79THE USAGE OF ANIMAL IDIOMS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM
ENGLISH TO KARAKALPAK
Gulbahar Sratdinova Xurliman Jumanbetova
Karakalpak State University, Karakalpak State University,
English teacher 3rd year student
gulbahar. sratdinova@mail. ru di umanbetova-7 @mail. ru
ABSTRACT
The article deals with the study of idioms in English and Karakalpak languages. As the main theme is "animal idioms", we will give information about its usage, peculiarities, importance by theoretical and practical sides. According to the existence of differences and similarities in English and in Karakalpak languages we had revealed in our article the stylistic features of idioms, its function and had done the comparison between English and Karakalpak languages, which are important for modern linguistics.
Keywords: animal idioms, contextual meaning, English language, Karakalpak language.
INTRODUCTION
Context plays a very important role in the comprehension of animal idioms in English and Karakalpak. Since most animal idioms in both languages are metaphorical, which presume contextual meaning. The sample of idioms collated for this study includes English animal idioms, which were compared to Karakalpak animal idioms to identify the equivalent idioms. Fully equivalent animal idioms: English and Karakalpak animal idioms that refer to the same animal in more or less the same form and have a similar or identical figurative meaning.
METODOLOGY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
As according to Escribano and Alvarez (2016), the metaphorical meaning can be ambiguous because it provides different meanings at different contexts. It means that the similar word, phrase, or an idiom used in different contexts produces different meanings. For example, as noted, an English idiom: a fat cat, which corresponds to the Karakalpak idiom qassaptin' pishig'V (like the cat of the butchery).
This idiom may be used in its literal meaning to refer to the physical appearance of a cat, or its figurative meaning a wealthy person, (bay adam) and this could theoretically cause misunderstanding, though the context will generally indicate the intended meaning. In other words, it can be stated that this idiom has two meanings
and the first meaning, which is literal directly, points to the physical appearance of a
Whereas, the second meaning which is contextual meaning, which directly points to the appearance of a person in terms of wealth and power.
The theories turned out to be supportive in indicating the similarity, relevance, and salience and so on. Specifically, with the help of the theories given by Lakoff and Johnson, it has been identified that desirable human attributes and habits were expressed in the form of animal metaphors. [11;13], Moreover, the animal idioms can also be used for interacting with the people in their languages as some idioms have mutual figurative meanings that are consigned to different animal metaphors and names in languages.
In both English and Karakalpak, and presumably in all languages, pragmatic considerations are crucial to the correct decoding of idioms. For example, in English, an idiom: 'it is raining cats and dogs' is only used to mean raining heavily, in Karakalpak means jawin sheleklep quyip atir.
Whereas an idiom like having bigger more fish to fry, (to have other things to do - a'hmiyetli jumislari bar boliw) can be used in different situations with the same meaning. For example:
I cannot take time for your problem - Senin' ma'selen' ushin waqit ajirata almayman; I will not waste time on your question; I will not waste my time to reach an agreement with them and so on. In other words, it can be stated that different words can be used to extract same meaning, as found in this example. Thus, a person is not willing to pay time to resolve the problem of another person.
The followings are some examples of English and Karakalpak animal idioms that have a similar or identical figurative meaning:
1.Kill two birds with one stone (solve two problems at one time with a single action) - Bir oq penen eki qoyandi atiw (bir waqittin' o'zinde eki ma'seleni sheshiw;
2. A bird in the hand worth two in the bush (a benefit available now is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit) - Alistag'I ag'ayinnen jaqindag'I qon'sin 'jaqsi;
3. Like a cat on hot tin roof (as if they put the/a cat's urine under his feet nervous and unable to keep still)-Ayag 7 kit. 'ygen tawiqtay;
4. Dog's life (life is hard and unpleasant) - lyllin ' ku 'ni;
5. Meaner than a junkyard dog (cruel, aggressive, eager to fight) - ko 'k bet;
6. No room to swing a cat (there is not enough spacQ)-ayaq basatug'in jer joq;
7. Water off a duck's back (criticism, advice has no effect) - aqpa qulaq aqpa
miy;
8. You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink (You can give someone an opportunity, but you cannot force them to take advantage of it) - Su 'rtken aqil ne bolar, pitken aqli bolmasa;
9. A pig in a poke (buyer beware; think carefully before making a decision) -
Jeti o 'Ishep bi rkes;
10. Eat like a horse (eat a lot or too much) -o 'gizdey jew;
11. Raining cats and dogs (raining heavily) - Jawinnin' sheleklep quyiwi;
12. Let the cat out of the bag (reveal a secret) - sird iashiw/tarqatiw.
The remaining English idioms have no equivalents in Karakalpak with similar forms or similar meanings.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The above analysis indicates that the number of partially equivalent idioms is greater than the totally equivalent idioms. Furthermore, the partially equivalent idioms more differ in form than in meaning, which means that the form of the idiom also influences the meaning of the idioms. As far as structural, lexical and meaning correspondences between English and Karakalpak animal idioms are concerned. Despite the fact that each animal idiom in each language has its own idiosyncrasies in terms of wording, structure, and meaning. However, some idioms structurally correspond to each other even when they differ in wording, that is, verb phrases in English correspond to verb phrases in Karakalpak, noun phrases to noun phrases and so on. For example, the English idiom dog's life 'an unpleasant life' has the Karakalpak equivalent (dog on death status) where the two idioms differ in wording. In the same way, the English idiom buy pig in a poke 'buy or agree to something without sufficient examination' has the Karakalpak equivalent fish cannot be exchanged/ bargained in the water \ both of, which are verbal despite the difference in wording and in the animal used in each language. The degree of wording correspondence between equivalent idioms of the two languages is quite low and, in most cases, they differ in their wording even when they are similar in meaning and structure. For example, the English idiom shank's mare, which refers to traveling by foot, has the Karakalpak equivalent (if you ride people's horse), which literal meaning is 'you are a pedestrian'.
However, the degree of structural and wording correspondences varies from one category to the other and even from one idiom pair to another. In the category where the idiom pairs are equivalent in form and meaning has the highest degree of correspondences since the idioms are supposed to be similar in form and meaning. However, even within this category, there are some exceptional cases where some kind of difference is observed either in wording or/and in structure between the two idioms.
For example, in English cat has nine lives while in Karakalpak CLa cat has seven lives ". Another example is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush, which has the Karakalpak equivalent 'a bird in the hand is better than nine on the tree'. It is evident that the animal idiom pairs use the same animal with different wording or/and structure to express the same or a similar concept. For example, the English idiom no room to swing a cat has a Karakalpak equivalent (cat is on the roof) that is, 'not enough space'.
In the category where the idiom pairs use a different animal with the same meaning, the degree of structural and wording correspondences varies from one idiom pair to another. Some idiom pairs correspond in wording and structure except that they differ in the animal referred to.
For example, let sleeping dogs lie, meaning 'leave something alone if it might cause trouble' is equivalent to (do not wake up the sleeping wolf - jatqan jV tannin' quyrig'in baspa), where a dog is substituted by a wolf. You cannot buy a pig in a poke, meaning 'to buy something without looking at' is equivalent to (fish cannot be exchanged/ bargained in the water) where a pig is substituted by fish. Some idiom pairs in this category have completely different wording and different structure but refer to a similar meaning or concept.
For instance, dog eat dog people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms other people' is equivalent in meaning to the idiom bir birinin ' el in jew. This Karakalpak idiom means that it is a fight where the tail of a donkey will be cut in. In the category where the idiom pairs are similar in form but used with a different meaning in each language, the degree of structural and wording correspondences is very high.
Another English idiom back a dead horse, meaning 'to support someone or something that cannot or doesn't win or succeed' has an equivalent in Karakalpak qumnan saray quriw. The idiom put the cat among the pigeons 'to do or say something that causes trouble and makes a lot of people angry or worried' is equivalent to the Karakalpak idiom janip turg 'an otqa may shashiratiw (starts a fire), which is used with the same meaning. Get off your high horse 'to stop, to be patient' has an equivalent in Karakalpak (Get off from the devil's shoulder). These idioms either do not have an equivalent idiom in the other language.
For example, the English idiom pretty kettle of fish 'troublesome situation' has no equivalents in Karakalpak; while the Karakalpak idiom (Is like a cock in inadequate time - shaqirilmag'an miyman) that is, having guests in a wrong time especially during the meals 'does not have an equivalent in English. The above categorization and analysis show that some idiom corresponds to each other in English and Karakalpak and others are language-specific; and that the corresponding idioms
differ in their degree of equivalence so that there are English-Karakalpak animal idioms.
These idioms are, more or less, totally equivalent that is, having similar form and meaning, others are partially equivalent that is, either similar meaning or similar form and somewhere there is no equivalence at all.
According to Danesi, the connotation is the extension of a sign's denotative signification, which covers new referential domain [3.p: 109]. However, in simple words, the cultural connotation of an idiom or even a word is a meaning that has been assigned by the culture of a language. It means that culture gives different signs, meanings and terminologies to the words, phrases and idioms. If any referent in the new domains is recognizable by association as possessing one or more of the conceptual nodes, it could be stated that connotation has taken place'. However, a study conducted by Escribano and Alvarez revealed that in connotation, the associated meaning of words is more important than their original meaning. The original meaning of a word could be its literal meaning, which changes with respect to the connotative meaning [3.p. 107].
Thus, the cultural image or even a culture of a language has power to change the meanings of words. There are some factors that determine cultural connotation, including traditions, historical background, and religion. For example, the cultural connotation was defined as 'the added meaning or the implied meaning of a word given by the social background, and the special feelings of a certain social group'. It means that connotation is a meaning given to a word in accordance with the understanding of a certain group, which can belong to a certain language.
Consequently, most animals have some general and universal characteristics, and this may help in the interpretation of unfamiliar animal idioms. However, when contrasting English and Karakalpak animal idioms, it is clear that some animals are used differently in the two cultures (languages) because of differences in the living environment.
In addition to that, the difference in religion and social and cultural background also impacts the meaning of idioms of animal. Likewise, some animals do not have a cultural connotation in one culture but the same animals possess cultural connotation in another culture. In Karakalpak does not have the specific cultural connotation and the idiom is thus difficult to interpret. This part explains the similarities and differences of the cultural connotations carried by animals in English and Karakalpak idioms. For this purpose, the animals are categorized according to the similarity or difference of their cultural connotations.
Idiomatic expressions offer a vocabulary of cultural values of that language's speakers. We have seen that human relations and social expectations are expressed
using animal idioms, and this makes animal idioms a rich and rewarding source of information about cultural difference. It has also been identified in this chapter that the culture of the people greatly impacts on understanding the figurative meaning of the idiomatic expressions due to the specified factors that are arising from social, cultural, historical, political and religious values of a society. There are two types of idioms in terms of the culture based figurative meanings. The first type refers to those, which are born from a historical event in a specific culture and the second type of idioms are those, which are similar in most cultures. When the cultural specific context of the English and Karakalpak idioms is observed, the most significant cultural difference is in the area of religious heritage.
CONCLUSION
Karakalpak culture emphasizes the religious role of the female that is considered subservient and inferior to the male that is expressed in the form of wild animals, livestock and pets idioms. This develops the interpretation and understanding of the similarity of the animal idioms, which depends on the corresponding cultural context and perspectives. For example, some Karakalpak animal idioms represent horses as obstinate and agile; turtles as weak, cats as useless, mice as unclean saboteurs, and pigs as greedy and unclean, dogs represent loyalty in English whereas Karakalpak people perceive dogs as a symbol of impurity and uncleanliness. This is because different cultures' perception and the use of animals expressions is based on the frequency of animal attributes in actual as well as their thoughts and beliefs within the communities and the environment they operate in. In this case, the uncleanness of dogs in Karakalpak can be attributed to religious influence. Some differences in the figurative meaning of the animals in any expression are found in English and Karakalpak cultures. The analysis of forms of the English and Karakalpak idioms found that the verbal category of animal idioms is more common in English idioms while the adjectival category is more common among Karakalpak animal idioms.
However, the degree of literalness (transparency and opacity) differs from one animal idiom to another in both of the languages, which both have some animal idioms that are quite transparent and others that require more explanation. Furthermore, animal idioms in both languages also differ in their degree of fixity and flexibility. In both English and Karakalpak, some of the animal idioms showed lexical and syntactic variation, but most were rigidly fixed and hardly allowed any change and variations but an acceptable degree of variation is found in both the languages in the context of the lexical meanings.
Animal idioms, which are similar in both the cultures are comparable in the degree to, which they endure syntactic operations. This is because the just like the
English animal idioms are subject to a limited range of syntactic operations, similarly, Karakalpak animal idioms are also subjected to a narrow range of syntactic alterations in structure, rules, and constraints. It can be concluded that Karakalpak and English animal idioms are syntactically non-flexible when it comes to the cultural context-based comprehension.
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