Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the increasing international influence of China in various aspects and the widespread cultural influence worldwide. An increasing number of experts and scholars have devoted themselves to spreading Chinese culture, especially traditional Chinese culture and the values it holds. The Analects, embodying Confucianism, is a representative in conveying those values, which has attracted various translations and related researches. However, researches on translation strategies of figures of speech are still meager; some significant figures, such as litotes, are unduly neglected. 

This thesis aims at investigating translation strategies of litotes (an affirmative expressed by the negation of its opposite) in The Analects. Specifically, there are two research questions: 1. What are the major functions of litotes in The Analects of Confucius? 2. How to translate different types of litotes so as to best contain and convey their rhetorical effects? Based on the justified definition, classification and function of litotes, the author has examined 17 typical examples taken from 3 English translation versions of The Analects of Confucius by Ku Hungming, Arthur Walry, and James Legge. Upon the sample analyses, the author reaches the conclusions that litotes in The Analects usually take the form of double negation, and have different functions, mainly for emphasis, for accuracy, or for politeness; and that litotes for emphasis may be translated both in the form of double negation or simply a positive form, the former better preserving the original feature, whereas for litotes with other functions, especially for discretion, the translation most often preserves the form of double negation. This thesis is a tentative research on English litotes, where more attention and efforts are needed to make a further study.

Key Words: The Analects of Confucius, litotes, translation strategy

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Significance of the study-1

1.2 Objective of the study-2

1.3 Organization of the thesis-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-4

2.1 The importance of The Analects in China-4

2.1.1The importance of The Analects in philosophy-4

2.1.2 The importance of The Analects in education.-4

2.2 The translation of The Analects of Confucius-5

2.2.1 Comparative study on different versions of translation-5

2.2.2 Evaluation of one single English version-6

2.2.3 Discussions on different translation strategies-7

2.3 The rhetorical devices in The Analects-7

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework-10

3.1 Definition of litotes-10

3.2 Classification of litotes-10

3.2.1 Classification of litotes by Xu Peng-11

3.2.2 Classification of litotes by Huang Hengtian-11

3.2.3 Revised classification-12

3.3 Function of litotes-13

Chapter Four Analysis of Litotes Translation in The Analects-15

4.1 Translation of litotes with the function of emphasis-15

4.2 Translation of litotes with the function of politeness-19

4.3 Translation of litotes with the function of accuracy-21

4.4 Translation of litotes with the against-expectation function-24

Chapter Five Conclusions-26

5.1 Major Findings-26

5.2 Limitations and suggestions-26

References-28

文献综述报告-31