TRANSLATING SEMANTICALLY COMPLICATED WORDS FROM ENGLISH INTO UKRAINIAN
Abstract
This article deals with English verbs formed through metaphorical conversion, which is studied as a process that involves transition of nouns into verbs. Metaphorical conversion presupposes the preservation of the noun form and simultaneous development of the metaphorical meaning by the verb. The study is carried out on the material of 60 words naming animals in the English language. It has been found that 36 nouns that name animals are transformed into verbs with one or several metaphorical meanings (for example, badger – to badger, lark – to lark, squirrel – to squirrel, rat – to rat). The resulting verbs are accurate, imagery and concise lexical units that do not only name action but also describe/ characterize it and, as such, are semantically complicated lexical units.
The ability of a verb formed through metaphorical conversion to describe or characterise action is predetermined by the peculiarities of the metaphorical transference that accompanies conversion.
The verbs that describe the physical properties of an action (such as speed, intensity, force) is the result of transference based on the external similarity of objects; in other words, interpretation of the denotation component of the lexical meaning of a word. As opposed to this, verbs that lend moral-ethical characteristics to an action or express the speaker’s attitude towards it emerge through transference that is based on the emotional impression (imaginary similarity) and the development of the connotation component of the lexical meaning of the words.
Imaginary likeness leads to the formation of more than a half of all metaphorical meanings of verbs formed through conversion. The conclusion seems logical if one takes into account the high potential of words naming animals to trigger associations which, in turn, is linked to the mythology context, as well as the cultural and historical experience of the language speakers.
When translating metaphorical verbs into Ukrainian it is necessary to consider their complicated semantic structure. The dominant translation model is a verb in English → a verb + an adverb in Ukrainian. Metaphorical verbs embrace properties of several parts of speech; they enrich the language metaphorically and are powerful means of imagery compression.
References
2. Richards I.A. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. New York, 1965. 284 p.
3. MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. Second Edition. 2010. 1748 p.
4. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Third Edition. Volume II. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1973. 2672 p.
