ISSN: 1579-9794
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
Metaphors and the Degree of Conventionality in
Translation of Prose Fiction: A Fraction of the Whole in
Focus
Las metáforas y el grado de convencionalidad en la
traducción de la ficción en prosa: Una parte del todo en el
punto de mira
AKBAR HESABI
a.hesabi@fgn.ui.ac.ir
University of Isfahan
MOBINA BAKHSHI
bakhshim636@gmail.com
University of Tabriz
POURIA SADRNIA
pouria.Sadrnia@yahoo.com
University of Isfahan
Fecha de recepción: 02/06/2021
Fecha de aceptación: 29/09/2021
Abstract: The idea of metaphor classification is regarded as how felicitously
they are entrenched in the everyday language spoken by people. Metaphor
conventionality can be regarded as a scale whose opposite ends constitute
conventional and creative metaphors. Logic indicates that the majority of
linguistic metaphors are conventional rather than novel, since an excess of
novel metaphors may remarkably bring about «communicative surprise»
(Rabadán Álvarez, 1991), thus increasing cognitive processing time. This
study seeks to scrutinize the scale of conventionality in the Persian
translation of A Fraction of the Whole done by Peyman Khaksar. Based on
purposive sampling, some chapters of the novel along with their Persian
translations were selected for analysis. MIP known as Metaphor
Identification Procedure put forward by the Pragglejaz Group (2007) was
employed in the study to identify metaphors. The findings reveal that,
sometimes, the metaphors used in L1 are novel or creative, but the
translator draws upon conventional or entrenched ones in L2, or vice versa.
The aim is to show the translator's choice of metaphor in terms of a
conventionality scale using some previous cognitive models in this regard.
Key Words: Conceptual metaphor, Conventionality scale, Creativity,
Translation, Peyman Khaksar, A Fraction of the Whole.
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Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
Resumen: La idea de clasificación de las metáforas se corresponde con el
nivel de arraigo de éstas en el lenguaje del día a día de las personas. La
convencionalidad de las metáforas puede considerarse como una balanza
cuyos extremos opuestos constituyen metáforas convencionales y creativas.
La lógica indica que la mayoría de las metáforas lingüísticas son
convencionales y no novedosas, ya que un exceso de metáforas novedosas
puede provocar una notable «sorpresa comunicativa» (Rabadán Álvarez,
1991), aumentando así el tiempo de procesamiento cognitivo. La creatividad
metafórica, el otro extremo de la balanza de convencionalidad, puede verse
como el uso de metáforas conceptuales y/o sus manifestaciones lingüísticas
que pueden ser creativas o novedosas. Este estudio examina la escala de
convencionalidad en la traducción al persa de Una parte del todo traducido
por Peyman Khaksar. Con base en un muestreo intencional, se
seleccionaron algunos capítulos de la novela junto con sus traducciones al
persa para su análisis. En el estudio se hizo el uso de MIP conocido como
procedimiento de identificación metáfora, propuesto por el Grupo Pragglejaz
(2007) para identificar las metáforas. Los hallazgos revelan que, a veces,
las metáforas utilizadas en L1 son nuevas o creativas, pero el traductor
recurre a las convencionales o capacitadas en L2, o viceversa. El objetivo
es mostrar la elección de la metáfora por parte del traductor en términos de
una escala de convencionalidad utilizando unos modelos respectivos
cognitivos previos.
Palabras clave: Metáfora conceptual, Escala de convencionalidad,
Creatividad, traducción, Peyman Khaksar, Una parte del todo.
INTRODUCTION
The mélange and conciliation of Translation Studies (henceforth TS)
with Cognitive Linguistics (henceforth CL) is embryonic. The advent of CL in
the 1970s with its promising avenues challenged longstanding theories and
approaches of TS, among the most prominent of which were the concept of
translation and experiential notion of the meaning. Cognitively speaking,
translating is no longer deemed as a plain transfer from the Source
Language (SL) to the Recipient or Target Language (TL). Instead, having a
translator as a language mediator in mind, translation then would be
stipulated as a manipulation, a retexualization steered by a mediator who is
adept in both languages and is cognizant of what is functionally appropriate
in the TL (Ana Rojo and IraideIbarretxe-Antuñano, 2013, p. 13). CL
highlights the notion of experiential meaning viewing meaning as cognitively
constructible through human experiences and senses; this approach,
consequently, regards TS as a communicative process (Rojo & Ibarretxe-
Antuñano, 2013, p. 7). CL’s significant contribution to the field of TS is
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undeniable; in other words, CL has materially challenged some previously
revered theories of meaning and translation, making TS enter a new realm
of description and explanation under the shadow of CL (Rojo & Ibarretxe-
Antuñano, 2013: Schwieter & Ferreira, 2017). In his Descriptive Translation
Study and Beyond, Toury (1995), in retrospect, explores TS socially. He
ventures to make a dainty comparison between translation act and
translation event (Schäffner and Chilton, 2020). Translation act delineates
cognitive aspects of translating (process) whereas translation event refers to
the socio-cultural, situational, ideological and historical context embodying
the translation act (Toury, 1995). As Schäffner and Chilton (2020) argue,
departure from linguistic-based theories to Descriptive Translation Studies
(DTS) and Cultural Turn and Cognitive aspects, has made the conception of
translation and the pertinent phenomenon thereof anew. Such departure and
developments led to the emergence of different outlooks on metaphor and
metaphoric expressions. Metaphors, in their classical rhetoric sense, are
regarded as an emotive or an ornamental device in literary studies, a
persuasive device, and a form of deviation from literal meaning in structural
linguistics. Nonetheless, Lakoff and Johnson (1980/2003), with the advent of
CL, introduced a novel perspective towards metaphor — Conceptual
Metaphor Theory (CMT). Within DTS, two approaches to translation were
postulated by Toury, namely descriptive and prescriptive approaches.
Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997) argue that prescriptive approaches try to
prescribe; in a sense, they are shaping the translation based on extant
strategies and prescriptions in a given socio-cultural environment. Rojo &
Ibarretxe-Antuñano (2013) believe that prescriptive approaches are
normative and view ST as a model to be imitated with a special focus on
mistakes and losses in translation by providing down-to-earth strategies to
be applied in the translation act; however, as Schäffner (2004) argues,
descriptive approaches highlight «what translations are actually like». The
final premises of descriptive approaches are: a) Describing the phenomenon
of translation (Munday, 2001, p. 11), b) Locating the ST within the recipient
culture to look at its acceptability and significance c) Attempting to reach the
universals of translation (Toury, 1995). Despite few sound scholarly studies
such as Al-Hasnawi (2007), Dickins (2005), Maalej (2008), Schäffner (2004),
and Tirkkonen-Condit (2001), metaphor analysis still suffers from the paucity
of cognitive studies.
This study investigates the scale of conventionality in the Persian
translation of A Fraction of the Whole, a novel penned by Steve Toltz in
2008. We will argue that sometimes the metaphors used in the source text
are novel or creative, but the translator chooses conventional ones in the
target text, or vice versa. The objective is to show the translator's choice of
metaphor in terms of a conventionality scale. In other words, we want to
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Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
know the translator’s disposition in translating novel or conventional
metaphors. There are several reasons for our choice of novel metaphors
alongside conventional ones: first, lexicalized metaphor has gained more
attention on the part of researchers than novel metaphor; the latter still lacks
an adequate translational framework. Secondly, our predominant focus is
not on the frequency of occurrence, but rather translational choices. In this
regard, the pursuit is to provide possible explanations for the translator's
choice in terms of this scale. We hope that this paper will lay the foundations
for further research.
1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Through the eyes of Cognitive Linguistics (CL), metaphor refers to a
pattern of conceptual association, rather than to an individual metaphoric
usage or a linguistic phenomenon. For Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen (2005),
metaphors are not related to language; instead, they are a stock of thoughts
highlighting one of the rudimentary principles of human cognition. In a similar
vein, studying metaphor legitimizes confrontation with hidden facets of
cognition and culture (Lakoff and Turner, 1989). Lakoff and Johnson
(1980/2003) discuss three main types of metaphor: Ontological,
Orientational, and Structural. Ontological metaphors, of which personification
is a good example, are the basic ways we use for understanding our
experiences. Ontological metaphors, in fact, reflect ways of conceptualizing
ideas, emotions, and events as substances and physical objects.
Orientational metaphors are defined as the ones involving spatial
relationships. These metaphors, like HAPPY IS UP and SAD IS DOWN, give
concepts spatial orientations. Structural metaphors are the ones in which the
source domain (concrete concept) provides a knowledge structure for the
more abstract one (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980/2003). Therefore, the
structure of the source domain makes us apprehend the target domain, as in
ARGUMENT IS WAR.
In order to scrutinize the translation of metaphors in English scientific
texts, Shuttleworth (2011) utilizes a multilingual corpus and concentrates on
the two levels at which metaphors have been studied: micro and macro
levels. Micro-level can be explained as the translation procedures taken for
each metaphorical expression in a text. On the other hand, Macro-level tries
to explore the clusters of mapping. Maintaining metaphorical expressions
was considered as the usual, the expected procedure across all languages.
He argues that individual metaphorical expression is what is «lost» in the
process of translation, not the whole mappings. This scholar further analyzes
the translation of scientific metaphors (Shuttleworth, 2017).
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Some other studies have focused their attention on particular types of
metaphor in translation. For instance, Safarnejad et al. (2014) have explored
the translation of emotion metaphors, such as happiness and sadness, from
Persian into English. Nevertheless, their data was not extensive, since it was
simply comprised of a Persian novel and two of its English translations. They
applied the MIP procedure to identify the metaphors. This procedure is a
reliable one for identifying metaphorical words in discourse (see Steen, 2017
for more information on MIP and its expanded version MIPVU). Their
predominant focus was on emotion metaphors, both linguistic and
conceptual. This comparative study aimed to show the different cognitive
mappings in these two cultures. In fact, they demonstrated different ways of
conceptualization in Persian and English. They categorize their strategies of
translation as a) translating linguistic metaphors in SL into equivalent
metaphorical expressions in TL; b) translating metaphors in SL into non-
metaphorical expressions in TL; c) mistranslation and d) literal translation
(Safarnejad et al., 2014, p. 110).
Conceptual metaphors of time were comparatively analyzed in two
languages of Persian and English in a study conducted by Ghorbanpour et
al. (2019). They categorized various metaphorical expressions of time into
the relevant underlying conceptual metaphors. The findings revealed that
English and Persian manifest very similar cognitive mappings. Save some
minor differences, the two languages used similar metaphors to comprehend
time as an abstract concept.
Andreas Musolff (2020) studied the metaphors used by world
Englishes to conceptualize national identity. This research aimed to show
the great variation in understanding nation in terms of a body by speakers of
international English. The findings manifested five main metaphors: nation
as a body, nation's territory as a body, nation as a body part, nation as part
of ego, and nation as a person.
Abdulhameed (2019) conducted a translation study on scientific
metaphors, claiming that, in comparison with literary metaphors, scientific
metaphors have been overlooked. Therefore, this study's objective was to
identify the strategies that the translators use when confronted with scientific
metaphors. Results revealed that literal and explication strategies were the
most and the least frequently used strategies respectively.
Regarding anthropomorphous metaphors, Burmakova and Marugina
(2014) explored the conceptual mapping between NATURE and MAN. Their
study was a contrastive analysis of Russian short stories with their English
translations. As their theoretical background, they employed Mandelblit’s
(1995) cognitive translation hypothesis. Based on the model, two scenarios
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exist in metaphor translation. Similar mapping condition (SMC) bears no
conceptual shift from the source to the target language, whereas in different
mapping condition (DMC), a conceptual shift takes place from the source to
the target language. Their result showed that, in translating
anthropomorphous metaphor, the source domain and anthropocentric
perspective were preserved in the target language. Based on their result, the
most applicable strategy for translating metaphors in the condition of SMC
was reproducing the same image of the SL in the TL.
Another study carried out by Yan et al. (2010) explores how cross-
cultural variations in conceptual metaphors exert influence upon rendering of
such metaphors. They further wanted to know how these renderings
highlight the conceptual metaphors. To fulfill the study, they analyzed the
FEAR metaphors rendered from English to Chinese. The findings showed
that, even though the metaphors were shared by the SL and the TL, SL
metaphors (English metaphorical expressions) were not necessarily
translated as the same metaphorical expressions in the TL (Chinese). In
another finding, what this study adds is that conceptual shifts do not merely
take place in the case of DMC proposed by Mandelblit (1995).
Omar, Lamis (2012) investigated the translatability of creative
metaphors in several Arabic translations of Shakespeare's Othello and
Macbeth, applying the perspective of CMT (Conceptual Metaphor Theory).
The findings revealed that, in spite of the fact that metaphorical
conceptualization has a structure universally shared, not all metaphors are
possible to be translated in one way. This idea rejects the superiority of
metaphor universality, emphasizing the factors of intentionality and
creativity.
Several erudite studies were only based on product analysis; precisely
speaking, with the rapid pace of technological developments, translation
studies depart from product-oriented perspectives to the process-oriented
ones. Such departure is a praiseworthy means for uncovering different
aspects of translation, metaphor and cognition (Schäffner & Shuttleworth,
2013). The degree of lexicalization plays a crucial role in determining various
types of metaphors. For Van den Broeck (1981), metaphors are
conventional, lexicalized, and private. Dagut (1976) classifies metaphors as
ephemeral and established. Dickins (2005) simplified them as lexicalized
and non-lexicalized. Dobrzyṅska (1995) categorizes metaphors as dead and
live metaphors. Drawing on the previous categorization, however, in the
present article we wish to analyze metaphors based on the conventional and
creative dichotomy. One of these classifications is according to the
conventionality of metaphor. The word «conventional» is used in the sense
of entrenched, and this issue concerns conceptual metaphors and their
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corresponding linguistic realizations. For instance, the majority of speakers
would not even recognize that they use metaphorical language when they
use the word construct in the context of theories. Thus, we can say that such
metaphorical expressions are extremely conventionalized; that is to say,
they are well entrenched or even cliché.
Highly unconventional or novel metaphors are found at the opposite
end of this scale. Kovecses (2010) gives an example of two linguistic
metaphors that realize the same conceptual metaphor. One of these
examples originates from Robert Frost's poem «The Road Not Taken.»
Kovecses aims to show that Frost uses the conventional LIFE IS A
JOURNEY metaphor in creative ways. However, it is important to know that
novel metaphorical expressions do not exclusively belong to the realms of
arts and literature. Many creative speakers can come up with novel linguistic
metaphors which manifest conventional conceptual metaphors. Studies
reveal that it is not just as simple to find unconventional conceptual
metaphors for an abstract concept. However, some people do use less-
conventional ways of conceptualizing things and experiences. For example,
Lakoff and Johnson mention one such novel conceptual metaphor: LOVE IS
A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF ART (Kovecses, 2010). This metaphor
emphasizes one aspect of love which conventional metaphors do not, and it
is the more action-oriented aspect of it.
Entrenched linguistic metaphors are conventionalized because their
metaphorical extensions (contextual senses) are included in standard
contemporary language dictionaries, whereas the lexical items whose
contextual meanings are not thus codified have been classified as novel
metaphors (Muller, 2008). Since a considerable number of novel metaphors
may increase processing time and even hinder comprehension, the vast
majority of linguistic metaphors are conventional rather than novel. Based on
the traditional view, the prototypical metaphor is vivid and creative. Metaphor
and creativity would therefore appear to be closely connected and
inseparable. However, elaborating on Lakoff's cognitive approach, much
recent research has concentrated on showing how language is pervaded by
conventional metaphor, and cross-linguistically so.
When poets and writers create new metaphors, they often tend to be
noteworthy because of their strange character. Lakoff and Turner (1989)
made two important points regarding conceptual metaphors in literature.
First, they demonstrated that poets and writers make heavy use of
conventional metaphors. The reason for this is that the conceptual
metaphors are based on shared bodily experiences —for both non-poets
and poets. Second, they argued that poets utilize four common conceptual
devices so as to create novel metaphors out of the shared materials of
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everyday thought and language. These devices are as follows: extending,
elaboration, questioning, and combining. For instance, the conventional
metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY is expressed in a novel way in Dante's
Divine Comedy: «In the middle of life's road, I found myself in a dark wood».
Here, the novelty stems from the fact that the autor has extended the
conventional metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY by adding a new aspect (the
presence of a dark wood) to the source domain. Although these four
cognitive strategies also exist in more ordinary forms of language use, such
characterization of poetic metaphor creativity emphasizes another possible
standard of metaphorical creativity, besides novelty. One suggested defining
characteristic of creativity, in general, is the awareness of the creator
(Nacey, 2013). Therefore, creative metaphoricity requires deliberateness:
metaphors created for a specific goal.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Many efforts have been put into the translation of metaphor in
translation studies. Several approaches have been proposed to this end:
descriptive, prescriptive, and cognitive, and various types of discourse were
taken into consideration. In other words, three points are discussed in
translating metaphors: transfer procedures, different text types, and cultural
variation (Burmakova, 2014). Traditionally being considered as a merely
linguistic phenomenon, metaphor was looked at as an aesthetic figure of
speech whose translation was based on its components (i.e. vehicle, tenor)
and types. However, it is the cognitive approach to metaphor which has very
recently been applied to translation studies. It can be argued that the
originality or conventionality of conceptual metaphors is one of the features
that characterizes this cognitive approach to metaphor translation.
The criterion of time is taken into account in Newmark's metaphor
typology. According to his prescriptive model of metaphor translation, the
most translatable metaphors are dead ones, while the translatability of stock
and original ones is proportioned to the proximity of the two systems
involved (Newmark, 1988). Newmark argues that original or novel
metaphors depict the writer’s comments on life and their personality; this
means that they should be illustrated intact in translation. Intactness, in this
regard, means that the metaphor should be translated in a literal form
regardless of its nature such as cultural, universal, or obscurely subjective
(1988, p. 112). However, he explains that it is possible to reduce the image
of this kind of metaphor to its sense if an original cultural metaphor is
ambiguous and not of great importance.
Van den Broeck's (1981) descriptive model suggests some alternative
approaches which are based upon the traditional understanding of
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metaphor. Mandelblit (1995) proposes the Cognitive Translation Hypothesis
consisting of two patterns for the translation of metaphors: 1. Similar
mapping conditions (in case there is no conceptual change between the SL
and TL metaphors); 2. Different mapping conditions (if a conceptual change
occurs). Kovecses (2005) adds two schemes to Mandelblit's Cognitive
Translation Hypothesis and elaborates on it:
- Metaphors of similar mapping conditions and similar lexical
implementation
- Metaphors of similar mapping conditions but different lexical
implementation
- Metaphors of different mapping conditions but similar lexical
implementation
- Metaphors of different mapping conditions and different lexical
implementation
Taking the variable of «use» (Steen, 1994 and Indurkhya, 1992) into
account, metaphors can be classified into three groups: 1) novel metaphors
dependent upon an already existing similarity, consisting in a new mapping
or an unusual combination of cognitive domains; 2) «pure» novel metaphors
dependent upon a created similarity; 3) combination of literal and
metaphorical senses (Le Guern, 1976). According to Van den Broeck (1981,
p. 84), «private» metaphors in literary discourse are more easily translated
than conventional ones because they are less culturally bound.
In his cognitive stylistic approach to metaphor translation, Hasan Said
Ghazala (2012) shows how original metaphors, especially in political and
literary discourse, are translated from English into Arabic. He gives us two
examples of literary metaphors: one narrative, another poetic. The first
example is a metaphorical narrative passage by Winterson, which centers
on the target domain MISERY. Hasan Said Ghazala argues that the
translation is as novel and original as the source text due to the great
significance of the style of literary texts, and to the universality of metaphors.
Being mostly universal, the source domains are constructed in the Arabic
translation in the same way, although there are some exceptions (see the
text in Simpson, 2004, pp. 42-43). He compares this version with another
creative version of translation which constructs new source domains that
differ in the type of conceptualization. Interestingly enough, he concludes
that it is possible in such texts for translators to construct new metaphorical
domains for the same concept. The attempt to construct the same mental
images in the target text is due to the universality of these creative
metaphors, «in which case the translator may optionally ignore the cultural
factor, however temporarily» (2012, p. 66).
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3. NOVEL METAPHOR
The term «novel» (Cristofoli, Dyrberg, and Stage, 1998; Rabadán
Álvarez, 1991) has been preferred over other choices because of its
transparency. The most defining characteristic of novel metaphors is that
they «flout addressee expectations» (Rabadán Álvarez, 1991, p. 142).
Novel metaphorical expressions possess these attributes: a) such
metaphors are not standardized and thus not commonly used; b) they may
have various linguistic forms, and there is no restriction on the length of such
metaphors; c) they can be classified as several groups (Steen 1994;
Indurkhya 1992): pure novel metaphors; novel metaphors (dependent upon
conventional underlying conceptual metaphors) manifesting surprising
combinations of words, and novel metaphors possessing an original
meaning even if the linguistic forms lack originality. Novel metaphors have
been the focus of some metaphor translation studies, such as Eva
Samaniego Fernández's (2013) research on novel metaphors in English-
Spanish newspaper translation.
We have several reasons for our selection of novel metaphors
alongside conventional ones: first, lexicalized or standardized metaphor has
gained more attention on the part of researchers than novel metaphors; the
latter does not possess an adequate translational framework yet. Secondly,
our aim is not to focus on the frequency of occurrence, but on the translator's
choices. In this regard, the pursuit is to provide possible explanations for the
translator's choice in terms of the scale of conventionality.
4. METHODOLOGY
4.1 Materials
Our data consists of a novel by Steve Toltz, namely A Fraction of the
Whole, and its Persian translation. A Fraction of the Whole, published in
2008 by Spiegel & Grau, is a comic novel recording the tale of a family of
Australian outcasts. This funny masterpiece has constantly been compared
to A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and it was shortlisted
for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. Steve Toltz's
debut novel abounds in creative metaphors and poses a challenge to its
translator. It provides us with an adequate number of conventional and novel
metaphors, and reveals some difficulties certain to arise when translating
metaphors. Various Persian translations of this book are available, but a
translation by Peyman Khaksar published by Cheshmeh Publications in
2014 is the most widely-read and thus the best one. The present study has
drawn on this translation. Based on purposive sampling, we selected those
parts of the novel that were particularly useful for our study.
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4.2 Procedure
The identification of metaphors is done based on MIP (Metaphor
Identification Procedure) (Pragglejaz Group, 2007), an explicit method to find
words metaphorically used in texts. First, we read the entire text-discourse to
establish a general understanding of the meaning. Then we determine the
lexical units in it: for each lexical unit in the text, we establish its meaning in
context and determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other
contexts. For our purpose, basic meanings tend to be: a) more concrete; b)
related to bodily actions; c) more precise; d) historically older. If the lexical
unit has a more basic current-contemporary meaning in other contexts than
the given text, we decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the
basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it; if yes, we mark
the lexical unit as metaphorical. Based on our previous reading of the whole
novel, we selected only some of the chapters and parts which were teeming
with metaphors, especially creative ones. Needless to say, both English and
Persian metaphors have been identified using this procedure.
After metaphor identification, we determine their positions on the scale
of conventionality; i.e. whether the metaphors are relatively or absolutely
novel. This is a rather difficult job given that in literary discourse there is a
great deal of creative metaphors; therefore, one cannot pinpoint their
positions on the scale. We try to address this problem by considering two
important points: 1. Sometimes, the author has the conventional conceptual
metaphor in mind but uses unconventionalized linguistic expressions that
make it manifest. 2. By comparing the novel metaphors under investigation
with those of other narrative literary texts in order to see if they have been
already used (it is obvious that this comparison can be made on only a small
scale). When the question of novelty or conventionality of English metaphors
is settled, we compare the chosen English metaphors with their Persian
translations to see how they vary in terms of the conventionality scale.
The present study is primarily based on cognitive models of metaphor
translation put forward by Mandelblit (1995), Kovecses (2005), and Al-
Hasnawi (2007). Considering these main approaches and the
patterns/possibilities of metaphor translation (Kovecses, 2014), we discuss
the translator's choice of Persian equivalents in terms of a conventionality
scale.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Below are examples of conventionalized and creative metaphorical
expressions found in A Fraction of the Whole, along with their underlying
conceptual metaphors and Persian translations.
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5.1 Creative Metaphors
- Flirting with life but too shy to go all the way. (LIFE IS AN
ATTRACTIVE MAN/WOMAN)
- I feel dwarfed by our lives. (LIFE IS SOMETHING EXTREMELY
LARGE)
- Then Dad got distracted with the time-chewing business of
staring into space. (TIME IS FOOD)
- These are just some of the vegetables with which we make a
Jasper broth. (PERSONALITY/IDENTITY IS A SOUP/BROTH)
(THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR IDENTITY ARE
VEGETABLES OF THE SOUP)
- This is mankind fresh out of the box! (MANKIND IS AN
EQUIPMENT)
- I imagine her smashing through the confines of her cemented
ideas with all those brutal, beautiful truths. (IDEAS ARE
BUILDINGS)
- I saw all the love triangles and few love rectangles and one
crazy love hexagon in the back room of a sweaty Parisian café.
(LOVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THREE PEOPLE IS A
TRIANGLE)
- I guess one man's burning bush is another man's spot fire.
(IMPORTANCE IS A FIRE)
- As you know, I never fit in; I couldn’t even squeeze in. (SOCIAL
INTERACTION IS CONTAINMENT IN A PRESCRIBED SHAPE)
- She had been practicing dying for a lot longer than me. It was
going to be a race to the finish line! (DEATH ISA RACE)
- She wasn't just at death's door; she was pounding on it!
(DEATH IS AN ENTRY)
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- He'd had a lot bottled up. The stopper was out. (EMOTIONS
ARE LIQUIDS WITHIN A BODY-CONTAINER)
- How to choose between those memories panting to be told?
(Personification, ontological metaphor)
- Why should I chain myself to the wheel when the wheel itself
might be a construct, an invention, a common dream to enslave
us? (COMMON BELIEF IS A WHEEL)
- Life is a brief flicker between two immense voids to which
humanity is unfairly conducted. (LIFE IS AN UNSTEADY LIGHT)
- We painted on a broader canvas than we deserved. (THE
WORLD IS A CANVAS)
5.2 Conventional Metaphors
- […] as if he wanted a trip down memory lane. (MEMORY IS A
PATH) (REMEMBERING SOMETHING NOSTALGICALLY IS A
TRIP DOWN THIS PATH)
- The organization is in ruins. (ORGANIZATIONS/COMPANIES
ARE BUILDINGS)
- You and me, we're in the same boat. (PEOPLE WITH A
COMMON FATE ARE PEOPLE IN A SINGLE BOAT)
- I'd be on the edge of my seat. (EMOTIONAL STABILITY IS
MAINTAINING POSITION)
- […], and they gave me four hundred cold shoulders. (DISLIKE IS
COLDNESS)
- Freedom leaves me cold. (LACK OF INTEREST IS COLDNESS)
- Bruno seethed at my wide-eyed reverence for books. (ANGER IS
A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER)
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Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
- I chose a life apart from the common flow. (FLOW OF EVENTS
IS FLOW OF WATER)
- It would shake the foundations of common folk. (LIFE IS A
BUILDING)
- It's all downhill from there. (EASY ACTION IS EASY MOTION)
According to our findings, it can be noted that the translation of
creative metaphors is novel and original in most cases. The metaphorical
understanding of life and death is prevalent in ordinary language as well as
in literature. In this text, life is conceptualized as an attractive man/woman.
Moreover, it is metaphorically something extremely large as well as an
unsteady light. While the first two metaphors are absolutely creative, the
third one is relatively new. The conceptual metaphor LIFE IS AN
UNSTEADY LIGHT has already been used in some literary works such as
Shakespeare's Macbeth (see Act 5, Scene 5) and David Wong's John Dies
at the End (2007). Two of the best examples of creative death metaphors in
the text are: DEATH IS A RACE and DYING IS A SPORT. All these new
source domains as manifested by the linguistic expressions flirting with life,
dwarfed by our lives, life is a brief flicker, a race to the finish line, and
practicing dying, are constructed in the Persian translation in a similar way.
There are three more creative conceptual metaphors:
PERSONALITY/IDENTITY IS A SOUP, IMPORTANCE IS A FIRE, and THE
WORLD IS A CANVAS. We have some evidence which show the third
metaphor is relatively novel and creative. The world has already been
conceived of as a canvas by Henry David Thoreau in the expression the
world is but a canvas to our imagination (see A Week on the Concord and
Merrimack Rivers, 1849). The metaphorical linguistic expressions Jasper
broth, one man's burning bush is another man's spot fire, and we painted on
a broader canvas than we deserved, which manifest the aforementioned
conceptual metaphors, are translated in the same way in order to preserve
the source domains and metaphorical concepts.
«We can conceive of personification as a form of ontological
metaphor» (Kovecses, 2010, p. 39). Ontological metaphors give our vague
experiences a basic status in terms of containers, substances, and objects.
Personification or anthropomorphous metaphor is also regarded as a
creative one, so it pertains to the novel conceptual metaphor category. One
example of such a metaphor in the text can be seen in this expression: How
to choose between those memories panting to be told? Since personification
Akbar Hesabi, Mobina Bakhshi and Poudria Sadrnia 167
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
is a kind of creative metaphor, its translation seems as original as the source
text.
Interestingly enough, some creative versions of translation may
construct new source domains which differ in the type of conceptualization.
According to our gathered data, such translations occur much less
frequently. The metaphorical expression This is mankind fresh out of the box
is translated as ' '. The source domain has
changed from EQUIPMENT to COMPUTER. While the source text
conceptualizes MANKIND as a piece of equipment that has been purchased
and just opened, the target translation uses the metaphor of a device that is
configured to the default settings. Here, it can be argued that the conceptual
metaphors are different, but the figurative meanings are the same.
It is crucial to know that some creative metaphors are just
linguistically novel. In such cases, the underlying conceptual metaphors
remain conventional, but the linguistic expressions have not been
conventionalized for the speakers. For instance, as linguistic metaphors,
love rectangle and love hexagon may strike us as being novel because the
existing element of the source is elaborated on surprisingly. The metaphor
that links the concept of a triangle to the concept of a love relationship
between three people is so natural. Elaboration captures a pre-existing
element of the source domain in an unconventional way (Kovecses, 2010).
As a result, love rectangle and love hexagon become creative linguistic
metaphors. Such reworking of ordinary metaphors can be seen in another
expression: she wasn't just at death's door; she was pounding on it! The
conventional conceptual metaphor that this expression realizes is DEATH IS
AN ENTRY. Here, the feature of novelty originates from the unusual element
that someone can pound on death's door. Toltz extends the metaphor by
attaching this facet to it. Once again, the Persian translation of these two
examples attempts to preserve the linguistic novelty. In Persian as well as in
English, the expressions ' ' and ' ' are
conventionalized, whereas the others are not.
Sometimes, the metaphors used in English are novel and original, but
the translator decides to use conventional metaphors in Persian. This may
not happen very often, but this study shows that it is possible. In fact, it is
this aspect of our work which is considered to be pioneering. For instance,
the creative conceptual metaphor TIME IS FOOD feeding into the linguistic
expression time-chewing is changed into the conventional conceptual
metaphor TIME IS A RESOURCE in the target text; therefore, time-chewing
has been translated as ' '. Some of the expressions which realize this
conventional metaphor in Persian are: , , and
168 Metaphors and the Degree of Conventionality in Translation […]
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
. These expressions are similar to the ones representing TIME IS
MONEY conceptual metaphor.
Another example of a creative conceptual metaphor changed into a
conventional one can be found in this sentence: Why should I chain myself
to the wheel when the wheel itself might be a construct, an invention, a
common dream to enslave us? Here, the novel conceptual metaphor
COMMON BELIEF IS A WHEEL is translated into three Persian
conventional metaphors COMMON BELIEF IS A FLUID, BELIEFS ARE
STRUCTURES, and CONSTRAINED THOUGHT IS CONSTRAINED
MOVEMENT. The first one feeds into the linguistic expression
,
the second into
, and the third into
. While
the first conceptual metaphor is conventional only in Persian, the other two
are conventional in both Persian and English. The same figurative meaning
of the source text is better conveyed in Persian through these conventional
metaphors.
We also came across creative linguistic metaphors changed into
conventional ones in translation. For instance, smashing through the
confines of cemented ideas is a novel expression with an ordinary
conceptual metaphor IDEAS ARE BUILDINGS. The translator draws upon a
conventional expression in Persian to make manifest the same conceptual
metaphor; ' ' is a natural way of talking about ideas in
Persian. There are two more examples of such a translation. Squeeze in is a
creative linguistic metaphor whose underlying conceptual metaphor, namely
SOCIAL INTERACTION IS CONTAINMENT IN A PRESCRIBED SHAPE
remains conventional. While the expression «squeeze in» intended in a
metaphorical sense may seem strange in English, the Persian equivalents '
' and ' ' are natural and
conventionalized in the context of groups and social interaction.
The last example is an interesting one: He'd had a lot bottled up. The
stopper was out. The conventional conceptual metaphor feeding into this
expression is EMOTIONS ARE LIQUIDS WITHIN A BODY-CONTAINER;
therefore, «the stopper was out» is a novel expression with a conventional
conceptual metaphor. If we conceive of the human body as a container for
emotion-liquids, then this container should have a stopper. When the
stopper is out, emotion-liquids pour out of this container. But this is an
unusual reworking of the same ordinary metaphor. Bottle up, which is a
conventionalized expression, is rendered into Persian as ' '. The
Persian equivalent is also conventionalized for the speakers. However, «the
stopper was out» is a creative linguistic metaphor which is translated as '
'. The figurative meanings are the same: the sudden
Akbar Hesabi, Mobina Bakhshi and Poudria Sadrnia 169
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
outburst of emotions. Nevertheless, the type of metaphors with regard to the
scale of conventionality differs. While the L1 metaphorical expression is
quite original, the L2 metaphor is natural and conventionalized.
Conventional metaphors can also be changed into novel ones in
translation, but it very rarely happens. The reason is that conventional
metaphors are mostly universal and so pervasive in the mind as well as in
the language that it is difficult to change them. We came across a few
examples of such a translation in our data, but as with creative metaphors,
we will first explain the usual cases, then go through the unusual ones.
The first example is the simplest one: The organization is in ruins.
This is a conventional metaphorical expression whose underlying conceptual
metaphor is ORGANIZATIONS/COMPANIES ARE BUILDINGS. This
conventional conceptual metaphor feeds into expressions such as '
', ', and in Persian. It is highly unlikely that a translator
will defy the expectation and render such a familiar metaphor into a novel
one in Persian. In fact, it might be difficult for the majority of us to think of
organizations in other terms than the BUILDING conceptual metaphor.
It is noteworthy that most conceptual metaphors are based on
metonymies. The expression I'd be on the edge of my seat is translated into
Persian as ' '. The conceptual metaphor of the source text is
EMOTIONAL STABILITY IS MAINTAINING POSITION, but the Persian
translator draws upon the conceptual metonymy EARS FOR HEARING
ABILITY. The metaphorical expression to be on the edge of one's seat and
the Persian metonymic expression ' ' have the same figurative
meaning: to listen attentively to something because you are eager to hear
more. What is important for us is that a conventional metaphor is translated
into a conventional metonymy; therefore, the Persian expression is as
natural as the English one.
It is quite ordinary to speak of emotions in terms of temperature.
Kovecses (2003) discusses the concept of emotion in detail. DISLIKE IS
COLDNESS and the opposite metaphor AFFECTION IS WARMTH are
conventional in English as well as in Persian. In fact, as discussed in the
theory of «primary metaphors» (Lakoff, 1999), the correlation between
emotion and body heat is universal. As a result, the expression they gave
me four hundred cold shoulders is translated as '
'. «To give someone a cold shoulder» can be translated into Persian
as ' ' or ' ', but because the context is
about two hundred students giving four hundred cold shoulders, the
translator’s choice is quite appropriate. To give someone a cold look» (
170 Metaphors and the Degree of Conventionality in Translation […]
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
) has the same conceptual metaphor and the same figurative
meaning as «to give someone a cold shoulder».
Another instance of emotion metaphor can be seen in the expression
freedom leaves me cold. Similar to the previous example, the conventional
conceptual metaphor feeding into this expression is LACK OF INTEREST IS
COLDNESS. Once again, the translator uses a conventional metaphor in the
Persian text and renders the expression as ' '. While the
translation is as conventional as the original text, the conceptual metaphors
they realize are different. LACK OF INTEREST IS COLDNESS is changed
into EMOTION IS PHYSICAL AGITATION in the process of translation.
Furthermore, ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER is a universal
metaphor. The expression seethe at is just one of its manifestations, which
is translated as ' '—a conventional Persian equivalent. The reason
why we view this equivalent as conventional is that it is a well-worn Persian
idiom meaning 'to get angry'.
Different facets of events serve as the target domain of the Event
Structure metaphor (Kovecses, 2010). EASY ACTION IS EASY MOTION is
one of the sub-mappings within this metaphorical system which feeds into
the linguistic expression It's all downhill from there. This is translated into
Persian as ' ', an expression which makes
manifest the conceptual metaphor EASY ACTION IS EASY SWALLOWING.
Easy action is conceived of as easy swallowing in Persian; therefore, the
conceptual metaphors differ but the figurative meanings are the same. More
importantly, both English and Persian metaphors are equally conventional.
There are three unusual cases in which a conventional metaphor has
been rendered into a novel one in Persian. A trip down memory lane is a
conventional expression realizing the conceptual metaphor MEMORY IS A
PATH and its entailment REMEMBERING SOMETHING NOSTALGICALLY
IS A TRIP DOWN THIS PATH. The Persian translator instead of using
appropriate conventional metaphors like ' ' or '
'—each having the conceptual metaphors MEMORY IS AN OLD
PLACE TO VISIT and MEMORY IS A BOOK, respectively—chooses to use
the novel metaphor MEMORY IS A TRAIN and its entailment
REMEMBERING SOMETHING NOSTALGICALLY IS A JOURNEY ON A
TRAIN. Therefore, the Persian expression ' ' is
unique and creative, whereas the English text is quite conventionalized.
Another example of such a translation is found in the familiar metaphorical
expression to be in the same boat. While most translators would think of '
' as the best Persian equivalent, the version of translation under
investigation constructs the same source domain by rendering the English
Akbar Hesabi, Mobina Bakhshi and Poudria Sadrnia 171
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
expression literally and thus creates a novel metaphor in Persian. The target
translation ' ' is a novel expression realizing the same
English conceptual metaphor PEOPLE WITH A COMMON FATE ARE
PEOPLE IN A SINGLE BOAT. A possible explanation for such a
translational choice is that the closest Persian equivalent for the
metaphorical expression to be in the same boat is a non-metaphor! '
', though it is a natural and well-worn Persian expression conveying the
same sense, does not carry metaphorical value. Therefore, the translator
renders the English metaphor literally, giving rise to a novel metaphorical
expression in Persian.
Finally, the familiar metaphor FLOW OF EVENTS IS FLOW OF
WATER, which is manifested by the expression the common flow, is
changed into the creative metaphor COMMON FLOW OF EVENTS IS A
LARGE SHIP in Persian. The Persian translation '
' is an absolutely original expression which preserves the same figurative
meaning of the English text. Arguably, the rationale behind choosing such a
violently novel Persian expression for so conventional a metaohor is that the
mega-metaphors in that context, being about ships and sea journeys,
advocate such a creative translation. In fact, the translator has drawn upon
the same source domain used in the megametaphors of that context in order
to make the Persian text seem metaphorically homogeneous. This
translational choice, which seldom occurs, will not distort the writer's style,
provided that it is carefully made.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, within literary works, the metaphors used by the novelists
can be either conventional or creative. Strictly speaking, the scale of
conventionality is not merely composed of two opposite extremes, rather this
is a continuum on which metaphors with different degrees of conventionality
are placed. On the one hand, there are non-lexicalized metaphors which are
absolutely or relatively novel, while on the other hand, there is a whole world
of lexicalized metaphors which are already established in the language.
In the light of previous background research and all our findings, we
can reach the conclusion that metaphor translation is a conceptual mapping
from one language to another. As to the novel metaphors, it is widely
accepted that they have to be translated literally, except in some obscure or
insignificant cases, because novel metaphors demonstrate the writer's
creative style and use of language, especially in literary texts. This study,
however, argues that: 1. it is possible for translators to construct new source
domains for the same creative metaphors so that the target translation will
appear as unique and creative as the source text (the figurative meanings
172 Metaphors and the Degree of Conventionality in Translation […]
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
obviously remain the same). However, this very seldom occurs. According to
our findings, only one example can be thus accounted for (this is mankind
fresh out of the box, see above) 2. more importantly, it is possible in some
cases to draw upon conventional metaphors in the translation of novel ones.
The latter may not happen very often, though. Since such a translational
choice departs from what is usually considered to be normal, there should
be some justifiable rationale behind it. Sometimes, meaning is better
conveyed in the target language by using a more conventional metaphor
rather than constructing the same source domain, especially if the novel
metaphor used by the writer is ambiguous, difficult to understand, or so
strange that the reader of the target text cannot easily communicate with it.
In such cases, the translator uses a conventional metaphor while trying to
preserve the figurative meaning. Since creative metaphors can be either
conceptually or linguistically novel, we can conclude that it is more possible
for creative linguistic metaphors to be translated into conventionalized
expressions having the same conceptual metaphors. Of course, it requires
much more research on the question under investigation and other similar
ones related to this area to find out exactly why and to what extent it can
happen. To suggest a few examples, further research could be carried out
on the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Great
Expectations by Charles Dickens along with their Persian translations.
Conventional metaphors can also be changed into novel ones in translation,
but it happens even more rarely. The reason is the certain degree of
universality in terms of the predominant conceptual metaphors between the
two languages. It seems even more unusual, considering the fact that most
conventional metaphors are universal or at least near universal (Kovecses,
2005), to argue that it is possible for a translator to draw upon novel
metaphors in the translation of conventional ones. Based on our findings,
there are some reasons for this happening. Sometimes, the close equivalent
available in a language for a certain conventional metaphor is a non-
metaphorical expression. The translator, in such a case, can either choose
that non-metaphorical but quite conventionalized equivalent, or construct the
same source domain by translating the metaphor literally, which will lead to a
novel metaphorical expression—the one which is not conventionalized
among ordinary speakers of the target language (we are in the same boat,
see above). To make the matter more complicated, it is also possible—to a
very low degree, though, that a translator, based upon the context in which
that conventional metaphor occurs, will come up with an equivalent which is
totally novel. Only one example has been found in our data in this regard,
but the chances are that the metaphorical context of a literary work can
support such a creative choice of metaphor in translation. If the
megametaphors used in that context are novel, then creative translations of
Akbar Hesabi, Mobina Bakhshi and Poudria Sadrnia 173
Hikma 20 (2) (2021), 153 - 176
one or two conventional metaphors in the same limited context will not wildly
damage the writer's style (the common flow, see above). Finally, the present
study attempts to investigate the scale of conventionality in metaphor
translation, to show how conventional and novel metaphors are translated:
whether they remain conventional or novel or undergo some changes in the
process of translation. This study is different from the previously done
research in that it includes not only the opposite ends of this scale, i.e.,
entrenched and creative, but also the middle positions: the metaphors which
are relatively novel. Furthermore, this study allows for the possibility that
some metaphors are either conceptually or linguistically novel. To suggest
further directions, Charles Dicken's novels and their translations to different
languages can provide a good ground for metaphor analysis. The scale of
metaphor conventionality in translation needs to be studied in other
instances of prose fiction since this aspect of metaphor research has not
been treated with due attention. It is hoped that such studies can be the
focus of attention by cognitive stylistics and cognitive poetics researchers.
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