UKRAINIAN REPRODUCTION OF ARTLANG NADSAT IN THE LIGHT OF THE THEORY OF TRANSLATION CONTEXTS

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the specifics of Ukrainian reproduction of artlang Nadsat from A. Burgess’s novel “A Clockwork Orange” from the standpoint of the theory of translation contexts. The aim of the research lies in conducting the complex analysis of Nadsat translation with regard to extra-linguistic and linguistic factors of its formation and functioning. Vast majority of the representatives of descriptive and function-oriented Translation Studies point at the importance of translator’s investigation of different types of contexts for the sake of an adequate reproduction of the original. Two major types of contexts are usually distinguished – situational (also characterized as extra-linguistic) and linguistic (labeled as ‘co-text’ by J. Catford and M. Halliday). Extra-linguistic context is often divided into cultural, situational proper and individual (i.e. concerning translator’s personality). Taking into account different types of contexts provides for a holistic approach to translation. A. Burgess’s Nadsat is a bright example of slanguage – an artificial (construed) language that is simultaneously a slang for the group of youngsters-characters of the novel “A Clockwork Orange”. On the material of Nadsat we can see how cultural, situational and individual contexts of creating this artlang supply the translator with the background knowledge, without which he or she can neither interpret nor select / create adequate correspondences for its constituents. At the same time importance of linguistic context cannot be underestimated. This context varies from a phoneme or morpheme, employed for the coining of nonce words within an artlang, to the whole book. By processing explicit and implicit information provided by the linguistic context the translator can ascribe meanings to artlangisms and thus find their best possible equivalents. All these facts allow to conclude that the theory of translation contexts is a powerful methodological tool of exposing and analyzing the particularities of artlangs reproduction into foreign languages.