Transference of Functions of Typical Yuqi Zhuci in Chinese-Malay Translation

Abstract words known as “typical yuqi zhuci” that are commonly used at theend of speeches in the Chinese language carry multiple grammatical functions. Theuse of such abstract words is not applicable in the Malay language. The current studyidentifies the function of each typical yuqi zhuci in the Chinese language and examinesits accessibility in its translation into Malay. The study utilises the definition of yuqi zhuciby Zhang Bin (2010), the categorisation of yuqi zhuci by Shao Jingmin (2007) as well asthe categorisation of typical yuqi zhuci in Chinese sentences, also by Zhang Bin (2010)in carrying out the analysis. A total of 527 sentences containing typical yuqi zhuci wereextracted manually for the analysis. Each typical yuqi zhuci is categorised according tohow it is employed in different types of sentences, namely, interrogative sentence (29.6percent), imperative sentence (4.6 percent), affirmative sentence (62.6 percent), interjectivesentence (2.7 percent) and ellipsis sentence (0.5 percent). To avoid duplicate analysis ofdata that are of similar patterns, only 35 items containing typical yuqi zhuci were usedas research data. The results of the study show that the different functions of the six typesof typical yuqi zhuci are specific in nature, based on how they are used in various typesof Chinese sentences. The findings suggest that such functions can be delivered from thesource language to Malay language via contextual consideration. And when typical yuqizhuci cannot be fully expressed in the target language, it is due to the emic differencebetween the source language and the target language, as well as issues of inappropriatetranslation. The findings suggest that the transference of functions of typical yuqi zhuciin Chinese-Malay translation depends largely on identifying the functions of the typicalyuqi zhuci present in the source text, story context, the speaker’s intention as well as theaccuracy of the speaker’s tone. Evidently, the transference of functions of the typical yuqizhuci does not rely on finding lexical equivalent from the target text.