Facing the Tension in Translation of Reduplications in Turkish: The Case of Kuşlar da Gitti by Yaşar Kemal - Türkçe İkilemelerin Çevirisindeki Gerilimle Yüzleşmek: Yaşar Kemal’in Kuşlar da Gitti Romanı Örneği

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find out the reduplications in the novel titled Kuşlar da Gitti by Yaşar Kemal. The reduplications found in the original novel are categorized based on their meanings according to the categorization system established in this study. This original categorization system yielded eight semantic categories, namely “duration, quality/manner reinforcement, ordinary reinforcement, motion, spatial approximation, vagueness, temporal-immediacy, onomatopoeia” in accordance with the dominant meaning in each category. Following the categorization of the 134 reduplications found in the novel, a translation evaluation is conducted on the English translation of the novel titled The Birds Have Also Gone in order to see how the tension arising from the differences between the functions and formation of reduplications in Turkish and English is overcome in literary translation. Translation evaluation is based on “Systematics of Designification” by Öztürk Kasar (2020). The translation evaluation showed that under-interpretation of the meaning is the most commonly used designification in English translation of Turkish reduplications. It is suggested for Turkish–English translators that reproducing a reduplication through its root sign, though it should give insufficient meaning and lead to loss of the structure and the style of the writer in the target text, could still enable translators to sustain the reduplicated sign within the field of meaning in the target text.