Material process in “The old man and the sea” by Hemingway and its Vietnamese translated version: A Systematic Functional Comparison 43 p. Quá trình vật chất trong bản gốc và bản dịch tác phẩm ‘Ông già và biển cả của Hemingway Đặng Thị Phương Mai Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: Linguistics English; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van Năm bảo vệ: 2011 Abstract: In this study, an attempt is made to explore whether such categories as the number, configurations, voice and tense of material processes in the translation of the written extract from “The old man and the sea” by Lê Huy Bắc are equivalent to those in the original by Hemingway. The data analysis is based on the framework of Halliday’s (1994) and Hoàng Văn Vân’s (2002). The conclusion claims that there exists both analogies and deviations in the translation in comparison with the original. However, the deviations are inevitable due to the fact that each country has its own linguistic and cultural features. It is undeniable that the translator tried to keep the target text equivalent to the source text as much as possible. Moreover, it is vital for translators of literature to pay much attention to linguistic features and cultural contexts, the author’s individual style and the genre of the text he or she is going to translate. Keywords: Hemingway; Biên dịch; Tác phẩm văn học; Tiếng Anh Content CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale of the study Not until I had pursued Master degree of Applied Linguistics at Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, did I have the first chance to familiarize myself with one of the most important schools of linguistics, which is so-called “Functional Grammar” from Professor Hoang Van Van’s lectures. This type of grammar deeply impressed me especially when it was brought into comparison with another well-known subtype of grammar; that is, Traditional Grammar. I got to know Traditional Grammar, through its simple grammatical rules from my first days of the 6 th grade. When I studied at the university, it seemed that I was fully aware of the notion “Traditional Grammar”. Williams (2005) defined the Traditional Grammar as “the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts about the structures of language that is commonly taught in schools”. This means that Traditional Grammar refers to ways of analyzing words into such functions as Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O), Complement (C) and Adverbial (A) and analyzing sentences basing on seven major clause types: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA, SVOO, SVOC and SVOA. All of these rules are presented clearly by Quirk et al. (1985) in “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language”. All in all, this kind of grammar takes linguistic structures as its priority; therefore, it has limitations on interpreting the organization of a discourse. As a result, Functional Grammar or Systemic Functional Grammar was developed by the linguist Halliday in the 1960s in order to solve the problems of discourse analysis. In fact, a functional grammar was designed to study the wording and interpret the wording by reference to what it means (Halliday, 1994). In detail, it is particularly helpful for explaining how language is selected and organized in particular ways for particular socio-cultural purposes. Three important variables are Field (subject matter), Tenor (roles and relationships), and Mode (mode and medium). Other Systemic Functional Grammar terms which people might have approached include circumstance, participant and process. Moreover, Systemic Functional Grammar is useful for explaining the structuring of clauses, sentences, texts, discourses by analyzing their cohesive devices. Among all of these categories, what I am most interested in is types of process in general and material process in particular since material process is a popular process in English. So I have decided to choose “material process” as the topic of my minor thesis. In addition, functional grammar has been studied by many famous linguists in the world like M.A.K. Halliday (1985, 1994), Bloor (1995), Eggins (1994) and Thompson (1996); among all of whom, Halliday is considered to be a vanguard grammarian because of his great contributions. In Vietnam, firstly Cao Xuân Hạo and then Hoàng Văn Vân did researches on Vietnamese in the light of systemic functional grammar. Their studies respectively are Tiếng Việt – Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng (1991) and Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú Tiếng Việt: mô tả theo quan điểm chức năng hệ thống (2002), in which types of process especially material process in Vietnamese are investigated. Thus, however small my study is, I myself would like to contribute to this fledgling field by examining material process through both English and Vietnamese using the same theoretical framework – systemic functional linguistics. The functional comparison between material process in English and Vietnamese was carried out by Huỳnh Thị Cẩm Nhung in 2002. However, in my opinion, the scope of this thesis is rather broad because the analysis is not attached to any specific texts or discourses. As far as I am concerned, I have chosen to compare material process in an extract from “The old man and the sea” by Earnest Hemingway and its Vietnamese translated version by Lê Huy Bắc for three reasons. Firstly, I find myself have a passion for literature. Secondly, in order to compare items in two languages, it is vital to show that they are contextually equivalent. Such equivalence can be best achieved by reference to translation as “translation is the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language” (Cartford, 1965). In the end, assuming English to be the control language and Vietnamese to be the comparative one, the comparison will become easier and more effective if I compare the translation which is translated by an experienced and excellent linguist and has won public recognition with the original. From all reasons above, it is hoped that this study will provide some insights into the understanding of the translation of material process in literature. 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? In order to find the answers to the research questions above, an attempt is made to examine how material process is conceptualized in English and Vietnamese by synthesizing the works of Halliday (1994) and Hoàng Văn Vân (2002). So as to make the comparison between the original and translated version, Halliday’s and Hoàng Văn Vân’s theoretical framework are chosen to be the descriptive framework of my study. Finally, basing on the findings of the study, I would like to offer some implications for translating material process in literature into Vietnamese. 1.3. Scope of the study 1.3.1. The theoretical framework In this study, I do not have an ambition to cover all aspects of functional grammar. Only issues related to material process such as framework, elements and features are taken into consideration. Moreover, material process is a small domain in a grammatical space which is known as transitivity. In fact, the Systemic Functional Linguistic model of language recognizes three social functions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. Among them, ideational function is divided into experiential and logical. Experiential function is realized by transitivity system. As a result, metafunctions, the grammar of experience and its representation in the transitivity system are also examined briefly. 1.3.2. The chosen text The scope of investigation is limited to the written extract from Hemingway’s novella “The old man and the sea” and, equivalently, its Vietnamese version which is translated by Lê Huy Bắc. The original extract is from page 88 to 94 and the translated version is from page 64 to 70 of the whole story. However, during the process of analysis, I have cut down some unnecessary clauses so that I can analyze the text more easily. As a result, the chosen text in both languages has shrunk (from 6 to 4 pages). The reason is that there is not enough space for a minor thesis to investigate the whole novella of more than 125 pages. An extract of only 4 pages seems to be more feasible. Furthermore, this extract is about the old man’s fierce battle with a giant marlin on the sea. So, it is supposed to contain a high density of verbs of action which are frequently the representation of material process – process of DOING. This study is confined to an analysis at clause-level. 1.4. Methods and data of the study From these aims above, the study is carried out basing mainly on two methods: descriptive and comparative. The former concerns with the description of material process in English and Vietnamese and the latter concerns with the comparison of the process in the two languages. As I have said above, the data used for the study are taken from page 88 to 94 of the source language text and the corresponding pages in the Vietnamese version. The analysis of the source language text’s clause is based on Halliday’s theory (1994). The investigation of the translated text is based on both Halliday’s 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. REFERENCES A. ENGLISH 1. Bloor, T & Bloor, M. (1995). The Functional Analysis of English. London: Arnold. 2. Cartford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford University Press. 3. Halliday, M.A.K. (1970). Language Structure and Language Function. (In) New Horizon in Linguistics. Lyons, J. (Ed.). Hamondsworth: Penguin. 4. Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as Social Semiotic. London and Baltimore: Edward Arnold. 5. Halliday, M.A.K & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, Text and Context: a social semiotic perspective. Vic. Gleelong: Deakin University Press. 6. Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold. 7.Eggins, S. (1994). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter. 8. Halliday, M.A.K and Matthiessen, C. (1997). Systemic Functional Grammar: A First Step into the Theory. Sydney: Macquarie University. 9. James, W. (2005). The Teacher's Grammar Book. Lawrence Erlbaum 10. Martin, J.R. (1985). Systemic Functional Linguistics and an Understanding of written texts. Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney. 11. Martin, J.R & Rose, D. (2003). Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. Continuum International Publishing Group. 12. Martin, J.R, Matthiessen, C. & Painter, C. (1997). Working with Functional Grammar. London: Arnold. 13. Nhung, Huỳnh. T. Cẩm. (2002). The Grammar of Material process in English and Vietnamese: A Functional Comparison (MA Thesis). 14. Plimpton, G. (1961). An Interview with Earnest Hemingway in Baker, C. (1961). Hemingway and his Critics. Hill and Wang Press. 15. Quirk, R. et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman. 16. Teich, E. (1999). Systemic functional grammar in natural language generation: linguistic description and computational representation. Continuum International Publishing Group. 17. Thompson, G. (1996). Introducing Functional Grammar. London: Arnold. B. VIETNAMESE 1. Ban, Diệp Quang. (2002). Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, tập 1. Hà Nội: NXB Giáo dục. 2. Cẩn, Nguyễn Tài (1999). Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: NXB Đại học Quốc gia. 3. Hạo, Cao Xuân. (1991). Tiếng Việt: Sơ thảo Ngữ pháp chức năng, quyển 1. Hà Nội: Khoa học xã hội. 4. Quang, Nguyễn. (2000). Giao thoa văn hóa nhìn từ góc độ hoạt động giao tiếp lời nói. 5. Vân, Hoàng Văn. (2000). Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú Tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức năng hệ thống. Hà Nội: Khoa học Xã hội. . discourses. As far as I am concerned, I have chosen to compare material process in an extract from The old man and the sea” by Earnest Hemingway and its Vietnamese translated version by Lê Huy. 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. Material process in The old man and the sea” by Hemingway and its Vietnamese translated version: A Systematic Functional Comparison 43 p. Quá trình vật chất