A Study on the Correlation of “Gaixia Ge” and Its English Translations from the Perspective of Experiential Metafunction

This paper attempts to analyze and compare the transitivity processes of “Gaixia Ge” by Xiang Yu and its seven English versions from the perspective of the experiential function of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and makes a comment on the similarities and differences among them. Through the analysis of the transitivity of the poem and its translations, it is found that there are 6 versions for the first line, 2 versions for the second and the third lines, and 4 versions for the fourth line, in which the transitivity maintains a certain consistency with the original poem. After the analysis of similarities and differences between them, Spearman Correlation is applied in the SPSS. It shows that there is a significant positive relationship of transitivity between the version by Watson and the original poem, among which the translation by Watson is highly correlated with the transitivity of the original poem with the following coefficient, ρ = 1.000. This study can give clues to the study of poems and their translations, by exploring the differences of the transitivity processes, participants and circumstantial elements with the theoretical framework of Functional Grammar.


INTRODUCTION
"Gaixia Ge" (Chinese: 垓下歌) is a poem before the anticipated death of Xiang Yu (Chinese: 项羽), the overlord of the Western Chu.This poem summarizes Xiang Yu's unparalleled hero image, expresses his pity for the famous foal and beauty due to the unfavorable time, and it also displays his helpless mood in the desperate situation of failure.The research on this poem mainly focuses on the comparative analysis of "Gaixia Ge" and "Dafeng Ge" (Chinese: 大风歌).For example, Tan (1975) explored the two classes reflected by the two poems, Ren (1988) compared these two poems, Liu (1995), Zhou (1998) and Wang (2006) discussed these two historical figures and their causes of success or failure, Wang (1999) contrasted the emotional mood of these two poems, and Zhang (2000) traced the historical background of the two poems.In addition, Li (1997) and Zhao (2015) interpreted the poem from literature and history perspectives.The English translation study of this poem has not yet been seen.Based on transitivity, what are the similarities and differences of each line between the original poem and the translations, and is there a positive correlation among them?

METHODOLOGY
This paper will conduct experiential metafunctional analysis of seven translations of this poem from the Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective of Halliday (2004), so as to illustrate the correlation of transitivity between these seven translations and the original poem and provide a better English version of the Chinese poem.The experiential metafunction consists of multiple semantic systems, the most important of which is the transitivity system.Its role is to divide what people see and do in the real world into several kinds of processes, and to specify the participants and circumstantial elements related to the various processes (Hu et al., 1987, p. 71).Halliday believes that people can divide their human experience into six different processes through transitivity systems: (1) material process; (2) mental process; (3) relational process: (4) behavioral process; (5) verbal process and (6) existential process (Hu et al., 2017, p. 72).The following focuses on the transitivity of the original poem and its seven English versions.It analyzes and compares the similarity and difference among them in transitivity.After the transitivity analysis of the original poem and translations, which of all lines are labeled different numbers accordingly, Spearman Correlation is applied to show whether there is a significant positive correlation of transitivity between them.

Experiential Metafunctional Analysis of the Poem
From the perspective of the experiential metafunctional transitivity, "Gaixia Ge" (Wu, 1992, pp. 4-5) consists of the following processes, namely: (1) Material process/Material process: Li Ba Shan Xi Qi Gai Shi (Chinese: 力拔山兮气盖世); (2) Relational process/Material process: Shi Bu Li Xi Zhui Bu Shi (Chinese: 时不利兮骓不逝); (3) Material process/Material process: Zhui Bu Shi Xi Ke Nai He (Chinese: 骓不逝兮可奈何); (4) Material process: Yu Xi Yu Xi Nai Ruo He (Chinese: 虞兮虞兮奈若何); In terms of functional discourse analysis, the participant and circumstantial element associated to various processes types need to be identified.The first line of this poem contains two material processes: the first process is "Ba (Chinese: 拔)," "Li (Chinese: 力)" acts as the actor, and "Shan (Chinese: 山)" functions as the goal; the second process is "Gai (Chinese: 盖)," "Qi (Chinese: 气)" acts as the actor, and "Shi (Chinese: 世)" functions as the range.The second line comprises a relational process and a material process.In the relational process, "Shi (Chinese: 时)" is the carrier, and "Bu Li (Chinese: 不利)" is the attribute; in the material process, "Bu Shi (Chinese: 不逝)" is the process, and "Zhui (Chinese: 骓)" is the actor.The third line includes two material processes.The first part is consistent with the second part of the previous line."Zhui (Chinese: 骓)" is the actor, and "Bu Shi (Chinese: 不逝)" is the process."Ke Nai (Chinese: 可奈)" is another material process, and "He (Chinese: 何)" is the goal.The last line is a material process."Nai (Chinese: 奈)" is the material process, "Yu Xi Yu Xi (Chinese: 虞兮虞兮)," and "Ruo (Chinese: 若)" are recipients, and "He (Chinese: 何)" is the goal.

Experiential Metafunctional Analysis of Its Translations
On English translations of the poem "Gaixia Ge," these seven versions have been collected (See Appendix).For narrative convenience, the following versions are arranged by the order of time: (Watson, 1984, p. 68), (Liu & Lo, 1990, p. 29), (Xu, 1996, p. 21), (Hong et al., 2006, p. 3), (Seaton, 2006, p. 39), (Zhao, 2007, p. 180), (Liu et al., 2009, p. 29) represent these seven translations.For comparison purposes, the analysis will be performed line by line below.The first line "Li Ba Shan Xi Qi Gai Shi" is discussed below.In terms of the process types, participants and circumstantial elements, these seven English translations (See Appendix) are analyzed in Table 1 above.The original poem contains two material processes, Xu's version has only one material process, and all the other translations contain two material processes.The first material process of the original poem is "Ba," Watson's version agrees with the material process of Seaton's, which is "plucked up."Similarly, Liu translates it as "could, would pluck," which has the same verb.Miao's is similar to the material process of Zhao's, whose processes are "to uproot" "can uproot," and Xu's and Wang's material processes are "could pull" "could lift" respectively.The actor of the first material process is either translated as "strength" or "I." Watson's, Miao's, and Seaton's versions are "my strength" "strength I had" "the strength of my arm," and Xu's, Wang's, Zhao's and Liu's versions are "I."Since the translation of the target is "Shan,"

"Li Ba Shan Xi Qi Gai Shi"
Watson and Miao put it as "(the) hills," Xu's, Seaton's, Zhao's, and Liu's versions are "mountains," and Wang's is "a mount." Another material process of the original poem is "Qi Gai Shi." Watson's and Liu's processes are "shadowed" "was shadowed" respectively, which are similar but different in voice (one uses an active voice, and the other is in passive voice).Miao's, Wang's, Seaton's and Zhao's material processes are "dominated" "quell" "did set" "top" respectively.Regarding the translation of the actor, Wang's and Liu's actors are not translated, which are omitted according to the previous context.Watson's and Miao's are "my might" "my spirit," Seaton's is "it," and Zhao's is "I."Watson's, Wang's, and Seaton's versions agree with the Zhao's range "the world," Liu's is "the world entire," similar to the former, and Miao's is "the age."Lastly, Xu's version also has the circumstantial element "down," representing the space, and the circumstantial element of manner "with main and might."Seaton's translation has a circumstantial element of space "in my shade," while Liu's has circumstantial elements "if I would" "e'en, just, by my might," representing the contingency and manner.Through analysis, this line should be translated into two material processes, and Watson's version is more in line with the original poem.Wen (1989, p. 16) believed that "this translation maintains the spirit of the original text, and the text is appropriate."Now this version can be revised as "My strength plucked up the mountain; my might shadowed the world."Now the translation of the second line "Shi Bu Li Xi Zhui Bu Shi" (See Appendix) is analyzed in Table 2.This original poem contains two processes: relational and material.Watson's and Seaton's two processes are consistent with the original poem.The relational process of Watson's is "were," the carrier is "the times," and the attribute is "against me."The relational process of Seaton's is "wasn't," the carrier is "the time," the attribute is "right," "now" and "even" are the circumstantial elements of time and manner respectively.The second material process of Watson's and Seaton's is to translate "Zhui Bu Shi." Watson's material process is "cannot break away," the actor is "bold dapple," and "no more" is the circumstantial element of time.Seaton's material process is "runs," and the actor is "dapple."

"Shi Bu Li Xi Zhui Bu Shi"
Xu's and Liu's translations have two material processes.The first material process of Xu's is "wanes," and the actor is "my good fortune"; the second material process is "won't fight," and the actor is "my steed."Correspondingly, the first material process of Liu's is "should be forsaken," the target is "one"; the second material process is "would fail to fight," and the actor is "one's battle steed."There is another circumstantial element of time "once by luck" in Liu's version.Miao's, Wang's and Zhao's versions have only one material process.The material process of Miao's is "cannot flee," the actor is "my dappled steed," and "now in this hour of misfortune" is the circumstantial element, representing the concept of time.The material process of Wang's is "fails," the actor is "my steed," and the target is "me."It also has the circumstantial elements of time "e'en" "at times absurd."Both versions explain "Zhui Bu Shi."The material process of Zhao's is "will stop," the actor is "my steed," and "out of fortune" "now" are circumstantial elements of contingency and time.The actor of these three versions is the same "steed."To keep it consistent with the original poem process, this line can be translated as "But now the time is not right; my steed does not run any more."Then Table 3 presents the translation analysis of the third line "Zhui Bu Shi Xi Ke Nai He." (See Appendix) This original poem contains two material processes.Watson's and Zhao's versions include two material processes.The first material process of Watson's is "runs," and the actor is "dapple"; the second material process is "can do," the actor is "I," the target is "what," and "no more" "then" are the circumstantial elements of time.The first material process of Zhao's is "will stop," the actor is "my steed," and the second material process is consistent with Watson's.

"Zhui Bu Shi Xi Ke Nai He"
Miao's version consists of a relational process and a material process, the carrier of relational process is "dappled steed," and the attribute is "unable to break away"; the material process is "is left," and the target is "what hope."Xu's translation has a material process and a mental process: the material process is "will fight," and the actor is "my steed"; the mental process is "do not care," and the senser is "I."Seaton's comprises a material process and an existential process: the material process is "be trapped," and the target is "my dapple"; the existential process is "is," and the existent is "no hope for any deed."Wang's and Liu's versions have a material process.The material process of Wang's is "cannot preserve," the actor is "my steed," and the target is "my life."The material process of Liu's version is "'s to be done," the target is "what," and "with my steed now spent" is the circumstantial element of accompaniment.Because half of the line is the same as the previous line, the translation of the line focuses on the second part "Ke Nai He," which can be translated as "What to do now?""What should I do?" or "What is to be done?"Hence, this line can be translated as "When my steed does not run any more, what's to be done?"Lastly, the translation of the fourth line "Yu Xi Yu Xi Nai Ruo He" (See Appendix) is illustrated in Table 4.The original line of this poem is a material process.Watson's and Miao's, Seaton's are the existential process, and Xu's, Wang's, Zhao's and Liu's are the material process.The relational process of Watson's is "will be," the carrier is "Yu, my Yu, your fate," and the attribute is "what"; Miao's relational process is "will become of ", the carrier is "lady Yu, my Yu, you," and the attribute is "what."The existential process of Seaton's is "could be," the existent is "what hope," and "you, my lady Yu, thee" is the recipient.The material process of Xu's, Wang's and Zhao's is "can do," the actor is "I," the target is "what," all of which are consistent.Xu's version also indicates the circumstantial element of accompaniment "with you, my lady fair."Wang's and Zhao's have additional recipients "you, my dear wife" "my lady, my lady."The material process of Liu's is "to be spared," the recipient is "thyself," and "with thee, my fair" represents the circumstantial element of accompaniment.Combined with the analysis, this line has only one material process, and is similar to the second half of the previous line, which can be tentatively translated as "Ah Yu, Ah Yu, what's to be done for you?"In terms of the transitivity of each line in the original poem and translations, all the lines have been labeled with different numbers according to the six processes.After the analysis of the transitivity, Spearman  (Liu et al., 2009, p. 29) Note: ① English translation lines are separated by "/" lines and titles by "//."

Correlation of Transitivity
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Table 5 . Spearman Correlation of Transitivity
Zhao, Y. C. (2007).ON TRANSLATION OF CHINESE PEOMS.Qingdao: Qingdao Publishing House.Zhou, T.(1998)."Dafeng Ge" and "Gaixia Ge." Lingdaowencui, 3, 83-85.DOI:CNKI:SUN:LDWC.0.1998-03-029APPENDIX① Watson: / My strength plucked up the hills, / my might shadowed the world./ But the times were against me / and Dapple runs no more./ When Dapple runs no more, / what then can I do?/ Ah Yü, my Yü, / what will your fate be? (Watson, 1984, p. 68) Miao: // Song of Kai-hsia // / Strength I had to uproot hills, / my spirit dominated the age; / Now in this hour of misfortune, / my dappled steed cannot flee./ Dappled steed, unable to break away, / What hope is left?/ Ah, Lady Yü, my Yü! / What will become of you? / (TR.RONALD C. MIAO) (Liu & Lo, 1990, p. 29) Xu: // XIANG YU'S LAST SONG // / I could pull mountains down, oh! with main and might, / But my good fortune wanes, oh! my steed won't fight./ Whether my steed will fight, oh!I do not care./ What can I do with you, oh! my lady fair! (Xu, 1996, p. 21) Wang: // Song of Gaixia // / I could lift a mount and quell the world, / But e'en my steed fails me at times absurd./ Now that my steed cannot preserve my life, / What can I do for you, oh my dear wife! (Hong et al., 2006, p. 3) Seaton: // Song at Kai-hsia // / The strength of my arm plucked mountains up.Oh, / did it set the world in my shade!/ But the time wasn't right, ah… / Now not even bold Dapple can break away./ And if even my Dapple be trapped?Ah, / then there is no hope for any deed./ Oh you, my Lady Yu, ah! / What hope could there be for thee… (Seaton, 2006, p. 39) Zhao: // Song of Gaixia // / Xiang Yu / Mountains I can uproot, o the world I top./ Out of fortune now, o my steed will stop./ My steed will stop, o what can I do! / O my lady, o my lady, what can I do! (Zhao, 2007, p. 180) Liu: // The Last Song at Gaixia // / E'en mountains I could, if I would, just pluck, / The world was shadowed entire by my might./ Should one be forsaken once by luck, / One's battle steed would fail to fight! / O what's to be done with my steed now spent?/ With thee, my fair, for thyself to be spared?