A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Luotuo Xiangzi: An Interpersonal Function Approach

Halliday’s three metafunctions (namely the ideational, interpersonal and textualfunctions of language) have been widely applied in the studies on discourse analysis.Influenced by J. R. Firth’s studies and through a long course of development,Halliday’s Functional Grammar has become a full-fledged analytical framework anda complete mechanism of language description.This thesis aims at comparing the two English translations of Luotuo Xiangzi byLao Shefrom the angle of the delivery of the interpersonal function of language. Theresearch on this study is carried out through a comprehensive comparative study ofthe two English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi. Analysis of the interpersonal meaningsof the translations is conducted from three aspects: mood, modality and personalreferences.Through in-depth examination of the original novel and its two translated versions,the author has come to the following conclusions:first, mood and modality, which arepart of Halliday’s interpersonal function system, are not quite sufficient in analyzingthe interpersonal meanings of the original Chinese text. As a result of research onrelevant Chinese literatures on this subject and a close study of the novel itself, theauthor believes that appraisal (which can be classified into modality) and personalreference are also vital in analyzing interpersonal function of language in Chinesetext. Second, different approaches of translating interpersonal meanings in the twotranslations resulted in fairly different representations of interpersonal meaning,which can influence readers’ perceptions on the characters of the novel.Third, thisthesis has further tested the applicability of interpersonal function to translationstudies, especially the translation of Chinese literary works, and hopefully could shedsome light on future studies on the application of interpersonal function to translationstudies.