THE CATEGORY OF WILL IN THE PHRASEOLOGY OF NONCOGNATE LANGUAGES: LINGUISTIC, CULTURAL AND TRANSLATION ANALYSIS

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of linguistic, cultural and translation characteristics of proverbs denoting the category of “will” in noncognate languages. Proverbs in the English, Ukrainian and Modern Greek languages are analysed and the main features of the national mentality of each of the three peoples are revealed. The biggest group in the paremic stock of the Ukrainian language is constituted by proverbs denoting persistence and determination, they are followed by the states of indifference, obedience, stubbornness, purposefulness and сompliance. There are few Ukrainian proverbs about the strength of will and weakness of will. English proverbs frequently denote persistence and сompliance. The volitional states of obedience, weak will, purposefulness and determination are common to the semantics of English proverbs, although there are not many proverbs denoting stubbornness and indifference. However, there are almost no proverbs reflecting willpower in English, In Modern Greek proverbs denoting persistence and indifference are most common. This is followed by volitional states of сompliance. and obedience. The semantics of modern Greek proverbs reflect the volitional categories of purposefulness, strength of will and weakness of will. Determination and stubbornness are least common volitional notions in the Modern Greek language. Thus, the difference in the semantics of English, Ukrainian and modern Greek proverbs denoting volitional actions and states is explained by the fact that each nation has its own system of self-identification in the world which results in a different national mentality. But the common features indicate similar way of thinking and features of national identity, similar esthetic and logical evaluation of the surrounding world. It is determined that the most frequently used ways of translation of the abovementioned proverbs are descriptive translation, partial equivalent translation and full proverbial equivalent, the least used methods are loan translation and literal translation.