ASYMETRY OF SPEAKING NAME INTERPRETATION IN TRANSLATION (BASED ON ENGLISH NOVEL SERIES BY T. PRATCHETT AND ITS UKRAINIAN, GERMAN, FRENCH AND RUSSIAN TRANSLATIONS)

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of speaking proper nouns translation within the framework of a literary work. Speaking proper names, mainly anthroponyms and toponyms, are considered as means of the author’s ideas rendering and possess certain connotative and pragmatic characteristics. Speaking names perform not only a nominative but also an expressive and informative function, thus particular attention is paid to the rendering of the connotative, emotional, pragmatic, and cultural components of each proper noun, as the correct perception of the novel by the readership depends immensely on that. The main translation difficulties which translators face during the rendering of speaking proper nouns were determined. Said difficulties are related to the differences in language systems and ethno-cultural backgrounds of the audience as well as to the need to take into account both wide and narrow context of the usage of a speaking name. The most common ways to overcome such difficulties were analyzed and the main translation transformations that allow an adequate rendering of the speaking proper noun from the source to the target text were determined. Calque translation and translation transformation of differentiation are considered to be potentially able to reproduce the hid- den meaning, hints, ironic or humorous component of the original speaking proper name. However, the speaking names interpretations’ asymmetry is observed even in translations into closely-related lan- guages, which corresponds to the hypothesis of linguistic relativity. Thus, it seems an impossible task to wholly reproduce the multi-meanings and polysemy of the images hidden in the speaking name and ensure its identical perception by the average reader of the source and target texts. Principal reasons for speaking names interpretations’ asymmetry in translations of the same text are defined, which are lexical-grammatical, ethno-cultural, contextual-pragmatic, and personal-subjective.