Speech Corpus-based Phonetic Iconicity Studies On Translation Of Yue Fu Ballads

YueFu Ballads specially refers to the lyrics used for singing.As folk songs,it is rooted in common people.Its simple language,flexible style and distinct rhythm readily disseminate it to various people.In order to be sung widely,poets of YueFu Ballads employ musicality to express meaning,which reminds the reader of the scene and the emotion when singing it.In view of its characteristics,this study focuses on the translation of musicality of YueFu Ballads within the theoretical framework of phonetic iconicity.To ensure objectivity and reliability,this study adopts the corpus-driven method by establishing a speech corpus of YueFu Ballads and its translations.Three parameters of phonetic repetition,sound symbolism and rhythm are employed to analyze the data obtained from speech synthesis software Interphonic 6.0 and speech analyzer software Praat.The research findings are as follows:(1)In terms of phonetic repetition,the results are mainly embodied in reduplicated words and rhyme.The translators adopt three methods to deal with reduplicative words,namely,word repetition,sound repetition and rhyme.Meanwhile,other ways like alliteration,end rhyme and assonance are also employed to achieve the structural identicalness between sound and meaning.All of these made his translation catchy and more suitable for widely singing.(2)In terms of sound symbolism,Xu cares more about sound symbolism.The sound symbolism in his translation is abundant.The meaning and the emotion implied in the sound symbolism of his translation is conductive to its spreading.(3)In terms of rhythm,duration and pitch were investigated.The result supports Xu's version as the prominent.To begin with,the duration of Xu's translation is the shortest,which is appropriate for singing.Moreover,the duration of each ballad is in concordance with the ballad theme.Secondly,compared with the other two English versions,the tone range of Xu's version is more prominent in relating with the emotion.In addition,the pitch waviness of Xu's translation meets the mood of theoriginal ballad,which infuses the emotion in sound for singing.To sum up,as an indispensable part of poetry translation,sound plays a vital role in conveying the meaning and emotion.Employing phonetic iconicity as the theoretical framework,we adopt the corpus-driven method to explore the musicality in YueFu Ballads and its translation,hoping to provide a valuable reference for the further study of the folk songs and its translation.