On introducing free indirect speech in Russian translation despite the absence of corresponding structures in the English original

Abstract

The article analyzes the most typical cases of introducing free indirect speech in the Russian translation where there are no corresponding structures in the English original. Typical non-free-indirectspeech structures and contexts in the source text are explored, such as may materialize as free indirect speech in the target text. The study employs qualitative methods including lexical-semantic, contextual and comparative analysis of the source text and the target text. As for the structure, this paper has been divided into two parts. First, a theoretical background for the problem is established, involving the theories by Ia. I. Retsker and D. V. Psurtsev. The paper then goes on to examine translators’ choices to generate new interference of the narrator’s text and the character’s text. The cases when free indirect speech may arise in the Russian translation are typically based on kindred forms of the character’s speech representation in the English original, long descriptions of a situation where the character acts, complex sentences with content clauses, containing the character’s thoughts and emotions. The analysis suggests that the decision to introduce free indirect speech patterns into translation can be based on the typological differences between the languages in question, or on logical and stylistic “inclinations” of a given fragment. Therefore, the decisions to introduce free indirect speech fall into two groups, obligatory and possible respectively. If such choices by Russian translators constitute a tendency, a certain correlation of syntactic patterns and contexts may be established. The results obtained in the study may be used by translators of literary texts.