Birds: Metaphor and metonymy in translating children’s books

Abstract

An attempt is made to study (i) the differences in the way BIRD metaphoric and metonymic models are employed in the Bulgarian and Anglo-American language and culture communities, and more specifically in children's books, and (ii) the role the translation of the latter may play in the migration of such models across boundaries.For the purpose, the internal structure of the BIRD category is elaborated on the basis of our perception of, and interaction with, its members (outer appearance – shape, body parts, size, colour; habitat in terms of space and time, and activities). Asymmetries across the two languages and cultures mainly occur on the subordinate level, while with basic level metaphors a higher degree of correspondence is observed.The cross-cultural asymmetries associatied with differences in the various layers of myth, legend, oral and written tradition in the two cultures, may further multiply and create additional difficulties for the translator due to some major differences between the English and Bulgarian languages, mainly in relation to gender, diminutives, proper names formation mechanisms, compounding and the use of kinship terms in structuring the animal domain, which are particularly important in the rendering of Bird characters.