Jabberwocky in French Translations
Abstract
This paper focuses on the specifics of rendering lexical nonsense into the target language. The research is done on the basis of one of the outstanding poems of all times belonging to the genre of nonsense, namely Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll and 12 translations into French. As a result of the research it was established that the interpretation of any nonsensical representation of the lexical level has a significant impact on its reproduction in the target language, but does not limit translators in their creative approaches. We claim that nonsense is an interesting, complex, and ambiguous phenomenon which implies a plurality of potential options for its interpretation, and reproduction in the target language. Lexical nonsense units are deprived of one single sense and thus one single variant of their interpretation due to their word formation. In most cases, Lewis Carroll chose blending, which resulted in coining new words with two or more meanings “packed up” into one word. To make interpretation easier, the author gave his commentaries on the pages of the literary work. In most cases, L. Carroll’s game with meanings is reproduced in French translations by means of calquing the word-formation pattern. In certain cases, translators are guided by the author’s commentary and they select the means of the French language as accurately as possible to reproduce Carroll’s intentions. In most cases, Carroll’s lexical nonsense units are reproduced in the French translations by means of blending and compounding. In some cases, the translators take a creative approach bringing new meanings into Carroll’s game, different from his initial intention. And their game becomes so specific that it goes beyond the reader’s imagination. The translators’ preference to use calque to coin their equivalents is a manifestation of the domestication strategy in most analyzed translations. Only one translator borrowed English nonsensical lexemes to name main characters in his French translation, which we consider to be the manifestation of foreignization strategy.
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References
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