English vietnamese translation assessment of culture specific references in a literary text a functional pragmatic perspective

This study focuses on the three categories of CSRs, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects in a literary text.. Scope of the study The present study focuses

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr LÊ HÙNG TIẾN

HANOI – 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr LÊ HÙNG TIẾN

HANOI – 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

The thesis entitled: “English-Vietnamese translation assessment of specific references in a literary text: A functional-pragmatic perspective” has been submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

culture-I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis, I have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and work of others, whether published or unpublished, in my thesis

The thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation or research paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any other university

Signature

TRIỆU THU HẰNG

ABSTRACT

This descriptive, comparative, and evaluative study attempts to assess the English-Vietnamese translation of culture-specific references (CSRs) in a literary text from the functional-pragmatic perspective of House‟s model (2015) After operating House‟s model (2015) in the context of English-Vietnamese translation, the supplementation for the model in this context is drawn out This study focuses on the three categories of CSRs, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects in a literary text

The qualitative analysis approach, with descriptive and comparative procedures, was primarily adopted in this study The quantitative analysis was employed to count the frequency of translation strategies adopted by the translator in translating the chosen CSRs The primary sources of data include the Source Text (ST – “Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone”, 2014), the Target Text (TT – “Harry Potter và Hòn đá phù thuỷ”, 2016), the three categories of proper names, person reference forms and regional dialects in the ST and their equivalents in the TT The primary sources of data were analyzed and assessed from the functional-pragmatic perspective of House (2015) The secondary sources of data, employed to triangulate with the textual analysis of the primary sources of data from the functional-pragmatic perspective, include the interview transcripts of the ST author, the translator, and interviews with two other literary translators and an expert in the field Such triangulation was deployed to ensure the trustworthiness of the study

The study yields the following findings As far as proper names are concerned, the non-translation strategy is adopted for 35 loaded proper names, which entails “partially functional equivalence” in the TT as compared to those in the ST Accordingly, compensation strategy (non-translation plus end-of-book glossary) is recommended to compensate the linguistic and cultural differences Regarding person reference forms, the neutral “I-you” dyad has been translated into 50 equivalent variants in Vietnamese, which reveals functional equivalence in accordance with the

examined situational and cultural contexts Concerning regional dialects, regional dialects in the ST have virtually been neutralized in the TT, which results in “partially functional equivalence” in the TT as compared to those in the ST Accordingly, compensation strategy is recommended with the choice

of “neutralization” in combination with “colloquial language” to convey the social status and the friendliness of the protagonist It is revealed that cultural filter is inevitable in translating across cultures Based on the findings of the three CSR groups, several reasons underlying the translation strategies adopted by the translator are also pointed out Reflecting on the findings of three CSRs categories in relation to the theoretical framework, the supplementation for House‟s functional-pragmatic model is drawn out This study offers evidence on the adoption of Attitudinal resources of Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005) to uncover the author‟s attitudes embedded

in CSRs in the text, which helps to fulfill the aim of translation assessment Besides, compensation strategy is recommended to compensate the linguistic and cultural differences in translating CSRs

Theoretically, this study provides evidence on the adoption of Attitudinal resources (Martin & White, 2005) to explore the author‟s attitudes embedded in CSRs in the text, which serves the translation assessment purpose Methodologically, the contribution lies in the triangulation of textual analysis from the functional-pragmatic perspective with the interviews of the author, the translator, other translators, and an expert in the field Practically, compensation strategy is recommended in dealing with CSRs from English to Vietnamese

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been made possible without the guidance and the support of individuals who contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến who inflames the fervent passion inside me towards the research topic and research progress Without his continuously constructive feedback and encouragement, the graduation paper could not come into being

Besides, I am deeply grateful to Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn whose guidance and insightful comments are of profound significance during my research

journey I also wish to extend my gratitude to Prof Nguyễn Hoà and Prof

Nguyễn Quang whose orientations and feedback are absolutely invaluable to me

My profound thanks extend to Prof Hoàng Văn Vân, Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông, Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Hoà, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Trào, Assoc Prof Dr Trương Viên, Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Quế, Assoc Prof Dr Hoàng Tuyết Minh, Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh, Dr Trương Bạch

Lê, Dr Trần Bá Tiến, Dr Nguyễn Đức Hoạt, Dr Nguyễn Thu Hạnh, Dr Đỗ Thanh Hà, Dr Hoàng Thị Hạnh, Dr Đỗ Minh Hoàng, Dr Phạm Thị Thuỷ who commented on my research proposal and presentations and provided me with many valuable ideas to develop my research from the beginning of my journey

My sincere thanks also go to the colleagues and friends at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) - Vietnam National University (VNU) for their continuous motivation, support, and valuable advice for me throughout this journey I will never forget strong support from Ms Trâm, Ms Quyên, Ms My,

Ms Linh, and Ms Vân They have always supported me through thick and thin

of my PhD Journey

Last but not least, I wish to thank my warm-hearted parents, my husband and my son for their immense tenderness, deep empathy, inspiration, and support to guide me throughout upheavals and realize tremendous ambition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ……… i

ABSTRACT ……… ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……… iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… ix

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ……… x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1 Statement of the problem ……… ……… 1

2 Research aim and question ……… 3

3 Scope of the study ……… 4

4 Contributions of the study ……… 5

5 Organization of the thesis ……… 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 7

2.1 Culture-specific references ……… 7

2.1.1 Notion of culture-specific references ……… 7

2.1.2 Proper names ……… 10

2.1.3 Person reference forms ……… 14

2.1.4 Regional dialects ……… 20

2.2 Translation assessment approaches ……… 22

2.2.1 Translation assessment approaches ……… 23

2.2.1.1 Response-based approach ……… 23

2.2.1.2 Linguistics-based approach ……… 25

2.2.2 Translation assessment models ……… 26

2.2.2.1 Reiss‟s model (1971) ……… 27

2.2.2.2 Newmark‟s model (1988) ……… 27

2.2.2.3 House‟s model (1997) ……… 28

2.2.2.4 Discussion on TQA models ……… 28

2.3 House’s functional-pragmatic model ……… 30

2.3.1 Theoretical bases of House‟s model (2015) ……… 30

2.3.1.1 Text ……… ……… 30

2.3.1.2 Context of situation and context of culture ……… 31

2.3.1.3 Function of language and function of text ……… 33

2.3.2 Operation of House‟s model (2015) ……… ……… 34

2.3.2.1 Register analysis ……… ……… 35

2.3.2.2 Genre ……… ……… 36

2.3.2.3 A functional-pragmatic model ……… 37

2.3.2.4 Overt and covert translation ……… 38

2.3.3 Strengths and limitations of House‟s model (2015) ……… 39

2.3.4 Adaptation of House‟s model for the research aim ……… 41

2.3.5 Attitudinal resources of Appraisal theory (2005) in House‟s model (2015) 48 2.4 Previous studies on translation assessment of culture-specific references 52 2.4.1 Previous studies on culture-specific references ……… 53

2.4.2 Previous studies on translation assessment ……… 61

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ……… 65

3.1 Research design ……… 65

3.2 Research methods ……… 66

3.2.1 Qualitative analysis ……… 66

3.2.2 Comparative analysis ……… 68

3.3 Analytical framework of the study ……… 69

3.4 Data collection procedures ……… 71

3.4.1 Text selection ……… 71

3.4.2 Culture-specific references in the text ……… 73

3.4.3 Interview transcripts of author and translator ……… 75

3.4.4 Interviews of two translators and an expert in the field ……… 78

3.5 Data analysis ……… 80

3.5.1 Textual analysis ……… 81

3.5.2 Analysis of interview data ……… 82

3.6 Trustworthiness ……… 86

3.6.1 Researcher positioning ……… 86

3.6.2 Credibility ………… ……… 87

3.6.3 Transferability … ……… 88

3.6.4 Dependability … ……… 88

3.6.5 Confirmability … ……… 89

3.7 Ethical considerations ……… 89

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ……… 91

4.1 Proper names … ……… 92

4.1.1 Findings of English-Vietnamese translation assessment of proper names 92 4.1.2 Discussion of the findings ……… 115

4.1.2.1 Revisiting the research question 115

4.1.2.2 Reflecting on the findings in relation to the theoretical framework 125

4.2 Person reference forms ……… 127

4.2.1 Findings of English-Vietnamese translation assessment of person reference forms ………

127 4.2.2 Discussion of the findings 147

4.2.2.1 Revisiting the research question 147

4.2.2.2 Reflecting on the findings in relation to the theoretical framework 151

4.3 Regional dialects ……… 153

4.3.1 Findings of English-Vietnamese translation assessment of regional dialects ………

153 4.3.2 Discussion of the findings ……… 164

4.3.2.1 Revisiting the research question 164

4.3.2.2 Reflecting on the findings in relation to the theoretical framework 172

4.4 Supplementation for House’s model 174

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 174

5.1 Recapitulation of the study … ……… 177

5.1.1 English-Vietnamese translation assessment of Proper names ……… 178 5.1.2 English-Vietnamese translation assessment of Person reference forms … 179

5.1.3 English-Vietnamese translation assessment of Regional dialects ……… 179

5.2 Contributions of the study ……… 181

5.2.1 Theoretical contribution ……… 181

5.2.2 Methodological contribution ……… 182

5.2.3 Practical contribution ……… 182

5.3 Implications ……… 182

5.3.1 Implications for theory ……… 182

5.3.2 Implications for research ……… 183

5.3.3 Implications for practice ……… 184

5.4 Limitations and further research avenues 186

REFERENCES ……… 188 RESEARCHER’S ARTICLES RELATED TO THE THESIS ……… I

APPENDIX A: Proper names in the ST and TT ……… III

APPENDIX B: Person reference forms in the ST and TT ……… XII APPENDIX C: Regional dialects in the ST and TT ……… XXVI APPENDIX D: Interview scripts of the author of “HPPS” ……… XXXVII APPENDIX E: Interview scripts of the translator of “HPPS” ……… LXIV APPENDIX F: Guided questions for interviewing other translators and an expert LXXVIII APPENDIX G: Minutes of interviewing other translators and an expert ……… XCIII

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

FIGURES AND TABLES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1 Holmes‟ map of translation studies (cited in Toury, 1995, p 10) 1 Figure 1.2 Applied branch in Holmes‟ map of translation studies

(cited in Toury, 1995, p 10)

2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Figure 2.1.1 Iceberg model of culture

(adapted from Hall, 1995; Katan, 2014, p 43)

(Martin & Rose, 2008, p 10)

32

Figure 2.7 Theoretical framework of the study (adapted from House‟s model, 2015) 44 Table 2.1.1 Affect of Attitudinal resources (Martin & White, 2005, p 51) 50 Table 2.1.2 Judgment - social esteem of Attitudinal resources

(Martin & White, 2005, p 53)

50

Table 2.1.3 Judgment - social sanction of Attitudinal resources

(Martin & White, 2005, p 53)

51

Table 2.1.4 Appreciation of Attitudinal resources

(Martin & White, 2005, p 53)

51

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Table 3.2.1 Background information of the author of “HPPS” 76 Table 3.2.2 Background information of the translator of “HPPS” 77 Table 3.2.3 Background information about the translators and expert of the study 80 Table 3.2.4 Background information of the researcher 86 Table 3.3 Potential themes and supporting codes from the interview data 84

Figure 3.2 An example of the interview transcript provided by BBC radio 77

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 4.1 Frequency of strategies adopted by the translator in translating proper

Figure 4.5 A summary of the main findings of the study 176

Table 4.2.1 Author‟s attitudes embedded in “dragon” 94

Table 4.2.2 Author‟s attitudes towards “Draco Malfoy” character in “HPPS” 95

Table 4.2.3 ST-TT comparison in translating the name “Draco Malfoy” in “HPPS” 96 Table 4.3.1 Author‟s attitudes embedded in “Voldemort” in “HPPS” 99 Table 4.3.2 ST-TT comparison in translating the name “Voldemort” in “HPPS” 99 Table 4.3.3 Author‟s and translator‟s attitudes towards the character “Voldemort” 100 Table 4.4.1 Author‟s attitudes in the name “Minerva McGonagall” in “HPPS” 102 Table 4.4.2 ST-TT comparison in translating the name “Minerva McGonagall”

“Dudley Dursley”

113

Table 4.8 A trial of translating proper names in “HPPS” into Vietnamese 119 Table 4.9 Vietnamese translation of “I-you” dyads in “HPPS” 127 Table 4.10.1 Author‟s attitudes towards the relationship between characters

(Draco - Harry)

131

Table 4.11.1 Author‟s attitudes towards the relationship between characters

(Harry - Ron)

135

Table 4.12.1 Author‟s attitudes towards the relationship between characters

(Uncle Vernon - Harry)

138

Table 4.13.1 Author‟s attitudes (Professor McGonagall - Sorting Ceremony) 141

Table 4.13.2 ST-TT comparison of Excerpt 4 142 Table 4.14.1 Author‟s attitudes towards the relationship between characters

(Professor Snape - Students)

144

Table 4.15.2 “I-yeh” - West Country dialect of Hagrid 155 Table 4.16.1 Author‟s attitudes towards the character Hagrid 160 Table 4.16.2 ST-TT comparison of regional dialects 161 Table 4.17.1 Regional dialects in several provinces in Vietnam 167 Table 4.17.2 Regional dialects in several provinces in Vietnam 168 Table 4.18 A trial of translating regional dialects in “HPPS” into Vietnamese 169

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem

“Translation studies” has been recognized as an interdisciplinary field with

“cultural turn” since the 1980s (Bochner, 1981; Snell-Hornby, 1988; Leppihalme, 1997; Bassnett & Lefevere, 1998; Snell-Hornby, 2006; Bassnett, 2013; Katan, 2014; Munday, 2016) Among the challenges of translating across cultures, translating culture-specific references (hereafter CSRs) is regarded as a tough task (Robinson, 2002)

Accordingly, there has been an emergence of research on CSRs (Kourosh & Tahmineh, 2010; Qing, 2010; Fahim & Mazaheri 2013; Salehi, 2013; Balaban & Caclayan, 2014; Bracai, 2015; Mono, Saragih, Nababan & Lubis, 2015; Moradi, Rahbar, & Olfati, 2015; Sasaninejad & Delpazir, 2015; Anari & Sanjarami, 2016; Farahani & Mokhtari 2016; Mansoor, Khan, Zuhra, Kamran & Arif 2016) However, the focus of these studies is to describe strategies to translate CSRs To date, there has been a shortage of studies with a view to assessing the translation of CSRs Inadequate translation of CSRs probably results in misinterpretations between authors and target readers Thus, the translation assessment of CSRs deserves attention The role of translation assessment has also been well defined since the 1970s through Holmes‟ map (cited in Toury, 1995, p 10)

Figure 1.1 Holmes‟ map of translation studies (cited in Toury 1995, p 10)

It can be seen that translation criticism is one of the most significant realms

in “Applied” branch in translation studies The “Applied” branch of Holmes‟s map

is specified below in order to locate the position of translation assessment in the field

Figure 1.2 Applied branch in the Holmes‟ map of translation studies

(cited in Toury 1995, p 10) Translation criticism, which serves as an umbrella term, subsumes revision, editing, review, and evaluation of translation There have been various viewpoints

on the evaluation of translation Initially, Toury (1995) indicates that the evaluation

of translation includes the marking of student translations and the reviews of published translations Throughout years, the two terms “translation evaluation” and

“translation assessment” tend to be deployed interchangeably (Maier, 2000, p 137; Rodriguez, 2007, p 5) Since this study focuses on a published translation, the term

“translation assessment” is consistently employed throughout this study The term

“translation evaluation” tends to place a value on a translation in terms of a grade or pass mark in translation pedagogy context (McAlester‟s, 1999, p 169)

To date, translation assessment in Applied branch merits special attention (Wilss, 1996; House, 1997; Nord, 1997; Schäffner, 1997; Al-Quinai, 2000; Brunette, 2000; Lauscher, 2000; Melis & Hurtado, 2001; Doyle, 2003; Brione, 2007; Mossop, 2007; Colina, 2008; Drugan, 2013; Colina, 2015; House, 2015) It

should be noted that translation assessment refers to not only detecting the errors and drawbacks of the translation but also bringing to light the successful aspects of the translation Nonetheless, the domain of translation assessment has still been under-researched (Hoàng Văn Vân, 2006; Lê Hoài Ân, 2006; Vũ Văn Đại, 2012; Lê Hùng Tiến, 2015; Lê Hùng Tiến, 2018), particularly in the context of English-Vietnamese translation

Therefore, this study attempts to assess the Vietnamese translation of English CSRs in a literary text In order to fulfill the aim, the literary text entitled “Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone” (2014) (hereafter HPPS) is selected Firstly, it was written in English by the eminent British novelist J K Rowling with literary talents who is known as “the world‟s first billionaire author” Secondly, this text has become a literary phenomenon since its first publication in 1997 It has been translated into more than 80 languages, and it accommodates a variety of CSRs that are typical of a literary text Thirdly, it was translated into Vietnamese by Lý Lan, a Vietnamese novelist and translator The Vietnamese translation was published by Trẻ Publisher Thus, the selection of this text is relevant for the research aim In the present study, the Vietnamese translation of English CSRs in “HPPS” (2014) is assessed from House‟s functional-pragmatic perspective (2015) After operating House‟s model in the context of English-Vietnamese translation, the theoretical supplementation for such context is drawn out

Due to the aforementioned reasons, the study entitled “English-Vietnamese translation assessment of culture-specific references: A functional-pragmatic perspective” is conducted to fulfill part of the existing gaps in translation assessment of CSRs in the context of English-Vietnamese translation

2 Research aim and question

The overarching aim of this study is to assess the English-Vietnamese translation of CSRs in a literary text from the functional-pragmatic perspective of House‟s model (2015) After operating House‟s model in the context of English-Vietnamese translation, the theoretical supplementation for such context is drawn

out The theoretical supplementation is of significance since House‟s model is originally developed for the language pair of English-German

In order to fulfill the overarching aim, the English literary text “Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone” (2014) is chosen for the aforementioned reasons in section 1

The research aim is formulated into the following research question:

To what extent are English culture-specific references in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2014) and their Vietnamese translations equivalent from the functional-pragmatic perspective?

The thesis attempts to offer the answer to the research question with the focus devoting to the three groups of culture-specific references, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects The rationales for the scope of the study are justified in the following section

3 Scope of the study

The present study focuses on assessing the English-Vietnamese translation of

the three categories of CSRs at lexical level in a literary text, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects There are several

underlying reasons for the choice

Firstly, these categories are thorny problems that translators often confront when translating a literary text Different communities have different systems of proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects Hence, translating these three groups entails translating two cultures, which is an inevitably challenging task for translators

Secondly, these groups tend to be embedded with the underlying attitudes and the pragmatic purposes of literary authors In other words, these groups play a crucial role in revealing authors‟ attitudes and characterizing the protagonists of literary texts, which contributes to the success of literary texts and consequently would merit attention

Thirdly, these groups occur in the chosen literary text at high frequency, which plays a part in the plot development of the narrative The pilot study was conducted

with the categories of CSRs in line with CSRs taxonomy proposed by Nida (1964), Klingberg (1986), and Newmark (1988) Among CSRs identified in “HPPS”, proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects become prominent with more than 50 percent in terms of occurence in the text (see Appendix A, B, C) Focusing on the three groups of CSRs would facilitate the in-depth analysis and assessment

4 Contributions of the study

Theoretically, the supplementation for House‟s functional-pragmatic model (2015) in assessing the English-Vietnamese translation of CSRs is highlighted The supplementation is the extension of House‟s model with the adoption of Attitudinal resources of Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005) The extended supplementation has facilitated the researcher to uncover the author‟s implied attitudes embedded in the CSRs in the literary text to fulfill the assessment purpose Methodologically, the contribution of the study lies in the textual analysis from the functional-pragmatic perspective triangulated with the interview data of the ST author, the translator, other translators and an expert in the field This method was employed to ensure the adequacy of data collected and the reliability of research

findings

Practically, the research findings furnish publishers and translators with the

strategies to translate CSRs in a literary text The findings of this study could be relatable to other English literary texts containing proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects sharing similar features described in this study Concerning proper names, compensation strategy is suggested to compensate for linguistic and cultural differences between English and Vietnamese Besides, the use of TL-oriented translation strategy is recommended in dealing with person reference forms from English to Vietnamese In terms of regional dialects, neutralization serves as a strategy to minimize undesirable side effects Additionally, compensation strategy is proposed in which neutralization is employed together with the use of colloquialism to reveal the unique traits of the characters

5 Organization of the thesis

This thesis comprises five major chapters Chapter One, Introduction of the

study, briefly presents the statement of the problem, the research aim and question, the scope, the contributions, and the context of the study

Chapter Two, Literature Review, reviews relevant literature to the study, including culture-specific references, together with the trends and models of translation assessment An intensive review on previous studies is conducted in order to identify the research gaps that this study attempts to fulfill This chapter also represents an adapted model from House‟s model (2015) that serves as the theoretical framework of the present study The reasons for choosing House‟s model, the operation, the strengths, the deficiencies, as well as the adaptation are thoroughly provided

Following this, Chapter Three, Research Methodology, delineates the choice of the research paradigm, research approach, analytical framework, data collection procedures, and data analysis to facilitate the research progress

Chapter Four, Findings and Discussion presents the findings of the study in line with the English-Vietnamese translation assessment of the three groups of CSRs, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects The discussions of the findings of this study are made with reference to the research question, the findings of the previous studies, and the analytical framework of the study, from which the theoretical supplementation for House‟s model in the context

of English-Vietnamese translation assessment is drawn out

The final chapter recapitulates the entire study and draws out the conclusions, which is followed by the implications for theory, research, and practice Several limitations of the study are also acknowledged, which facilitates the suggestions for further research avenues

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter accommodates a comprehensive, systematic, and critical review

of the relevant concepts, including the notion of culture, culture-specific references, translation equivalence, translation assessment approaches as well as translation assessment models developed out of these approaches Significantly, this chapter highlights the research gaps in which this study locates itself The review of previous studies also helps to establish a firm footing for collecting and analyzing the data of the study

2.1 Culture-specific references

The answer to the research question calls for the review of the key issues, namely culture, CSRs, classifications of CSRs, the three chosen groups of CSRs as well as translation strategies to handle them, which is attempted in the following section

2.1.1 Notion of culture-specific references

From the perspective of the nature of components shaping culture, the notion

of “culture” encompasses a wide range of elements, namely habits, customs, traditions, beliefs, feelings, myths, legends, religious elements, geographical elements, and so forth that are shared and accepted in a society (Hall, 1959; Levine

& Adelman, 1993; Katan, 1999; Thrivenia, 2001; Triandis, 2004; Nguyễn Quang, 2008; Jackson, 2014; Katan, 2014)

Accordingly, though different in wording, the theorists (Nord, 1997; Newmark, 1988; Davies, 2003; Hagfors, 2003; Tirkkonen-Condit, 2004; Gambier,

2007; Baker, 2011) share the same viewpoint that a culture-specific reference is:

“a social phenomenon of a culture A that is regarded as relevant by the

members of this culture and, when compared with a corresponding social phenomenon in a culture B, is found to be specific in culture B”

(Nord, 1997, p 137) For the sake of terminological consistency, the term “culture-specific references” (Gambier, 2007, p 159) is employed throughout the study There is a link between the notion of “culture” and “culture-specific references” in which

CSRs also cover various aspects of daily life in a community The holistic picture to demonstrate the notions of “culture” as well as CSRs is displayed below:

Figure 2.1.1 Iceberg Model of Culture (adapted from Hall, 1995; Katan, 2014, p 43)

Figure 2.1.2 Iceberg model of culture (Nguyễn Quang, 2008, p 72)

It can be seen from the two above iceberg models that there are two main layers of culture including the surface and the underlying layer The surface layer embraces symbols and cultural artifacts such as language, clothing, architecture, and gestures The underlying layer embraces attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, rituals, and practices The underlying layer contributes to shaping the surface layer Based on the holistic picture of “culture” expressed via the iceberg model, the categories of CSRs, which are classified by several authors (Klingberg, 1986; Newmark, 1988; Aixelá, 1996), are provided below:

- Fauna and flora

- Foods and drinks

The dialogs and the thoughts of a character are reflected via the use of person reference forms and regional dialects To some extent, other CSRs, namely fauna, flora, foods, drinks, and measurement units, seem less significant than those related

to characterization in a literary text Thus, albeit culturally ingrained, other CSRs such as fauna, flora, foods, drinks, and measurement units are not intended to fall within the scope of the study

In this study, the aim, as well as the scope, is to assess the

English-Vietnamese translation of proper names, person reference forms, and regional

dialects The three categories are significant aspects of language Considering the

above iceberg models, these aspects of language stay visible on the surface layer There exists a deeper layer of culture pertaining to attitudes and values underlying the use of language on the surface Thus, to generate adequate assessment, not only the linguistic surface of the three categories but also a further elaboration for the underlying layer of attitudes is examined in this study The concepts of proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects are reviewed in the following section

2.1.2 Proper names

Definition of proper names

A proper name is generally perceived as a name for an individual, a place, or

an organization written with all initials capitalized (Oxford Dictionary of English) English and Vietnamese follow their own naming practices (Wardhaugh, 2006) Accordingly, proper names are culture-specific references that deserve attention

Naming practices in Vietnamese have its own unique features According to Lương Văn Hy (1990, p 88), naming practices in Vietnamese, influenced by the Confucian monarch, like other categories of names, reinforces the male-oriented kinship He also recapitulates that a personal name in Vietnamese normally includes patronym (surname), middle name, and personal name (first name) In terms of patronym “họ”, “họ” refers to both a patrilineage and a bilateral kindred, and also a patronym Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1975, p 92) shows that the “Nguyễn” patronym tends

to be the most commonplace in Vietnam (93%) Other patronyms in their order of popularity are “Trần, Lê, Phan, Phạm, Hoàng, Võ/ Vũ, Đặng, Bùi, Đinh, Trịnh, Hồ, Đỗ” With regard to middle and personal names, a middle name is habitually used

as a gender marker While “Thị” is commonly used for females, the Vietnamese term “Văn” (literature) tends to be a popular male middle name In the sociocultural system of the pre-20th century, the mastery of the Confucian literature was a well-trodden path to power, the dominant use of “Văn” for males reinforced the legitimacy of male power In terms of personal names, male and female names are frequently chosen among the Sino-Vietnamese words for entities in the universe For example, Nguyệt (moon), Phượng (phoenix), Dung (beauty), Tuyết (snow), Thuỷ (water) for female names, and Lâm (forest), Long (dragon), Hùng/ Dũng/ Cường (strength), Sơn (mountain), Hải (ocean), Phong (wind) for male names Generally, naming practices in Vietnam, influenced by the Confucian monarch, underpin the male-oriented kinship (Lương Văn Hy, 1990) Vietnamese names are chosen according to rules that reflect Vietnamese society and culture

Sino-Similarly, British naming practices also have its own cultural attributes A personal name in English normally includes a personal name (first name) and a patronym (surname), and middle names tend to be rarely used (Wilson, 1998) Similar to personal naming in Western Europe, names in Britain were also first influenced by the Roman names The Middle Ages witnessed the advent of the Germanic names, the Anglo-Saxons names, and the Christian names Names in modern times were influenced by religion with the advent of Saints‟ names and Protestantism In recent times, the choice of first names has been freed from the constraints of family and religion In Britain, most people have two given names, although one of them, commonly the middle name, is rarely used Early surnames might be descriptive in four ways (Fowler, 2012) Many surnames originated from a region, such as Calder, Blair, and Waleys Surnames might derive from a craft, namely Mason, Cook, Fowler, Smith, and Gow Surnames might also indicate kinship, the particular relationship being fixed by a prefix (Mac) or a word ending (-son) such as Anderson, Johnson, and Macpherson Surnames might also be from

nicknames, namely Grant (Grand) and Meikle In a nutshell, the picture of English and Vietnamese personal names shows that names are not given randomly; they are chosen according to rules that reflect fundamental features of the society and culture concerned

It becomes highly intricate concerning the names that bear contextual meanings within a literary text The previous studies (Aixelá, 1996; Davies, 2003; Hagfors, 2003; Brondsted & Dollerup, 2004; Fernandes, 2006) underpin that proper names in a literary text might fulfill functions of provoking connotations, carrying metaphorical meanings, displaying characters‟ traits, disclosing the development of the storyline, creating the aesthetic appeal of a literary text, or entertaining the readers Thus, the present study is inclined to focus on the analysis and translation assessment of proper names given to literary characters in a literary text

However, the number of studies with a view to assessing the translation of proper names in a literary text remains relatively limited, particularly in the context

of English-Vietnamese translation The focus of the prior research (Aixelá, 1996; Davies, 2003; Hagfors, 2003; Brondsted & Dollerup, 2004; Nilsen & Nilsen, 2005; Fernandes, 2006; Nilsen & Nilsen, 2009; Trần Văn Minh, 2013; Coillie & Verschuren, 2014; Phạm Ngọc Hàm & Phạm Hữu Khương, 2018) is to describe the meanings of proper names in a literary text or describe the translation strategies in dealing with proper names in a literary text Inappropriate translation of CSRs probably results in misinterpretations among the target readers Thus, this calls for further investigation into the translation assessment of proper names as part of CSRs, especially in the context of English-Vietnamese translation

Classification of meaningful proper names in a literary text

To facilitate in-depth translation assessment, proper names in a literary text are classified into conventional and loaded names (Hermans, 1988) While the former are seen as unmotivated for translation since they do not carry a semantic load, the latter are commonly employed in literary texts As stated, this study limits itself to the analysis and translation assessment of proper names given to literary characters Regarding loaded names in a literary text, Fernandes (2006) classifies

them into three categories, including “semantically loaded names”, “semiotically loaded names”, and “phonologically loaded names”

Firstly, semantically loaded names display the distinctive qualities of the

characters and are common in allegorical literary works An example is

“Voldemort” in the “HPPS” (2014) It comprises “volde” and “mort”, which reveals details about this character In French, the word “mort” means “death”, and

“Voldemort” means “flight from death” This name vividly evokes his will to fly

from death Secondly, semiotically loaded names associate with mythology, social

class, nationality, and gender As an example, “Minerva” in the Harry Potter novel

is imbued with a mythological Latin name for Athena who is a Roman goddess of

wisdom Thirdly, phonologically loaded names comprise imitative and phonesthetic

names The imitative names make use of onomatopoeia For instance, Mrs Norris is

a cat in the Harry Potter series, and her name imitates the sounds she emits when she is irritated Phonesthetic names, which link with a meaning, are based on the use of sounds or sound clusters For instance, the cluster /gl/ are in glisten, glow, glimmer, and glitter, words that are commonly connected with light To summarize, there is a relationship between character attributes and names given to characters in

a literary text Thus, the present study places a stronger emphasis on the analysis and translation assessment of proper names given to literary characters that garner special attention

Strategies to translate proper names

In this study, the term “translation strategy” (Krings, 1986; Honig, 1991; Jaaskelainen & Tirkkonen-Condit, 1991; Loescher, 1991; Séguinot 1991; Kiraly, 1995) is employed to signify the translator‟s plans in dealing with the English-Vietnamese translation problems pertaining to proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects in the literary text “HPPS”

There have been various strategies in translating proper names As the first option, naturalization adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology (word-form) of the TL (e.g., ST: London; TT: Luân Đôn)

As the second option, non-translation means that a SL word is directly taken into

TL text with no translation (e.g., ST: Harry Potter; TT: Harry Potter) The third option is to use additional information via notes, e.g the inclusion of footnotes, as a way to compensate for the meaning loss due to cultural problems (Newmark, 1988) Finally, translator‟s notes (e.g., preface, appendix, glossary) serve as another option

in which the translator writes a preface to cast light on translation problems derived from the hidden meanings embedded in proper names in the text Each strategy has its own strengths and limitations

Nevertheless, the aforementioned previous studies focus on describing the strategies in translating proper names in a literary text The translation assessment

of proper names in literary texts remains under-researched in the field of translation studies Thus, it is vital to address this gap in the literature with further studies scrutinizing the translation quality of proper names as part of CSRs, especially in the context of English-Vietnamese translation

2.1.3 Person reference forms

Definition of person reference forms

Another strain in translating an English literary text into Vietnamese is that Vietnamese contains remarkably diverse forms for the equivalent “I-you” dyad as a way to represent dynamic interpersonal relationships among a myriad of characters

in the text In order to investigate the translation quality of such an intricate problem, this study places the focus on the English-Vietnamese translation assessment of “I-you” dyads, which could be labelled as “person reference forms”

It is essential to clarify the term “person reference forms” that is employed in the study

According to Oxford English Dictionary, “reference” means mentioning somebody or something “Personal reference differs from address in that the person named is not being spoken to” (Murphy, 1988, p 318) It is common to see the terms “addressing forms, forms of address, addressing terms, terms of address” in prior research Forms of address are words and phrases used for addressing (Braun, 1988; Yule, 2006)

However, for the purpose of examining the functions of “I-you” dyads in contexts and their translation into Vietnamese, the term “person reference forms” (Lương Văn Hy, 1990) is employed in this study as a general heading instead of addressing forms, forms of address, addressing terms, or terms of address “Person reference forms” (Lương Văn Hy, 1990) and “person referring forms” (Lương Văn

Hy, 1988) are treated as synonymous in this study Different from most of the European languages including English which count on second-person pronominal variations or vocatives to express various degrees of solidarity and power difference (Brown & Gilman, 1960; Nguyễn Đức Hoạt, 1996), the Vietnamese language has a multitude of terms not only for addressing people but also for self- and third-party reference For this reason, the term “person reference forms” is deployed in this study

Indo-According to Lương Văn Hy (1990), the Vietnamese system of person reference covers the use of personal pronouns, common nouns (kinship and status role terms), and proper nouns (proper names) Since this study also attempts to investigate the purposeful proper names in the literary genre, proper names are categorized into a separated section for in-depth translation assessment

In literary texts, person reference forms perform the manifold functions of denoting the relationships between characters, revealing the social status of the characters, revealing the social information about the identity, gender, age, and even depicting the characters‟ traits Although considerable discussions have been initiated about person reference forms used in English and Vietnamese, little evidence has been found about the translation quality of person reference forms in literary texts

“I-you” dyad in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese

Vietnamese has an intricate system of person reference forms, while the counterparts in English are relatively simple In English, with “I-you” dyad, it is often possible for people to address each other without significantly revealing their personal information regarding age, social status, and the relationships between them

The Vietnamese system of person reference and their meanings in social contexts have been investigated by many authors Among these, the mention should

be made of the systematic work by Lương Văn Hy (1990), in which he describes the person reference form usage in Vietnamese in various contexts as the reflection of socio-cultural reality In a similar vein, Nguyễn Quang (2018) attempts to recapitulate the usage of person reference forms in various contexts to denote the various degrees of relationships

Firstly, in the circular relationship, kinship terms are used in social addressing Kinship terms form the subcategory of person reference forms in Vietnamese They denote blood relations and affines Nonetheless, kin terms are also employed to address non-kin; they are used between non-relatives outside the family network to convey solidarity, which is illustrated as follows:

Figure 2.2.1 Circular relationship: Kinship terms used in social addressing

(Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 24)

Secondly, the usage of person reference forms in Vietnamese could be classified into “horizontal relationship - Type I” in order to express equality, solidarity, and informality “Horizontal relationship - Type I” is demonstrated in the following figure:

Figure 2.2.2 Horizontal relationship - Type I: to express equality, solidarity, informality

(Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 25)

As an example in Figure 2.2.2, in Vietnamese, the 1st person singular pronoun “tao” (I) and its reciprocal “mày” (you) in the 2nd person are used primarily among intimates and close friends of the same age to express intimacy On the other hand, “tao” (I) and “mày” (you) also imply strong disrespect and arrogance Another first person singular personal pronoun is “tớ” (I), which is normally used among peers to express intimacy Its common reciprocal 2nd person term is the kinship term “cậu” (you) The exclusive plural form of “tớ” (I) is “chúng tớ” (we)

Also expressing a horizontal relationship, the following figure summarizes the person reference forms that are used to express equality, formality, and insolidarity:

Figure 2.2.3 Horizontal relationship - Type II: to express relative equality, formality, and

insolidarity (Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 26)

Thirdly, the following person reference forms could be used to address a person of higher social status in order to express both solidarity and respect:

Figure 2.2.4 Dynamic relationship - Type I: to address a person of higher social status to

express both solidarity and respect (Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 27)

Figure 2.2.5 Dynamic relationship - Type II: to address a person of lower social status to

express subtleness, respect and/or solidarity (Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 27)

Titles are forms that indicate the occupational or social status of the addressee such as “professor”, “doctor”, and “teacher”

Fourthly, as mentioned, kinship terms constitute an important subcategory of person reference forms In Figure 2.2.1, kinship terms are extensively used to address the non-kin outside the family network as the extension of family solidarity Primarily, kinship terms are terms to denote blood relations and affines, which are illustrated in the following figure:

Figure 2.2.6 Dynamic relationship - Type III: to express solidarity used in family

(Nguyễn Quang, 2018, p 28)

The appropriate selection of person reference forms in communication embraces sociolinguistic factors, including social status, age, sex, relationships (e.g., blood, intimate, or distant), attitudes and feelings (e.g., respectful or arrogant), and the formality of the communication context (Lương Văn Hy, 1990; Đỗ Hữu Châu, 2007)

It is acknowledged that person reference forms cover broad categories, including occupation terms (e.g., Professor, Doctor); title terms (e.g., Mr., Ms.); honorifics (e.g., Sir, Madam); terms of intimacy (e.g., dear, love) For in-depth analysis, the present study focuses on assessing the Vietnamese translation of “I-you” dyad in the “HPPS” The Harry Potter novel is composed of numerous dialogues between characters; thus, the “I-you” dyad plays a crucial role in revealing elaborate relationships as well as attitudes among characters in the story

By and large, the above literature shows that while “I-you” dyads in English

do not imply age, social status, attitudes, and gender, person reference forms vary according to age, social status, attitudes, the degrees of intimacy, and gender in Vietnamese Though preliminary discussions have been generated about person reference forms used in English and Vietnamese, little evidence has been found about the translation quality of person reference forms in literary texts Such a

research gap, therefore, should be filled to add more empirical evidence about the translation quality of person reference forms as part of CSRs in literary texts, especially in the context of the English-Vietnamese translation

2.1.4 Regional dialects

In addition to proper names and person reference forms, another constraint is the translation of regional dialects from English into Vietnamese

Definition of regional dialects

Dialects refer to a variety of a language within a specific community or group of speakers (Green, 2012; Hatim & Mason, 2014; Baker, 2018) Dialects cover user-related language varieties, including temporal varieties, social dialects, and regional dialects A regional dialect is a variety spoken in a place (Romaine, 2000), such as West Country dialect in Britain The present study puts a stronger emphasis on investigating the translation of regional dialects as one of the aching problems in the translation process

Regarding dialects in Britain, Received Pronunciation (hereafter RP) has generally been accepted as “standard” language In other words, RP is the neutral variety of British English There are four sub-categories to differentiate the various speakers within this category, including “mainstream RP”, “upper-crust RP”, “near RP”, and “adoptive RP” (Wells, 1982) Mainstream RP serves as the unmarked, neutral type of RP, such as a typical BBC newscaster Upper-crust RP is the more conservative and old-fashioned RP often related to the royal family and aristocracy Speakers of “near RP” presumably come from all over England and have various regional features in their accents Speakers of “adoptive RP” may learn to speak this accent in such a way that there is no way to differentiate them from other speakers

of RP In addition, there has been a diversity of regional dialects across Britain, including Cockney, Estuary English, West Country English, Northern English, Scottish English, and Welsh English (Burchfield, 1994; Freeborn, 1998; Wells, 1982; Trudgill, 2000; Bex and Watts, 2002; Chambers & Trudgill, 2004; Trudgill, 2004; Britain, 2007; Trudgill & Hannah, 2013)

Concerning Vietnamese dialects, standard Vietnamese is mainly formulated from the northern dialect spoken in the capital city of Hanoi (Alves, 2007; Nguyễn Đức Tồn, 2008; Phạm Văn Tình, 2014; Pham & McLeod, 2016) Vietnamese is generally acknowledged to consist of three major dialects, namely the northern, central, and southern dialects These three dialects are chiefly distinguished via tonal features Although each dialect includes local varieties, the division of three dialects commonly reflects the geography, daily usage, cultural attitudes, and beliefs (Hồ Lê, 1992; Hải Dân, 1982; Hoàng Thị Châu, 1989; Đoàn Thiện Thuật, 2003; Hoàng Thị Châu, 2004; Huỳnh Công Tín, 2013; Pham & McLeod, 2016) As noted

by Alves (2007) and Huỳnh Công Tín (2014), the major distinction among the Vietnamese dialects is phonological, with some differences in vocabulary Notably, Pham and McLeod (2016, p 130) remark that “similar to English dialects, there are dialects that carry more prestige and others that are more stigmatized”

In literary texts, regional dialects show the differences in the social status and education of the characters, disclose the ethnic and cultural identity, reflect the protagonist‟s origin, and characterize protagonists

Translation strategies to deal with regional dialects

There have been previous studies attempting to describe the strategies in translating regional dialects As an option, neutralizing regional dialects has become

a relatively common praxis Neutralization (Newmark, 1988) means using standard

language in the TL to replace for regional dialects in the SL Neutralization is adopted to reduce the risk of sounding artificial in the TL, triggering comicality or generating something that will not achieve the communicative goal intended However, it is evident that neutralizing regional dialects eliminates the “alienating” effect of the non-standard language

Another strategy is “lexicalization” that serves as a strategy of compensation

Lexicalization includes the use of rural, colloquial, substandard, urban, slang, archaic or combination of those Other lexicalization techniques are imitating the foreign accent, pidginization, artificial language variety (invented by the translator),

or a translator‟s commentary in the text, footnotes or preface (normally combined

with neutralization) Lexicalization serves as a compensation strategy because such strategy renders some qualities of the dialect present in the ST but expresses it to a lesser degree in the TT

Nevertheless, previous studies that aim at assessing the translation of regional dialects in a literary text remain limited The centrality of previous studies (Berthele, 2000; Perteghella, 2012; Rosa, 2012; Baroni, 2013; Leppihalme, 2014; Santika, 2016; Szymanska, 2017; Yu, 2017) is to describe strategies to translate regional dialects in a literary text Thus, this calls for further studies into the translation assessment of regional dialects as a group of CSRs, especially in the context of English-Vietnamese translation

All in all, the aforementioned strategies to translate CSRs could be grouped under the spectrum of overt and covert translation, according to House‟s functional-pragmatic model (2015) In translating CSRs, translators tend to be torn between two general translation strategies, overt and covert translation (see the following figure) While overt translation aims at preserving all cultural elements, covert translation brings the text closer to the target reader via adapting or even leaving out many of these cultural elements

On the whole, this section delineates the holistic picture of culture in relation

to translation, the notion of CSRs, and the justification for focusing on the three groups of CSRs - proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects for in-depth investigation Furthermore, the strategies in translating these CSR groups are discussed in relation to literary text type Significantly, this section highlights the research gaps in which the present study locates itself

2.2 Translation assessment approaches

In line with the research aim, this section attempts to revisit the translation assessment approaches, the notion of translation, translation equivalence, and

translation assessment models developed out of these approaches The approaches are critically reviewed in order to constitute achievements and identify the gaps, which contributes to exploring the model that fits the research aim

2.2.1 Translation assessment approaches

“Evaluating the quality of a translation presupposes a theory of translation Thus different views of translation lead to different concepts of translational quality, and

hence different ways of assessing it”

(House, 1997, p 1) Among a diversity of perspectives on how a translation should be assessed, it

is generally agreed that there are three major approaches, namely mentalist views, response-based approach, and linguistics-based approach (Phạm Thị Thuỷ, 2013; House, 2015; Lê Hùng Tiến, 2015; Lê Hùng Tiến, 2018) Mentalist views in TQA, known as the pre-linguistic approach, came into being before the 19th century In mentalist views, the translation assessment is subjective and intuitive The assessment of a translated text depends on each individual‟s subject opinion Thus,

in this study, this approach is not adopted as the theoretical frame because the aim

of this study is to provide the evidence-based assessment between the ST and TT Hence, the two notable approaches of response-based and linguistics-based approach will be discussed below

2.2.1.1 Translation in response-based approach

Until the 1970s, the scholars (Holz-Mänttäri, 1986, as cited in Snell-Hornby, 2006; Nord, 1997; D‟Hulst, 1997) in Germany introduced the Skopos-related approach, focusing on the purpose of a translation and the responses of the target readers to the translation The term “Skopos” denotes the aim or purpose of a translation (Vermeer, 1989, p 173) According to this approach, any final judgment

of translation quality should be grounded on the sample receptors (Nida, 1964) Although it is reasonable to take into account the response of the target readers to determine the success of a translation, it remains not highly reliable to be merely

grounded on the intuition of a group of the target readers to reach the final statement

of the translation quality

Furthermore, according to the Skopos theory, the importance of the ST is lower than the TT The status of “equivalence” in this approach is specified in the rules of Reiß and Vermeer (Reiß & Vermeer, 1984) The five rules adhere to the hierarchical order with the Skopos rule predominating: (1) A translation is determined by its Skopos; (2) A TT is an offer of information in a target culture and

TL concerning an offer of information in a source culture and SL; (3) A TT does not initiate an offer of information in a clearly reversible way; (4) A TT must be internally coherent; (5) A TT must be coherent with the ST It is indicative that the fidelity rule is of less significance than intratextual coherence (fourth rule), which are both subordinate to the Skopos (first rule), which reveals the low status of ST and equivalence in translation assessment

There have been criticisms towards Skopos theory that merits attention Since Skopos theory prioritizes the purpose of the translation and the status of equivalence is lowered in this approach, Skopos theory sounds merely valid for non-literary texts such as news, scientific texts, and tourist information booklets (Nord, 1997; Schäffer, 1997; Munday, 2016) The researcher shares a similar opinion with this argument because Skopos theory is not strictly concerned with the micro-linguistic features of the ST and the translation of these micro-level features into the TT “Even if the skopos is adequately fulfilled, it may be inadequate at the stylistic or semantic levels of individual segments” (Munday, 2016, p 81) Linguistic features play a prominent role in literary texts, enabling authors to convey aesthetic values embedded in texts Therefore, the micro-level features of the ST via the ST analysis could not be neglected in literary translation This study aims to assess the distinctive linguistic and cultural features including proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects in a literary text; thus, Skopos theory seems less appropriate for the research aim

2.2.1.2 Translation in linguistics-based approach

Rather earlier than the response-based approach, the linguistically oriented approach in TQA emerged in the 1950s Whilst the concept of equivalence has not been prioritized by Holz-Mänttäri (1986), Vermeer (1989, 2000) and Snell-Hornby (1988, 2006), equivalence has been widely advocated by Nida (1964), Catford (1965), Nida (1975), Kade (1968 as cited in Baker and Saldanha, 2009), Wilss (1982, 1996), Koller (1979), Pym (2010), House (1997, 2015) In contrast to the response-based approach, equivalence plays a paramount role in the linguistics-based approach

Developing out of the linguistic approach, the researcher adopts a similar standpoint with House (2015, p 23) that:

“Translation is the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language.”

Two points could be drawn from House‟s definition in relation to the aim of this study Firstly, “pragmatics” is integral to fulfill the aim of assessing the English-Vietnamese translation of the three types of CSRs, namely proper names, person reference forms, and regional dialects in a literary text because “pragmatics” studies the use of language in contexts (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1985; Nguyễn Đức Dân, 1998; Đỗ Hữu Châu, 2002; Nguyễn Thiện Giáp, 2004; Đỗ Thị Kim Liên, 2005; Võ Đại Quang, 2005; Green, 2012; Leech, 2016) In this study, the meanings

of CSRs are construed in their specific contexts; therefore, they should be approached from the pragmatic perspective For example, it is requisite to examine the context in order to identify the Vietnamese equivalent for the “I-you” dyad in English

Secondly, it is “meaning” that should be preserved during translating across cultures The concept of “equivalence” links to the preservation of “meaning” across two different lingua-cultures The three aspects of “meaning” relevant to translation are the semantic, pragmatic, and textual aspects The semantic aspect of

meaning denotes the relationship of linguistic units or symbols to their referents in

some possible world Regarding the pragmatic aspect of meaning, “pragmatics is

about meaning in speech situations” (House, 2015, p 22) Other academics (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1985; Green, 2012; Leech, 2016) also agree that pragmatics is the study of the use of language in communication or the study of intended meaning Therefore, pragmatic aspect is integral in TQA because

translation deals with language in use Concerning the textual aspect of meaning

proposed by House (2015), a text is any stretch of language in which the individual components relate to one another and form a coherent whole; hence, a text is a linkage of sentences into a larger unit

On that account, the approach of House (2015) to equivalence tends to be

relevant for the research aim in which equivalence should be the preservation of

meaning across two different lingua-cultures It is stressed that translation involves

the transferring of “meaning” in contexts across cultures, rather than dealing with isolated words without contexts

2.2.2 Translation assessment models

TQA could be systematized into the following areas, including (1) quantitative or qualitative which is based on statistical measurements, questionnaires, interviews from target readers, and so forth; (2) formative (measuring progress and giving feedback in translator training context); (3) summative (measuring the results of learning in translator training context); (4) non-comparative (studying merely the translation text); and (5) comparative (studying both ST and TT)

Besides, it should be noted that translation assessment is a broad realm including the assessment of published translations, the assessment of professional translators, and the assessment in translator training context (Hewson & Martin, 1991; Hatim & Mason, 1997; Melis & Hurtado, 2001; Williams & Chesterman, 2002; Kiraly, 2005; Baker, 2011; Drugan, 2013; Colina, 2015) In line with the research aim, the focus of this study is the translation assessment of a published translation