Translation Of «Fashionable» Neologisms From Spanish Into Russian

Neologism: Concept, its Variety and Methods of its Translation

Before proceeding to the results of the study, we should turn to the concept of neologism, its classification, and methods of translation into a foreign language.

As a rule, new words in speech are usually divided (in the Russian School of the theory of translation) into neologisms (general) and individual neologisms, that are more often called occasional words. Following the philologist Vinogradov ( 2006), by neologisms, we mean new words or meanings that are being fixed in the language, which call new objects of thought. As the definition implies, neologism is not always a new word, but often an existing word, which has acquired a new meaning as a result of a rapidly changing world.

In the theory of translation, it used to distinguish the following standard methods for transmitting neologisms in a translated text: transcription or transliteration; search for equivalent neologism (due to similar processes of scientific and technological growth, changes in the social, economic and political reality of countries, etc.);loan translation - translation of the main constituent elements of a word or phrase with their subsequent combination or descriptive translation - a lexical-grammatical transformation in which the lexical unit from the original language is replaced by a phrase that reveals its meaning.

Due to the rapidly changing world, neologisms often do not have time to be absorbed by readers in their native language, more difficult is to transmit them in a foreign language, especially if the phenomenon that conveys the neologism is typical of a particular region, or was recorded in the culture of the translated language with semantic faults.

The problem of translation of neologisms into foreign languages ​​is quite acute, because that is caused by the absence of new words in explanatory dictionaries and even in dictionaries of neologisms. A similar situation is typical for the Spanish language, when a certain neologism is very often used in media texts, but is not registered in any dictionary / reference book / database. In this regard, the translator must determine the meaning of the new vocabulary, it is the creative component of the work of the translator. A professional has to perform a number of mental operations: firstly, to understand and reveal the nature of neologism, the way it is formed, to understand the cultural background, events of reality that underlie neologism, to compare with the cultural background in the native language and correctly convey the neologism in translation.

Neologisms in the Spanish Language

In Spanish, the formation of new words occurs according to productive word-formation models, the most frequent way to form new words is through prefix and suffix methods, as well as through word-combining and ending ( Alayón & McKey, 2018; Ciapuscio, 2016; Rodríguez González & Sánchez Fajardo, 2018; Stehlík, 2016). As a rule, a greater number of neologisms in the Spanish language are formed using prefixes that add different shades to the base, thereby changing the meaning (neofascista, subcontratar, remasterización, etc.).

Formation of neologisms from slang is also typical, but their percentage is not so high (about 2%). Such words lose their original meaning due to semantic expansion (pipa, pispas, sudaca, etc.).

Is very effective the method of formation of neologisms-verbs from the nominal foundations of nouns and adjectives (priorizarin stead ofotorgar prioridad, efectivizar in stead of hacer efectivo, etc.). Such verbs convey the meaning more briefly, in addition, they save space, since they do not require the use of a direct complement. Many verbal neologisms are also used in the language of the media not because of brevity or space saving, but because of their prestige and novelty: they are formed from foundations that are related to scientific and technological progress (nuclear - to combine or unite, or compatibilizar instead of compaginar- to match).

As a rule, neologisms in the Spanish language are formed by tracing or by borrowing mainly from the English language (about 20% of borrowings) (dron, bitcoin, emoji) ( Sablayrolles, 2019). Such a situation with very frequent use in the press of borrowings and cripples, as a rule, incomprehensible to the reader, has long been troubled by Spanish philologists and members of the Real Academia Española ( Real Academia Española, 2016). The members of the Fundéu and other language organisations are struggling with this problem, they show and recommend to the Spanish journalists which Spanish neologisms, terms, and concepts to use instead of tracing Anglicisms or using borrowings everywhere.

Language Organisations

Spanish journalists working in national media are encouraged to use the so-called style books - Libros de Estilo (basically all major Spanish publications have their own manuals), the purpose of which is to unify the means of certain lexical units, clarify foreign words, borrowings in Spanish. For example, the daily newspaper El País offers to follow the instructions of its Libro de Estilo, the newspaper El Mundo has its own publication - Libro de Estilo del Diario el Mundo, Libro de Redacción is for the those who work in the newspaper La Vanguardia, etc. There are manuals and guides for journalists working on radio and television, such as En Antena. Libro de Estilo del Periodismo oral for employees of the national radio SER.

Among the stylistic publications for journalists of certain magazines and newspapers in Spain there is a FoundationFundéu BBVA that is a «legislator» of language trends in the world of journalism. The main goal of the Foundation is to promote the proper use of Spanish in the media. The Fundéu's team includes journalists, linguists, lexicographers, proofreaders and translators. The council of consultants of the organization consists of members of the Academy of the Spanish language and other world linguists connected to the Spanish language and its preservation.

The Foundation’s platform every day publishes articles, notes, explanations regarding the most complex cases of using a particular lexical unit. In addition to vocabulary, on the foundation's page it is possible to find articles on spelling, punctuation, the use of toponyms and anthroponyms, as well as style issues.

Word of the Year

The Foundation Fundéu is engaged in the study of the most difficult cases of vocabulary of the Spanish language - stylistic, semantic, as well as spelling features. The organization issues recommendations on their use in media texts, writing and use cases. The Foundation Fundéu every year chooses 12 candidates for the status Word of the Year. Within the framework of this competition, we’ll consider the most interesting from the linguistic point of view and difficult to translate neologisms.

The Word of the Year competition is an action held in different countries and regions with the aim to determine the most significant, popular and relevant words and expressions. The main criterion for choosing a winner in Spain is the following requirement: the word must be new, although not always, but it should have been used in the texts of the media during the current year, more than that, it should be of some interest from a linguistic point of view.

In Spain, the competition has been held since 2013. The results are covered both on the Fundéu’s page and in the press. There is a rather large number of disputes regarding the correct choice of the word of the year, because the main requirement demands that the members of the Fundéu should be interested in this lexical unit. Researchers of the Spanish language argue that, as a rule, the attention of specialists is focused on the vocabulary typical for the Iberian version of the Spanish language, while many final words are not used in the countries of the region of Latin America. For example, in 2015, the Foundation proposed a specific list of words. While Argentinean researchers of the Spanish language identified completely different lexical units that better reflect the state of the Argentinean society and the phenomena typical for the region: panqueque, choripán, ñoqui, buitre, etc. In this regard, the Argentinean journalist and writer Christian Vazquez, in his article «Words of the Year», proposes to rename the contest like «Word of the Year in Spain» (Palabra del año en España) ( Vázquez, 2015).

Despite the controversy surrounding the contest, this article focuses only on neologisms that are candidates for the word of the year, represent any difficulty of its transmitting / translating into Russian.

Let us cite as an example several words nominated for the title Word of the year in Spanish (2016-2019):

• 2016 year:sorpaso, populismo, abstenciocracia, ningufoneo, vendehúmos, papilomavirus.

• 2017 year:aporofobia, aprendibilidad, destripe, machoexplicación, superbacteria, uberización.

• 2018 year:nacionalpopulismo, microplásticos, hibridar, los nadie, micromachismo, descarbonizar.

• 2019 year: neonegacionismo, exhumación, seriéfilo, influente, albañila, cúbit, superdesempate.

Linguistic Analysis of Some Neologisms

First of all, we’ll anylize examples of neologisms that are not difficult to transmit into Russian, as in the culture of the language of translation there are similar concepts, for example, desglobalización. The lexical unit came into Spanish, as well as into Russian, from English, where the term deglobalization is used. The Foundation Fundéu recommends writing the noun in one word, and also not highlighting it graphically, although the word is not registered in the explanatory dictionaries of the Spanish language. But in the newspaper El Pais, for example, the term has been used 63 times since 2009, in the El Mundo- 50 times since 2011. So far as this neologism reflects modern processes in the world of economics and politics, for its transmission into Russian, should be used its analogue - «деглобализация», which is actively used in economic texts in media publications.

In a similar way - search for an equivalent in Russian - it is worth translating other Spanish neologisms: sobreturismo - сверхтуризм, selfi - селфи, dron - дрон, dataísmo - датаизм, poliamor -полиамория, posverdad - постправда, electromovilidad - электромобильность, etc.

Of particular interest is the neologism huachicolero, which is widely used in the Spanish language of Mexico and denotes a person involved in the theft and illegal sale of motor fuel, as well as a person who dilutes alcoholic beverages and sells them illegally. In some publications, the spelling is found at the beginning with ge, but the Foundation Fundéu recommends spelling through h as the only correct one. This word is not registered in the explanatory dictionaries of the Spanish language, but it is present in the Spanish Dictionary of Mexico ( DEM, 2020). Derivatives of this noun are widely used too - huachicol (stolen fuel) and huachicoleo (direct fuel theft process).Linguists' interest for this unitis conditionedby an accident in the Mexican municipality of Tlahuelilpan, where in 2019 an explosion occurred at the site of the illegal misappropriation of fuel by criminals, as the result - death of 137 people.

In the etymological dictionaries of the Spanish language it is noted that the word huachicolero is a derivative of huachicol (noun) and the suffix -ero, which means «occupation, employment» like torero (bullfighter), carpintero (carpenter), obrero (worker), ingeniero (engineer) and others. The word huachicol has a Latin-Arabic origin: guache-, guachi- comes from the French gouache, and into French from Latin.The postfix -ol from alcohol, which came to Spanish from Arabic al- kohol.

There is also an opinion about another origin of the lexical unit under consideration, that it comes from the Aztec cuaitl (head, top) and chichiltic (red, very red) - the name of one nomadic tribe that lived in northwestern Mexico. At the beginning of the 19th century, the name acquired the form huachicoleros due to the consumption by the tribe of a large amount of low-quality alcohol. If you look at the interpretation of the word, then one of the meanings is low-quality alcohol, diluted.

Analysing news in Russian about the explosion of the fuel line in Tlauelilipan, it comes clear that the journalists do not transmit Spanish neologism in any way, but only focus on the event itself:«местные жители… которые в составе нескольких сотен человек воровали бензин из трубы» ( RIA Novosti, 2019) or we read «воры топлива», «незаконные врезки». In some publications, trying to explain the Mexican reality, we find obvious errors and a distortion of the reality: «Воровство нефти, которое здесь называется "уачиколео" (самогонка) широко распространено в некоторых районах Мексики» ( BBC, 2019). It is clear that as part of the news bulletin, one should not go into a detailed explanation of the neologism, but still it is somehow worthwhile to draw the attention of the Russian-speaking reader to this acute problem in Mexico.

Of a particular difficulty in the translation is the neologism cuñadismo, nominated for the word of the year in 2016. The lexeme itself has been registered in the explanatory dictionaries of the Spanish language for a long time in the meaning of «nepotism», in the Russian translation it corresponds to its analogy «кумовство», however this word has recently acquired a new meaning in the Spanish-language reality that goes beyond family relations and patronage - it indicates a trend to talk about a topic, showing that you own the material, while in reality - no. Or in the case when people give everyone advices, but in fact they are not competent in the matter. In the Russian language, equivalents, such as «дилетантство» or «непрофессионализм» can be used depending on the context. According to the Foundation’s research on particularly important issues of the Spanish language, this lexical unit was originally colloquial, but now the noun is often found in media texts, in the speech of politicians. The word firmly entered the vocabulary thanks to the leader of the independence movement of Catalonia, Gabriel Rufián, who owns the phrase cuñadismo neoliberal salvaje (neoliberal unfounded reasoning). So, in Spain, the phrases cuñadismo político, cuñado político (an amateur talk about politics) is common, used with respect to a person who, doesn't understand the topic and discusses political problems usually in a bar or in a company of friends.

Another curious neologism can cause difficulties in understanding and translating of the original text into Russian - the word aporofobia (from the Greek áporos - «limited» and fobia - «fear») - «fear of poor or dysfunctional people», recently entered into the Spanish language and wildly used. This neologism was considered the word of the year in 2017. The noun aporofobia belongs to the Spanish philosopher Cortina ( 2017), who first drew attention to the fact that in Spanish society they often replace the concept of xenophobia or racism by the reluctance to accept migrants and refugees, not because they are foreigners, but because of their poverty compared to indigenous people. Adela Cortina in her book «Aporofobia, el rechazo al pobre» notes that we repel not wealthy migrants from the Middle East, football players from Africa who have entered into multi-million contracts, but only those who are beggar. The author of the neologism and the collective of Valencian philosophers in 2002, through the newspaper El País, published a collective letter requesting to include the term in Spanish explanatory dictionaries.

As for the Russian language, there are no analogues in it. In the specialized literature, the term «пениафобия» is used - the fear of poverty, but the term has a completely different semantic load from the Spanish neologism. Thus, it is worth paying special attention transmitting this lexical unit into Russian. For example, critican que las personas sin hogar continúan siendo víctimas de agresiones y delitos de aporofobia ( La Vanguardia, 2019) - «подвергается сомнению, что люди без жилья все еще являются жертвами агрессивных действий и преступлений на почве боязни бедных».

One more neologism is widely used in Spanish, formed according to the same model - using the Greek - fobia and the noun turismo - turismofobia. This neologism is not registered in the explanatory dictionaries of the Spanish language. The Fundéu interprets the lexical unit as «hostility, rejection of excess tourism due to its negative impact on the population».It is connected with violation of the rights of residents who live in the tourist parts of the city (constant crowds, noise, spoilage of sights, high price tag for goods and services, etc.). The author of the book «Exceso de equipaje», Pedro Bravo, describes a phobia such as «desperate complaints and fears of a large number of people whose rights were leveled for the sake of the red carpet for tourism, which does not always bring benefits» ( Bravo, 2018, 7). Thus, translating this neologism into Russian, one should understand and know the cultural component of this unit, be aware of the series of strikes against the development of the tourist zone in popular places in Spain (San Sebastian, Gran Canaria, etc.).

Of great interest is another lexeme, which is particularly difficult to transmit into Russian, as it contains a very large historical and cultural subtext - the noun micromachismo - means any behavior that is invisible or considered normal in society and which discriminates a woman. This type of behavior is based on the sense of superiority of a man over a woman. Using the prefix micro- just conveys the essence of such elements that are invisible at first sight in behavior, which are dangerous for the female sex, hit their honor and dignity. In Spanish, the micro- formant is not used in its main meaning (very small, millionth part of something), but in a metaphorical meaning.

The neologism micromachismo was first used by the Spanish psychotherapist Luis Bonino, who defined it as «permanent low-intensive practices through mental control carried out against women» ( Bonino, 1995, p.192). Micromachisms are manipulative techniques that convey the historically established behavior of men towards women. This socially accepted behavior is a requirement of privileges, amenities and rights due to the abolition of the personal, mental and behavioral autonomy of women.

To understand how to translate this neologism into Russian, we need to understand the history and the period of the penetration of the term machismo into the Russian language and culture. Machismo came into the Russian language under the influence of the cultures of Spain and Latin America, but even now its use is reduced only to a rather narrow circle of specialists. The word goes back to the Spanish macho, which literally means«male», but the meaning from the category of zoology is used in speech in a broader sense and refers to a man whose behavior is due to the lack of fear of death, danger, and also such a man is characterized by contempt for the woman.

Kofman ( 2012) in his studies analyzes the image of macho, vividly represented in Latin American literature, rather deeply and in detail, and after O. Paz characterizes him as a character in which aggressiveness, impenetrability, anxiety and the need for violence are combined. “Macho as a folk character is characterized by a cult of strength, aggressiveness, self-assertion, masculinity, contempt for death” (p. 281).

In Russian, in the meaning of micromachismo, substitutional concepts can be found, for example, «мужественность», «маскулинность», «самцовость». Here is the definition given on the project website Sex, Gender and Transgender. General concepts:Machism is a manifestation of aggressive masculinity. The manifestation of male superiority (male chauvinism) ( Pol, gender i transgender.., 2020).Such an interpretation is partly true, but does not fully reflect the essence of the concept.

The lexeme machismo is found in the National corpus of the Russian language (eight cases of use), while the lexeme micromachism is absent in the National corpus of the Russian language, although the unit is used in psychology texts. In this regard, translating texts into Russian, special attention should be paid to the methods of transmitting of this unit, tracing is possible in sociological scientific texts or in psychology, but not in popular science literature or in media texts.