The ways of reproduction of allusion

The main problems of translating allusions can be subdivided into two main groups: extralinguistic and linguistic.

To the first category belong:

1. The problem of translator’s understanding the allusion in the ST (identification and decoding meaning of the allusion – the source of association and its context);

2. The extent to which the allusion is known in the source and target translation;

3. The translation depends on components of meaning that are actualized;

4. The change of connotations of allusion in diachronic aspect;

5. Allusions connected in one structure;

6. Importance of allusion in the artistic work and its position

in the text [13; 205].

The category of linguistic problems in translating allusions includes:

1. Conscious deformation of allusion by the author (authorial occasinalisms);

2. Using onomastic collocation (for allusive proper names);

3. Different kinds of omonymy, mainly for allusive proper names;

4. Allusions as a part of phraseological units, winged words.

R. Leppihalme proposes the set of strategies for translating the proper name allusions:

1) Retention of the name:

a) using the name as such;

b) using the name, adding some guidance;

c) using the name, adding a detailed explanation, for instance, a footnote(“Rosy flesh and seeded womb” [37; 360]. “В утробі сім’я, Рожі плоть” [36; 357]).

2) Replacement of the name by another:

a) replacing the name by another SL name

b) replacing the name by a TL name

3) Omission of the name:

a) omitting the name, but transferring the sense by other means, for instance by a common noun.

b) omitting the name and the allusion together [26; 130].

Moreover, nine strategies for the translation of key – phrase allusions are proposed by R. Leppihalme as follows:

1) Use of a standard translation (“You are saved, my son. Blessed are those who follow my path” [37; 69]. “Ти спасенний, сину Мій. Благословенний той, хто йде Моїм шляхом” [36; 67]).

2) Minimum change, that is, a literal translation, without regard to connotative or contextual meaning;

3) Extra allusive guidance added in the text (“HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER” [37; 143]. “Аж досі ти дійдеш, не далі, і тут ось межа твоїх хвиль гордовитих” [36; 141]);

4) The use of footnotes, endnotes, translator's notes and other explicit explanations not supplied in the text but explicitly given as additional information;

5) Stimulated familiarity or internal marking, that is, the addition of intra-allusive allusion;

6) Replacement by a TL item;

7) Reduction of the allusion to sense by rephrasing;

8) Re-creation, using a fusion of techniques: creative construction of a passage which hints at the connotations of the allusion or other special effects created by it;

9) Omission of the allusion [26; 130].

There are strategies of reproducing allusive phrases proposed by O. M. Kopylna. The main translation techniques are quotational translation, semantic-stylistic translation and the graphic marking of allusion. Quotational translation – full correspondences taken from their sources – works in case of popular allusions. If there are no correspondences of allusive phrases in the TC, translators resort to semantic-stylistic translation. Compensation strategies used for presenting allusions of limited comprehension – additions, explanation, generalization, analogous and descriptive translation – may entail the “asymmetry” between the original and its translation but ensure their adequate translation [13; 235].

It is vital to say that translators have to be able to recognize those allusions and to decide whether they should reproduce them. If they decide to do so and if they translate into a language that shares a culture with the language of the ST, their difficulties are minor. If they consider that an allusion in the original no longer enhances the writer’s point, they may decide to replace it with another kind of allusion. In that case they are likely to face greater difficulties. If they are translating into a language that does not share a culture with the SL, they have to decide whether to introduce the allusion (and possibly explain it at some length in a footnote), to omit it, or to replace it by an allusion endemic to their own culture and analogous to the allusion found in the original [8; 22].

To understand the role of an allusion translators go through following stages: find the allusion, identify its source, define its function. And then goes the most difficult stage – to find an adequate sample in TL [18; 197].

The most difficult for translator are latent and deformed allusions. The translator has to find such allusion and to clear out its full source form and find out the way of deformation (shortening, adding, omitting, componential change, and change of grammatical and structural characteristics, occasional changes) to render it properly [1; 227].

The translation of international allusions that belong to shared background knowledge presents no difficulties. They are known to the readers of source and target texts and are preserved in translation. Mostly, these are allusions of classical literature, mythology and the Bible.

As the topic of this course paper is Biblical allusions we will analyse them in detail. The researcher O. V. Dzera made a great contribution to this sphere. Analysing Biblical allusion, the researcher mentions two methods of allusions actualization: encoding and decoding process. The encoding and decoding processes target at finding the pretext of the allusion and analyzing its transformation. However, it may not always be of help, as in the case with the decoding Biblical text, which falls short explaining what the author really means by referring to it [21; 3].

Both in Anglophone and Ukrainian cultures the Bible forms an important part of the cultural heritage. Frames of Biblical allusions exist in American, British and Ukrainian cultures. However, the frames used by Anglophone, especially British authors may not be awaken in Ukrainian reader’s minds. This unique and seemingly paradoxical situation is the existence of the frame that fails to activate the scene is accounted for by the social and cultural factors. The Protestant Church has a long tradition of teaching believers to read the Bible at home. The Orthodox and Catholic Church did not lay the stress on this in the past. As a result, a lot of Old Testment frames can hardly be activated for on average intellectual Ukrainian.

Prof. R. P. Zorivchak proposes following methods for rendering lexical-stylistic devices:

- Full equivalence (the verbal expressions which coincide not only by general context, but also by the context of their components, stylistic and expressive meanings).

- Partial equivalence (in some contexts provide complete adequacy of rendering).

- Loan translation at the level of image (rendering literary context of verbal expressions of the original is the same as making a loan translation of equivalents of that verbal expression).

- Loan translation at the level of content.

- Rendering with non-equivalence [12; 218-222].

It is vital to say that the translator used the translation of Biblical citations from the Bible of I. I. Ohiyenko.

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