A Study Of The Translation Strategies Of Discourse Marker So

The use of discourse markers is a common linguistic phenomenon in daily communication, which restrains the understanding of discourse. As an important cohesive device of discourse coherence, a discourse marker has many pragmatic functions such as restraint, prompt, discourse organization, etc. in communication, which helps the reader/hearer makes fewer efforts to achieve the most optimal contextual effect. With the development of linguistics and pragmatics in particular, the study of discourse markers has become an important field, which has been developing quickly in recent years. This thesis explores the translation of the discourse marker So from the perspective of Relevance Theory based on analyses of samples taken from the Chinese version of The Kite Runner by Li Jihong.The thesis draws the following conclusions from the study of Chinese version of The Kite Runner. First, the Relevance Theory is most instructive in translation. Second, the discourse marker So has abundant pragmatic functions, and we should understand the different pragmatic functions based on different contexts. Third, when translating the discourse marker So, we should not simply employ word-for-word translation or literal translation; rather, we should integrate the advantages of various translation skills so that the pragmatic functions of the discourse marker So can be properly translated.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the pragmatic functions of discourse markers in the hope that it could help us study their impact on translation and help translators balance the constraints in coming up with better translations.