Abstract
Dialect, when used with standard language in novels, creates a voice of difference for characters with a specific social or geographical origination. This different voice is often hybrid with various sub-voices in textual representation for nuanced characterization. The sub-voices are created with the use of different dialect features, and variations in frequency of dialect use. While previous studies have focused mainly on qualitative analysis of linguistic features used in dialect translation, only limited attention has been given to the issue of frequency in dialect translation and the hybridity of the dialectal voice. This article focuses on examining how frequency variation in dialect representation has been handled in translation with a case study of three Chinese translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. It proposes a quantitative method, the frequency variation measure, designed for comparative studies of dialect variations in frequency in source texts and their translations. The case study shows that the translators have relied on variations in frequency of dialect use for desired effects, and the variation patterns in frequency in the ST are often changed and even reversed in the translations to re-characterize the heroine Tess and change the nature of the tragedy. The proposed method makes it possible to examine the intra-textual variations in dialect representation of literary texts and translations, and shed new light on how a dialectal voice and its various sub-voices are created in a (translated) text.
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Notes
“Patterns” here refer to nonstandard markers such as phonetic, lexical, syntactic and grammatical deviations in a specific dialect.
Dialect features include dialectal lexis, phonetic or grammatical deviations, nonstandard syntax or dialectal slangs used in dialect representation in fiction.
There are six translations of TESS that attempt to translate the Dorset dialect in the ST. The other three use a low register colloquial variety to translate it.
Although some researchers claimed that Shandong dialect, a specific regional dialect, was used in Zhang’s 1984 translation (Han 2002), this author agrees with Zhu et al. (2007, 89) that the markers in this translation do not point to the specific location of Shandong, but rather to the characters’ social status as rural peasants. Zhang did, however, used Shandong dialect in his 1936 translation of TESS. The 1984 translation by Zhang was his fourth translation of the novel. Zhang’s four translations of TESS have been regarded as new translations rather than revisions due to the drastic textual differences and the time spans between them.
The tagging of the ST include features identified as dialectal when the spelling and grammar are marked as deviant from the language norm of Standard British English, for example, "sumf’n" as "something", "Who be you" as "who are you" and "thy" as "you" in standard English. Dialect features in the ST are identified with the help of dialect dictionaries, resource books, and researches on Dorset dialect and Hardy. Dialect features in the TTs include markers such as the first person pronoun俺, which is the first person pronoun « 1/me/my » in northern dialect, and malapropism for the indication of dialectal pronunciation (e.g., to use 顶, which is pronounced as « dǐng » with the meaning of « top » to replace the word 等, which is pronounced as « děng » with the meaning of « to wait » in standard Chinese.
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Yu, J. Various voices in dialect and the frequency issue in the Chinese translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Neohelicon 48, 415–429 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-020-00543-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-020-00543-0