Abstract:In the process of Chinese-English translation, the translation of the proverbs is inevitable. This paper aims to study the English translation of Chinese proverbs from the perspective of Speech Act Theory----one of the core theories of pragmatics. Through reading the works of speech act theory and its applications, the author introduces Austin’s speech act theory and Searle’s further development of this theory, that emphasize performing acts with words, and focus on the illocutionary act to study and classify speech. These are proved to be very instructive to translation practice. This paper mainly explores the application of speech act theory in Chinese proverbs translation by using specific examples based on the classification of illocutionary acts in speech act theory. The study finds that, according to speech act theory, the basic unit of language communication is not a statement, but a speech act. Therefore, in the translation, the translator cannot be satisfied with the simple conversion of the original text, but should take into account the literal meaning, the subjective intention and the expectation of the impact of the speaker, and also into account these three speech acts performed by the speaker while speaking at the same time, so as to ensure that the translation and the original text have pragmatic equivalent effect and the translation process is more scientific.

Key Words: Speech Act Theory, Proverb Translation, Illocutionary Act

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One  Introduction-1

Chapter Two  Speech Act Theory and Chinese Proverbs Translation-3

2.1 Theoretical Illustration-3

  2.1.1 Austin's Speech Act Theory-3

  2.1.2 Searle's Development of Speech Act Theory-4

2.2 Speech Act Theory and Chinese Proverbs Translation-5

  2.2.1 Representatives and Chinese Proverbs Translation-6

  2.2.2 Directives and Chinese Proverbs Translation-7

  2.2.3 Commissives and Chinese Proverbs Translation-8

  2.2.4 Expressives and Chinese Proverbs Translation-9

  2.2.5 Declarations and Chinese Proverbs Translation-11

Chapter Three  Analysis of Findings-12

3.1 Main Findings-12

3.2 Implications to Translation-13

3.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research-14

Chapter Four  Conclusion-16

Bibliography-17

Acknowledgements-19