Германские языки | Филологический аспект №06 (110) Июнь 2024

Русские эмотивные лексемы, репрезентирующие концепт «душа/совесть» и их английские переводческие соответствия.

Анфиногенова Анна Ивановна
кандидат филологических наук, доцент, доцент, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, annaanfi@rambler.ru

Аннотация: Статья посвящена лексико-семантическому анализу английских эмотивных лексем (ЭЛ), являющихся переводческими соответствиями (ПС) русских ЭЛ, употребляющихся в пьесах А.П. Чехова. Для проведения сравнительного анализа были взяты английские переводы пьес А. П. Чехова как известных, так и анонимных переводчиков. Анализ эмотивных лексем важен для понимания как общих, так различительных черт английской и русской ментальности. Эмотивный концепт «душа/дух» является ключевым концептом для русской культуры. Автором предложены типы лексической вариативности английских ЭЛ в нескольких переводных текстах, соответствующих одному оригинальному источнику.
Ключевые слова: языковая картина мира, концепт «душа», концепт «совесть», английские переводческие соответствия, русские фразеологические обороты, вариативность эмотивных лексем.

Anfinogenova Anna Ivanovna
PhD in Philology, docent, associate professor, Saint-Petersburg State University

Abstract: The article is devoted to the lexico-semantic analysis of the English emotive lexemes which are the translation equivalents of the Russian emotive concept ‘dusha/soul ’ used in the plays by A.P. Chekhov.The English translations of Chekhov's plays by different translators were used for the comparative analysis. Analysis of the emotive concepts as the most important components of the linguistic picture of the world both English and Russian enables to determine some common and distinguishing features of English and Russian mentalities. The Russian emotive lexemes expressing the concept 'dusha/soul ' are one of the key consepts of Russian culture. This Russian emotive concept uncludes various lexemes represented by different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, participles, adverbs) and some set expressions. Identification of syntactic types of Russian-English translation equivalents and their analysis will be of both theoretical and practical value to both students – undergraduates and postgraduates.
Keywords: language picture of the world, concept "soul", concept "conscience", English translation matches, Russian phraseological expressions, variability of emotive lexemes.

When translating a work of fiction, the translator is confronted with three main points: 1) differences in cultural and historical backgrounds; 2) problems of translating idioms, proverbs and sayings; 3) irony and humour [6: 14].  All this equally applies to the translation of A. Chekhov's works of fiction into English.

Chekhov scholars note the difficulty of translating "those words and expressions which are close in meaning in both languages, but have different "volume» - ‘meshchanin’(l.t. philistine), "obshchestvennyi chelovek’ (l.t. public man"), ‘blagorodnyi’(l.t. noble), ‘svetlaia lichnost’( l.t. light personality) [4:377].  Besides proverbs, idioms and jokes, the words created by A.  Chekhov himself (e.g. ('nedotepa’, l/t. nerd), ('vechnyi student’, l.t. eternal student), ('vrazdrob’, l.t. separately) are also difficult to translate into a foreign language [4:317- 319]; translators also face the problem of conveying 'the unique precision of Chekhov's style'. [3: 64].

In order to convey the intense emotional world of the characters in A. Chekhov's plays, the main task of translators is both to convey the artistic and aesthetic merits of the original, and to fully convey the emotional states and reactions of representatives of different social classes of the Russian population at the end of the 19th century.

As we know, the translation of a work of fiction is not limited to selecting from a list of those elements which are recorded in dictionaries as translation correspondences (TСs) for a certain word of the original. Many translation scholars point out that in the practice of translation work, there are many cases where words are used that are not foreseen in bilingual dictionaries, because dictionaries are unable to foresee all the specific contexts and combinations into which a word falls and which extremely diversify its content.  Achieving equivalence and adequacy of translation, taking into account the significant differences in the semantic systems of the English and Russian languages, requires from the translator the ability to make multi-type inter-lingual transformations in order to ensure that the English translation of Chekhov's plays conveys the information contained in the original text with the greatest possible completeness.

Let us take a closer look at interesting and important from the point of view of the Russian linguistic picture of the world emotive constructions with the lexeme ‘dusha’, (l.t. soul), found when comparing five or six translations of each of the five plays by A., Chekhov – “Ivanov”, “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard”.  The concept of ‘dusha’ (l.t. soul) is also one of the key ones for Russian culture [17: 31].  The group includes Russian phraseological expressions with emotive semantics – ‘nekhorosho/svetlo/tiazhelo/ gadko na dushe (l.t.  it does not feel good / light / heavy / bad on the soul); ‘ispytat) podiem dukha/past dukhom’, ‘ne v dukhe’, (l.t. (to experience) lifting of the spirit / fall in the spirit, not in the spirit)); (‘bolit/muchaet/zashchemilo sovest’ (l.t. the soul is languishing; aching / tortured / hurt conscience).

The comparative analysis of the English translations of this group of emotive phrases was carried out on the basis of English translations of five Chekhov plays, produced at different times by well-known translators - Ann Dunnigan, Elisaveta Fen, Marian Fell, Kathleen Cook, Peter Carson, Ronald Hingley - as well as by several anonymous translators

1. English TC of phraseological expressions with emotive lexemes ‘dusha/dukh’ (l.t. soul/spirit)

1.1 English TC of the expression ‘ne khorosho na dushe’

A single case of the use of this phraseological unit was recorded, which corresponds to the five English PS used six times in the translated texts. In this case, one TC with a changed syntactic status (unhappy (1 usage)) and a number of TCs with fixed expressions: to be troubled (2), to be depressed (1), in a bad mood (1) and His heart is heavy (1).

Example (1): (Masha Arkadinoi o Trepleve) U nego nekhorosho na dushe] [7: 444]     - His heart is troubled [8: 126; 12: 140]; he's unhappy [15: 56]; his heart is heavy [11: 19]; he's depressed [14: 102]; he's in rather a bad mood [12: 83].

1.2 English TC of the phrase ‘svetlo na dushe’

A single usage of the phrase is observed, which corresponds to six English TCs, which are recorded once each in the translated texts. In this case, one TC with a changed syntactic status: happy (1word usage) and five PSs representing phrases and stable expressions are noted:

Example (2): [‘Irina. Ia ne znaiu otchego u menia na dushe tak svetlo!’] [7: 535] - I don't know why I feel so lighthearted! [8: 236]; I don't know why there's such joy in my heart [11: 250]; I don't know why but I feel so bright and gay today! [15: 95]; I don't know why I feel so radiant [14 205]; I'm in such a good mood, I don't know why [12: 172]; I don't know why I'm so happy [9: 2].

1.3 English TCs of the construction ‘tiazhelo na dushe’

There is only one case of the use of this construction, which corresponds to four English TCs recorded five times in the translated texts. In this case, all TCs are fixed expressions:

 Example (3): [ ‘(Lyubov Andreyevna) U menia segodnia tiazhelo na dushe’] [7: 643)   - My heart is heavy today [8: 358]; There's such a weight on my mind today [13: 376]; I am so wretched today [15: 194]; You can't imagine how heavy my heart is today [14: 323]; I'm so depressed today [12: 275].

1.4 English TCs of the expression ‘tomitsia dusha’

There are two instances of the use of the construction, which is matched by nine English TCs, recorded ten times in the translated texts. In this case, most of the TCs are fixed expressions:

 Example (4): [‘(Treplev Nine) ... ves den moia dusha tomilas uzhasno’] [7: 476] - ... all day long my soul has been in terrible torment [8: 165]; ... ... all day long my heart's been aching terribly all day [13: 178]; I've been so terribly restless all day [15: 87]; All day my heart has been aching for you [11: 52]; I've been terribly low in spirit all day [14: 136]; I've been terribly overwrought all day [12: 112];

 1.5 English TC of the phrase ‘gadko/merzko (stalo) na dushe’

There is only one case of this phrase, which corresponds to eight English TCs, recorded 11 times in the translated texts. There are seven TCs with retained syntactic status: TC —  vile (2 uses), loathsome (2), dirty (1), filthy (1), nasty (1), sick (1), wretched (1) and one TC with changed syntactic status: fraud (1), dreadful (2):

 Example (5): [‘Chebutykin (ugriumo) ... i  stalo na dushe krivo,gadko, merzko’] [7: 574]  - ... and in my soul I felt crooked, vile, loathsome [8: 283]; . and I felt such a swine, so sick of myself [11: 299]; I began to feel such a rat, such a filthy fraud [15: 133]; ...and I felt I was morally deformed, vile, loathsome [14: 248]; I felt rotten, dirty, twisted inside [12: 211]; and everything in my mind became crooked, nasty, wretched [9: 36].

1.6 English TC of the phrase ‘(ispytat) podiem dukha’

There is only one use of the phrase, which corresponds to four English TCs, recorded six times in the translated texts. In this case, four TCs representing fixed verb-noun expressions are noted:

Example (6):[‘(Dorn Treplevy) ...no esli by mne prishlos ispytat podiem dukkha [ kakoi byvaet y khudozhnikov vo vremia tvorchestva]’] [7: с. 441] - … if it had ever been my lot to experience the exaltation that comes to artists in their moments of creation [8: 122; 13: 136; 11: 15]; If I were to feel the ecstasy that artists experience while creating [15: 53]; But if I ever came to feel the upsurge of spirit which artists have at the moment of creation [14: 98]; But if I'd ever experienced the uplift that an artist feels when he's creating [12: 80].

1.7 English TCs of the expression ‘past dukhom’

There are two instances of the use of the construction, corresponding to seven English TCs, which are recorded 12 times in the translated texts. In this case the majority of TCs are fixed expressions, the most frequent of which is the TC lose one's heart (6 occurrences):

 Example (7): [‘(Olga Natashe) Ia prosto padaiu dukhom’] [7: с. 573] - I feel ill, simply sick at heart! [8: 281]; I simply get sick [13: 297]; It depresses me terribly [15: 131]; I simply give up! [14: 246] I feel simply awful about it [12: 210]; I simply lose heart! [9: 35];

1.8 English TCs of the expression ‘ne v dukhe’

There are four instances of the use of this expression, corresponding to the 12 English TCs recorded 24 times in the translated texts. In this case, all the TCs are fixed expressions: TC be in a bad mood (8 uses), TC be out of sorts (3), be not in a (very) good mood (3), TC be out of humour (2), be out of temper (1), feel out of sorts (1), in a bad temper (1), be in a bad humour (1), feel upset (1), feel out of humour (1), be low-spirited (1), be downhearted (1), for example:

 Example (8): [‘(Sorin  Treplevy) Otchego sestra ne v dukhe?’] [7: 429]   - Why is my sister (your mother) in (such) a bad mood? [8: 108; 15: 41; 14: 85; 12: 69]; Why is my sister so out of humour today? [12: 122]; Why is my sister out of temper? [11: 3];

 2.English TC of phraseological expressions with the emotive lexeme ‘sovest’

The following Russian phraseological expressions with emotive lexeme ‘sovest’ (l.t. conscience) ‘bolit moia sovest’, ‘(menia) mychaet sovest’, ‘zashchemilo moiu sovest’ are noted in Checkov’s plays. They correspond to English TCs (20 cases) representing only predicative units.

Example (9): [(Ivanov) Den i noch bolit moia sovest’] [7: 246]- And I am conscience-stricken day and night [8: 58]; My conscience worries me day and night [13: 71]; My conscience aches day and night [14: 35]; I feel so conscience-stricken all the time [12: 29].

Example (10): [‘(Vershinin) …menia mychaet sovest’] [7: 556]   - My conscience torments me [8: 262]; I feel utterly conscience-stricken [13: 277]; I get conscience-stricken [15: 115]; I feel guilty [14: 228; 12: 194]; My conscience tortures me [9: 20].

Example (11): [‘(Astrov niane) … i zashchemilo moiu sovest’] [7: 484]   —  I was conscience-stricken [8: 174]; My conscience began to worry me [13: 188]; My conscience began tormenting me [15: 184]; My conscience pricked me [14: 146]; I felt guilty [12: 120]; My conscience tortured me [10: 2].

As can be seen from the comparative analysis, one Russian emotive construction

changes from 5-6 to 9-12 English translated correspondences recorded in the translated texts.  The largest group of English TCs are free and fixed expressions and statements with emotive semantics (57 uses), the second group (with a smaller number) consists of TCs with preserved syntactic status (11 uses) and the smallest group consists of English TCs with changed part-of-speech (and/or syntactic) status.

The numerous translational variants of Russian phraseological expressions with emotive lexemes ‘dusha/dukh/sovest’ (l.t. soul/spirit-conscience) only serve to confirm the following facts:

1) Russian phraseological expressions with emotive semantics, especially those involving the key notion of Russian culture "soul", cause a certain difficulty when translated into English;

2) Translators do not have a single solution for the equivalent translation of phraseological expressions with emotive semantics.

The above examples clearly show that in the process of fiction translation the emotive lexemes of the original are not permanent autonomous units of translation. There may be cases of forced lexico-semantic deviations of translated emotive lexemes, as well as replacements of word combinations and fixed expressions with translated universal lexemes (and vice versa). When translating a work of fiction (and especially the intense emotional world of the characters in Chekhov’s plays) the main task of the translators was to transfer the artistic and aesthetic qualities of the original, to fully convey the emotional states and reactions of the different classes of Russia in the late 19th century. In order to achieve the aim, the translators had to make use of vocabulary that was unrelated to the mentality of the native speakers of English, sacrificing in so doing both the natural sounding of the translated text, and certain idio-ethnic peculiarities of the original Chekhov's text [1: 8].

The multiplicity of translation variants is a consequence of the divergence of national-cultural emotional concepts of native speakers of English and Russian and indicates the difference in national specificities of the Russian and English languages.

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