Choice in Translation: Metafunctional Considerations
Theoretical Explorations in Translation Studies - Readings Empowered by Systemic Functional Linguistics - Bo Wang
Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen [+]
University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Beijing
Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen is a Swedish-born linguist and a leading figure in the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) school, having authored or co-authored more than 160 books, refereed journal articles, and papers in refereed conference proceedings, with contributions to three television programs. He is currently Distinguished Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of International Business and Economics,
Beijing, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, in the School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Guest Professor at Beijing Science and Technology University, and Honorary Professor at the Australian National University. Before this, he was Chair Professor, Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Professor in the Linguistics Department of Macquarie University. Professor Matthiessen has worked in areas as diverse as language typology, linguistics and computing, grammatical descriptions of various languages, grammar and discourse, healthcare communication studies, functional grammar for English-language teachers, text analysis and translation, multisemiotic studies, and the evolution of language. He has supervised over 40 research students.
Description
“Choice in Translation”, focuses on the spectrum of metafunction – one of the six dimensions within the environments of translation. Matthiessen offers his attempt of studying translation in terms of the metafunctional modes of meaning, locating translation equivalence and translation shift as two opposite poles on a cline of difference between languages, defining translation as the recreation of meaning in context through choice. Different types of metafunctional translation shifts are then summarized and illustrated in this chapter.