Strategies for studying pre-election discourse neologisms in translation

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Kyiv National Linguistic University

Strategies for studying pre-election discourse neologisms in translation

Poliova E.V.

Стаття висвітлює проблеми дослідження неологізмів англомовного передвиборчого дискурсу, аналізуючи сучасні підходи до визначення терміна “неологізм”. Автор окреслює етапи процесу перекладу таких новотворів, пропонуючи можливі способи відтворення нових лексичних одиниць передвиборчого дискурсу з огляду на їх функції чи належність до певної тематичної групи. Стаття порушує питання “неперекладності” та “безеквівалентності” таких лексичних одиниць.

Ключові слова: неологізм, передвиборчий дискурс, неперекладність, безеквівалентність. neologism election discourse thematic

The article covers the issue of researching neologisms in pre-election discourse, analyzing modern approaches to defining the term “neologism” itself. The author highlights the stages of translating new words, suggesting the ways of their translation on the grounds of their functions and thematic grouping. The article raises the topic of “intranslatability” and “cultural specifics” with reference to such lexical units.

Key words: neologism, pre-election discourse, intranslatability, non-equivalence.

Research of the lexical dynamics in a language has always been a matter of concern in linguistics. The issue of evolutionary processes in the English language has been covered by a number of scientific papers on lexical innovations, including thorough studies by Yu. Zhluktenko, O. Kubryakova, M. Stepanova, Yu. Zatsnyi and many others. British English neologisms of different periods have been studied in the works carried out by N. Oleksenko, H. Miklashevska, L. Haham, N. Leontieva, O. Ivanov. American English neologisms were researched by T. Solovyova and Yu. Shuvalova. Theoretical issues of differentiating concepts of “neologisms propef', “new coinages” and “innovations” are highlighted in Yu. Voloshyn's thesis. Fundamental research by Yu. Zatsnyi deals with the development of the lexicon in the English language, including neologisms of the 1980-90s in XX century.

Significant contribution to the study of new lexical units has been made by foreign linguists, namely J. Algeo, J. Ayto, L. Bauer, R. Fischer, A. Lehrer, P. Newmark. The range of the issues related to the study of new words in translation varies from the definition of the term “neologism” itself to the necessity of translating new words of different types in a particular text.

The relevance of the material studied within the article lies in the essence of translation research into new lexical units as the world has recently watched the US presidential campaign which has become one of the most controversial processes not only by its outcomes but also by its lexicon. Lexical innovations of candidates and journalists must be decoded properly to avoid further misinterpretations.

According to Peter Newmark, neologisms are newly-created words or new meanings of existing words which are constantly being introduced into a language often for the purpose of giving a name to a new thing, new concept, new phenomenon or a prominent event [6, p. 140]. From Roswitha Fischer's point of view, “a neologism is a word which has lost its status of a nonce-formation but is still the one which is considered new by the majority of members of a speech” [4]. A nonce-formation is a word which is created and used by a speaker who believes it to be new [3]; once a speaker is aware of having used or heard a word before, it ceases to be a nonce-formation. Other definitions of a neologism acquire more practical approach. For example, one of them considers a neologism to be a word which meets the requirements for inclusion in general dictionaries, but has not yet been coded by any of them [1]. Domains that produce the majority of new words are rapidly advancing - current examples being electronic communication, the Internet and politics, elections in particular [2].

The neologisms analyzed in our research will mostly satisfy all of above-mentioned definitions: they are firmly established to no longer be called nonce-formations, generally perceived to be new, and are typically not recorded in general dictionaries. All of them are united by their belonging to pre-election discourse.

The objective of this article is to analyze the strategies used by translators for conveying the meaning of neologisms pertaining to various types in pre-election discourse and justify the necessity of rendering new words into a target language (TL). The mentioned objective predetermines the fulfillment of the following tasks: to determine the stages of decoding the neologisms, to outline the translation techniques applicable to the process of their translation.

In language studies, two types of neologisms are usually distinguished: new words that are unique, so-called neologisms proper: for example, politainer (a blend of politician and entertainer, колишній актор / співак, що подався в політику), pollutician (a blend of pollute and politician, політик- промисловець), anchor baby (a newly born child which might guarantee their parents the status of immigrants, дитина-гарант) ; and neologisms that bring new meanings for an existing word form: for example, Bork (the surname of a lawyer Robert H. Bork) is used as a verb - meaning to attack a political opponent - instead of a proper noun (спробувати усунути з політичної арени); Gingrich (Newt Gingrich, ex-speaker for the US House of Representatives) which means to neuter something or somebody - stop from being effective, remove power from something (позбавити влади, зробити неефективним). Such neologisms usually have no regular equivalents in the target language and make up a separate lexical layer which poses a challenge for a translator.

In theory, all words are believed to have a minimum semantic content which consists of one or two primary semantic components forming part of each of their meanings and which, therefore, must be conveyed in any translation; these are the boundaries of translation, beyond which translation turns into paraphrase [7, p. 178].

Obviously, a lexical item is often translated by another lexical item which is not given as its equivalent coded by a dictionary as this is a case with new words - not to be codified by modern lexicographical resources. Most frequently their translation will be “pragmatically” rather than “semantically” different.

Accordingly, referring to neologisms as non-equivalent lexical units does not mean that their meanings can not be “transferred” in the process of translation at all or that their translation allows us to be less accurate or less appropriate, or even less faithful than while dealing with lexical units that have absolute equivalents. Sometimes the translation is possible by means of near equivalents; nevertheless, a translation unit can undergo contextual replacement even if the absolute equivalents exist.

Similarly, the translation of pre-election neologisms sometimes may create occasional analogies. Thus, the translation of neologisms from English into Ukrainian can be carried out in three stages:

clarifying neologism's meaning when a translator refers to the latest English monolingual (encyclopedic) dictionaries, or can elicit information about the meaning of a new word taking into account its structure and context;

translating proper (conveying meaning) by means of the Ukrainian language, namely by transcribing, transliterating, transcoding, descriptive translating (explanation or contextual replacement). Using the former method, you can see either complete coincidence of denotative meanings where translation could be performed with the help of absolute equivalents or narrowing or expanding the meaning (known as transformations of concretization or generalization accordingly) in the TL. The choice of the method used in conveying the neologisms depends on many subjective factors, such as, for instance, the personality of the translator, their experience, intelligence, ability to deal with abstract concepts, a pragmatic situation in which the translation process is taking place and the type of discourse, the style of a particular author, etc. However, we should primarily strive to ensure that equivalent neologism of the source language (SL) (English) meets the most consistent requirements of language standards and rules of the TL (Ukrainian);

checking the recipient's perception of the translation. At this stage, the recipient's understanding of a translated item is tested and analyzed.

In the field of neologisms translation, pre-election discourse neologisms can apply to the following types of contextual replacement (all the translations of the neologisms in the article are suggested by its author):

borrowings, reproduced in the TL as internationalisms: antiglobalists - антиглобалісти, Clintonomics - Клінтономіка, exit poll - екзит-пол; spin doctor - спін-доктор; spin technology - спін-технологія. Such replacements are created by means of transcription or transliteration. In many cases, occasional replacement created in such a way can gain popularity in the TL and be used regularly in the translation of the new words;

loan translation, reproducing the morphemic structure of the new words or parts of set phrase or an idiom in the SL: attack ad - негативна реклама, web voting - веб голосування, sofa decision - кулуарне рішення, democratic socialism - демократичний соціалізм. In this case, the difference between contextual replacement and absolute or near equivalents in translation is often temporary. Many equivalents created by means of loan translation are widely spread in translation practice, and then begin to be used in original texts of the TL. As a result, the lexical units of the SL acquire absolute equivalents;

analogies set by finding the nearest in meaning lexical unit of the TL for neologism of the SL: front-runner - лідер перегонів, bushlip - обіцянка-цяцянка, surfer - необізнаний виборець, clothespin vote - вибір меншого з усіх лих, flip-floppers - “тушки ”;

lexical transformations employed for conveying the meaning of a neologism during the translation process. This occasional replacement is performed by means of a semantic replacement of a non-equivalent word. So, for translating different contextual meanings of the English word Teflon into Ukrainian, which has no direct equivalent in the TL, such phrases with the word Teflon, depending on the wider context can be used transformations of concretization, generalization or modulation (semantic development): Teflon Tony - байдужий Тоні Блер, Hillary's Teflon smile - незворушна посмішка Гілларі Клінтон, газетна рубрика Testing the Teflon - перевірка на міцність etc.;

descriptive translation can be used, which will reveal the importance of non-equivalent word using the expanded phrase, if you can not create the equivalent with the help of abovementioned methods for translating different lexical innovations: Obamacare - реформа системи охорони здоров'я США, politainers - кандидати, що прийшли в політику з індустрії розваг, gender gap - різниця у виборчих преференціях жінок та чоловіків, clothespin vote - вибір меншого з усіх лих, moon-basing - шокуюча політична заява, Republican 'ts - 49 % виборців-республіканців, що не можуть пояснити, як розшифровується самоназва партії, прихильниками якої вони є (GOP (Grand Old Party)). The use of transcription or loan translation to convey the meaning of a neologism is often accompanied by description of the word's meaning in the special notes or footnotes. It makes possible to combine the brevity and language economy of expressions for the translation where transcribing and loan translation has been used to ensure a full understanding of occasional contextual replacement. Once explicating the meaning of the lexical unit, translator can continue to use the transcription or loan translation used in conveying the meaning of the corresponding lexical neologism throughout their work without explaining it further.

The most challenging lexical items in the process of translation consist of onyms and eponyms. They are a growing area in modern languages and not the least important in English pre-election discourse. When derived from people's names such words tend to emerge and disappear depending on the popularity or degree of publicity of their referent and simplicity of the word structure. When they refer directly to the person, they are translated without difficulty, but if they refer to the referent's ideas or qualities, the translator may have to add some explanation.

Our research into new words of English pre-election discourse singles out the following language units among the onyms:

words - proper names. Among these names, there are nicknames, names of places, events. Different translation techniques are used for their rendering into Ukrainian: Slick Willie (Слизький Віллі - translation + transcoding), Mr Bill (Містер Білл) - children's TV show character whose prototype was Bill Clinton, Willie Wonka (Віллі Вонка - transcoding) - Clinton's nicknames invented by the journalists; Boll Weevil (Бол Вівл - transcoding) - консервативний демократ з півдня, Gypsy Moth (Джипсі Мос - transcribing) - ліберально налаштований до помірних республіканців, демократичний консерватор; the Beltway (Белтвей) - центр Вашингтона, and the recent coinage - the Donald (Дональд Трамп), the nickname was given to Mr Trump by his wife, who claims English to be her fourth language and who often uses definite articles before proper names. Apparently, transcoding is the most frequent technique employed in translation of proper names with some explication given if the need arises.

Onyms designating supporters of various strategies and tactics of U.S. foreign policy are also worth paying attention to: Hawks and Doves (Яструби й Голуби - translation proper). The former believe that any war that fights the U.S. “enemy” is meant to protect the corporate world order (for example, oil deposits in the Gulf)and is worth waging, the latter consider the war as a defense tool of US “vital interests” and demand something more altruistic - the same result but in the name of liberating oppressed peoples;

eponims that are made on the basis of active affixation models:

using agent suffixes -eans / -ians, -ite, -istas, -nik: Blairites, Goreans, Goreites, Naderites, Perotistas, Perotniks - supporters or advocates of people mentioned in the root morpheme (Tony Blair, Al Gore, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot);

using affixes -esque, -ian, formants -lore, -style with the meaning of similarity: Kafkaesque (по-кафському), Reaganesque (по-рейганівському), Shermanesque (по-шерманівському), Clintonian (по-клінтонівському), Cheney-lore (з життя Чейні), Clinton-style (у стилі Клінтона). All examples are translated with the help of practical transcribing;

using the suffix -ism: Blairism, Clintonism, Thatcherism - ideas and principles that belong to the leaders of political parties, Блеризм (політика Тоні Блера), Клінтонізм (політика Біла Клінтона), Тетчеризм (політика Маргарет Тетчер) correspondent^. These neologisms of pre-election discourse only prove the fact that in the world of politics the trend to personalized political systems, ideologies or concepts continues evolving. Translation of abovementioned items will mostly depend on the style of the translated text and its target audience. For specialized translation, transliteration will be more appropriate. At the same time, descriptive translation will be more useful in texts for less knowledgeable audience;

using the suffix -mentum (from momentum): Bernie-mentum, Biden-mentum, Trump-mentum, Hill-mentum (зростання популярности Берні Сандерса, Дональда Трампа, Гілларі Клінтон як кандидатів у президенти США). Apparently, only descriptive translation can be applied in such cases as the word momentum has no direct equivalence in Ukrainian political discourse being used predominantly as a physical or military term.

Among the examples are occasionalisms formed on the basis of already existing word patterns: astronaut - Reaganaut (член адміністрації президента Рейгана), robot - Perotbots (прибічник Роса Перо), paranoia - Perotnoia (параноїдальна поведінка, властива Росу Перо), tonsillitis - Goreitis (неконтрольована брехня). Due to the absence of genuine or near equivalents, descriptive translation is predominantly used here.

With the suffix -ish, adjective Spinnish was formed, which means the language used by the spin doctors and other organizers of the campaign:

Occasionally, someone, say a campaign manager, speaks so much Spinnish that he completely forgets how to speak English. - Atlantic Monthly, 1 Nov. 1998. - Часом дехто, скажімо, голова передвиборчого штабу, говорить так багато мовою політтехнологій, що геть забуває, як розмовляти англійською.

As we can see from the example, descriptive translation is the only way of conveying the meaning of the word Spinnish into Ukrainian appropriately.

Prefixes post-, pre- are still productive in pre-election discourse: post-Reaganite, post-Thatcherite, pre-Clinton-Gore, pre-Thatcherite, pre-Gorbachev. When translating these lexical units, it is a well- grounded strategy to use descriptive translation, namely: “після президентства Рейгана”, “після правління Тетчер”, “до президентства Клінтона”, “до приходу до влади М. Горбачова” and so on. Prefixes anti-, pro-: anti-Castro, pro-Bush, pro-Gore - indicate dominance or anti-presidential or pro- presidential sentiment and therefore the translation requires relevant adjectives (антикастрівський, пробушівський, прогорівський);

onyms-collocations (the Big Idea - Велика Ідея - провідна ідея передвиборчої програми), Can't Count State - (штат, що не вміє рахувати) Florida during manual recount of voting ballots after presidential election of 2000, Bubba Bill (Bubba - traditional nickname of immigrants from the south, and Clinton was the governor in a southern state of Arkansas), Groundhog Day (“День бабака”) - the “inner” term of Clinton's presidential administration, indicating a meeting that takes place every day having one and the same issue on the agenda. The source of innovation was the name of Bill Murray's film in which the main character lives through the same day several times. Only the last neologism was translated by means of a genuine equivalent while the other ones required descriptive translation.

Summarizing the results of the research and analyzing the stages translators go through while dealing with rendering new words from English into Ukrainian, the following conclusions must be drawn:

new words with higher degree of frequency in use are processed and translated more quickly than the occasionalisms which are mostly situational;

new words having a broader context are processed faster than those with no context at all;

semantic plausibility of a new lexical unit will facilitate its faster recognition and identification of its meaning;

new words with familiar components and, therefore, clearer semantic structure, will be processed more successfully than others.

Since in pre-election discourse we are surrounded by visual and auditory stimuli from the world of media - advertisers, journalists, politicians, spin doctors etc. - all competing for the attention of a potential voter, any neologism is primarily a tool of gaining a voter's focus. Advertisers and politicians want their words - names, slogans, and catchy phrases to be remembered. Therefore, from their viewpoint it is desirable for the response and reception not to be automatic. When we automatically process a language, we concentrate on the meaning, and after recoding the emotion or the knowledge, or the experience it is aimed at, we remember the gist but usually forget the actual words in the original message. Since the neologisms require a significant effort to figure out and process, we are more likely to remember their forms, not the meaning in the first place. In addition, the creator of a new word wants the neologism to be appreciated linguistically and remembered. And this process takes more time calling for much more frequency of the word usage in speech making it an essential marker of pre-election discourse in particular.

The analysis carried out at the lexical and semantic level could open a new chapter in the field of election terminology and semantics paving the way to the compilation of a bilingual new election terms dictionary. Furthermore, the expansion of new words into new sememes could also be explored in the contexts of genealogically different or similar languages stating the degree of their word-building potential. A new direction of research could also be possible in the area of translation studies. The methods and techniques in interpretation of new words as well as pseudoneologisms could be studied.

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