Linguocultureme as a Marker of Identity (Based on English Translation of the Novel Zuleikha by G. Yakhina)

The article reveals the decoding mechanisms of linguoculturemes occurring in the translation of the novel “Zuleikha opens her eyes” by G. Yakhina into the English language. In the original text of the novel linguoculturemes express ethnical and socio-cultural identity of the main character Zuleikha. Working on the translation of the novel Lisa Hayden, the translator, uses different types of adaptive transcoding for interlanguage and intercultural communication. The translation is characterized by double transcoding that is based on three languages: Tatar, Russian and English. Tatar words and expressions with explicit national cultural elements form a cultural background in the novel and often have no equivalents or definitions in the English language. The comparative analysis of the original text and its translations highlight a number of different groups of linguoculturemes, such as terms for members of ethno-cultural community and types of address, names of mythical and religious characters, names of objects, elements of interior design of a peasant’s home, pieces of furniture, and clothes. Linguoculturemes also help to recreate the historical atmosphere in Russia in the 1920-1930s, as well as the relationships in a traditional patriarchal family, conventional values of a local ethno-cultural community and socio-political realia depicted in the novel. A complex hierarchy of contextual image levels of the novel in the process of translation of the novel. The outer level of the story (the plot) is being transformed and many story lines are translated into English without any significant semantic change. Universal human problems represented via archetypes are well received by the English-language readers regardless of their language and socio-cultural background. The inner levels of the story expressing specific social relationships and interactions, ethnocultural, religious, and ethnopsychological stands with the help of linguoculturemes appear to be “encoded” for readers with different language backgrounds, but open in their complete semantic value to the bearers of the given social, religious and ethnical cultures. The authors’ message is that the English translation of the text does not lack in national cultural identity or ethnocultural values, it is just that these values become secondary and, as a result, harm the intimacy of the unique world perception of the main character.

«Зулейха открывает глаза»

1. Воробьев В. В. Лингвокультурология. М.: Рос. ун-т дружбы народов, 2008. 336 с.

2. Елисеева Е. Б. Лингвокультурема как единица декодирования культурных смыслов при переводе художественного текста // Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики. 2013. № 3-2 (21). С. 67-70.

3. Ибрагимов М. И. Национальная идентичность татарской литературы: современные методы исследования (очерки). Казань, 2018. 104 с.

4. Кривцова Ю. П., Филиппова С. Г. Вербализация афганской мультикультурности в американском романе Х. Хоссейни «Бегущий за ветром» (The Kite Runner) // Вестник НГУ. Серия: Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2020. Т. 18, № 3. С. 118-128.

5. Рецкер Я. И. Теория перевода и переводческая практика. М.: Международные отношения, 1974. 215 с.

6. Тростников М. В. Перевод и интертекст с точки зрения поэтологии // Семиотика: Антология. М.: Академический проект; Екатеринбург: Деловая книга, 2001. С. 563-580.

7. Фефелов А. Ф. Этнокультурные проблемы и дилеммы перевода (критика метафорического разума): Монография. Новосибирск, ИПЦ НГУ, 2018. 390 с.

8. Фефелов А. Ф. Семантика и прагматика взаимодействия британской и китайской культур в поликодовом тексте документального фильма // Вестник НГУ. Серия: Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2016. Т. 14, № 4. С. 60-80.

9. Яхина Г. Ш. Зулейха открывает глаза. М.: Изд-во АСТ: Редакция Елены Шубиной, 2018. 508 с.

10. Amineva, V. R. Phenomenon of Border in Interliterary Dialogues. Journal of Language and Literature, 2015, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 246-249.

11. Berlin, Isaiah. Soviet Mind: Russian Culture under Communism. Brookings Classics Publ., 2016.

12. Figes, Orlando. A people’s tragedy a history of the Russian Revolution. New York, Penguin Books Publ., 1997.

13. Figuera, R. Critical cultural translation. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 2016, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 195-219. DOI 10.1075/ttmc.2.2.02fig

14. Ganiyeva, R. K. Tatarskaya literatura: traditsii. Vzaimosvyazi [Tatar literature: customs. Connections]. Kazan, Kazan University Press, 2002.

15. Hosking, Geoffrey. The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within. Harvard UP, 1992.

16. Kazakova, T. A. Russian Literature in the 20th Century: English Translations the Problem of Cultural Context. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences, 2016, vol. 9, no. 5, p. 1221-1231. DOI 10.17516/1997-1370-2016-9-5-1221-1231

17. Lewin, Moshe. Russian Peasants and Soviet Power (Northwestern University Press, 1968.

18. Moss, Walter G. A History of Russia. Anthem Press., 2005, vol. 2: Since 1855.

19. Nigmatullina, Yu. G. Tipy kultur i tsivilizatsiy v istoricheskom razvitii tatarskoy i russkoy kultur [Types of cultures and civilizations in the historic development of Tatar and Russian culture]. Kazan, Fen, 1997.

20. Remington, Thomas. Building Socialism in Bolshevik Russia. Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1984.

21. Şebnem, Bahadır. The Task of the Interpreter in the Struggle of the Other for Empowerment: Mythical Utopia or Sine Qua Non of Professionalism? Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association, 2010, no. 5 (1), p. 124-139. DOI 10.1075/tis.5.1.08bah

22. Service, Robert. A History of Twentieth-Century Russia. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1999.

23. Yakhina G. Zuleikha. Transl. from the Russian by Lisa Hayden. London, Oneworld Publ., 2019, 484 p.