Translation of Discourse Marker Okay from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory

Abstract

Films are mainly comprised of dialogues in which discourse markers are commonly used to structure the interaction. The use of discourse markers in fabricated text can increase the naturalness of language. In order to recreate the naturalness and orality of the fictional dialogues, due attention should be paid to the translation of discourse markers. This paper takes the discourse marker Okay as an example and gives an analysis of the translation of the discourse marker Okay from the four angels of Adaptation Theory, including contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, the dynamics of adaptability and the salience of the adaptation processes. Based on the analysis of the translation of Okay, it can be seen that in the process of choice-making, the translator makes dynamic adaptation with different degrees of salience to both the context and the structure so as to make appropriate choices and achieve successful language communication.