A Prosodic Phonological Research On Translation Of Chinese Chanting Classics

As an Intangible Cultural Heritage of China, Chinese chanting is the method for creation and appreciation of Chinese classic poetry. It reflects poetry‘s original phonological beauty with song rhythms and recitation cadences. Therefore, the phonological effect of a target text will largely determine the success of translation on Chinese chanting. Previous studies on Chinese chanting concentrate on three main aspects of features as dialect chanting, rhythms of poetry chanting and chanting‘s social application, however regrettably, with no focus on chanting translation. Given this evident neglect, this research investigates the translation norm of Chinese chanting on basis of its typical features, in translations of the Chinese chanting classic San Zi Jing, within the theoretical and methodological framework of prosodic phonology.This research is data-driven with Inter Phonic 5.0 as a text-audio converter, Cool Edit Pro V2.1 as a clip processer and Praat, a voice analyzer. It is selected the chanting version of San Zi Jing by Jia Jing as the source audio file of the Chinese chanting corpus. Meanwhile, San Zi Jing Xun Gu annotated by Wang Xiang of the Qing Dynasty is chosen as the source text while the four English versions by Robert Morrison, Herbert Allen Giles, Wang Baotong and Zhao Yanchun are taken as the target texts. All written texts are converted into audio files and then clipped into clauses, with which the five corpora were constructed. The prosodic phonological valuation system of chanting translation is established with parameters corresponding to typical characteristics respectively in "Yin" and "Song" parts, which are distinguished by duration distribution of the last character in each clause of the source text. In the "Yin" part, duration and end sonorant are selected as parameters to reveal the prolongation of clause-end character while in the "Song" part, duration and pitch are determined on demonstrating the harmony with surrounding "Yin" clauses. Praat is employed to extract with a script the durations, max pitches and min pitches, for more exact data of the latter two of which, 10 sampling points are set in each III sub-range with equal duration intervals. As a data-driven study, the research focus with a detailed analysis will be guided by data differences. The prosodic comparison between the source and target texts will be drawn based on the combination of data differences and examples with contexts.The research results are as follows:In the "Yin" part, Zhao‘s version is found the most satisfying after a comprehensive analysis on duration and end-sonorant. In his translation, it is discovered that 80% of the clauses are with shorter durations than Chinese chanting clauses and 60% are ended with sonorants, both of which contribute to the realization of the typical "Yin" feature of prolongation. Yet there are also flaws in Zhao‘s version that it is rigidly adhere to the expression of "three words per line" as in the source text, resulting in a regrettable loss of original cultural connotation, which requires a compensation of content expansion and annotation addition. In Wang‘s translation, 79% of the clauses are shorter while only 40% are ended with sonorants. Though both Morrison‘s and Giles‘ versions are focused on end-sonorant employment, with overly detailed content, they merely contain 35% shorter clauses. Therefore, the three translations are not that suitable for "Yin" translation as Zhao‘s version is.In the "Song" part, it is also considered that Zhao‘s version is the most desirable after a combined analysis on duration and pitch. Neither Morrison‘s nor Giles‘ versions are regarded to be able to realize the duration and tone harmony with surrounding "Yin" clauses in that, their average duration differences to that of the synthesized source clauses are as high as 1s and their pitch and pitch waviness are too much more obtrusive than that of source clauses. Though the duration and pitch differences of Wang‘s clauses are no significant(the duration difference is the smallest with 0.3s), the mood reflected by its pitch waviness is inclined to imperatives with commanding tones, which is accounted not fit for the chanting expression of "learning encouragement" in the Three Character Classic. Furthermore, it is found that there are mistranslations of idioms in Wang‘s version after a detailed analysis of examples. All this excludes it to be an ideal version of "Song" translation. With an insignificant duration difference of 0.4s and small pitch difference, Zhao‘s version is close to source "Song" part. Furthermore, on pitch waviness, Zhao is more in concordance with the source text where both of them tend to use exclamations, whose impressiveness is more suitable for leaning encouragement. To sum up, Zhao‘s version is the most satisfying for Chinese chanting than the other three.Under the framework of prosodic phonology, the corpus-based research investigates the norm on translation of Chinese chanting classics with the case of four English versions of San Zi Jing in accordance with the typical chanting features. It is of great value for translation studies of Chinese chanting classics and dissemination of Chinese traditional culture.