Perminova A. English Sensory Terms Rendering in Ukrainian Poetic Translations.

The thesis focuses on a complex study of the peculiarities of English sensory terms rendering in Ukrainian poetic translations. The research is based on the contrastive analysis of sensory terms semantic structure in the systems of the English and Ukrainian Language competence and performance in the works by Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Thomas Eliot and their translations into Ukrainian performed by H.Kochur, M.Strikha, D.Pavlychko, O.Zabuzhko, M.Hablevych and others. The dissertation is the first comprehensive study of its kind. It consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusions, a list of references and three appendices. Chapter One provides a critical overview of the works on sensory terms issues, the detailed analysis of which has stipulated a comprehensive investigation of the ways the semantic structure of English sensory terms may be conveyed by means of the Ukrainian language. In this chapter the algorithm of investigation is elaborated and substantiated. The methods of componential and statistic analysis are employed within the contrastive model of translation aimed at establishing functional correspondences between correlated sensory terms in the source and target texts. The implementation of the above methods has also proved to be fruitful for delineating convergent and divergent aspects of the respective strata of the English and Ukrainian vocabularies. We introduce a special formula to calculate the coefficient of convergence that helps statistically explain the prevalence of the partial translation equivalents and testifies to the predominance of ethnospecific features in the English and Ukrainian sensory vocabulary. Chapter Two dwells on the investigation of the ways of English sensory terms representation in Ukrainian poetic translations. It highlights the influence of the objective (partial convergence of the semantic structure) and subjective (the peculiarities of the translators' styles) factors on the equivalence achieved by Ukrainian translators in rendering sensory layer of the English vocabulary. We have established a positive correlation between the volume of a sensory term semanteme belonging to a nucleus of a certain semantic microfield of sense perception in the system of language competence and the frequency of syntagmatic manifestation of sensory terms denoting the respective type of sense perception. The widest range of translation equivalents pertains to sensory dominants, which is explained by the necessity of contextual differentiation and disambiguation of their voluminous semantic structures. The authors of the target texts prefer the equivalents occupying the nucleus of the translation paradigm of a corresponding sensory term in the system of the Ukrainian language. Nevertheless, transformations are often inevitable in translation. Although the demarcation line between different types of modifications of the semantic and syntactic structure of the text under translation is sometimes blurred we distinguish between syntagmatic and paradigmatic transformations ofEnglish sensory terms in Ukrainian poetic translations. Transformational intensity of the target texts serves an indicator of the translators' individual styles. Sometimes transformations in translation are caused by the discrepancy between the Ukrainian and English (American) poetic traditions. The highest degree of proximity to the Ukrainian poetic tradition may be observed in the works by Emily Dickinson; this fact allows the translators to avoid distortion of the world picture representation in the target text. In translations of Sylvia Plath's poetry the authors of the target texts often add diminutive suffixes inherent in the Ukrainian poetic tradition and clashing with the peculiarities of Sylvia Plath's conceptions. The common feature of Thomas Eliot's poetry translations is a higher level of metaphorical intensity of sensory micro- macro- and mega-contexts stipulated by the translators' drive to adapt the original pragmatically to the Ukrainian language world conception and poetic tradition, which ischaracterized by a higher degree of figurativeness, vividness and sensority as well as decorative elements abundance. While translating sensory layer of vocabulary one should be aware of the convergent and divergent features of the two languages, their poetic traditions, the peculiarities of the author's conception as well as the original language world picture representation. The awareness of it will ensure retention of the form and content unity of the original and help to create an integral piece of poetic translation. The findings of the thesis will be contributory to the Theory and Practice of Literary Translation, Contrastive Linguistics, Stylistics, Literary Studies as well as to the studies and further development of American poetic heritage in the context of the Ukrainian culture.