Recreating the image of Chan master Huineng : the roles of MOOD and MODALITY

The article investigates the roles of MOOD and MODALITY in the recreation of the image of Chan master Huineng in four English translations of The Platform Sutra by Wong Mou-lam, (Sutra Spoken by the Sixth Patriarch, Wei Lang, on the High Seat of the Gem of Law (Message from the East), 1930), Heng Yin, (The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, 1977), Thomas Cleary, (The Sutra of Hui-neng, grand master of Zen: with Hui-neng's commentary on the Diamond Sutra, 1998) and Cheng Kuan (The Dharmic Treasure Altar-Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, 2011). MOOD refers to the mood types of indicative and imperative, and MODALITY covers the semantic space between ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Adopting SysFan, a computational tool for doing systemic and functional analysis, the study investigates the choice of mood types and the values of modality (low, median and high) in each translation. Heng and Cleary favour high-valued modality more than Wong and Cheng though the mood type of declarative is adopted by all. They also use more imperative clauses and indicative clauses with high-valued modality than the latter. Consequently, two types of image are recreated of Huineng: an authoritative and forceful Huineng presented by the two American translators, and a prudent and polite Huineng presented by the two Chinese translators. The investigation shows that the phenomenon cannot be accounted for by the translators’ linguistic competence. Instead, the context of the translation, especially the tenor, should be taken into consideration to interpret these two types of image of Huineng.21 page(s

The Social semiotics of university introductions in Australia and China

Drawing on systemic functional theory, this paper studies university introductions in Australia and China, and explores the ways in which universities in these two countries present themselves to the general public. In particular, we will examine the differences and similarities of the generic structure in these introductions, and investigate the socio-cultural features and how they are manifested in lexicogrammar in terms of systemic selections of thematic structures and process types.24 page(s

Exploring shifts in translating English nominal groups modified by embedded clauses : a corpus-based approach

20 page(s

Recreating the image of Chan master Huineng : the role of personal pronouns

The article is on the recreation of the image of Chan master Huineng in four English translations of the Platform Sutra through the choice of personal pronouns. Adopting SysConc as analytical tool, the study looks at the use of personal pronouns and the image of Huineng recreated in each translation. In Wong (1930a), the use of we in combination with you presents Huineng as both friendly and authoritative; in Heng (1977b), Huineng tends to avoid personal pronouns and seems to be detached; in Cleary (1998b), Huineng is more involved in the interaction and uses many I’s as well as you; in Cheng (2011), Huineng speaks in an elegant way and uses generic one as personal reference. It is argued that both the choices of personal pronouns and the images of Huineng recreated can be better understood in terms of the context of translation.23 page(s

Same Chan master, different images : multi-functional analysis of the story of Huineng and its translations

Based on the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), the study analyses meaning and meaning reproduction in the story of Huineng and its different English translations (Wong 1930, Heng 1977, Cleary 1998, Cheng 2011) from the experiential, interpersonal and textual perspectives. These three strands of meaning are closely related to the image of Huineng by depicting what he does, how he interacts with others and how the story unfolds. It has been found that variation in meaning, which is the result of translation shifts, leads to the recreation of different images of the same Chan master in different translated texts. Experientially, the suppression of Huineng’s role as the Actor and the increase of his role as the Sayer, the Receiver and the Carrier in Wong’s translation help to produce an image of Huineng that is less active. Interpersonally, the low status of Huineng is more or less lost in translations by Cleary and Wong where most of the original terms of address are simply rendered as “I” and “you”. Textually, Huineng talks in a more cohesive way in all the translations than in the source text with an increase of textual, interpersonal and marked topical Themes.38 page(s

Editorship : Challenges to Systemic Functional Linguistics : Theory and Practice. Proceedings of the 36th International Systemic Functional Congress

404 page(s

Coherence in Hong Lou Meng and its English translations : an exploratory investigation

Coherence can be studied from both logical and textual perspectives in systemic functional linguistics. The logical and textual metafunctions together contribute to the coherence of a text. Coherence is realized through clause complexes and cohesive chains at the lexicogrammatical level from the logical and textual meanings. Clause complex reflects the logical development of the text, while cohesive chains are the threads of a coherent text. The clauses that are involved in cohesive chains take a more important role in forming a coherent text than others, and thus have the potential to reveal the features of coherence realization. This research aims to explore the realization of coherence in a Chinese novel Hong Lou Meng and its two English translations, The Dream of the Red Mansions (by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang) and The Story of the Stone (by David Hawkes), or more specifically, the distribution of logico-semantic types in both the Chinese (ST) and the English texts (TT). The research shows that there are both similarities and differences between the ST and the TTs on the one hand, and between the TTs on the other, and that the differences are related to the styles of translators.14 page(s