Repetition and signification: A study of textual accountability and perlocutionary effect in literary translation

Chunshen Zhu
Abstract

The paper begins with an overview of the relevance of functional/text linguistics, skopos theory, and the cultural-studies approach to the study of (literary) translation. It then examines the textual significance of leitmotifs as ‘vertical translation units’, since both are found to be related to repetitions of a rank-free text element in formulating a network of signification. In leitmotif-conscious translating, it argues, the accountability between the source and target texts can be observed at this level of textual network, while the translation, as a literary text, may induce different perlocutionary effects when functioning in a different cultural milieu.

Keywords:
Table of contents

The development of a purpose-oriented functional theory of translation, or skopos theory, in the 1970s and 1980s and through the 1990s has been generally perceived as a movement in Translation Studies to break free from the grip of the “static linguistic typologies of translation shifts” (Munday 2001: 73). The same period has seen in linguistics the rise of systemic-functional linguistics and text linguistics, which are likewise function-concerned and goal- or purpose-oriented, and which together constitute a parallel movement to break free from the static linguistic tradition in which “syntax and semantics were studied with little regard for the ways people use grammar and meaning in communication” (de Beaugrande and Dressler 1981: 31).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Abrams, M.H.
1999A glossary of literary terms. New York, London, Toronto, etc.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.Google Scholar
Austin, J.L.
1975How to do things with words. (The William James Lectures in 1955.) Oxford: Clarendon.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mona
1992In other words: A coursebook on translation. London and New York: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 “Linguistics & cultural studies: Complementary or competing paradigms in Translation Studies?”. Angelika Lauer et al., eds. Übersetzungswissenschaft im Umbruch: Festschrift für Wolfram Wilss zum 70. Geburtstag. Tübingen: Gunter Narr 1996 9–19.Google Scholar
2000 “Linguistic perspectives on translation”. Peter France, ed. The Oxford guide to literature in English translation. Oxford: Oxford UP. 2000 20–26.Google Scholar
[ p. 250 ]
2005 “Linguistic models and methods in the study of translation”. Harald Kittel, Armin Paul Frank, Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller, José Lambert and Fritz Paul, eds. Übersetzung Translation Traduction. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter 2005 285–294.Google Scholar
Barnet, Sylvan Morton Berman and William Burto
1960A dictionary of literary, dramatic, and cinematic terms. Glenview and London: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Beaugrande, Robert de
1980Text, discourse, and process: Toward a multidisciplinary science of texts. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Beaugrande, Robert-Alain de and Wolfgang Ulrich Dressler
1981Introduction to text linguistics. London and New York: Longman. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Ari, Nitsa
1998 “The ambivalent case of repetitions in literary translation”. Meta 43:1. 68–78.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, Antoine
2000 “Translation and the trials of the foreign”, tr.Lawrence Venuti .Lawrence Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies reader. London and New York: Routledge 2000 284–297.Google Scholar
Boase-Beier, Jean
1998 “Can you train literary translators?”. Peter Bush and Kirsten Malmkjær, eds. Rimbaud’s rainbow: Literary translation in higher education. Amsterdam-Philadephia: John Benjamins 1998 33–42.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carter, Ronald
1997Investigating English discourse: Language, literacy and literature. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carter, Ronald and Walter Nash
1983 “Language and literariness”. Prose studies 6:2. 123–141.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Catford, J.C.
1965A linguistic theory of translation: An essay in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford UP.Google Scholar
Connor, Steven
1988Samuel Beckett: Repetition, theory and text. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cook, Guy
1994Discourse and literature. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP.Google Scholar
Dollerup, Cay
1998 Review of Malmkjær 1998 Perspectives: Studies in translatology 6:2.Google Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin
1993Contemporary translation theories. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gray, Martin
1984A dictionary of literary terms. Beirut and Harlow: York and Longman.Google Scholar
Hatim, Basil
1999 “Implications of research into translator invisibility”. Target 11:2. 201–222.Google Scholar
Hawthorn, Jeremy
1998A glossary of contemporary literary theory. London, New York, etc.: Arnold.Google Scholar
Herman, Vimala and Philip Dodd
eds. 1983Prose studies 6:2. [Special issue on Literariness and Linguistics.] London: Cass.Google Scholar
Hunston, Susan
2001 “Colligation, lexis, pattern, and text”. Scott and Thompson 2001 : 13–33.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein-Braley, Christine and Peter Franklin
1998 “ ‘The foreigner in the refrigerator’: Remarks about teaching translation to university students of foreign languages”. Malmkjær 1998 : 53–61.Google Scholar
[ p. 251 ]
Mackenzie, Rosemary
1998 “The place of language teaching in a quality-oriented translators’ training programme”. Malmkjær 1998 : 15–19.Google Scholar
Malmkjær, Kirsten
ed. 1998Translation and language teaching: Language teaching and translation. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Mao, Tse-tung (Zedong)
1956 “Talks at the Yenan Forum on art and literature”, anonymous tr. Selected works 4 1941–1945 New York: International Publishers 1956 63–93.Google Scholar
McCarthy, Michael and Ronald Carter
1994Language as discourse: Perspectives for language teaching. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Miller, J. Hillis
1982Fiction and repetition: Seven English novels. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Munday, Jeremy
2001Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and applications. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Neubert, Albrecht and Gregory M. Shreve
1992Translation as text. Kent and London: Kent State UP.Google Scholar
Newmark, Peter
1981Approaches to translation. Oxford, New York, etc.: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Nord, Christiane
1991Text analysis in translation: Theory, methodology, and didactic application of a model for translation-oriented text analysis, trs. Christiane Nord and Penelope Sparrow. Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi.Google Scholar
1997Translation as a purposeful activity: Functionalist approaches explained. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Paloposki, Outi
2001 “Enriching translations, simplified language?: An alternative view-point to lexical simplification”. Target 13:2. 265–288.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez, María Calzada
2001 “A three-level methodology for descriptive-explanatory Translation Studies”. Target 13:2. 203–239.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qian, Bocheng (錢伯城)
2002 <關於 “兩個基本點” 的隨筆>. 《萬象》 4:11. 9–19.Google Scholar
Rose, Marilyn Gaddis
1997Translation and literary criticism: Translation as analysis. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Schäffner, Christina
1998 “Qualification for professional translators: Translation in language teaching versus teaching translation”. Malmkjær 1998 : 117–133.Google Scholar
Scott, Mike and Geoff Thompson
eds. 2001Patterns of text: In honour of Michael Hoey.Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Harry
1972Dictionary of literary terms. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Stibbard, Richard
1998 “The principled use of oral translation in foreign language teaching”. Malmkjær 1998 : 69–76.Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah
1989Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge, New York, etc.: Cambridge UP.Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1991 “What are descriptive studies into translation likely to yield apart from isolated descriptions?”. Kitty M. van Leuven-Zwart and Ton Naaijkens, eds. Translation Studies: The state of the art. Proceedings of the first James S Holmes symposium on Translation Studies. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi 1991 179–208.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1998The scandals of translation: Towards an ethics of difference. London and New York: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vermeer, Hans J.
1996A skopos theory of translation: Some arguments for and against. Heidelberg: TEXTconTEXT.Google Scholar
Weatherby, Joanna
1998 “Teaching translation into L2: A TT-oriented approach”. Malmkjær 1998 : 21–38.Google Scholar
Zhu, Chunshen (朱純深)
1982Re-production of characters in literary translating. Fuzhou:Fujian Normal University. [Unpublished MA thesis.]Google Scholar
1986 “ ‘Motif ’ and literary translation—A comment on the treatment of ‘motifs’ in the Chinese translation of The apple tree”. Chinese translators journal 3. 39–41, 36. [in Chinese]Google Scholar
1987 (1998). “Ideolect mixed with exoticism”. Chinese translators journal 4. 13–15. Republished in XU, Jun, ed. Reflections on translation . Wuhan: Hubei Jiaoyu. [in Chinese]Google Scholar
Dong, Hengxun (董衡巽)
tr. 1980 〈蘋果樹〉. Zhu Hong, (朱虹), ed.. 《英國短篇小說 選》. Beijing: People’s Literature. 242–315.Google Scholar
Fan, Yue (范嶽)
tr. 1983 (1999). 《大人物蓋茨比》. Shenyang: Liaoning Renmin. Republished: 《大款蓋茨比》. Shenyang: Shenyang.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
1925The great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Galsworthy, John
1963/1979The apple tree. With Chinese translation 《蘋果樹》 by Huang, Zixiang. Beijing: Shangwu.Google Scholar
Huang, Zixiang (黃子祥)
tr. (with annotations) 1963/1979 《蘋果樹》. Beijing: Shangwu.Google Scholar
Wu, Ningkun (巫寧坤)
tr. 1981 〈了不起的蓋茨比〉. 《世界文學》 5&6. 1–73, 97–189.[ p. 252 ]Google Scholar