The use of non-equivalent vocabulary in the novels "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by E. Hemingway and "Spanish diary" by M. Koltsov: a contrastive aspect

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Slavic Languages Department, Foreign Philology Faculty

Abstract

In the period of the development of the world, vanishing of the borders between countries, mass migration of people and unstable global military and political climate there is an urgent need to pay extra attention and research efforts to the intercultural communication between peoples. Intercultural literacy and awareness can help people reduce different conflicts between nations, standardise life and culture, avoid culture shock while travelling, and improve geopolitical situation on the world arena. Literature is a powerful tool for writers to present their ethnical culture by means of endowing characters with some specific cultural attributes and creating bright stylistic effect of their novels. Thus, it leads to the inevitable usage of foreign and non-equivalent vocabulary in various literary works.

This paper studies both the usage of non-equivalent vocabulary in the interpretation and evaluation of the image of Spain during The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in the language consciousness of the representatives of the American and Soviet ethnical groups, as well as the way non-equivalent vocabulary creates intercultural atmosphere. The research has shown an excessive use of non-equivalent words, barbarian words and exoticisms in the novels under analysis. Much attention was drawn to the categories these words can be divided into, to the functions they perform in the conveying of the Spanish image and methods of interpretation of non-equivalent vocabulary in the novels by the authors, American and Soviet social characteristics and traditions. The results demonstrated the ability of the non-equivalent vocabulary not only to present information of their original culture but also to characterise the authors themselves as the elite representatives of their ethno-national groups.

Keywords: non-equivalent vocabulary, barbarian words, exoticisms, intercultural communication, image of Spain.

Турчанінова, Н.Ю.

Використання безеквівалентної лексики в романах "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Е. Хемінгуея та "Испанский дневник" М. Кольцова: зіставний аспект

Анотація

У період світового розвитку, стирання кордонів між державами, масової міграції народів та нестабільного воєнно-політичного клімату у світі існує нагальна потреба звернути особливу увагу та докласти дослідницьких зусиль до вивчення проблеми міжкультурної комунікації різних народів. Міжкультурна грамотність та усвідомлення міжкультурних відмінностей можуть допомогти зменшити кількість конфліктів різного характеру між народами, стандартизувати життя та культуру, уникнути культурного шоку під час подорожей та покращити геополітичну ситуацію на світовій арені. Література - це потужний засіб, яким користуються письменники задля презентації своєї етнічної культури шляхом наділення головних героїв своїх творів особливими культурними атрибутами та створення яскравого стилістичного ефекту в романах. Це призводить до неминучого застосування безеквівалентної лексики в різних літературних творах.

Ця стаття вивчає використання безеквівалентних слів для створення образу Іспанії в період Іспанської громадянської війни (1936-1939) у мовних свідомостях представників американської та радянської етнічних груп та формування міжкультурної атмосфери за допомогою безеквівалентної лексики. Проведене дослідження виявило велику кількість варваризмів та екзотизмів, які використовують автори у своїх романах. Значна увага приділялась критеріям, за якими можна класифікувати такі лексеми, та виконуваним ними функціям. Результат цієї розвідки демонструє здатність безеквівалентної лексики не лише бути виразником культурної інформації, але й характеризувати авторів як елітарних представників своїх етнокультурних спільнот.

Ключові слова: безеквівалентна лексика, варваризми, екзотизми, міжкультурна комунікація, образ Іспанії.

equivalent word vocabulary

Introduction

Based on the research conducted in the study of foreign language vocabulary, we find that context / text with non-equivalent vocabulary or foreign vocabulary acquires ethnic features, because non-equivalent vocabulary always contains the “national” meaning, which requires the recipient to understand the cultural affiliation of the work. Also, non-equivalent vocabulary is always present in the background of any literary work. In the novels under the analysis, we identified material non-equivalence (absence of an object, a phenomenon in the life of the people of the language of translation) (Ivanov, 2006, p. 82).

The role of an author's national picture of worldview, as an author being a competitive and elite representative of any kind of culture, should be taken into the account while analysing and studying non-equivalent vocabulary. Every speaker of a language is a carrier of culture, and language signs are able to express the basic cultural standpoints. Each language in its own way dissects the world and the picture of the world. In this regard, the linguistic personality always organizes the content of its expression in accordance with the picture of the world and determines the type of relationship of a person to the world, reflecting the peculiarities of the cultural and national mentality of its carrier (Lazarev, 2014, p. 471). That is why the feature of an author's national picture of worldview should not be underestimated and should be paid much attention to.

Zorivchak confirms the importance of characteristics of non-equivalent vocabulary assuming that “the main lexical meaning of realities contains (in terms of binary comparison) a complex of ethno-cultural information traditionally attached to them, foreign to the objective reality of the language-receiver” (1989, p. 58).

In connection with differences in the worldview and worldviews of different peoples, scientists identify a number of problems that arise in the process of translating realities from one language to another. Thus, Shveitser advocates the ideas that in the process of translation there is not only the comparison of different language systems, but also a clash of different cultures and even civilizations. This aspect of translation stands out in particularly when translating realities (Shveitser, 1970, pp. 30-42).

The main difficulties of translating realities are “the lack of counterpart in a receiving language, full or partial, due to the lack of a referent denoted by the reality in the speakers of this language” (Zorivchak, 1989, p. 39). Hence, transcription (transliteration), hyperonymic renaming, descriptive periphrasis, combined renomination, full and partial tracing, crosslanguage transcription at the connotative levels, finding a situational counterpart (contextual translation), contextual interpretation (interpretation) of realities are among the methods of transmitting non-equivalent vocabulary.

This paper studies the peculiarities of the use of non-equivalent in the verbalization of the Spanish image during the Spanish Civil War in the novels by E. Hemingway “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and M. Koltsov “Spanish Diary”. The functions, ways and methods of interpretation of non-equivalent vocabulary and its role in presenting the ethnical identity of the authors are under the research in this paper.

Generally, war is the period when all military, financial, economic and human resources of any kind of nation are activated and accumulated. It is the process of reestablishment of a nation, setting new priorities and finding alternatives and means of national preservation. Thus, events provoked by war are considered to be very bright and vivid for the analysis of an image of any nation or country. Every nation faces some lifechanging events in the course of its history. Spain is not an exception. Historically, the supporters of the Spanish fascism could not come to terms with the prospect of the loss of political power in the country, so with the support of Italy and Germany they attacked the Republic that led to a bloody and ferocious conflict. The novels under analysis convey the most dramatic events of the Spanish Civil War. Taking into account the fact that both authors lived in Spain during the war as military correspondents, witnessed the war themselves, communicated with the Spanish, learned the traditions and customs of the country it is not surprising that their novels contain a lot of non-equivalent vocabulary.

Literature Review. Nowadays there are a lot of national and international researchers who study the notion of non-equivalent vocabulary and its functions in linguistics. The analysis of the literature has shown that the problem of non-equivalent vocabulary is becoming one of the most popular aspects of a contemporary linguistic research. The theoretical fundamentals of the problem were set in the studies of Ivanov (2006), Kolesova, Kostomarov (1990), Shveitser (1970), Vereshchagin (1990), and Zorivchak (1989). The linguists presented different concepts of interpretation and understanding of the notion of non-equivalent and foreign vocabulary, the ways of its translation and the functions it performs.

Ivanova researched the problem of borrowings in the aspect of cognitive linguistics and presented the idea that cognitive processes are realised due to the creation of new variants of the translation of borrowings the core element of which is a borrowing itself (2011, pp. 99-102). Bryk studied the role of non-equivalent vocabulary in the representation of the image of Turkey and concluded that Turkish non-equivalent vocabulary contributes much to the verbalization of the image of Turkey and successfully conveys the chief aspects of Turkish culture (2020). Tupchiy presented the research of English borrowings and their roles and functionality in modern linguistic studies (2019). Kozak focused attention on general theoretical content of intercultural communication in context of dialogue of cultures and highlighted some aspects of intercultural communication (2013). Mizin & Petrov (2021) carried out the research of cross-cultural concepts representing ethnospecific emotional state of different ethnical groups and the way the concepts under analysis are presented verbally. Robinson & Altarriba asserted that the research of the connection between language and culture can be especially beneficial to applied area of research and practice, such as intercultural communication (2015). Zitouni & Alzahrani investigate the translation of cultural items focusing attention on the qualitative approach for selecting and analysing the translation of culturally bound items (2022).

Aim and Objectives. The aim of this paper is to study the use of non-equivalent vocabulary in the novels “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway and “Spanish Diary” by Myhailo Koltsov. We have set the following objectives of the research:

- to find out and compare the main methods of interpretation of non-equivalent vocabulary used by the authors in the novels under the analysis;

- to group and count the methods of transmission of cultural information by nonequivalent vocabulary;

- to single out the functions non-equivalent vocabulary performs in the novels;

- to discover the way non-equivalent vocabulary characterizes the linguistic consciousness of the authors;

- to compare and contrast the usage of non-equivalent vocabulary in the novels and the degree of its influence on the authors' perception of the world through their own national world pictures.

Methodology. The methodology of the research consists of a descriptive method, a method of linguistic interpretation, a linguo-cultural method, a comparative method, and the method of quantitative calculations.

Results

To make it easier to single out, interpret, compare, and count the cases of the usage of non-equivalent vocabulary, its functions and methods of interpretation in the texts of the novels we divided them into thematic groups which have a common semantic meaning. Thus, four (4) major groups were acquired, namely: “greetings”, “military vocabulary”, “authentic features”, “meals”.

1. Non-equivalent vocabulary with the seme of “greetings”

A lot of non-equivalent vocabulary of this group were found in the texts under analysis. Виска Сандино! Виска Русиа! Буэнос диас! Муй бьен! О гуапа! О морена! О рубиа! А тьєрра! Абахо! Анимо! Віва! Ола! These examples of barbarian words are used in the text of the novel “Spanish Diary” by Koltsov without grammar or lexical assimilation. To interpret these words, the author uses graphical assimilation - the Spanish words take a graphical outlook of the Russian language: transcription, violating the phonetical norms of the recipient-language and transliteration, basing on the graphical system of the Russian language.

In the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Hemingway there are a lot of cases of the usage of the words from the semantic group “greetings”: Salud, Hola, Ole, Bueno, Vamos!, guapa, Arriba Espana, buen provecho, Viva la Anarquia! Viva la Libertad!, deja, Que sencillo!, Buenas noches, Redios!, menuda matanza, Estoy listo!, Viva la Republica!, Viva la Republica y viva mis padres, la gloria, Buena suerte. The majority of the mentioned above barbarisms and exoticisms are presented in the text of the novel by means of transcription and transliteration.

2. Non-equivalent vocabulary with the seme of “military vocabulary”.

Considering the reflection of the historic event depicted in the novels, the texts, obviously, contain a lot of non-equivalent vocabulary that can be referred to this semantic group. In the novel “Spanish Diary” the cases of the usage of military vocabulary are presented by neither contextual interpretation nor by the author's comments: сегуридад, альмиранте, документос, энемиго, амико, текнико, батальон “Канариас", колона “Агилас", батальон “Лос фигарос", милисианос, алькальда. It is worth noting that all the words are barbarisms and exoticisms which are only graphically assimilated and do not have either a grammar or lexical adaptation.

In the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” non-equivalent vocabulary is presented with the help of barbarisms and exoticisms. However, adaptation is realized through grammar assimilation. For example, the noun maquina (=car in Spanish) in the sentence “I know about a maquina” (Hemingway, 2005, p. 29) is used with an indefinite article `a' in correspondence with grammatical norms of the English language. The same tendency can be observed in the following cases: the traca (ibid., 2005, p. 90), the civiles (ibid., 2005, p. 105), the Ayuntamiento (ibid., 2005, p. 109), this pueblo (ibid., 2005, p. 112), the cortijos) (ibid., 2005, p. 144), the guerrilleros group (ibid., 2005, p. 154), the facciosos (ibid., 2005, p. 226), the greatest peon de brega (ibid., 2005, p. 260), the Teniente-Coronel (ibid., 2005, p. 414), the Estado Mayor (ibid., 2005, p. 417). A similar example of semantisation of the Spanish barbarisms and exoticisms is found in the following sentence: They are moscas (ibid., 2005, p. 41), where the verb `to be' is used with the barbarism in plural moscas, according to the rules of the English grammar. In the example “... the other girls who had started as milicianas” (ibid., 2005, p. 416) the grammatical adaptation is implemented by means of adding ending of plural form to the barbarism. An example of the use of barbarism guardia civil seems to be interesting in the following sentence: “We killed a pair of guardia civil' (ibid., 2005, p. 16). The preposition `of demands the use of the noun in a genitive case without the changes in the noun itself, according to the rules of the English language. The author fully assimilates the barbarism guardia civil.

The sentence “Nuestra gloriosa tropa siga avanzando sin perder ni una sola palma de terreno” (Hemingway, 2005, p. 247) gets literal translation ` Our glorious troops continue to advance without losing a foot of ground' (ibid., 2005, p. 247). The same example of semantisation of non-equivalent vocabulary can be seen in the following examples: resistir y fortificat es vencer (ibid., 2005, p. 319) - Hold out and fortify, and you will win (ibid., 2005, p. 319), Que cosa mas mala es la guerra (ibid., 2005, p. 333) - What a bad thing war is (ibid., 2005, p. 333). There is a grammatical assimilation conducted by means of adding a definite article `the' to the barbarism and a descriptive periphrasis `There was the Salvoconducto or the safe-conduct pass' (ibid., 2005, p. 391).

It is also worth paying attention to the use of barbarisms guerre, guerra, krieg (French guerre, Spanish guerra, German krieg) (ibid., 2005, p. 174) by Hemingway. The use of these foreign lexemes characterizes the author as a highly educated personality who spoke a couple of foreign languages, and it can be suggested that Hemingway aimed to emphasize the fact that the war was not just the problem of a single nation, but had an international character.

3. Non-equivalent vocabulary with the seme of `authentic features'.

Both novels contain the examples of the use of non-equivalent vocabulary with a semantic meaning of `authentic features'. Both Hemingway and Koltsov involve the most common notions for the Spanish culture, these are “bullfight” and “bullfighter” (English - matador de toros, Russian - тореадор тореро). Transcription is used as a means of interpretation of non-equivalent vocabulary in the Russian text. Hemingway presents the interpretation of this lexeme through descriptive periphrasis Now he would like to retire like a matador de toros. Like a bull fighter (Hemingway, 2005, p. 28). The attention should be paid to the fact that there is a grammatical assimilation of this notion, as the Spanish noun matador de toros enters the sentence in accordance with the rules of English grammar: through the use of an indefinite article -a-.

Continuing the topic of bullfighting in Spain, the example of the use of the Spanish lexeme capea is found in the text of the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, which means `a fight of young bulls in a village' (Cossio, 1996, pp. 690-691). This non-equivalent word is interpreted contextually by the author, saving the national flavour and letting a recipient to understand the idea of the statement: He had always been very brave with the bull in those village capeas (Hemingway, 2005, p. 381). The author also uses an exoticism corrales (Spanish stall) in order to convey a local flavour. The interpretation is carried out by using the English counterpart: the stables, the corrales (ibid., 2005, p. 144). In this case a grammatical assimilation can be observed, where the noun the corrales gets the ending of the plural form and is used with the article.

In his novel the American author uses a national attribute of the Spanish clothes alpargatas - canvas shoes with esparto or hemp soles, which are fixed with a simple adjustment or straps (Lopez, 1975). According to the Spanish dictionary, the word alpargata comes from the Basque word abarca (Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola, 2002). This kind of shoe was specially designed in the war time as it differed in cheapness and convenience and was worn mostly by peasants. The author uses descriptive periphrasis to interpret this non-equivalent lexeme rope-soled shoes, it also demonstrates the fact of the author's erudition.

The attention can be drawn to the borrowing bota: I took a long drink, letting the wine run cool down my throat from the leather bota (Hemingway, 2005, p. 121). According to the Spanish dictionary, bota - a pear-shaped leather wine container with a stopper at the narrowest part through which the liquid escapes in a very fine stream (Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola, 2002). A grammatical assimilation is observed in this case where a definite article -the- is used with a Spanish exoticism.

The Spanish proper name Gitanos /gypsies (Hemingway, 2005, p. 182) in the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is not interpreted by the author, a grammatical and graphical assimilation is present.

Flamenco is considered to be the brightest example of the non-equivalent vocabulary in the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” which performs a function of a national feature of the Spanish culture and means the national musical style of the Spaniards (melodies, songs, dances with an unstable rhythm and heightened emotionality (Leblon, 2003)) (Hemingway, 2005, p. 194). The meaning of this lexeme is fixed in the dictionary.

4. Non-equivalent vocabulary with the seme of “meals”. The semantic group under consideration is presented by the fewest number of examples. It can be explained by the fact that both authors depicted the events of the Spanish

Civil War in their novels, the time of extreme shortage of different kinds of facilities and resources for maintaining a good level of life.

The Soviet author focuses his attention in a very short list of beverages that are presented by the following exoticisms: перно (French Pernod - alcohol drink), агуа (Spanish agua - `water'), віно (Spanish vino - `wine'). The interpretation of these exoticisms is carried out by transcription.

Hemingway singles out the Spanish national dish paella (a Spanish (Valencian) dish of rice coloured with saffron, with the addition of olive oil, seafood, vegetables, chicken, sausage etc. (Jaine, 1989, p. 104). One more dish is puchero /soup. This exoticism gets only a grammatical assimilation in the sentence: I will send the Maria with the puchero when they are cooked (Hemingway, 2005, p. 310).

Discussion

Among the functions the non-equivalent vocabulary performs in the novels under analysis it is possible to highlight: a nominative function that denotes objects and phenomena that are absent in the languages of the researched works (porron, paella, alpargatas, bota, capea); an emotional function that represents both authors, who use non-equivalent vocabulary in their novels, as highly educated persons; the function of authorial selfexpression, which allowed the authors to move away from the use of standard words to express their own thoughts. In addition, a colour-creating function is highlighted, which allows to convey the national colour and better depict the image of Spain; informative that introduces the new realities of other linguistic pictures of the world; an expressive-emotional function which shapes the addressee's attitude to the events depicted in the novels.

Conclusions

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