1st Edition

Lao She's Teahouse and Its Two English Translations Exploring Chinese Drama Translation with Systemic Functional Linguistics

By Bo Wang, Yuanyi Ma Copyright 2020
    154 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    154 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Lao She’s Teahouse and Its Two English Translations: Exploring Chinese Drama Translation with Systemic Functional Linguistics provides an in-depth application of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to the study of Chinese drama translation, and theoretically explores the interface between SFL and drama translation.

    Investigating two English translations of the Chinese drama, Teahouse (茶馆 Cha Guan in Chinese) by Lao She, and translated by John Howard-Gibbon and Ying Ruocheng respectively, Bo Wang and Yuanyi Ma apply Systemic Functional Linguistics to point out the choices that translators have to make in translation.

    This book is of interest to graduates and researchers of Chinese translation and discourse studies.

    Contents

    Foreword

    List of Figures

    List of Tables

    Abbreviations and Symbols

    Abbreviations for Interlinear Glossing

    Acknowledgements

    Preface

    Chapter 1 Mapping and Approaching Systemic Functional Linguistics and Translation

    1.1 Systemic Functional Linguistics and Translation

    1.1.1 Early Studies before the 1970s

    1.1.2 Studies from the 1970s to the Millennium

    1.1.3 Studies after the Millennium

    1.2 Three Kinds of Text in Lao She’s Teahouse

    1.3 Analytical Framework and Data Size

    Chapter 2 Re-enacting Interpersonal Meaning in Dramatic Dialogue

    2.1 A Description of Mood in Systemic Functional Terms

    2.2 Analysis of Mood in Dramatic Dialogue

    2.2.1 A Quantitative Profile of Mood Distribution in Dramatic Dialogue

    2.2.2 Mood Analysis of Pock-Mark Liu’s Lines

    2.2.3 Mood Analysis of Wang Lifa’s Lines

    2.2.4 Mood Analysis of Master Chang’s Lines

    2.2.5 Mood Analysis of Qin Zhongyi’s Lines

    2.2.6 Mood Analysis of Kang Liu’s Lines

    2.2.7 Mood Analysis of Master Song’s Lines

    2.2.8 Mood Analysis of Eunuch Pang’s Lines

    2.2.9 Mood Analysis of Tang the Oracle’s Lines

    2.2.10 Mood Analysis of Erdez’s Lines

    2.2.11 Mood Analysis of Song Enz and Wu Xiangz’s Lines

    2.2.12 Mood Analysis of Li San’s Lines

    2.2.13 Analysis of Moodtags

    2.3 Mood Shift in Dramatic Dialogue

    2.4 Summary

    Chapter 3 Re-presenting Textual Meaning in Dramatic Monologue

    3.1 A Description of Theme in Systemic Functional Terms

    3.2 Analysis of Theme in Dramatic Monologue

    3.2.1 Analysis of Textual Theme in Dramatic Monologue

    3.2.2 Analysis of Interpersonal Theme in Dramatic Monologue

    3.2.3 Analysis of Topical Theme in Dramatic Monologue

    3.3 Theme Shift in Dramatic Monologue

    3.3.1 Theme Addition in Dramatic Monologue

    3.3.2 Theme Omission in Dramatic Monologue

    3.3.3 Theme Substitution in Dramatic Monologue

    3.4 Summary

    Chapter 4 Re-construing Logical Meaning in Stage Direction

    4.1 A Description of Taxis and Logico-semantic Type in Systemic Functional Terms

    4.2 Analysis of Taxis and Logico-semantic Type in Stage Direction

    4.3 Tactic and Logico-semantic Type Shift in Stage Direction

    4.3.1 Tactic Shift in Stage Direction

    4.3.2 Logico-semantic Type Shift in Stage Direction

    4.4 Summary

    Chapter 5 Analyzing Field, Tenor, and Mode: Perspectives from Context

    5.1 The Three Contextual Parameters in Systemic Functional Linguistics

    5.2 Contextual Analysis of Dramatic Dialogue

    5.2.1 Field of Dramatic Dialogue

    5.2.2 Tenor of Dramatic Dialogue

    5.2.2.1 Tenor between the Playwright/Translators and the Readers

    5.2.2.2 Tenor between Characters in the Play

    5.2.3 Mode of Dramatic Dialogue

    5.3 Contextual Analysis of Dramatic Monologue

    5.3.1 Field of Dramatic Monologue

    5.3.2 Tenor of Dramatic Monologue

    5.3.3 Mode of Dramatic Monologue

    5.4 Contextual Analysis of Stage Direction

    5.4.1 Field of Stage Direction

    5.4.2 Tenor of Stage Direction

    5.4.3 Mode of Stage Direction

    Chapter 6 Conclusion: Towards a Systemic Functional Account of Drama Translation

    6.1 Application of the Theoretical Framework in this Book

    6.2 Significance of the Study

    6.3 Some Thoughts for Future Work

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Bo Wang and Yuanyi Ma received their doctoral degrees from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Their research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics, translation studies, discourse analysis, and language description. They are co-authors of Systemic Functional Translation Studies: Theoretical Insights and New Directions, Translating Tagore’s Stray Birds into Chinese: Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics to Chinese Poetry Translation and Systemic Functional Insights on Language and Linguistics. Bo Wang is currently Associate Research Fellow at the School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, China. Yuanyi Ma is Lecturer at Guangdong Polytechnic of Science and Technology, China.