Srategies for Translating Lexical Repetition in Contemporary Novels for Teenagers

Abstract

The article, on the basis of contemporary novels for teenagers and their translations into Lithuanian, aims to analyse types of lexical repetition that is common in adolescent speech and to discuss strategies for translating it. The paper distinguishes lexical repetition into (1) types of repetition in dialogues and (2) types of repetition in narrative sections and characters’ thoughts. The research shows that same-unit repetition and repetition with variation are the most common types of repetition in the novels and their translations. Furthermore, there are cases when repetition takes a form of a synonym, antonym, hyponym and paraphrasis. In addition, the present article examines such translation strategies for repetition as preservation, synonymy, substitution, paraphrase, nominalization, pronominalization, announcing the repetition, addition and omission.  The study results have demonstrated that both the strategy of preservation and synonymy have been used most often. It is also important to highlight that the choice of the translation strategy in a particular case is a controversial issue. Sometimes it is important to use a combination of different translation strategies in order to create an aesthetic target text and to achieve a similar effect on the target readership.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.20.1317