A Report On The Translation Of Interpersonal Grammatical Metaphors In The Nether World(Excerpt)Guided By Functional Equivalence Theory

Guided by Eugene Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory,this translation report analyzed and summarized the relevant exploration of the translation of interpersonal grammatical metaphors in the naturalistic novelist George Gissing’s novel The Nether World(excerpt).Metaphor,a vivid expression coming from daily life,is a common figure of speech in daily life and literature.Different from traditional lexical metaphor and the cognitive metaphor of George Lakoff,Halliday’s grammatical metaphor focuses on explaining metaphor from a functional perspective.Under the systemic-functional framework,grammatical metaphors(GMs)are divided into ideational GMs,interpersonal GMs and textual GMs,among which interpersonal GMs are further divided into metaphors of mood and metaphors of modality.The most important thing in grammatical metaphor is to better deliver information to readers and enhance the expressive effect through the conversion between grammatical functions.Eugene Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory holds that translation can not only put importance to the formal equivalence of the source text(ST)and the target text(TT),but also put the utmost importance to the equivalence of the function of ST and TT.The theory focuses on judging the quality of translation through the level of equivalence between the psychological response of ST readers and TT readers.In the process of the study,the writer of the thesis firstly studied the relevant background information of the translation material,as well as the current research situation of Functional Equivalence Theory and GM(especially,interpersonal GM).Based on the existing research and the characteristics of the translation material,and taking Functional Equivalence Theory as the guiding theory,the writer then took two aspects(the metaphors of mood and the metaphors of modality)and five points(declarative mood,interrogative mood,imperative mood,explicit subjective and explicit objective)as the main starting point,and selected,classified and analyzed the interpersonal GMs in the selected parts.At last,based on relevant cases,the translation methods of the interpersonal GMs in the novel were summarized in the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory: 1.congruent translation;2.metaphorical translation;3.the adjustment of sentence structure.Our translation and analysis show that it is feasible to translate interpersonal GMs under the guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory.In addition,our study also indicates that the translation strategy and method of a certain interpersonal grammatical metaphor can be determined by the specific context.However,it is almost impossible for the translated text to completely keep and convey the linguistic effect of the interpersonal grammatical metaphor in the original text.