《论语》英译文语篇人际元话语使用与修辞人格构建

On Interpersonal Metadiscourse in the English Translated Texts of The Analects and Its Function in Constructing Rhetorical Ethos

本文对《论语》英译文语篇中人际元话语的使用进行分析,评价人际元话语作为一种语言资源是如何帮助译者构建文本中孔子的修辞人格并实现其劝说目的的,同时也尝试发现不同的译者在人际元话语的使用上是否存在共性和差异性。本研究是基于语料进行分析论证的,语料分别来自《论语》的Arthur Waley译本和刘殿爵译本。研究发现,人际元话语手段在两种英译文中都较频繁使用,且两种译文在人际元话语的使用上无显著差异;人际元话语手段的使用有助于构建孔子自信与亲切的修辞人格,有利于实现孔子对其弟子的劝说与教诲,是一种有效的修辞手段。

This paper studies the use of interpersonal metadiscourse in the English translated texts of The Analects with the purpose to discover how interpersonal metadiscourse as an important language resource helps construct the rhetorical ethos of Confucius. Meanwhile, we try to find whether there are similarities and differences in the use of in- terpersonal metadiscourse in the different versions of translation, i. e. the English translated texts of Arthur Waley and D. C. Lau. The result of the corpus-based study shows that interpersonal metadiscourse is densely used in both of the texts and there are no marked differences in the use of them in the two translations. And more importantly, the study shows that interpersonal metadiscourse constructs Confucius as a confident and cordial speaker and teacher to his dis- ciples, which is a powerful tool for persuasion.