认识型情态动词may和might汉译强度变化研究

The Modal Strength of Epistemic Verbs May and Might in English-Chinese Translation

本研究基于北京外国语大学通用汉英对应语料库,考察认识型情态动词may和might的频率、英译汉翻译中情态强度的变化等,发现1)may和might汉译后情态强度增强趋势明显;2)作为一种模糊限制语,认识型情态动词may和might出现的频率与文本类型有一定关系,即非文学作品中的比例较高。但译文情态强度增强的趋势与文体相关性不大,与汉语交际规范有一定关系。

The present study investigates the use of epistemic modal verbs may and might based on BFSU＇ s General English-Chinese Parallel Corpus. It examines the frequency, the change of modal strength of may and might, as the epistemic modals, and the findings are as follows： 1 ） the translator tends to find expressions in the Chinese translation that refers to a greater certainty than that in the English source. 2） As hedges, epistemic modal verbs may and might occur more frequently in non-literary texts, but the higher modal strength in translated texts is related to communicative conventions rather than genres.