Material process in The Old man and the sea by Hemingway and its Vietnamese translated version A systematic funtional comparison= Quá trình vật chất trong bản g.PDF

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ĐẶNG THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI MATERIAL PROCESS IN “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY HEMINGWAY AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRAN

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI

MATERIAL PROCESS IN “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY HEMINGWAY AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED VERSION: A SYSTEMATIC

FUNCTIONAL COMPARISON

(QUÁ TRÌNH VẬT CHẤT TRONG BẢN GỐC VÀ BẢN DỊCH TÁC

PHẨM “ÔNG GIÀ VÀ BIỂN CẢ” CỦA HEMINGWAY)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15

HÀ NỘI, 2011

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI

MATERIAL PROCESS IN “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY HEMINGWAY AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED VERSION: A SYSTEMATIC

FUNCTIONAL COMPARISON

(QUÁ TRÌNH VẬT CHẤT TRONG BẢN GỐC VÀ BẢN DỊCH TÁC

PHẨM “ÔNG GIÀ VÀ BIỂN CẢ” CỦA HEMINGWAY)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

HÀ NỘI, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT ……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… iv

ABBREVIATIONS……… vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Rationale of the study……… 1

1.2 Aims of the study……… 2

1.3 Scope of the study……… 3

1.3.1 The theoretical framework……… 3

1.3.2 The chosen text……… 3

1.4 Methods and data of the study……… 4

1.5 Design of the study……… 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……… 5

2.1 Introduction……… 5

2.2 Functional Grammar – A model of language in context ………5

2.2.1 Strata of the systemic functional model……… 6

2.2.2 Metafunctions……… 6

2.3 Transitivity system: processes, participants and circumstances……… 8

2.3.1 Three components of the process……….8

2.3.2 Types of process……… 9

2.3.3 Circumstances……… 12

CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF MATERIAL PROCESS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE……… 14

3.1 The framework of the material process in English……… 14

3.1.1 The process……… 14

3.1.2 Participants in Material processes………15

3.1.3 Circumstances in Material processes………16

3.1.4 Material Processes and tense……… 17

3.1.5 Material processes and voice……… 18

3.2 The framework of the material process in Vietnamese……… 18

3.2.1 Identifying Material processes……….19

3.2.2 Material Processes and voice………20

CHAPTER IV: MATERIAL PROCESS IN THE ORIGINAL AND VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED EXTRACT FROM “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY HEMINGWAY: A

FUNCTIONAL COMPARISON……… 22

4.1 The author Hemingway and the novella “The old man and the sea”……… 22

4.1.1 Hemingway and his individual style……… 22

4.1.2 The novella “The old man and the sea”……… 23

4.2 The Vietnamese translated version by Lê Huy Bắc……… 25

4.3 A Functional Comparison of Material Process in the original and Vietnamese translated extract from “The old man and the sea” by Hemingway……… 25

4.3.1 Introduction……… 25

4.3.2 Transitivity……… 26

4.3.3 Material Processes in the original and the translation……… 27

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……… 38

5.1 Recapitulation……… 38

5.2 Implications of the study……… 40

5.3 Suggestions for further study……… 42

REFERENCES……… 43 APPENDIX 1……….I Text 1: Analysis of the English text into clause complexes

APPENDIX 2……….IV Text 2: Analysis of Vietnamese-translated text into clause complexes

APPENDIX 3……….VII Table 2: Transitivity pattern of the English text

APPENDIX 4……….XIV Table 3: Transitivity pattern of the Vietnamese – translated text

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

First, I used Systemic Functional Grammar as the leading theoretical framework because it is different from Traditional grammar which is commonly taught at schools The focus of Traditional Grammar is linguistic structures only while that of SFG is the interpretation of the wording by reference to what it means in particular socio-cultural contexts

Second, in Vietnam there have been still few deep researches on material processes besides Cao Xuan Hao’s and Hoang Van Van’s

Third, the rationale for investigating this specific type of text lies on my personal interest in literature translation I am interested in finding out the equivalence between the original and the translation

1.2 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to answer the following questions:

a What is material process?

b Are Material processes in the original extract from “The old man and the sea” written by Hemingway the same as those in its Vietnamese translated version?

c What implications of translation equivalence does the study have for Vietnamese teachers, students and translators of literary works?

1.3 Scope of the study

The scope of investigation is limited to material processes in the written extract from

Hemingway’s short story “The old man and the sea” from page 88 to 94 and, equivalently, its

Vietnamese version which is translated by Lê Huy Bắc from page 64 to 70 of the whole story because of the fact that it is supposed to contain a high density of verbs of action which are frequently the representation of material process – process of DOING

1.4 Methods of the study

To thoroughly answer the research questions above, I used the following methods:

- The descriptive method concerns with the description of material process in English and Vietnamese

- The comparative method concerns with the comparison of the process in the two languages The analysis is based on both Halliday’s (1994) and Hoàng Văn Vân (2002)’s theory

1.5 Design of the study

This thesis is designed in five chapters:

Chapter I: introduces rationale, aims, scope and methodology of the study

Chapter II: provides the theoretical orientations for the study: systemic functional theory and its

related issues to the topic of my thesis

Chapter III: discusses some basic notions of material process such as Actor, Goal and

Circumstance

Chapter IV: is concerned with the comparative analysis between participants, process and

circumstances of material process in English and Vietnamese

Chapter V: tries to reach the most clear-cut possible conclusions about the equivalence between

the two versions and provides some implications for translation task

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Functional Grammar – A model of language in context

Halliday’s grammar is both semantic and functional The former which is concerned with

meaning or language in context is represented by four strata: Context – Semantics – Lexicogrammar – Phonology; while the latter concerning with function or language in use is represented by three metafunctions: experiential – textual – interpersonal

2.1.1 Strata of the systemic functional model

Phonology refers to the sound system of a language; Lexico-grammar refers to the words and the structure of words; and Semantics refers to the systems of meaning in a language The relation between strata is natural

2.1.2 Metafunctions

(i) Ideational function: is concerned with “the speaker’s experience of the real world” Within

the ideational, there is a subdivision into experiential and logical Experiential function is realized by TRANSITIVITY system The experiential refers to “propositional content encoded

as processes, events, participants, and the accompanying circumstances, etc” These issues of transitivity are the focus of my study The logical refers to “some general organizing relations expressed”

(ii) Interpersonal function: “serves to establish and maintain social relations” One of its

major grammatical systems is MOOD A clause consists of two components: Mood and Residue

The Mood which is made up of the Subject (a nominal group) and Finite (part of a verbal group) The Residue accommodates the remainder of the clause, namely predicator, complement and adjunct

(iii) Textual function: “enables the speaker or writer to construct texts” It is realized by the

system of THEME Theme is the starting point of the utterance or “point of departure” and the rest of the clause is referred to as Rheme

2.2 Transitivity system: processes, participants and circumstances

2.2.1 Three components of the process

(i) the process itself;

(ii) participants in the process;

(iii) circumstances associated with the process

2.2.2 Types of process

- Mental process: a process of cognition, perception and affection

- Relational process: the processes of being

- Behavioral process: construes philosophical or psychological behavior

- Existential process: represents that something exists or happens

2.2.3 Circumstances

There are 9 main types of circumstantial elements: Extent, Location, Manner, Cause, Contingency, Accompaniment, Role, Matter, and Angle

CHAPTER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF MATERIAL PROCESS IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE 3.1 The framework of the material process in English

3.1.1 The process

A material process is characterized by particular structural configurations:

(i) Actor + Process

(ii) Actor + Process + Goal

(iii) Actor + Process + Range

(iv) Actor + Process + Recipient + Goal

(v) Actor + Process + Goal + Recipient

(vi) Actor + Process + Beneficiary + Goal

(vii) Actor + Process + Goal + Beneficiary

3.1.2 Participants in Material processes

- The Actor is the performer of the action

- The Goal is what undergoes the action

- The Recipient is the one who receives the Goal

- The Beneficiary is someone for whose benefit the action is carried out

- The Range is the element that specifies the range or scope of the process

3.1.3 Circumstances in Material processes

Circumstances of location and manner are more typical of material processes than other types

3.1.4 Material Processes and Tense

English Material processes is distinguished with other types by checking the unmarked tense selection used In the simplest kind of narrative, simple past may be the only tense form used

3.1.5 Material processes and Voice

In a transitivity pattern, if there is Actor only, the verb is intransitive and active in voice If both

there are two participants – Actor and Goal, the verb is transitive and may be either active or

passive

3.2 The framework of the material process in Vietnamese

Van (2000) has suggested some criteria for identifying Vietnamese material processes:

3.2.1 Number and nature of participants

Like English, material process in Vietnamese may involve Actor and Goal Range is typically realized by an inanimate nominal Beneficiary may be realized either as a participant or as a circumstance Recipient is “one that goods are given to”

3.2.2 Strong collocation of the process with Co-verb of Direction

This concerns the strong collocational tie between verbs of action and directional proverbs

3.2.3 The Probe

From the perspective of doing, a material process can be probed by asking X đã làm gì Y? and from the perspective of happening, it can be probed by asking Y làm sao thế? or Cái gì xảy ra với Y thế?

3.2.4 Material Processes and Voice

When the clause is passive, the passive particle “được” precedes the Actor and the obligatory

participant is Goal, not Actor

CHAPTER IV MATERIAL PROCESS IN THE ORIGINAL AND VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED EXTRACT FROM “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY HEMINGWAY: A

FUNCTIONAL COMPARISON 4.1 The author Hemingway and the novella “The old man and the sea”

4.1.1 Hemingway and his individual style

In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for "his mastery of the art of

narrative” in “The Old Man and the Sea” His Iceberg Principle not only is particularly

effective in his short stories but also has caused a revolution in literature In detail, the principle

which guides most of his writings is “the facts float above water; the supporting structure and symbolism operate out-of-sight”

4.1.2 The novella “The old man and the sea”

“The old man and the sea” is written as one text without breaks and consists of only 125 pages

with the total of 4 main characters: Santiago, Manolin, the marlin and the sea It is the story of the old man catching the big fish The novella is typical of Hemingway’s individual writing style

4.2 The Vietnamese translated version by Lê Huy Bắc

The translation by Lê Huy Bắc which is published by Literature Publishing House in 2000 consists of 92 pages The translation by Lê Huy Bắc is chosen for comparison in this research

for two reasons Firstly, the translator Lê Huy Bắc has so much experience in teaching American Literature at his university as well as studying and translating Hemingway’s works Secondly, Lê

Huy Bắc’s translation is said by many critics to contain fewer deviations from the original in comparison with other translations

4.3 A Functional Comparison of Material Process in the original and Vietnamese translated extract from “The old man and the sea” by Hemingway

The English text consists of 145 clauses and the Vietnamese translation consists of 159 clauses

The analysis aims at discovering whether such categories as the number, configurations, voice and tense of material processes in the translation are equivalent to those in the original text

4.3.1 The number of material processes

Material processes pre-dominate other process types due to the fact that the extract is an action-oriented narrative:

Table 4: Transitivity in English text

Type Material Mental Relational Verbal Behavioral Existential

Table 5: Transitivity in Vietnamese text

The number of occurrence of the material process in the translation is more than that in the original

The reason is as Quang (2000) claimed redundancy is highly used in Vietnamese and

Vietnamese tends to use more verbs

4.3.2 Configurations of material processes

Two main configurations of material processes when participants (Actor and Goal) are present:

(i) Actor + Process + (Circumstance)

(ii) Actor + Process + Goal + (Circumstances)

The source text consists of 36 clauses and the target text consists of 38 clauses of this type

* The use of Actors

The Actors are mostly animate:

Type

Animate Actor

Inanimate

Animate Actor

Inanimate

Actor

The

old

man

The marlin

The old man

The marlin

% 43.87% 37.75% 18.36% % 49.54% 32.43% 18.01%

Actors are dominantly two main characters: the old man (Santiago) and the marlin It is clear

that the old man plays a central role and the marlin is only a cooperative character

However, the target text is not analogous to the source text with the translation of Actors as personal pronouns In the English text, with the use of the third person he to replace the old man, the character’s age, the author’s feelings and attitude towards his character are not provided, except for the gender This feature is typical of Hemingway’s style – lack of emotive coloring Meanwhile, the word “lão” is able to define age, gender and plight of the character –

an old miserable male person The deviation in translating the third person is resulted in by the

typical expressiveness of Vietnamese personal pronouns

* The use of Goals

Both the source text and the target text have a large proportion of Goals as concrete nouns These claims imply two things: (i) it indicates Hemingway’s individual style, which is explained

by his liking for clarity and simplicity; (ii) the translator seems to have a thorough knowledge of

a tendency among Anglicists (who speak English as their mother tongue) “descriptive rather than evaluative in their statements” (Quang, 2000)