Lecture 3 Lexical transformations Lexical transformations can

Lecture 3 Lexical transformations

Lexical transformations can be reduced to five distinct types Ш concretization, Ш generalization, Ш antonymic translation, Ш metonymic translation, Ш paraphrasing.

Concretization Abstract words in English distinctly fall into several groups: 1. Numerous nouns formed by specific suffixes of abstract meaning. Many such nouns have no counterparts in the Ukrainian language, e. g. ministership, presidency, electorate, statehood, etc. 2. Abstract words which have no equivalents in Ukrainian, the socalled lacuna, such as exposure, occupant (unless as a military term). 3. Generalizing words having equivalents in Ukrainian but differing in usage, e. g. man, woman, creature, person. 4. Words of wide meaning which require concretization in translation, some words of this group are on the way to becoming desemantized, e. g. place, piece, stuff, affair, etc.

Numerous nouns formed by specific suffixes of abstract meaning. C. P. Snow resigned from his ministership because he did not like the way the Labour Government was developing. – An ageing Speaker cannot take the burdens of the presidency (in case of the president’s and vice-president’s assassination). – Every form of pressure and violence is used by regimes to compel a reluctant electorate to go to the polls. Puerto Rico may launch a drive for US statehood. – He was heavily built. -.

Abstract words which have no equivalents in Ukrainian, the so-called lacuna Two of the shipwrecked seamen died of exposure. It was a good solid house built to withstand time and exposure. Willa, the canary, had flown away. But now there was a vigorously alive little occupant. -

Generalizing words having equivalents in Ukrainian but differing in usage “Anything”, Benjamin said, falling into a highbacked chair across from the man’s kingly desk. “Burn it, man, and who will be the wiser, eh? ” -

Words of wide meaning which require concretization in translation, some words of this group are on the way to becoming desemantized, e. g. place, piece, stuff, affair, etc. The place was full, and they wandered about looking for a table, catching odds and ends of conversation as they did so. – We had a quick breakfast and then our oxygen sets on to our backs. “This oxygen is certainly the stuff”, was my thought. – The point of exchanging the E. E. C. is to make it stronger. – She (grandmother) was a peppery old party with a will of solid granite and a hot flaring temper. . -

Such words as piece, thing, body fulfill a double function – lexical and grammatical; they can be used as lexical units possessing reference or as a grammatical sign. The noun piece in its lexical function means “a bit of something” (a piece of bread); in its grammatical function it concretizes an uncountable noun, turning it into a countable one (a piece of furniture, a piece of advice, two pieces of furniture, two pieces of advice). She took things terribly seriously. – He came in sight of the lodge, a long, low frowning thing of red brick. -

Special attention should be paid to the translation of verbs of wide meaning, such as: to come, to go, to turn, to say, to tell, to get, to die and others. They are rendered either by concrete words suitable to the context or by verb equivalents used in corresponding collocations. So far 65 people have died in floods in Dacca province. . At the by-election victory went to the labour candidate. – The rain came in torrents. – The canary got out of the cage. – Concretization is often resorted to in the translation of verbs of saying. “Father!” she cried, “the diamond is gone!” “Are you out of your mind? ” I asked her. “Gone!” says Penelope. “Gone, nobody knows how!” -

Another verb which has become partially desemantized is the verb “toinvolve Its concrete ”. lexical meaning, its lexical-semantic variant is largely dependent on the context. “I’ll tell you what… you are not involved. You are remote”. Concretization is often resorted to in translating the verb “to be in different functions. The ” principle of semantic agreement is to be observed in such cases. …first he was terrified, then he was sick, then he was in Paris. -

Generalization is the opposite of concretization. In this case a SL word of concrete meaning is rendered by a TL word of general meaning. In the Arctic of today the frozen face of the deep is changing and man seeks a scientific explanation for its growth and shrinkage. – Much more than an effective gun control is going to be needed to cure America of the plague of violence that afflicts it. -

There is a tendency in the English language to use nouns denoting measures of weight, distance, length, etc. in describing people and things which do not require such precision in their description. This method of description is foreign to the Ukrainian practice and recourse is usually taken to generalization. He was a young man of 6 feet two inches. It led him time and again into positions of fantastic danger and yet enabled him to win every ounce of advantage, especially against an irresolute enemy. (Desmond Young). -

Antonymic Translation Antonymic translation usually implies a comprehensive lexical and grammatical transformation: an affirmative construction is translated by a negative one or a negative construction - by an affirmative one. But such grammatical transformation is usually accompanied by lexical transformation - the key word of the SL utterance is translated by its antonym in the TL utterance, e. g. . the undead past -

A sentence containing two negatives is negative only on the face of it, actually it is affirmative as the two negatives neutralize each other. British imperialists never failed to recognize the value of tea and fought many a bloody battle to grab the plantations of India. The double negation is expressed grammatically by the negative adverb “never” and lexically by the semantics of the verb “to fail” is desemantized to such an extent that in some cases it is equivalent to a simple negative and is translated accordingly, e. g. he failed to appear – he did not appear. The combination of a grammatical negative with the comparative or superlative degrees of the adverb “little” is always emphatic and is rendered antonymically. Dickens is hampered by his age, which demands sentiment and reticence, but in the space that is allowed to him he scampers as if he knew no restraint…Never was he less embarrassed by restrictions than in the exuberance of “Pickwick Papers”. -

The double negative construction "not. until" may be regarded as a cliché which is practically always rendered antonymously as лише тоді, тільки (тоді), коли possessing the same degree of emphasis. It was not until I reached the farmyard that I made the discovery. (Susan Howatch) – It was not until 1770 when James Cook chartered the East Coast that any major exploration of Australia was undertaken. He spoke in no uncertain terms. (Susan Howatch) -

Metonymic Translation Metonymic translation is based on contiguity of notions and is less unusual than is generally believed and takes its place among other linguistic transformations. Bare and lurid light of street lamps. – The street lamps had no shades and therefore their light was fierce (cause and effect). That worthy gentleman turned mirth into a cough at just the right time. The odious Mrs. Ruscombe had the effrontery to come up to her to commiserate, with her false honeyed smile. -

Another linguistic feature is to be mentioned here. Metonymy as a means of forming derivative referential meanings is widely used in English but cannot always be preserved in translation. From Winnipeg the railroad sweeps westward in a wide curve… than the steel bends of northward. The English language uses a metonymic denotation – the material “steel” stands for “rails, railway line”. Coalfields go into action. -

Paraphrasing implies rendering the content of the utterance by different semantic and grammatical units. This type of transformation is especially common in translating orders, commands, clichés and phraseological fusions but it is used in other cases, as well. No parking (here) – No reason in the world to get upset. – …the Germans proposed to surround all strongholds with deep minefields and fill up the country between them with mines whereas it was “tankable”. -

The absence of a corresponding suffix in the Ukrainian language sometimes necessitates paraphrasing. They (the demonstrators) had run into a solid wall of riotequipped Washington policemen. – A compound adjective formed by the suffix –ed requires paraphrasing. …”the Party”, said Mr. Mc Lennan, “is illegally kept off the air”.