A comparison on cohesive devices between the gift of the magi and its two vietnamese translation versions

Vinh university Foreign languages department A comparison on cohesive devices between the gift of the magi and its two Vietnamese translation versions (So sánh phép liên kết gốc hai dịch Tiếng Việt truyện ngắn Món quà Đạo sĩ) Graduation thesis Field: applied Linguistics Student : Mai Thị Huệ Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Lan Phương , M.A Vinh, 2009 Part I: introduction Rationale of the Study Vietnam is more and more integrating deeply into the world in many fields, of which there is literature As a matter of fact, once foreign literature is more available in the market, Vietnamese reader’s tastes for literature are also changing – they are becoming more interested in foreign works Even with those who not speak foreign language, the enjoying of foreign literature is still made possible thanks to translators It can be said that translated literature has become an important part in Vietnam literature nowadays This, naturally, leads to the fact that there are different translated versions for the same foreign work, and, accordingly, there exists a comparison between them However, to non-linguistic people, it is difficult to exactly tell why they prefer this than the other, they might just instinctively feel the difference Deriving from this, many studies have been done on different aspects in order to find out the reasons for success of this translation and the failure of the other There have been some works that analysed and contrasted cohesion between English and Vietnamese so far The purpose of these works is to point out the similarities and differences between the two languages in terms of cohesive devices This research is, by no means, an exception Having read one typical short-story by O.Henry, The Gift of The Magi, and two translated versions, the author has been attracted with the idea of comparing two translated versions on textual equivalence According to Callow (1992) each language has its own pattern to convey the interrelationships of persons and events; in no language may these patterns be ignored, if the translation is to be understood by its readers This is the reason why cohesion gained a great deal of concern from applied linguists Among many linguists, Halliday and Hasan (1976) make a detailed classification of cohesive devices in English These authors distinguish between grammatical and lexical cohesion It is obvious that those outlined devices are common to almost language Baker states that different languages have different preferences for using specific devices more frequently than others or in specific combination which may not correspond to English pattern of cohesion (1992, p.219) O Henry was a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O Henry’s stories This is also the reason why he got the love from lots of Vietnamese readers Apart from The Last Leaf, the readers have known The Gift of the Magi as a typical short- story by O Henry It is translated into Vietnamese by many translators and each Vietnamese translation version has an interesting characteristic, giving the researcher a desire to conduct this study This study focuses on textual equivalence between the source and two target language texts One is translated by Dac Le in the “Love of life” book that includes The selected American short stories by The World Publisher, Ha Noi, 1994 The other is from the O Henry short stories by Ngo Vinh Vien, that has been republished many times This paper chooses the translation version in 2005 in the same book by Literature Publisher, Hanoi Aims of the Study The aims of the thesis are: - To provide an overview of cohesive devices - To study cohesion in translation in a particular text type - To identify the cohesive markers in The Gift of the Magi and its translation versions - To study the textual equivalence between the original work and its Vietnamese translations - To suggest some implications for teaching and learning translation in general and teaching and learning cohesion in particular Scope of the study The study focuses on the textual equivalence between The Gift of the Magi by O Henry and its two translation versions More detailedly, the study focuses on cohesion only Themantic and information structures, another important aspect of textual equivalence will not be covered in the scope of the study The ground for doing this research is the system of cohesive markers suggested by Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Diep Quang Ban (2005) and the definition equivalence proposed by Baker (1992) Research Questions To achieve the purposes of the study, some research questions will be adhered - Is the model of cohesion proposed by Halliday and Hasan common to Ban’s? - What kind of cohesive markers are preferred in The Gift of the Magi and by the translators in Vietnamese translation? Which one is the most popular in each translation? - Which is more popular, the translation version by Dac Le or the one by Ngo Vinh Vien? Methods of the Study - The study is carried out using the quantitative method with collecting, analyzing and clarifying the procedure of collecting data in order to answer the research questions - Review of the theories related to cohesion and translation - Analysis and synthesis of the collected data Design of the Study The thesis consists of three parts: Part I: Introduction states the reasons for choosing the topic, the aim, its scope, the research question and method of the study Part II: Development consists of chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical background states the theoretical background of cohesion, cohesion and coherence, type of cohesion, translation theory, O.Henry and The Gift of The Magi Chapter 2: Identification of cohesive markers in the original text, such as reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, lexical cohesion and the summary in general Chapter 3: Handling of cohesive markers in the Vietnamese translations conclude handling of reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and handling of lexical cohesion and general remarks Part III: Conclusion summarizes the main points of the thesis, states the application and presents including remarks Part II: development Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Some Related Concepts of Discourse Analysis 1.1.1 Cohesion A text, generally speaking, can be recognized as a sentence or a group of sentences because of its clear relationship of ideas Yet, how to identify what makes a text coherent? What makes a cohesive grammatical unit different from a random collection of sentences? Halliday and Hasan (1976) pointed out by defining text as “… not just a string of sentences It is not simply a large grammatical unit, something of the same kind as a sentence; but differing from it in size – a sort of supersentence a semantic unit” (p.291) Because it is a semantic unit, the state of being a text (its texture) is dictated by its interpretation within a particular context, or environment Let’s see this example: [1:1] Woodrow Wilson was twenty-fifth President of the United States He will be always remembered for his work to establish world peace (The History of The US in brief) This text is coherent because He in the second sentence refers back to Woodrow Wilson in the first one In fact, the second sentence without its contextual reference would not make much sense The concept of cohesion is a semantic one, it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text and that define it as a text “Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it can not be effectively decoded except by recourse to it When it happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into a text (Halliday and Hasan ,1976, p.4) Returning to the example, the word He in the second sentence creates the cohesion by itself in the text and the two sentences combine together, leading to unity It seems that Halliday and Hasan’s idea has similarity with Diep Quang Ban’s Ban in Ngữ PhápTiếng Việt (2005) states that cohesion is in the links between two semantic elements which lies in two sentences or in two clauses of a sentence Therefore, they explain to each other In other words, cohesion is the semantic relation in which to understand the specific meaning of this element, we must base on the meaning of the other [1: 2] Bản tuyên ngôn nhân quyền dân quyền Cách Mạng Pháp năm 1791 nói: “Người ta sinh tự bình đẳng quyền lợi phải ln ln tự bình đẳng quyền lợi” Đó lẽ phải khơng chối cãi (Tun ngơn độc lập, Hồ Chí Minh) The readers not make sense Đó in the second sentence if they not base on the meaning of the first sentence In other words, the second shares the link with the first to be made sense.Similarly to viễn cảnh in the following example: [1: 3] Tới ta hiểu sợ hãi phải vĩnh viễn xa P Đừng, lạy chúa, viễn cảnh đừng xảy cả, đừng, mà ta sống với ai, sống trơ trọi cô đơn thế, ta sống (Mãi tuổi hai mươi, Nguyễn Văn Thạc) Another example: [1: 4] Ông sống thân, Ơng tứ cố vơ thân (Thầy Khiển, Ma Văn Kháng) Một thân in the first sentence and tứ cố vô thân in the second one are synonymous because they explain meaning to each other [1: 5] Đồi bạch đàn thong thả đồng ca hát cổ xưa Bạch đàn ơi, bỡ ngỡ mà em xịe lá? Hương bạch đàn, nhựa bạch đàn gợi điều mơ mộng … Em đâu chẳng anh dắt tay em… (Mãi tuổi hai mươi, Nguyễn Văn Thạc) Bạch đàn in the second sentence is repeated in the second one, creating lexical cohesion in the text Halliday and Hasan (1976) make a detailed classification of the cohesive devices in English These authors as well as Ban (2005) distinguish between grammatical and lexical cohesion According to them, grammatical cohesion embraces four different devices: Reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction and lexical cohesion consists of repetition, synonymy, superordinate, hyponymy, metonymy and antonym… 1.1.2 Cohesion and Coherence According to Lam (2007) in the Discourse analysis, Cohesion is a guide to coherence, and coherence is something created by the reader in the act of reading the text Coherence is the feeling that a text hangs together, that it makes sense, and is not just a jumble of sentences Coherence relations are meaning relations connecting two text segments A defining characteristic for these relations is that the interpretation of the related segments needs to provide more information than is provided by the sum of the segments taken in isolation Hoey points out the differences between cohesion and coherence as follows: “Cohesion is the objective capable in principle automatic recognition, while coherence is subjective and judments concerning it may vary from readers to readers” (cited in Baker, 1992, p.218) In other words, cohesion is only the clues to coherence, consisting of grammatical and lexical links in the text while coherence is in the reader’s mind and they have to create coherence by themselves Let’s consider the example: [1: 6] Clare loves potatoes She was born in Ireland (Discourse analysis) These sentences are cohesive because she in the second sentence refers back to Clare in the first sentence This anaphoric function of she gives cohesion to the two sentences However, the two sentences are only coherent if the readers know stereotype ethnic association between being Irish and loving potatoes It is clear that cohesion approach to connectedness is inadequate According to Nguyen Hoa (2002) cohesion can be understood as means to indicate coherence but it is completedly wrong when whoever considers they are one Between them, there is not exists a one-to-one correspondence In the example: [1: 7] A: My car’s broken down B: There’s a garage down there The readers not see any cohesive devices in the example but they still get the meaning of sentences thanks to its coherence 1.1.3 Type of Cohesion Halliday and Hasan (1976) identified five different types of cohesion: reference, substitusion, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion 1.1.3.1 Reference Reference is an act in which a speaker or a writer uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something It refers to the semantic relationship between a word and what it points to in the real world Let’s see the category of reference Reference Exophora Endophora (situational) (textual) Anaphora (to preceding text) Cataphora (to following text) Exophora or exophoric reference is reference to be assumed, shared words outside of the text Because it is not text- internal, it is not truly cohesive, but because it is an equally important part of the readers’ active role in creating coherence, contributing to “textuality”, that is, the feeling that something is in the text, and not just a random collection of sentences Endophora or endophoric reference comes into being when an identified element is understood by means of identified element in another sentence Consequently, cohesion is created between two sentences In the following example: [1:8] Robin was really a hero rather than a criminal He robbed the rich and gave to the poor (English Pronunciation Made Simple) 10 ... study the textual equivalence between the original work and its Vietnamese translations - To suggest some implications for teaching and learning translation in general and teaching and learning... Vietnamese readers Apart from The Last Leaf, the readers have known The Gift of the Magi as a typical short- story by O Henry It is translated into Vietnamese by many translators and each Vietnamese. .. related to cohesion and translation - Analysis and synthesis of the collected data Design of the Study The thesis consists of three parts: Part I: Introduction states the reasons for choosing the