9

Connotative meaning and translation issues

Literal meaning is only one aspect of verbal meaning. The meaning of a text comprises a number of different layers: referential content, emotional colouring, cultural, social and personal associations, and so on. This manylayered nature of meaning is another crucial translation issue.

Even within a single language, synonyms are usually different in their overall semantic effectsÐcompare `clergyman' and `sky-pilot', `adder' and `viper', `go away' and `piss off, etc. Each of these has overtones which differentiate it from its synonym. We shall call such overtones connotative meanings (or connotations)Ðthat is, associations which, over and above the literal meaning of an expression, form part of its overall meaning. Connotative meanings are many and varied, and it is common for a single piece of text, or even a single expression, to combine more than one kind into a single overall effect. However, it is useful at this stage to distinguish six major types of connotative meaning (some of them adapted from Leech 1974:26). Learning to identify these sharpens awareness of the presence and significance of connotations in STs and TTs alike. Note that, by definition, we are only concerned here with socially widespread connotations, not personal ones. Translators do not normally let personal connotations influence a TT if they can help it.

ATTITUDINAL MEANING

Attitudinal meaning is that part of the overall meaning of an expression which consists of some widespread attitude to the referent. The expression does not merely denote the referent in a neutral way, but also hints at some attitude to it.

For instance, in appropriate contexts, `the police', `the filth' and `the Old Bill' are synonyms in terms of referential content, but they have different overall meanings. These attitudes are not part of the literal meaning of the expressions, but it is impossible to ignore them in responding to the expressions. It is therefore important not to overlook them when translating. Translating `la pula' as `the police' accurately renders the literal meaning of the ST, but fails to render the hostile attitude connoted by `la pula' (the filth', `the pigs'). Translating `la pretaglia' as `clergy' rather than something like `the dog-collar brigade' would miss the point. Conversely, the translator must be careful not to introduce

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significant connotations that are absent from the ST and clash with the TT context, as in translating `il clero' as `the dog-collar brigade'.

ASSOCIATIVE MEANING

Associative meaning is that part of the overall meaning of an expression which consists of expectations that areÐrightly or wronglyÐwidely associated with the referent of the expression. The word `nurse' is a good example. Most people automatically associate `nurse' with `woman'. This unconscious association is so widespread that the term `male nurse' has had to be coined to counteract its effect: `he is a nurse' sounds odd, even today.

We have seen good examples of unwanted associative meaning in the `Blackpool' TT (p. 24), where `Blackpool' connotes things like candy-floss and what the butler saw, and `slaughterhouses' connotes blood, suffering and eating meatÐall of which clash with the intentions of the ST (see pp. 25±6).

Any area of reference where prejudices and stereotypes, however innocuous, operate is likely to give examples of associative meaning. Even something as banal as a date can trigger an associative meaningÐthink of 1 April or 5 November. There is a good example of associative meaning in the last sentence of Pascoli's short poem `Novembre'. The air is bright and spring-like, but there are no birds. The poem ends:

Silenzio, intorno: solo, alle ventate, odi lontano, da giardini ed orti,

di foglie un cader fragile. È l'estate, fredda, dei morti.

(Pascoli 1905:130)

Given the title and the context, the inescapable association in the last sentence is 2 November, `il giorno dei morti' (All Souls' Day), when prayers for the dead are said. The associative meaning is that of `graveside prayer for the dead'. A TT that omitted this connotation of liturgy and prayer might incur unacceptable translation loss. It is tempting to trigger the All Souls' Day association with a translation like `It is the cold summer of dead souls'; but this might introduce unwanted connotations of Gogol's Dead Souls. Perhaps a reference to remembrance in a stylized, quasi-ritual diction would compensate: `This is the summer, cold summer, of the remembered dead.'

ALLUSIVE MEANING

The unwanted echo of Gogol is an example of allusive meaning. Allusive meaning occurs when an expression evokes an associated saying or quotation in such a way that the meaning of that saying or quotation becomes part of the overall meaning of the expression. Good examples are the allusions to Leopardi

THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION 91

and Dante in the Levi text on p. 84. The lines from Pascoli contain another. Because the poem is entitled `Novembre', `l'estate' evokes the expression `estate di San Martino'. This allusive meaning joins with the associative meaning of `graveside prayer for the dead' to give to the description of a November day an overall meaning that is more powerful than the literal meanings of the expressions used. In fact, this overall meaning is reinforced still more by another associative meaning: the St Martin's summer in Italy is often accompanied by winds, so that `ventate' makes the listener/reader more receptive to the connotation of `San Martino' in `estate'. (This connotation is in turn reinforced on the phonic/graphic level, by the end-rhyme in `ventate/estate'.)

Like all intertextual features, allusive meaning needs to be discerned in the first place. Even when the translator decides there is an allusion, it may be relevant to ask whether it is deliberate innuendo or sheer accident. When Roberto Baggio declined to take a penalty against his old club, how many fans recognized the next day's headlines, `Il Gran Rifiuto', as an allusion to Dante? Did the reporters themselves know that this common expression is from L `inferno! If the translator decides that the allusion has no textual function, `The Great Refusal' will do. If it is judged to be relevant, then something like `The Great Renunciation' or `Baggio's Betrayal' might be suitable, depending on how the translator interprets the author's reading of Dante.

Humorous allusive meanings can pose delicate translation problems. Here is one from Michele Saponaro's short story `Il cavallo morello'. Cosimo's beloved horse Alano has disappeared from the stable. The brigadiere observes critically that the stable door is coming off its hinges. The following exchange ensues:

± [¼] Ma farò mettere la porta nuova, oggi stesso.

±Già, quando i buoi sono scappati¼ Rideva anche il brigadiere.

±Cavallo, signor brigadiere, era cavallo. Il mio vecchio Alano!

(Saponaro 1992:161)

The brigadiere alludes to the proverbial expression: `Chiudere la stalla dopo che i buoi sono scappati.' Cosimo is too upset to see the allusion, hence the comic inappropriateness when he corrects the brigadiere. The first idea will be to draw on the stock communicative translation of the Italian saying: `To shut the stable door after the horse has bolted.' This is apt in the circumstances, but makes nonsense of Cosimo's reply. The Italian allusion could be translated literallyÐ but then the exotic touch of `oxen' might draw too much attention to itself. One possibility might be to compensate for the loss of reference to oxen by using a different TL saying and adapting Cosimo's reply accordingly:

`But I'll get the new door put on this very day.' `I'd say that's putting the cart before the horse¼' And the sergeant laughed as he said it.

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`I can'tÐhe's not there, he's gone. My old Alano!'

Another possibility would be to keep the TL communicative equivalent, but use it differently from its ST counterpart:

`But I'll get the new door put on this very day.'

`Well make sure it's the door that's bolted this time, not the horse.' And the sergeant laughed as he said it.

`But he hasÐI told you, he's gone. My old Alano!'

Here, Cosimo's failure to respond to the pun in `bolted' compensates for the loss of his failure, in the ST, to respond to the allusion.

REFLECTED MEANING

Like `l'estate [¼] dei morti', `bolted' in our second TT shows more than one sort of connotative meaning. In the Pascoli example, associative meaning and allusive meaning reinforce one another. In `bolted', there is an allusive meaning Ð`it's too late'. This is reinforced by a reflected meaning. Reflected meaning is the meaning given to an expression over and above its literal meaning by the fact that its form calls to mind the completely different meaning of an expression that sounds, or is spelled, the same, or nearly the same. In our example, `bolted' has two completely different meanings. The idea of `bolting the door' is triggered in the sergeant's mind (and the reader's) by the allusion to shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Another example is the evocation of `yellow' by `mellow' in To Autumn'. We saw good Italian examples in the `Blackpool' ST (p. 24), where `realizzate' and `eseguite' are applied to shoemaking. (See the discussion on pp. 34±6.)

It is easy to spoil a TT by letting an unwanted reflected meaning creep in. There is an example in the `Blackpool' TT (p. 24), where the earlier reference to slaughterhouses triggers the connotation of `put to death' in `executed'. And there is a threat of unwanted reflected meaning in Practical 2.2: in the context of Chernobyl, `oblast' could look like a sick pun in the TT, whereas in the ST `óblast' has no reflected meaning of `explosion' or `Oh blast'.

Reflected meanings do not usually occur spontaneously to the listener or reader. When an expression is taken in isolation, its reflected meaning or meanings are usually merely latent. It is the context that triggers these latent reflected meanings. In the Saponaro example, the two meanings of `bolt' that are activated are appropriate to the situation. But there are others, such as `to eat hurriedly' or `to sieve', that are irrelevant to this situation in this context. These are therefore very unlikely to occur to the listener/ reader. Translators should remember that being receptive to connotative meaning is not the same as looking up every possible use of a word in the dictionary and assuming that they are all relevant in the particular context in question.