Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / Japanese–English Onomatopoeic and Mimetic Parallels: the Problem of Translatability

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Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2014 7 (2)
Authors
Bartashova, Olga A.; Sichinskiy, Anton E.
Contact information
Bartashova, Olga A.:St. Petersburg State University of Economy 30/32 Kanal Griboedova, St. Petersburg, 191023, Russia; E-mail: ; Sichinskiy, Anton E.:St. Petersburg State University of Economy 30/32 Kanal Griboedova, St. Petersburg, 191023, Russia
Keywords
mimetic; onomatopoeic; Japanese language; phonosemantic; untranslatable lexis; mora; phonesthem; isomorphism; translational methods
Abstract

The subject of this article is the research of Japanese – English mimetic parallels in the key of the problem of translatability. The majority of linguists consider onomatopoeic and mimetic words to be untranslatable lexis, which causes a set of problems when translating. Situation becomes even more complicated as the onomatopoeic words of Japanese, though very widespread, remain low-studied layer of lexis and their translation into English requires quite a translational challenge because of the huge typological differences between these two languages. Nevertheless despite the mentioned above typological differences, the researching method of phonosemantic analysis can give translators the clue to find efficient methods of translating these lexical units, avoiding the loss of expressiveness and semantic meanings

Pages
222-229
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/10223

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