LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF FICTION TRANSLATION FROM ENGLISH INTO UKRAINIAN (BASED ON THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY BY SUZANNE COLLINS)

Abstract

The article deals with the theoretical and practical analysis of lexical and grammatical transformations used by translators in fiction. The significant importance of the research proves the need of adequate translation, both in everyday life and particularly in fiction. The paper emphasizes that professionalism in translation is crucial, highlighting translator’s ability to use transformations and overcome lexical and grammatical difficulties. It considers the concept of transformation as an element of Noam Chomsky’s theory of transformational grammar. The study also provides the proposed interpretation of the concept of transformation in the translation aspect, which combines the key points of the definitions given by foreign and Ukrainian scholars. The general classification of transformations which includes transformations at all levels of the language is specified. The classification covers lexical, stylistic, morphological and syntactic transformations, as well as semantic transformations and transformations of mixed form. The main lexical and grammatical transformations are singled out and analyzed, namely: calque, concretization and generalization of meanings, addition, omition, permutation, internal and external division, internal and external integration, change of word order, compensation. The analysis of these phenomena was based on the trilogy of American writer Suzanne Collins “The Hunger Games”. The paper analyzes main difficulties in equivalent translation and ways to solve them at both lexical and grammatical levels, taking into account the stylistic norms of the target language. It is determined that the main problems when translating from English into Ukrainian are lack of resources of the recipient language, as well as unprofessionalism of a translator; inability to use translation transformations can also be considered as a difficulty. The paper offers some peculiarities of application of lexical and grammatical transformations in fiction texts. The differences of English and Ukrainian languages, which include gerund, number and gender forms of nouns, coordination of times, are considered. The paper also offers the general concept of distinction between analytical and synthetic languages.