A Corpus-Based Study On Zhang Yousong’s Style In Children’s Literature Translation

Corpora as a tool has become increasingly popular in translation studies since the 1990s,including translator style studies.Zhang Yousong is one of the first Chinese translators to introduce Mark Twain’s works to Chinese audiences and he has translated various well-known novels by Twain.Few studies,however,have shed light on Zhang Yousong’s style in translation,especially with a corpus-assisted methodology.By virtue of their capacity to process vast amounts of data and to generate accurate results,corpora,compared to qualitative analysis,provide reliable quantitative evidence for stylistics studies.Baker’s analytical framework of a translator’s style proposes entails features from both linguistic and non-linguistic perspectives.This paper examines three research questions.First,what are the linguistic features of Zhang Yousong’s translation in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry from a lexical,syntactical,and rhetorical perspective?Second,what are Zhang Yousong’s non-linguistic features,including the use of paratexts,and the specific materials to translate?Third,what are the reasons contributing to the formation of his translation style considering the influence of the source text,the culture of the Chinese language and the translator’s characteristics?To explore the answers of the above questions,combining case analysis and corpus as research methods,this paper selects Zhang Yousong,Zhang Jianping and Zhu Zhengxun,s translations of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Zhang Yousong,Cheng Shi and Pan Qingling’s translations of the Adventures of Huckleberry for further analysis.The corpus consists of two sub-corpora to examine how Zhang Yousong differs from other translators and whether his style remains consistent in two works.The study shows that from a linguistic point of view,Zhang Yousong has remained faithful in both translations.Lexically,Zhang’s short average word lengths and varied vocabulary helped maintain readers’ interest,although his verbal variety and diversity is not the least of the three;syntactically,a combination of long and short sentences and active employment of exclamatory sentences have conveyed the authentic tone of the text;rhetorically,Zhang Yousong has made an effort to translate all the metaphors and similes in the texts.Zhang Yousong uses illustrations and footnotes to explain intricate symbols of foreign cultures to facilitate readers’ comprehension.Throughout both translations by Zhang Yousong,a consistent and systematic style is evident.Upon examining Zhang Yousong’s translation style,the paper concludes that Twain’s writing style and Chinese children’s literature have significantly influenced his style.The research enriched current corpus-based or corpus-assisted studies on translator’s style while providing an in-depth understanding of Zhang Yousong’s style,one of the most famous Chinese translators of Mark Twain’s works.Research in the future can benefit from the methodology used in this study,combining corpus analysis and case analysis.