Language games vs. the game of translation

Mykola Lukash Translation Studies Department, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

^* Corresponding author: rebrii1967@gmail.com

Abstract

The article focuses on experimental researching the strategies, methods and means of reproducing nominative language game in popular scientific discourse. We proceed from the understanding of language games by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Johan Huizinga according to which its varieties include both acts of nomination and translation. The research is based on the neological quasi-terms whose main function is not to give names to objects but to induce expressive coloring (terminological connotation) in the context. With the help of algorithmic modeling, we formulated potential strategies for ascribing meanings to English quasi-terms and reproducing them in Ukrainian, and afterwards we designed and conducted the retrospective experiment aimed at verifying the above strategies. The experiment involved 34 semi-professional subjects who translated text fragments and submitted their reports concerning the reproduction of the control units (quasi-terms). The analysis of the experiment not only confirmed the validity of the modeled strategies but also allowed to describe the translators’ decisions in terms of the game theory. In particular, by attempting to coin the equivalent for a non-equivalent quasi-term following the source model and word-formation elements, the translator accepts the author’s rules; while by employing his/her own model and/or word-formation elements the translator offers his/her own set of rules. In either case, the reproduction of a quasi-term in its lexicalized form can be seen as the translator’s victory, while omitting it in the target text is a clear sign of defeat. Descriptive translation takes a somewhat intermediate position: on the one hand, it allows to convey the meaning of the source unit, but on the other hand, it leads to the loss of the source unit’s lexicalized form and concomitant terminological connotation.