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On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan

Received: 25 March 2022     Accepted: 13 April 2022     Published: 22 April 2022
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Abstract

Sanyan is a collection of classic Chinese vernacular short stories in the Ming Dynasty, in which unique narrative markers are often used to help the development of the story as well as the discourse. In their English translation of Sanyan, Shuihui Yang and Yunqin Yang preserve essential points of the overt narration and overt commentary, so as to outline the storyteller’s efforts to create the simulated context and clearly organize the structure of narrating process. Nonetheless, other insignificant narrative markers are deleted or replaced due to redundancy and conflicts with the English norms, as they are concerned with details of a character or inessential background information. With the usage of first person pronouns and the replacement with deixis, the translators manage to narrow the distance between the narrator and the reader. Hence, the Yangs’ translation not only gives an alien sense of the Chinese vernacular story, but also makes the narrative text more concise and flexible for the target reader.

Published in International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 8, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12
Page(s) 47-53
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

The English Translation of Sanyan, Narrative Markers, Overt Narration, Overt Commentary

References
[1] Chatman, S. B. (1978). Story and Discourse: Narrative structure in fiction and film. London & New York: Routledge, 19, 62, 96, 141, 153, 219, 228, 237.
[2] Feng, M. L. (2000). Stories Old and New: A Ming dynasty collection. S. H. Yang & Y. Q. Yang. (Trans.). Seattle & London: University of Washington Press, 146, 181, 187.
[3] Feng, M. L. (2004a). Illustrious Words to Instruct the World. Beijing: Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, 51, 64, 67.
[4] Feng, M. L. (2004b). Comprehensive Words to Warn the World. Beijing: Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, 71, 83, 187.
[5] Feng, M. L. (2004c). Constant Words to Awaken the World. Beijing: Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, 14, 19.
[6] Feng, M. L. (2005). Stories to Caution the World: A Ming dynasty collection (Vol. 2). S. H. Yang & Y. Q. Yang. (Trans.). Seattle & London: University of Washington Press, 191, 220, 491.
[7] Feng, M. L. (2014). Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming dynasty collection (Vol. 3). S. H. Yang & Y. Q. Yang. (Trans.). Seattle & London: University of Washington Press, 39, 50.
[8] Genette, G. (1980). Narrative Discourse: An essay in method. J. E. Lewin. (Trans). Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 95-96, 186, 244.
[9] Hanan, P. (1967). The Early Chinese Short Story: A critical theory in outline. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 27: 168-207.
[10] Hanan, P. (2014). The Nature of Ling Mengch’u’s Fiction. In A. H. Plaks (Ed.). Chinese Narrative: Critical and theoretical essays. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 87.
[11] Liu, B. Z. (2017). The Study of Narrative Voice. Jiangxi Normal University, 4.
[12] Luo, X. D. (2010). On the Narrative Art of Sanyan and Erpai. Beijing: China Social Science Press, 279-280.
[13] Prince, G. (2003). A Dictionary of Narratology (revised edition). Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 29, 60, 69, 98.
[14] Wang, Y. H. (2020). English Translations of Shuihu Zhuan: A narratological perspective. Singapore: Springer, 55-56, 67, 77.
[15] Yang, S. H. & Y. Q. Yang. (2013). Endnotes and Other Things: Intended audience and translating the Sanyan collections. Translation Quartely, 70: 24-40.
[16] Yang, S. H. & Y. Q. Yang. (2016). On the “Shortcut” of Fulfilling the Faithfulness of Linguistic Style: Taking the English translation of Sanyan collections for instance. Chinese Translators Journal, 38 (3): 101-05.
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  • APA Style

    Ximeng Lang, Xiao Ma. (2022). On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 8(2), 47-53. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12

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    ACS Style

    Ximeng Lang; Xiao Ma. On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2022, 8(2), 47-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12

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    AMA Style

    Ximeng Lang, Xiao Ma. On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2022;8(2):47-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12,
      author = {Ximeng Lang and Xiao Ma},
      title = {On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan},
      journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
      volume = {8},
      number = {2},
      pages = {47-53},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20220802.12},
      abstract = {Sanyan is a collection of classic Chinese vernacular short stories in the Ming Dynasty, in which unique narrative markers are often used to help the development of the story as well as the discourse. In their English translation of Sanyan, Shuihui Yang and Yunqin Yang preserve essential points of the overt narration and overt commentary, so as to outline the storyteller’s efforts to create the simulated context and clearly organize the structure of narrating process. Nonetheless, other insignificant narrative markers are deleted or replaced due to redundancy and conflicts with the English norms, as they are concerned with details of a character or inessential background information. With the usage of first person pronouns and the replacement with deixis, the translators manage to narrow the distance between the narrator and the reader. Hence, the Yangs’ translation not only gives an alien sense of the Chinese vernacular story, but also makes the narrative text more concise and flexible for the target reader.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AU  - Ximeng Lang
    AU  - Xiao Ma
    Y1  - 2022/04/22
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12
    T2  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
    JF  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
    JO  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
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    AB  - Sanyan is a collection of classic Chinese vernacular short stories in the Ming Dynasty, in which unique narrative markers are often used to help the development of the story as well as the discourse. In their English translation of Sanyan, Shuihui Yang and Yunqin Yang preserve essential points of the overt narration and overt commentary, so as to outline the storyteller’s efforts to create the simulated context and clearly organize the structure of narrating process. Nonetheless, other insignificant narrative markers are deleted or replaced due to redundancy and conflicts with the English norms, as they are concerned with details of a character or inessential background information. With the usage of first person pronouns and the replacement with deixis, the translators manage to narrow the distance between the narrator and the reader. Hence, the Yangs’ translation not only gives an alien sense of the Chinese vernacular story, but also makes the narrative text more concise and flexible for the target reader.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Translation and Interpreting Department, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

  • Translation and Interpreting Department, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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