Contents Introduction
Rendering of the contextual meaning of the definite
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2.2 Rendering of the contextual meaning of the definite
and indefinite articles Most researchers do not pay enough attention to the translation of the articles. But nevertheless some of them (I.V.Korunets, V.I.Karaban) [28,39] consider that when rendering the lexical meaning of the definite and indefinite articles into Russian one should consider that they are meaningful and attention should be payed to their functional meanings in the sentences or word-combinations. One of the researches who supports the idea of the necessity of translating definite and indefinite articles is Korunets. He thinks that the article, both the definite and indefinite, is a functional word serving to identify or determine the noun (cf. to work-the work), the superlative degree of its quality (the tallest tree) or the order of nouns in a word-group (the first step) or in a row of similar nouns. In some prepositional phrases and word-combinations the definite and indefinite articles, however, may change their lexico-grammatical nature (become a particle), as in the expression the more, the better (чим більше, тим краще), or acquire some peculiar grammatical, functional and lexical meaning; the article may be lexicalized as in the Alps/the Carpathians Альпи/Карпати, at the baker's/butcher's. Such and the like lexicalized articles, naturally, in no way weaken or lose their determining, i.e., grammatical function. As a result, their lexical meaning is inseparable in these cases from their functional meaning. The determining and lexicalizing nature of the definite and indefinite articles also manifests itself in several set expressions (cf. in the cart, in a word, what a pity, all of a sudden, etc.) 1). On several other occasions the definite/indefinite article may acquire some lexical meaning in contextual environment (only for a time) and thus serve as a peculiar means of «expressive connotation»1. This kind of articles is each time endowed in different contextual environments with some quite different meaning, which may be, nevertheless, of implicitly different semantic and lexico-grammatical/ logically-grammatical type, as for instance, that of a demonstrative, possessive, identifying, indefinite or some other pronoun: Cf.: He lived more poorly than an artisan. (S. Maugham). Carot never sold a picture. 2) That of an adjunctive/identifying adjective and a specifying or modal particle:... and she had acquired a reputation for neatness and accuracy (Maugham). She would have called him a fish. (Carrol). 3) A distinctly nominal or rather nominalizing meaning. The latter can be explicitly illustrated in the following sentence. He (Mr. Gills) took it (the bottle) up and having surveyed and smelt it said with extraordinary expression: «The?» «The», returned the instrument maker. (Ch. Dickens) The real meaning of thus emphasized article can be disclosed only in the sentence that follows, where Mr. Gills fills the glass with liquour and drinks it. Without the broader context it would certainly be impossible to guess what this definite nominalizing article stands for in the extract. Nor is it always easy for our students to identify in some sentences the rhematic and the thematic function of article; and to express their meaning. Therefore, the occurrence of lexically meaningful articles is not occasional or accidental, for it is predetermined by context. 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 о 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 aforementioned meaningful articles, the student will be advised first of all to subject the whole passage, which is to be translated, to a thorough content analysis in order to select possible lexical substitutes for the article in the target language. The substitutes in languages like 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 These include first of all the semantic factor playing a predominant role, and 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 bе strictly regulated. Besides, the translator has to keep it in mind, that some contextual meanings of the definite article may seem similar 1.1 those of the indefinite article and vice versa. Hence, the translator should be no less attentive to the style of his target language pas sage 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 definite and indefinite articles into Russian, 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 Russian 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. Cf.: 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 Russian: But I must content myself with a few paragraphs. (Maugham). The rhematic use of the articles introducing the new information, a new core of an utterance, and its thematic use repeating the already known information about an object or event is often disclosed in Russian 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. Realization of the contextual meanings of the definite article The definite article when endowed with the lexical meaning in a sentence or passage can have various realizations in Russian. It is expedient to begin with the most common of them which may refer not only to nouns but to other parts of speech as well, as for example: 1) as the demonstrative pronoun:
All cited instances in illustration of the lexical meaning of articles, unless indicated otherwise, have been picked up from J.London's works and their translations in Russian
3) as the possessive pronoun:
4) as the identifying pronoun.
5) as the relative pronoun.
6) as the indefinite pronoun
7) as the identifying attributive pronoun:
8) as an adjective or adjectivized participle (according to the contextual meaning):
9) as a particle emphasizing the attributive pronoun, numeral or some other part of speech:
The rheme, the notional element in the utterance, is more frequently indicated in English by the indefinite article determining the noun in the initial position. When translated into Russian, however, the rhematic noun, as has long been noticed1, occupies a terminating position in the sentence/clause (when the utterance is a composite sentence): A correct selection of thematic and rhematic nouns, identified by the definite and indefinite articles and by their respective placement in the sentence, facilitates the faithful conveying of the logical sentence perspective in the target language. Realization of the contextual meanings of the indefinite article Strange as it may seem but 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) In some contexts, however, the indefinite article may acquire a lexical meaning which corresponds either to the Russian cardinal numeral один, to the ordinal numeral перший 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 Russian will have another position: 2)By the indefinite pronoun, without the attendant meanings of the cardinal or ordinal numerals 4) when the lexically meaningful indefinite article precedes the noun under logical stress, it functions as the demonstrative pronoun, which is translated into Russian. 5) As one of the possessive pronouns (according to their contextual meaning). 6) As the negative pronoun оr the negative particle (when the determined noun is preceded by the negative particle not): 7) as the relative adjective цілий which is lexically equivalent in the sentences below to the Russian identifying pronoun. 8)More common in Russian contextual substitutes for the lexically meaningful indefinite article are, however, different relative adjectives, the most often used. 9) The contextual meaning of the indefinite article may sometimes be expressed in Russian through different adverbs. The above-given lexical realizations of the determining and identifying functions of the definite and indefinite articles would be incomplete without the illustration of some other meanings, which they may acquire in contextual environment. The choice of the semantically fitting substitute for the definite or indefinite article then rests entirely with the translator, who is well acquainted with the text/ work under translation. Since the style of the text may often influence or predetermine the choice of the necessary synonym, care should be taken in order not to neglect the possible ways of expression in Russian either. Thus, the lexical meaning of the indefinite article a in the sentence - I didn't dare show my face at Court for a month. (0. Wilde) - could be faithfully expressed in Russian either through the identifying pronoun весь or by its lexical equivalent at sentence level, which is the relative adjective цілий. But the translator of The Picture of Dorian Gray (R. Dotsenko) has suggested for this particular case a more acceptable contextual version. 10) The broader context often predetermines the employment of lexically equivalent variants which could scarcely ever be offered for a narrow context. The kind of contextual substitutes can be seen in the examples below, where Russian demonstrative and other pronouns, adjectives, numerals, etc., are contextually/semantically enforced by emphatic or modal particles. Thus, the contextual meaning of the indefinite article below is expressed through an adjective enforced by an emphatic or some other particle or group of particles. 11) The contextual meaning of the indefinite article may be ex pressed through the interrogative or indefinite pronoun also enforced by some emphatic particles. Note: Apart from the above-cited contextual meanings of the definite and the indefinite articles there may be some other (implicit) meanings of them. Thus, the definite article may sometimes have the following additional realizations in Russian. a) that of a pronominal word-group of an emphatic force: The identifying definite article may include in its semantic information some specifying function and meaning too: Some implicit contextual meanings of the modifying and identifying definite article the can often be given a true and faithful explication i.e. realization in translation only after a thorough study of the broader content as well. Cf.: 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. This can be seen in the following exclamatory sentence: The picture of contextual realizations of meanings pertained to the determining and identifying articles would be incomplete without some illustrations of their «deep», as one might call them, or interphrasal and superphrasal meanings, which the articles may acquire in some contexts. The interphrasal meaning of the definite or indefinite article may be elicited already from its contextual meaning at the level of the sentence. Cf.: The meaning of the noun with the indefinite article (an expression) is clearly perceived from the content of the sentence where it may also be substituted. More or less transient is also the meaning of the underlined noun with the definite article in the following sentence. In some cases, however, it is next to impossible to translate a noun with the implicit meaning of its identifying or specifying article without an inquiry into the broader context of the whole work, as in the following sentence. It goes without saying that such a descriptive translation of the noun (a scholarship) could be offered only by a translator well acquainted with the content of the preceding sentences or even of the whole paragraph. 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. In view of the diversity of possible lexical realizations, which the English articles may have in speech, the student will be warned to employ not only their single word equivalents to express their meanings in Russian. A thorough study of the broader context may sometimes help to find a more fitting substitute for a lexically charged indefinite or definite article in Russian. Thus, in the sentence He had a face that reminded me of a frog. (W.Lewis) and But how in heaven’s name could they raise a sum like that? the bold type indefinite article a can not be denied the meaning of the demonstrative pronoun таке. All this must be borne in mind when dealing with the lexically meaningful articles in the sentences of the exercise below. Unfortunately, the restricted space of the manual makes it impossible to give regular passages with the implicit (contextual) meanings of the definite and the indefinite articles. Our analyses of more than 500 cases of translation of English articles into Russian enabled to make the following conclusions: The meanings of the definite article are usually expressed through different Russian attributive pronouns, adjectives, participles, adverbs or cardinal/ordinal numerals. The meanings of the indefinite article are usually expressed through the cardinal numeral one, by the indefinite pronoun, as the demonstrative, as one of the possessive pronouns, as the negative pronoun, or the negative particle, as different relative adjectives, the most often used being;as different adverbs, as an adjective enforced by an emphatic or some other particle or group of particles, as am interrogative or indefinite pronoun also enforced by some emphatic particles. The category of Definiteness and Indefiniteness which influences the way of rendering from English into Russian a lot is equally pertained to both contrasted languages. Yüklə 267,5 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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