On The English Translation Of Wei-ch’eng From The Perspective Of Transitivity Theory

After the proposition and development of systemic functional grammar, moreand more discourse analysis tries to apply the conceptual framework of systemicfunctional grammar to analyze the discourse. The transitivity system that is used torealize the ideational function of language is used as the conceptual framework toanalyze Wei-ch’eng and its English version Fortress Besieged. The distribution of thesix process types within the transitivity system exemplified by two versions will bedescribed and compared. Similarities and differences will be clarified. First, thegeneral feature of transitivity of each version of Wei-ch’eng will be described, suchas the distribution and proportion of the six process types. Second, processmaintaining and shifting will be found out and the process shifting will be the focusof further discussion.The thesis will answer the following questions:(1) What kind of process typescan be identified in Wei-ch’eng and its English version when the texts are examinedwith the transitivity system? And what are the frequencies of those process types?(2)Beside the maintenance of the process types, if there are also process types shiftinginto other process types in the translation process, what are the possible reasons forthe process shifting in the translation process?From analysis, the major findings are the following:(1) Both the Chinese andEnglish texts show that there are frequent uses of the following three process types:material process, relational process and mental process.(2) Most process types aremaintained in the translated text.(3) There are examples to show the process typesshifting between each other.(4) The ideational meaning does not shift because of theprocess shifting.(5) The possible reasons for the process shifting may be thefollowing: a) the expressions in English tend to be more static compared with muchmore frequent use of verbs in Chinese. b) The Chinese language prefers animatesubject sentence or subject-omitted sentence since it is believed that the readers caninfer the logical subject from coherence of the passage. c) English is asubject-prominent language while Chinese is a typical topic-prominent language; d) There are different tendencies in applying the active or passive expressions in thetwo languages; e) There are flexible uses of verbs or verb groups as they can be putat different places of sentences in the Chinese expressions.(6) Through carefulconsideration, it is found that for the clauses in the English version that shiftedprocess, we have other versions of translations that maintain the process type in theChinese text. These new versions of English translations serve well in the discourse.(7) It is valid to apply the theory of transitivity system in analyzing both the Chinesetext and the English text.(8) The transitivity system is critical for this study in that itprovides the process types in each version of texts and makes it possible to identifythe maintaining and shifting of the process types. It is the transitivity system thatmakes the comparison possible.The significance of the present study lies in that it will provide a perspective toexamine the English translation of Wei-ch’eng. The comparison of the distribution ofthe six process types exemplified by two versions will shed light for the translators tobetter understand the source text and for the readers to evaluate the quality oftranslation.