A Multimodal Study Of Meaning-Making Based On Image-Text Relations In Subtitle Translation Of Empresses In The Palace

Multimodal translation studies aim at breaking away from the traditional verbal-centered perspective to explore the construction and transmission of meaning by multiple symbolic modes in translation.As a typical multimodal discourse,various modes in film and television products play important roles in the meaning construction in the translation process.The whole meaning is not constructed by a single mode.The research on multimodal translation in China has developed in recent years,but some of them still fail to break through the text-centered orientation.In this thesis,the present study takes Empresses in the Palace as the object of study and compares the original dialogue speech and target subtitles firstly.And Roland Barthes(1977)and Martinec & Salway’s(2005)systems of image-text relations,visual grammar(Kress & van Leeuwen,2006)and aural grammar(van Leeuwen,1999)would be applied.Then the annotation tool ELAN will be used to annotate the image-text relations in its translation process,and the meaning construction process based on different relations and the relevant translation techniques will be further analyzed.Based on the above theoretical bases,this thesis will enquire into the following questions:(1)What image-text relations exist in the translation of the subtitles of Empresses in the Palace?(2)How do the image and text interplay to construct the whole meaning?(3)What translation techniques does the translator use to realize the interaction between image and text?Through the study,it is found that four types of image-text relations are formed in the subtitle translation of Empresses in the Palace,which are anchorage,illustration,independence,and relay.In the translation process,the translator makes full use of the meaning potential of multiple modes,and maximizes the meaning of various semiotic resources through translation techniques such as addition,omission or combinations of these techniques,making various modes participate in the meaning construction together.When the translator adopts addition,part of the information in the picture is presented in the subtitles as text,which constructs the meaning with the image together,thus forming illustration or relay.When omission is used,the whole meaning only could be constructed with the help of visual image,thus forming illustration.When shift is used,anchorage,illustration and relay could be formed.When literal translation is applied,it is still necessary to construct the overall meaning with the help of images in a few cases.The study shows that in the process of subtitle translation,translators need to pay full attention to the meanings of various modes and could understand that what they need to convey is not just the subtitles only but the overall meaning of the film or TV series.When translating,considering all the modes can help to fully understand the real meaning of the film,and it can also make multiple modes participate in constructing the whole meaning,so as to maximize their meaning potential.This study takes the subtitling of “Empresses in the Palace” as the research object,which is of great significance to Chinese cultural exchanges with foreign countries and can serve as reference to the study of multimodal subtitle translation and subtitle translation practice.