Abstract

Sheng-Sheng-Man is one of the representative works of Chinese ancient literature. Its unique literary value attracts various scholars from home and abroad, and it has been translated abundantly these decades. Correspondingly, an analysis of its English-translated versions has been a hot topic in the field of translation.
This thesis aims to study the linguistic features of four English-translated versions of Sheng-Sheng-Man from the perspective of relevance theory. Relevance theory, also known as a cognitive theory, has been seen as an effective theory for the study of poetry translation. The thesis looks closely into how inference, optimal relevance and context of relevance theory are applied to further interpret the four versions and how relevance theory functions on translation analysis.

Key Words: relevance theory; Sheng-Sheng-Man; context; optimal relevance

摘　要

《声声慢》是中国古典文学的精粹之一，它独特的文学价值得到了许多国内外学者的关注。近几十年来，它更是译本跌出。而与之对应的是，对其译本的分析已逐渐成为翻译领域的一个热点。
本文从关联理论的角度研究《声声慢》四种英译文本的语言特征和关联性。通过关联理论的应用，我们从推理、最佳关联性和语境三个方面深入解读《声声慢》译本，并考察关联理论如何在翻译分析中发挥作用。

关键词：关联理论；声声慢；语境；最佳关联性

1. Introduction
Translation is a process of studying comprehension and expression of language. It is a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic ostensive-inferential communication. Nowadays, translation of the poetry has become an open field for criticism. Recently, analysis on English versions of Chinese poetry from the perspective of relevance theory has been a hot topic. The special rhyme and deep artistic conception in Sheng-Sheng-Man have aroused numerous readers’ affection. Therefore, many translators, at home and abroad, have put great efforts on translating it in various languages. Naturally, comparisons of its English-translated versions have been frequently studied in the translation circle. Relevance theory, which is a relatively new theory produced in these decades, has provided a good way to analyze the versions of poetry.