The Corpus-based Translation Study of Feminist Translation Practice —— Case Study of The Color Purple

Abstract

Due to influence from their identities and ideologies, translators of literary texts may employ different translation techniques, strategies and linguistic styles in their work. Guided by feminist translation theory, this thesis investigates differences in translation practice between feminist translation and other non-feminist translations, through a corpus-based study of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and four of its Chinese translations, by Lan Zuwei, Shi Jiqing, Tao Jie and Yang Renjing. Combining quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study identifies differences in translation strategies and linguistic patterns used by these four feminist and non-feminist translators.

A multifaceted feminist novel, The Color Purple narrates the growth and development of the protagonist, Celie, and the awakening of her self-awareness. Our analysis focuses on two translation phenomena that may be influenced by feminism: translation strategies for sexual content, and the use of sentence-final particles in Chinese. Sexuality is important in feminism since it is related to independent control of the human body; however, it is taboo in Chinese culture. Sexual content in the novel is classified into seven categories --- private parts, stigma, bodily phenomenon, rape, sexual intercourse, illicit relations, and body exploration. Our analysis revealed that the choice of translation strategy varies according to these categories. On content related to body exploration, private parts, and bodily phenomena, the feminist translation is less conservative than the non-feminist one; however, on rape, illicit relations, and stigma related to virginity, the feminist translation is more conservative.

In terms of linguistic features, this thesis investigates the usage patterns of SFPs, focusing on those that express the tone of a sentence. Translators have considerable liberty in the choice of these SFPs to portray the attitude, emotions, softness and uncertainty in the speech of the characters. Based on a frequency analysis of these SFPs in the direct speech in The Color Purple, the two non-feminist translators are shown to use significantly more SFPs than the two feminist ones, who are more restrained in their translation. This could reflect their intention to counter the traditional stereotype that females are more prone to emotional self-expression with SFPs. In all translations, overall, female characters use SFPs to express attitude more frequently than males. However, in male-female conversations, the female characters express attitudes more frequently only in the feminist translations. Through these dialogues, feminist translators portray women to be rational and confident in front of men.

This thesis has presented the first quantitative study that contrasts translation strategies and Chinese particle usage in feminist and non-feminist translation. It has contributed not only a parallel corpus annotated with these strategies and particle usage patterns, but also a new perspective to the feminist critical discussion on The Color Purple. Further, it has pioneered a new methodology that can potentially be applied in other texts to shed light on how the translator's identity can influence their translation strategies and linguistic choices.

Date of Award	29 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	John Sie Yuen LEE (Supervisor)