这里分享的也是关于我专著的英文书评，发表在国际知名期刊Languages in Contrast。

Book review Dai (2016).pdf

https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00009.lia

Languages in Contrast 18:2 (2018), pp. 307–310. issn 1387-6759 | e-issn 1569-9897

© John Benjamins Publishing Company

book review

Guangrong Dai, Hybridity in Translated Chinese: A Corpus Analytical Framework. Singapore: Springer, 2016. XXIV+233 pp. ISBN 978-981-10-0741-5

Reviewed by Linxin Liang and Mingwu Xu (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China & The University of Sydney, Australia | Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China)

    Hybridity, a distinctly manifest translation phenomenon, is a common feature of texts that are translated across linguistic and cultural borders – whether as conventional interlingual translation moving from source text (ST) to target text (TT) or as other forms of translation that lack a tangible ST, such as migrant, travel or postcolonial writing (Klinger, 2014: 1). As Guangrong Dai observes, “Hybridity is difficult to avoid in the translation process and it can appear at all linguistic levels” (p. 1). Dai’s new book, Hybridity in Translated Chinese: A Corpus Analytical Framework, is particularly welcome, as it is the first book adopting a corpus-based approach to explore hybridity features in translated Chinese. The book is unique in that the author not only skillfully offers a good description of hybridity features across different linguistic levels, but also successfully sketches out a corpus analysis framework.

    The book consists of 12 chapters, together with three appendices. The following is a chapter-by-chapter overview.

    The introductory chapter begins with a definition of “hybridity in translated language”, briefly describes the background for the research, frames the research questions, and presents the methodology. We also learn about how the research was organized, and about its significance.

    Chapter 2, “Hybridity in Translation Studies”, sets the stage for the book’s particular focus by elaborating on the term “hybridity”, and considering its use in various fields. After reviewing previous research on hybridity in translation, Dai discusses the contextual situations in which hybridity in translation occurs. After highlighting key questions raised about hybridity in translated language, he constructs a corpus analysis framework based on Corpus Translation Studies (CTS) for investigating hybridity features in translated Chinese over different time periods

and in different genres (p. 17).

    In Chapter 3 (“Hybridity within CTS”), the author turns to the development of CTS and discusses its convergence with corpus linguistics. Resorting to comparison, the author views this convergence as a natural development (p. 23). He then reviews previous research on translated language in CTS, as well as the challenges for translation universal (TU) hypotheses given the state of current research in CTS. The chapter closes with a look at hybridization in the translation norm continuum.

    In Chapter 4 (“Hybridity in Anglicized Chinese”), the author introduces the concept of Anglicisms in Modern Written Chinese (MWC) before examining previous research on this topic. He also reviews current research on Anglicized Chinese, using corpus data, offering examples, with a special focus on the impact that Anglicization has had on Chinese language development.

    Chapter 5 (“Corpus Methodology and Design”) discusses the theoretical issues underpinning the research and then introduces the corpora and software used. The corpora comprised several types: parallel and comparable, general and specialized, as well as synchronic and diachronic (p. 55). As for software to support the research, it included a bespoke alignment system designed by the author, XML Aware Indexing and Retrieval Architecture, WordSmith tools and ParaConc. The adoption of a blended design combining the use of different corpora and software reflects the innovative nature of the design for this research.

    Chapter 6, “Native and Translated Chinese: Normality and Hybridity”, describes linguistic norms of native Chinese in some detail, with a few important examples for illustration. This chapter also explores the differences between native and translated Chinese in terms of disyllabic prevalence and a comparison of linguistic features in native and translated Chinese. Dai concludes this chapter by introducing a framework for analyzing hybrid features in translated Chinese.

    In Chapter 7 (“Lexical Features of Hybridity in Translated Chinese”), a brief introduction to lexical features in translated Chinese (including functional words) leads to a lengthy discussion about word-formation features in translated Chinese, with particular focus on suffixes and morphological transformation. The author also devotes attention to “DV constructions” and thus deals with N+DE+V construction and N+V construction, before considering reasons for the prevalence of “DV constructions” in Chinese.

    Chapter 8, “Classifier Constructions in Translated Chinese”, first addresses the concept of “classifier” in Chinese by introducing in detail its various categories, as well as differences in its constructions between Chinese and English. The discussion moves on to a comparison of the frequencies and constructions of classifiers in native and translated Chinese, using Yi (ʻOneʼ) + classifier as a case study. To complete the analysis, the author ventures to explain the prevalence of classifier constructions in Chinese.

    Chapter 9 focuses on “Light Verbs in Translated Chinese”. Following an introductory look at light verbs in both English and Chinese, the author then “discusses the concordance results of searches for light verbs in Chinese comparable corpora, i.e., LCMC and ZCTC” (p. 137). The chapter ends with a case study of the light verb Jinxing (ʻto proceedʼ, or ʻto carry something outʼ), in terms of its distribution and functions, as well as its varied constructions in native and translated Chinese.

    Chapter 10, “Syntactic Hybridity in TC: ‘SHI’ Structures”, examines the categories (including identical, attribute, existing, relationship, comparison, time and place, material, evaluation and affirmation) and functions (including copula, linking verb/judgment verb, conjunction, focus marker, emphasis marker and contrast marker) of “SHI” structures and their collocation structures in translated and native Chinese. This discussion includes a comparison of “SHI” (ʻBEʼ in English) structures based on an English-Chinese parallel corpus (demonstrating the author’s preference here for using comparable and parallel corpora as corpus tools in probing into “SHI” and its related structures). Nominalization and cohesive features in translated Chinese are the topic of Chapter 11. Here the author argues, after a quick review of Chinese-language nominalization methods, that “the main nominalization method in Chinese involves adding ‘de’ after a verb, a verb phrase, a sentence, or a portion of a sentence; other methods include adding ‘Zhi’ and ‘Zhe’ to the sentence” (p. 176). He continues his discussion with a more detailed consideration of nominalization markers in native and translated Chinese. Lastly, a case study of ruguo (ʻifʼ) highlights a discussion on the cohesive features in translated Chinese, offering a case study of ruguo (ʻifʼ).

    To conclude the book, Chapter 12 offers a summary of the research findings. The author builds on this summary to assess the theoretical and practical implications of his research, and to consider how it might influence future research. This reviewer highly appreciates the author’s expressed hope that “the combination of corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches can help the researchers understand translation phenomena more deeply” (p. 199).

    This book represents a valuable contribution to the field of translation studies and corpus linguistics, making it an excellent addition to Springer International Publishing’s New Frontiers in Translation Studies, a series designed to introduce new and emerging themes in the field. One of the book’s most impressive contributions is its association of linguistic hybridity with a corpus analysis framework.

    Since this is a paradigm largely relevant to working with interlingual hybridity and intralingual hybridity with the aid of corpora, the book has led to improvement in the traditional approaches to the study of linguistic hybridity. It has also provided a useful and much needed perspective to promote the investigation of hybridity in translated Chinese based on corpus translation studies.

Another prominent feature of this book is the generous wealth of information it makes available to readers. Its abundance of examples, figures, tables and appendices will enable readers to form a better understanding of this subject and the significance of the research findings, making the book a cornerstone for studies in this area. At the same time, this book shows the need for greater in-depth study through additional corpus-driven or experimental research. For example, further research could “explain the reason why the hybrid features emerge in translated texts and why the features change over time” (p. 198). (Furthermore, Susanne Klinger’s (2014) recent book, Translation and Linguistic Hybridity: Constructing World-view, suggests a useful companion study, as it focuses on the study of linguistic hybridity and its translation in cross-cultural writing.)

    All in all, this is a highly recommended book. Both thought-provoking, and enlightening, it will no doubt offer its readers inspiration, particularly researchers pursuing further exploration of linguistic hybridity in translated language.

Reference

Klinger, Susanne. 2014. Translation and Linguistic Hybridity: Constructing World-view. New York: Routledge.