Metonymic Translation

Metonymic translation is based on contiguity of notions and is less unusual than is generally believed and takes its place among other linguistic transformations.

Bare and lurid light of street lamps. (C.P. Snow)

Резкий и мрачный свет фонарей.

The street lamps had no shades and therefore their light was fierce (cause and effect).

На уличных фонарях не было щитов, и свет их был нестерпимо ярок.

That worthy gentleman turned mirth into a cough at just the right time.

(Dickson Carr).

Этот достойный джентльмен как раз вовремя подавил смех кашлем.

The translation is based on the principle of contiguity. A similar relation appears in the following example.

The odious Mrs. Ruscombe had had the effrontery to come up to her to commiserate, with her false honeyed smile. (G. Heyer).

Отвратительная миссис Раском имела наглость подойти к ней со своей неискренней сладкой улыбкой, чтобы выразить ей свое соболезнование.

Another linguistic feature is to be mentioned here. Metonymy as a means of forming derivative referential meanings is widely used in English but cannot always be preserved in translation.

From Winnipeg the railroad sweeps westward in a wide curve… than the steel bends of northward. (F. Mowat).

От Виннипега железнодорожный путь широкой дугой идет на запад… Затем рельсы сворачивают на север.

The English language uses a metonymic denotation – the material “ steel ” stands for “ rails, railway line ”.

Coalfields go into action.

Шахтеры бастуют.

“ Coalfields ” – the place of work – stands for the people who work there. Such use is common in English newspaper style.

In all these cases there is a reversal of relationship, in other words, metonymy is rendered metonymically and a comeback to the original notion is thus achieved. But in other cases (as shown above) metonymic translation does not call forth the initial notion but is used a transformational device.

I was photographed against autumn. (M.Drabble).

Я была сфотографирована на фоне осеннего пейзажа.

The translation of “ against autumn ” на фоне осени is unacceptable in Russian.

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