基于语境的《红楼梦》报道动词翻译显化研究——以王熙凤的话语为例

A Contextualized Investigation of the Explicitation of Reporting Verbs in the English Translations of Hong Lou Meng: With Reference to Wang Xifeng 's Utterances

本文以《红楼梦》前56回及其四个英译本为语料,通过对王熙凤与三个不同阶层人物交际的话语方式的检索分析,探讨报道动词"说"、"道"、"笑道"等在塑造王熙凤人物形象与其话语内容及交际对象关系方面的使用特色,考察翻译显化现象在译者们翻译处理王熙凤的话语方式、再现王熙凤人物形象方面的呈现方式、程度及异同(得失)。研究显示,话语内容及话语对象之间的关系不仅影响作者对话语方式的选择,而且影响译者们对报道动词的翻译选择,翻译结果虽呈现不同程度的显化趋势,但较之原创小说在种类和数量上均有过之而无不及。

Draw ing as data from the first 56 chapters of Hong Lou Meng( or Dream of the Red Chamber) and their four English translations,this study,first of all,to investigated how reporting verbs such as 'shuo '( to speak),'dao '( to tell) and 'shuo dao '( to speak or tell) w ere maneuvered in the Chinese source text to portray the character of Wang Xifeng,i. e.,how the tripartite relationship betw een the content of her utterances,the mode of her speech and the dyads concerned w as construed via the choice of such verbs. The study then proceeded to contrast the four translations w ith an aim to see how the verbs in question w ere explicitated in order to represent the character of Xifeng and her manner of speech,to w hat extent their renditions differ w ith each other. It is found that the tripartite relationship betw een the content,the manner and the dyads of Xifeng 's reported speech not only affects the author's choice of reporting verbs,but has an impact on the translators' renditions as w ell. It is also found that w hile the translators' choices manifest various degrees of explicitation,they seem to overdo original English authors in both the types and tokens of such verbs,a phenomenon w hich entails further studies.