Word meaning and equivalence M A Literary Translation

Word meaning and equivalence M. A. Literary Translation- Lesson 1 prof. Hugo Bowles January 31 2007 1

Lesson 1 - part 1 Analysing word meaning 2

PARADIGMATIC & SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS Horizontal relationships are syntagmatic } Vertical relationships are paradigmatic } } So semantic relationships are paradigmatic 3

Lexical relations - Hyponymy Flower daffodil tulip pansy rose Sheep ram ewe lamb In this model one lexeme can substitute another: “X is a kind of Y”. } This relation is called HYPONYMY } 4

Do these pairs mean the same thing? enough sufficient insane mad rancid rotten autumn fall die kick the bucket deep profound fraternal brotherly sodium chloride freedom liberty endless everlasting purchase buy regal kingly 5

Lexical relations - SYNONYMY Synonyms are lexemes which have the same meaning } English has a lot of synonyms because its vocabulary comes from different sources (Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, French) } But is it possible to have true synonyms, i. e. words with exactly the same meaning? } 6

Distinguishing meanings } } } Some words only occur in particular contexts (e. g. dialect words, autumn-fall) Some words only occur in certain styles (die and kick the bucket) Some words only occur in certain collocations (deep water but not profound water) Some words are emotionally stronger (e. g. freedom, not liberty) Some words overlap in meaning but are not identical (e. g. govern and direct) 7

Why is synonymy important for translators? Because absolute synonyms do not exist for the translator! } You need to be able to distinguish between the shades of meaning of words in the source language which appear to be synonyms. Making these distinctions and matching them to similar distinctions in your own language is one of the biggest problems for the translator } 8

Lexical relations - polysemy Eye “Eye” is classified as one word with two different meanings. This happens when the difference in meaning is predictable or regular. There is a core meaning from which the other meanings (“eye” of a needle, “eye” of a tornado) can be predicted. Metaphors are often ploysemous } 9

Lexical relations -homonymy } Bank The word “bank” in “river bank” and “Lloyd’s bank” are classified as two different words with separate meanings even though they have the same form. This is because the meaning of one form is not predictable from the meaning of another. 10