A Systemic Functional Study Of Yumeiren's Seven English Versions

The Chinese ci-poem Yumeiren is a representative work of Li Yu,the last ruler of the Southern Tang who wrote the ci-poem right before being poisoned to death.English versions of Yumeiren have been studied by scholars,including Li Beibei(2009),Gu Zhengguang(2007),Qi Yongjie(2013),Zhou Haihong(2015),Duan Xiaofang & Guo Zengwei(2017),Pu Jia(2016),Yang Huanhuan & Ren Jingsheng(2008),Yang Li(2013)and Chen Jing & Li Jianliang(2010)from different perspectives,such as metafunctions,aesthetic characters and cultural differences.Systemic functional grammar of Halliday,especially the theory of three metafunctions: ideational metafunction,interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction provides a theoretical framework for the study of Chinese ancient poetry translation.Feasibility of applying the theory of three metafunctions in the comparative study of English versions of Chinese poetry has been proved by scholars represented by Huang Guowen(2002a,2002 b,2002c,2002 d,2003).Furthermore,images of poetry and poetic imagery beauty can be better understood through the analysis of three metafunctions,which are of great significance in translation and comparative analysis of Yumeiren.Therefore,the thesis analyzes English versions of Yumeiren under the guidance of systemic functional grammar.There are two major shortcomings in the previous studies of English versions of Yumeiren from the perspective of three metafunctions made by Li Beibei(2009),Gu Zhengguang(2007),Qi Yongjie(2013),Zhou Haihong(2015),Duan Xiaofang & Guo Zengwei(2017)and other scholars.On the one hand,scholars tend to analyze some English versions of Yumeiren from a certain aspect of one metafunction instead of applying all the three metafunctions.On the other hand,due to the limited number of English versions of Yumeiren,previous studies only focus on the translation analysis of single sentence,rather than on the similarities and differences of the applications of three metafunctions in different English versions,especially how to choose process types,how to use subjects,finites and moods,and how to arrange thematic structures.Therefore,in order to improve study on translation of Chinese poetry under the guidance of systemic functional grammar,the thesis is based on the research of Chen Jing and Li Jianliang(2010)which adopts the largest number of English versions of Yumeiren in a paper.It expands the research scope and increases the English versions of Yumeiren by Yang Xianyi & Dai Naidie and Zhu Manhua.The thesis adopts the seven English versions of Yumeiren as the research object and employs comparison analysis and statistical approach to conduct the qualitative research on Yumeiren's seven English versions from the aspects of ideational metafunction,interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction to compare the similarities and differences,analyze the reasons,point out the advantages and disadvantages of the English versions,and propose enlightenment of poetry translation.It is found in the thesis that from the perspective of ideational metafunction,material process is more appropriate to describe dynamic changes than other process types in translation of Chinese poetry.For mental process,emotive mental process can clearly express positive or negative attitudes,while neutral attitudes are usually expressed by perceptive and cognitive mental processes.For relational process,identifying relational process expresses the equal status of participants better.For verbal process,the omitted sayers in Chinese poetry can be complemented in English versions,or they can still be omitted through the use of the imperative clause or passive voice.Existential process is advocated in translation of“??”,“???”,“?”and“??”in Chinese poetry.From the perspective of Mood,enlightenment includes the following aspects.First,tense is selected according to translators'understanding of the Chinese poetry.Second,subjects are not recommended to be added in poetry translation.Third,negative clauses should be much fewer than positive clauses,but negative clauses can be used as the literal translation of the negative expressions in Chinese poetry or as an emphasis.Finally,probability can be used to express uncertainty in poetry,which may be in line with the use of attributive relational clause.From the perspective of thematic structure,simple theme and unmarked theme are widely employed.Multiple theme can be adopted to perfect structure of poetry,and clausal theme can be applied to create a transition of meaning.