Speaker
Description
This study examines how gendered voice is constructed in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and reshaped in two Vietnamese translations: Diep’s (2002) and Nguyen’s (2020). The study analyzes gendered-language features from dialogues in Chapters 1–23 of the English source text and compares their equivalents in the two Vietnamese versions. The analysis focuses on five interpersonal feature groups: lexical hedges, empty adjectives, tag questions, superpolite forms or indirectness, and intensifiers. The findings show that female characters use more of the selected features than male characters, especially lexical hedges and intensifiers, while superpolite forms and indirectness are distributed more evenly across genders. The comparison also reveals clear differences between the translations. Diep’s 2002 version more often neutralizes, reduces, or omits features related to hesitation, evaluation, politeness, and emphasis, whereas Nguyen’s 2020 version more frequently preserves or reconstructs them through Vietnamese linguistic features. The study indicates that translation may reshape the voices of male and female characters through subtle shifts in hedging, politeness, evaluation, and emphasis. It further highlights the need for translators to consider not only the content of characters’ speech, but also the manner in which their voices are constructed in literary dialogue.
Biography
Huy Hoang Nguyen is a postgraduate student in the English Language program at the University of Foreign Language Studies - the University of Da Nang (UFLS-UD). He currently works at Tri Phan Education Center and has considerable experience in English language teaching. His academic interests are mainly related to translation studies, literary translation, and literature. He is particularly interested in the relationship between language, meaning, and characterization in literary texts, as well as how translation may influence the way readers understand characters and cultural representation.
Huong Nguyen is a senior lecturer and a Vice Dean of the Faculty of English, at the University of Foreign Language Studies - the University of Da Nang (UFLS-UD). She holds an MA in TESOL and a PhD in Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies from the University of Queensland, Australia. She is deeply engaged in language and translation teaching as well as teacher education. As an active participant in interdisciplinary research teams in Australia and Vietnam, she has published extensively on linguistics, translation, and educational technologies. With her expertise, experience, and dedication, she mentors postgraduate and undergraduate students in their theses and research projects. Additionally, she possesses skills in student administration, international cooperation, language learning material development, and testing and assessment.
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