Equivalence Based On Semantic Relations In E-C Translation: A Perspective From Saussure's Sign Value Theory

A language,a word-composed system,plays a vital role in conveying thoughts and emotions.The unique semantic feature of a word in communication,that is,the explanation of an entity,is its linguistic value.With more than one semantic feature,a comparatively active sememe of a word tends to be extracted in certain linguistic relations and it becomes the basic element of the whole ideology that constitutes semantic coherence.Semantic coherence is one of the main concerns of text translation and it is increasingly used as one of the most important parameters for translation quality assessment.The thesis adopts syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations from the sign value theory proposed by Saussure,as the entry point to analyze how lexical cohesive modes function in terms of semantic identification in the English text,and makes further investigations on the necessity of such cohesive modes to be reproduced in its counterpart,the Chinese text.The thesis adopts a contrastive and analytic approach by selecting two Chinese versions of an English literary text,to identify lexical chains formed by cohesive modes,reveal corresponding semantic relations,and ultimately maintain semantic coherence of the English text.It is found that syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations serve as lexical cohesive modes of connecting lexical items semantically related into a text,based on semantic relation network that makes lexical cohesion communicative value and primarily accounts for semantic and textual coherence.Lexical cohesive modes,semantic coherence-based,are vital for reproducing the textual coherence,conveying the textual theme,delivering the rhetorical effect,enriching the vocabulary usage and identifying the exact meaning of polysemous words.Additionally,the thesis emphasizes the reconstruction of the original cohesive mode in Chinese manner so as to seek semantic relation equivalence,maximize the equal value in semantic terms in the English text,and improve the translation quality.