A Study On Rhyme In C-E Translation Of Tang Poetry

Tang poetry is of great significance in the history of Chinese literature.It is not only popular at home,but also has been widely spread abroad.Tang poetry translation,as a way that tang poetry goes to the world,plays an important role to promote Chinese traditional culture.In recent years,studies of C-E translation of tang poetry have raised our concerns.This thesis embarks on the rhyme of tang poetry,probing into:(1)if the translators pay attention to the sonority of rhyme in the process of translating tang poetry into English;(2)if the translators observe the sonority hierarchy of the source text when they deal with the rhyme;(3)if the sonority trends of translations are correlated with that of the original poems,what kinds of features do they have.This research is corpus-based.All the tang poems in this corpus are chosen from W.J.B.Fletcher's two translations Gems of Chinese Verse and More Gems of Chinese Poetry and Xu Yuanchong's 300 Tang Poems.According to Parker's sonority hierarchy,corresponding sonority values are marked on the rhymes of each poem.Then these sonority values of rhymes in a poem are correlated and the sonority trends of the original poems and their translations are mapped.According to the data: the sonority trends between the original poem and one of its translations or between the two translations are(1)similar;(2)overlapped at the beginning or at the end;(3)straight lines as a whole or at some part;(4)with no obvious regularity.The research results are analyzed from the translator's subjectivity,the emotional tone of the original text,and the reader's acceptance to the translations.Three major findings are as follows:(1)In most cases,the sonority trend of Xu Yuanchong's translation is similar to that of the original poem,while that of Fletcher's translation is different from others and keeps his own characteristics in terms of word choice of rhymes.Fletcher,as an English translator,has a limited understanding of traditional Chinese culture.However,the background and meaning of the tang poems can be read out by Xu Yuanchong.This phenomenon can be interpreted by the translator's subjectivity.Translator's cultural background,emotional attitude,and way of thinking are all important factors that can affect the translated works.(2)The emotional tone of the original poem has a certain influence on the sonority trend of rhymes.In some tang poems,the sonority trends of the two translations are almost the same as that of the original poem.In tang poetry translation,the emotional tone of a poem is also relevant to its translations.It is necessary to grasp the emotional tone of tang poetry in the process of translating tang poetry into English.In addition,different rhymes are not only different in terms of the sonority values;the emotion they express is also different.(3)Translators are bound to consider the reader's acceptance in the process of translatingtang poetry into English,which can be explained by the sonority trends of the two translations that are similar but different from that of the original poem.To a certain extent,in order to make readers accept the translations,translators will make efforts in using the rhyme scheme that the target language readers are easy to accept.They even make an explanation of the original works.Rhyme is one of the important characteristics of tang poetry which cannot be ignored in the C-E translation of tang poetry.In view of the research results from this thesis,the sonority trends of translations and that of the original poems are related to some extent.The sonority values of rhymes can be a new perspective of poetry translation.The study of the sonority values of rhymes further and more research results can be applied to other fields,such as poem recital,lyrics creation and speech,etc.