功能语言学

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课程名称：功能语言学与语言教学

综述(论文)名称：从语法隐喻中及物性过程变异角度对比分析

宋词《江城子》两种英译本

Contrastive Analysis of Two Translations of Song Ci Jiang Chengzi--- from the Perspective of Variation of Transitivity Process in Grammatical Metaphor

研究生姓名：唐子茜 年级：13级 学号：13200063 （研究生院网页可查询） 学科专业： 外国语言学及应用语言学

培养类别： 科研型、 临床医学（专业学位）、 其它： （此栏 医科研究生 打√或填写）

培养院系：外国语学院

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从语法隐喻中及物性过程变异角度对比分析的宋词《江城子》两种英译本

Contrastive Analysis of Two Translations of Song Ci Jiang Chengzi--- from the Perspective of Variation of Transitivity Process in Grammatical Metaphor

摘要：苏轼作为豪放派的的杰出代表，其诗词向来以豁达豪放著称，然而，他的柔情婉约也同样至真至笃，其中，他为亡妻王弗而作的悼亡词《江城子》已成为千古佳句。这首词广为流传的同时也引发了学术界的诸多研究和探讨，大多数学者从其音韵美，意境美方面来研究或赏析。本文将从一个崭新的角度来分析这首词的两个译本----即语法隐喻角度。着重对比研究该词两个译本语法隐喻中及物性过程的转换。

隐喻是日常交流中最为常见的语言现象之一。语言学界对隐喻的定义是：“将一个词从其本意转换为一般不能换用但却相似的另一个词，强调其认同，但不是明喻”（Larham, 1991:100）。韩礼德率先提出语法隐喻的概念，他认为“语法隐喻本质上是语法形式的变异，尽管当中也涉及词汇形式的变异”（1994:342）。语法隐喻是系统功能语法的重要组成部分,是从小句向语篇过渡的核心环节。语法隐喻引发及物性过程的变异，从而影响着经验现实的构建。 关键字：《江城子》；语法隐喻；及物性过程

Abstract：As the most brilliant representatives of the unconstrained school, Su shi is known for his open-minded and vigorous style in his poetry and Ci. Nevertheless, his emotional tenderness and subtleness reflected in the poetry is also greatly appreciated. Among the numerous classics of his masterpieces, the most valued one is Jiang Chengzi which is in essence an elegy in memory of his dead wife Wang Fu. Having been widely circulated among the public, this Ci initiated a fair cascade of researches

and discussion amid the academic world. While most scholars conducted researches on its rhythm beauty and poetic imagery beauty, this thesis will analyze the two authorized English version from a brand new perspective---the perspective of grammatical metaphor, focusing on the transference of transitivity processes in the two translations.

Metaphor is one of the most pervasive linguistic phenomena in our daily communication. The widely acknowledged definition of metaphor among linguists is: “replacing a word with another which is similar but not equivalent in meaning, stressing their identity instead of simile” (Larham, 1991:100). Being the first linguist that proposed the notion of grammatical metaphor, Halliday reckoned that “we find there is such a thing as grammatical metaphor, where the variation is essentially in the grammatical forms although often entailing some lexical variation as well”(1994:342). Grammatical metaphor is one of the most significant components of systemic functional grammar, which plays a central role in transiting clauses to discourses. It triggers transference of processes in the transitivity system thus effecting the construing of experiential facts.

Key words: Jiang Chengzi; grammatical metaphor; transitivity processes

1. Introduction

Song Ci dates from Tang Dynasty, setting its stereotype during the Five Dynasties in ancient China and thriving in Song Dynasty. As one of the gems of Chinese culture, Song Ci has enjoyed high reputation in Chinese history. The most glamorous star of Ci poet in North Song Dynasty is Su Shi, who outstands as one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasty. Known for his unconstrained style of writing though he is, he also achieved marvelous attainment in constrained works of Ci. Jiang Chengzi, which is an elegy written for his deceased wife Wang Fu ten years after her death, spreads through ages and is universally praised. With the keynote of sadness and dreariness, this piece of Ci can be roughly divided into two parts. The first section depicts the poet‟s misery of lovesickness for his wife and the upheavals of official career he went through during the past ten years; while the second part switches to the

image of dreaming in which he meets his wife. The ingenious combination of virtuality and reality between the lines adds to the artistic appeal of this Ci.

The study of metaphor originates in the ancient Greece more than two thousand years ago. Ever since the time of Aristotle, academia from various fields has conducted researches on this subject from different perspectives. Fruitful results have been reaped through the efforts of philosophers, cognitive psychologists, and linguists. Halliday‟ s theory of grammatical metaphor marks as the milestone as he was the first one to propose this brand new notion. According to his systemic-functional grammar theory, language has three metafunctions, namely, the ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual function. Based on this theoretical frame, however, he only recognised ideational grammatical metaphor, and interpersonal grammatical metaphor, excluding textual grammatical metaphor because he regarded the textual as “a metafunctional component to language to which there is no corresponding function in the sense of „use‟, it is not a way of using language, but rather a resource for ensuring that what is said is relevant and relates to its context” (Halliday and Hason, 1978: 45). In contrast, Thompson contended that “ the presence of metaphor can generally be recognised by the need for a double transitivity analysis, one of the original wording and the other of a more congruent rewording; and there are in fact two types of thematic structure which also need a double analysis”(2008:235). Ideational grammatical metaphor can be further divided into experiential grammatical metaphor and logical grammatical metaphor.

This thesis aims to apply the grammatical metaphor theory to the analysis of the Song Ci Jiang Chengzi, laying stress on the variation of transitivity processes appearing in two English translation versions. Hopefully, this research could shed some light on the Chinese-English translation work, especially on the traditional Chinese classics.

2. Theoretical foundation

2.1 Congruent form and Metaphorical form

Quoted from Halliday, “A congruent expression is one in which this direct line of form to meaning to experience is maintained intact, as it is in young children‟s

language like man clean car. A metaphorical expression is one in which the line is indiretct”(1994: F45 ). To put it in another way, the concept of “congruent means the pattern of relationships between the semantics and the grammar in which the two strata initially co-evolved”(1996: section 9). Here the “two strata” is not plainly clarified. Yet the proposition that language is a multi-level system is the most critical clue to elaborate the term “congruent”. In the light of this idea, linguistic system is composed of three strata: semantic (the meaning), lexicogrammatical( the wording), and phonology(the sound). The relation between the levels is realization of transferring one level to another. In other words, the choice of “meaning”(the semantic level) is realized by the choice of “form”(the lexicogrammatical level); the choice of “form” is in turn realized by “substance”(the phonological level). That accounts for why we call language as a multiply coded system. And the process involves free variations. One meaning can be realized by several different forms at the lexicogrammatical level and one form can realize several different semantic meanings. Therefore,the division at the lexicogrammatical level reflects the delicate meanings at the semantic level(Hu Zhuanglin et al, 1989: 15-16).

Most commonly, the realizations of semantic and lexicogrammatical strata are shown by the following table: rank Sequence of figure figure Element of figure Types process process of participants circumstance Semantic Realized by clause complex clause Group/phrase Verbal group Nominal group Adverbial or lexicogrammatical prepositional phrases or conjunction (Halliday, 2007: 55)

One meaning can be realized by different forms, scilicet congruent and metaphorical form. Congruence refers to the natural correspondence between the symbol and the referent. To be more specific, the semantic realization of each variant can be treated congruently:

(a) A clause nexus realizes a sequence, a clause realizes a figure and an element of a clause realizes an element.

(b) The types of element, nominal groups realize participants, verbal groups realize processes and adverbial or prepositional realizes circumstances. ( Halliday, 2007:34)

When it comes to metaphorical form, it usually means that the relationship between semantic and lexicogrammatical level is “unnatural”. For instance, imperatives are congruently utilized to realize demands, while interrogative is called the metaphorical form to express the same meaning. Or circumstance can be incongruently realized by a verbal group instead of the commonly asserted prepositional or adverbial phrases.

2.2 Experiential Grammatical Metaphor

As it is mentioned in the previous chapter, ideational grammatical metaphor consists of experiential grammatical metaphor and logical grammatical metaphor. And it is known to all that experiential function is adopted to talk about either external or internal world, such as things, events, thoughts, emotions and so on. As a core component of experiential metafunction of language, Transitivity is a system assigning different types of participants to different types of processes. In other words, it determines how various participants are labeled in accordance with their types of processes. For example, in the material process, the terminology “Actor” “Goal” is involved. According to Halliday, there are six types of processes in transitivity system: material process, relational process, verbal process, behavioral process, existential process, and mental process. When interpreting the clause in its experiential function as the representation of a process, three steps are covered:

(i) Selection of process type: material,mental,relational,behavioral,verbal and existential process realized as:

(ii) Configuration of transitivity functions: Actor, Goal, Sensor, Manner etc.

Representing the process, its participants, and any circumstantial elements; realized in turn as:

(iii) Sequence of group/phrase classes: verbal group, nominal group, adverbial group, prepositional phrase, and their various subclasses.

Halliday deemed that a systemic relationship do exist among the three steps so that for any selection in meaning there will be a natural sequence of steps leading towards its realization. This kind of relation can be shown as:

Process types transitivity group/phrase sequence

It is fair to say that transference from one process to another is one of the most typical grammatical metaphors. Here is an example for illustrating this opinion. In place of saying “John witnessed the car accident”, we can also present it as “the car accident caught John‟s eyes”. The transitivity analysis of these two expressions is shown in the table below: John Sensor The car accident Actor

As is exemplified above, if we want to emphasize what John saw, we choose (i) as a mental process realized by (ii) a structure of Sensor+process+Phenomenon, which is further realized as nominal group+verbal group+nominal group. While supposing that we are focusing on the event occurred, we would probably prefer (i) to be a material process realized by (ii) a pattern of Actor+process+Goal, also presenting as nominal group+verbal group+nominal group, whereas the former pattern is considered as the “congruent” form.

3. Specific analysis of the transference of transitivity process of two translations of Jiang Chengzi

This thesis select the translation from Xu Yuanchong(许渊冲) (2004) and Weng Xianliang（翁显良）(1985) as the sample of conducting the analysis. In compliance

witnessed Process: mental caught Process :material the car accident Phenomenon John‟s eyes Goal with the concept of rank in systemic-functional grammar, the original text of Jiang Chengzi can be divided into 8 clauses, which are marked as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Thus, the two versions of translation are correspondingly labeled 1x,2x,3x......1w,2w,3w, etc.

The original Chinese version:

江城子

乙卯正月二十日夜记梦 十年生死两茫茫。不思量，自难忘。

千里孤坟，无处话凄凉。 纵使相逢应不识，尘满面，鬓如霜。

夜来幽梦忽还乡。 小轩窗，正梳妆。 相顾无言，惟有泪千行。 料得年年肠断处，明月夜，短松冈。

Xu‟s version:

Tune：“A Riverside Town” Dreaming of My Deceased Wife

On the Night of the 20th Day of the 1st Month

For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought． Though to my mind not brought， Could the dead be forgot?

Her lonely grave is far，a thousand miles away． To whom can I my grief convey?

Revived，e’en if she be，could she know me? My face is worn with care And frosted is my hair.

Last night I dreamed of coming to my native place; She‟s making up her face before her mirror with grace． Each saw the other hushed，

But from our eyes tears gushed．

When I am woken，I fancy her heart-broken Each night when the moon shines, O‟er her grave clad with pines．

Weng‟s version:

A Night to Weep

Ten long years parted, each in a world inaccessible to the other. Never thinking, never forgetting. Nowhere to pour out my grief: your grave, your lonely grave is so far away. Should we meet now, you would be startled at the sight of a stranger so weary, besmirched and grey.

Tonight of all nights, wandering into the dark beyond, I came unexpectedly upon our old home. There you were, at your dressing- table. Long long I stood outside the window, silent, my eyes streaming with tears. Be it the same every year: A night to weep, when a waning moon comes atop the pines. 1: 十年 生死 两茫茫。（关系过程） 环境成分 载体 过程

1x: For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought．(心理过程) Circumstance Sensor process:mental

1w: Ten long years parted, each ( is ) in a world inaccessible to the other.(关系过程) Circumstance carrier process: relational

In translating this clause, Xu adopts a process type different from the original version, whereas Weng‟s version identifies with the original one since the process he presented is also relational. Although the two translators employ distinct translation strategies, it is beyond any doubt that grammatical metaphors do exist in both of their translations. Xu‟s translation is featured with the transference of transitivity process type for an effect of conciseness and rhythm.，while Weng avoids the more conventional pattern of “each cannot get access to the other” which is thought to be the congruent form to be more readable.

2: 不思量，自难忘。（心理过程） 过程

2x: Though to my mind not brought，(行为过程)

Behavioral

could the dead be forgot? (心理过程) mental

2w: Never thinking, never forgetting.（心理过程） mental

As is exemplified above, both of the translations are in accord with the original one in terms of process type. However, Xu mingles the Behavioral process into the translation, which hints that the poet‟s thought about his wife is natural and unintentional rather than deliberate. While Weng‟s version conveys that it is the poet who takes the initiative to “think” but finds it is hard to “forget”. The difference of literal meaning is slight. Yet the experience they construe is far apart. 3: 千里孤坟，无处 话 凄凉。（言语过程）

话语

3x: Her lonely grave is far，a thousand miles away．(关系过程)

relational

To whom can I my grief convey?(言语过程)

verbal 3w: Nowhere to pour out my grief: your grave, (物质过程)

material

your lonely grave is so far away.(关系过程)

relational

The process type of this clause in the source text is obviously verbal.

Nevertheless, both of the translations merge two types of processes and share the relational process. The difference lies in how the “grief” is presented. Xu chooses a verbal process, with the verb“convey” as the mark. While Weng treats it as an entity which can “pour out”. But both of the translations are grammatical metaphor because

the word “话” can be most congruently expressed as “say” or “talk about”. 4: 纵使相逢应不识，尘满面，鬓如霜。（物质过程；心理过程） 过程 过程

4x: Revived，e’en if she be，could she know me? (关系过程；心理过程)

Attribute Carrier relational Sensor mental Phenomenon

My face is worn with care. (关系过程)

Carrier

relational Attribute

And frosted is my hair. （关系过程）

Attribute Relational Carrier

4w: Should we meet now, (物质过程)

Actor material

you would be startled at the sight of a stranger so weary, （心理过程）

Sensor mental Phenomenon

besmirched and grey.

It requires least effort to spot that the original version 4 is highly elliptical, as it omits the subject of the mental process of “识”, which in essence refers to the author‟s wife. And the change of subject in the latter part of this clause from his wife to himself is also latent without any clue. Therefore, in both of the two translations, the concealed subjects are filled up for the readers‟ convenience. On the other hand, in translation of the first clause, 4x transfers the subject “she” from Carrier in a relational process to Sensor in a mental process, while 4w remains the same pattern of material process as the original text does. In the latter clauses, 4x continues the relational process while 4w uses the adjectives instead of a verb to depict the poet‟s state of dreariness.

5: 夜 来 幽梦 忽 还 乡。(物质过程) 过程 动作者 过程 目标

5x: Last night I dreamed of coming to my native place;(心理过程；物质过程) Sensor(Actor) mental material

5w: Tonight of all nights, wandering into the dark beyond, I came unexpectedly upon

material material

our old home.（物质过程）

In Xu‟s translation, the subject “I” is simultaneously treated as Sensor in the

mental process and as “Actor” in the material process, while in the source text, dream is designed to be the “Actor”. Coincided with the original text, Weng‟s version adopts two material processes, yet what makes it distinct is that the “Actor” in both of the two material processes refers to the poet himself which is labeled by the first person pronoun “I”. While there are two “Actors” or subjects for the two processes respectively in the original text, that is to say, the dream performs the action of coming, and “I” conduct the behavioral of going back home. Literally, it can be safely concluded that Weng‟s translation is less congruent than Xu‟s though it is more inclined to identify with the original in terms of transitivity process due to its characteristic of refined and genteel wording. 6: 小轩窗，正 梳妆。(物质过程)

过程

6x: She‟s making up her face (物质过程) Actor material

before her mirror with grace．

6w: There you were, at your dressing- table. （存在过程）

Existent Existential

Compared with other clauses, this one is noted by its conciseness and monotony of process type. Both of the two translators prefer an inverted order of clause alignment; nevertheless, they differ in the choice of process type as well as the person. Xu‟s work is in accordance with the original text in that it also applies material process, endowing the implicit subject with the third person pronoun “she”. While Weng‟s version is marked with the transference from material process to existential process, naming the existent the second person pronoun“you”. Therefore, it is undisputed that 6w is more remarkable of using grammatical metaphor, which

demands more effort of deconstructing but is eye-catching.

7: 相顾 无 言，惟 有 泪千行。（心理过程；言语过程；存在过程) 过程 过程 过程 存在者

7x: Each saw the other hushed，(心理过程；物质过程) Sensor mental Phenomenon/Actor material But from our eyes tears gushed．(物质过程) Range

Actor material

7w: Long long I stood outside the window, silent,(物质过程) Actor material Range my eyes streaming with tears. (物质过程) Actor material

In the original text, three process types are involved. 7x is consistent with 7 in recognizing it as mental process with “each” as the Sensor and “the other hushed” as Phenomenon. Nonetheless, in 7x, the transference of material process at the latter part adds another identity of “Actor” to “the other”. In order to achieve the poetic effect of rhyming, another material process comes to use in the second clause. (i.e hushed &gushed). While in 7w, neither verbal or existential process appears, since the mental process of “相顾” is taken place by the material process “stood” and the verbal process “无言” is rendered with an adjective “silent”. Yet the two translators share the practice of changing from existential process in the original text to the material process in their translation, vividly visualizing the static state into an motional one . 8 ：料得 年年 肠 断 处，明月夜，短松冈。（心理过程；物质过程） 过程 动作者 过程

8x: When I am woken，I fancy her heart- broken (心理过程；物质过程) Sensor mental mental Actor material Each night when the moon shines, (物质过程) material

O‟er her grave clad with pines．(物质过程) material

8w: Be it the same every year: A night to weep, (关系过程；行为过程)

relational Carrier Attribute behavioral when a waning moon comes atop the pines. (物质过程)

material Range

At the first sight, it is easy to draw hasty conclusion that 8x complies to the original text more closely, owing to the types of process they present. However, this is far from the whole truth , since the Actor of the process “断” refers to “肠” and “heart” correspondingly. On the other hand, the original text does not get any process involved because there‟s no verb but nominal phrase. While in both of the translations, material process is put to use, which is a definite exemplification of variation of transitivity process in grammatical metaphor. Furthermore, 8w even leads its way farther from being congruent by inverting the position of Carrier and the verb in relational process with a coordinate clause marked by behavioral process followed.

4. Conclusion

In summary, based on the analysis manifested above, a clearer definition of grammatical metaphor is brought within sight: Grammatical metaphor is an incongruent realization of meanings involving transference of grammatical units from one domain to another, either from a basic domain to a subdomain, or from a subdomain to another subdomain (Fan Wengfang, 2001: 33). According to previous study in this field, the classification of grammatical metaphor mainly falls into three types: ideational, interpersonal and textual grammatical metaphor, whereas ideational grammatical metaphor can further split into experiential and logical grammatical metaphor. The realization of experiential grammatical metaphor is principally demonstrated by the transference of process in the transitivity system, which is what this thesis lays stress on. In the transference of process, the functional roles of participant, process type and circumstance elements vary correspondingly in lexicogrammatical form so that different effect of grammatical metaphor is achieved. Along with the change of forms of expressions and situational cultural context, different semantic meaning is delivered at the same time.

It is notable that variation of transitivity process is ubiquitous prevailing, especially in the translation of Chinese classical literature. Apart from attaining different artistic effect of translation, this variation is also of key importance to construing or reconstructing different experience in the real world. Nevertheless, it is by no means justified to assert whether the congruent or incongruent version of translation keeps the weather. Huang Guowen alleged that the optimal translation should be endowed with a fully transmitted artistic conception contained by the source text, in addition to the literal meaning (Huang, 2004). Grammatical metaphor provides us with a unique perspective of deciphering the unconventional code of language.

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