A Textual Metafunction Analysis Of The “Jiu Ge” And Its English Translations

The “Jiu ge” and “Li sao” are the two most important works in the Chu ci,in which the “Jiu ge” is a group of hymns dedicated to gods.The “Jiu ge” is filled with folk culture,in which the sentiment is subtle,and the form of poetry is beautiful.With its unique mythological color and rich cultural images,the “Jiu ge” has attracted numerous scholars at home and abroad to translate it.David Hawkes,one of the most influential sinologists in England,has devoted his life to the translation and studies of ancient Chinese classics.His translation of the Chu ci,Ch’u Tz’u: The Songs of the South,as his early masterpiece,has played a vital role in the later studies of the English translation of the Chu ci.Xu Yuanchong,as one of the most famous translators in China,has established his own translation theory and translated a large number of Chinese and foreign classics.He has been committed to the spread of Chinese cultural classics.His translation of the Chu ci,Elegies of the South,as a complete translation of the Chu ci,is of far-reaching significance to the cross-cultural dissemination of the Chu ci.Gopal Sukhu is an American sinologist who has made great achievements in the study of the “Li sao” and shamanic culture.As the latest translation of the Chu ci,his complete translation of the Chu ci,The Songs of Chu,has certain research value.However,in the existing studies,no scholar has so far investigated and analyzed these translations from the perspective of textual metafunction.For this reason,this thesis intends to analyze the textual features including theme structure,information structure and cohesion of the English translations of the “Jiu ge”by David Hawkes,Xu Yuanchong and Gopal Sukhu from the perspective of textual metafunction proposed by Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday,with the methods of case study,corpus-based research,descriptive study,and comparative analysis.Through the statistics and analysis of the collected corpus,the thesis describes and explains the results,probes into the textual features of the “Jiu ge” and its English translations,and studies its content and function in detail and further explores the enlightenment of textual metafunction to the English translation of Chinese classics.The research results show that David Hawkes’,Xu Yuanchong’s and Gopal Sukhu’s English translations of the “Jiu ge” are basically consistent with the original text in terms of theme structure,information structure and cohesion.Due to the historical background,the translation habits and the difficulty of the original text,there are some verse lines in the three translations deviating from the theme structure and information structure of the original text.In general,the application of textual metafunction in translation research can contribute to the insights into translation methods and strategies: the translation of marked themes in the original text usually adopts the method of addition;the translation of unmarked theme in the original text usually adopts the literal translation method;and some theme-rheme structures in the original text need to undergo a rearrangement of the original order in translation.Although the textual metafunction focuses on the surface structure of the language,it is difficult for textual metafunction theory to make a comparative study of the deep meaning of the source text and the translated text at the micro level like translation theories.However,the unique function of text structure analysis of textual metafunction is beyond the reach of translation theories.The application of textual metafunction to translation studies is of far-reaching significance to the dissemination and re-translation of the English translation of Chinese classics.Especially for the source text,the translator should make rational use of the textual metafunction to fully understand the text structure of the source text and make his or her translation consistent with the text structure of the source text as far as possible.In addition,through the textual metafunction analysis,we can see whether the form between the source text and the target text is equivalent,and whether the target text should be retranslated or not to be in agreement with the reading habits of target readers,so as to promote the better and deeper dissemination of Chinese cultural classics in the West.