Partial equivalence is observed when comparing
the volume of languageunits values. So, Russian the
struna (I. an elastic thread pulled in musical instru-
ments and emitting a musical tone when it oscillates,
2. a thread, a belt made of animal tendons, wire, etc.,
pulled onto something) in the Tatar language corre-
sponds to the word kyl, which has three meanings (1.
hair, 2. fishing line, 3. string), of which only one coin-
cides with the meaning of the Russian word struna.
In a certain sense, partial equivalents are units
with different internal forms, i.e. with dissimilar mo-
tivation in different languages.
3. Zero equivalence is a phenomenon in which
one word of language A corresponds to the lack of
a word of language B. It is represented by the ab-
sence of a unit in another language in the language.
Actually, it cannot be considered equivalence, and a
more precise name for such a phenomenon is lacu-
narity (lat. Lacina – space, pass, void).
Lacunarity is a category, the components of
which are: lacunar units of language A that do not
have equivalent level B in the comparable language
B and lacunae are zeros, “white spots” in the equiva-
lence system of language B.
The lacunar unit is the property of one language
(conditionally, language A), and the lacuna is the
property of another language (conditionally, lan-
guage B). So, in Russian there is no corresponding
to the English word drive-in – a movie for motor-
ists (they watch a movie from cars outdoors), a res-
taurant for motorists (food is served directly in the
car), a store or a bank for motorists (customers are
served directly in cars) ; in English there is no lexeme
corresponding to the Russian phrase communist
subbotnik; in the French language there are no cor-
respondences to the Russian words: sutki, kipyatok,
pogorelets, rovesnik,odnolyub, etc.
The appearance of lacunar units is due to both
linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The latter in-
clude significant differences in socio-economic and
historical-cultural development and the standard of
living of speakers of different languages. In many
languages, lacunar units reflect the specifics of the
country’s political system, the policies of its govern-
ment, the social status of a citizen, etc.
In English, for example, as in many Germanic and
Romance languages, there are no correspondences
to Russian lexemes and phraseological units such as
the great initiative, political education, the brigade
of communist labor, the blockade, etc. At the same
time, in many languages spoken by the people of
the former socialist countries, there are gaps for
such English phraseological units that reflect differ-
ent working conditions than under socialism. See:
English yellow dog (lit. yellow dog) – an obligation
is not to join a union, not to participate in a strike, to
agree to lengthen a working day, etc., imposed on a
worker upon entering work.
Lacunar units, revealing the specificity, unique-
ness, contrast of one language in relation to another,
are the most contrasting components in the com-
pared languages.
Comparative features of languages:
The identification of language universals is asso-
ciated with the identification of signs of matching
languages:
– distinctive signs – signs that clearly distinguish
one language from another or a group of languages
from another group of languages. An ideal distinc-
tional sign is a sign that occurs in all dialects of one
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language and does not occur in other languages.
– contrasting signs – signs by which two or more
languages are compared. Among contrasting signs,
differential signs are distinguished, that is, signs that
distinguish languages, and integral signs, that is,
signs that are common to the languages in question.
– confrontational signs – signs by which languag-
es are opposed to each other.
In modern translation studies, there are vari-
ous approaches to the definition of equivalent and
equivalence. So, for example, a linguistic dictionary
defines the concept of an equivalent – as a unit of
speech, coinciding in function with another, capable
of performing the same function as another unit of
speech.
The concept of translation equivalence is defined
as the commonality of the content (semantic prox-
imity) of the original and the translation.
According to V.N. Komissarov “constant equiva-
lent, as a rule, independent of the context, should be
considered the equivalent.” [V.N. Komissarov, 1990,
p.55].
S. Vlakhov believes that “the equivalent implies
complete identity between the corresponding units
of the two languages in terms of content (seman-
tics, connotation, background)”. [Vlakhov S., Florin S,
1980, p.47].
A.O. Ivanov by equivalent means “functional cor-
respondence in the language of translation, trans-
mitting at the same level of the expression plan
(words, phrases) all components of the meaning
that are relevant within the given context or of one
of the variants of the value of the source unit of the
language — the source”. [A.O. Ivanov, 2006, p 187].
Defining the conditions of translation equiva-
lence, J. Catfordwrites: “In order for translation equiv-
alence to exist, it is necessary that both the source
and the final texts be correlated with functionally
relevant features of the given situation.” Functional-
ly relevant features of a situation are those that are
significant in terms of the communicative function
of the text in a given situation. Functional relevance
cannot be precisely defined and is established pure-
ly intuitively based on a wide extra-linguistic context
(or “context” in Catford’s terminology). [Catford J.C.,
1978, p. 233].
V.G. Guck and Yu.I. Lvin distinguish three types
of equivalence: formal, semantic and situational.
With formal equivalence, common meanings in two
languages are expressed in similar language forms.
Semantic equivalence involves the expression of
the same meanings in different ways. And finally, a
feature of situational equivalence is that the same
situation is described not only with the help of var-
ious forms (as with semantic equivalence), but also
with the help of various elementary values (sem) ex-
pressed by these forms.
With formal equivalence, there is a similarity of
words and forms with similarity of meanings. Dif-
ferences in the means of expression are manifested
only in the general structural differences between
the two languages. With semantic equivalence, the
totality of sem that make up the general meaning
of both phases is the same. Only language forms of
their expression vary.
In case of situational equivalence, differences
in the set of sem describing the same situation are
manifested in the fact that in the Russian utterance
there are delete sem.
One of the main tasks of the translator is to trans-
fer the contents of the original to the fullest extent
possible, and, as a rule, the actual commonality of
the contents of the original and translation is very
significant.
It is necessary to distinguish between potential-
ly achievable equivalence, which is understood as
the maximum commonality of the content of two
multilingual texts, allowed by differences in the lan-
guages in which these texts are created, and transla-
tion equivalence – the real semantic similarity of the
texts of the original and translation achieved by the
translator during the translation process. The limit
of translation equivalence is the maximum possible
(linguistic) degree of preservation of the contents of
the original during translation, but in each individual
translation, the semantic proximity to the original to
different degrees and in different ways approaches
the maximum.
Translation equivalence may be based on the
preservation (and, accordingly, loss) of the various
elements of meaning contained in the original. De-
pending on what part of the content is transferred
in the translation to ensure its equivalence, differ-
ent levels (types) of equivalence are distinguished.
At any level of equivalence, translation can provide
cross-language communication.
Secondly, the concept of “equivalence” becomes
evaluative: “good” or “correct”, only equivalent
translation is recognized as a translation.
Thirdly, since equivalence is a condition of trans-
lation, the task is to determine this condition by in-
dicating what the translation equivalence is, which
must be preserved during the translation.
In searching for the answer to the last question
in modern translation studies, one can find three ba-
sic approaches to the definition of the concept of
“equivalent.”
Some definitions of translation actually replace
equivalence with identity, arguing that the transla-
tion must fully preserve the content of the original.
A.V. Fedorov, for example, using the term “useful-
ness” instead of “equivalence,” says that this useful-
ness includes “an exhaustive transfer of the seman-
tic content of the original.” However, this thesis does
not find confirmation in the observed facts, and its
supporters are forced to resort to numerous reser-
vations that actually contradict the original defini-
tion.
This approach to translation gave rise to the
emergence of the so-called theory of intolerance,
according to which translation is generally impos-
sible. Of course, the uniqueness of the vocabulary
and grammatical structure of each language, not
to mention the difference in cultures, suggests that
the complete identity of the texts of the original and
translation is impossible in principle. However, the
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assertion that the translation itself is impossible is
highly controversial.
The second approach to solving the problem of
translation equivalence is to try to find some invari-
ant part in the contents of the original, the preserva-
tion of which is necessary and sufficient to achieve
translation equivalence. Most often, the function of
the original text or the situation described in this text
is proposed for the role of such an invariant. In other
words, if a translation can perform the same func-
tion or describes the same reality, then it is equiv-
alent. However, no matter what part of the content
of the original is chosen as the basis for achieving
equivalence, there are always a lot of translations
that are actually made and provide cross-language
communication in which this part of the original in-
formation is not stored. And, on the contrary, there
are translations where it is stored, however, they are
not able to fulfill their function as equivalent to the
original. In such cases, we are faced with an unpleas-
ant choice: either deny the right of such translations
to be translations, or admit that the invariance of this
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