A Study On Chinese Pragmatic Marker "Jiushi(shuo)" And Its Realizations In English

Pragmatic markers(PMs)are essential linguistic devices for organizing and structuring discourse,as well as for expressing the speaker‘s attitude to the proposition or marking the relationship with the listeners or readers.Thus,the PMs are important means of communication.The translation is also cross-cultural communication.Whether the pragmatic markers are reproduced successfully in translation is crucial to the cross-cultural communication.The PMs are particularly problematic in translation because they have multiple-functions,and they are context-dependent and culture-bound.Therefore,the translation study on the PMs is of great theoretical value and practical significance.The studies on Chinese PMs mostly focus on their pragmatic function,yet little is known about the way in which the function is realized in translation into English.Based on the corpus,the study explores the various pragmatic functions of Chinese PMs "Jiushi" and its variant "Jiushishuo" as well as their corresponding translations.Firstly,the functions of "Jiushi" and "Jiushishuo" are identified by analyzing the instances and context.Secondly,based on the pragmatic equivalent effect and the theory of adaptation,the study establishes the relationship between pragmatic function and pragmatic translation in certain context and explores how to reproduce pragmatic effects of "Jiushi" and its variant "Jiushishuo" in translation to achieve the successful communication.The major findings of this paper are as follows:(1)The PM "Jiushi" can carry the textual functions such as a topic-change marker,elaborative marker,reformulation marker and hesitation marker as well as interpersonal functions such as the maker of response and reinforcement marker.Its variant "Jiushishuo" can carry four pragmatic functions including a marker of supplementary and explanation,inference marker,filler and repair marker.(2)The translations of "Jiushi" and its variant "Jiushishuo" are quite varied with different functions in accordance with the translation principle of pragmatic equivalence.For example,"Jiushishuo" as the marker of inference can be translated into "so","then";"Jiushi" as topic-change marker "as for",as elaborative marker "that is".Based on the theory of adaptation,there are four ways of reproducing pragmatic meaning of "Jiushi" and its variant "Jiushishuo".In order to adapt to the context,expression habit and English language rule,the translators change the function of "Jiushi" / "Jiushishuo" in translation with substitution or find out the appropriate expression with omission and free translation.(3)Through the comparative analysis of the function of "Jiushi" in original and translated Chinese,it is found that "Jiushi" as topic-change marker and marker of response rarely appear in the translated Chinese.It gives the implication on E-C translation that the translator can use the native Chinese word "Jiushi" to express the response and topic shift so that the translated Chinese is more natural and idiomatic.The comparative analysis of English expressions of "Jiushishuo" in C-E translation and those in E-C translation shows that "so" rarely appear in C-E translation,but is the common English expression in E-C translation.The study gives the implication on the C-E translation that "so" can serve as the appropriate expression of "Jiushishuo" as the explanation marker and inference marker.