Frame Semantics and Translation of Intertextuality

Abstract

The article investigates intertextuality and its translation in the context of frame semantics and R. Schank’s dynamic memory theory. The study provides an overview of linguistic and psychological theories examining the role of frames and visualisation in conceptualising reality and discusses their application to the understanding and translation of intertextuality. The theory of dynamic memory is used to explain the nature of textual and intertextual frames and build visual models of their mappings. Based on the analysis of 70 examples of the translation of intertextuality (quotations and allusions) from M. Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale and its Ukrainian translation, six translation techniques are identified. They are outlined on the basis of the transference of linguistic elements and the conceptual information activated by them (frame mappings, mental images). The examples are compared in terms of cognitive equivalence, which is also defined within the presented approach. The study generally adopts a broader view of intertextuality as a cognitive category and translation as a cognitive process to contribute to the development of cognitive poetics and cognitive translatology.