7.2.2. Variant correspondences: definition and the difference between variant correspondences and partial equivalents

Variant correspondences are a set of dictionary correspondences in TL used to translate, depending on a context, one and the same meaning of a SL unit of translation.

e.g. writing paper – писчая бумага

writing desk - письменный стол

the writing profession – пишущая братия

The analysis shows that meanings that are translated by variant correspondences prove to be general and broad in SL and have to be specified or concretized in TL. These correspondences in TL are usually related in meaning and often form synonymic sets. The translator is confronted with a task of the proper choice of the synonym which can be done only depending on the context, cf. общий – general/staff meeting; common aims/objective; joint efforts; our mutual friend.

As the definition of variant correspondences implies, the main cause of using this type of lexical correspondences lies in the difference in the semantic volume of related words. For example, министерство – ministry; board; the Treasury (responsible for a country’s financial matters); department; office (Home office). This may be due to linguistic and extralinguistic reasons. Ya.I Retsker gives examples of semantically non-differentiated meanings of English words which have to be differentiated in translation into Russian, cf. justice may be translated by Russian справедливость or правосудие which are thought of as inseparable in the English word, while in Russian, according to the author, one of them does not necessarily presuppose the other.

Variant correspondences can be used to translate a SL word with one broad meaning or one of the meanings of a polysemantic word. In the latter case variant correspondences should not be confused with partial equivalents. As was shown above, partial equivalents are used to translate different meanings of a polysemantic word, i.e. they refer to a vertical dimension, thus forming a paradigmatic set, when they are viewed together as partial equivalents in relation to a word as a whole unit. Variant correspondences refer to a horizontal dimension, i.e. forming a syntagmatic, linear string, as they are used to translate one and the same meaning depending on its right and left environment. Thus, partial equivalents and variant correspondences apply to a word on its different levels coexisting with each other: partial equivalents are considered in relation to the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, while variant correspondences are established as correlates in regard to individual meanings, e.g.

carrier – 1) носильщик, подносчик (variants)

2) посыльный, рассыльный, курьер (variants)

3) возчик, перевозчик (variants)

4) авианосец

7.2.3. Contextual correspondences: definition and types of contextual correspondences

Contextual correspondences are such correspondences in TL which are used to translate a SL unit in a particular linguistic and extralinguistic context. Depending on the character of a context they can be subdivided into usual and occasional contextual. Usual contextual correspondences are used to translate a given unit in a fixed context, e.g.

academic – 1) университетский; академический

2) академический, чисто теоретический, отвлечённый,

оторванный от практики;

3) канонический, традиционный

but: an academic discussion of a matter (already settled) – бесполезное (бесцельное) обсуждение уже решённого дела.

The influence of a fixed context on the use of a usual contextual correspondence is best of all felt when translating phrases which possess stability of context, i. e. phraseomatic and phraseological units, cf. light which is translated by equivalent and variant correspondences and its usual contextual correspondence in the phrase to bring to light – вывести на чистую воду.

Occasional contextual correspondences occur in a free context when they replace existing (ready) correspondences registered in dictionaries. They are used as translation solutions only for a given occasion, and thus their occasional contextual corespondences do not get registered in dictionaries. Since their use is not governed by ready dictionary correspondences, occasional contextual correspondences are very individual in character and depend on a translator’s creative abilities. E.g. He is a hot sketch for a fighter, anyway – Он такой «прекрасный» боксер, что дальше ехать некуда.

The 3-rd group of correspondences in Ya.I. Retsker’s classification includes various kinds of correspondences which result from using translation transformations. They have been discussed in detail above in connection with translation transformations (see Ch. 6), here it suffices to illustrate it with one more example, At last he found his voice. Он наконец-то обрёл дар речи. The difference between occasional contextual and transformational correspondences lies in the fact that the latter are generally governed by certain regularities connected with changes and modifications of the original text. In the above given example the Russian dictionary correspondence for voice – голос can be easily replaced by дар речи thanks to the lexical transformation of sense development which is necessitated by combinability rules.