Pejorative words in literary translation: a historical and a cross-cultural perspective

Abstract

The article focuses on the pejorative vocabulary of a literary text and the way it is reflected in translation. The transference of pejorative meaning is studied in a historical and a cross-cultural perspective, which creates enough distance in time and outlook to give a panoramic view of the matter. This research aims at the demonstration of the full spectrum of translation techniques in this field and at highlighting the priorities in translation of pejorative utterances. The example of the Russian manuscript translation dating back to the middle of the 18th century shows the influence of the literary tradition of the time on rendering the pejorative meaning of the English novel. While the translator put much effort into keeping the negative emotional colouring of the source text as it was, the tendency towards its intensification revealed itself, being deeply rooted in the ancient Russian folklore. The examples from the Japanese translation of B. Shaw’s “Pygmalion” demonstrate the influence of social and ethical norms of the target culture on rendering the pejorative utterances, though the translator often did his best to preserve the initial verbal portrait of the characters. The whole spectrum of translation techniques from different epochs and cultures, ranging from the intensification to neutralization of pejorative meaning of the source text, provides enough evidence that the top priorities in translation of pejorative utterances should be the compliance with both literary and cultural traditions of the target audience.