Uzbekistan state world languages university translation faculty english language translation theory department

CHAPTER II STRATEGIES APPLIED IN NEOLOGISM TRANSLATION
2.1 Understanding of Neologism and translation problems
Neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense. Unless they are opaque, obscure and possibly cacophonous.
Newmark proposed 12 types of neologisms:
A) Existing lexical items with new senses:
1. Words
2. Collocations
B) New forms:
1. New coinages
2. Derived words
3. Abbreviations
4. Collocations
5. Eponyms
6. Phrasal words
7. Transferred words (new and old referents)
8. Acronyms (new and old referents)
9. Pseudo-neologisms
10. Internationalism
Old words with new senses
Existing words with new senses, these don't normally refer to new objects or processes and therefore are rarely technological. For example, a Le Petit Termophile point out that refoulement is used in English as 'return of refugee' but may also mean 'refusal of entry' 'deportation.' It is a loose term, dependent on its context. In psychology it is translated as 'repression.'
To sum up old words with new senses tend to be non-cultural and non-technical. They are usually translated either by a word that already exists in the TL, or by a brief functional or descriptive term.
New meanings of existing words are also accepted as neologisms. A problem of translation of new words ranks high on the list of challenges facing translators because such words are not readily found in ordinary dictionaries and even in the newest specialized dictionaries.
Just as in every field, there are several translation problems in the translation industry; some are faced by the translators, and some by the clients; while other ones may be considered structural problems because they pose a problem for translation itself.
Structural variations between languages, cultural differences, compound words… In this article we will go through both the main structural problems in translation and the main challenges of translation faced by Translators, Clients and the Industry as a whole.
Although we cannot give a solution that fits every single problem of translation entirety, we might help you mitigate their impact with some tips extracted from experience.
Existing collocations with new senses are a translator's trap: usually these are 'normal' descriptive term which suddenly becomes technical terms, their meaning sometimes hides innocently behind a more general or figurative meaning e.g. 'token woman' (single woman representative on committee of men), 'high speed train'-TGV (train de grande vitesse). Existing collocations with new senses may be cultural or non-cultural, if the referent (concept or object) exist in the TL, there is usually a recognized translation or through-translation. If the concept does not exist (e.g, 'tug-of-love') or the TL speakers are not yet aware of it, an economical descriptive equivalent has to be given. There is also the possibility of devising a new collocation in inverted commas, which can later be slyly withdrawn.⁵
The structure of sentences in English and other languages may be different. This is considered to be one of the main structural problems in translation.
The culture practised by the speakers of each language may also be vastly different. In many languages, certain terms may be completely absent… This is one of the most common challenge faced by a translator on its daily basis, also one of the main reasons why translation is difficult. For example, in English the adjective is placed before the noun, but in French the adjective comes after the noun. In Arabic and some other languages, the subject pronoun is part of the verb, and that determines the subject gender and the voice of the sentence.
Just as in every field, there are several translation problems in the translation industry; some are faced by the translators, and some by the clients; while other ones may be considered structural problems because they pose a problem for translation itself.
Structural variations between languages, cultural differences, compound words… In this article we will go through both the main structural problems in translation and the main challenges of translation faced by Translators, Clients and the Industry as a whole.
Although we cannot give a solution that fits every single problem of translation entirety, we might help you mitigate their impact with some tips extracted from experience.
The culture practised by the speakers of each language may also be vastly different. In many languages, certain terms may be completely absent… This is one of the most common challenge faced by a translator on its daily basis, also one of the main reasons why translation is difficult. For example, in English the adjective is placed before the noun, but in French the adjective comes after the noun. In Arabic and some other languages, the subject pronoun is part of the verb, and that determines the subject gender and the voice of the sentence.
The larger the region where the language is spoken, the more the dialects there are likely to be, and the more colloquial words you are likely to find – except in technical documents translations, legal document translations, or translations of medical transcripts.
For example, the British are famous for their dry, biting sarcasm, which is their brand of humor. However, this kind of sarcasm may not be appreciated in not just a country speaking a different language, but even another country where they speak English.
Then the problem arises as to how to translate accurately without hurting sentiments or angering the target audience. Culture is also considered to be a structural translation problem.
Language is a dynamic phenomenon which accurately reflects contemporary society. The English lexicon has mutated over time from a variety of parent languages, primarily Latin, French and Old English, which originally derive from the prehistoric Proto-Indo-European. Though certain core words hark back to the fundamental origins of the language, and remain more or less consistent, over time many new words have been added – a direct reflection of the preoccupations of a society at any particular time in history. These new words, around 3000 in each language annually, are called neologisms.
A neologism (from Greek néo-, meaning ‘new’ and logos, meaning ‘speech, utterance’) is a new term which has entered common use, but has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms appear due to developments in social life, culture or science, and are usually directly attributable to their specific era. In his paper ‘Explorations in translational creativity: Strategies for interpreting neologisms’, Helge Niska defines neologisms as ‘tokens of a creative process…growing out of the uniqueness of the individual on the one hand, and the materials, events, people, or circumstances of his life on the other’. Some new words are closely tied to temporary phenomena, and fade into insignificance, while others, related to enduring aspects of society, remain, and become permanent features of our lexicon.
Before the establishment of widespread cheap print, the evolution of language through the appearance of neologisms was much more difficult to track. Some dictionaries were only revised every forty years, meaning that vital changes in language, particularly those ephemeral, were missed. Today, dictionaries update their corpora at least once a year, and online dictionaries represent huge linguistic databases, often allowing users to contribute terms and definitions to reflect the way language is used.
Those interested in the upkeep of the English linguistic hoard can look forward to the annual unveiling of the ‘word of the year’ list published by the Collins dictionary. Last year’s batch of neologisms saw such linguistic gems as ‘Corbynomics’, aka ‘the economic policies advocated by the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’, and ‘dadbod’, defined as ‘an untoned and slightly plump male physique’. But where do these new words come from, and how do they come to be accepted?
Neologisms pass through three stages: creation, trial and establishment. The new term enters common language as a ‘protologism’, which is used only by a limited audience. It is then diffused, until finally it becomes widely accepted and stabilised – a stability which is indicated by its appearance in glossaries, dictionaries and large corpora. When it comes to their origin – as with the above example, where Corbyn and economics, or dad and body are fused together – neologisms are often a blend of existing linguistic fragments, which are used to coin a new term.
In fact, very few of the new words which appear in the English language are completely ‘new’ – they account for less than 1% of all English neologisms. The vast majority of new words and expressions include at least one lexical component which is already familiar to us. They are formed through several linguistic processes, such as compounding: where existing words are combined (speed-dating, text messages), blending: where parts of existing words are fused together (brunch – breakfast and lunch, flexiterian – flexible vegetarian), re-appropriation (with new senses for words such as mouse, virus, surf, web), abbreviation (DVD – Digital Video Disk, IM – Instant Messaging, but also colloquial usage as in LOL – laugh out loud, or BTW – by the way) or affixation: where recognised affixes are creatively attached to give rise to new concepts (such as regift – to give something as a gift which you originally received as a gift yourself, or deshopper – describing a person who buys something, uses it, but then returns it to the shop for a full refund). Perhaps the simplest of all linguistic processes used to create new words, is that of borrowing, where words from other languages enter common use. Borrowing has been a feature of English vocabulary development for centuries, with words such as shampoo (from the Hindi word cmpo, meaning ‘massage’) or latte, an espresso coffee with frothy steamed milk (from the Italian word for milk), now completely indistinguishable from their original’ English counterparts.
Every nation is known by the culture represented through the language it keeps, and every aspect of the life of a people is reflected in their vocabulary. Some words get out of usage or get transformed; new words are created to represent the reality brought to us by mass media in particular through news reporting. At this moment English language as many other languages passes through “neologistic boom”. Great amount of new words and necessity of their interpretation led to creation of special branch of lexicology-neology-science about neologisms. Great success in development theories of neology achieved French linguists. A neologism (from Greek neos 'new' + logos 'word') is a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. According to Oxford English Dictionary neologism was first used in print in AD 1483.21 Although there are general patterns of word-formation, language is not a fixed, rigid system; according to the current stage of development new words enter the vocabulary continuously, and certain tendencies of forming new words appear and may disappear again. In linguistics, a neologism is understood as a recently invented word. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. New words and expressions or n e о l о g i s m s are created for new things irrespective of their scale of importance. They may be all-important and concern some social relationships, such as a new form of state, e. g. People’s Republic or something threatening the very existence of humanity, like nuclear war. Or again the thing may be quite insignificant and short-lived, like fashions in dancing, clothing, hairdo or footwear (e. g. roll-neck). In every case either the old words are appropriately changed in meaning or new words are borrowed, or more often coined out of the existing language material either according to the patterns and ways already productive in the language at a given stage of its development or creating new ones. Thus, a n e o l o g i s m is a newly coined word or phrase or a new meaning for an existing word, or a word borrowed from another language. The intense development of science and industry has called forth the invention and introduction of an immense number of new words and changed the meanings of old ones, e. g. aerobic, black hole, computer, isotope, feedback, penicillin, pulsar, quasar, tape-recorder, supermarket and so on.
The laws of efficient communication demand maximum signal in minimum time. To meet these requirements the adaptive lexical system is not only adding new units but readjusts the ways and means of word-formation and the word building means. Thus, when radio location was invented it was defined as radio detection and ranging which is long and so convenient abbreviation out of the first letter or letters of each word in this phrase was coined, hence radar . The process of nomination may pass several stages. In other words, a new notion is named by a terminological phrase consisting of words which in their turn are made up of morphemes. The phrase may be shortened by ellipsis or by graphical abbreviation, and this change of form is achieved without change of meaning. Acronyms are not composed of existing morphemes according to existing word-formation patterns, but on the contrary revolutionise the system by forming new words and new morphemes out of letters. A language grows by infusion of new words. Anyone who has been on the Internet for more than a few days knows what a webmaster is. Yet only a few years ago if we came across a "webmaster", we wouldn't know what that person did for a living. There are many ways to coin words. You can make words out of thin air: googol, a word for a very large number (1 followed by 100 zeros) was coined by a nine-year-old boy. It was the inspiration behind the naming of the Google search engine.
The language can redefine old words. The Google name, in turn, became generalized as a verb meaning to search for something, not necessarily on the Web. You can find a ‘sandwich’ of two existing words (web + master) or you can fuse them together: lexpert (lexics + expert), someone who is an expert in words. Such an amalgamated word is also known as a portmanteau (from French, meaning a bag for carrying clothes, one that opens on two sides) since Lewis Carroll gave them this moniker in his classic "Through the Looking-Glass". Carroll himself coined some great portmanteaux, such as chortle (chuckle + snort), and slithy (slimy + lithe). Coining words is easy. Getting them into a dictionary and common use is another matter. Among neologisms different categories can be distinguished. A protologism is a new word created in the hope that it will become accepted. A protologism may be no more than suggestion of a word that might be used, whereas a neologism is a word that has been used. The term protologism, itself a neologism, was coined by Mikhail Epstein. Neologisms don't necessarily begin as protologisms since they may arise rapidly and unintentionally. Evolution of neologisms is another aspect for their study. Newly-created words entering a language tend to pass through the following stages: Unstable - extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a small subculture (also known as Protologisms) Diffused - having reached a significant frequency of use, but not yet havinggained widespread acceptance Stable - having become recognizable, being en vogue, and perhaps, gaining lasting acceptance Dated - the point where the word has ceased being novel, entered formal linguistic acceptance and, even may have passed into becoming a cliche Passe - when a neologism becomes so culturally dated that the use of it is avoided because its use is seen as a stigma a sign of being out of step with the norms of a changed cultural tradition, perhaps, with the neologism dropping from the lexicon altogether.24 Sources of neologisms can be also very difference and diversified.
As it is known, translation is a kind of moral, cultural and spiritual wealth and activity of human. It goes back down to ancient history. It always played a significant role in the cultural history of nations and the world culture on the whole. In our days translation activity obtained unprecedented scope thanks to the increased international contacts. This fact allows some foreign authors writing about the role of translation to call our century “the age of translation”60. True is the fact that translation attracted attention of writers and scholars since the old times and were evolved principal considerations which were all shaped in the normative translation concept. Nowadays this interest has been increased with a new force and there appeared necessity to systematize and generalize scientifically the result of the experiences accumulated in this sphere. In modern philology a new theoretical field of science began to develop as a special discipline about the translation named as “theory of translation” and “science of translation”. Along with the names mentioned above there were created specific terms in English for more exact indication of this field of philological science, “translatology”61. The occurrence of these terms and notions testifies to the fact that the sphere of questions has gained status of definite sphere of science is just the translation itself. Naturally, in translation the role of language is just the same which it has always performed - the most important means of human communication. The art of translation is as old as written literature. Etymologically, translation is carrying across or bringing across. As Retsker Y.I. pointed out “translation is the action of interpretation of the meaning of a text, and subsequent production of an equivalent text, that communicates the same message in another language.”62 English poet and translator John Dryden wrote: “when words appear... literally graceful, it was an injury to the author that they should be changed. But since... what is beautiful in one language is often barbarous, nay sometimes nonsense, in another, it would be unreasonable to limit a translator to the narrow compass of his author's words: 'tis enough if he chooses out some expression which does not vitiate the sense.