Pragmatic Translation Of Discourse Markers In Drama

As a common language phenomenon in conversation,discourse markers can facilitate discourse coherence and have significant constraint effects on the production and interpretation of utterances.They do not constitute the propositional meaning but have procedural meanings.However,due to functional varieties and complexities of discourse markers per se and differences of expression for discourse markers between English and Chinese,the translation of discourse markers is far from an easy task.Drama is an artistic form of speaking.As a special literary genre with the duality of literary features and the need for stage performance,dramatic texts have the characteristics such as orality,popularization,instantaneity and individualization.There is a profusion of discourse markers in dramatic text.An insight into their nature and a proper treatment of discourse markers in drama translation can contribute to the audiences' understanding of relations among characters and thus evoke their sympathy.Therefore,discourse markers should be given full consideration.The present thesis selects the classic drama Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller and a Chinese translation by Ying Ruocheng as an example.This play has been performed successfully at Beijing People's Art Theater in the 1980 s,the success of which in China owes a lot to Ying's excellent translation.The present thesis firstly identifies the discourse markers in the source text based on the previous study and definition.Then the author probes into their primary pragmatic functions in the play.Through a detailed analysis of the case study of Ying's translation,the author examines the treatment of discourse markers in dramatic translation.Based on Functional Equivalence Theory,this thesis attempts to lay down three principles to explain the translation of discourse markers,namely contextual consistency,function priority and natural equivalence.The study indicates that translation of discourse markers is complicated with various factors involved.Translators should take the specific contexts of the source text into consideration andtry to realize contextual consistency in the translation.Besides,translators should recognize different functions and take function equivalence as priority.It should also be noted that dramatic text has its own characteristics,so a natural expression in translation is necessary to ensure a smooth flow of language.In terms of specific treatment in translation,translators should achieve pragmatic enrichment in terms of pragmatic meanings,textual coherent function and natural expression in the target language in order to realize pragmatic equivalence in translation.