On Translation Of Reduplicated Words In Shijing

The English translation of the earliest repository of Chinese verse, Shijing (The Book of Songs) is always a heated topic in the field of translation. But as for the English translation of Chinese reduplicated words in Shijing, it has long been obscured, the result of which is the great loss of the aesthetic effects, for the reduplicated words account for quite a proportion in Shijing. Based on the relevance theory of communication developed by Sperber and Wilson (1986 and 1995), the author constructs after expounding the process of translation, a norm for the English translation of Chinese reduplicated words, which can be applied to the translation practice, and an evaluation criterion of translational validity rather than translation equivalence.The thesis consists of six chapters in addition to the introduction, which constructs a frame for the rest. First, a brief introduction to Shijing and its English versions as well as the existing problems in translating reduplicated words in Shijing are provided. Then, a comparative study is undertaken from four angles, that is, definition, forms, senses and rhetorical effects, between reduplicatives in Chinese and English languages, which enable us to anticipate the difficulties involved probably in the English translation of Chinese reduplicated words and provide a basis for finding some efficient methods of translation. The third chapter focuses on two important aspects of translation: the notion of translation itself and that of translatability. Both are expounded from the point of view of relevance theory.According to relevance theory, communication requires two models of communication: coded communication and ostensive-inferential communication. The main factor that makes communication succeed is the pursuit of optimal relevance on the part of both the communicator and addressee. In the frame of relevance theory, translator naturally is a kind of mediator between ST and TT. Hence, based on theresearch by other people, the author concludes that everything is translatable. The author divides reduplicated words in Shijing into two types: onomatopoeia and all the other kinds. The former can be translated through five methods, that is, transliteration, onomatopoeia, iteration, alliteration or assonance, and form emulation. The latter can be done mainly through three methods, that is, iteration, alliteration or rhythm, and combination of methods. There, of course, must be other methods except for those offered by the author. The author tries to prove that one not only can translate these reduplicated words in Shijing, but also can translate them well, as long as one has a good grasp of the basic skills in translation, and goes all out to achieve optimal relevance. Then on these assumptions of translation, the author puts forward a translation norm of Chinese reduplicated words. Evaluations of the different English versions of two stanzas in Shijing from the perspective of translational validity are given and some effective translation methods based on the translation norm of reduplicated words are recommended with some typical examples. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research.