verbs, such as "will", "would", and "should".3. Modal verbs of different values can be translated from the corresponding value types of Chinese nengyuan verbs. For example, "must" matches with "必须", "应 该 ";"can" corresponds to "能够","可以", etc.4. The translation of some modal verbs demonstrates a degree of explicitness, in particular in modal verbs "need", "should", "would", and "can"5. It is suggested that the overuse of "should" in translational speeches mainly results from the following motivations:negotiability of modal verbs, differences between hypotaxis and parataxis, and subjectivity of the interpreter.The current study on the use of modal verbs in English translations of Chinese state leaders’university speeches reveals the frequency differences in modal verbs use between translational and non-translational speeches, explores the sources of modal verbs in translational speeches, and analyzes the motivations behind translation. These findings will serve as foundations for the future studies on modal verbs and university speeches. Another key theoretical strength of it lies in the insights for the corpus-based translation study. It is believed that the study also has practical applications, which will shed light on translation practices of modal verbs in university speeches and the teaching of modal verbs.