engleski

Semantic and Word-Formation Analysis of Tolkien's Toponyms - in the English Original and Croatian Translation

The topic of this research are the toponyms confirmed by excerption from J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Literary onomastics is mainly dedicated to the research of anthroponymy, and rarely to literary toponyms, though in literature, they do not have the exclusive role of spatial reference system. A number of works in the field of theory of literature have been dedicated to the problem of referentialism of names and generally to the relationship of this problem and extralinguistic reality. Names in literature can carry a semantic, semiotic and/or sound symbolic meaning and the question is how to approach their translation. There are different views from those claiming that names carry no meaning, and therefore there is no need for translation, to those asserting that names, apart from their primary function, which is to identify, bring additional information and have associative effect. In Tolkien's fictive world full of metaphors, toponyms are analysed on a semantic and word-formation level and are placed in a relationship of interlinguistic equivalence with those found in Croatian translation. The presentation follows the classification approach to translating names in literary texts given by Coillie (2014: 123-141) applied then to toponyms. The assumption is that those toponyms without additional meaning in the original will be approached as markers given to specific objects. Their role is connotative on the level of acoustic-articulatory symbolism and it is assumed they will not be translated. The connotations specific toponyms carry in the original will presumably be reproduced in the target language. Also, an assumption is that the strategy of erasing names will not be used. Common nouns as part of compound toponyms will be translated to the receptor language. Finally, motivation and meaning of certain toponyms are connected to the usage of a specific translation strategy. The results of the research have confirmed the assumptions, and the work aims to give contribution to the onomastic research in the field of theory of (literary) translation.

literary translation, toponyms, The Lord of the Rings

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