METAPHORS AND CULTURAL ASPECTS TEXT STYLE FUNCTIONAL TO THE AUTHOR’S INTENTIONS ↓ TEXT FORM AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE MESSAGE SIGNIFIER + MEANING = STYLISTICALLY MARKED TEXT CREATIVE USE OF LANGUAGE

Creative use of language: author’s language translator’s language Respect (preservation) of language features Translator’s skills: evaluation of text formal features and implicatures Respectuful rendering Target: maintance of balance between formal features and informative data

Rhetorical strategies Irony (used to to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning ). Litotes, when a speaker or writer, rather than making a certain claim, denies its opposite: e.g. she’s not bad to look at instead of she’s attractive I’m not complaining (Everything’s alright) It’s no joke (It’s quite a problem) It is used to weaken a statement. CAREFUL: respect this rhetorical device when translating!

Circumlocution: the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several words. Cultural habits sometimes impose or advise forms of verbal censorship (i.e. the removal and/or withholding of information) so that what is used is a weakened form: A financial setback (vs. collapse) To depart from life (vs. die) An incurable disease (vs. cancer) CAREFUL: RESPECT VERBAL CENSORSHIP!

Synesthesia (Ancient Greek syn+aisthēsis = with+sensation) derives its meaning from a neurogically based phenomen. In language it refers to the unusual use of definitions which are commonly linked to a certain sense, by transferring them to a different sense. Much used in literary language and as a colloquialism: Pungent perfume Warm voice Bitter smile Prickly laugh This figurative use of words or expressions is particularly relevant since it creates unusual perceptions by juxtaposing terms which belong to different sensible spheres.

The figurative use of language can be subjective, i. e The figurative use of language can be subjective, i.e. the author’s personal creation, Or it can also be The expression of a given culture. ↓ Language=result of a sensibility linked to a given cultural setting (vision of reality) Characterization given by some figures of speech.

METAPHOR language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. Lakoff: target-source. Target= subject to which attributes are ascribed. Source= subject from which the attributes are borrowed. Result: a term is given the attributes of another term, and there is a fusion of concepts. Related rhetorical concepts: Metonimy, synecdoche, simile, allegory

He has a screw loose I gave you that idea It’s difficult to put my ideas into words You can’t simply stuff ideas into a sentence Please sit in the apple-juice seat

Metonymy and synecdoche Figures of semantic transfer. Usefully contrasted with metaphor, they all involve the substitution of a term for another. Metonymy: use of a word for a concept with which the original concept behind this word is associated. Metaphor: substitution based on similarity. Metonymy: substitution based on contiguity: a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing. Metonymy expresses a double contiguity: cause/effect; container/content; abstract/concrete; author/work; etc.) He used to read Shakespeare He downed a glass He’s bought a Picasso

Synecdoche: often considered a subclass of metonymy In the s. we have: part for the whole species for genus or genus for species material for object Therefore, passage from specific to general or viceversa We need some new faces He had six mouths to feed They lived under the same roof

Cultural value of metaphors The fusion of concepts results in the creation of a Figurative language Concise concepts which are particularly effective and easily remembered Acquisition of knowledge by means of linguistic mechanisms Metaphors are semantically innovating and give a new vision of and new meanings to reality. Things are looked at from a different point of view.

Banality of metaphors Metaphors can be banalized by excesses. (repetitive use, trends and fashion, media)

Estranging effect Metaphors vs conventional language: M. may produce estranging effects, because of violation of selection rules.

Translation of metaphor Metaphors have a relevant and specific function in both literary and non literary language Metaphors are linked to a perception, a point of view, a vision of reality Metaphors link language and culture, linguistic data and cultural data It ensues that the translation of metaphors is a discreet point and some difficulties may arise.