A Comparative Study Of Ten Versions Of Zui Weng Ting Ji From The Perspective Of Metafunction

English translation of Chinese classics plays an important role in the “Going global” strategy for the spreading of Chinese culture.It is obvious that in the translation of Chinese classics,there are usually several different versions for the same source text,which are diverse with different values for appreciation.Previous researches are mainly done on the diversity or the contrastive study of different versions,while a systematically descriptive approach to the similarities in various versions is not easy to find.What are the similarities in these different versions? Why are they similar to each other? What are the differences? What reasons can be found for these similarities and differences? How can we explain these similarities and differences and how can we understand the relationships between them?As one of the classical Chinese prose,Zui Weng Ting Ji is wildly accepted from generation to generation and has been given many English versions.Some famous versions,such as Gile's and the couple of Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang's,are well-known for their own values of appreciation.Carried out with the descriptive approach and the comparatively inductive method,and also with quantitative statistics and qualitative analysis,this research targets at ten versions of Zui Weng Ting Ji and provides a comparative analysis of them from the perspective of three metafunctions in Systemic Functional Linguistics.Based on a comparative analysis of the lexico-grammatical realization of these different versions,this research aims to find out the similarities and differences in the ST and the TTs.The analysis is mainly done on the lexico-grammatical realization of transitivity,the interdependency and logico-semantic relations in the ideational function;mood and person system in the interpersonal function;and Theme,information structure and cohesive devices in the interpersonal function respectively.The similarities and differences are described and classified with a bottom-up approach from the lexico-grammatical system to the semantic system,and the explanation of the reasons are done with a top-down approach from the system of context through the semantic system to the realization in the lexico-grammatical system.Major findings can be presented from the following three aspects.Firstly,ideational function is mostly similar in the ST and the TTs.As one aspect in ideational function,transitivity in experiential function in all the ST and TTs is presented alike.Although there are some shifts of process types and circumstances,which are the result of the differences between Chinese and English,the meaning potentials in these shifts are similar.In logical function,which is another aspect in ideational function,the logico-semantic relation in the ST and TTs is similar.Whereas in the relation of interdependency,hypotaxis is more obvious in the TTs,and parataxis is more obvious in the ST,which indicates the syntactic differences between Chinese and English.Secondly,interpersonal function in the ST and TTs is generally similar.In the ST and the TTs,the choices of declarative mood,which is to provide information,and the third person used are alike.Although differences can be found that different translators may choose different mood and personal nouns,they are just specific examples in the similar interpersonal function of this descriptive prose.The way how the interpersonal function is realized in descriptive prose can also be shown from this aspect.Thirdly,textual function realized in the ST and TTs is mostly different.Among the TTs,similarities in textual function are obvious because of the similarities in ideational and interpersonal functions.However,translators' different perspectives can still be seen in their different starting points of the sentences.Between the ST and the TTs,the differences are obvious in textual formation for the differences between the source language and target language.Cohesive devices,such as references and conjunctions,are used to produce more fluent,more grammatically comprehensive,and more acceptable expression in the target language.All these can be seen as the great differences in textual function between the ST and TTs.Reasons for the similarities and differences are then discussed.As for the similarities,the general subjective and objective aspects in context of situation can justify the similarities in the ideational and interpersonal functions between the ST and the TTs.Translators' choice of the same text-type also makes the similarities in textual function to some degree.As for the differences,the psychological space-time and the different perspectives of translators can lead to the differences in ideational and interpersonal functions,and therefore cause differences in textual function.The linguistic differences between Chinese and English can be seen as the cause for the diversity of textual function between the ST and the TTs.In general,in the case study of Zui Weng Ting Ji and its ten translated versions in English,the similarities are obvious in the ideational and interpersonal function under the influence of the general features of extra-linguistic context,although particular differences can be found to be caused by the different perspectives of translators.Differences in textual function are evident under the influence of linguistic context,while translator's choice of the same text-type can also reflect the similarities in textual formation.Furthermore,a translation error can be detected when the TTs are different in the field of discourse and tenor of discourse from the ST,and a good or bad translation can be judged when the diversity of expressions in the mode of discourse can be found while the consistency in the field and tenor of discourse is maintained in different TTs.This conclusion is enlightening to the evaluation of many translations of other texts although it is just made on the basis of this single case study of Zui Weng Ting Ji.Practically,this research can show to the translators that they should not only pay attention to the consistency of their translations to the ST in such aspects of the field and tenor of discourse,which is caused by the generality of extra-linguistic context,but also pay attention to the potential diversity of expressions in the mode of discourse.What translators should do is to broaden their psychological spatial-temporal experience of both the extra-linguistic context and the linguistic context between two languages and cultures,and improve their abilities in consciously optimizing the quality of their translations,especially their abilities in the translating of classical proses and similar text types.Theoretically,by adopting a new perspective of context theory of the subjective and objective similarities in extra-linguistic context to describe and explain the similarities in different versions of the same classic prose,this case study can not only enrich the approaches to the comparative study of different versions of the same ST,but enhance the interpretive power of context theory in Systematic Functional Linguistics.