Grammatical transformations in the translation of literary texts from English into Russian

To summarize the above, I would like to raise the question again: is it possible to use machine translation as a substitute for a human translator in literary translation? The answer is unequivocal: no.

This emphasis on the importance of the translator's participation in the translation of a literary text, which I have returned to repeatedly in this chapter, is due to the fact that machine translation can never develop such inherently human qualities as aesthetic, emotional and sensual perception of the text, freedom of choice, and flexibility in selecting wording that an online translator would not be able to use due to the internal algorithms and a fine-tuned information base.

All this creates the need for such an in-depth study of the science of translation and the principles of translating literary fiction in particular. This will be the case with the next section on translation and, after that, on grammar transformations. A translator cannot neglect these topics because they provide him with professional breadth, completeness and awareness of his work. The translator of literary texts has a great responsibility, becoming the only possible guide to a different culture, everyday life, historical or fantastic reality.

Moreover, the translator acts as the gray cardinal in the struggle for enlightenment and ensures that we can enjoy both classical and modern literature. Reading world literature culturally enriches a person, develops his horizons, flexibility and breadth of thought. This is partly because many of the examples of world literature have been translated with tremendous attention to detail, responsibility, and great love.

Fiction cannot be torn away from the human being, just as it is impossible to tear the translator away from the translation process and find a replacement for him.



2 Translation transformations: a basic concept of translation

In the previous sections, I have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the concept of «adequacy». In addition to its role in the context of the whole discipline of translation I can draw an equal line under translation transformations and adequacy of translation, because the competent use of translation transformations is nothing but, first, conformity with the norms of the target language and, second, conformity in content and substance, which is what translation adequacy itself is.

It is important to understand that the word «transformation» in this definition is a convention. We should understand it as a figurative replacement of the forms of expression of the original language and the translated language, which in a general sense is denoted as a «re-expression» of the original meaning, according to A.D. Schweitzer. [25]

Being simultaneously one of the basic concepts of translation, which reflects and describes translation and the processes underlying it, «translation transformations» do not find their unified and generalized definition due to the specific nature of their extensive nature and the corresponding number of points of view on the part of numerous linguistic scholars.

Taking into account the above-mentioned impossibility to give a generalized definition, many of the scientists agree that a translation transformation is a transition from the lexical and grammar structural units of the source language to the lexical and grammar structural units of the target language.

In this regard, I consider it appropriate to give several definitions derived by various scientists in order to come to a common denominator on their basis.

V.N. Komissarov proposes to consider translation transformations as such ways in translation, which any translator can use in those particular cases, when the vocabulary correspondence is either absent at all, or no has to be used according to the contextual conditions. [26]

L.S. Barkhudarov proceeded from the assumption that structurally translation transformations are interlingual transformations that, being diverse in both quantity and quality, are used to obtain the above adequacy when translating from the source to the translated language, despite the obvious structural mismatch. [27]

В. G. Gak characterizes translational transformations as an attempt to «move away from the operation of similar in terms of grammar structures and semantic functionality of identical equivalent units» [28].

If this does occur, the scholar considers translation as literal, that is, one that does not adequately convey content and lacks an emotional and aesthetic component.

Thus, the middle meaning of translation transformations can be defined as lexical and grammar transformations in translation.

The novice translator is often faced with a challenge: on the one hand, to convey the meaning as accurately as possible, and on the other hand, to avoid stepping on the literal translation of the content, which is often caused by inept use of the dictionary, which, despite its rich lexical base, does not give full compliance not only at the level of phrases and expressions, but even individual words. A variety of translation options does not guarantee that the translator will find the right meaning, because it also requires a competent combination of lexical units, which is impossible if the translator does not know how to handle translation transformations correctly. Their meaning comes down to the adequate transfer of content by either replacing to a large extent the form of a word combination, or by changing the form of a word, the wording to be more consistent with the norms of the translated language.

Novice and professional translators alike when conducting a comparative analysis of the source text and the translated text may note on the one hand the pronounced discrepancies in the literal component and the departure into literal translation on the other hand. Obviously, the trained eye of the translator will cling with great bias to those points where the language of the source text and the language of the translation text have the greatest discrepancies, which leads us to the conclusion that at a subconscious level both translators and ordinary people have formed almost from birth a number of analogies, which when reading the text in the original can respond as transformations.

Translation transformations are most appropriate when it is not possible to use equivalents (translation matches) when translating a literary text. Translation transformations allow the translator to preserve the emotional and stylistic coloring of the work.

2.1 Classifications of translation transformations

In addition to the variety of definitions offered by scholars for the term «translation transformations», there are no fewer variants for the classifications of the latter. However, in this subsection I will not describe each of them, as due to the problematics of my thesis (impossibility of using grammar transformations in isolation from complex (lexical-grammar) transformations) I would like mainly to focus on the consideration of grammar and complex transformations classification, deliberately not including lexical transformations, as they exist in their own plane and with their nuances. It is also worth noting that such prominent linguistic scholars as V.N. Komissarov, Y.I. Retzker, R.K. Minyar-Beloruchev have different approaches to the classification of translation transformations in general, focusing on the various accents in the lexical, stylistic and semantic aspects of translation, whereas V.N. Komissarov's classification is of great relevance and significance in the context of application of translation transformations in the translation of literary works.

In his classification of translation transformations, V.N. Komissarov, relying on the transformational model of translation, puts grammar, lexical, and complex transformations in the foreground.

He refers to grammar transformations as:

l Syntactic assimilation (literal translation)

l Sentence division

l Sentence combination

l Grammar replacements, which include:

n Part of a sentence

n Word forms

n Parts of speech

n Type of sentence

V.N. Komissarov also proposes the «complex (lexical-grammar) transformations structure:

- Antonymic translation

- Explication (descriptive translation) [29]

At the same time, L.S. Barkhudarov's classification is the closest to V.N. Komissarov's classification in content respect, including such transformations of grammar character as:

Transpositions

Replacements

Omissions

Additions

However, the key difference which does not allow using L.S. Barkhudarov's classification when analyzing works of fiction is the fact that he does not divide the transformations he describes into groups, which does not allow drawing the line between grammar and other kinds of transformations.

Also noteworthy is the classification of grammar transformations proposed by Y.I. Retzker, which is as follows:

Omissions

Sentence division

Transpositions

Sentence combination

Replacements

Additions [30]

In its content, this classification reflects many of the transformations in L.S. Barkhudarov's classification, with the striking difference that all his transformations are included in the category of grammar transformations.

In my turn, I consider it appropriate to single out omissions, additions, and antonymic translations into the category of complex transformations, since they affect both the grammatical and the lexical base of the text in their functions. In the process of analysis, I will consider this strategy and try to prove its feasibility.

Thus, the grammatical classification I propose will include V.N. Komissarov, L.S. Barkhudarov, and Y.I. Retzker's classifications of transformations for several reasons. First, V.N. Komissarov draws strict parallels between the set of grammar and complex transformations, which is relevant in the context of the topic of my thesis and which L.S. Barkhudarov does not have. Secondly, the transformations formed by Y.I. Rezer contain those transformations which I think it is necessary to refer to the category of complex (lexico-grammatical) transformations.

Through the prism of the above-mentioned points of view on the linguistic plane, it is clear that each scholar puts his own meaning into understanding the essence of translation transformations.

After considering the points of view of different researchers I can draw the following conclusion: the authors do not have a unified view on distinguishing some types of translation transformations, but there is a convergence of opinions with regard to grammar transformations.

Translation transformations in their nature can be used either selectively in a form which cannot accurately convey the meaning due to the inconsistencies of language structures, that is, have inevitable differences from the original form, or be such that do not affect the obvious differences, but are still required to achieve the basic properties of the original. What these two factors have in common is that, regardless of the severity of the translation, translation transformations help avoid a literal reproduction of the original form, thereby guaranteeing adequacy.



2.2 Grammar transformations and their types

Grammar transformations are one of the types of translation transformations whose main purpose is to modify the grammar and semantic structures in the sentence of the source language into the standard form in the translated language. Grammar transformations due to their factual qualities are one of the most important tools of a translator. Hence, there is a need to use them competently.

In the section «Literary translation: Science and Art» I have mentioned that the translator creates a text as if from scratch, integrating it into the structure and norms of the target language, not using the structures of the original, but using those that will carry the same semantic load. This circumstance is especially relevant in the context of grammar transformations that do not simply change the grammar structures, but also require taking into account the lexical and stylistic component.

In my analysis, I will rely on the classification of grammar transformations formed by V.N. Komissarov and L.S Barkhudarov, because, in my opinion, these are their classification which show the greatest accuracy and substantial completeness.

Thus, to begin with, it is worth saying that grammar transformations by expression are divided into full and partial. Full transformations are reduced to the replacement of:

l the subject and the predicate (answering the question «who?» and «what?»),

l partial transformations in turn affect definitions («which?», «whose?»)

l circumstances («where?», «when?»)

l complements («whom?», «what?»).

Grammar transformations are especially relevant when it is necessary to avoid repetition of pronouns if they occur over and over again at the beginning of a sentence, as well as to translate the contextual situation competently.

The main types of grammar transformations I include include:

l Syntactic assimilation (literal translation)

l Sentence division

l Transposition

l Sentence combination

l Grammar replacements (forms of a word, part of speech or a sentence member).

In accordance with the aforementioned types, I'd like to examine each of them thoroughly, using the examples from the analysed afterwards «Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children»:

1. Syntactic assimilation (literal translation) is not often used method of translation where the structure of the source text is replaced by an equivalent structure in the target language. However, the use of this transformation is possible only if both languages have an identical set of lexical units, identical structures and sentence structure. For example:

I buy a beautiful flower. - Я покупаю красивый цветок

From the example above, I can notice that in spite of the literal translation, there were transformations of the content plan. In particular, the article was omitted, as well as in the Russian translation the adjective is coordinated by gender with the noun. In addition, other grammar components can also be pulped in translation, most often these are verbal and verbal forms, which are replaced by Russian nouns, since Russian does not know such a concept as «gerund». Despite this, literay translation technique needs changes on different level. Thus, it's the most unused type of translation.

Here is an example from the book «Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children»:

Table 2. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 1

I climbed into the passenger seat of his old Pontiac and declared that I didn't believe in his fairy stories anymore.	Я забрался на заднее сиденье его старенького «понтиака» и объявил, что больше не верю в его сказки.



«The passenger seat» is replaced by a relative adjective «заднее сидение», the adjective «old» is translated in the diminutive form «старенький» to emphasis the age of the narrator. In the second part, however, in order to meet the norms of the Russian language the pronoun «I» was omitted, and the word «more» came to the fore. However, the translator preserved the syntactic sequence and almost identical set of lexical units, with minor changes in the second part of the sentence.

From this I can conclude that syntactic likening is a rather superficial method of translation, which can rather harm the text, which will lose its identity without transformations.

Sentence division is a frequently used method of translation in which a sentence is split into two or more separate sentences if emphasis is needed on a point, or if translation of a whole sentence is detrimental to expressing the meaning intended by the author, while the separate simple or compound sentences are logically and situationally related.

Table 3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 2

I'd been born in the wrong century, and I felt cheated.	Мне следовало родиться в другом веке. Узнав, что опоздал, я почувствовал себя обманутым.

Table 4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 3

The tallest tales were always about his childhood, like how he was born in Poland but at twelve had been shipped off to a children's home in Wales.	Наиболее фантастические истории он рассказывал о своем детстве. Например, о том, что родился в Польше, но, когда ему исполнилось двенадцать, его привезли в детский дом в Уэльсе.

The division in the first sentence gives us the opportunity to emphasize the emotional component in two separate sentences. First, I see a separate fragment with the character's acknowledgement of being born in the wrong time, and in the second, the fact of his disappointment is placed.

Thus, the translator shows two separate feelings. Moreover, the phrase «and I felt cheated» in a literal translation as a predicate would not be able to convey emotional coloring, even though it corresponds to the norms of the Russian language, so the translator has resorted to the modulation (lexico-grammar transformation) by adding «Узнав, что опоздал»

The division in the second sentence is caused by the translator's desire to make the identical logical and substantive division of the sentence into two independent units, which will carry certain information and semantic load, rather than being overlaid in detail by one sentence on the other.

The omission of certain pronouns is also noticeable here, with the preservation of the passive voice in the part «его привезли»

Sentence combination is the method of translation that is opposite in function to Sentence division, when two or more sentences are combined into one, preserving the semantic load of the original.

Table 5. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 4

For weeks I refused even to venture into the driveway to collect the morning paper. I slept in a tangle of blankets on the laundry room floor, the only part of the house with no windows and also a door that locked from the inside.	Неделями я отказывался даже забирать утренние газеты с крыльца и спал в куче одеял на полу прачечной, единственной комнаты во всем доме, где не было окон, а дверь запиралась изнутри.

This example is one of the few where the translator has used a sentence combination. We can see that the translation does not include any pronouns, which is acceptable because the protagonist had previously described his condition, and in this sentence the translator saw fit to leave out the person, but it would not work without the context of the previous sentences.

Grammar replacement is one of the fundamental grammar transformations widely used in translation. Its necessity is stipulated by the fact that the grammar structure of the English language has several features which cannot be transferred verbatim.

For example, the article which omission is possible in rare cases (which we could see in the first example), while it mainly carries a semantic load, specifying the subject, emphasizing its importance or insignificance.

Also in Russian there is no gerund, which is usually translated by a participle, or a verbal noun. Especially the substitutions make sense when transferring genders, plurals, major and minor members of a sentence, and whole sentences in general. For example, already in the prologue to the main story, the main character often uses «дедушка» instead of the original he. This technique is justified not only in terms of diluting the use of the same pronoun, but also in terms of the emotional attachment of the main character.

These are some of the main aspects of grammar remplacement:

To translate texts in Russian and English it is not uncommon to replace an adjective with a noun and a noun verb, respectively.

Table 6. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 5

It was next to impossible for me to get fired.	Все это касалось исключительно меня.

This sentence is remarkable because, in addition to the replacement of the impersonal sentence in the singular «it was next to impossible» with the qualifying relative noun «все это касалось….», we can observe a complete semantic and structural transformation, where substitutions at the level of content and syntax have been made. However, the role and justification of these transformations become clearer when we look at the previous and subsequent sentences, which contextually reveal its meaning.

The difference is observed in the expression of quantity (i.e. singular and plural) in translation. If there are parallel ways of expressing them in a pair of languages, they are not subject to change, such as usually numerical nouns («houses», «problems», «countries/states»).

However, there are a number of plural non-numerical nouns («chess», «money», «news») which may be difficult to translate by context, as well as by a special way of translation suitable only in the context of the subject situation.:



Table 7. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 6

Contemplating the fish who might soon be enjoying my breakfast	и размышлял о том, что еще немного - и мой завтрак достанется рыбам

Table 8. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 7

Looming and bleak, folded in mist	Зловещий и унылый, окутанный лохмотьями тумана

Some nouns in the target language are derived from adjectives referring to locational objects.

As if he had known those long-dead islanders personally	Как будто он лично знал этих давно умерших жителей острова

The replacements of parts of speech when implementing the English Russian translations is explained simply in the perspectives of the subject being far more expressing actions than explaining it. For example:

object of an action (the subject is replaced by the adjective):

Table 9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 8

Miss Peregrine insisted that I wash off the bog mud before sitting down to dinner, and asked Emma to run me a bath	Мисс Сапсан настояла на том, чтобы перед тем, как сесть за стол, я смыл с себя тину и грязь, и попросила Эмму приготовить для меня ванну

The tense (the subject replaces the tense case):

Table 10. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 9

which for me was the day in second grade when Robbie Jensen pantsed me at lunch in front of a table of girls	Для меня это произошло во втором классе, когда во время ланча Робби Дженсен принялся дразнить меня перед столиком, за которым сидели девчонки,

In this sentence, the word «day» is omitted and replaced by the circumstance «Для меня это произошло во втором классе». Moreover, we can see how the translator has approached the syntactic change of structure in the second half of the sentence, where «a table of girls» has undergone a descriptive type of translation.

As can be seen from the examples used above, grammar transformations do not occur in singular form, but have multiple applications due to the situational, stylistic and content aspects of the text. This is also characteristic of sentence types, which can also be subject to change in translation. These are:

A complex sentence can be replaced by a simple one

Table 11. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 10

Miss Peregrine dangled a gloved hand in my direction and, when I failed to take it, noticed the rope that bound my wrists.	Женщина протянула мне затянутую в перчатку руку, но я не смог ее пожать. Она заметила мои связанные кисти.

The main sentence can be replaced by a subordinate sentence and vice versa.

Table 12. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 11

It all seemed unfathomably exotic to a kid who'd never left Florida and I begged him to regale me with stories whenever I saw him.	Мальчишке, никогда не выезжавшему за пределы Флориды, все это казалось невообразимой экзотикой, и стоило мне его увидеть, как я принимался осаждать его просьбами попотчевать меня своими увлекательными историями.

A complex sentence, contrary to what it looks like in Russian, can replace a compound sentence:

Table . 13. Мiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 12

So it was possible-there were people older than that in Englewood who still lived by themselves and drove	В принципе, это было вполне возможно. В Инглвуде были люди и постарше. Они не только жили совершенно самостоятельно, но и водили автомобиль



A compound sentence with a conjunction can be replaced by a sentence with a nonconjunctive mode of conjunction and vice versa

Table 14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 13

It's vastly preferable to assume the shape of a bird when observing humans,	Наблюдая за людьми, предпочтительнее обращаться в птицу



3 Analysis of grammar transformations in literary works

3.1 Analysis of grammar transformations in the novel «Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children»

Now, having uncovered the essence of translation science, the peculiarities of translating literary texts and parsing translation transformations, the main types of grammar transformations with some examples of lexical-grammar transformations in particular, I can use this information in practice by analyzing Ransom Riggs' novel «Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children» via the prism of the classification I have formed. [32], [33]

To begin with, I would like to talk about the novel in general and its author.

«Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children» was written by an American writer Ransom Riggs and released in 2012. The novel immediately found polarity, subsequently receiving a film adaptation.

The genre focus of the novel is centered between the teen novel and dark fantasy, which is reflected in the course of the narrative, atmosphere and language of the author, who speaks to the reader through the main character: teenager Jacob Portman.

The plot of the novel is about a teenager Jacob, who craves to learn about his grandfather's mysterious past after his death, followed by strange circumstances. The death has to do a lot with the stories grandfather told a little Jacob about his adventures, where he was fighting various monsters, and living among children with supernatural powers.

Despite the seemingly simple plot and childlike impression, the author raises a number of issues in the novel, such as mental health issues, relationships in the family, and the problem of choice between good and evil, etc.

This novel was chosen for several reasons:

The narration is performed on behalf of the main character, so we can learn in detail about his thoughts, feelings and attitude to the events experienced, thus consider how the translator approached the translation of grammar transformations in this work.

Second, the novel takes place in our time, and the main character is a teenager, which, on the one hand, emphasizes the relevance of my analysis in the context of modern prose, stylistic features of writing and translation of the novel of the 21st century, and on the other hand, gives us an opportunity to get acquainted with fiction not through the prism of high-flown florid language, which is characteristic of classic novels, but to become familiar with the language and stylistic peculiarities of the narrator's expression of thoughts in accordance with his age.

As I mentioned in «Methods of Research», the analysis will consist of passages of the work in the original and translation in the form of tables, which is done for ease of use. I now propose to explore the essence of grammar transformations through the analysis of works such as «Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children».

Table 15. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 14

It was hard to tell if he was being serious.	Мне никак не удавалось понять, насколько серьезно он говорит.

Here the impersonal sentence «It was hard to tell» in the compound sentence has been replaced by the first person singular in the deuteronomy «Мне никак не удавалось понять», while in the second part of the sentence the adjective «serious» has been replaced by the adverb «серьезно» and the verb «to be» in the continuous tense has been omitted.

Table 16. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 15

He slipped me another photo. Once I'd had a moment to look at it, he said,	Он подал мне другое фото и, подождав, пока я его рассмотрю, поинтересовался:



In this sentence, the translator combined the simple sentence and the compound sentence into one complex sentence by omitting the adverb «once» and using the verb «подождав,» which affected the syntactic structure of the sentence.

Table 17. Мiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 16

so sometimes we had to tie a rope around her to keep her from floating away!»	поэтому иногда нам приходилось обвязывать ее веревкой, чтобы она никуда не улетела!

In this example, the infinitive «to keep her from…» is replaced as the nominative part of a compound predicate in the form «чтобы она не улетела…»

Table 18. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 17

this one of a scrawny boy lifting a boulder	на котором тощий паренек держал над головой огромный валун.

The participle «lifting-держащий» has been replaced by the verb in the personal form «держал,» and the extra-linguistic specification «над головой» has also been added, since there are photographs describing certain scenes in the novel, which the translator took advantage of.

Table 19. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 18

and that fairy tales were for pants-wetting babies,	и что сказки рассказывают малышам, которые еще писают в штанишки,

In this example, the translator replaces the adjective «pants-wetting» in the form of a simple sentence with a compound sentence with the qualificative adjective «которые еще писают в штанишки»

Table 20. Мiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 19

It wasn't until a few years later that my dad explained it to me	Лишь несколько лет спустя папа мне все объяснил.



An example of an antonymic translation in which the replacement of the negation with an affirmation retains its original meaning.

Table 21. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 20

He was twelve years old when his parents sent him into the arms of strangers, putting their youngest son on a train to Britain with nothing more than a suitcase and the clothes on his back.	Ему было всего двенадцать лет, когда родители посадили его в поезд, отправив к совершенно незнакомым людям в Британию. У мальчика не было ничего, кроме детского чемоданчика.

Here the translator, in my opinion, first makes a mistake by omitting the sentence «their youngest son» because it carries a semantic and emotional load, emphasizing that of all the children sent to another country was the youngest. I can also pay attention to the unfortunate replacement of semantic accents, where first the fact of boarding the train and then sending it to strangers. However, the translator makes a good division of the sentence afterwards, adding the face «мальчик» and emphasizing his deplorable situation, which in the original was just a continuation of the part about the departure.

Table 22. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 21

We walked through the house, past more curious eyes peeping through door cracks and from behind sofas,	Мы снова прошли через дом, и снова из-за приоткрытых дверей меня провожали любопытные взгляды.

The translator here successfully used the addition of the first person genitive «меня» in the genitive case and replaced the present participle «peering» with the past tense verb «провожали». However, later the translator unreasonably omitted the circumstance of place «from behind sofas,» as it would not have burdened the text, but only revealed more of the setting of the situation described.

Table 23. Мiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 22

holding up a finger to silence Emma	подняв палец и подавая Эмме знак замолкнуть



In this example, the translator applied the addition of the qualifying noun «знак» to reveal the verb «to silence,» which in the context of this sentence could not be rendered in its dictionary meaning «успокоить / утихомирить»

Table 24. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 23

I felt a flush of relief; maybe I wouldn't have to explain myself after all. She'd been expecting me!	Я почувствовал, как на меня нисходит невероятное облегчение. Похоже, меня все-таки ожидали, и мне не придется долго доказывать, кто я такой и что здесь делаю.

The translator omitted the noun «a flush of» and formed a compound sentence by adding a second grammar stem in the impersonal form «нисходит невероятное облегчение,» but in my opinion, the translator has made the wrong replacement by changing the meaning of the phrase with a specific person specification «She'd been expecting me! - Она меня ждала / ожидала», to the impersonal generalized «Похоже, меня все-таки ожидали,» thus reducing the emotional load of the original.

Table 25. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 24

Miss Peregrine dangled a gloved hand in my direction and, when I failed to take it, noticed the rope that bound my wrists.	Женщина протянула мне затянутую в перчатку руку, но я не смог ее пожать. Она заметила мои связанные кисти.

This sentence was translated using division, forming one compound sentence and one simple sentence from a compound sentence. In this case, the logical emphasis was conveyed qualitatively, marking «Она заметила мои связанные кисти» as the «rheme» of the original.

translation transformation literary

Table 26. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 25

Emma began to protest, but Miss Peregrine shut her down with a withering glare.	Эмма начала было возражать, но мисс Сапсан окинула ее таким возмущенным взглядом, что девочке пришлось умолкнуть.



The translator here, on the one hand, rearranged the syntactic components by replacing the logical emphasis on the phrase «окинула ее таким возмущенным взглядом,» later developing the thought from verb «shut» by replacing it with the phrase «что девочке пришлось умолкнуть.», with the verb «shut» becoming referring not to Miss Peregrine as expressing it, but to the girl performing the action.

Table 27. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 26

My parents treated me like a breakable heirloom, afraid to fight or fret in front of me.	Опасаясь за мою психику, родители обращались со мной как с хрупкой реликвией. В моем присутствии отныне нельзя было ни ссориться, ни сетовать на жизнь.

Another example of the division of a sentence into two complex subordinates, the translator successfully replacing the logical stresses in the beginning by adding «Опасаясь за мою психику» at the beginning, and in the second, she reversed it by bringing «В моем присутствии» to the forefront, then adding the qualifying phrase «нельзя было», which demonstrates the transformation of transpositions.

Table 28. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 27

I was plagued by wake-up-screaming nightmares so bad that I had to wear a mouth guard to keep from grinding my teeth into nubs as I slept.	Меня преследовали кошмары, и я с криком вскакивал посреди ночи. Я так скрежетал зубами во сне, что мне приходилось защищать их капой, чтобы не раскрошить до основания

In this sentence, the translator modulated by replacing the descriptive adjective «wake-up-screaming» with a simple sentence, leaving the word «кошмары» in the first part, which became «и я с криком вскакивал посреди ночи»



Table 29. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 28

I couldn't close my eyes without seeing it-that tentacle-mouth horror in the woods.	Стоило мне закрыть глаза, как передо мной снова возникало увиденное в лесу чудовище со ртом, полным щупалец.

Here the translator has resorted to antonymic translation, replacing the simple sentence in the first part «I couldn't close my eyes» with the indicative predicative «Стоило мне закрыть глаза» Next I see the present participle «seeing» is replaced into the past tense predicative «передо мной снова возникало,» and the noun «tentacle-mouth horror» is replaced with the descriptive «чудовище со ртом, полным щупалец». This sentence demonstrates the relationship between mixed-type grammar transformations.

Table 30. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 29

My solution was to stop leaving the house.	Я решил для себя эту проблему, перестав выходить из дома.

The translator replaced the possessive pronoun with a noun in the nominative case «my solution» in this sentence with the action circumstance «Я решил…, перестав…», with the addition of extra-linguistic information derived from the previous sentences.

Table 31. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 30

I'm crouched in the corner of my grandfather's bedroom, amber dusk-light retreating from the windows	Я скорчился в углу дедушкиной спальни. В окнах угасает янтарный вечерний свет.

When translating this sentence, the translator divided one compound sentence into two simple sentences, where in the first example the translator incorrectly tenses the phrase «I'm crouched» because it describes sleep in the present tense, but in the second example the tense is correct, replacing «retreating» with the non-transitive verb «угасает».



Table 32. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 31

and then the windows shatter and glass rains in and the black tongues are all over us	Потом окно лопается, стекло дождем сыплется на пол и черные языки опутывают нас с дедушкой

Here the translator has made a rather liberal, but valid, replacement for the plural of the subject «windows,» which required a transformation of the number of the word «glass» as well.

Table 33. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 32

He was worried that the monsters would come after me	Он боялся, что чудовища придут за мной

The translator replaced the adjective with the verb «to be» in the form «was worried» in this sentence with the predicate «боялся,» while in the second sentence the future tense is retained and the modal verb «would» is omitted.

Table 34. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 33

All those pills were making me fat and stupid, and I was still miserable, getting only three or four hours of sleep a night.	От всех этих пилюль я толстел и тупел, но продолжал влачить жалкое существование и спал всего по три-четыре часа за ночь.

In this example, the translator qualitatively replaced the causal circumstance «All those pills were making me» with the subject «От всех этих пилюль я…», which allowed the logical emphasis to be placed on the main character. I can also observe the replacement of the verbal adjectives «fat and stupid» in the form of predicates in the past tense «я толстел и тупел». At the same time, the simple sentence «and I was still miserable» was replaced to a compound compound sentence «но продолжал влачить жалкое существование»

Table 35. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 34

The truth was that I'd had the dream every night that week.	На самом деле на этой неделе не было ни одной ночи, прошедшей без этого сна



A remarkable transformation is the replacement of the «subject» and «topic» of this compound sentence, turning it into a compound sentence where the person in the «не было ни одной ночи» part is omitted and the entire sentence has become impersonal.

Table 36. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 35

Two nights in a row, I told him, I'd dreamed I was naked in school.	Две ночи подряд мне снилось, что пришёл в школу полностью голым.

Here the translator replaced the descriptive adjective «was naked» with the circumstance of the place «пришел в школу полностью голым».

Table 37. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 36

I was twitchy and paranoid, bad enough at interacting with other people.	Я вздрагивал и страдал от мании преследования. Я испытывал затруднения в общении с другими людьми

Another example of the replacement of adjectives by descriptive predicates, where the adjective «paranoid» in the second part has been successfully replaced by the past tense adjective «страдал от мании преследования». Also worthy of attention is the descriptive adjective, which was replaced to a compound sentence with the addition of the first person and the transformation into an explanatory predicate.

Table 38. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 37

Her joke didn't bother me,	Ее шутка оставила меня равнодушным.

A significant transformation here took place in the form of, first, the antonymic translation with the replacement of «didn't bother me» with «оставила меня равнодушным» and second, where the verb «to bother» in its original meaning «надоедать, беспокоить» is transferred, by replacement, with the context in mind, which affected the syntactic structure of the entire sentence.

Table 39. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 38

I still suffered from nightmares	По ночам я по-прежнему просыпался от кошмаров.

The transpositions are observed in this sentence as well, albeit to a lesser degree. The emphasis of the translator is on the fact of the duration of the nightmares experienced, which entailed the addition of the adjective «по ночам» with the omission of the verb «to suffer».

Table 40. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 39

At home I made my ambitions known by parading around with a cardboard tube held to my eye, shouting, «Land ho!» and «Prepare a landing party!» until my parents shooed me outside.	Я не делал секрета из своих честолюбивых планов и расхаживал по дому, прикладывая к одному глазу картонную трубу и громко восклицая: «По курсу земля!» и «Приготовиться к высадке!» Когда моим родителям это надоедало, они выставляли меня в сад.

At the beginning of the sentence I can observe an example of antonymic translation, in which the statement in the original «made my ambitions known» turned into the negation «не делал секрета из своих честолюбивых планов. This translation also required a modulation of meaning, so that the translator translated «made…known» as «не делал секрета,» which preserves the original meaning. The clause of place «at home» moved to the middle of the first sentence, becoming a case pronoun with the preposition «по дому».

At the end of the sentence I see the replacement of the adjective sentence «until my parents shooed me outside» for a compound sentence with an explanatory adjective «Когда моим родителям это надоедало, они выставляли меня в сад.



Table 41. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 40

I knew I'd offended him because the Polish accent he could never quite shake had come out of hiding,	Я понял, что обидел его, потому что он произнес это с заметным польским акцентом, от которого ему так и не удалось окончательно избавиться и который особенно сильно проявлялся в минуты волнения.

In this example, the translator has not divided the sentence, but has modified the compound sentence «he could never quite shake» into the adjectival part with the conjunction «которого» becoming «от которого ему так и не удалось окончательно избавиться» adding the phrase «проявлялся в минуты волнения»

Table 42. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 41

The calm, affectless way he explained things was almost hypnotizing,	Своим спокойствием и невозмутимостью он практически загипнотизировал меня

Another replacement of the descriptive adjectives «calm, affectless» with the possessive nouns «спокойствием и невозмутимостью,» which required the translator to omit the verb «to explain» and then replace the verb adjective «hypnotizing» with the past tense verb «загипнотизировал» with the addition of the pronoun in the genitive case «меня».

Table 43. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 42

But in general that is how we prefer to be thought of, for it tends to keep away unwanted visitors.	Но в целом мы предпочитаем, чтобы о нас думали именно так, потому что это предупреждает появление незваных гостей

In this sentence, the infinitive of the verb with the complement «to be thought of» retains its position in the sentence and its passive function, while the phrase «it tends» loses its primary function, replaced in its semantic description by the infinitive of the verb «to keep,» to which the subject «появление» is added.



Table 44. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 43

We were always so desperate for news of Abe.	Мы всегда стремились хоть что-то узнать об Эйбе.

In this sentence the verb «to be» in conjunction with the adjective is replaced by the predicate in the past long tense «всегда стремились» The translator also replaced the word «news» in the plural with the particle «хоть что-то,» which is meaningfully incorrect, since the latter reduces the emotional impact of the original.

Table 45. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 44

«And then to make his poor grandson bear the awful news back to us.»	— А потом он заставил своего бедного внука донести до нас эту трагическую весть.

Unlike the previous example, here the plural of «news» has been replaced into the singular «весть,» indicated by the definite article «the» in the singular form.

Table 46. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 45

He lived on the rural outskirts of town; we'd just been through a drought and the woods were full of starving, desperate animals;	Он жил на окраине города. Из-за недавней засухи в лесу было полно обозлившихся от голода животных

In addition to sentence division, a striking example is the replacement of the plurals «outskirts» and «woods» with the singular «окраина» and «лес». In the second sentence there is a change in logical emphasis, where in the original sentences about drought and hungry animals were two simple sentences, whereas the translator has replaced the descriptive adjectives «starving, desperate» with the participle «обозлившихся от голода» uniting the two parts of the sentence in meaning.



Table 47. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 46

The real taxonomy of Homo sapiens is a secret known to only a few, of whom you will now be one.	Настоящая классификация гомо сапиенс - это тайна, известная очень немногим, в число которых ты сейчас войдёшь.

The translator translated this sentence with an almost identical set of syntactic structures, except for the last part, which is transformed with replacement by the connective conjunction «которых» from a dowel «a few - of whom» into the adjective form of the compound sentence « «в число которых ты сейчас войдёшь»

Table 48. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 47

Go and live by yourselves?	Вы могли бы там поселиться и жить, не общаясь с остальным миром.

The sentence was replaced from an interrogative to an affirmative by the translator, while the second part of the sentence developed semantically from the reflexive pronoun in the passive voice «by yourself» to the participle «жить, не общаясь с остальным миром»

Table 49. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 48

Can you imagine, in a world so afraid of otherness, why this would be a danger to all peculiar-kind?»	Ты ведь знаешь, как мир боится всего необычного. Именно поэтому он представляет такую опасность для всех, кто отличается от других.

Despite the complexity of this sentence, in which I see a complex subordinate structure with a compound question, the translator has made a successful transformation of division. In the first sentence, the circumstance of the reason has been replaced by the subject, changing the form of the word «otherness» to a descriptive adjective in the form of the dictative «как мир боится всего необычного». In the second sentence, the conditional form «this would be a danger to» was replaced by the present tense form «представляет такую опасность». In the third sentence, a descriptive type of translation was made in which the adjective form «all peculiar-kind?» was transformed into the predicative form of the descriptive predicate «всех, кто отличается от других».

Table 50. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 49

The peculiar offspring of common parents are often abused and neglected in the most horrific ways	Странные отпрыски обычных родителей зачастую терпят поистине чудовищные унижения

The translator changed the entire second part of the sentence by replacing the adjectives «abused and neglected» with the collective noun «унижения,» before adding the phrase «in the most horrific ways», rather than leaving «ways - способы» as an omitted noun.

Table 51. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 50

It's only the one day? It repeats?»	Это только один день, который все время повторяется?

Here the translator has resorted to combining the two questions, in which the second question has become the adjective «который все время повторяется».

Table 52. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 51

It was strange to think that she'd shown these same pictures to my grandfather all those years ago, when he was my age.	Как странно, думал я, точно так же эти фотографии когда-то разглядывал мой дедушка. Ему было столько же лет, сколько сейчас мне.

In this example, which has been subjected to division, the translator has also broken the cause-and-effect relationship by changing the person in «she'd shown… pictures… to my grandfather» to «эти фотографии когда-то разглядывал мой дедушка» which affected the syntactic structure of the entire sentence. In the second sentence a transformation was made, replacing the predicative part «Ему было столько же лет, сколько сейчас мне» with a compound sentence «He was as old as I am now,» which I assess as a qualitative substitution of the sentence type.

Table 53. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 52

I began to understand why Emma had been so reluctant to believe me	Я начал понимать, почему Эмма отказывалась мне верить.

The interpreter also replaced the adjective «reluctant» with the evocative verb «отказывалась». The translator used another replacement of the adjective «reluctant» with the evocative verb «refused,» but because of the inability to convey the length of «Past Perfect Continuous» the translator used the form «Past Simple».

Table 54. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, ex. 53

She pulled a watch from her pocket and consulted it	Она извлекла из кармана часы и посмотрела на них.

Another example of replacing the singular of the subject «watch» with the plural of «часы,» which entailed changing the third person nominative case of «it» to the genitive case of «них»

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