Translating figurative language
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Published:2023-10-05
Issue:1
Volume:10
Page:173-198
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ISSN:2213-8722
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Container-title:Cognitive Linguistic Studies
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language:en
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Short-container-title:CogLS
Affiliation:
1. University of Westminster
Abstract
AbstractThis article brings together the extensive literature on figurative language and translation into a single framework to serve translators in a directly practical way in their practice/training. It encourages a view of figurativeness as the norm rather than the exception and figurative language as a flexible meaning-making resource rather than an obstacle to contend with. All language is characterized as figurative because of the indeterminacy of language and the partial nature of meaning making; all translation is viewed as non-literal because of the lack of exact correspondences between languages and the need to use near equivalents. Two approaches are recommended: (1) recreating the ‘semantic space’ of the source rather than mechanically matching its lexicogrammar; (2) viewing metonymy and metaphor as ‘master tropes’ and translating other tropes in terms of relatedness. The challenges of translating metonymy and metaphor in discourse at the level of the whole text are also explored.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Subject
Linguistics and Language
Reference69 articles.
1. The Italian metaphor database;Alonge,2006
2. The Ends of Rhetoric