an in-depth analysis of the english - vietnamese translation version of jack london's famous novel the call of the wild = phân tích sâu về bản dịch anh - việt cuốn tiểu thuyết nổi tiếng của jack london

Statement of function 28 CHAPTER III: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SOURCE TEXT AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION VERSION 29 I.. Objectives of the study The study aims at investigating the transl

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

******

NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀN

AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE

TRANSLATION VERSION OF JACK LONDON’S

FAMOUS NOVEL “THE CALL OF THE WILD”

(PHÂN TÍCH SÂU VỀ BẢN DỊCH ANH – VIỆT CUỐN TIỂU

THUYẾT NỔI TIẾNG CỦA JACK LONDON

“TIẾNG GỌI NƠI HOANG DÔ)

MA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

HANOI, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

******

NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀN

AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE

TRANSLATION VERSION OF JACK LONDON’S

FAMOUS NOVEL “THE CALL OF THE WILD”

(PHÂN TÍCH SÂU VỀ BẢN DỊCH ANH – VIỆT CUỐN TIỂU

THUYẾT NỔI TIẾNG CỦA JACK LONDON

“TIẾNG GỌI NƠI HOANG DÔ)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements ……… ii

Abstract ……… iii

List of Abbreviations ……… iv

INTRODUCTION……… 1

I Rationale for the study ……… 1

II Objectives of the study ……… 1

III Scope of the study ……… 2

IV Method of the study ……… 2

V Organization of the study……… 2

CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 3

I What is translation? ……… 3

II Literary translation ……… 3

II.1 General characteristics of literary language ……… 3

II.2 Problems of literary translation ……… 5

III Translation Quality Assessment……… 6

III.1 Proposed models ……… 6

III.1.1 Nida’s response - based approach……… 6

III.1.2 Koller’s text - based approach……… 7

III.1.3 Peter Newmark’s comprehensive criticism approach………… 7

III.1.4 Julianne House’s functional – pragmatic approach……… 8

III.2 Representation of Julianne House’s TQA model……… 8

III.2.1 Covert and Overt Translation……… 8

III.2.2 Representation of J House’s model……… 9

CHAPTER II - ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE TEXT, BASED ON J HOUSE’S MODEL 11 I Brief introduction of the chapter……… 11

I.1 The author Jack London……… 11

I.2 The novel “The Call of the Wild”……… 11

I.3 Introduction of Chapter 6……… 11

II Discourse features of the source text……… 11

II.1 Syntactic features……… 11

II.2 Textual features……… 19

III Analysis of the source text based on J House’s model……… 22

III.1 Dimension of language user……… 22

III.2 Dimension of language use……… 23

IV Statement of function 28 CHAPTER III: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SOURCE TEXT AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION VERSION 29 I Comparison between the source text and the target text based on J House’s model ………

29 I.1 Medium……… 29

I.2 Participation……… 30

I.3 Social Role Relationship……… 32

I.4 Social Attitude……… 33

I.5 Province……… 35

II Overtly Erroneous Errors……… 39

III Statement of Quality and Translation Type……… 39

CONCLUSION……… 42

REFERENCES……… 45 APPENDIX……… I

INTRODUCTION

I Rationale for the study

Over the past years, translation has been playing a crucial part in bridging two cultures and has enabled the advances of modern life and internationalism of around the world In literature, foreign poetry and prose into the curriculum also increasingly covers much ground, which brings translation to more attention However, the translation of literary works is not

an easy – to – deal matter and the question of how a good translation text is measured has never ceased to challenge linguists

In fact, Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) has been addressed by many linguists so far and it remains a controversial topic with many a theory proposed Among many linguists who have put forward models to carry out a comprehensive assessment, J House is chosen by most researchers because of the best applicability of her model, based mainly on the theory of functional grammar by K Halliday

The novel “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London is the author’s first

literary work, which helped him rise to the prominence as the top author of American literature in the early 20th century The researcher has taken the translation version by Nguyễn Công Ái and Vũ Tuấn Phương to measure how well the translation is

The novel also characterizes Jack London’s writing style, straightforward but formal, which is embraced in each chapter of the novel In

this minor study, Chapter 6 of the novel titled “For the love of a man” is

chosen as the data for the analysis This chapter is the only one which reveals Buck’s passionate love for his master and this love demonstrates the humanity

in the whole novel

II Objectives of the study

The study aims at investigating the translation quality of the target text

of Chapter 6 in full comparison with the source text, based on J House’s model

At the end of this study, the answers to the following research questions should be provided:

- What are the features of the ST, according to J House’s model?

- What are the mismatches of the TT in comparison with the ST?

- What kind of translation, covert or overt, is employed?

III Scope of the study

As referred to earlier, J House’s model is adopted to assess the quality

of the translation in this research This results from the fact that the models proposed by Peter Newmark and other linguists’ only suit professionals in translation, whilst J House’s model can be widely applied by researchers

In terms of the data for analysis, the whole novel should have been adopted to provide the researcher with a sufficient insight into the translation quality of the Vietnamese target text However, due to its modest scale, this

study is merely confined to chapter 6 of the novel “The Call of the Wild”,

which partly features Jack London’s basic writing style in the novel With such a limit set out at the beginning of the study, all the analysis and comparison between the ST and the TT is only restricted in this chapter

IV Method of the study

The principal method employed in the study is Documentary Research,

using the outside sources (the ST and TT of chapter 6 – “The Call of the

Wild) to support the whole procedure of translation quality assessment

The researcher also combines both qualitative and quantitative research, analyzing data and providing the readers with deeper insights into the distinctions and value in the ST and TT Some important conclusions can

be drawn from these analyses

V Organization of the study

The first chapter of the study will be Literature Review in which some related concepts of translation theory and typical models of translation quality assessment are discussed

In the second chapter, the research will introduce an overview of the original text’s content, and J House’s model applied to analyze the ST

In the third chapter, the researcher will apply J House’s model to analyze and compare English ST and its Vietnamese TT to find out mismatches and draw a conclusion of what type of translation is employed in the study

- Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language (Peter Newmark, 1988)

- Translation deals with the signs and attempts to preserve semiotic, as well other pragmatic and communicative, properties which signs display (Basil Hatim and Ian Mason, 1990)

- Translation is the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language (J.House, 1977)

- Translation is to produce in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence to the message of the source language, first in meaning and second in style (Nida, 1975)

- Translation means the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language) by an equivalent in another language (Target Language) (Cartford, 1965)

The five definitions of Peter Newmark, Basil Hatim and Ian Mason, J House, Nida, and Cartford are expressed in different ways However, they all share the same essence of translation which lies in the preservation of semantic, pragmatic, and textual aspects of meaning across two different languages

II Literary translation

Literary studies have always, explicitly or implicitly, presupposed a certain notion of ―literariness‖ This notion of ―literariness‖ is crucial for the theoretical thinking about literary translation In the following part, the researcher attempts to put forward some general characteristics of literary language and typical problems of literary translation

II.1 General characteristics of literary language

Literature is the use of well-chosen words to tell a story through narrative, involving characters in conflict, or to express an emotion or idea through artfully arranged images The purpose of literature is to entertain and instruct (or to delight or enlighten) the reader through the use of imagination Literature can shock, amaze or help readers make an escape from the reality for a while

As far as we know, literary language is a part of general linguistics Thus, almost linguistic features used in literary texts are taken from general linguistics However, literary language possesses some typical characteristics

Literary language possesses all the features that assist in realizing the descriptive goal of literary texts As Peter Mark (1995: 13) states, there is ―an emphasis linking verbs, adjective, and adjectival nouns.‖ Besides, literary texts consist of the linguistic particularities relating to ―major topics as cohesion, manning patterns, modality, and evaluation, the structure of narratives, the recording of character speech and thought, clause processes and participants, and the dynamic of dialogue, presupposition and textual revision.‖ (Michael Toolan – 1998)

Literary texts, especially in poetry, also carry the metrical and metrical features of language This is an adaptation of the linguistic form which is called the prosodic phonological form A linguistic form which is also used in literary language is parallelism in syntax, semantics, and lexis

para-With regards to narrative, one of the aspects of narrative form which exists independently of language is the macro-structure, or large-scale structure As far as we know, it seems generally agreed upon that the structure

of the stories cannot adequately be accounted for in terms of their sentence structures alone Notions such as plot, scheme, theme, and plan have been used, both in classical literary scholarship and in structural analysis of myths, folktales and other simple stories, in order to denote more global narrative structures

In addition, literary language is closely related to cultural elements These cultural elements marked out the patterns and threads in the narrative whereby the overall cultural gap that has to be bridged and gauged, and some consideration can also be given to the balance of items to be domesticated and foreignised Moreover, these elements provide insights to the author and an

understanding of the undercurrents in the novel It is, thus, clear that cultural elements are central to any translation To support this idea, Nord (1997:11) states that ―… a translation theory cannot draw on a linguistic theory alone… What it needs is a theory of culture to explain the specificity of communicative situations and the relationship between verbalized and non-verbalized situational elements.‖

II.2 Problems of literary translation

In order to create a good translation, a translator has to deal with many challenges, especially regarding literary translation where a number of problems remain

Long – standing debates mainly consider finding equivalents not just for lexis, syntax, or concepts, but also for features like style, genre, figurative language, historical stylistic dimensions, polyvalence, connotations as well as denotations, cultural items and culture-specific concepts and values Options made by translators such as whether to retain stylistic dimension of the original become critical in literary translation As regards poetry translation, it

is necessary for the translator to determine whether the verse should be translated into verse, or into free verse or into prose In poetry, the form of linguistic units cannot be modified without a corresponding change in semantic, pragmatic, textual meaning Since the form cannot be detached from its meaning, this meaning cannot be expressed in another ways such as paraphrases explanations and borrowing of new words is impossible in a translation of a poetic-aesthetic work of art

One of the prominent problems in translating literary texts is the differences between cultures It is easily recognized by a translator who uses a cultural approach that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture In addition, every text is anchored in a specific culture, and conventions of text production and reception vary from culture to culture In fact, translation is considered as a form of intercultural communication which poses the problems not merely at verbal level or linguistic level The awareness that one does not seek barely verbal equivalents but also for cultural equivalents, if there are any, comes in handy in prompting the translator to decide the strategies he or she has to use Accordingly,

translation is no longer a matter of finding verbal equivalents but also interpreting a text encoded in one semiotic system with the assistance of another The whole enterprise of finding cultural equivalents raises awareness

of the difference and similarities between cultures It also brings into focus the critical question of cultural identity Apparently, literary translation exerts great influence on the target culture, and at the same time, the target culture has never stopped restraining the process of literary translation It is held that

―there is always a context in which the translation takes place, always in a history from which a text emerges and into which a text is transposed‖ (Lafervere: 1990: 11) As a matter of fact, literary translation is embedded with the constraints of a certain target cultural context

III Translation Quality Assessment

Translation Quality Assessment does not only deal with the ideal case

of integral communicative performance, in which target language aims at the closest equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicative function of a SL text The practice of translation is subject to

a great many conditions which determine that such an integral communicative performance cannot, or even should not, be achieved Theodore Savory (Readings in translation theories, 1957: 49) listed ten translation principles gleaned from the literature, some of which are directly contradictory while others are mutually complementary They provide an abundance of opinions

on what a good translation should be like

III.1 Proposed models

Over long history of translation quality assessment, linguists have kept

on putting forward their approaches to reach the best assessment for the quality of translation

III.1.1 Nida’s response – based approach

Nida’s concern centered on a systematic approach to translation He suggested three programmatic and general criteria (1964: 182) for quality assessment of a translation, including general efficiency of the communication process, comprehension of intent and equivalence of response The third and most significant criterion is obviously close to Nida’s basic principle of ―Dynamic (or Functional) Equivalence of a translation’ In other words, the manner the receptor of the translation text responds to the

translation text must be equivalent to the manner in which the receptors of the source text respond to the source text Nida and Taber (1969: 173) proposed three similar criteria: the correctness with which the receptors understand the message of the original, the ease of comprehension and the involvement a person experiences as a result of the adequacy in the form of translation However, these behavioral criteria need to be further explained and put to the practice tests

III.1.2 Koller’s text – based approach

Koller (1974) acknowledges the importance of a linguistic model of translation quality assessment, which is portrayed in three straightforward stages introduced by him The first stage is to consider the transferability of the original text If the original text is transferable, the most equivalent translation can be created If the original text is untransferable, no equivalence

or translation is possible The source text should be kept the same The second stage is to retranslate the target text into the source language A translation is acceptable if the target text is similar in meaning with the source text after re-translation The third stage is to let the native speakers proofread the translation The translator is expected to satisfy the readers of the target language, which means they have no difficulty interpreting the translation

In brief, in spite of his stimulating ideas, Koller does not go beyond a very general outline with no suggestion for operationalization Criteria that the transferability of a text based have not been mentioned in his model What’s more, the approach does not provide us with adequate details so that it can be applied to a real translation Hence, it needs to be further developed into a workable model of TQA

III.1.3 Peter Newmark’s comprehensive criticism approach

As Newmark puts it, translation critism is an essential component in a translation course He gives three reasons to explain for this idea Firstly, it painlessly improves your competence as a translator Secondly, it expands your knowledge and understanding of your own and foreign language, as well

as the insight of the topic Thirdly, it will help you form your ideas about translation As an academic discipline, translation criticism ought to be the keystone of any course in comparative literature, or literature in translation,

and a component of any professional translation course with the appropriate text-type (e.g legal, engineering, and so on.) as an exercise for criticism and discussion

Peter Newmark states that any comprehensive criticism should cover five topics to criticize a text:

1 A brief analysis of SL text stressing its intention and its functional aspects

2 The translator’s interpretation of the SL text’s purpose, his translation method and the translation’s likely readership

3 A selective but representative detailed comparison of the translation with the original

4 An evaluation of the translation: in the translation’s terms and in the critics’ terms

5 An assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target language culture or discipline

III.1.4 Julianne House’s functional – pragmatic approach

Translation, as realized by Julianne House, means the preservation of

―meaning‖ across two languages, which is elaborated into three aspects, namely semantic, pragmatic, and textual In other words, translation may be defined as the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language

House’s model for translation assessment is based on pragmatic theories of language use It concerns semantic field, pragmatic aspect and textual aspect In the definition of translation, the term ―equivalent‖ is the key term The concept of ―equivalence‖ may also be taken as the fundamental criterion of translation quality Thus, an adequate translation text is a semantically and pragmatically equivalent one

III.2 Representation of Julianne House’s TQA model

III.2.1 Covert and Overt Translation

House (1977) discusses about the concept of two translation types: overt and covert translation

In an overt translation, the TT audience is not directly addressed and there is, therefore, no need at all to attempt to recreate a second original text since an overt translation must overtly a translation In overt translation, the

work of the translator is important and visible Since it is the translator’s task

to give target culture members access to the original text and its cultural impact on source culture members Also, the translator puts culture members

in a position to observe and judge this text from outside Thus the major difficulty in translating overtly is finding linguistic cultural equivalents particularly along the dimension of Tenor and its characterization of the author’s temporal, social and geographical provenance

Covert translation, on the other hand, means the production of a text which is functionally equivalent to the ST In this type of translation, the translator has to attempt to recreate an equivalent speech event Consequently, the function of a covert translation is to reproduce in the target text the function that the original has in its frame and discourse world It is the translator’s expression task to betray the original and to hide behind the transformation of the original Thus, the work of translator is clearly less visible, if not totally absent

In short, covert translation is less complex and more deceptive than overt translation In evaluating a translation, it is thus essential that the fundamental differences between overt and covert translation be taken into account These two types of translation clearly make different demands on translation criticism

III.2.2 Representation of J House’s model

House adopts Halliday’s term ideational and interpersonal as labels for

the referential and the non-referential functional components

House’s model consists of two sections: dimensions of language user and dimensions of language use, possibly broken down into the following

4 Social Attitude

5 Province

To elaborated, these terms can be understood as follows:

Geographical Origin: regional dialect

Social Class: Social class dialect

Medium: may be either simple, i.e written to be read, or complex, e.g

written to be spoken as if not written (as in a play), or simply written to be spoken (as in a draft of a speech or sermon)

Participation may also simple or complex Simple refers to a

monologue or dialogue; complex refers to various ways of ―participation elicitation‖ and indirect addressee participation in a monologue manifest linguistically e.g, in the specific use of pronouns, presence of contact parentheses, etc

Social Role Relationship between addresser and addressees may be

symmetrical or asymmetrical according as some kind of authority relationship differentiates them

Social Attitude describes the degrees of social distance or proximity

resulting in relative formality or informality Joos’ (1961) disctinction of five different styles or degrees of formality: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate

Province is broadly defined: it refers not only to the text producer’s

occupational and professional activity but also to the field or topic of the text

in its widest sense of ―area of operation‖ of the language activity, as well as details of the text production as far as these can be deduced from the text itself

CHAPTER II:

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE TEXT, BASED

ON J HOUSE’S MODEL

I Brief introduction of the chapter

I.1 The author Jack London

Jack London was the most successful authors in the early 20th century, gaining widespread recognition subsequent to the publication of the novel

“The call of the wild” in 1903

His vigorous stories of men and animals against the environment and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his own experience His

straightforward style created many famous literary work such as “The call of

the wild”, “White fang”, The sea wolf” and many others

I.2 The novel “The call of the wild”

“The call of the wild” is the story of Buck, a domesticated dog which is

snatched cruelly out of his beloved home and thrown into a hostile world of clubs and fang, where he has to learn the hard way to survive His passionate love for John Thornton seems to draw him back into the civilization, but the imperious and luring sounding of the wild attracts him and leaves him no reluctance to join it after John Thornton is killed

I.3 Introduction of Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of the novel, titled “For the love of a man” is the only part

which portraits the intimate relationship between Buck and his master, John Thornton The chapter elaborates on Buck’s overwhelming love for Thornton and his heroic actions to save Thornton from tense and even fatal situations

II Discourse features of the source text

II.1 Syntactic features

II.1.1 Clause and Clause Complexes

The chapter is comprised of 227 clauses, breaking down into numerous smaller units, 52 of which are clause simplexes, whereas the remaining are complex clauses with a huge number of clauses with rather intricate relationship between clauses

The number of clause simplexes is relevant in this kind of narrative, where the plot of the story unfolds in a series of events In this chapter, many clause simplexes are utilized to describe Buck’s great love for Thornton

―(53) Thornton alone held him (54) The rest of mankind was as

nothing‖

―(58) For Thornton, however, his love seemed to grow and grow (59)

He, alone among men, could put a pack upon Buck’s back in the summer travelling.‖

The clause simplexes convey a distinct contrast, regarding the significance of Thornton in Buck’s heart, as opposed to other people

Clause simplexes also prove particularly effective in describing events which are intended to evoke the nervousness and excitement in readers 35 clause simplexes are employed in the last challenge and victory where Buck scores to rescue Thornton It is the intense competition between Thornton and Mathewson, who bets that Buck cannot move a thousand pounds and walk with it for a hundred yards The curiosity of the crowd watch the competition

is conveyed in short simple sentences

―The crowd was watching curiously The affair was growing

mysterious It seemed like a conjuration.‖

More importantly, Buck’s attempt is recorded

“Buck duplicated the maneuver, this time to the left….”

“The sled was broken out.”

“The sled swayed and trembled, half – started forward.”

Each of Buck’s movements seems to be portrayed in details via the use

of short sentences, which cause worry and excitement in readers during the course of the competition

The ending passage was filled with short simple complexes, which convey Buck and Thornton’s touching moments after Buck has helped Thornton win the competition

“Thornton rose to his feet His eyes were wet The tears were streaming frankly down his cheek.”

These three clause simplexes demonstrate Thornton’s happiness and thankfulness to Buck since he understand Buck’s extraordinary attempt is for him

Whilst clause simplexes only account for over 25% of the total clauses

of the chapter, the clause complexes, as usual, constitute the majority in the chapter Various relationships are employed, namely elaboration, extension and enhancement, which are often typical of two kinds of clauses: Parataxis and hypotaxis

The readers can see a number of relative clauses in an attempt to describe the love and intimacy between Thornton and Buck

“(17) This man had saved his life, which was something; but further, he was the ideal master.”

(21) He had a way of taking Buck’s head roughly between his hands, and resting his own head upon Buck’s, of shaking him back and forth, the while calling him ill names, that to Buck were love names

Apparently, in these clauses, the relationship is not only elaboration, but also extension which proves useful in extending the level of intimacy between Buck and Thornton to a higher position

b Extension and enhancement

Non – finite clauses seem to appear much in the chapter to describe a series of actions or the record a story

This is the time when Buck rest totally to win back his strength after he

is saved by Thornton

“(3) And here, lying by the river bank through the long spring days, watching the running water, listening lazily to the songs of birds and the hum

of nature, Buck slowly won back his strength.”

The use of non – finite verbs describes Buck’s loafing time with Thornton and his two dogs, which is absolutely his dream after being exhausted for a long time

“(29) He would lie by the hour, eager, alert, at Thornton's feet, looking

up into his face, dwelling upon it, studying it, following with keenest interest each fleeting expression, every movement or change of feature.”

Many non – finite verbs are employed in this clause, such as looking,

dwelling, studying, following, following the main verb lie Embedded by the

extension relationship between clauses, it reveals the Buck’s thorough and sharp observation of every moment and feeling of Thornton, which proves his passionate love for his master

In the passage where Buck saved Thornton from drowning, the author also uses plenty of clause complexes with extension as a major relationship

“(90) When he felt him grasp his tail, Buck headed for the bank, swimming with all his splendid strength”

“(116) Strangling, suffocating, sometimes one uppermost and sometimes the other, dragging over the jagged bottom, smashing against rock and snags, they veered in to the bank.”

A series of non – finite verbs such as strangling, suffocating, dragging,

smashing come before the main verb veered really impress readers about

Buck’s sacrifice and courage to save Thornton

Apart from relative clauses and non-finite clauses, many types of clauses are also used in the chapter to create the diversity in the way story is described, typically independent clauses with extension and enhancement relationship embedded

―(218) Head was against head, and he was shaking him back and forth

(219) Those who hurried up heard him cursing Buck, and he cursed him long and feverently, and softly and lovingly.”

The relationship in these clauses is also extension, which means clauses support each other in a way that the meaning is conveyed in the increasing level The level of intimacy of Thornton and Buck is increasing within clauses

II.1.2 Transitivity

The majority of clauses in the chapter 6 is covered with material process, which is relevant to a narrative story like the novel By means of material verbs, the chapter is aimed at describing the heroic and touching actions performed by Buck in many times to rescue Thornton from dangerous situation The typical one is when John Thornton fell off the boat and Buck virtually sacrifices his life to save his master A variety of verbs are used in order to portrait Buck’s actions:

“(89) ||| Buck had sprung in on the instant; || and at the end of three hundred yards, amid a mad swirl of water, he over-hauled Thornton.”

“(113) ||| Buck held on || till he was on a line straight above Thornton; || then he turned, and || with the speed of an express train headed down upon him.”

The material verbs also denote the intimate moment between Buck and Thornton:

“(223) The tears were streaming frankly down his cheeks… (225) Buck seize Thornton’s hand in his teeth (226) Thornton shook him back and forth.”

Not appearing as often as material process, relational process and behavioral process also greatly contribute to the elaboration of love between Buck and Thornton Whereas the relational process describes the inside feeling and burning love for Thornton, the behavioral process demonstrate those feelings out

More than one time does Buck’s adoration for Thornton is showed:

(17) ||| This man had saved his life, which was something; || but, further, he was the ideal master

In some cases, the love is elaborated through increasingly waves of feelings inside Buck:

“But love, that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse.”

Furthermore, by means of behavioral process, the passionate love for Thornton is also conveyed clearly through Buck’s behaviors:

(29) ||| He would lie by the hour, eager, alert, at Thornton's feet, || looking up into his face, || dwelling upon it, || studying it, || following with keenest interest each fleeting expression, every movement or change of feature

(30) ||| Or, as chance might have it, he would lie farther away, to the side or rear, || watching the outlines of the man and the occasional movements of his body.”

Despite its infrequent appearance in the chapter, verbal process mainly deals with the intimacy Thornton gives Buck in another way Sometimes,

Thornton “exclaim” because of his understanding of Buck’s love for him whereas in some other times, “whispered” and ―murmured” with love words

to Buck During the chapter, verbal verbs do not appear much, but it also plays an important role in portraying Thornton’s love for Buck

Mental and existential processes only account for a minor part in the chapter In consideration of the main aim of the chapter, which deals with the love between Buck and his master, the small percentage of these two processes is understandable

II.1.3 Mood

In terms of mood choice, 99% of clauses in the chapter are declarative, which is relevant in this kind of narrative There are only two clauses of interrogative in the form of a Wh-question and a Yes/No question, and two

clauses of imperative when Thornton ordered Buck to return ashore: “Go!

Buck! Go”

Lying in the Mood structure, finite also plays an important part In this novel, especially in chapter 6, past tense is used to narrate the story of Buck, particularly its heroic exploits towards Thornton A mixture of tenses is used,

of which perfect tenses are used such as past perfect and present perfect tense

This allows the readers to comprehend the strictness in the author’s language

in order to describe the story plot in the chapter

As the mood structure is investigated more closely, the relationship and order of Subject, finite and Residue should be taken into consideration The majority of clauses in chapter 6 have Subject as simple noun phrases or nouns; however, in some clauses, the Subject is represented by a clause

“(19) … and to sit down for a long talk with them || "gas" he called it || was as much his delight as theirs

(34) ||| His transient masters || since he had come into the Northland had bred in him a fear that || no master could be permanent

(48) ||| Kill or || be killed, || eat or || be eaten, was the law.”

Using the clause as the Subject of a clause is one of the features of

formality in texts Another feature of formality is inversion, which appears

much in this chapter The part of clause which is inversed prior to Subject may be the Complement or Adjunct

―This‖ is put at the beginning of the clause to emphasize Buck’s

passionate love for Thornton, which he had never experienced in Judge Miller’s house

“(14) ||| This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley”

Or Adjunct + Operator structure “So peremptorily did” is put before

Subject to describe the luring attraction of the sounding of the wild life to Buck:

“(51) ||| So peremptorily did these shades beckon him, || that each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him.”

In the chapter, it is also obvious that ellipsis is also used The Subject

(Buck) is omitted the beginning clauses because of its reference in the last clause

“(3) ||| And here, lying by the river bank through the long spring days,

|| watching the running water, || listening lazily to the songs of birds and the hum of nature, || Buck slowly won back his strength

In other cases, the Subject + Operator + Predicator structure (it had

been) is left out without the obscurity of the meaning in the clause:

(15) ||| With the Judge's sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; || with the Judge's grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; || and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship

Or the Predicator is omitted only:

(23) ||| And when, released, he sprang to his feet, || his mouth laughing,

|| his eyes eloquent, || his throat vibrant with unuttered sound, || and in that fashion remained without movement, || John Thornton would reverently exclaim, || "God! you can all but speak!"

Although the ellipsis is the signal of informal texts, the formality in the chapter is still retained because the clauses with ellipsis embedded is in narrative style and no effort is made to understand the meaning of the clause based on the preceding or subsequent clauses

Modality is also a part of mood structure, which is of significance to

create the illocutionary force in the chapter

“(4) …It must be confessed that || Buck waxed lazy as || his wounds healed, || his muscles swelled out, || and the flesh came back to cover his bones

(23) … "God! You can all but speak!"

(46) ||| He must master or || be mastered; || while to show mercy was a weakness.”

In this chapter, modality does not play an important role since the chapter is in narrative style and the purpose of the author is to portrait the fact and give the chapter much experiential meaning other than interpersonal meaning

As regards voice, it is found without difficulty that the passive voice is

favored in the chapter, among the clauses with active voice to describe the plot of the story The regular use of passive voice bespeaks the formality in the chapter:

(98) He swam powerfully and was dragged ashore by Pete and Hans………

(103) … he was jerked under the surface, and under the surface he remained till his body struck against the bank and he was hauled out

(105) He was half drowned,…

II.2 Textual features

II.2.1 Thematization

The chapter is made up of various kinds of themes Regarding simple and multiple theme, 70 percent of clauses is unmarked simple theme, while nearly 30% is marked multiple theme, which is often composed of textual and topical theme

The topical theme is characterized by Adjunct phrases:

(3) And here, lying by the river bank through the long spring days, watching the running water, listening lazily to the songs of birds and the hum

of nature, Buck slowly won back his strength

(10) To Buck's surprise, these dogs manifested no jealousy toward him (15) With the Judge's sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge's grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship

In some other cases, the topical theme is Complement, which conflates with the inversion pattern discussed above:

(14) This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the kissed Santa Clara Valley.

sun-(16) But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse.

II.2.2 Cohesion

Cohesion is one of the prominent features to create the coherence in a discourse and Jack London has made full use of the cohesive devices to maintain the formality for the novel in general and the chapter 6 in particular The utilization of cohesive devices is specified as follows:

a Reference

Reference is one of the most efficient tools of cohesion in any discourse This chapter is no exception The chapter employs personals, demonstratives, and comparatives as the prominent devices of reference when creating the connection between clauses As usual, reference is most denoted

by personal devices One outstanding feature of the personal devices is that the animals in the chapter such as Buck, Skeet and Nick are personalized

through the use of pronouns referring to human like him, her:

(26) For the most part, however, Buck's love was expressed in adoration (27) While he went wild with happiness when Thornton touched him or spoke to him, he did not seek these tokens.

(10) To Buck's surprise these dogs manifested no jealousy toward him (11) They seemed to share the kindliness and largeness of John Thornton

Less frequently but also effective, comparatives such as comparative

words, such, other and next are also used in some clauses:

(9) Nig, equally friendly though less demonstrative, was a huge black dog, half-bloodhound and half-deerhound, with eyes || that laughed and a boundless good nature

The demonstratives like this also bear the same occurrence as

comparatives:

(48) Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of time, he obeyed

b Ellipsis and Substitution

The ellipsis employed in the chapter nearly limit itself in clauses, which eliminate the subject of the subsequent or prior clauses and there exists only one subject in the last or first clause This is not the case where ellipsis in conversation is dealt with, which would signal the informal and spoken language This elimination of subject in multiple clauses in a sentence is highly visible in formal writing

Substitution, otherwise, should be considered as the common way of

creating the cohesion in the discourse In this chapter, such words as this, so

replace the whole clauses or part of clauses before:

(14) This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the kissed Santa Clara Valley

sun-(132) So saying, he slammed a sack of gold dust of the size of a

bologna sausage down upon the bar

c Conjunction

The wide variety of conjunctions used is one important feature in the formal writing Most of conjunctions in chapter 6 convey the meaning of extension among clauses, which can be broken down into addition, adversative and variation The relationship between clauses is characterized

by addition with the employment of “and”, ―besides”, “further”:

(23) And when, released, he sprang to his feet, his mouth laughing, his eyes eloquent, his throat vibrant with unuttered sound, ………

(43) Skeet and Nig were too good-natured for quarreling besides, they belonged to John Thornton

(141) Further, he had no thousand dollars; nor had Hans and Pete

Lying in the second after addition is the adversative, denoting the

opposite meaning among clauses with the use of “but”, “however”, and

(39) Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness

Since the chapter aims at telling a story, spatio – temporal conjunctions appear much in the chapter, especially time conjunctions:

(56) When Thornton's partners, Hans and Pete, arrived on the expected raft, Buck refused to notice them till he learned they were close to Thornton; after that he tolerated them …

long-(113) Buck held on till he was on a line straight above Thornton; then

he turned, and with the speed of an express train headed down upon him

d Lexical cohesion

Connecting clauses by using lexical cohesion involves the employment

of many means of lexical wording such as repetition, synonyms, collocation

Considered as the most common way of lexical cohesion, the repetition

of words is used much in the chapter:

(46) He must master or be mastered; while to show mercy was a

weakness (47) Mercy did not exist in the primordial life

Regarding semantic meaning among words across clauses, meronymy

is favored The author uses many words such as the muscles, fur, great chest,

head, feet, and claws in order to describe the beauty of Buck denoted in the

phrase ―his whole body”:

(205) His whole body was gathered compactly together in the tremendous effort, the muscles writhing and knotting like live things under the silky fur (206) His great chest was low to the ground, his head forward and down, while his feet were flying like mad, the claws scarring the hard- packed snow in parallel grooves

Besides synonyms, the collocations refer to sets of words which are supposed to posit together in order to create the link across clauses The

relationship between “his eyes”, “his cheeks” and ―the tears” examples of

III Analysis of the original text based on J House’s model

III.1 Dimension of language user

Geographical Origin: Non – marked, standard American English

Social class: non – marked, educated middle class

Time: The novel was published in 1903

III.2 Dimension of language use

III.2.1 Medium

The source text is ―written to be read‖; hence, the medium is simple However, the readership covered should be in middle-class due to its following elaborate features:

 Syntactic means

i Virtual absence of anacolutha, contact parentheses and comment

parentheses typical of spoken modes

ii Strict use of tense mixture, especially perfect tenses such as present

perfect and past perfect, which are supposed to signify the written language

iii Virtual absence of incomplete sentence Only one clause is incomplete

in the form of an exclamation “Half a ton!” The others includes short

commands by John Thornton in Buck’s last heroic exploit such as

―Now, Buck”, “Gee”, “Haw”, “Now, MUSH” These words do not

come up much in the chapter

iv Absence of parenthetical and appositional structures

v Frequent presence of inversion, which is commonly seen in formal

writing

vi Frequent present of passive voice throughout the chapter

 Lexical means

i Virtual absence of interjections as one of spoken language features

Hardly can these be found in the chapter, only in two cases, namely

Han’s exclamation “Py Jingo!”(Wow!) , “Well” by Mathewson, and

“Gad, Sir! Gad! Sir!” by Skookum Bench King

ii Presence of “must” instead of “have to” Apparently, “must” is used

preferably in writing whereas “have to” is seen more commonly in

speech

iii Frequent use of conjunction ―and‖ and ―but‖ introducing both

coordinated and subordinate clauses

iv Absence of slang words The readers are under the impression that the

lexical items in the chapter undergo careful selection, which is shown

through the abundance of formal or literary words, listed in the

Appendix Lexical Formality

v High lexical density, which measures the ratio of content words to

grammatical words In the chapter, most clauses are closely and

densely packed, using precise but intricate lexicon to convey meaning

i Absence of redundancy in the chapter

ii Logical and highly – planned clause structure The full use of a number

of clauses, which bear various relationships, namely elaboration,

extension and enhancement

iii A wide variety of theme structures, namely simple/multiple theme,

unmarked and marked theme, which couple with each other in the source text In particular, the frequent use of multiple unmarked themes

proves the complexity and intricateness of clause structure in the text

III.2.2 Participation

Because of its typical feature as a narrative and its author’s role as a storyteller, the participation elicited in the chapter is mostly indirect and the involvement of the characters in the chapter is portrayed through the voice of author

 Syntactic means

i Predominant use of monologues and scare appearance of dialogues,

which prove the text’s simplicity in addresser and address’s participation

ii Overwhelming dominance of declarative clause over imperative and

interrogative, owing to the narrative feature of the text

 Lexical means

There is an abundant use of third person pronouns such as she, he, they

whilst the first and second person pronouns only appear in interrogative and imperative clauses, which, as mentioned above, is proved to be little in the chapter

III.2.3 Social Role Relationship

Like other narrative stories, there exist two kinds of role relationship in the source text: The writer and readers, and situational relation among characters in the chapter, which will not be discussed much because of few conversation and therefore scare interaction between characters in the chapter The relationship which is more worth investigating is between the writer and reader, implicitly demonstrated in the source text

 Syntactic means

i Limited use of modality signals in the chapter Only some clauses with

the employment of “must”, “could” and “should” denote the writer’s intervention in the flow of the text For instance, the clause “It must be

confessed that…” in the sentence (4) demonstrates an illocutionary

force imposed by the writer, denoting his personal comment

ii Little presence of conversations and hence, not much implication of

relationship among interlocutors in the chapter The chapter predominantly deals with the narrative flow, in the voice of the author himself

iii Little presence of interrogative and imperative, indicating little

transitional role of the interlocutors in the chapter There is not much interaction among characters in the chapter whereas the voice and tone

of the writer occupies most of the space in the chapter

 Lexical means

i Presence of reference For example, proper names such as Buck,

Thornton, Skeet, Nig, etc are replaced by personal pronouns, typically

he, she, they

ii Little presence of first and second pronouns (I, you) in conversations,

which has been proved scare in the chapter

III.2.4 Social attitude

The chapter is the mixture of various formality levels, ranging from consultative to frozen

 Syntactic means

i Absence of elliptical clauses, anacolutha and contractions

ii Strict use of tenses, especially perfect tenses, namely present and past

perfect tenses (cf Medium above)

iii Frequent use of passive voice (cf Medium above)

iv Absence of incomplete sentences (cf Medium above)

v Frequent use of phrasal verbs and idioms

Some examples for phrasal verbs and idioms in the chapter are:

Phrasal verbs: It was misunderstood for fear, and such

misunderstandings made for death

Idioms: Or, as chance might have it, he would lie farther away…

They were of the same large type as John Thornton, living close to the

earth, thinking simply……

vi Ample use of inversion throughout the chapter to emphasize some

certain idea

vii Ample use of figurative language, notably simile, such as ―hard as

iron”, “like an electric shock”, “like a battering ram”, “like the teeth

of an enormous comb”, “as a mother cat washes her kittens”, “like a pistol shot” It must be confessed, however, that these similes are quite

familiar with a wide variety of readership

viii Occasional presence of impersonal structure, beginning with ―it”,

marking the formality in English language

 Lexical means

i Absence of subjectivity qualifying modal adverbials, interjections, and

other emotive markers (cf Medium above)

ii Frequent use of formal or literary lexicon instead of everyday words, as

referred to in Lexical Formality in Appendix

i Comprehensive representation of a well-structured, elaborate, logically

sequenced and strongly cohesive text, signified by the various means of

cohesion such as reference, substitution, conjunction and lexical cohesion

III.2.5 Province

This chapter is excerpted from the whole novel ―The call of the wild‖

written by Jack London As a part of this literary masterpiece, the text aims at portraying the passionate love between Buck and Thornton by demonstrating not only his feeling but also various actions to save John Thornton from dangerous or difficult situation As a narrative, the chapter is characterized by the descriptive language to create images in the readers’ mind and enhance the story As a result, various linguistic means are used in the chapter:

 Syntactic means

i Use of past tenses in most of the chapter

ii Frequent use of simile as a prominent figure of speech in the chapter

iii Frequent presence of inversion in the chapter in order to elicit the

impression of readers towards the story plot

 Lexical means

i The predominance of the third person pronouns such as he, she, they,

proving that the author himself is the storyteller

ii Frequency of action verbs and nouns, predominantly conveying the

intimate interaction between Buck and Thornton

- Action: shake, seize, pet, sweep, churn, grapple, drag, strike, clutch

overhaul, scrape, clutch, crack, etc

- Body movement: spring, embrace, close, shove, nudge, stalk, stand, lie,

creep, rise up, prowl, swing, writhe, knot, jerk, etc

- Sound: bark, yelp, roar, whine, bubble, growl, etc

iii Judicious use of adjectives and adverbs

- Adjectives:

+ Appearance: broad – breasted, white – fanged, long – furred, shaggy (neck), half – bristled (mane), heavy (legs), hard as iron (muscles), silky (fur)

+ Personality: friendly, demonstrative, urgent, prompting, evil –

tempered, malicious, etc

+ Feelings and attitudes: feverish and burning (love), eager, alert,

worried, anxious (Buck)

+ Body: eloquent (eyes), vibrant (throat)

+ Sound: crisp (crackling)

- Adverbs: (close) fiercely, (growled) furiously, (struggling) desperately, (swam) powerfully, intensely (unconscious), (curse) long and fervently, and

softly and lovingly

iv Frequent use of active nouns, which perform actions

For example:

(2) … even the slight limp left him

(63) A thoughtless whim seized Thornton, ……

(135) He could feel a flush of warm blood creeping up his face

(150) The Eldorado emptied its occupants into the street to see the test

(223) The tears were streaming frankly down his cheeks

i Frequency of spatio – temporal cohesive devices such as then, after

that, now that, and conjunction to refer to the series of an event such as and, but, etc

ii A wide variety of theme system, such as multiple and simple theme,

marked and unmarked theme, resulting in the various ways of sentence beginning

III Statement of function

The function of the source text, in Halliday (1973)’s terms, falls into two

categories, namely “ideational” and “interpersonal” The source text presents the

portrayal of Buck’s love for his master and his heroic actions to save John Thornton

In the dimension of Medium, a simple, written – to – be – read language supports the ideational component by providing the readers a condensed information flow, typified by the overwhelming employment of declaratives over interrogatives and imperatives

In the dimension of Participation, predominantly monologous, participatory character of the text, which allows for a fully-premeditated , non-alternating, and well-organized flow of information, supports the ideational component as well

non-On the dimension of Social Role Relationship, little interpersonal impact is created due to its characteristic as a literary work whose aim is to entertain the readers However, the illocutionary force which is embedded in the some conversations in the chapter also demonstrates the relationship among characters

On the Social Attitude dimension, the deliberate writing style ranging from consultative to frozen supports the interpersonal functional component, since it widens the proximity between the addresser and addressees (readers)

Regarding the dimension of Province, as a literary work, the source text impresses the readers by the employment of various imagery lexical wordings, figurative language, and numerous cohesive devices This dimension not only carries the interpersonal function, but also fully foregrounds the ideational function

(178) "You must stand off from

him," Matthewson protested

"Free play and plenty of room."

“Ông đứng xa ra nhé! – Matthiuxơn phản đối – Cuộc thi tự lực, không ai nhúng vào, thiếu gì nơi đứng

(69) "Not mineself either." “Cả tôi nữa, tôi cũng chả dám

(80) A “miner meeting” called on

the spot, decided that the dog had

sufficient provocation, and Buck

was discharged

Một “cuộc hội ý của những người khai mỏ” được triệu tập ngay tại chỗ, đã phản xử rằng cuộc tấn công của con chó

có lý do chính đáng, vì bị khiêu khích tới mức phải phản ứng, và Bấc được tha miễn

(161)….and now that he looked at

the sled itself, the concrete fact,

with the regular team of ten

dogs…

…và bây giờ đây lúc anh tận mắt nhìn vào chính chiếc xe trượt ấy, cái sự vật cụ thể rành rành, với 1 đàn chó kéo xe 10 con (số lượng theo thường lệ)…

This addition of information on the one hand, assists the readers’ comprehension as the story progresses; on the other hand, it proves that the

TT nears the spoken style rather than written style in the ST

The appearance of exclamation in the TT also differentiates the ST and TT:

(4) A rest comes very good after one

has traveled three thousand miles…

Thật không còn gì bằng được nghỉ ngơi sau cuộc hành trình những 3000 dặm …

In addition, in terms of textual structure, many changes, most notably adding some clauses, also characterize TT whereas ST is much more precise

(68) "I'm not hankering to be the

man that lays hands on you while

he's around"

Vô phúc cho kẻ nào dám chạm vào anh trong khi nó quanh quẩn bên anh Tôi thì chả dám

(53) Thornton alone held him Chỉ vì mỗi một mình Thornton mà nó

còn ở lại

(55)… and from a too

demonstrative man he would get up

and walk away

…và khi gặp phải một người quá vồ vập quấn quýt thì nó thường đứng dậy

này”, “hắn” for ―Black‖ Burton or “gã” for Matthewson It is obvious that

the storyteller does prove his disliking for these characters

Apart from the usage of pronouns, participation in the TT is also revealed through his demonstration of feeling or attitude whereas this is rarely shown in the ST The adding of lexicon denoting feelings or attitudes in some sentences shows the attitude of the storyteller:

(56)…after that he tolerated them

in a passive sort of way,

accepting favors from them as

though he favored them by

fire, a broad-breasted dog,

white-fanged and long-furred…

Nó ngồi cạnh bếp lửa của John Thornton, nó đấy, con chó ức nở rộng, nanh trắng và lông mao dài rậm…

Apparently, such words or phrases as “đấy thôi”, “nữa kia” and the comment parenthesis “nó đấy” reduce the neutrality performed in the ST and

adds some feelings or attitudes of the storyteller to the TT In these examples,

a respect for John Thornton, an admiration for Buck’s magnificent appearance and cold attitude towards chance travelers are made up in the TT As mentioned, the intervention of the storyteller in the TT also makes a considerable contribution to the loss of neutrality created in the ST

Only in one case do we meet a rhetorical question, which is inserted into the TT, which proves the participation of the author into the flow of the story:

(144) He did not know what to say Anh biết nói thế nào bây giờ?

Obviously, the implicitness to the addressees embedded in the ST is lessened in the TT Therefore, the level of intimacy between the addresser and addressees in the TT is higher than in the ST

I.3 Social Role Relationship

Due to the remarkably limited conversation in both ST and TT, few traces of relationship among characters are shown However, some signals of the relationship in the last part of the chapter are worth investigating:

(142) "I've got a sled standing

outside now, with twenty

fifty-pound sacks of flour on it," …., "so

don't let that hinder you."

“Tôi có một chiếc xe trượt tuyết đang nằm ngoài kia, chở đúng 20 bao bột mì, mỗi bao 50 pao, …, Xin mời cứ tự nhiên cho

(176) "Gad, sir! Gad, sir!”

stuttered a member of the latest

dynasty, a king of the Skookum

Benches "I offer you eight

hundred for him, sir, before the

test…."

“Tuyệt quá, thưa ngài!Tuyệt quá! – bên tai Thornton lập cập tiếng nói lắp của một gã cóc vàng thuộc nhóm phú ông mới phất lên gần đây nhất (nhóm Scuum Benso) – Ngài để lại cho tôi con chó, tôi xin nộp ngài 800, ngay trước khi vào cuộc thử thách…

(178) "You must stand off from

him," Matthewson protested

“Ông đứng xa ra nhé! Matthewson phản đối

In consideration of the social status of the characters in those examples, the TT lacks some of illocutionary force deliberately brought about in the ST One side is a group of rich and arrogant men, typified by Matthewson and another side is John Thornton, an ordinary man, who is needy and therefore possesses no power Consequently, the illocutionary force created in the TT is proved to be much milder and inappropriate compared to that in the ST

In the first example, the imperative “So don’t let that hinder you” is apparently a saying of a provocation whereas the translation “Xin mời cứ tự

nhiên cho” is an invitation Second example also bears little equivalence

between the declarative “I offer you …” and “Tôi xin nộp ngài …” In the

third example, the strong demand by Matthewson which is provoked by the

use of “must” is diminished by the TT translation “Ông đứng xa ra nhé”

In brief, the TT fails to demonstrate correctly the social status and relationship among characters in the chapter, which is predominantly portrayed through the use of mood and modality system

I.4 Social attitude

The social attitude deals mainly with the text writer’s attitude towards the readers, demonstrated by means of linguistic formality or informality

Due to the significant differences between English and Vietnamese, the

TT somehow cannot bear the complete formality which the ST carries The use of active voice instead of passive voice in some cases in the chapter is one

of the signals of informality While numerous clauses in the ST is in passive voice, in the TT, the active voice is used otherwise:

(201) The sled was broken out Chiếc xe đã bung ra được khỏi băng

giá

(81) But his reputation was made,… Ấy thế là Bấc bắt đầu nổi tiếng…

The second example starting with “ấy thế là” also presents another

feature of informality which is embedded in the TT as opposed to TT Many clauses in the chapter either start or end with phrases characterizing spoken language, such as:

(18) … he saw to the welfare of his

as if they were his own children,

… (19) And he saw further

…còn John Thornton thì chăm sóc chó của mình như thể chúng là con cái của anh vậy.Và anh còn chăm sóc nhiều hơn nữa kia

(56) … accepting favors from them

as though he favored them by

accepting

… chấp nhận những sự chiếu cố của họ như thể chính vì nó chiếu cố họ và chấp nhận đấy thôi

The inserting of the unnecessary phrases or words such as “đấy thôi”,

“nữa kia” and the use of redundancy (“ngồi dưng” and “chả làm gì” carry

virtually the same meaning) work together to make the TT less formal and narrow the proximity between the TT and the readers

Another perceptible feature of formality concerns the textual structure

of TT compared with ST ST is characterized by densely-packed and highly cohesive clauses In the TT, in many cases, one sentence with many clauses is deliberately broken down into many different sentences:

(7) She had the doctor trait

which some dogs possess; and

as a mother cat washes her

kittens, so she washed and

cleansed Buck's wounds

Cô nàng Skit có cái nét đặc sắc của thầy thuốc mà người ta thường thấy ở một số con chó Giống như một con mèo mẹ liếm lông cho con, cô nàng đã liếm và làm sạch những vết thương của Bấc

Relative clauses, in particular, are dealt in different ways in the TT In most cases, they can be maintained within the clauses as in ST, but retain the

connection with the main clause by connecting words like “mà” or without

any connectors In some other cases, the relative clauses are broken down into other independent sentences or otherwise, are transferred under the form of a comment parenthesis:

(28) Unlike Skeet, who was wont

to shove her nose under

Thornton's hand and nudge and

nudge till petted, or Nig, who

would stalk up and rest his great

head on Thornton's knee, Buck

was content to adore at a

distance

Bấc khác với Xkit và cũng khác với Ních Xkit có thói quen thọc cái mũi của nó vào dưới bàn tay của Thornton rồi hích, hích mãi cho tới khi được vỗ về Ních thì hiên ngang bước tới rồi tựa cái đầu to lớn của

nó lên đầu gối Thornton Còn Bấc thì bằng lòng với việc đứng cách 1 quãng

mà tôn thờ anh

(38) But in spite of this great Nhưng mặc dù Bấc mang mối tình cảm

love he bore John Thornton,

which seemed to bespeak the soft

civilizing influence, the strain of

the primitive, which the

Northland had aroused in him,

remained alive and active

sâu nặng như vậy với John Thornton –

mà điều này hình như chứng tỏ ảnh hưởng hiền hòa của sự văn minh hóa – nhưng huyết thống của nguyên thủy mà vùng đất phương Bắc đã khơi dậy bên trong nó, vẫn tồn tại và sống động

Besides the transference of relative clause, the formality is also lessened in the TT due to the switch of noun phrases in the ST into clauses in the TT

(34) His transient masters since he

had come into the Northland…

Việc thay thầy đổi chủ xoành xoạch kể

từ khi nó vào vùng đất phương Bắc… (97) … throwing his head high, as

though for a last look…

… cất cao đầu như để nhìn anh lần cuối…

(118) His first glance was for

Buck,…

Anh lập tức nhìn sang phía Bấc,…

So often are noun phrases in the ST switched into verb phrases in the

TT, which clearly identifies the TT as much more informal because the employment of noun phrases in English means high formality in every discourse

In short, formality level denotes the proximity between the text creator and its reader Therefore, the TT in this case seems to be closer to the readers than the ST as a result of its dramatic loss of formality in the ST

I.5 Province

As the brainchild of Jack London, the novel, with chapter 6 included, demonstrates a judicious selection of wordings, especially lexical items which arouse lively images in readers’ mind The TT creators, hence, face many difficulties in translating these items into Vietnamese without losing its connotations Due to the distinct differences between two languages, the

mismatches in the TT in comparison with the ST are easily shown, regarding both Lexical means and Textual means

One of the significant mismatches between the ST and the TT is the deliberate addition of words, or phrases in lieu of a word in ST

The ST is especially filled with single action verbs, which often result

in the combination of many verbs together in the TT The purpose of the translator is obviously to enable the TT readers fully understand the exact meaning of the words used in the ST

(23)… he sprang to his feet…

(65) … Hans and Pete were

dragging them back…

(95)… above the roar of the

churning water shouted: …

… thét to đè át tiếng gầm của luồng nước cuộn tung tóe…

(133) Nobody spoke Không ai hé răng nói nửa lời

In some cases, the verbs are also inserted into the phrases in the TT whereas ST carries no verbs at all:

(62)… Buck at his shoulder … Bấc tựa vào vai anh

(72) … head on paw… … đầu đặt trên hai chân…