| Previous studies show acknowledgment of the discourse marker now but with little discussion in depth on its specific functions,let alone on translation strategies.This study intends to explore the pragmatic functions and Chinese translations of the discourse marker now via ECsearch,an English-Chinese parallel corpus,and under the theoretical framework from Schiffrin.Two major functions of the discourse marker now,ideational progression and participation framework,are proposed in Schiffrin’s theory.Data are derived from the ECsearch corpus,containing 412 English-Chinese sentence pairs whose source English texts all involve the discourse marker now.207of them pertain to ideational progression while the other 205 belong to participation framework.The findings are that under ideational progression,the discourse marker now can be used to introduce a new topic or resume the topic,and under participation framework,it is applied to imply change of mood,attitude marking,and attention seeking.The Chinese versions collected from data show a functional equivalence translation strategy employed by a number of translators.A quantity of translators prefer a literal translation of the English discourse marker now into its Chinese counterpart“现在/目前/如今”,which also serves as a discourse marker.Some of the translators choose to omit the discourse marker now in translation.The investigator believes it to be reasonable when it is under the circumstance that now does not mark an evident logical relation textually or the speaker’s attitude or mood.Most translators adopt a free translation strategy skillfully based on the different pragmatic functions of the discourse marker now within contexts.Therefore,under ideational progression,its translations primarily include“这下/那么”which indicates a forward relation,“既然/因为”which implies a cause-effect relation,and“不过”which displays a contrast.Under participation framework,the translation mainly touches upon“你听我说/告诉我/听着”which marks attention seeking. |
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