Genre variations in James Legge’s two English translations of Shijing: a corpus-based multidimensional analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper delves into the genre differences between Legge’s two Shijing translations published in 1871 and 1876, employing a multidimensional analysis approach developed by Biber for studying genre variation. This approach groups sixty-seven linguistic features in six dimensions of linguistic variation. Utilizing the Corpus of English Shijing by James Legge, the study unveils significant differences in dimension 1 “involved versus informational production” and dimension 3 “explicit versus situation-dependent reference.” These discrepancies manifest in twenty-eight linguistic features in dimension 1, and five linguistic features in dimension 3. The primary factor contributing to the observed dimensional and linguistic distinctions is traced to Legge’s translation strategies. The 1871 version predominantly employs literal translation, while the 1876 version adopts poetic rewriting, resulting in distinct language features and functions. Another plausible explanation lies in the underlying poetics guiding these translation endeavors. The initial version primarily targets an academic readership interested in acquiring proficiency in the Chinese language and culture, thereby necessitating a literal translation approach. In contrast, the subsequent version is crafted for an English audience in the UK, making a metrical rendition a more fitting choice.

KEYWORDS:

• Shijing translations
• James Legge
• genre differences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The other four classics are Shujing (Book of Documents), Lijing (Book of Rites), Yijing (I Ching) and Chunqiujing (Spring and Autumn Annals).

2. The Shu King or Classic of History, also known as the Shangshu, is one of the Five Confucian Classics. It is a collection of documents of various genres, and is regarded as the earliest history book in China. The Hsiao King, also known as the Classic of Filial Piety, is a Confucian classic providing advice on social relationships, especially that between a father and a son, a ruler and his/her people.

3. For the complete list of language features on dimension 1 and 3, please refer to Biber (1988, 102–03).

4. For the definitions of language features, please refer to Biber (1988, 211–45) and Nini (2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences of China under the Grant [21BYY056] The Translators’ Ethics for Chinese-English Translation of the Tang Poems; Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications under Grant [NYY221046] A Corpus-based Study of the English Translation Styles of Shijing.

Notes on contributors

Guangfa Zhang

Guangfa Zhang is an associate professor of Translation Studies at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. His research interests include translation of classical Chinese poetry, corpus-based translation studies, and translation ethics. His research has been published in SSICI and CSSCI journals such as Babel, Foreign Language Education, and Foreign Languages Research. He is currently working on two projects “The Translators’ Ethics for Chinese-English Translation of the Tang Poems” and “A Corpus-based Study of the English Translation Styles of Shijing”.