A Study On E-C Translation Skills Of The Compact Construction Of English Complex Sentences

This thesis makes an attempt to study the E-C translation skills of the compact construction of an English complex sentence.Within the tradition of English grammar,an English complex sentence is usually composed of one main clause and one or more than one subordinate clause.And Quirk et al(1985:992)categorize the subordinate clauses with English complex sentences into finite clause,non-finite clause,and verbless clause respectively.With some components omitted in the finite subordinate clause of an English complex sentence,the compact construction of an English complex sentence,i.e.a new language structure corresponding to a prototypical complex sentence,is accordingly constructed.Naturally,it is often asked what differences underlie the compact construction with an English complex sentence and its corresponding prototypical counterpart.To answer this question,it seems necessary to turn to some theory that goes beyond the traditional English grammar and that is likely to unveil the mechanism underlying the compact construction of an English complex sentence.Accordingly,Cognitive Linguistics theories are adopted for the coming solution.In accordance with Cognitive Linguistics,when driven by intentionality,a speaker tends to adopt marked items(compact constructions)to embody intention,by means of which the subordinate clause of an English complex sentence is Grounded during the process.With an exchange of figure and ground in a compact construction,the salience is accordingly changed from the main clause to the subordinate clause,which is the very core of the construction mechanism underlying a compact construction.As a matter of course,what is characterized by a compact construction lurks in its construction mechanism mentioned above.With components omitted,a compact construction is prominently featured with salience,meanwhile the omission in a compact construction consumes more attention of readers to perceive some underlying relation,i.e.the conditional relation,the causal relation,the concessive relation,the coordinate relation,or the emphatic/lyric relation.Different compact constructions are enumerated and contrasted with Chinese translations respectively,subsequently the E-C translation skills of compact constructions are developed,namely,salience and the above-mentioned underlying relations should be embodied in the Chinese translation of the compact construction of an English complex sentence.To recapitulate,it is found that a compact construction is prominently featured with salience and some underlying relation with components omitted.Thus,salience and the underlying relations should be embodied in the Chinese translations of compact constructions both in form and meaning,by way of which enables readers to recognize the key information of compact constructions.Six translation skills are derived from the relations mentioned above:(1)Conditional Equivalence;(2)Causal Equivalence;(3)Concessive Equivalence;(4)Coordinate Equivalence;(5)Emphatic Equivalence and(6)Lyric Equivalence.It concludes by claiming that this thesis researches the compact construction of an English complex sentence from different perspectives,and this thesis is expected to be of some help to Cognitive Linguistics,translation studies and the teaching of foreign languages to some extent.