Translation of Folklore Texts as a Means of Preserving the Nenets Language: An Integrative Approach

Abstract

The article presents the results of the research into folklore translation, which is carried out through a comparative study of the translation texts and the original folklore texts and through integrative modelling (hypothetical description) of the translation process. Nenets folklore texts recorded during expeditions to the Kanin tundra and their translations into Russian performed at the Ethnocultural Centre of the Nenets Autonomous Area were used as the material for the analysis. The peculiarities of folklore translation from the Nenets language into Russian are exemplified by the text in the genre of oral story. It is shown that they are connected both with the linguistic factors of folklore text content transmission (language-oriented, speech-oriented and communicative) and extralinguistic factors influencing the translation (specifics of donor culture and its relations with recipient culture, the history of Nenets people, the history of folklore translation development. The article reveals how the integrative approach can be applied to the study of Nenets folklore texts translation into Russian. It is based on the ideas of integrative translation studies being actively developed at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov. Due to the integrated consideration of internal and external factors of translation, while taking into account historical and ethno-cultural prerequisites for the translation process, as well as the specifics of the translation product and the features of the translated text reception, folklore translation is positioned as a means to preserve the indigenous language.