Anaphoric resolution of zero pronouns in Chinese in translation and reading comprehension

The primary aim of the thesis is to investigate some of the processes of reading Chinese text by means of comparing and analysing approximately 100 parallel translations of four texts from Chinese to English. The translations are answers to A Level examination questions. The focus of the investigation is interpretation of the zero pronoun, a common phenomenon in Chinese, which often requires explicitation when translated into English. The secondary aim is to show how translation gives evidence of comprehension, as shown by the variation in interpretation of zero pronouns. The thesis reviews relevant psycholinguistic research into reading, particularly reading of Chinese text. This is followed by reviews of relevant research into translation as a reading activity, and a discussion of its role in language teaching and testing.The core of the thesis is the discussion of the zero pronoun in Chinese, including discussion of anaphoric choice - the writer's decision on when to use zero in preference to an explicit anaphoric form - and of anaphoric resolution - how a reader decides what a zero pronoun refers to. Anaphoric resolution may be problematic for less experienced readers of Chinese owing to its lack of rich morphological inflection which, in other languages, provides the reader with information. Some of the key ideas on anaphoric choice and resolution are then applied to the analysis of the data in the parallel translations. It would appear that factors in Chinese texts which have an effect on comprehending zero pronouns are antecedent distance, topic persistence, abstraction, multiplicity of arguments and the meaning of the verb. Characteristics of the reader which may affect comprehension of the zero pronoun include personal schemata which may lead to elaborative inferences. On the basis of the data I suggest that mark schemes could be devised on a scalar system encompassing optimal solution, proximal solution and nonsolution, which might help to solve the problem of variability in marking translation.A by-product of the thesis, and an avenue for further research, is the apparent close relationship between idea units, clause length, punctuation breaks and antecedent distance in Chinese texts and saccade length and working memory capacity in the reader of Chinese

The Journal of Specialised Translation Packaging the product: a case study of verbal and non-verbal paratext in Chinese-English translation

ABSTRACT This paper argues that publishers and editors make certain assumptions about the readership of books and manipulate the translation and the readers by exploiting the non-verbal and verbal layout and presentation of paratextual elements. The term 'paratranslation' is used to denote the varied manifestations of translated paratext. The examples cited show how a publication is presented very differently to Chinese and nonChinese readers. The article demonstrates how the domestic and anglophone audiences are targeted, and how a different message is sent across geo-political space. The second part of the paper focuses on one work, a memoir. The book jacket and blurb, the illustrations, the prefaces, postscripts, chapter headings, and the layout differ between the source text and the target text. The reasons for this can only be speculated upon, as there is no explicit justification from the publisher. However, the nature of the differences shows very clearly what motives the editor and/or the publisher may have in mind when creating what appears to be a different book. While in the end the reader reads a similar narrative, he or she is primed by the visual aspects of the publication to expect and receive a different message

Thinking Chinese Translation: A Course in Translation Method; Chinese to English

Suitable for advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students of Chinese. "Thinking Chinese Translation", this book explores the ways in which memory, general knowledge, and creativity (summed up as 'schema') contribute to the linguistic ability necessary to create a good translatio

The transnational production and reception of \u201ca future classic\u201d: Stefan Hertmans\u2019s War and Turpentine in thirty languages

This article proposes a new sociological model for understanding the circulation of a single widely translated book, from local creation to transnational production and reception. Reconstructing the career of War and Turpentine by the Dutch-speaking Belgian author Stefan Hertmans, it examines the book\u2019s circulation as a process mediated through a transnational literary field linking the literary field of the original and the many separate yet co-implicated national literary fields of its translations. It is argued that War and Turpentine\u2019s success, which was by no means guaranteed, can be explained by cumulative interactions across these fields. Three aspects are investigated to illustrate cross-field interactions: the timely and fortuitous interventions of the work\u2019s foreign rights manager, its anglophone reception, and the covers of its various translations