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ЯЗЫК ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ
УДК
THE TRANSLATION OF VERBS OF MANNER IN THE NOVEL “JANE EYRE” BY CHARLOTTE BRONTM TO RUSSIAN AND GERMAN
M. A. Anokhina
The article describes semantic peculiarities of verbs of manner in Russian, English and German. The ability of the verbs to incorporate Manner to their core meaning is high in these languages. Complex semantics of these highly contentful verbs poses problems for translators. In this work I study how translators of the novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte ВтШё handle translation into Russian and German of verbs that express both the fact of action and its manner. I track whether there is any possible gain or loss of information during the translationprocess.
Keywords: verbs of manner, to incorporate, components, translation, the novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte.
The ability of manner verbs to incorporate manner to their core meaning is high in English, German and Russian. Though the languages belong to different groups, English and German are Germanic languages, and Russian is a Slavic language, they have at least one thing in common. According to Talmy [1985], languages can be classified into two types, satellite-framed languages (S-languages) and verb-framed languages (V-languages). Slobin added another type - Equipollently-fTamed languages (E-languages). English, German and Russian are Satellite-framed. Manner is encoded as a main verb; path must be a satellite. The fact that Russian and German verbs integrate morphemes encoding both path and manner seems to place Russian and German into the category of E-languages. However, Slobin’s [2006] description of E-framed languages suggests that in this linguistic class both path and manner have roughly morphosyntactic status. In Russian and German, on the other hand, prefixes do not exist without a motion verb. Languages follow different packaging strategies.
Adverbial expression of Manner is an important domain for speakers of English, German and Russian. The languages have developed large lexicons with many distinctions of manner. S-languages allow for an economical expression of manner of action in the main verb of a clause. For example, verbs describing specific types of walking in English, German and Russian: rush - eilen - toropit’sia; wander - wandern - brodit’; stroll - schlendern - prokhazhivat’sia; march - marschieren - marshiro-vat’; hobble - humpeln - kovyliat’; mince (along) - trippeln - semenit’; walk - spazieren - progulivat’sya; race - nachjagen - gnat’sia; rush -rennen - mchat’sia, etc.
S-language users seem to perceive manner and directed motion as a single conceptual event, making it difficult to have a mental image of one without the other.
Besides Manner, there are many components that are encoded in a verb. These are Goal (forge, slump), Instrument (brush, hammer), Body Part (shrug), Container (bag, pocket), Attitude (amble, saunter, stroll), Sound source (roll, crunch, squeak), etc, e.g., (1) the verb to sneak means to go somewhere secretly and quietly in order to avoid being seen or heard) (LDCE). The verb ‘sneak’ encodes Place, Manner, and Goal.
I analysed the conflation patterns of verbs of manner in English, German and Russian in order to investigate possible changes (gain or loss) in the informational load during the translation process. To this purpose, I extracted the manner verbs from the novel “Jane Eyre” and its respective translations. These verbs have been studied and classified using English-English, German-German and Russian-Russian dictionaries.
Translators face with the delicate task of finding suitable means of adverbial expression. It is necessary to go from the mental image produced by reading the source language to an appropriate rendering of that mental image in the target language. Translators have to accommodate the characteristics of the source language to the demands of the target language while keeping as accurate as possible the content of the original text.
Translations can be considered more or less faithful to the original, in most cases the translator only translates half of the information or chooses to incorporate a totally different type of manner information. He/she has to decide whether to simply omit a detail of manner or to preserve it in an adverbial clause, thereby giving it more or less narrative weight than in the original.
Literal translation of S-language text into S-language text is supposed to be equal in the amount of information load conveyed. But it happens that texts in target language become dry and non-dynamic, or quite op-
posite - overly dramatic. It might happen when unexpected attention to Manner is paid. In case of good translation a target text keeps all the semantic distinctions of the source text.
In general, there are three modes of translations. For about 50% of the translated English manner verbs the translators found direct counterparts in German and Russian. For about 40%, the translators found suitable combinations of verbs with adverbs or verbs with noun constructions, and about 10%just avoidedtranslating suchverbs altogether.
Some consider only the first mode to be accurate as the sense of the situation and/or the style of the author of the original passage is perfectly kept.
Let’s compare the following translation strategies. The first mode is the English adverbial verb finds a direct counterpart in Russian and German. In this case the translation fully conveys the action in the original.
(2) English: A small breakfast-room adjoined the drawing-room, I slipped in there.
German: An das Wohnzimmer grenzte ein kleines Frtihsttickszimmer, in das ich hineinschlupfte (‘An das Vontsimma grenzte ain klaines Fry-ustyukstsimma, in das ih hinainshlyupfte’).
Russian: К гостиной примыкала малая столовая для завтраков, и я ускользнула туда (‘К gostinoy primykala malaya stolovaya dlya zavtrakov, iya uskol’znula tuda’).
Within this mode there can be the translation with adverbial verb of the same lexico-semantic group, but not equivalent semantics.
(3) English: ‘Boh! Madam Mope!’ cried the voice of John Reed; then hepaused: hefound the room apparently empty.
German: «Oho, Madam Trtibsal!», ertonte John Reeds Stimme (‘«Oho, Madam Tryubsal», ertyonte Dzhon Ridz Shtimme’)
Russian: - Ба! Госпожа Нюня! - раздался голос Джона Рида и тотчас умолк, так как комната оказалась пустой (-Ba! Gospozha Nyunya! - razdalsya golos Dzhona Rida I totchas umolk, tak kak komnata okazalas’pustoy’).
Sometimes a translator makes changes in the translation, adding emotional content of the original to get any result.
(4) English: I don’t very well know what I did with my hands, but he called me ‘Rat! rat!’ and bellowed out aloud.
German: Was ich mit meinen Handen tat, kann ich nicht mehr sagen, aber er schrie fortwahrend «Ratte! Ratte!», und brUllte aus Leibeskraften (Vas ih mit mainen Hendentat, kan ih niht mie zagen, aba er shrifortver-end «Ratte! Ratte!», und bruylte aus Lyaibeskreften ’).
Russian: Не знаю, что делали мои руки, только он охнул: «Крыса! Крыса!» и завопил во всю мочь (Ne znayu, chto delali moi ruki, tol’ko on ohnul: «Krysa! Krysa!» I zavopil vo vsyu moch ’).
The second mode of translation is a translator may find a suitable verb and adverb, or a verb and noun construction in Russian and German. Manner is totally dropped in some of the translations, but in most cases, Manner is maintained through the use of constructions.
It is frequently the case that one manner verb in English has to be translated using two different elements, a verb to express the action and a different element to include information about manner. This mode of translation keeps nearly all manner information. But the English verb loses its economical expression of manner.
1. A translator finds non-manner verb and additional means that convey the adverbial meaning. Adequate translations require the translator to add an expressive description of Manner which was implicit in the original text.
(5) English: They had got me by this time into the apartment indicated by Mrs Reed, and had thrust me upon a stool...
Russian: К этому времени они уже водворили меня в комнату, указанную миссис Рид, и насильно усадили на что-то мягкое. Я было вскочила как ужаленная, но они вновь схватили меня и удержали на месте (К etomu vremeni oni uzhe vodvorili menya v komnatu, ukazannuyu missis Rid, i nasil’no usadili na chto-tomyagkoe’).
The translation of the verb ‘thrust’ is done with the use of additional means - an adverb.
2. The adverbial verb is substituted for non-adverbial verb, losing information.
There are some translation strategies when attention to adverbial component is diminished. It leads to contents reduction, e.g.
(6) English: At intervals, while turning over the leaves in my book, I studied the aspect of that winter afternoon.
German: In kurzen Momenten, wenn ich die Seiten meines Bu-ches umblatterte, fiel mein Blick auf den Winternachmittag (In kurzen Momenten,ven ih di Saiten maines Buhes umbletterte, fil main Blik auf den Vinternahmittag).
In the following example, the translator has replaced a verb of manner with a non-manner verb and noun, with no indication to Manner.
The third mode is a translator may avoid translating such verbs. The translator omits any manner information.
(7) English: All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit.
Russian: Все в этой воображаемой нише выглядело более холодным, более темным, чем в натуре. И смотревшая на меня оттуда одинокая фигурка, чьи побелевшие лицо и руки выделялись в сумраке, а блестящие от страха глаза были единственным, что двигалось среди общей неподвижности, более всего походила на привидение (Vsyo v etoy voobrazhaemoy nishe vyglyadelo bole holodnym, bole tyom-nym, chem. v nature. I smotrevshaya na menya ottuda odinokayafigurka, ch’i pobelevshie litso i ruki vydelyalis’ v sumrake, a blestyaschie ot stra-ha glaza byli edinstvennym, chto dvigalos’ sredi obschey nepodvizhnosti, bole vsegopohodila naprividenie).
The verb ‘gaze’ loses the component “Manner” in the Russian translation. As a result, the episode becomes less intensive and emotional.
Although almost half of the translations found equivalent counterparts in Russian, a high percentage lost information by either creating alternate constructions or omitting that aspect of the translation. However the translations still made sense.
In future studies it would be interesting to see how the translation of manner verbs has been handled in the direction of Russian / German to English.
Bibliography
1. Slobin, D. What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition. Space in languages: Linguistic systems and cognitive categories. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2006. P. 59-81.
2. Talmy, L. Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms // Shopen T. Language typology and lexical description : Vol. 3. Grammatical categories and the lexicon. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1985. P. 36-149.
The Books for Reference
1. Brontё, C. Jane Eyre. London : Penguin Books, 2006. 578 p.
2. Brontё, C. Jane Eyre. Koln: Anaconda, 2008. 640 s.
3. Бронте, Ш. Джейн Эйр. М. : ACT : Астрель, 2010. 444 с.
4. LDCE - Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The Complete Guide to Written and Spoken English. 3d ed. London : Longman Group Ltd, 1995. 1668 p.
