Abstract
This study explores English translations of the Tao Te Ching in terms of interlingual realization, a systemic functional perspective on translation involving two sub-processes: de-realization and re-realization. In this model, the translator first de-realizes the source text from source language phonology/graphology to context, finding the intersection of the source language context and the target language context, and then re-realizes it into target text from the target language context to target language phonology/graphology. Two dimensions are to be considered in interlingual realization—stratification and rank. The source text can be re-realized by translation equivalence and translation shift at any stratum or rank of the target language in the target text, where typically translation equivalence at a higher level stratum or rank is valued higher than equivalence at a lower level.
Highlights
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a theory of multiple hierarchical and complementary relations, where realization, instantiation and individuation are theoretical resources of exploring language patterns (Martin & Wang, 2008).Realization is a scale of abstraction, where each stratum gets recorded as another
The source text can be re-realized by translation equivalence and translation shift at any stratum or rank of the target language in the target text, where typically translation equivalence at a higher level stratum or rank is valued higher than equivalence at a lower level
This paper proposed interlingual realization, a new systemic functional perspective on translation, involves de-realization and re-realization, meaning that in the translation activity, translators experience the process of moving from source language (SL) phonology/graphology to SL context, finding the intersection of the SL context and the target language (TL) context, and moving from TL context to TL phonology/graphology
Summary
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a theory of multiple hierarchical and complementary relations, where realization, instantiation and individuation are theoretical resources of exploring language patterns (Martin & Wang, 2008).Realization is a scale of abstraction, where each stratum gets recorded as another. It consists of two types, namely, realization between strata and realization within stratum. Realization is a bi-directional dialectical relation (Hasan, 1995): a top-down relation of determination or activating, which is a sort of probabilistic meaning and a bottom-up relation of construal Stratification of this kind involves metaredundancy: genre is a pattern of register patterns, which are in turn patterns of discourse semantics patterns and so on (Martin, 2009). If meaning is a function in context, equivalence of meaning is equivalence of function in context (Halliday, 1992, p. 16); he proposed the systemic functional typology of equivalence according to three vectors of stratification, metafunction and rank, pointing out that different strata, metafunctions and ranks may carry different values in each instance of translation, for example, in the aspects of stratification, context equivalence is valued the most highly (Halliday, 2001). Matthiessen (2001) and Steiner (2001, 2005) involved the hierarchy of instantiation and proposed the instantiation-stratification matrix, regarding translation as the reconstrual of meaning and considering that translation should seek for metafunction and context equivalence
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