HERTA MULLER “BREATHING SWING”: TRANSLATION OF THE CATEGORY OF DEFINITENESS / INDEFINITENESS

Abstract

This scientific research deals with a topical linguistic and translation problem – the category of definiteness / indefiniteness and ways of its reproduction in the German- Ukrainian translations of modern fiction. The purpose of this article is to determine the ways one can employ to convey different meanings of German articles and other determinants into Ukrainian, as they are used to express the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the German language. To achieve this goal, there has been employed comparative and descriptive methods of linguistic research as they allow to consider different ways of expression of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the Ukrainian translation. The object of this research is the translation of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness which leads to a strictly defined subject. The subject of the study are explicit means of expression of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in German (in the novel “Breathing Swing” by H. Muller) and implicit means of its expression in Ukrainian (in the Ukrainian translation of the respective novel). Results. The comparative analysis of the original and translated texts makes it possible to determine the main linguistic means of reprodution the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the Ukrainian translation. The analyzed material contains examples where the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the original text is expressed by a definite article which is translated by a pronominalized numeral “some of”, an indefinite-personal pronoun “someone”, or an indefinite pronoun; an indefinite article which is translated by pronouns; zero article is reproduced by a more detailed translation; pronouns are reproduced by their equivalents, as well as other pronouns; other cases of translation include a periphrasis, a descriptive, inaccurate or non-literal translation. Conclusions: Definite, indefinite, zero articles and pronouns serve as the main, most consistent, and regular means of realization of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the German language. While there are no certain morphological means of expression of this category in the Ukrainian language, the translator uses lexical and syntactic means for reproduction of the category definiteness / indefiniteness. The context also plays an essential role.