Subject Selection In Diplomatic Interpreting: Corpus-based Critical Translation Studies Perspective

The data used in this thesis remain excerpts of diplomatic interpreting in Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's Press Conferences from 2014 to 2019.The bilingual corpus(Chinese-English),is appropriately aligned by Tmxmall tool,and further revised by myself.There are 1267 parallel sentences in total.From the perspective of corpus-based critical translation studies,this thesis,probing into subject selection in diplomatic interpreting with the aid of corpus tools,such as Ant-series tools and Para Conc,is to address the following problems: 1)Where do the new subjects derive from? 2)What are the subject-selection strategies? 3)What are the factors influencing subject selection? Following findings were drawn based on the main study:1)The new subjects mainly derive from three sources: first,the new subject derives from the original subject;second,the new subject is borrowed from an element in the Chinese sentence,such as predicates,objects,attributes,adverbial modifiers,and complements;third,the new subject is inserted.2)The strategies for subject selection are as follows: subject insertion,nominalization in subject position,subject-selection through lexical classification,and preservation of the subject of source text.When dealing with subject selection,the interpreter needs to consider the position and attitude of the speaker,the ideological background of the discourse,and the differences between English and Chinese.First,subject insertion accounts for 16.97%.The interpreter inserts such personal pronouns as we,you,I,one,and such dummy subject as it and there in diplomatic interpreting.The interpreter not only inserts a new subject for a non-subject sentence,but also for the sentence already containing a subject that is disposed of as other elements in English translation in order to emphasize the role of the new subject.Second,nominalization in subject position accounts for 7.50%.Nominalization can hide the real intention of the speaker,blur participants in official,governmental,and formal discourse,or emphasize the participants.Third,subject-selection through lexical classification accounts for 17.28%.This strategy is used to select a new subject for the sentence already containing a subject.The original subject is deleted.It can be divided into two parts,namely subject shift and derivation from elements of source text.Subject shift is used to stress China's position on sensitive issues or show China's pride and confidence.For the latter part,the interpreter selects an element in the Chinese sentence as the subject of the English translation.It is used for stressing the principal role in the original sentence.Fourth,preservation of source text subject accounts for 57.62%.Besides the consideration of grammar,the interpreter preserves the original subject for highlighting the original subject or emphasizing China's position.3)The factors influencing subject selection are as below.This thesis only explores two primary phenomena.The first is about personal subjects.It is found that: 1)Many personal pronouns are used as the subject,with we inserted 157 times,you inserted 18 times,I inserted 13 times,and they inserted 8 times;the subject we accounts for 37.73% of all the subjects in English translation because we represents authority and confidence of China,and can also narrow the distance between the listener and the speaker;2)The modal verbs always follow the inserted subject.That the same modal verbs are rendered into the different ones in English translation is politically motivated.Subject selection plus modal verbs are always employed to express China's position and determination.The second is about non-subject sentences.It is found that the interpreter seldom employs the passive voice to render non-subject sentences at the press conference for following reasons: first,the passive voice probably weakens the power of the speaker;second,the passive voice probably obscures the participant of an event when the speaker initially intends to highlight them in some sensitive issues.This thesis,based on Wang Yi's Press Conferences from 2014 to 2019,explores the derivation of the new subjects,the strategies for subject selection,and the factors influencing subject selection,providing a supplement to the interpreting study from the perspective of corpus-based critical translation studies.Although this thesis only lays stress on subject selection,it can also act as useful guides for interpreting studies,as well as interpreting training and learning to a large extent.