Abstract

Kinship as a part of the culture is a common cultural phenomenon. Chinese kinship system is abnormally complex, while English system is rather simple. Besides, Hongloumeng involves many complex characters which are known as the microcosm of social interpersonal communication, making the translated version more difficult to understand. This paper makes a comparison of the renderings of relative deixis in A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang and those in The Story of the Stone by Hawkes, then explores how to achieve the equivalence in referential meanings, pragmatic meaning and style in the light of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. The study finds that Nida’s functional equivalence theory can provide effective guidance for the translation of relative deixis.

Key words:  relative deixis  Hongloumeng  functional equivalence  translation

摘要

亲属称谓作为文化的一部分，是一种常见的文化现象。中文亲属称谓系统异常庞杂，英语称谓体系简单，而《红楼梦》涉及人物众多，人物关系复杂，被称为当时社会人际交往的缩影，在对外翻译中更是难以理解。本文以尤金·奈达的功能对等理论为指导，通过对杨译本和霍译本的比较，探究这两个译本在亲属称谓词的英译中在指称意义，语用意义和作品风格方面是如何实现对等的。本研究发现，功能对等理论对亲属称谓词的翻译具有重要的指导意义。

关键词:亲属称谓语；《红楼梦》；功能对等；翻译

Chapter One Introduction
It is said that there are 1712 Kinship terms in Hongloumeng, among which honorifics are up to 586, accounting for 34.2% of the total and then followed by 345 pet names, 111 derogatory terms and 85 humble names. Undoubtedly, those appellations play a significant part for receptors to distinguish relations among the characters. Through the comparison we can find that Chinese kinship system is more complicated than that in English. As a result, it is hard for foreigners to understand those appellations accurately. There are several translated versions in which these appellations are either literally or liberally translated without the guidance of Nida’s functional equivalence.