You are on page 1of 24

New Frontiers in Translation Studies

Series editor
Defeng Li
Centre for Translation Studies, SOAS, University of London,
London, United Kingdom

Centre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition,


University of Macau, Macau SAR
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11894
Guangrong Dai

Hybridity in Translated
Chinese
A Corpus Analytical Framework
Guangrong Dai
School of Humanities
Fujian University of Technology
Fuzhou
Fujian, China

ISSN 2197-8689 ISSN 2197-8697 (electronic)


New Frontiers in Translation Studies
ISBN 978-981-10-0741-5 ISBN 978-981-10-0742-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0742-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940366

Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature


The registered company is Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd.
General Editors Preface

New Frontiers in Translation Studies, as its name suggests, is a Series which


focuses on new and emerging themes in Translation Studies. The last four decades
have witnessed a rapid growth of this fledgling discipline. This Series intends to
publish and promote these developments and provide readers with theories and
methods they need to carry out their own translation studies projects. Translation
Studies is now expanding into new or underexplored areas both in theories and
research methods. One recent development is the keen interest in translation
theories that transcend Eurocentrism. Translation Studies has for decades been
dominated by Western modes of understanding and theorizing about translation
and closed to models of other traditions. This is due to, as many have argued, the
unavailability of reliable data and systematic analysis of translation activities in
non-European cultures (Hung and Wakabayashi 2005). So in the past few years,
some scholars have attempted to make available literature on translation from non-
European traditions (Cheung 2006). Several conferences have been held with
themes devoted to Asian translation traditions. Besides, rather than developing
translation theories via a shift to focusing on non-Eurocentric approaches, efforts
have been directed towards investigating translation universals applicable across all
languages, cultures and traditions.
Modern Translation Studies has adopted an interdisciplinary approach from its
inception. Besides tapping into theories and concepts of neighbouring disciplines,
such as linguistics, anthropology, education, sociology, and literary studies, it has
also borrowed research models and methods from other disciplines. In the late
1970s, German translation scholars applied Think-aloud Protocols (TAPs) of cog-
nitive psychology in their investigation of translators mental processes, and more
recently, process researchers have incorporated into their research designs lab
methods, such as eye-tracker, EEG and fMRI. In the early 1990s, computational
and corpus linguistics was introduced into Translation Studies, which has since
generated a proliferation of studies on the so-called translation universals, translator
style, and features of translated language. Studies on interpreting and translation

v
vi General Editors Preface

education have also taken a data-based empirical approach and yielded interesting
and useful results.
As Translation Studies seeks further growth as an independent discipline and
recognition from outside the translation studies community, the interest to explore
beyond the Eurocentric translation traditions will continue to grow. So does the
need to adopt more data- and lab-based methods in the investigations of translation
and interpreting. It is therefore the intent of this Series to capture the newest
developments in these areas and promote research along these lines. The mono-
graphs or edited volumes in this Series will be selected either because of their focus
on non-European translation traditions or their application of innovative research
methods and models, or both.
We hope that translation teachers and researchers, as well as graduate students,
will use these books in order to get acquainted with new ideas and frontiers in
Translation Studies, carry out their own innovative projects and even contribute to
the Series with their pioneering research.

Fujian, China Defeng Li

References

Cheung, M. 2006. An anthology of Chinese discourse on translation, volume one: From earliest
times to the Buddhist project. Manchester/Kinderhook: St. Jerome Publishing.
Hung, E., and J. Wakabayashi. 2005. Asian translation traditions. Manchester/Northampton:
St Jerome Publishing.
Foreword

In 2007, the Scottish poet, James McGonigal, published a slim book of poetry
called Passage/An Pasiaste, the working title of which, he once told me in an
interview, had been Poems written to be translated into an abandoned language.
His inspiration, he said, was the experience of reading English translations of Scots
Gaelic poetry alongside their (to him) unfathomable source texts; he wanted his
own original poems to capture the same kind of foreignness or strangeness: I
thought I would try to write poems out of that sort of consciousness, kind of in
translatorese language.1 The resulting poetic sequence was written in a form of
English that appeared indebted to Scots Gaelic, a language that, in fact, McGonigal
had little knowledge of.
The point of this story for the present volume is that many of us have an
instinctive awareness of the strangeness of translatorese, or translationese, that
foreignised variety of language that emerges from the process of translation. While
recognizable, however, the characteristics of translationese have always remained
difficult to pin down. Many translation scholars have attempted to follow Mona
Bakers approach to studying allegedly universal features of translated texts:
simplification, explicitation, normalization and levelling out of awkward features
in the original.2 While productive in terms of setting research agendas, Bakers
view of translationese focuses on certain cognitive strategies for coping with the
strangeness of the source text, and their linguistic outcomes, not directly on the
general linguistic characteristics of the target text as compared to the source.
Guangrong Dais study of hybridity in translated Chinese takes a different
approach to the study of translationese. His corpus analytical framework promises
to capture quantitatively those elements of translationese that qualitatively a reader
might recognize as distinguishing a translated text from a non-translated text. To do
this, he follows a small but influential group of scholars, such as the late Professor
Richard Xiao, who have drawn upon corpus linguistics to study normativity and
deviation in source texts and their translations. Their argument is the simple one
that the source texts exert an influence upon certain features of the translated texts,

vii
viii Foreword

and that influence can be seen in abnormal distributions of certain types of feature
in the translated texts.
To study the influence of the source language on the target language, corpus
Guangrong Dai employs three types of corpora: a corpus of source texts (in this
case, English and Chinese), a parallel corpus of translations of these source texts
into Chinese and English and a comparable corpus of English/Chinese texts,
controlled for genre, that give evidence for normative features in each language.
It will be no surprise to any reader who has decided to consult the present volume
that Guangrong Dais research makes substantial claims about the complex rela-
tionship of Chinese translationese both to English and to non-translated Chinese.
That is, texts that have been translated from Chinese to English systematically show
certain lexical, grammatical and discursive choices that are not necessarily
governed by Bakers translation universals, though some features no doubt relate
to these universals. Dais innovation is to focus on Chinese, a language that,
typologically, shares little with English, having a radically different grammar,
vocabulary and even orthographic system. Even so, linguistically, traces of
Englishness survive in the translated Chinese texts. Guangrong Dai draws upon
earlier, less systematic accounts of features of Chinese translationese, or Angli-
cized Chinese, and exploits his corpora in a series of detailed case studies to test
whether the translated texts display deviant distributions of these linguistic features,
when compared to non-translated texts in similar genres. What he arrives at is a
provisional, empirical profile of those linguistic features that characterize Chinese
texts translated from English. Though in some respects still provisional, this profile
results from the establishment of a sound methodology whose further application
will no doubt strengthen the claims made here. The corpus framework will bear
further fruit.
The research also raises other intriguing issues. The corpora used in the present
analysis largely consist of texts from two different time periods. There is the
provocative suggestion that the non-translated texts in the more recent period are,
in some ways, becoming more like the translated texts from the earlier period. If
this pattern is borne out, Guangrong Dai may well have identified a method for
eliciting quantitative evidence for language change, in this case triggered by greater
contact between English (or perhaps European languages) and Chinese over the
past century. There might be various reasons for such a shift in linguistic norms
over time: greater trade between East and West, the impact of mass education in
English language in China, increased electronic and digital communication, more
exposure to the English language in China or perhaps even the cumulative and
accelerating impact of translation itself. But whatever the cause, and however
different the languages remain, there is some evidence for the reconfiguration of
Chinese linguistic norms under the influence of English.
The research presented in this volume also usefully points towards possibilities
for the further study of linguistic hybridity. As noted, Guangrong Dai largely takes a
case study approach to the analysis of linguistic hybridity in texts translated from
English into Chinese; the features he studies have been suggested by earlier
scholars and cover different linguistic levels. One possible next step would perhaps
Foreword ix

be to stand back from the data in the three types of corpora and consider the
clustering of linguistic features within each corpus. The corpora would be mined
to generate information about significantly different features that are not pre-
identified; effectively they would generate their own points of reference for
comparison.
However, these developments are for another day. The fact that we can now
begin to explore such issues is a testimony to the innovative groundwork laid down
in the present volume, which offers a systematic and fascinating set of insights into
the ways in which Chinese texts translated from English are affected by the
gravitational pull of the source language at different linguistic levels.
John Corbett
University of Macau

Notes

1. Interview 02: James McGonigal on Passage/An Pasaiste. 2016. In The Scottish


Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved April
2016, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=612 See
also James McGonigal (2007) Passage/An Pasaiste. Glasgow: Mariscat Press
2. Baker, M. (1993). Corpus linguistics and translation studies: Implications and
applications. In M. Baker, G.Francis and E. Tognini-Bonelli, eds. Text and
technology: In honour of John Sinclair. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1745.
ThiS is a FM Blank Page
Acknowledgements

The present research develops from my doctoral thesis which carried out at
University of Macau (UM), and many people offered me generous help in the
writing of this book. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor, Professor John Corbett, for his generous help, constant supervision and
helpful academic suggestions. Thanks to him for giving me the opportunity to
develop my own ideas and the time to write them down. His kindness and patience
have always helped me navigate the periods of depression during my studies. He,
not only for his distinguished academic abilities but for his charming personality,
was, is and will be a role model of mine for life. My thanks also go to Professor
Zhang Meifang, for her help and encouragement during my research at UM.
Heartfelt thanks also go to Professor Richard Xiao for introducing me to the
world of corpus linguistics. A considerable part of the research presented here was
inspired by or developed in joint projects with him. I owe him thanks for his
generous assistance and constant encouragement throughout my PhD study. He
left us forever on January 2nd, 2016. May he rest in peace in Heaven.
Thanks to Professor Li Defeng for being my linguistic conscience and a good
friend at the same time. I give thanks for his insistence that I must see the words
behind the numbers. Empirical translation studies with the help of corpora must
take all aspects into considerations without ignoring the reasons which cause the
difference between original and translated languages. I owe special thanks to
Professor Lynne Bowker, University of Ottawa, Canada, and Professor Hu Kaibao,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, for their comments and suggestions on my
thesis.
Thanks to Professor Wang Kefei from National Research Centre for Foreign
Language Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University, for his suggestions for my
research proposal and generous help as a Chief Editor for my book published by
Shanghai Jiaotong University Press in 2013.
Thanks to Professor Zhang Xu, the Dean of the School of Humanities of Fujian
University of Technology. His undeviating support and trust encouraged me all
the time.

xi
xii Acknowledgements

Special thanks to my friends such as Song Yuchun from Shaoguan University


(with the help of whom I designed the parallel corpus software), He Wenzhao
(Oscar) from Jiaxing University and now PhD student at Department of English,
UM, Dr. Huang Libo from Xian International Studies University and Dr. Li
Dechao from Hong Kong Polytechnic University who has always helped me with
the reference material. My final acknowledgements go to my family. I would like to
express my love and gratitude to my wife Zuo Shangjun (Miranda) and son Dai
Mingwei (David), for their endless love, courage and support to me.
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 General Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Specific Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Research Questions and Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Organization and Significance of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Hybridity in Translation Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Hybridity in Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Occurrence of Hybridity in Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Questions about Hybridity in Translated Languages . . . . . . . . . 16
2.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3 Hybridity within CTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Convergence between CL and CTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Previous Research on Translated Language in CTS . . . . . . . . . 24
3.3.1 TU Hypotheses and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.3.2 Challenges for TU Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.3 CTS: Current Research on English-Chinese
Language Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4 Hybridisation in the Translation Norm Continuum . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4 Hybridity in Anglicised Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2 Background of Anglicisms in Modern Written Chinese . . . . . . . 40

xiii
xiv Contents

4.3 Previous Research on Anglicisms in MWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41


4.3.1 Anglicisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.3.2 Anglicised Chinese in the Eyes of Grammarians . . . . . 41
4.3.3 Anglicised Chinese in the Eyes of Sinologists . . . . . . . 43
4.4 Current Research on Anglicised Chinese with Corpus Data . . . . 45
4.5 Powerful Hybridity: Impact of Anglicisation on Chinese
Language Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5 Corpus Methodology and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1 Theoretical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.2 Corpora Design for the Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2.1 Parallel Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.2 Comparable Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.2.3 Annotation of Corpora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.3 Software Used in the Corpus Analysis Framework . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3.1 Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3.2 Xaira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.3.3 WordSmith Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.3.4 ParaConc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6 Native and Translated Chinese: Normality and Hybridity . . . . . . . 71
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.2 Linguistic Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3 Normality of Native Chinese Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.3.1 Non-inflectional Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.3.2 Aspect Language without Grammatical Category
of Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.3.3 Monosyllabic Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.3.4 Paratactic Organization Strategy and Depending
on Word Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.3.5 Verby Language and Other Developed
Grammatical Norms of Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.4 Differences between Native and Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . 77
6.4.1 Dissyllablic Prevalence in Both Translated
and Native Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.4.2 A Comparison of Linguistic Features in Translated
and Native Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.5 Hybridity in TC: Framework and Features for Investigation . . . . 85
6.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Contents xv

7 Lexical Features of Hybridity in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . 89


7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.2 Lexical Features of Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.3 Word-Formation Features of Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.3.1 Suffixes in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.3.2 Morphological Increase in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . 99
7.4 DV Constructions in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.4.1 N + DE + V Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.4.2 N + V Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.4.3 Reasons for the Prevalence of DV-Constructions
in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
8 Classifier Constructions in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.2 Categories of Classifier in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.3 Classifier Constructions in Chinese and English . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.4 Classifier Constructions in Native and Translated Chinese . . . . 113
8.5 YI GE in Native and Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
8.6 YI GE in English-Chinese Parallel Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.7 Explanation of the Prevalence of Classifier Constructions
in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
8.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
9 Light Verbs in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9.1 Introduction: Light Verbs in English and Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9.2 Light Verbs in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
9.3 The Light Verb jnxng in Translated Chinese and Original
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
9.3.1 Collocations of jnxng in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
9.3.2 Collocations of jnxng in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.4 The Light Verb jnxng in English-Chinese Parallel Corpora . . . 145
9.4.1 Concordancing of jnxng in Parallel Corpora . . . . . . 145
9.4.2 English Equivalents of jnxng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9.4.3 Methods for Translating jnxng into English . . . . . . . 150
9.5 The Light Verb jnxng in Diachronic Comparable Corpora . . . . 151
9.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10 Syntactic Hybridity in TC: SHI Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.2 SHI and Its Structure: Categories and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.3 SHI in Non-Translated and Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . 158
10.4 SHI Collocation Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
xvi Contents

10.5 SHI Structure in Parallel Corpora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165


10.5.1 Concordancing Results in the E-C Parallel Corpus . . . . 166
10.5.2 English BE and Chinese SHI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
10.5.3 SHI. . .DE Structure in Parallel Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . 169
10.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
11 Nominalization and Cohesive Features in TC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
11.2 Nominalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
11.2.1 Nominalization Methods in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
11.2.2 Nominalization Markers in Non-translated
and Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
11.3 Cohesive Features in Translated Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
11.3.1 Cohesive Methods in Modern Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
11.3.2 Prepositions and Conjunctions in Non-TC and TC . . . . 184
11.3.3 Cohesive Features in TC: A Case Study of ruguo
() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
11.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
12 Conclusions and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
12.2 Summary and the Findings of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
12.3 Theoretical and Practical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
12.4 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
12.5 Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Appendix 1 Books Sampled for MCCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Appendix 2 CLAWS 8 Tagset for English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Appendix 3 ICTCLAS2008 Part-of-speech Tagset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Flowchart of this research . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 5


Fig. 1.2 Corpora framework for this research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Fig. 2.1 Hybridity in translation .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 17
Fig. 3.1 Universals in Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Fig. 3.2 Norms in translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Fig. 3.3 Norm continuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Fig. 3.4 Overview of possible analysis scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Fig. 3.5 Discovery vs. justification procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Fig. 5.1 Corpora used in this research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Fig. 5.2 Basic construction of GCEPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Fig. 5.3 Screenshot of alignment . . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 59
Fig. 5.4 GCEPC-comparable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Fig. 5.5 Sample screenshot of CLAWS POS tagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Fig. 5.6 ICTCLAS POS tagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Fig. 5.7 Alignment system .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 65
Fig. 5.8 Aligned results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Fig. 5.9 Concordancing results of aspect markers in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Fig. 5.10 Loading corpus files for ParaConc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Fig. 6.1 Word length in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Fig. 6.2 Proportions of different word lengths in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Fig. 6.3 Proportions of different word lengths in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Fig. 6.4 Framework for describing the hybridity features in TC . . . .. . . . .. . 83
Fig. 7.1 Major function word categories in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Fig. 7.2 Pronouns in Chinese texts and the English source
equivalents . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . 91
Fig. 7.3 Chinese modal particles in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Fig. 7.4 Modal particle le () in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Fig. 7.5 zheng () in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
xvii
xviii List of Figures

Fig. 7.6 zheng () in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95


Fig. 7.7 zhi () in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Fig. 7.8 zhi () in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Fig. 7.9 zhi () in ACADEMIC-TC 1970s2000s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Fig. 7.10 n + ude1 + v in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fig. 7.11 n + ude1 + v/vn in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Fig. 7.12 N + DE + V constructions in Babel . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 102
Fig. 7.13 N + V constructions in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Fig. 7.14 N + V constructions in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Fig. 8.1 yi + classifier construction in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Fig. 8.2 yi + classifier construction in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Fig. 8.3 numeral / specifier + classifier (mq) in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Fig. 8.4 numeral / specifier + classifier (mq) in ZCTC . . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 115
Fig. 8.5 YI GE () in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Fig. 8.6 YI GE () in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Fig. 8.7 YI GE Collocations in ZCTC (left 1, right 0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Fig. 8.8 YI GE Collocations in LCMC (left 1, right 0) . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . 119
Fig. 8.9 The most important noun classes in English .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. 120
Fig. 8.10 a/ an (AT1) in Babel parallel corpus . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . 122
Fig. 8.11 one (MC1) in Babel parallel corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Fig. 8.12 YI GE in BABEL parallel corpus .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . 124
Fig. 9.1 vx in WordSmith 5.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Fig. 9.2 vx in Xaira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Fig. 9.3 Collocates of jnxng with z-score in Xaira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Fig. 9.4 jnxng with gerund in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Fig. 9.5 jnxng + le in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Fig. 9.6 jnxng + a (adjective) in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Fig. 9.7 jnxng + b (distinguishing words) in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Fig. 9.8 jnxng in translated fictional Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Fig. 9.9 jnxng in Babel corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Fig. 10.1 Normalized frequencies of SHI in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . 159
Fig. 10.2 SHI in LCMC and ZCTC . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Fig. 10.3 Collocations of SHI structures in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Fig. 10.4 Collocations of SHI structures in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Fig. 10.5 SHI + YI GE constructions in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Fig. 10.6 SHI + a. + DE structures in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Fig. 10.7 SHI + a. + DE structures in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Fig. 10.8 SHI in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Fig. 10.9 BE in the online BNC .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . 168
Fig. 10.10 is in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Fig. 10.11 SHI. . .DE structure in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Fig. 10.12 is + ADJ/ADJ Phrase structure in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
List of Figures xix

Fig. 11.1 classical zhi () in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178


Fig. 11.2 classical zhi () in ZCTC . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 178
Fig. 11.3 NP + zhi + VP in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Fig. 11.4 NP + zhi + VP in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Fig. 11.5 NP + DE + VP in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Fig. 11.6 NP + DE + VP in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Fig. 11.7 zhi () in Babel .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . 181
Fig. 11.8 zhe () in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Fig. 11.9 zhe () in ZCTC . . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . 182
Fig. 11.10 zhe () as NOM in Babel . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . 183
Fig. 11.11 ruguo () in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Fig. 11.12 if clauses and phrases in BNC (sample) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 188
Fig. 11.13 if clause in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Fig. 11.14 ruguo + shuo () in Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Fig. 12.1 Three-phase comparative analysis (TPCA) of Jantunen
(2004) .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . 198
ThiS is a FM Blank Page
List of Tables

Table 3.1 Comparison between CTS and CL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23


Table 4.1 Anglicised features in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Table 5.1 Babel parallel corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Table 5.2 GCEPC-fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Table 5.3 GCEPC-non-fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Table 5.4 MECPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Table 5.5 The genres covered in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Table 5.6 Fiction comparable corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Table 5.7 Nonfiction comparable corpus . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 61
Table 5.8 MCCC-ACADEMIC-TC . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 62
Table 5.9 MCCC-ACADEMIC-NTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 6.1 Basic data about the Babel corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Table 6.2 GCEPC-fiction (E-C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 79
Table 6.3 GCEPC non-fiction (E-C) .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . 79
Table 6.4 GCEPC-FictCom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Table 6.5 GCEPC-NonFictCom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Table 6.6 MCCC-ACADEMIC-TC . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 80
Table 6.7 MCCC-ACADEMIC-NTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Table 6.8 LCMC vs. ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Table 6.9 Linguistic features in LCMC & ZCTC and statistical data . . . . . 84
Table 7.1 zhi () in LCMC . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . 97
Table 7.2 zhi () in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Table 7.3 English nouns and Chinese translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Table 7.4 English nouns and Chinese translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Table 8.1 Types of Classifiers .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . 110
Table 8.2 Classifiers in LCMC and ZCTC . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . 113
Table 8.3 YI GE collocation in LCMC and ZCTC
(left:0; right:2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
xxi
xxii List of Tables

Table 8.4 YI GE collocation in LCMC and ZCTC


(left:0; right:1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Table 8.5 Noncount nouns . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . 121
Table 8.6 BNC word list . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . 121
Table 8.7 YI GE and its English Originals in the Babel Corpus . . . . . . . . . 124
Table 8.8 The noun phrase typology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Table 9.1 vx in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Table 9.2 Collocations of jnxng in LCMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Table 9.3 Collocations of jnxng in ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Table 9.4 jnxng in MCCC-ACADEMIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Table 10.1 SHI in LCMC and ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Table 10.2 SHI in non-lit. & lit of LCMC and ZCTC . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . 159
Table 10.3 Collocations of SHI structures in LCMC & ZCTC . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Table 10.4 SHI + Yi GE collocations (left0: right5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Table 10.5 BE in CLAWS TAGSET C8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Table 10.6 BE and its frequency in BNC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
List of Abbreviations

ANN Artificial Neural Network


BNC British National Corpus
BP back propagation
CL Corpus Linguistics
CLF classifier
CLAWS Constituent Likelihood Automatic Word-tagging System
CLS Contrastive Language Studies
CTS Corpus Translation Studies
DTS Descriptive Translation Studies
DUR durative aspect marker (-zhe, zai)
EXP experiential aspect marker (-guo)
IA Iterative Algorithm
ICTCLAS Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Lexical Analysis System
LCMC Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese
MWC modern written Chinese
NOM nominalizing suffix
NTC non-translated Chinese
PFV perfective aspect marker (-le)
PL plural (-men, -xie)
RM reformulation markers
SL source language
ST source text
TC translated Chinese
TEC Translational English Corpus
TL target language
TTR type/token ratio
3sg third person singular pronoun
TS Translation Studies
TT target text
TU Translation Universal

xxiii
xxiv List of Abbreviations

MCCC Macau Comparable Chinese Corpus


MECPC Macau English-Chinese Parallel Corpus
Xaira XML Aware Indexing and Retrieval Architecture
ZCTC ZJU Corpus of Translational Chinese

You might also like