Linguotranslation Analysis Of The Poem «The Grasshopper And The Cricket»
Abstract
The research develops a scheme of linguotranslation analysis based on the gestalt-synergetic approach by L.V. Kushnina. The algorithm of analysis consists of three following levels: syntactic, lexico-semantic and conceptual. The syntactic level concerns the symmetry of poetic form, as well as transmission of the main syntactic expressive mean, used in the original text. The lexico-semantic level studies the symmetry of the main translational transformations which are grouped according to their topics – manner of action, place of action and state. The conceptual level presupposes studying the symmetry of transmission of the main concepts from the original to the translation. According to the scheme, the authors analyzed the poem «The grasshopper and the cricket» by J. Keats in B. Pasternak’s translation. Following the results of the linguotranslation analysis, the researchers made the conclusions about the degree of translational asymmetry in the translated text. Besides, they commented influence of the translation asymmetry degree on the reader’s perception of the translated poem.
Keywords: Comparative analysis, gestalt-synergetic approach, poetry, poetic translation
Introduction
The research develops a scheme of linguotranslation analysis on the three stages: syntactic, lexicosemantic and conceptual. According to the scheme, the authors analyzed the poem «The grasshopper and the cricket» by Keats in Pasternak’s translation.
Relevance of the Research
The relevance of our research is the need to find and apply new strategies of translation analysis which can help understand the translation process deeper, not only in the linguistic aspect, but also in the cognitive one. In our opinion, it will lead to creating better translations, developing the field of poetic translation and intercultural communication in general.
Research Object
The process of poetic translation from English into Russian.
Research Topic
Linguotranslation analysis of the poetic translation results.
Research Materials
As a research material we used the translation of the poem by Keats «The Grasshopper and the Cricket» created by Pasternak.
Research Novelty
The research is new, because we developed and tested the improved scheme of linguotranslation analysis.
Problem Statement
The research is needed because the algorithm of linguotranslation analysis has to become more effective and illustrative. In the course of this research, we should:
- outline the theoretical provisions of the gestalt-synergetic approach to the poetic translation analysis;
- create an algorithm for linguotranslation analysis, based on the provisions of the gestalt-synergetic approach;
Research Questions
We must conduct a comparative analysis of the poetic translation of the poem by Keats "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" created by Pasternak;
Purpose of the Study
To identify the features of the form and content transmission of the poem by Keats "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" in its translation into Russian.
Research Methods
As a theoretical basis for the research, we used the works by several researchers in the field of text and poetic analysis (Lotman, 2015; Shutyomova, 2009; Sobolev, 1995; Zhutovskaya, 2014), literary and poetic translation (Babenko & Kazarin, 2004; Gumilev, 1990; Kashkin, 1988; Komissarov, 2002; Leont'eva, 2011) and the Gestalt-synergetic approach to the translation analysis by Kushnina. In its turn, this approach is based on the works devoted to the inner text structure (Murzin, 1998; Myshkina, 1998) As a fundamental thesis, the author puts forward a hypothesis about existence and dynamic development of the translation space. She explains that "space is a necessary property of any objects and phenomena, like language, thinking, speech, and text" (Kushnina, 2003, p. 37). According to Kushnina (2003, p. 39), translation space is a "holistic semantic structure of a nonlinear configuration". The centre of such a configuration is the content of the original text. Various types of fields are formed around this centre: energetic, phatic, the author's, the translator's, and the recipient's. The last three of them are related to three subjects of translational communication (Kushnina, 2004). All of the fields are connected by relations of interaction and interpenetration. During the process of translation, the meanings of the source text are transposed in the form of a text gestalt-image that appears in the translator's field.
Symmetry and Asymmetry in the Field of Translatology
The concepts of "symmetry" and "asymmetry" are included in the terminological set of many disciplines and can be studied in different aspects. As applied to the field of linguistics and translatology, asymmetry is an a priori characteristic of linguistic cultures, which is revealed by comparative analysis. The original text and its translation also develop an asymmetric relationship. It is an integral system property and a text-forming factor of the translation process. Ethnolinguocultural asymmetry can be negative or positive. The negative asymmetry leads to translation errors of understanding and expression, which cause making a disharmonious translation. The positive asymmetry makes it possible to identify irregular contextual cross-linguistic and cross-cultural correspondences. It contributes to the semantic harmonization of the original and the translation.
The Levels of Translation Analysis
In the analysis of the translation space, the elements of symmetry can be represented by the meanings of concepts implemented in the text (Zubkova, 2012) and the structural units of the text (Korbut, 2004) used for these meanings implementation. The concept of gestalt-image is abstract and difficult to apply to the field of practical analysis. Therefore, it seems necessary to divide the analysis of transmitting the image-gestalt of the source text into three levels: syntactic, lexical-semantic and conceptual.
At the syntactic level of analysis, it seems necessary to consider how the translators convey the symmetry of the text form, as well as the symmetry of the main syntactic means of expression in this text. In this context of the syntactic level of comparative translation analysis, we understand the form as the division of a poem into sentences and stanzas.
At the lexico-semantic level of translation analysis, the goal is to determine the level of symmetry of the main translational transformations. To make the process of analysing convenient, it seems appropriate to divide the asymmetric translational transformations into three categories: manner of action, place of action and state.
With the aim of studying the translation space at the conceptual level, the researcher needs to identify the basic concepts of the analyzed text, to track their alternation, interrelation and the ways of representation.
Findings
According to these theoretical works, we developed the scheme of linguistic and translation analysis of a poetic text. The analysis is carried out at the syntactic, lexico-semantic and conceptual levels. The purpose of the analysis is to determine how the translators recreate the images of the source text. Also, the researcher has to observe the changes the text undergoes after some translational transformations.
Syntactic Level
At the syntactic level of analysis, it seems necessary to consider how the translators convey the symmetry of the text form, as well as the symmetry of the main syntactic means of expression in this text. In this context of the syntactic level of comparative translation analysis, we understand the form as the division of a poem into sentences and stanzas. In our opinion, the crucial syntactic device in the poem is anjambemann. In the versification process, this term means "the discrepancy between the syntactic pause and the rhythmic one (or the end of the verse, half-verse, stanza); the use of caesura within a closely related group of words".
Form Transmission Symmetry
The original text is not divided into stanzas. The poem consists of two sentences. The border between them runs after the eighth line. Both sentences are narrative.
In his translation, Pasternak also does not divide the text into stanzas, but changes the original version of its sentence division. His translation consists of four sentences. The boundaries between them run at the ends of the fourth, eighth and twelfth lines. In addition, the translator introduces a question-and-answer form of presentation (the first of the sentences is interrogative). However, in comparison with the original, it turns out that the interrogative sentence does not violate the translation symmetry significantly. In the original text, there is a semicolon at the end of the fourth line. The fifth line is the beginning of a complex non-conjunctive sentence containing a dash between its parts. B. Pasternak retains this construction, so that the translation is intonationally close to the original. Thus, in the researched translation, there is an asymmetry of the poetic form (the number of stanzas, sentences, etc.), but it does not significantly affect the perception of the translation process result.
Anjambemann Transmission Symmetry
Let us consider which combinations of sentence terms are separated by anjambemann in the original text and in the translation, and which lines are connected with it. Also, in our opinion, we should differentiate the cases of anjambemann by their types. They can be inversive or non-inversive. The inversive anjambemann contains the inversion, i.e. the subordinate word in the split combination appears in the first of the lines connected by the anjambemann, while the main word is in the second line.
In the original text of Keats, the anjambemann links the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, sixth and seventh, tenth and eleventh, eleventh and twelfth lines. In the first of the contexts, the anjambemann separates the predicate and the related adverbial modifier; the case is non-inversive:
- (3) And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run;
- (4) From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
as well as the anjambemann linking the fifth and sixth lines (the case is also non-inversive). A part of the compound nominal predicate is transferred from the sixth line to the seventh (the phrasal verb to do with + the noun delights):
- (5) That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead;
- (6) In summer luxury, – he has never done;
- (7) With his delights; for when tired out with fun.
In the tenth and eleventh lines, anjambemann separates the backbone of the sentence. The predicate remains in the tenth line, the subject goes into the eleventh (the case is non-inversive). Between the eleventh and twelfth lines, the anjambemann pattern is similar. The only difference is that the predicate falls on the first of these lines, and the subject falls on the second; the case is inversive:
- (10) On a lone winter evening, when the frost;
- (11) Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills;
- (12) The Cricket’s song…
So, the original poem contains five cases of anjambemann: two inversive and three non-inversive. Two of the five divide the backbone of a sentence. Another two devide the predicate and the adverbial modifier. One case separates the compound nominal predicate. It should also be noted that in the fifth, sixth and seventh lines, as well as the tenth, eleventh and twelfth lines, the anjambemanns form chains. The second of each three lines contains the end of one anjambemann case and the beginning of another one.
Pasternak in his translation connects the second and third lines with anjambemann, as well as the third and fourth, the seventh and eighth, the tenth and eleventh, the eleventh and twelfth lines. The anjambemann connecting the second and third lines separates the predicate and the direct object; between the third and fourth lines, the anjambemann separates the predicate and the adverbial modifier; both cases are non-inversive:
- (2) Когда в зените день и жар томит
- (3) Притихших птиц – чей голосок звенит
- (4) Вдоль изгородей скошенных угодий?
In the seventh and eighth lines, the anjambemann shares the backbone of the sentence (the case is non-inversive):
- (7) Пока и сам, по горло пеньем сыт,
- (8) Не свалится последним в хороводе.
Anjambemann connecting the tenth and eleventh lines separates the adverbial modifier and the predicate (the inversive case). In the eleventh and twelfth lines, anjambemann separates the subject and the direct object (the non-inversive case):
- (10) Зимой, морозной ночью молчаливой
- (11) Пронзительны за печкой переливы
- (12) Сверчка во славу тёплого жилья.
Thus, Pasternak's translation contains five cases of anjambemann. All of them, except the fourth, are non-inversive. In two cases, this expressive mean separates the predicate and the adverbial modifier, in one case – the predicate and the direct object, in one case – the subject and the direct object, and in one case – the backbone of the sentence. The first two cases and the last two cases form chains.
The Results of the Analysis at the Syntactic Level
Summing up the translation symmetry analysis at the syntactic level, we discover that the translation contains the poetic form asymmetry (the number of stanzas, sentences, etc.). However, it does not significantly affect the perception of the translated text. The translator also uses the asymmetry of the transmission of the main expressive means combined in the text – anjambemann and inversion. Depending on the degree of its manifestation, the asymmetry of this aspect affects the perception of the translated text.
Lexico-semantic Level
The purpose of translation analysis is to determine the degree of symmetry of the main translational transformations. To make the process of analysing convenient, it seems appropriate to divide the asymmetric translational transformations into three categories: manner of action, place of action and state.
- Manner of action: He takes the lead in summer luxury (Keats) – Певун и лодырь, потерявший стыд (Pasternak). In this line, the translator implicitly describes the concept of luxury, since entertainment, idleness and shamelessness are the common consequences of luxurious life. The phrase свалится последним в хороводе contradicts the original idea of leadership. At the same time, it can be interpreted as a hint of the hero's restless. He "lasted" the longest and therefore can be considered as a leader in the field of idle entertainment.
- Place of action: From the stove there shrills / The Cricket’s song in warmth increasing ever (Keats) – За печкой переливы / Сверчка во славу тёплого жилья (Pasternak). Keats describes the localization of the action with the words from the stove. B. Pasternak's translation also recreates the images of the furnace and warmth. However, he makes the text asymmetric by the use of the semantic development and personification. He not only mentions that the cricket is in the warmth, but also develops this idea, suggesting that being in the warmth causes the insect to experience positive emotions.
- State: In drowsiness half lost (Keats) – Кажется сквозь дрёму (Pasternak). In this context, the concept of a light nap is represented in its purest form using the standard equivalent without any additional expressive means. The asymmetry of the translation lies in the omission of the phrase half lost, which played the role of a metaphor in the original text.
The Results of the Analysis at the Semantic Level
Conceptual Level
We believe that life, death, warmth, cold, activity and rest are the key concepts of this poetic text. First, you should determine how these concepts relate to each other, and then find a confirmation of the conclusion in the original and translation.
One of the interrelation ways of these concepts is oppositional. It means that all these concepts form binary oppositions: life – death, warmth – cold, activity – rest. The second interrelation way of these concepts is associative. From this point of view, we obtain the following relationships: life – warmth – activity, death – cold – rest. The primary task of this section of translation analysis is to determine how the main concepts are represented and distributed in the original text.
- Life. The noun день (line 2), the representation is asymmetrical, but does not violate the system of images of the original text, because the lexeme day is associated with such concepts as light, life, etc. The nouns кузнечик (lines 5 and 14) and сверчок (line 12) - the representation is completely symmetrical to the original. Noun жильё (line 12) - the representation is asymmetrical, in the original text, there is no equivalent of this lexeme.
- Death. The participle скошенный (line 4) – the representation is completely symmetrical to the original. The noun зима (line 10) - the representation is completely symmetrical to the original. The adjective морозный (line 10) – the representation is not completely symmetrical to the original, because another part of speech is used. The noun дрёма (line 10) - the representation is completely symmetrical to the original.
- Warmth. Noun жар (line 3) - representation is not completely symmetrical: part of speech has been changed. The noun печка (line 10) - the representation is completely symmetrical to the original. The adjective тёплый (line 3) - representation is not completely symmetrical: part of speech has been changed.
- Cold. The noun зима (line 10) - the representation is completely symmetrical to the original. The adjective морозный (line 10), the representation is not completely symmetrical to the original, part of the speech is changed.
- Activity. The noun хоровод (line 8), representation is asymmetric, the original text does not contain the equivalent of this lexeme.
- Rest. The participle притихший (line 3), the representation is not completely symmetrical, the translator resorts to the technique of contextual substitution. The noun лодырь (line 6), the representation is asymmetric, the original work does not contain the equivalent of this lexeme, but it does not conflict with the semantic content of the emotional background of the poem. The verb свалится (line 8), representation is asymmetric, the original text does not contain the equivalent of this lexeme. The adjective молчаливый (line 10), the representation is not completely symmetrical, another part of speech is used in the original text.
The Results of the Analysis at the Conceptual Level
Based on the analysis of the original concept representations in the translation by Pasternak, there is a low percentage of completely symmetrical representations of the main concepts; five representations are asymmetric. Despite the low symmetry of the representations, the scheme of the ring composition is not broken by the translator.
Conclusion
In this study, the poem by Keats 'The Grasshopper and the Cricket’ and its translation were analyzed at three levels: syntactic, lexico-semantic, and conceptual.
The First Level
The purpose of the first level was to identify ways of conveying the symmetry of the poetic form, as well as the symmetry of the anjambemann cases, because anjambemann is the main syntactic mean of expression in this text. The analysis at this level showed that the asymmetry of the poetic form (the number of stanzas, sentences, etc.) does not significantly affects the perception of the translated text.
The Second Level
The purpose of the second level was to determine the degree of symmetry in the main translational transformations. Comparative analysis at the lexico-semantic level showed that asymmetric translational transformations occur in the translation, but most of them are positive or compensated by various expressive means.
The Third Level
The purpose of the third level was to identify the basic concepts of the analyzed text, to determine the regularity of their alternation, the logic of their relationship, as well as the ways of their representation. The analysis at the conceptual level showed that the main concepts of the text are life, death, warmth, cold, activity and rest, which are interconnected oppositionally and associatively. In the original and the translation, the sequence of concept representations forms a ring composition.
Based on the results of this trial study, it can be concluded that a comprehensive translation analysis of a poetic text according to this scheme clearly reflects the mechanisms of transposing the meanings of the original into the translation. Thus, translation errors can be identified at different levels of analysis. It will contribute to improving the quality of poetic translations and the development of certain aspects of intercultural communication in general.
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Publication Date
02 December 2021
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978-1-80296-117-1
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European Publisher
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118
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Subjects
Linguistics, cognitive linguistics, education technology, linguistic conceptology, translation
Cite this article as:
Berezovskaya, M., & Vlavatskaya, M. (2021). Linguotranslation Analysis Of The Poem «The Grasshopper And The Cricket». In O. Kolmakova, O. Boginskaya, & S. Grichin (Eds.), Language and Technology in the Interdisciplinary Paradigm, vol 118. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 61-69). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.12.9