Cultural Specifics of Precedent Names as a Factor of Cognitive Equivalence in Translation

The article aims at establishing cultural and cognitive factors influencing the translation of precedent names (PNs). As a prototypical means of conveying firmly established meanings, PNs reveal cognitive mechanisms of expressing the most relevant values through metaphors. Functioning both at the linguistic and cognitive level, PNs accumulate characteristics of stereotype, prototype, metaphor and intertext jointly forming the concept of precedence which determines the degree of cognitive equivalence in case of PNs translation. We claim that cognitive equivalence is the principal criterion for successful PNs rendering since it allows for maximum possible correspondence of the meanings the author embodied in the name and those actualized in the mind of the target reader. The highest degree of cognitive equivalence correlates with preservation of all the elements of precedence, though some of them may be sacrificed to ensure integrity at the level of the entire message. Differences in conceptualizing reality by various cultures lead to discrepancies in the perception of certain phenomena or even loss of precedence inherent in a name when transferred to the target culture. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the translator attempts to establish the scope of PNs use both in the source and target cultures. Proceeding from the cultural status of PNs, (s)he seeks to anticipate if a direct equivalent of the original name invoke the image intended by the author. If in the receiving culture, a PN appeals to a different meaning not established as the prototype of the necessary quality or does not actualize any image, the translator uses transformations aimed at compensating the lack of background knowledge for a potential reader. The degree of transformations the translator resorts to depends heavily on the cleavage between the source and target cultural environment and, consequently, the meanings PNs will communicate for the readers of the original and the translation. The strategies translators employ in literary translation support the hypothesis of the research concerning the interrelationship among the cultural identity of PNs, methods of their translation and the degree of cognitive equivalence achievable against the background of culture-specific constraints.