Towards Some Aspects of Linguistics of Poetic Translation

Abstract

The present article aims to offer a short report of my continued studies and findings in the field of Linguistics of Translation and the methodology of analysis it may suggest. The studies stem on the one hand from semantics, namely the establishment of a semantic triangle (nomination, concept, referent) suggested by C. K. Ogden and J. A. Richards and previously by splitting the meaning of a word into semas, that successfully developed into componential analysis, and on the other hand from textlinguistics, namely the differentiation of three levels of informative capacity of content (factual, conceptual, subtextual) by I. R. Galperin in his monograph “Text as an Object of Linguistic Research”. It is worth noting that all these approaches have been developed through revolutionary changes in linguistic studies. Concerning the famous semantic triangle I put a question: how does a referent as an extralinguistic phenomenon participate in the formation of the meaning of a word, when we are aware of the fact that any word of a language as a system is a reflection of extralinguistic reality that is implied in its meaning, but in active speech, be it oral or written, with its nomination and concept refers to a concrete object of reality? The paper argues that extralinguistic reality is reflected in the form of a sensuous imprint, but developed into a sensuous image that could be regarded as a Linguistic Image. A linguistic image is enclosed in every word, but is called forth when figurativeness of the word is created. The acknowledgment of a linguistic image in a word permits to present the meaning of a word as a correlation of three main components: the sound form of a word as its nomination, the conceptual image as the significatum and the sensuous image as a linguistic image. The above presented study of the meaning of a word with a linguistic image as one of its components leads to trace the presence of Image Bearing Information in artistic texts alongside with Factual, Conceptual and Subtextual levels of information. The results of studies offered in the article imply first of all the development of the above mentioned trends of linguistics and at the same time an attempt to apply the findings to the phenomenon of translation.