Critical Discourse Analysis Of The English Translation Of Modal Verbs In Xi Jinping:The Governance Of China Ⅳ From The Perspective Of Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Framework

The book series of Xi Jinping:The Governance of China is one of the most authoritative and representative works of CPC literature.The previous studies on its English translation and the translation of other CPC literature have either focused on specific linguistic characteristics or the macro level of international communication and national image construction,yet only a few have adopted discourse analysis which combines the micro and macro perspectives.Previous discourse analysis mostly focused on Chinese political discourse,and modality,as the typical research topic of critical discourse analysis(CDA),is underexplored.Additionally,most of the previous studies are qualitative instead of quantitative.In this context,guided by Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework and modality theories,this study explores two research questions:1)On the textual dimension,what are the changes in the usage of modal verbs in the English translation of Xi Jinping:The Governance of China Ⅳ?2)On the discursive and social practice dimension,what are the possible reasons for the changes?To answer these questions,this study first presents a quantitative analysis of the changes in the usage of modal verbs with the help of a self-compiled bilingual corpus,and then probes into how these changes are associated with the discursive and social practice with specific examples.Findings are described from three dimensions.First,from the textual dimension,there are four scenarios of change in modal verbs:the change in modal type from deontic to dynamic and epistemic,the change in modal value from high to median,22%omission of Chinese modal verbs,and 39%amplification of English modal verbs.From the discursive practice dimension,factors in the production,distribution and consumption of the TT are discussed.It is found that the translator accurately interprets the modal meanings in the ST and also considers readers’ reception.Meanwhile,official guidelines of institutional translation also impact the translator’s choice.From the social practice dimension,the modal shifts are associated with cultural differences,and with the evolving international power relations and the discourse system.The changes showcase China’s proactivity in building an integrated discourse system converging Chinese and foreign perspectives and constructing the national image by itself.The implications of the studies are as follows.Methodologically,it presents a quantitative analysis of the text based on the corpus.Theoretically,it expands the application of Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework and provides new perspectives for the studies of Xi Jinping:The Governance of China and other CPC literature.Practically,it reveals the cultural and ideological factors behind the usage of modal verbs,which can shed some light on the translation of modality in Chinese political literature for foreign publicity.