Translating insult: Strategies of rendering invective in modern political discourse

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Philology, 14 Shevchenko Blvd, 01601, Kyiv, Ukraine

^* Corresponding author: maria.sevastiuk@gmail.com

Abstract

The article focuses on the use of invective in political texts and specifics of its rendering in the English-Ukrainian translation. It aims to define possible strategies for invective translation and factors that influence translator’s choice. Since the use of invective by political leaders is aimed primarily at provoking a certain reaction from their opponents and the public, the main criterion of equivalence in the translation of such units is pragmatics, which stipulates the translator’s task as trying to make the invective perform the same function in the translation and be perceived in the same way as in the original, often regardless of its language component in the source language. The paper suggests that it becomes possible with the help of pragmatic adaptation, which implies various manipulations with the source text aimed to ensure its better understanding by the receptors of translation. Three main translation strategies of pragmatic adaptation are proposed: neutralization, substitution and stylistic amplification. These strategies dictate the further choice of translator’s decisions and the application of translation transformations aiming to preserve the emotional and evaluative load of invective in translation.