Due to this, the number of lexically meaningful articles in different speech substyles often varies. Their occurrence can also depend on the personal taste of the author who may be more or less inclined to use them in his narrative. But whatever their quantity, none of the lexically meaningful articles should be ignored or overlooked in the passage under translation and its meaning must be correctly rendered in the target language.
In order to faithfully convey each kind of the meaningful articles subject the whole passage to a thorough content analysis in order to select possible lexical substitutes for the articles in the target language.
The substitutes in languages like Ukrainian (or Russian), which have no functionals of the kind, can differ by their logico-grammatical nature, as well as be contextually synonymous.
Because of this the choice of the contextually equivalent substitutes depends much on the translator who, when selecting a fitting lexical equivalent for the article, has to take some factors into consideration:
1) the semantic factor playing a predominant role
2) the stylistic factor eliminating an unnecessary repetition of the same equivalent substitute in sentences close by.
In other words, the co-occurrence of the same synonymous substitutes must be strictly regulated.
Besides, the translator has to keep it in mind, that some contextual meanings of the definite article may seem similar to those of the indefinite article and vice versa. Hence, the translator should be no less attentive to the style of his target language passage which in its turn will help him achieve a faithful translation of sentences or the passage as a whole, where both the defining and the nominalizing lexically charged articles are used.
When conveying the lexical meanings of the articles into Ukrainian, attention should be paid to their functional meanings in the sentence/word-combinations. Thus, the meanings of the definite article are usually expressed through different Ukrainian attributive pronouns, adjectives, participles, adverbs or cardinal/ordinal numerals. The meaning of the numeral one, on the other hand, is always expressed only through the indefinite article, which is historically derived from this part of speech.
Most of felllows in the Quarters share a studio. (Maugham) .
The nominalizing articles are mostly rendered through the parts of speech having the functions of attributes to the noun: ...I believe that a young person in a city tea-shop has left her situation. (Maugham)..., ' .
The emphatically used articles, on the other hand, have usually particles for their contextual equivalents in Ukrainian:
But I must content myself with a few paragraphs. (Maugham) , .
The rhematic use of the articles introducing the new informa-tion, a new core of an utterance, and its thematic use repeating the already known information about an object or event is often disclosed in Ukrainian sentences by other than lexical means, as will be shown further. Still, the bulk of meanings which the lexically charged articles can acquire due to their syntagmatic environment in speech are those of pronouns. This can also be seen from the citied illustrations on the forthcoming pages.
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2. REALIZATION OF CONTEXTUAL MEANINGS OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
The definite article can have various realizations in Ukrainian.
1) as the demonstrative pronoun (, , ):
The thought was fire in him. , .
Martin came back and looked at the beady eyes - sneering.... , , ....
2) as the demonstrative pronouns (, , , ), , ( , ), :
was realized as the I who made things, the thinking I, and the speaking I (P. Freire) - , , .
Sometimes there is the impression that the I.M.F. is on the same side of the barricades with the forces which are out to reverse the course of development back to Soviet times, Ukrainian president said. (Kyiv Post) , , , - .
He was amazed at the man's sympathy with the life and his incisive psychology. (J. London) .
3) as the possessive pronoun , (, , ):
The room was situated over the laundry... / ...
Why don't you eat? he demanded, as Martin dipped dole-fully into the cold, half cooked oatmeal mush. ? - , , .
4) as the identifying pronoun , , /:
looked up, and it seemed that the room was lifting... ³ , , ...
The romance and beauty, and high vigour of the books were coming true. , , , .
5) as the relative pronoun (, , ):
She did not know the actual fire of love. , ' .
6) as the indefinite pronoun (, ), :
For the moment the great gulf that separated them then was bridged. , , .
7) as the identifying attributive pronoun , , :
But the man did not seem to know of the content of the great mind. , , .
The toil meant nothing to him. .
8) as an adjective or adjectivized participle (according to the contextual meaning):
Martin Eden did not go out to hunt for a job in the morning. .
He had worked the day before in the basement and the money had been kept all the time. (E.Caldwell) .
9) as a particle emphasizing some other part of speech:
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But the story was grand just the same, perfectly grand. -, .
The man above us was talking to several persons in the crowd. (E.Caldwell) / .
10) very often when the noun in the sentence has another attribute the clearly explicit lexical meaning of the definite article remains superflous:
He lay where he had fallen, and from there he watched the man in the red sweater. ³ , , . (J.London)
Here the man in the red sweater may be translated as but the postpositive attribute () has a stronger force of definiteness than the prepositive lexically charged article. As a result, the meaning of the article remains implicit, though strongly felt.
11) In many a case the definite article may point to thematic functioning of the noun, which is usually signalized by its initial position in the sentence and pointing to the core of the utterance presenting the basic, known already elements in the sentence:
The street lights were fewer now. (J. Steinbeck) .
The old man stared at the open door. (Ibid.) .
The dog had gone back to his slow, spiritless barking. (J. Steinbeck) .
3. REALIZATION OF CONTEXTUAL MEANINGS OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE
Very often, almost predominantly the indefinite article is endowed in speech/text with lexical meanings, which may coincide with those of different pronouns. The only exception is made for the meaning of the cardinal numeral one from which the indefinite article historically originates.
No wonder that the contextual meanings of the lexically charged indefinite article can sometimes be, as will be seen further on, quite unexpected. The most frequent and common of these meanings can be expressed, as has been mentioned already, in one of the following ways:
1) by the cardinal numeral (, ):
He said something about a schooner that's gettin' ready to go off. (O. Wilde) ³ , .
2) In some contexts, however, the indefinite article may acquire a lexical meaning which corresponds either to the Ukrainian cardinal numeral , to the ordinal numeral or to the indefinite pronoun (, ). The indefinite article may also mark the rheme of the utterance as in the sentence:
Only for an instant he hesitated, then his head went up and his hand came off. (J. London)
In this sentence any of the above-given substitutes may be quite faithful, since the cardinal or ordinal numeral and the indefinite pronoun are equally fitting in the utterance, which in Ukrainian will have another position:
³ () ...
³ () ...
³ () ...
3) By the indefinite pronoun only, without the attendant meanings of the cardinal or ordinal numerals:
He saw her come down the aisle, with Arthur and a strange young man. (J.London). ³ , .
4) When the lexically meaningful indefinite article precedes the noun under logical stress, it functions as the demonstrative pronoun, which is translated into Ukrainian as , , :
This was his programme for week. (J. London) .
Here was a man who could do anything, was the message she readthere. (Ibid) - .
5) As one of the possessive "pronouns (according to their contextual meaning):
When she returned with the grammar, she drew a chair near his. (Ibid.) () , .
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6) As the negative pronoun or the negative perticle (when the determined noun is preceded by the negative particle not):
You were not following word. / .
hadn't a penny. ³ ( ).
7) As the relative adjective which is lexically equivalent in the sentences below to the Ukrainian identifying pronoun (, ):
(his) day's work was the equivalent to a week's work of the average succesful writer. (Ibid.)...() - .
8) More common in Ukrainian contextual substitutes for the lexically meaningful indefinite article are, however, different relative adjectives, the most often used being :
This small sum seemed a fortune. () () .
9) the contextual meaning of the indefinite article may some times be expressed in Ukrainian through different adverbs:
There is a great difference. / .
10) The broader context often predetermines the employment of lexically equivalent variants which could scarcely ever be offered for a narrow context:
He was not to remain a sailor. .
11) the contextual meaning of the indefinite article may be expressed through the interrogative or indefinite pronoun also enforced by some emphatic particles:
What a lovely day! !
!!!!!! Note:
Apart from the contextual meanings of the articles mentioned there may be some other (implicit) meanings of them. Thus, the definite article may sometimes have the following additional realizations in Ukrainian:
a) that of a pronominal word group of an emphatic force:
I want you to get rid of the dreadful people youre associated with. , * .
b) sometimes the article may substitute an implicit identifying/interrogative pronoun and a particle expressing the contextual meaning of the emphatically used noun with the definite article:
The pity of it! The pity of it! ! ! ! !
There are, naturally, many more contextual realizations of the lexical meanings, pertaining to the definite and the indefinite articles, which they may acquire in a text/at speech level.
