STYLISTICALLY/SUBJECTIVELY PREDETERMINED TRANSFORMATIONS

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 457.

GRAMMATICALLY AND STYLISTICALLY PREARRANGED TRANSFORMATIONS

Apart from the semantically conditioned outer transformations, a bulk of sense units of the source language can be faithfully trans­lated into the target language only through their structurally trans­formed semantic equivalents. Such kind of transformations usually become necessary because of the difference in the means of expres­sion in the target language. They are mainly employed in the following cases: 1) when translating antonymically; 2) when rendering the meaning of most passive constructions, and 3) when translating sentences with an inverted order of words.

Antonymic translation requires a) an obligatory substitution of an affirmative in sense and structure source language unit for a semantically corresponding negative in struc­ture sense unit of the target language: «For the thousandth time I've told you, to keep your nose out of the business». (J.London ) - «Тисячний раз тобі кажу не втручайся ти в цю справу»; Будь подалі від цієї справи; Fair words fat few (Proverb) - Гарні слова не нагодують.

In many a case transformations of sense units are performed for the sake of achieving a fuller expressiveness. Thus, in the sen­tence «Just remember you are working for Doctor Page.» (Cronin) the underlined part may have two semantically equivalent variants: 1. «To ж пам'ятайте», що ви працюєте на лікаря Пейджа» or «Не забувайте. що ви працюєте на лікаря Пейджа». The second variant, however, is somewhat stronger since it implies threat. To achieve more expres­siveness, the translator may change the outer and inner form of the sense unit in the target language.

Stylistically/subjectively predetermined is always the choice of the inner (content) form of a sense unit in the target language. Cf.: I feel well. (Hemingway) Я почуваюся непогано (добре). A shell fell close. (Ibid.) Неподалік/поруч вибухнув снаряд. In reality, however, any transformation is aimed at a more exact (and more faithful) ren­dering of the source language units into the target language.

WAYS OF CONVEYING THE PASSIVE VOICE CONSTRUCTIONS

It is common knowledge that the quantitative representation of the passive voice constructions in English by far exceeds that in Ukrainian. This is not reflected, naturally, in translation since En­glish passive constructions are far from always transplanted to Ukrai­nian sentences. The much larger quantity of passive constructions in English is explained 1). by the ability of not only the direct but also of the indirect and prepositional objects to perform the function of the subject to the predicate in the passive voice; 2). by the ability of several intransitive verbs to become transitive and take a direct object, and consequently form the passive voice (cf. Her dog is often walked by her brother. The office is run by Mr.Brown). No transposi­tions of such type are possible in Ukrainian where only the direct object can be transformed into the subject of the sentence in the passive voice. Nevertheless, the meaning of the passive voice may sometimes be maintained, though expressed then not with the help of the analytical means: He was offered a better job of some sort of somebody or other (Saroyan) - Йому кимсь пропонувалась, нібито якась навіть краща робота. Parallel to this Ukrainian version and less common or less faithful is one more version and way via the active form of the verbal predi­cate: йому буцімто хтось пропонував кращу роботу or: йому нібито десь пропонували кращу роботу. A similar expression is also pos­sible in English: some sort of somebody offered him a better job, which the author (Saroyan) ignored in his sentence above.

Depending on the form of the passive construction and still more on the lexical verbal meaning, this voice form may have in Ukrainian some still other transformations, which express the same meaning of the passive construction; they may acquire the following outer forms of expression in Ukrainian:

a) that of an indefinite personal sentence/clause: I am told that pork-packing is the most lucrative profession after politics in America (O.Wilde) - Кажуть, що в Америці пакування свинини - найприбутковіша праця після політики.

b) that of a single predicative word/simple nominal predicate: They're prepared to sacrifice everything to satisfy their yearning. (Maugham) - Вони ладні пожертвувати всім, аби задовольнити / здійснити своє прагнення.

c) a finite form of the verb/simple verbal predicate: He has never been answered. (B.Aidiss) - Його ще ніхто і ніколи не спростував.

d) an indefinite personal past participle ending in -но/ -то: The room had certainly been transformed. (I.Murdoch) - У кімнаті безперечно зроблено перестановку.

e) any other contextual and structural substitution of the En­glish passive voice predicate verb: I must be left to myself for а while.» (Hemingway) - Мені треба якийсь чаc побути самому/самим із со­бою.