The translation of one-word metaphors in the computer discourse

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The translation of one-word metaphors in the computer discourse

Communication is known to be the most important thing in the human's life and computer discourse is oriented to such goals as clarity and unification. Every year, hundreds of new words and phrases that come from the Internet slang are added to the dictionary.

Some of the new vocabulary are abbreviations, such as FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once). Others are words that have been stretched into more parts of speech than originally intended, for instance, «trend» became a verb («It's trending worldwide»). Others have emerged as an attempt to adapt our language to new technologies, for instance, «crowdfunding», «selfie», «cyberbullying», etc.

We should bear in mind how many of these new words are actually appropriate, meaning they have pre-existing forms that are combined or given entirely new meanings. For example, «social network» appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary back in 1973, referring to the physical activity of networking in a social atmosphere. In the 1990s, people began using the term to refer to virtual engagement, and that became an official definition in 1998.

The object of this research is the language of information technologies and its lexical peculiarities.

The subject is slang translation challenges in computer discourse.

The aim of the paper is to show the algorithm of correct interpretation and translation of slangisms as one-word metaphors.

The major methods applied in this research are the content analysis method of various foreign authors' publications, of the reference sources and of the texts chosen to exemplify the case studies and examples in point, the comparative approach through qualitative research, and the observation method starting from empirical research in the field.

The results of the research. The Internet is not the only technological phenomenon that has changed the way we talk. Radio, television, and telephones have introduced their fair share of new words and phrases into our lexicon over the last century. As we spend more time online, we spend less time listening to the radio and watching TV - and smartphones have blurred the line between the phone and the Internet. Obviously, the Internet has the most prevalent influence on our day-to-day dialogue [1, p. 122].

On the one hand, the Internet slang is believed to have a negative impact on the future of language, and it would lead to a degradation of the standard. Some would even attribute any decline of standard formal English to the increase in the use of electronic communication.

The Internet slang also can satisfy the needs for communication as it allows people to express themselves more freely and can reflect their personal taste. They can develop their own kind of slang based on their own culture. For example, in the English-speaking world, examples include the word «bazinga» from the CBS show The Big Bang Theory and, in Japanese the term «moe» has come into common use among slang users to mean something very cute and appealing [2, p. 45].

There is an association of different informational spaces, nowadays. A tool for implementing information globalization is a computer that combines all means of transferring information based on their transformation into digital format. The study of this influence becomes one of the priority tasks of linguistics of the 21^st century.

Taking into consideration the above mentioned facts, it is important to elaborate a correct approach to the interpretation of the text, the intentions of the speaker and speech means in the context of the development of linguistic sciences. Language as a means of communication has a social character, where public functions actively influence its structure and largely determine its development [3, p. 14].

In fact, the computer domain of communication is exciting, mysterious, complex and inevitably causes figurative associations that find expression in the names. Most nonprofessional users do not know English language well and do not use it effectively. But they all have to use the new English terminology, in some way, but often appears an incorrect pronunciation of English words that sometimes are settled in the vocabulary.

The modern development of computer science has affected many processes in the language and, first of all, its vocabulary, which has led to the creation of a special terminology system, which is characterized by a variety of technicalisms and professionalisms. Many computer terms, previously known only to a small number of specialists, are now utilized by a very wide range of PC users.

An English-language computer discourse has also become an important factor of the emergence of English computer neologisms. Computer discourse as a kind of communication characterized by the following features:

1. The presence of an electronic transmission channel;

2. Indirection;

3. Remoteness;

4. Hypertext;

5. Virtuality;

6. Anonymity of participants;

7. Creativity of the participants;

8. Wide variety of talking spheres;

10. Genre variety;

11. Computer ethics and etiquette (so-called Netiquette) [6, p. 532].

Depending on the topics of technological researches there is a variety of terminology in computer discourse - scientific, philosophical, political, medical, and others. That is why computer discourse goes far beyond the scope of «computers» as a technical component and enables us to expand the lexical reserve of language carriers. An important means of this type of communication is a one-word metaphor. Regarding the usage of the metaphor in computer discourse, we must draw some parallels with the computer slang. After all, the computer slang is interpreted as a dialect, jargon, a set of phrases and expressions that are not grammatically correct words in the language.

The computer slang refers to a variety of slang languages used by different people on the Internet. An example of such slang is «LOL» meaning «laugh out loud». Among the most common digital slang terms and expressions are well-known abbreviations used in electronic messaging: «bb» (bye-bye), «brb» (be right back), «lol» (laughing out loud), «idk» (I don't know), «smh» (shaking my head), «c u m8» (see you, mate), «btw» (by the way), «u2» (you too), and so on. Although it may seem convenient to use such distortions in order to accelerate communication, in fact, slang overuse is fraught with problems; nowadays, unfortunately, this can be often noticed in the academic environment [7, p. 33].

It stands to reason, it is difficult to provide a standardized definition of the computer slang due to the constant changes made to its nature. However, it can be understood as a type of slang that PC users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes or to compensate for small character limits. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites. Acronyms, keyboard symbols and abbreviations are common types of the Internet slang. New dialects of slang, such as «leet» or «Lolspeak», develop as in-group Internet memes rather than time savers.

Since in English there is a tendency for the transition of words from slang vocabulary to neologisms, some slang neologisms can be attributed to metaphorical ones. One of the main functions performed by the metaphor is to provide figuratively expressive color to speech, with a pronounced emotional assessment. Another function of the metaphor is nominative. It consists in filling the language with lexical and phraseological constructs. The metaphor also performs a conceptual function. The conceptual metaphor is understood as the use of figurative meanings for the expression of non-objective meanings in the scientific and socio-political language. As for the slang vocabulary, as a rule, it performs its main functions:

- communicative;

- cognitive;

- nominative;

- expressive;

- esoteric (cryptofunction, or secretive);

- identification (signal);

- time saving function (language economy).

Thus, we clearly see that the functions of one-word metaphors and slang languages are contiguous.

One-word metaphors have become an integral part not only the computer literacy but also everyday dialogues precisely because of:

- imagery - which makes it possible to call an object or phenomenon unusually, thereby securing in society;

- conciseness - the ability to convey the maximum amount of information with minimal linguistic units;

- flexibility - single-word metaphors can be used in a wide range of spheres of speech.

The ways and means of creating one-word metaphors in computer discourse are quite varied, but they all are reduced to adapting the English word to reality and making it suitable for permanent using. The basic methods of the formation of a one-word metaphor are: 1. Word formation; 2. Contamination; 3. Calculation [9, p. 454].

The problem with translating slang, be it tech-related or otherwise, is that if the word is fresh enough, there is unlikely to be any reliable go-to guide for translators to turn to. In some cases, the translator may not know the meaning of the word himself and will have to do some cultural research just to figure out what it means in the original source language.

Urban Dictionary might be a helpful (if not totally reliable) source for the English language, but it is doubtful that every language has a similar resource.

The internet is orum for new language, thanks to blogs, websites and chat rooms which let anyone participate, thus ensuring that hip new words can spread among the masses faster than ever before.

There are two possible ways of translating one-word metaphors in English computer discourse. The first method involves the translation of the word using the neutral words in the Russian and Ukrainian languages, which at the same time acquire a new meaning with a decrease in stylistic coloring. In the process of translation works the mechanism of associative thinking.

The second group is the terms that acquired their translation by using the vocabulary of other professional groups. As a result, the meaning of the word changes a little, gaining a specific meaning for the one-word metaphors. Consequently, such metaphors have the same translation as ordinary words in other branches of the language, but the meaning varies according to the type of action or device (software or hardware).

The translator might translate and introduce a new slang word into a language, but it is the language's speakers who will decide if that word stays or goes. The general public are the real power players when deciding word use - like word invention, slang's success is a popularity contest.

So when it comes down to it, translators have a lot of freedom when deciding how to convey slang, and it may be it a direct adaptation or even a totally new word creation. No matter whether you think internet slang vitalizes or destroys language, there is no denying how revealing it is of the culture that invents and uses it - and the ease with which we adapt our language to new technologies and concepts.

References

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