Verbalised stereotypic beliefs about Ruthenians in the German-language literature of Austrian Galicia and its Ukrainian translations

Abstract

This article presents the ways to verbalise the stereotypic beliefs about Ruthenians, considering linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The study is based on the German-language literature, namely of works of Alexander von Guttry, Salcia Landmann, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and Karl Emil Franzos written during the period of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1772–1918), or simply Austrian Galicia. The selection of works was carried out according to the following criteria: German-language source text, time of writing the work, its plot, existence of Ukrainian translation in the postmodern era. The stereotypes about Ruthenians were singled out using the keywordsRuthene, ruthenisch, Ukrainer, ukrainisch, рycuн, рycuнсьκuŭ, yκраїнеųь, yκраїнcьκuŭ. The stereotypes themselves are considered as simplifying ideas about the character, appearance, daily life, habits and traditions of a certain social group, in this case – the Ruthenians as one of the largest ethnic groups in Austrian Galicia. The implementing of Ruthenians stereotyping are represented on the level of lexis and grammar, context and discourse. The research results show that stereotypes about Ruthenians tend to have negative connotations, which is primarily due to their miserable situation in the Empire. However, the authors fondly described the positive qualities of the Ruthenians’ character, such as hospitality, talent for singing, kindness. Within the framework of a cultural approach in translation studies, which takes into account the cultural, social and historical factors of writing the source and target texts, the ways of verbalising the Ruthenians stereotyping in modern translation are examined.