A study of translating synonyms in the last leaf and the escape = nghiên cứu về cách dịch từ đồng nghĩa trong tác phẩm chiếc lá cuối cùng và chạy trốn

Translators only focus on grammatical structures and word stocks but not to the lexical cohesion, concluding synonyms, when translating.. Peter Newmark 1988: 45 put it in the form of a f

Vinh university Foreign languages department

=====  =====

Vừ Lan Anh

A study of translating synonyms in

“The last Leaf” and “the escape” (Nghiên cứu về cách dịch từ đồng nghĩa

trong tác phẩm “Chiếc lá cuối cùng” và “Chạy trốn”)

Graduation thesis

Field: applied linguistics

Vinh, May 2008

Acknowledgements

After a long time to study, with great attempt, I have finished my paper I would like to express my thanks to all who helped me during studying the graduation thesis

Firstly, I owe a special debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Le Thi Thuy Ha (M.A), who helped initiate the idea for my thesis, giving me much invaluable advices, undeniably useful guidance, corrections and encouragement for the completion of the study

I am also indebted to all my teachers in the Foreign Languages Department for their helpful me overcome difficulties in the process of studying

My deepest thanks also go to my beloved family for providing me with valuable support and encouragement

Finally, I would like to express my warm thanks to all

my friends for their love and assistance that helped me to finish this study

Vinh, 2008

Vo Lan Anh

Table of content

Acknowledgement i

Table of content ii

Part A: Introduction 1

1.Justification of the Study 1

2.Aims of the Study 2

3.Methods of the Study 2

4.Scope of the Study 2

5.Format of the Study 2

Part B: Investigation 4

Chapter I: Theoretical background 4

1.1Translation Theory 4

1.1.1Definitions of Translation 4

1.1.2 Translation Methods 5

1.1.2.1 Word-for-word translation 5

1.1.2.2 Literal translation 6

1.1.2.3 Faith translation 6

1.1.2.4 Semantic translation 6

1.1.2.5 Adaption 6

1.1.2.6 Free translation 7

1.1.2.7 Idiomatic translation 7

1.1.2.8 Communicative translation 7

1.1.3 Text Styles in Translation 7

1.1.4 Process of Translation 7

1.1.4.1 The textual level 8

1.1.4.2 The referential level 8

1.1.4.3 The cohesive level 9

1.1.4.4 The level of Naturalness 9

1.2 Theory of discourse 10

1.2.1 Concept of Cohesion 10

1.2.2 Concept of Lexical Cohesion 11

1.2.3 Kinds of Lexical cohesion 12

1.2.3.1 Definitions and characteristic features of Synonyms 14

1.2.3.2 Criteria of synonyms in English 18

1.2.3.3 Types of synonyms 20

1.2.3.4 Sources of synonyms 23

Chapter II: English-Vietnamese synonyms in translation in “The Last Leaf” and “The Escape” 25

2.1 The use componential analysis in translation of synonyms 25

2.2 An introduction to two short stories: “The Last Leaf” and “The Escape” 30

2.2.1 O‟Henry and “The Last Leaf” 30

2.2.2 William Somerset Maugham and “The Escape” 31

2.3 Translation of synonyms in these works 32

2.3.1 Translation of absolute synonyms 32

2.3.2 Translation of semantic synonyms 35

2.3.3 Translation of stylistic synonyms 37

2.3.4 Translation of semantic-stylistic synonyms 38

2.3.5 Translation of euphemisms synonyms 41

Chapter III: Major findings in translating synonyms in the two short stories 43

3.1 Major findings 43

3.1.1 The Last Leaf 43

3.1.2 The Escape 43

3.2 Misuse of synonyms 46

3.3 Some suggestions for translation of synonyms 48

3.4 Some suggested exercises 49

Part C: Conclusion 51

1 Review of the study 51

2 Suggestions for further study 51

References 53

Appendix 55

Part A: Introduction

1 Justification of the Study

What does human kind distinguish from the rest of the animal world? It

is language! Language in general and English in specific, with its own vocabulary system, used for more than one purpose makes communication among human being possible Nowadays, English has become very popular and widely used all over the world It is also the most popular foreign language to Vietnamese people The vocabulary system is the most remarkable tool, and reflects all what happens in our society, that including customs, traditions and cultures Nevertheless, its abundance, in fact, makes learners, even university students to be embarrassed when using or communicating They also often make mistakes with words' usage and formation And synonyms make a great contribution to its variety and difficulties

Synonym is a popular phenomenon in all languages The people who use languages as a mean of communication take care of synonyms because of its practical value In one language, synonyms have it own characteristics, depending on inner structure of that one Yet, it is not likely to be paid enough attention by linguists, especially in translation Translators only focus on grammatical structures and word stocks but not to the lexical cohesion, concluding synonyms, when translating In addition, English is obviously different from Vietnamese This paper investigates how synonyms are transferred from English into Vietnamese in the two literature works: “The Last Leaf” and “The Escape” We hope this study can help the learners improve their vocabulary and use synonyms in translation effectively

2 Aims of the study

With the above reasons, our targets of this thesis, firstly, is to examine theoretical approaches to discourse and translation to set the base for the investigation

Most importantly, the study attempts to find out, classify types of synonyms and analyze the use of them in the two works we chosen and to discover the way the translator transfer them into Vietnamese

Thirdly, the research tries to give out some misuse and suggestions for translators when using synonyms in translation

Finally, it is aimed at providing some exercises for practicing

3 Methods of the study

This study investigates translation of synonyms, employing several methods as follows:

The first method applied in this investigation is the review of published theories

The next is the analysis the use of synonyms in the two works Contrastive analysis and comparative methods have been applied

Additionally, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed

in the thesis

4 Scope of the study

As mentioned above, in this paper we only pay attention to the translation of synonyms in “the Last Leaf” and “The Escape”

5 Format of study

This paper consists of three main parts:

Part A: Introduction

We present the rationale of choosing the topic, the aims, the methods to

be applied, the scope and the design of the thesis as well

Part B: Investigation

In this part, there are three chapters:

Chapters I: Theoretical Background

The Theoretical Background supplies fundamental and theoretical concepts that are relevant to the purpose of the study

Chapter II: English-Vietnamese translation of synonyms in “The Last Leaf” and “The Escape”

This main chapter finds out types of synonyms used in the two

literature works and then analyzes the translation of used synonyms in the two

Part C: Conclusion

The last part offers the review of the research Suggestions for further study are also presented in this section

1.1.1 Definitions of Translation

The term “translation” has been defined in different ways In Oxford

Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Oxford University Press (2000, p.1382), translation is defined that a text or work has been changed from one language into another This seemed too simple, because translation is not only the change of language but also the change of form, and having intention of

writer, of translator, culture, etc Another definition pointed out translation “is rendering a written text into author intended the text” (Roger T.Bell, cited in

Bui Tien Bao, 1999: 4)

Roger T Bell (1991) claimed, “Translation is the expression in another language (target language) of what has been expressed in one

equivalencies” (Nguyen Van Tuan, 2004:6) Translation is transference of

form of a language The form of the source language is replaced by the form

of the target one Although different theorists have their own definition of

translation it is generally referred to as “the replacement of a representation

of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language” (Roger T Bell, 1999:6)

1.1.2 Translation Methods

Translation methods are the procedures used in translation for possible range of text or text types They provide a background of fundamental and restricted rules and suggestions for translating the text, commenting

translation

Peter Newmark (1988: 45) put it in the form of a flattened V diagram

of translation methods:

SL emphasis TL emphasis

Word-for-word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation Faithful translation Idiomatic translation Semantic translation Communicative translation

1.1.2.2 Literal translation

Literal translation is also regarded as a pre-translation process to indicate the problems to be solved However, the nearest target language equivalents are transferred from the source language grammatical structures, the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context

1.1.2.3 Faithful Translation

Faithful translation attempts to reproduce the exactly contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the target language grammatical structures It only “transfers” the cultural word and keeps the degree of grammatical and lexical “abnormality” (deviation from source language norms) in the translation It affords to be extremely faithful to the source language writer‟s intentions and the text-realization

1.1.2.4 Semantic translation

Semantic translation is not similar to faithful translation because it must take more account of the aesthetic value of the source language text The semantic translation compromises on “meaning” where appropriate in order that the completed version finishes with no assonance, word- play or repetition jars The difference between “faithful” and “semantic” translation

is that faithful is uncompromising and dogmatic, while the semantic is more flexible, admits the creative exception to 100% accuracy and allows for the translator‟s intuitive empathy with the original

1.1.2.5 Adaptation

Adaptation that is considered the “freest” form of translation is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry The themes, characters and plots are preserved; the source language culture converted to the target language culture and the text is rewritten

1.1.2.6 Free translation

Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original

1.1.2.7 Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation reproduces the information or the message of the original but tends to misrepresent or to distort nuances of the meaning by preferring colloquialism and idioms where these do not exist in the original, a so-called “intralingual translation”, often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all

1.1.2.8 Communicative translation

Communicative translation attempts to interpret the exact contextual meaning of the original in such way that both content and language are really acceptable and comprehensible to the readership

1.1.3 Text Styles in Translation

According to Nida (1995, p.13), the text is classified into four types:

- Narrative is a dynamic chain of events where the emphasis is on the

verbs or phrasal verb

- Description is immobile with the concentration on linking verbs,

adjectives and adjectival nouns

- Discussion is a treatment of ideas with the focus on concepts, verbs of

thought, mental activity…

- Dialogue, with the stress on colloquialisms and pacifisms

1.1.4 Process of Translation

In the study of translation theory (Newmark, 1995), translation process often begins with choosing a method of approach Then translation is carried out with four levels in mind: the source language text level, the referential

level, the cohesive level and the level of naturalness

There are two approaches to translating The first approach to translating is to start translating sentence by sentence to get the feel and the feeling tone of the text and then deliberately sit back, review the position and read the rest of the source language text The second one is to read the whole text two or three times and find the intention, register, tone, mark the difficult words and passages and start translating only when having taken the bearings

Translators may choose the two approaches depending on the mood or

on their intuition (for the first approach) or their capability of analysis (for the second); the first approach is probably suitable for the literary and the second for a technical or an institutional text The drawback of the first method is that the translators may have too much revision to do on the early part, and of course, time wasting Translators may prefer the second approach that is believed to be mechanical

1.1.4.1 The Textual Level

This is the basic level or the level of literal translation of the source language into the target language You transpose the source language grammar (clauses and groups) into their target language equivalents and then the lexical units are translated into the sense that appears immediately appropriate in the context of the sentence Translators may eliminate the level

of translation; however, it also acts as a connective of paraphrase and the parer-down of synonyms

1.1.4.2 The Referential level

Whether a text is technical or literary or institutional, translators have

to make up in mind summarily and continuously about what, for what, or what the writer‟s peculiar slant on it When each sentence is not clear or there

is an ambiguity, or when the writing is abstract of figurative, translators have

to ask themselves: What is actually happening here? Why? For what reason?

On what purpose? Can you see it your mind? Can it be visualized? If not, the linguistic level, the text level with the referential level, the factual level with the essential additional information from this level of reality, the facts of matter must be supplemented

1.1.4.3 The Cohesive Level

This level requires both the structure and the moods of the text The structure includes the connective words (conjunctions, enumerations, reiterations, definite article, general words, referential synonyms, punctuation marks) linking the sentences, usually proceeding from known information (theme) to new information (rheme) One feature of this level is that it moves between positive and negative, emotive and neutral, these can be shown as dialectical factor The cohesive level is a regulator, it secures coherence, and

it adjusts emphasis At this level, the translators reconsider the lengths of paragraphs and sentences, the formulation of the title, the tone of the conclusion This is where the findings of discourse analysis are pertinent

1.1.4.4 The Level of Naturalness

To have a good and successful translation work, the translators must ensure that their translation make sense and it reads naturally and it is written

in ordinary language, the common grammar, idioms, and words that meet kind of the situation As usual, translators temporarily disengage themselves from the source language text by reading their own translations as though no original existed They have to ask themselves: Have you ever seen this in a newspaper, a magazine or in a textbook? Is it common usage in that kind of writing? How frequent is it? Check and crosscheck words and expressions in

an up to date dictionary Translators have to not any word that they are suspicious of

1.2 Theory of Discourse

Unlike traditional grammar that deals mainly with phonological, lexical and syntactical structure, the current linguists have been studying with new point of view that sentences are not the largest complete units Beyond the sentence level, the text is studied by observing how sentences are shaped in,

by and for the circumstances of their communication In the fact that we do not communicate using just a single utterance The situation is often combination of sentences used to get our message across that called discourse

It is more than the sum of the meanings of its constituents, to be possible to think as some sort of a message, which is the function of the meaning of the constituents‟ utterances

Discourse has been understood and defined in different ways since Discourse Analysis was termed and became a field of linguistics Crystal (1992:25) for example, gives his definition of Discourse as follow:

“Discourse is a continuous stretch (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit such as a sermon, argument, joke

or narrative” According to Guy Cook (1995:198), Discourse is “stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive”

We consider that the concept of discourse by Nunan (1993) seeing discourse as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences which are perceived as being related in some ways, in terms of the ideas they share and terms of the jobs they perform within discourse appears to be the best to adopted Discourse can occur as a poem, a lecture, a short story, a business letter, a letter of complaint, or a play

1.2.1 Concept of Cohesion

English offers a limited set of opinions for creating links between the clauses and sentences of a text, otherwise known as cohesion Cohesion refers

to the grammatical or lexical relationships among different elements of a text The definition that is given by Halliday and Hasan (1976) is no doubt the best one; they supposed that the cohesive relationship within sentences is a

semantic one, and that “cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another The one presuppose the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse

to it” The concept of cohesion accounts for the essential semantic relations

whereby any passage of speech or writing is enabled to function as text (Halliday& Hasan, 1990: 13) The expression of the semantic unity of the text lies in the cohesion among the sentences from which it is composed To the interpretation of discourse, cohesion is extremely significant It is only a guide to coherence, that the feeling in a text hangs together, makes sense and

is not a jumble of sentences

They also identified five different types of cohesion: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion However, in this thesis, we would like to emphasize that what we are trying to analyze synonyms - a part of lexical cohesion and how to handle them in the translation

1.2.2 Concept of Lexical Cohesion

When studying spoken and written discourse, linguists seemed to be gradually aware of the role of lexis in organizing and creating the regular patterns found in extended stretches of them This type of patterning may be called lexical cohesion Different authors define the concepts of lexical cohesion similarly In David Nunan (1993), lexical cohesion occurs when two words in a text are semantically related in some ways Halliday and Hasan (1976) defined it as “phoric” cohesion established through the structure of the word stock Lexical cohesion is, therefore, recognized as a cohesive device

and a formal feature used in close relation with context Related vocabulary items occur across clause and sentence boundaries in written texts and across act, move and turn boundaries in speech and are a major characteristic of coherent discourse

1.2.3 Kinds of Lexical cohesion

The relations between vocabulary items in texts described by the Halliday and Hasand model are of two principal kinds: Reiteration, collocation

Briefly, reiteration that is considered a significant characteristic that makes text coherent is a type of cohesive device by restating an item in a later part and reasserting its meaning by exploiting lexical relations; it is not a chance event; writers and speakers make conscious choices whether to repeat,

or to find a synonyms, or a superordinate

We adopt the classification of Reiteration by Halliday and Hasan (1976), in which there are four subtypes under reiteration namely repetition, synonyms, superordinates and hyponymy (general words) In the scope of this thesis, we presented sketchily about repetition, hyponymy and superordinate, our purpose is to pay attention to synonyms and their effects on translation works

Repetition

The majority of English vocabulary is learned through repetition but this does not only refer to the exact replication of a word; it also includes members of its „word family‟ Repetition allows the writer to repeat herself in order to add new information and to assist with lexical inferencing

Eg: Dozing guards allowed a group of peace campaigners to breach a missile

security cordon yesterday The women protesters claimed to have walked right up

to the cruise launchers As sentries slept, they tip-toed past sentries at 3am and

inspected a cruise convoy in a woody copse on Salisbury Plain Greenham Common campaigner Sarah Graham said “For the sake of making things more realistic, the copse was protected soldiers dug into foxholes”.

(McCarthy, 1991:68 from News on Sunday, 2 August 1987, p 15)

Words that are repeated are often not repeated identically The repetition in this example can be seen in the use of pluralization and word

family (campaigner vs campaigns) and with definite and indefinite articles and adjectives (a woody copse vs the copse)

Hyponymy

Hyponymy refers to words that are connected under a hierarchical

„umbrella‟ word or general term and is an important feature of reiteration because connections can easily be built from it Looking at the following example:

“Researchers took saliva and blood samples from six cats including a tiger and a cheetah and found each had a useless gene that other mammals use to create a sweet receptor on their tongues”

In this case, „mammals‟ is the umbrella word and „cats‟ is a slightly more general word „Tiger‟ and „cheetah‟ are provided as specific examples

Superordinates/ lexical sets/ chains

Lexical sets, or chains, are words which are connected by theme Since understanding text is often “dependent on a recognition of lexical items

belonging to the same lexical set and realizing a topic about which the writer and reader have to have shared knowledge”

“There was a fine old rocking-chair that his father used to sit in, a desk where he wrote letters, a nest of small tables and a dark, imposing bookcase Now, all of this furniture was to be sold, and with it his own past”

(McCarthy, 1991:66)

the lexical chain of „household furniture‟ Recognizing one word means we are better able to guess the meaning or at least the context of the surrounding words

1.2.3.1 Definitions and characteristic features of Synonyms

Synonym is a popular phenomenon in all language, and it is one of modern linguistics most controversial problems Some linguists disputed the very existence of words traditionally that called synonyms Moreover, they found the nature and essence of the relationship of these words to be hotly debated and treated in quite different ways

Firstly, to help the readers can understand about synonyms, we would like to present some related terms and their definitions, and then coming to the major point

regarded as the smallest indivisible meaningful units of a language which can operate independently”

Eg : Book, man, unlucky, bookish, white-wash, kiss-me-quick, etc

Types of words’ meaning

There are two main types of meanings found in words: lexical meaning and grammatical meaning Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion Grammatical meaning is what unities words with different lexical meaning It is the meaning recurrent in identical sets of different words It divides words into groups with their own grammatical features Lexical and grammatical meaning do not exist separately but always go together to make

up the meaning of a word

Eg : when we hear or see the word “house”, our concept is realized and the picture or image of a house occurs to our mind Therefore, this realization

is called lexical meaning And the grammatical meaning of the word “house”

is a noun in singular

The components of lexical meaning

(1) Denotative meaning (Denotation): refers to phenomena in the real world In other way, it indicates or points out things, concepts, etc For example: “bird” denotes an animal can fly It has features like two-legged, winged, egg laying, warm-blooded, and creature with a beak

(2) Connotative meaning (connotation): shows us how things and concepts are denoted It may consist of emotion, evaluation, intensity, and stylistic colouring

For example: “bird” implies lovely, gently, peace…

There are nine kinds of connotation:

Synonyms

There are many different definitions of synonyms The author would like to introduce some of them that useful service for this investigation In

“Understanding English Semantics” (2004, p 72), Nguyen Hoa gave out his

definition that “Expressions with the same meanings are synonymous” He

also asserted synonyms are actually words of the same parts of speech that have similar meaning, but not identical meaning They may share a similar denotational meaning or connotational meaning, and they can differ from each another in terms of denotation or connotation In Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Oxford University Press (2000, p.1319), synonym is

defined that “a word or an expression having the same or nearly the same meaning” That may be too simple, and has not yet helped the readers having

enough knowledge about synonym and its using Looking at the following example to understand the reason:

In the third year you can develop these special interests in particular areas of the subject, and it is here that the breath of the department‟s expertise is especially an advantage: we offer courses in a very wide range of specialist options, including computational linguistics and sociolinguistics

(Raphael Salkie, 1997:10)

The two words to focus on here are breadth and wide These are similar

in meaning, but we cannot call them synonyms, because breadth is a noun while wide is an adjective

- Connotation of degree of intensity

- Causative connotation

- Connotation of manner

- Stylistic connotation

Nguyen Manh Hung and Le Quoc Hanh (2003) gave out some examples to prove their point of view about synonyms We examined the

following example given by V Halt in The Shivering Sands, in which a young woman rejects a proposal of marriage, the verbs like, admire and love, all

describe feelings of attraction, approbation, fondness:

“I have always liked you very much, I admire your talent, but, forgive me, I could never love you as a wife should love her husband”

(Nguyen Manh Hung and Le Quoc Hanh, 2003: 71)

Yet, each of the three verbs, though they all describe more or less the same feeling of liking, describes it in its own way, the two authors explained

that: “I like you, i.e I have certain warm feelings towards you, but they are not strong enough for me to describe it as love”

The two authors also provided another example of how a great writer

may use synonyms for stylistic purposes In this extract from “Death of a Hero” of R Aldington describes a group of a survivors painfully retreating

after a defeat in battle:

“…The Frontshires (name of battalion) staggered rather than walked down the bumpy trench….About fifty men, the flotsam of the wrecked battalion, stumbled past them… They shambled heavily along, not keeping step or attempting to, bent wearily forward under the weight of their equipment, their unseeing eyes turned to the muddy ground”

In this example, the verb to walk is used with its three synonyms, each

of which describes the process of walking in its own way Stagger has meaning in Vietnamese that “bước đi lảo đảo, đi loạng choạng”; stumble means “trượt chân, sẩy chân, vấp”; and the meaning of shamble is “đi kéo lê,

đi lết, chạy lóng ngóng” In contrast to walk, the other three words do not merely convey the bare ideal of going on foot but connote the manner of walking as well

From these examples, they concluded synonyms “are words belonging

to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meaning, interchangeable in some contexts”

They also confirmed that synonyms add precision to each detail description and show how the correct choice of a word from a group of synonyms may color the whole text According to them, synonyms are one of the language‟s most important expressive means, and they are to represent the same phenomenon in different aspects, shades and variations

The definition given by Hoang Tat Truong that “synonyms are phonetically and morphologically different words belonging to the same part

of speech, possessing similar denotation but different in connotation, combinability, etc.” may be considered the simplest He also stated in a

synonymic group, there is a synonymic dominant, which is the most general, neutral, usually belonging to the basic stock of words Synonymic group “to help, to aid, to assist, to succor”, for example, “to help” is the synonymic dominant

Briefly, instead of repeating exactly the same word, some texts employ

a different cohesive device: they use a word and then use a synonym of that word Actually, finding two words, which have exactly the same meaning, is

not easy: asteroid and planetoid are a possible example, and for some people the words sofa, couch and settee are exactly synonyms However, it can get

boring if the same word is repeated, and this is one reason why synonyms are used instead Using synonyms instead adds variety

1.2.3.2 Criteria of synonyms in English

Synonym is associated with some theoretical probems that at present are still an object of controversy The most controversial among these probably is the problem of criteria of synonym

Notional criterion

The notional criterion that were solved by traditional linguistics defined synonyms as words of the same category of parts of speech conveying the same notion but differing in the shades of meaning and stylistic characteristics

However, some aspects of this point have been criticized It has been indicated that linguistic phenomena should be defined in linguistic terms and that the use of the term “notion” makes this an extra linguistic definition In addition, the term “shades of meaning” has been condemned for its vagueness and lack of precision

Semantic criterion

Semantic criterion is frequently used in contemporary research on synonymy In term of componential analysis, synonyms may be defined as words with the same denotation, or the same denotative component, but differing in connotation, or in connotative components

However, not beyond criticism, this approach has its advantages and suggests certain new methods of analyzing synonyms It is studied with the help of their various dictionary definitions (definitional analysis), then analyzed comparatively After that, the definitions are subjected to transformational operations (transformational analysis) In this way, the semantic components of each analyzed word are singled out

Criterion of interchangeability

This approach is sometimes applied in modern research on synonyms According to this, synonyms are defined as words, which are interchangeable at least in some contexts without any considerable alteration in denotational meaning This criterion has been much criticized Actually, it is difficult to accept interchangeability as a criterion of synonymy because the specific characteristic of

synonyms, and the one justifying their very existence Interchangeability of

synonyms can use in some cases We consider an example, “firm” and “hard”

We generally identify them as synonyms, but we may have serious doubt if

someone says “a hard government” instead of “a firm government” Thus, it will

be a mistake to assume that synonyms can be interchangeable

Nguyen Hoa (2004:76) had the same division with Hoang Tat Truong, but

he added two types that euphemisms and absolute synonyms We are going to consider and analyze these types

Absolute synonyms

Lyons (1995) introduces the notion of absolute synonymy According to him, two (or more) expressions are absolute synonyms if, and only if, they satisfy the following three conditions:

- All their meanings are identical

- They are synonymous in all contexts

- They are semantically equivalent (i.e their meaning or meanings are identical) on all dimensions of meanings and descriptive and non-descriptive Absolute synonym is regarded as words having identical meaning components In more specific terms, words are complete synonyms if and

only if they share all ingredients with one another Absolute synonyms are

extremely rare in English, and probably in any other languages However, it is possible to find few of them We can talk about this type of synonyms in terms of just one meaning There are many ideas pointed out the phenomenon

of absolute synonym is anomalous (no rule) and consequently temporary: the vocabulary system invariably tends to abolish it either by rejecting on of the absolute synonyms or by developing differentiation characteristics in one or both (or all) of them

Semantic synonyms: They are defined as words, which differ in term of

their denotation

Eg: “Pretty-beautiful-handsome” is a group of semantic synonym They all convey the pleasing appearance Yet each of them describes a special type

of human beauty “Beautiful” is mostly associated with classical features and

a perfect figure While “pretty” is with small delicate features and a fresh complexion, and “handsome” is with a tall stature, a certain robustness and fine proportions

Stylistic synonyms: differ in terms of their connotation Their denotation

is identical

Eg: the group of synonym: alone – single – lonely

- She was lonely: stresses the feeling of melancholy and desolation

- The single tree of the plain: states plainly that there is only one tree,

not two or more

- A lonely tree on the plain: gives essentially the same information, that

there is one tree, no more, but also creates an emotionally coloured picture

Semantico-stylistic synonyms: They make up the majority of all

synonyms in English-words differing both in denotational and connotational

meaning, i.e in shades of meaning connotation

Eg: “house-shack-slum-pad” are synonyms

- House is a building for habitant or specified purpose

- Shack is a roughly built hut or cabin

- Slum is a dirty squalid overcrowded street or district

- Pad is hired room or room rented for logging

Praseological synonyms: are these words identical in their meanings

and styles but different in their collocations in sentence (combinability)

Eg: Do-make (to do exercises but to make money)

To lift- to raise (to raise or to lift a finger but to raise prices, wages, questions)

Territorial synonyms : They are those employed in different regions

like Britain, Australia or the United States

Britain United States Australia

Luggage Sidewalk Football Centre Honour Colour Succour Autumn

Baggage Pavement Soccer Center Honor Color Succor Fall

Baggage Sidewalk Soccer

Autumn

Euphemisms synonyms: means literally “speak well” In using

euphemisms, a less unpleasant or offensive is achieved Consider “redundant” and “be out of a job/ unemployed” The word “redundant” is not as direct or

to the point as “unemployed”, thus, it may sound more “politically correct”

1.2.3.4 Sources of synonyms

Borrowings

There are about 8000 synonymic groups in English Many words were borrowed from Greek, Latin, and French and they became synonyms to native words forming the synonymic groups, in which the native words are usually neutral, French words are literary, Latin and Greek are bookish or scientific

Eg: To ask (native) - to question (Latin) - to interrogate (French)

Stool (native) – chair (French)

The change of meaning (especially metaphor and metonymy)

The word “hand” for example, acquired the meaning “worker” and became synonym to this word, then the meaning “side, direction” (hand-side), signature (hand-signature)

- To return - to come back

- To postpone - to put off

c conversion

- A return - a come back

- Conversation – talk - chat

Chapter II:

English-Vietnamese translation of synonyms in

“The Last Leaf” and “The Escape”

2.1 The use of componential analysis in translation of synonyms

Componential analysis is a technique that can usefully be applied to the process of translation to choose the most accurate and close lexical equivalents Firstly, componential analysis was used by anthropologists to compare kinship terms in different languages Within modern linguistics, the componential analysis of meaning was adapted from distinctive feature analysis in morph syntax that in turn had its roots in the methodology of school phonology

However, there is a distinction between the componential analysis in translation and in linguistics In linguistics, componential analysis means analyzing or splitting up the various senses of a word into sense-components, which may or may not universals While in translation, the basic process of componential analysis is to compare a source language word with a target language that has a similar meaning, but is not an obvious equivalence from a source language word to a target language one, by demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense components Newmark (1988:117)

asserted that "The only purpose componential analysis in translation is to achieve the greatest possible accuracy"

Normally, the source language word has a more specific meaning than the target language word In addition, the choosing words are concretized by the writer‟s intention They created circumstances, contexts and therefore, they are easy to make their choice of lexical units Therefore, the duty of

translator is that basing on the context of passage, text, or the whole work to decide the correct and suitable words in translating They often have to add one or two target language sense components to the corresponding target language word in order to produce a closer approximation of meaning That

is because words (in source language) may have semantic values that are not translatable into other languages (in target language)

The sense components of a lexical unit may be referential and/or pragmatic (object, thing…) Comprehensively, a source language word may

be distinguished from a target language word on the one hand in the composition, shape, size and function of its referent On the other, it discriminates in its cultural context and connotations, as well as in its currency, period, social class usage and its degree of formality, emotional tone, generality or technicality and, finally, in the pragmatic effect of its sound composition, e.g., onomatopoeia or repetitive phonemes or suggestive symbolical consonantal clusters

Componential analysis is used in translating lexical words, cultural words, synonyms, sets and series, concept terms, neologisms, and words as myths (which become symbols of untranslatability and cultural consciousness)

The third use of componential analysis in translation is synonyms In other words, componential analysis can be used to differentiate source language synonyms in context Frequently, group or pair of synonyms (e.g

“worship and adore”) are used for emphasis purpose only, and can be translated by using a verb with an adverb or adverbial group as an intensifier

E.g.: “They limped painfully down the bank, and once the foremost of the two men

staggered among the rough-strewn rocks….They walked in a stooped poster, the

shoulders well forward, the head still father forward, the eyes bent upon the ground… They did not remove their footgear, though the water was icy cold-so

cold that their dashed against their knees and both men staggered for footing…When he had steadied himself he stepped forward, but reeled again and nearly fell Then he stood still and looked at the other man, who had never turned his head The man stood still for fully a minute, as though debating with himself….Bill staggered on through the milky water…”.

(Love of Life, 1900- Jack London)

=> Hai người khập khiễng, đau đớn đi xuống bờ suối, người đi trước có lần lảo

đảo giữa các tảng đá nằm bừa bộn Họ bước đi khom khom, hai vai dô ra trước,

đầu nhô ra xa hơn, mắt nhìn xuống đất… cả hai không tháo giầy, mặc dù nước suối lạnh buốt, làm mắt cá họ đau nhói, chân tê cứng, ở những chỗ nước lao vào đầu

gối, hai người loạng choạng lần từng bước một… Đứng vững được, anh bước tiếp nhưng lại loạng choạng suýt ngã Rồi anh đứng đờ ra, nhìn người đi trước, người

đó chưa khi nào quay đầu nhìn lại anh đứng yên trọn một phút tựa như đang tranh luận với bản thân… Bill tiếp tục lội qua dòng nước trắng nhờ nhờ…”

In the extract, the author used synonyms of two verbs “to walk”, and

“to stand” With the different shade of meanings and with using adverbs, the extract became imaginable and vivid

Actually, there are many synonyms in English literature works but they have similar meaning, not identical in Vietnamese version

… I took a flat in a quiet, blind street, lined with English trees… When I arrived, the trees were bare and still against the lilac dusk… The street was wide but because it was so quiet, the window seemed near… One day I asked the silent

woman who serviced me to take it (a picture) down… She walked up the steps so firmly, and vanished so resolutely into the discreet muteness of the building opposite, that I felt a faint, a very faint, envy of anyone who appeared to have her life so perfectly under control There was a day much warmer than anything we

had had, a still, warm, milky day…

(The Persimmon Tree, 1943, Marjorie Barnard)

=> “…Tôi lấy một căn hộ trong phố cụt yên tĩnh có cây xanh… Khi tôi dến đó, hai

hàng cây trong ngõ vẫn còn trơ trụi và im lìm trong ráng chiều tím ngắt…Phố rộng nhưng yên tĩnh đến nỗi khuôn cửa sổ ấy có vẻ rất gần… Một hôm tôi nhờ người

đàn bà yên lặng vẫn phục vụ tôi tháo bức tranh xuống… Bà bước lên các bậc thềm

một cách cáhc nịch, và mất dạng một cách dứt khoát vào cái im lìm kín đáo của tòa nhà đối diện, đến nỗi tôi bỗng thấy ghen tị, dù chỉ một thoáng thôi ,với bất kì ai có

vẻ như đã hoàn toàn làm chủ được cuộc đời mình Có một hôm trời ấm hơn tất cả

những ngày ấm trời khácmà chúng tôi từng có Một ngày yên tĩnh, ấm áp, mượt mà…”

In the previous example, we find that the author used synonyms that

“still, quiet, silent” They are absolute synonyms, so they have identical

meanings in all situations However, in this extract, in each case, the translator used different translation, using words having similar meaning, not identical

The “quiet” in “I took a flat in a quiet” and in “because it was so quiet” is

translated into Vietnamese “yên tĩnh”, and the “still” in the second time also translated that “yên tĩnh”

Further, more object-synonyms are coupled in a few set phrases such as

“will and testament”, “goods and chattels”, “let and hindrance”, “freedom and liberty”, etc (in English coupling Romance and Germanic words) where a parallel coupling in translation would normally be unnecessary, because it may make the redundancy in form and unsuitability in meaning In addition, the readers can understand about the story without the translation using an exactly parallel coupling

E.g.: Finally, she won in the competition without let and hindrance

=> Cuối cùng cô ấy chiến thắng mà không gặp bất cứ một trở ngại nào

However, when a couple synonyms are created with an innovative purpose in form and meaning of the writer, the translator have to attempt a parallel coupling Sometimes, the using coupling synonyms made the emphasis of sense, and the meaning become obvious; it is used as an artistic intention of the writer We would like to show two examples, one example in which couple synonym is translated with a parallel coupling, the other is not