Formal shifts in English‐Chinese translation

Abstract

Abstract There are two types of formal shifts in English‐Chinese translation: (a) shifts within the same rank and (b) shifts across ranks. This study of translation shifts is based upon the scale of ranks in systemic‐functional grammar as expounded by Catford (1965). Its purpose is to find out major types of formal shifts in English‐Chinese translation. Attempts to set up governing principles on shifts in word classes at the rank of ‐word yield few convincing results, because Chinese words are less formally distinctive than English words. Accordingly, in this article, shifts in word classes are studied at a higher rank. The ranks of phrase and clause provide deeper insights into the mechanisms of English‐Chinese translation. In Chinese, subject‐predicate phrases and verb phrases are not formally distinctive rom clauses. The distinction between a phrase and a clause is only a matter of placement. This simple nature of Chinese determines the unique role of the phrase in the structuring process of the Chines...