| “Translator’s style” is defined as a consistent and statistically significant regularity of occurrence of certain language items and structures in a particular translated text. From the same source text, different translators produce distinctive translated versions because of the restriction of source text and target text’s standards, the influence of socio-cultural background and the translators’ choices. Recently, numerous scholars have made deep investigation to the translator’s style on the basis of different theories. However, it is rare to find the translator’s style study on the basis of the theory of discourse cohesion and coherence.The mechanism of discourse cohesion and coherence in systemic-functional linguistics bears better explanatory power. In two distinctive languages, differences lie in the discourse cohesive devices and the same to the model of shaping coherent discourse, which brings challenges for the translator. Translation strategies vary with different translators’ choices for the same source text. The strategies or techniques in translating English cohesive devices and language style contained in the translated versions are significant evidence for translator’s style.Therefore, analysis of translation strategies, language style and the contextual constraints in different translated versions is significant for the exploration of the translator’s style and its underlying factors.Based on the theory of discourse cohesion and coherence and the corpus methodology, this thesis makes a comparison of translation strategies adopted in two Chinese versions by Lin Yutang and Yang Xianyi in translating the English cohesive devices in Pygmalion, aiming at investigating into the similarity and differences of the translator’s style. Furthermore, the underlying factors influencing translator’s style are discussed in terms of the socio-culture context.Particularly, the research focused on reference, substitution and ellipsis, and conjunction,four types of common cohesive devices, and their translation strategies are discussed.Furthermore, discourse markers and special syntactic structures bearing cohesive force are investigated in detail.According to the qualitative and quantitative analysis, the study finds that differences exist in translation strategies and languof Yang Xianyi and Lin Yutang. In general, Lin Yutang tends to employ the foreignizing strategy, using techniques such as literal translation, and rewriting. His Chinese translation shows a higher degree of formalization and a lexical variety. In contrast,Yang Xianyi has a preference for the domestication strategy with omission, and explicitation as the main techniques. His Chinese translation tends to be more concise and simplified, closer to colloquial Chinese. From the diachronic point of view, due to the differences in the socio-culturalbackground and the different development stages of modern Chinese, the translators have various translation purposes and readers, which in turn influences the translation choices of translators. From the synchronic point of view, though Lin Yutang expected to transform the Chinese with translation, he claimed that the Chinese should only be constrained at the level of vocabulary and phrase structures rather than the grammar and sentence structures. As a result,Lin Yutang used more domestication strategies than other translators in his time. Taking the expectancy of readers and readability into consideration, both Yang Xianyi and Lin Yutang in their own times produced coherent translated versions in accordance with the Chinese conventions.This study further reveals that translator’s style is shaped as a result of the interaction between historical-cultural context, social ideology and the individual choices of translators,which bears significant implications for drama translation and the study on translator’s style. |
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