A Study Of Pun Translation Of The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most outstanding plays. The present thesis intends to study pun translation strategies of three Chinese versions of The Importance of Being Earnest by Qian Zhide from mainland, Yu Guangzhong from Taiwan and Zhang Nanfeng from Hong Kong.This study is based on Pun Translation Theory put forward by Delabastita and Relevance Theory. It adopts Pun Translation Theory to classify puns in the original version and then analyses those puns in the three versions above from the four perspectives of linguistics, rhetoric, cultural transmission and performative effects under the guidance of Relevance Theory.The analysis brings out the following findings. First, from the perspective of language,"PUN into PUN" can be adopted to achieve language equivalence. Second, from the perspective of rhetoric, a translator could choose the method of "PUN into Related rhetoric device", if there is no related or similar pun in the target language. Third, from the perspective of cultural transmission,"Direct Copy" or " Note-adding" could be adopted if the focus points lies in transferring English culture;"Pun into Zero" could be utilized if the focus points lies in transferring Chinese culture. Four, from the perspective of performance, a responsible translator should take audience into account. When choose pun translation methods, he (or she) should consider the acceptability of the most audience.