英汉文学作品翻译中的形合与意合

Hypotaxis and Parataxis in English-Chinese Literary Translation

——A Case Study of the Translation of the Importance of Living

By

Zhao Hongru

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May 25, 2017

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my appreciation to all those who helped me during the writing of this thesis.

I gratefully acknowledge the help of my supervisor, Ms. Zhang Lan, her helpful advice and warm encouragements have helped me develop and refine my thoughts during the development of my study. Her profound knowledge, broad sight and acute thoughts deeply enlightened me a lot. I feel great honor to be her student. Honestly, without her painstaking efforts in revising and polishing my drafts, the completion of the present thesis would not have been possible. I do appreciate her patience and professional instructions during my writing process.

Further, teachers in our academy help me a lot with materials. Thanks to their help, I have saved a lot of time and experience in data screening, and a clear understanding of my thesis topic.

Finally, I am especially grateful to my family. Their love has always been a constant source of encouragement that supports me during my bachelor study. Special thanks should go to my roommates who have put considerable time and effort into their comments on the draft. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my fellow classmates who have given me the warm help and precious time to work out my problems during the tough course of the thesis.

Hypotaxis and parataxis in English-Chinese Literary Translation

——A Case Study of the Translation of the Importance of Living

Zhao Hongru

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: The study of language can not be separated from its corresponding cultural background, and the fundamental difference between Chinese and English is actually the difference of the structure between hypotaxis and parataxis in two languages. Understanding this difference will be of great help to translation activities. The paper begins with the definition of hypotaxis and parataxis, then analyzes the transformation and deletion strategies in specific translation, and finally takes the book The Importance of Living in English and Chinese version as a reference, for purpose of analyzing the influence of hypotaxis and parataxis on translation.

Key words: hypotaxis and parataxis; translation; sentence structure; The Importance of Living

摘要：语言的研究学习与其对应的文化背景是分不开的，中英文两种语言的根本差异，实际上就是形合与意合两种结构上的差异。了解这种差异，对翻译活动会有巨大的帮助。本文从形合意合的定义入手，分析了翻译时具体的转化及增删策略，然后以《生活的艺术》这本书的中英两个版本为参照，分析了形合意合对具体翻译的影响。

关键词：形合与意合；翻译；句子结构；生活的艺术

Contents

1. Introduction 6

1.1 Definitions of hypotaxis and parataxis 6

1.2 Differences between English and Chinese language 7

1.3 Causes of difference between Chinese parataxis and English Hypotaxis 7

1.3.1 Fundamental cause--linguistic basis 7

1.3.2 Deep cause—different thinking pattern and culture background 8

1.3.2.1 Rational thinking and perceptual thinking 8

1.3.2.2 Reserved Chinese culture and outgoing western culture 8

2. The influence of hypotaxis and parataxis on translation. 9

2.1 Sentence construction 9

2.2 Cohesive devices 10

2.2.1 The use of relation words and linking words in English 10

2.2.2 The use of contraction sentence and four-character idioms 11

3. Translating strategy and principle based on hypotaxis and parataxis by the case of The Importance of Living 13

3.1 A brief introduction to The Importance of Living and its writer 13

3.2 Adjust word order by sense group 14

3.2.1 Follow the logic order in Chinese 14

3.3 Change the overt cohesion into implicit connection 15

3.3.1 The hiding of the related words 16

3.3.2 The hiding of the variation of verbs 16

4. Conclusion 17

4.1 Finding of the study 17

4.2 Limitations of the study 18

References 18

1. Introduction

1.1 Definitions of hypotaxis and parataxis

The Chinese and English languages are different due to the fact that they belong to different language families, which also show distinct difference in language features. In other words, English and Chinese have some semantic aspect in common and their differences are shaped because of hypotaxis of English and Parataxis of Chinese.

Wang Li, the famous Chinese linguist, first put forward two concepts in his book, Chinese Grammatical Theories. “Hypotaxis is also called explicitness or overtness, which refers to the connection of words or sentences by linguistic ways including both lexical and morphological ones and Parataxis also called implicitness or covertness means the connection of words or sentences by inner logic and semantic relations between linguistic units.” (Wang, 1984:468)

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