TRANSFORMATIONS OF LEXICAL UNITS IN THE
PROCESS OF TRANSLATION
Transformations of nationally peculiar lexical units in the process of translation, as will be shown below, are sometimes of particu-
lar interest as well. These transformations become inevitable as a result of differences existing between the ways and means of expression of the same meanings in the source language and in the target language. Among the lexical units that change their outer/structural form in the target language as a result of translation are a number of simple and compound words belonging to different parts of speech and representing various layers of lexicon. They include three main stylistically distinguished classes of units: 1) Stylistically neutral lexis; 2) stylistically evaluative lexis; 3) culturally biased national specific units of lexicon pertained to each source language and to every target language. Such transformation are lexical substitutions.
1. Among the numerous stylistically neutral simple and compound words both in the English and Ukrainian languages there are variousdifferent notional parts of speech - nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, numerals, pronouns, the semantic equivalents of which in the target language may be single words, word-groups and even sentences. Because of this the choice of their lexical equivalents in the target language is not always easy. Cf.:
advertiser той /та, ті/, хто дає/що дають рекламне оголошення, пропонують на продаж товар;
akimbo взявшись руками в боки, тримаючись руками в боках, руки в боки;
answerable той, та, те, що/на що можна відповісти/дати відповідь;
backer той, хто підтримує когось/допомогає, сприяє комусь у чомусь;
boatful пасажири й команда корабля/судна; заповнене/ завантажене судно/корабель;
indulge робити собі приємність у чомусь, віддаватись якимось утіхам (читанню, слуханню музики, грі в футбол, тощо);
airsick той/та, те, ті, що погано переносять повітряне подорожування (в літаку).
A considerable number of stylistically neutral Ukrainian simple and compound words have very often word-groups or sentences for their semantic (but not structural) equivalents in English as well. Cf.:
грамотний person who can read and write or well informed in smth.;
пополудні in the afternoon, post meridiem;
принатися/прискакати to come quickly running or riding (to come galloping);
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обороноздатність the strength of the defensive capacity of a country;
перекотиполе rolling Аах(рослина) and rolling stone (про
людину);
пустомолот/пустомеля an idle tale-teller, copious speaker
(chatterbox);
світогляд conception of a person's world/world outlook/ one's
creed.
A great number of such and the like stylistically neutral words are given in any bilingual English-Ukrainian dictionary and never present any difficulty for the translator to check up their meaning.
2. A separate group of lexical units, which may sometimes have the same meaning but quite different outer/structural expression in English and Ukrainian is presented by diminutives. They have a very poor representation in English (only among some nouns) but there is a very large quantity of them in Ukrainian, where they exist practically among all parts of speech. These words may be used in English only as diminutives or they may express diminutive evaluation as well, which is regularly identified in context. It is difficult to say, for example, whether booklet, manikin or hillock are diminutives only or diminutives and evaluatives at the same time. As diminutives they mean брошура, карлик and горбок respectively, and as diminutive evaluatives they may express the meanings of книжечка, брошурка, чоловічок (small and handsome or scornful), горбочок (not high but pleasant hillock).
This distinction is almost always clearly identified and expressed in Ukrainian where diminutive suffixes may also point to an escalating gradation of a diminutive quality in a noun. This can be seen from each second or third outer form of the following nouns:
1. ручка 2. ручечка 3. рученька 4. рученя 5. рученятко 6.рученяточко 7.руця;
1. голова 2. головка 3. головочка 4. голівка 5. голівочка
6. голівонька/головонька;
1 дівчина 2. дівчинка 3. дівча 4. дівчатко 6. дівчаточко
7. дівонька 8. дівчинонька, etc.
Similar meanings have to be expressed (and are to some extent expressed) in English with the help of lexico-syntactic means, i.e., by means of some additional adjectives containing the seme of smallness. Cf.: голівка small head; голівочка/голівонька small/little head; дівчинонька dear/lovely girl, lovely little girl, etc.
English diminutive and evaluative meanings are not always clearly and fully expressed by isolated nouns, except for those which have corresponding suffixes as daddy, sissy, granny, and a few others whose direct Ukrainian equivalents are respectively татко / татунь, таточко; сестричка /сеструня/ сестронька; бабуся / бабка, бабуня, бабусенька, etc.
Diminutive and evaluative poetic and endearing (ласкаві) meanings of most other English nouns, unlike their Ukrainian equivalents, can be expressed (and identified) only or mostly in the form of word-groups, which convey these connotative meanigs: small little fingers / dear little fin- пальчики, пальчички, пальчи-
| gers |
нятка
sweet/dear little flowers гарні / гарненькі / любі квіточки
/ квітоньки
little star (Cf. Twinkle, twinkle зірочка/зіронька
little star)(poet.)
sweet little lips, lovely little lips вустонька, губи, губоньки,
(poet, colloq.) губки, губенята/губенятка
sweet little girl, dear sweetheart серденько (любка), любонька
No less, if not more, extensive is the use of the diminutive adjectives in Ukrainian which have no semantic and morphological/structural equivalents in English because of which they have to be translated in a descriptive way, which can only partly express their subtle Ukrainian meanings. Cf. білесеньке личко a beautiful white little face, dear/lovely white little face; молоденький козаченько - a handsome and lovely youth, тоненькії брівоньки very beautiful thin little eyebrows, ясненький/яснесенький місяченько a very bright and lovely/ beautiful little moon/dear beautiful little moon.
Diminutive and evaluative meanings of Ukrainian numerals and pronouns are expressed in English practically in the same way: двієчко/двійко гарненьких діточок two nice little children/two dear little kids, трієчка a miserable C mark/a miserable satisfactory mark; нічогісінько (там не робиться) absolutely/practically nothing is being done there.
No need to emphasize that a miserable satisfactory mark or absolutely nothing by far from completely express the diminutive and evaluative meanings of трієчка and нічогісінько.
Diminutive and evaluative meanings of Ukrainian adverbs and verbs can be explicitly and implicitly expressed, though only to some degree, in the same descriptive way too. Cf.: тихесенько вітер віє...
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(Г.Шевченко) the wind breathes very softly, сядьмо рядком та поговоримо ладком (proverb) let us sit side by side and have a lovely talk/chat together; спатки/спатоньки, спатуні, спатунечки to have a little (sweet) sleep; їстиЛстоньки to have a nice/tasteful little bite/ dinner, supper, etc.
Neither has the English language any morphological means to express explicitly the augmentative and evaluative meanings of Ukrainian lexemes (mostly nouns). As a result, they acquire in English an objectively predetermined form of explicit expression by means of word-groups or sentences. For example, the pejorative (mostly contemptuous) meanings of a number of Ukrainian augmentative nouns will have the following English outer form expression: вовчище a big formidable wolf/a (big) monster of a wolf; дубище a very thick and tall/ ramous oak-tree; здоровило a healthy/robust fellow, a regular/robust maypole; п'янюга a miserable heavy drunkard, a disgusting inebriate, a three-bottle man, etc.
3. The third class of lexical units, which mostly require a different explicit/outer form presentation in the target language are culturally biased elements/specifically national notions. When in the form of words not belonging to regular internationalisms like lord, mister, shilling, etc. лорд, містер, шилінґ, they are mostly transcribed or transliterated and shortly explicated in the target language. Cf.:
haggis (шотл.) геґґіс посічені й перемішані з вівсяним борошном та спеціями овечі потрохи, зварені в жирі в овечому кендюсі; muffin маффин, солодка здоба, випечена в чашкоподібній формі з прісного чи сходячого тіста (споживається гарячою); sheriff шериф, поліційний начальник округи (США); бабка babka cooked noodles mixed with egg, sugar and raisins, baked in a pot (in oven) and served fresh/warm; веснянки vesnyanky Ukrainian songs hailing the coming spring; вишиванка vyshyvanka an embroidered Ukrainian linen/silk shirt; плахта plakhta thick checkered cloth wrapped by Ukrainian girls and younger women around the waist over the shirt (as a kind of skirt). All above-given structural transformations of lexical units through translation exemplify the objectively conditioned ways of expression pertained to the English or Ukrainian language respectively. The subjectively employed transformations of lexical units in the process of translation are predetermined not so much by the objective, i.e., national linguistic factors, than by the stylistic aims realized by the translator. These are employed to achieve the necessary evaluation or a higher degree of expressiveness. Thus, to render the meaning of (my) dear love the translator, guided by the context, is free
to choose on his own will one of tile following Ukrainian semantic equivalents: люба, кохана, любка/любочка, серденько, дівчинонька, дівчина-рибчина, ясочка, зіронька, дружинонька. No less difficult may also be, for example, the choice of the most fitting in a Ukrainian context diminutive equivalent, say, for the adjective teeny (colloquially teeny- weeny) or its Scottish variant wee, which may have the following synonymous word equivalents in Ukrainian: малесенький, манюній, манюнький, манюсінький, манюпусінький, крихітний.
