Language of social status and role as a translation problem (based on literary translation from Russian into English)

Introduction 3
Chapter 1. Social and Role Relations as a Subject of Translation Studies 7
1.1. Translation Equivalence in Literary Translation 7
1.1.1. The Concept of Translation Equivalence 7
1.1.2. Studies of Translation Equivalence in Literary Translation 12
1.2. Linguistic Representation of Social Status and Communicative Role in Fiction 14
1.2.1. Social and Role Relations in Fiction 14
1.2.2. Characters’ Speech as Linguistic Representation of Their Social Status and Communicative Role 16
1.2.3. Author’s Remarks and Characters’ Comments about Each Other as Linguistic Representation of Social Status and Communicative Role 18
1.2.4. Addresses, Titles and Speech Formulas as Linguistic Representation of Social Status and Communicative Role 19
1.2.5. Impositive Utterances as Linguistic Representation of Social Status and Communicative Role 21
1.3. Research on Translation of Information about the Social Status and Communicative Role 23
1.3.1. The Role of Cultural Background in Conveying the Linguistic Representation of Social Status and Communicative Role 23
1.3.2. Ways of Translating Social Status and Communicative Role in Characters’ Speech 27
1.3.3. Ways of Translating Social Status and Communicative Role in Author’s Remarks and Characters’ Comments about Each Other 29
1.3.4. Ways of Translating Social Status and Communicative Role in Addresses, Titles and Speech Formulas 30
1.3.5. Ways of Translating Social Status and Communicative Role in Impositive Utterances 32
Summary of Chapter 1 34
Chapter 2. Analysis of Translation Solutions in Translations of Works by M. M. Zoshchenko and M. A. Bulgakov 35
2.1. The Artistic Originality of the Works by M. M. Zoshchenko and M. A. Bulgakov 36
2.2. Translation of Social Status and Communicative Role Through Lexical Representations of Social Groups 39
2.3. Translation of Social Status and Communicative Role Through Terms for Impositive Practices 58
2.4. Translation of Social Status and Communicative Role in Impositive Utterances 74
Summary of Chapter 2 92
Conclusions 96
References 98
List of Abbreviations Used 103
Купить

This research studies the ways of conveying information about the social statuses and communicative roles of characters in translations of fiction from Russian into English.
When addressing complexities of translating fiction, a well-known English-to-Russian translator Viktor Petrovich Golyshev mentioned challenges inherent in conveying the communicative distance between characters. He pointed out that English fictional characters appear to maintain a greater communicative distance in their interactions as compared to corresponding Russian characters in translations, and this communicative distance does not translate well into Russian.
As noted by V. P Golyshev, there seems to be “a screen of coldness” between characters of English works of fiction [Golyshev 2010: 11:50]. Indeed, the norms and expression of communicative distance differ across linguistic communities. Therefore, such aspects as social status, communicative role and communicative distance are represented by unique vocabulary, grammar structures, and types of utterances in each culture.
The difficulties involved in conveying the communicative distance between the characters are linked to specific cultural and historical social scripts. In many translated works, the information about the communicative distance between characters, their social status and communicative roles, is simply omitted because it is not crucial for communicating the author’s central message. Thus, in order to explore translations of such information, it is useful to conduct an analysis of characters’ utterances in works of fiction where the social statuses and communicative roles of characters are in the focus of the author’s attention.
Many works of fiction of the early Soviet era, such as works by M.A. Bulgakov and M.M. Zoshchenko, fall under this category. The analysis would provide valuable insights into the challenges of rendering social statuses, communicative roles, and the intended communicative distance of the characters in the context where this information cannot be omitted in the translation.
The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that it is carried out in compliance with modern pragmatic and sociolinguistic studies of literary translation.
The novelty of the research. The research examines the translation strategies for conveying the language of social status and role in texts where the information about social status and role is the main theme and is, therefore, a translation priority. The work develops new translation-oriented ways of examining the linguistic expression of social status and communicative role.
Theoretical framework. The research approach is based on Language and Culture studies (Larina, Brown and Levinson, Wierzbicka); Sociolinguistics (Karasik, Krysin, Bell, Leech); Translation studies (Retzker, Alexeyeva, Fedorov, Komissarov, Barkhudarov).
The subject of the study is the linguistic expression of social status and communicative role in English translations of Russian fiction.
The focus is on the translation strategies applied by English translators to convey the Russian meanings associated with social status and communicative role.
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the ways in which linguistic expressions of social status and communicative role are translated from Russian into English without losing the meaning, nuance, and voice of the original text....
Купить