Theory of Translation

Substitutions also occur in allusions and epigrams, e.g.

 

The family was at this moment divided, unlike Gaul, into four parts.

В этот момент, в отличие от Галлии, семья разделилась на четыре части.

 

This is an allusion to the well-known opening line of Caesar’s “De bello gallico”. The English translation of the original sentence runs as follows: “Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts”. Besides substitution, the allusion is extended by means of a lexical addition and is structurally altered.

Violation may also be achieved by a shifting of component elements, as was done, for example, by Evelyn Waugh:

 

“There’s danger in numbers; divided we stand, united we fall”.

 

In the first phrase E.Waugh substitutes the noun “danger” for “safety” (there is safety in numbers); in the second, he shifts the components (united we stand, divided we fall).

The following translation may be suggested:

 

В единении слабость. Раздельно мы устоим. Вместе мы погибнем.

 

The revival of a faded metaphor or metaphoric element may be regarded by the introduction of some word or words which restore and bring to mind the original transference of meaning.

 

I wanted to give her not a piece but the whole of my mind. (S.Maugham)

 

In phraseological unity “to give apiece of one’s mind – откровенно высказать кому-нибудь свое неодобрение – one of the components is a faded metaphor (piece) but the additional word “the whole” brings back the original meaning of the word “piece”. Naturally the device cannot be preserved but can be compensated by means of expressive synonyms and an intensifier.

 

Я хотел не только откровенно высказать ей свое неодобрение, но буквально выложить все, что я о ней думал.

 

Set expressions (collocations) are easily violated as the ties between the elements are rather loose. This fact is confirmed by the existence of synonymous variants, e.g. to cast a glance, to dart a glance, etc.

Phrases containing repetition (of the type “day by day”, “step by step”) are also sometimes broken by an additional word.

 

The clocks of Silverhill ticked away minute by slow minute. (P. Whitney).

Часы в Сильверхилле медленно отсчитывали минуту за минутой.

 

Foregrounding and Translation.

 

Modern English writers and journalists often give preference to foregrounding over, traditional stylistic devices. By foregrounding is understood the use of neutral linguistic means for stylistic purposes. A grammatical form or structure thus acquires great expressiveness and may be regarded as a stylistic device.

Foregrounding reveals and brings forth the potentialities which are inherent in linguistic means. Just as a port a writer senses the expressive possibilities of a word, he sees potential expressiveness in a grammatical structure or form and skillfully uses it. Foregrounding is always individual; is displayed in unexpected contexts and posses a high degree of unpredictability. Practically every grammatical form and every part of speech may be foregrounded, that is used for expressiveness.

 

Foregrounding of Articles.

 

The rendering of the meaning of articles has already been considered in the chapter dealing with grammatical problems.

In the following example Iris Murdoch effectively reveals the stylistic force of the two articles, their expressive possibilities and their effective use for stylistic purposes.

 

Perhaps he would achieve some sort of piece, the piece of an elderly man, a piece of cozy retirement…

 

Возможно, он обретет какой-нибудь душевный покой, такой покой, покой, свойственный пожилым людям, такой покой, который дает приятное уединение.

 

The foregrounded articles are compensated lexically.

 

Foregrounding of Degrees of Comparison.

 

Degrees of comparison can also be foregrounded. Such foregrounding may be achieved in two ways: either by semantic or by morphological violation of the norm. The semantic violation of the norm is applied to descriptive adjectives which by virtue of their semantics do not admit of comparison. Yet for the sake of expressiveness they are used either in the comparative or in the superlative degrees.

 

“Very good, sir”, said the groom, at his most wooden, and sprang down into the road. (Georgette Heyer)

 

It should be pointed out that in this vase the superlative degree with the preposition “at” and a possessive pronoun forms a special model and is used absolutely as an elative, which implies that the object described possesses a certain quality beyond comparison.

 

“Слушаюсь, сэр”, сказал грум с самым, что ни на есть деревянным выражением лица и спрыгнул на дорогу.

 

The meaning of the elative is rendered by a colloquial intensifier (что ни на есть).

Another example of semantic violation:

 

The station is more daunting than the Gare du Nord: golder, grander.

(E.Bowen)

 

Этот вокзал подавляет своим великолепием больше чем Северный вокзал в Париже, он еще более золотой, еще более пышный.

The device is preserved in the translation.

The foregrounding of descriptive adjectives is sometimes found in newspapers style as well.

 

The report’s proposals were handed over to a much more ”political” committee…

 

Предложение доклада были переданы комитету, который  ведал политикой на гораздо более высоком уровне.

 

The inverted commas indicate that newspapers style is more conventional than imaginative prose.

Morphological violation may be described as violation of established grammatical norms for stylistic purposes and the degrees of comparison become functionally charged.

 

“Curiouser and curioser”, said Alice. (Lewis Carroll)

 

Polixena Solovieva, the translator, takes recourse to the same device.

 

“Cтранче и странче”, сказала Алиса.

 

“Annie, could you give me a quart of coffee in a carton?”

“It’ll have to be two points, Eth.”

“Good. Even gooder”. (J.Stainbeck)

 

“Анни, дай мне кварту кофе в пакете”.

“У меня пакеты по две пинты”.

“Ладно, даже распреладно”.

 

Foregrounding of the Plural Form.

 

The plural form is foregrounded when it is used with uncountable nouns or with “noun phrases”. The plural moves an uncountable noun into a new category, thus stressing it.

 

He was bursting with new ideas and new enthusiasms. (I.Shaw).

В нем бурлили  новые идеи и новые увлечения.

 

We spent a long day together, with a great many “Do you remembers?”

(Desmond Young).

Мы провели  весь день вместе, без конца повторяя: «А ты помнишь?»

 

As conversion is used in Russian on a limited scale it can hardly ever preserved.

 

 

Foregrounding of Word-building

 

New words are coined by affixation, word-compounding and conversion. All these means of word-building are frequently foregrounded. Their expressiveness is due to their individual character and is often a feature of the writer’s style.

As word-building possesses a national character the rendering of such coinages constitutes a complicated problem of translation.

 

Foregrounding of Suffixes

 

Suffixes present great variety and have different productivity in the S and T languages. The English language is particularly rich in suffixes and their productivity is prodigious. The case with which new words are formed is amazing. Individual coinages speedily become neologisms and enter the vocabulary. Some suffixes are exceptionally productive and offer great possibilities for foregrounding. Such coinages often baffle the translator and their rendering requires considerable ingenuity on his part, usually at the cost of compactness.

This is well illustrated by the word “hackdom” in the following example:

 

… no one who knows his long, dreary record in the House, 25 years of plodding through hackdom would ever accuse him of being a leader.

…никому из тех, кто знаком с длительным и унылым пребыванием этого человека в  Конгрессе, не пришло бы в голову назвать  лидером этого посредственного  конгрессмена, который 25 лет корпел над самой повседневной работой.

 

The suffix –ful is also foregrounded.

 

After the pattern of “handful” and “mouthful” the adjective “faceful” is formed for vividness of expression.

 

A new ward syster, fat and forceful with a huge untroubled faceful of flesh and brisk legs, was installed. (M.Spark).

В палате водворилась новая сестра, энергичная толстуха с огромной невозмутимой мясистой физиономией и с быстрой походкой.

 

The stylistic effect is lost because a very usual attribute “мясистый” does not stylistically correspond to the correlated nonce-word “faceful”.

Perhaps the most productive of all suffixes is the suffix –er used both for nominalization and for stylistic purposes. The frequency of its partial grammaticalization, in other words, this suffix often functions as a noun indicator.

 

She is a leaner, leans on me, breathes on me, too, but her breath is sweet like a cow’s breath. She’s a thoucher, too. (J.Stainbeck).

Моя дочка любит прислоняться, прислоняется ко мне и дышит на меня. Но от нее приятно пахнет молоком, как от теленка. Она также любит и трогать меня.

 

Despite its universal character this suffix is easily foregrounded. It is used by writers for forming nonce-words sometimes parallel with existing ones built from the verb but having a different meaning, e.g. “a waiter”: 1. a man who takes and executes orders (The Concise Oxford Dictionary); 2. a man who can wait. (John Stainbeck).

 

She is a waiter – I can see that now and I guess she had at lengthy last grown weary of waiting.

Она привыкла ждать, теперь я это понимаю. Но мне сдается, что ей в конце концов надоело ждать.

 

Sometimes the suffix –er indicating the doer is contrasted with the suffix –ee indicating the patient – the object of the action.

 

In business you sometimes were the pusher and sometimes the pushee.

(I.Shaw).

когда ведешь дело, иногда приходится его проталкивать, а иногда ты сам бываешь объектом такого проталкивания.

 

No, he could imagine Marta a murderee but not a murderer. (J.Tey).

Нет, он мог  представить себе Марту жертвой  убийства, но не убийцей.

 

The suffix –able, another most productive suffix, is also frequently foregrounded. It is often used in advertising as its lexical meaning has not disappeared, e.g. a hummable record – a record that can be hummed; a filmable novel – a novel that can be filmed.

 

He was waiting for the last bath of the purified uranium with unfillable time on his hands. (C.P.Snow).

Он ждал последней  партии очищенного урана и поэтому  у него было много свободного времени, которое он не знал чем заполнить.

 

The lanes were not passable, complained a villager, not even jackassable.

Тропинки еще  непроходимы, сетовал один крестьянин, по ним не только человеку, но даже ослу не пройти.

 

These coinages are also translated by extension and are equivalent only semantically, not stylistically.

 

Foregrounding of Compounds

 

Nonce-words formed by compounding are naturally conspicuous.

 

He was a born parent-pleaser. (I.Shaw).

Он обладал  даром нравиться родителям.

The following example is curious as the two component elements of the compound have the suffix –er.

 

“Marta said that you wanted something looked up”.

“And are you a looker-upper?”

“I’m doing research, here in London. Historical research I mean”…

(Josephine Tey).

«Марта говорила, что нужно отыскать какую-то справку».

«А вы что  же, отыскиватель?»

«Я занимаюсь  здесь, в Лондоне, исследовательской работойю Историческими исследованиями, я имею в виду».

 

In this case a Russian nonce-word proves to be possible.

 

Conversion and Foregrounding

 

Conversion – this typical means of word building in English is often foregrounded.

This mode of word-building is a typical example of compression and at the same time it is a means of achieving expressiveness.

 

We therefore decided that we would sleep out on fine nights; and hotel it, and inn it and pub it, like respectable folks, when it was wet, or when we felt inclined for a change. (Jerome K. Jerome).

Итак, мы решили, что будем спать по открытым небом  только в хорошую погоду, а в  дождливые дни или просто для  разнообразия станем ночевать в гостиницах, трактирах и постоялых дворах, как порядочные люди.

 

Conversation is sometimes based on a free combination of words resulting in a compound.

 

The cat high-tailed away and scrambled over the board fence. (J.Stainbeck).

Кот отошел, подняв хвост трубой, и прыгнул через забор.

 

Again a case of semantic but not of stylistic equivalence.

 

Foregrounding of Adverbial Verbs

 

The so-called adverbial verbs, that is, verbs containing two semes, one expressing action and the other describing the character of that action, are often used for stylistic purposes in the same way as causative verbs. Such use can be traced far back even to Shakespeare.

 

She splashed the four chipped cups down on a table by the door.

(M.Sinclair).

Она так резко поставила все четыре надтреснутые чашки на стол у двери, что чай расплескался.

 

In this case the verb “to splash down” contains three semes: the action itself, its character and its result.

 

Smoke sorrowed out of the chimney. (P.White).

Из труб печально поднимался дым.

 

Emphatic Constructions

 

Emotive colouring and expressiveness of speech may be achieved by various emphatic means both grammatical and lexical. Expressiveness and emotive colouring should not be confused. The former is a wider notion than the latter. Emphatic means are used even in those styles of language which lack emotive colouring, viz. the style of scientific prose and official style. Emphatic models give prominence either to one element of the utterance or make the whole utterance forceful and expressive.

Emphatic means of the English language present great variety and bear a distinct national character. Some emphatic models in English and in Russian coincide but there are considerable differences. Even coincidences are often partial or seeming. Therefore rendering of emphasis in translation is not a simple task.

 

Inversion as a Means of Emphasis

 

The emphatic role of inversion is a well-known fact, and need not be considered here. It is only to be mentioned that the stylistic function of inversion is frequently rendered lexically.

 

Up goes unemployment, up go prices, and down tumbles the labour vote.

Безработица резко увеличилась, цены подскочили, а количество голосов, поданных за лейбористов, катастрофически упало.

 

The Prime Minister’s word distorted and vicious as they are, are a tribute to the fighting capacity of the Communist Party.

Слова премьер-министра, столь злобно и грубо искажающие действительность, являются лишь подтверждением боеспособности коммунистической партии.

 

Emphatic Use of the “As… As” model

 

The model “as…as” expressing the same degree of quality may be used emphatically not in its direct function but to express the superlative degree. In this case it is as a rule combined with the pronouns “any”, “anything”, “anybody”. The translations of this model require lexical compensation.

 

As he has since admitted, he admires Rosamund Darnley as much as any woman he had ever met. (Agatha Christie)

 

Как он потом признался, ни одна женщина на свете не вызывала в нем такого восхищения как Розамунд Дарнли.

 

He tried as well as any man could, but he faild. (M.Halliday)

 

Ни один человек не мог сделать больше, но все-же он потерпел неудачу.

 

This new opera is as remote from classic grand opera as anything created in modern idiom could be.

 

Это новая  опера, написанная в очень современной манере, совершенно непохожа на классическую оперу.

 

Emphatic Negative Constructions

 

Negative constructions are more expressive than affirmative ones and possess a stronger emotive colouring.This is due to the fact that the category of negation indicates that the link between the negation indicates that the link between the notions expressed by the subject and the predicate is non-existant.

The negative word “no” is a powerful means of stressing the some member of the sentence.

 

Our arrangement was no announcement for few days. (A.Halley)

 

Мы договорились: никаких сообщений в течении ближайших дней.

 

The emphatic use of the colon in the translation attracts attention to what follows. Emphasis is also created by ellipsis.

 

They passed no village bigger than a hamlet and no inn better than an alehouse, but Harry was urgent to stop at one of them and seek better horses. (J.Buchan)

 

На всем пути им не попалось ни одной большой деревни, ни одного порядочного постоялого двора, а только крохотные деревушки и жалкие пивные, но Гарри настоял на том, чтобы остановиться в одной из них и попробовать нанять хороших лошадей.

 

Semantic Foregrounding

 

The lexical possibilities of foregrounding are also considerable. A writer sometimes skillfully uses a word in an unusual combination owing to which it becomes conspicuous and acquires greater expressive value.

I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that the government and its Department of Citizenship and Emigration have their collective sheet fimly rooted in the nineteenth century. (A.Halley)