On The English Translations Of Mao Zedong’s "Changsha" From The Perspective Of Metafunction Theory

A comparative study is done on Mao Zedong‘s poem―Changsha, Tune: Spring in aPleasure Garden‖and its six English versions translated by Xu Yuanchong, Gu Zhenkun,Commercial Press, Wang Huiming, Willis Barnstone＆Ko Chingpo and ElisabethComber(Han Suyin) from the perspective of the metafunctions of SFL. The comparativestudy will be conducted in the form of tables in terms of transitivity system, mood systemand thematic structure between the poem and six versions. Through the preceding analysis,a conclusion that three metafunctions are applicable in the analysis and evaluation of thepoem Changsha and its six English versions is made. This thesis has given the poem andits translations an objective linguistic studies and analysis from the perspective of SFLwhich play an important role in translation practice.Firstly, in the examination of ideational function, the transitivity system will bediscussed, in which different process types (material process, mental process, relationalprocess, verbal process, behavioural process and existential process) and differentcircumstantial elements are realized in the poem and its versions by lines. Six processtypes express six different ideational meanings. The comparative study of transitivityreveals to us that with comparing the process types and the circumstantial elementsbetween source text and six English versions, three foreign versions are more equal to STthan three Chinese versions.Secondly, in the analysis of interpersonal function, the mood system (declarativemood, interrogative mood and imperative mood) is realized in the ST and TTs. Regardingto the mood element (Subject+Finite), it is only analyzed in lines with different moodsbetween ST and TTs because of the styles of the poem. In addition, different moodsreflects different attitudes and emotions of the writer, so, it is worthy of making the moodequivalence in translation. The equivalence of interpersonal function which makes TTs probably convey the writer s intentions and interpersonal purposes of the original poemplay an important role in translation. The comparative analysis reveals to us that XuYuanchong s version keeps the interpersonal function equivalence to ST better than theother five versions.Thirdly, as to the examination of textual function, the analysis of thematic structure isrealized in the poem and its six versions by lines as well. Thematic structure includestheme and rheme which in a sentence exert different functions. Analyzing the thematicstructure of the poem helps us understand how the writer makes clear to us the nature ofhis underlying concerns. It is found that the theme-rheme structure analysis helps us betterunderstand the textual construction of ST, and the structural differences in both languages.The comparative study come to a conclusion that Xu Yuanchong‘s version and GuZhengkun‘s version in thematical structure are equal to ST.A comparative study between ST and TTs from three metafunctions, on the one hand,helps us understand the source text better and probably convey the writer‘s ideationalmeaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning better. On the other hand, as a goodtranslation, interpersonal function equivalence should be the first to be considered intranslation among three ones in order to achieve the functional equivalence with ST.