A Corpus-based Study On Explicitation And Implicitation Of Logical Relations In The Chinese Translation Of Harvard Business Review

Since the rise of corpus-based translation studies(CTS)in the 1990 s,translation universals have always been a hot-button topic in Translation Studies.As two core concepts of translation universals,explicitation and implicitation have been extensively investigated by scholars both at home and abroad.However,most of the previous studies focus on three aspects,that is,explicitation,the Indo-European languages and literary texts,with few attention to implicitation,the Chinese language and non-literary texts,especially financial texts.The present study investigates explicitation and implicitation of casual,adversative and hypothetical conjunctions in English-Chinese financial translated texts and original Chinese financial texts based on a self-compiled Parallel Corpus of Harvard Business Review(PCHBR)and a self-built Comparable Corpus of Chinese Financial Texts(CCCFT).On the basis of inter-language and intralanguage comparisons as well as quantitative and qualitative analyses,it attempts to explore characteristics of conjunctive explicitation and implicitation in the Chinese translation of financial texts and factors triggering explicitation and implicitation.Based on corpus retrievals,the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate:(1)In contrast with English source texts,both inter-language explicitation and implicitation are not significant in English-Chinese financial translation,since corresponding translation occurs more frequently than explicitation/implicitation of causal,adversative and hypothetical conjunctions.However,conjunctive explicitation is generally more conspicuous than conjunctive implicitation.The level of both explicitation and implicitation descends successively in hypothetical,causal and adversative conjunctions.Besides,conjunctive explicitation and implicitation vary in terms of specific conjunctions.Among the 30 English conjunctions and 30 Chinese conjunctions explored in the present study,the level of explicitation is more conspicuous in“youyu(??)”,“yin(?)”,“yushi(??)”,“cong'er(??)”,“zhisuoyi(???)”,“zhiyou(??)”,“zhiyao(??)”,“ruo(?)”and“wulun(??)”,while the level of implicitation is more prominent in“now that”,“otherwise”,and“given that”.(2)The total number of conjunctions in translated Chinese financial texts is significantly higher than that in non-translated Chinese financial texts in all three categories of conjunctions.In other words,intra-language explicitation(herein observed explicitation in translated texts in comparison with non-translated texts within the same language)of conjunctions is conspicuous in translated Chinese financial texts,as more implicit logic relations in SL are translated into corresponding conjunctions.Specifically,intra-language explicitation is more prominent in adversative and hypothetical conjunctions,but not in causal conjunctions.(3)Translator's subjectivity,textual,linguistic and cultural factors are four parameters triggering conjunctive explicitation and implicitation in English-Chinese financial translation.Specifically,inter-language explicitation of conjunctions arises from translators' subjectivity,textual factor and the Europeanization of Modern Chinese.Inter-language implicitation of conjunctions is triggered by translators' subjectivity,the linguistic difference between a hypotaxis-prominent language and a parataxisprominent language,as well as the cultural difference between high-context culture and low-context culture.Besides,significant intra-language explicitation of conjunctions in English-Chinese financial translation is due to the linguistic difference between a higher linguistically-formalized language and a lower one.When the translational direction is from a higher linguistically-formalized language into a lower one(herein from English to Chinese),intra-language explicitation is conspicuous.Importantly,the addition of conjunctions in the Chinese translation of HBR not solely arises from explicitation of conjunctions,but also from the fact that some Chinese conjunctions often occur in pairs.To some extent,the present research provides further evidence for the asymmetric hypothesis proposed by Klaudy(2001)from the perspective of English-Chinese financial translation,extends the scope and perspective of translation studies on conjunctive explicitation and implicitation,and casts light on the reproduction of a faithful and natural logical relation in English-Chinese financial translation.