ABSTRACT:Relevance theory studies about language communication. It is a cognitive pragmatics theory which has great influence in recent years in the western countries and its influence even far beyond the field of pragmatics, that is applying relevance theory to translation studies. Under framework of relevance theory, translation is regarded as a special form of communication, which includes three communicators: the author of source text, translator and target language readers. This paper will introduce the two main concepts of relevance theory, which are contextual effect and optimal relevance. Then according to those two main concepts, the paper will make a comparative analysis of two Chinese translation versions of Emma: Sun Zhili’s translation version and Zhu Qingying and Zhu Wenguang’s translation version. Finally draw a conclusion that Sun’s translation version abides by the criterion of relevance theory and this paper further illustrate the importance of relevance theory in translation.

Key words: relevance theory; contextual effect; optimal relevance; Emma

TABLE OF CONTENTS

摘要

ABSTRACT

1 INTRODUCTION-1

2 LITERATURE REVIEW-4

2.1 Overseas Research-4

2.2 Domestic Research-4

3 RELEVANCE THEORY-8

3.1 Contextual Effect-9

3.2 Optimal Relevance-10

4 CONTEXTUAL EFFECT IN SUN’S AND ZHU’S TRANSLATIONS OF EMMA-13

4.1 Social Context-13

4.2 Cultural Context-16

4.3 Situational Context-19

5 OPTIMAL RELEVANCE IN SUN’S AND ZHU’S TRANSLATIONS OF EMMA-23

5.1 Cognitive environment-23

5.2 Processing effort-26

6 CONCLUSION-30

REFERENCES-30

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-31