ALLUSIONS IN NEWS AND TRANSLATION_2013_st

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection; where the connection is detailed in depth by the author, it is preferable to call it "a reference".

Five categories (sources) of allusions can be singled out:

1. historical (people, places, events);

2. literary (characters, settings, plot);

3. biblical (Old Testament, New Testament);

4. popular culture (contemporary people, places, events, literary works, works of art);

5. the arts (music, works of art, theatre/film)

Usually distinction is made between proper name allusion and key phrase allusion.

Proper name allusions might be real-life or fictional figures, names of well-known people in the past, writers, artists, etc. Sometimes, they are borrowed from Holy Scriptures or myths.

Applying slogans from films, advertisement, and political campaign, various catch phrases, clichés, proverbs, popular beliefs, assumptions and stories form a group of key phrase allusions. Sometimes, phrases from religious texts are mentioned as key phrase allusions.

Functions of Allusions. Allusions enrich the texts in which used since they as literary devices make the texts ambiguous or exaggerated and at the same time they are used to create ambiguity especially when it is not possible to speak directly because of social or political considerations.

It can rightly be said that allusion plays the most important role in persuading its readers to accept what the author says especially when they quote some parts from religious texts or famous literary works.

Functions of allusions can be as follows:

1) to attract reader attention and encourage him to read on,

2) to achieve physical economy of expression,

3) to evaluate new information against existing cultural values and vice versa,

4) to achieve ironic effects of ridicule or criticism, to achieve humorously grotesque effects,

5) to convince by appeal to cultural values and to persuade the reader by implicit analogy,

6) to impart aesthetic pleasure to the reader,

7) to display the writer's world knowledge, beliefs, values and wit

It is important to understand why allusions play such a significant role in the news media, particularly in political narratives of the present. The news media can influence public perceptions of the issues or individuals they portray by constructing or activating associations that link a news subject to the values, scripts, or beliefs that have already been established within the audiences’ cognitive structures.

According to some investigations, the most frequent in the news media persuasive political writing is historical allusion. By mentioning this or that fact from the history, comparing a person with this or that historical figure evokes vivid images in our minds. Multitude of comparisons of particular kind bears a strong influential touch that might greatly affect our opinion or attitude. We seem to perceive reality, be it past, present or future, in images deeply rooted in our memory. Some images are universal and belong to collective history of a nation, and, accordingly, to collective memory of that nation or of the whole mankind. The best examples here are from history, rather than literature: key events and figures. Names of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Roosevelt, Churchill, Napoleon, Washington, Lincoln are widely known throughout the world. Apart from their nominative meaning (they are names of people), they have acquired a certain connotative meaning. Thus, Hitler and Stalin are equated with tyrants, dictators and killers of many people; Lincoln is the symbol of slave-liberation; while Roosevelt is the winner over the economic depression and war; etc. A single name can represent a whole period, a certain movement, a particular event or chain of events, a darker or brighter side of history. This phenomenon is known as metaphorical antonomasia, a variety of allusion.

The same is true of historical events. The name of Pearl Harbor is associated with the first major defeat of the USA on its own territory; Shipka means the Slavonic victory over Turkey, while Kosovo ― their defeat in 1389, and recently a bloody conflict that led to international intervention; Auschwitz is equated with massacre and genocide, and Stalingrad with Russian courage, as well as the turning point in the war; the names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki came to denote both the victims of nuclear weapons and the anti-nuclear movement. As these examples imply, references to certain parts of our collective memory have a strong symbolic meaning. Symbols are believed to be the basic units of most human communication. Thus, specific people or places can symbolise general human attributes like heroism, patriotism, beauty, or greed.

In order to understand the allusions, readers must first recognize them. Recognizing allusions depends on the reader’s familiarity with the cultural texts that are typically evoked. A number of ways which may enhance the recognizability of allusions are suggested which include, among others, the length of the phrase, non-standard spelling and syntax, deviations in style, rhythm and rhyme, and overt phrases such as they say.

The task of journalists is, therefore, to find such a thing to allude to that could be easily recognised, will evoke a vivid image, will not be deciphered in two ways. This, of course, limits the choice to mainly modern history, popular culture rather than classical arts, outstanding public figures rather than local celebrities.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-10