TRANSLATION OF POLITICAL METAPHORS AND INTERTEXTUALITY BASED ON SPORTS TERMS

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 15 Sayı: 1, 271 - 279, 24.06.2020

Emrah Erıs

Öz

The objective of the study: This study has been designed to reveal metaphorical language use in terms of translations of political metaphors into Turkish as well as the use of sports terms as political metaphors based on intertextuality. Besides, the researcher aims to highlight the issue of intertextuality in terms of the metaphorical use of the terminology of different fields such as sports and politics.

Data and Methodology: A total of 70 metaphors (40 political metaphors; 30 sports terms) were chosen from en.wikipedia.org and bbc.com to investigate how political metaphors are handled in Turkish and how sports terms are used in political discourse. Wikipedia was selected only to draw upon the list given on its web site and the BBC was selected because it mainly contains political texts that are full of metaphorical terms most of which are given in this paper and because the researcher was inspired by the text titled “The shared language of sport and politics” written by Nick Bryant (2012) and wanted to reveal the translations of these metaphorical texts in Turkish. The reasons these terms were selected are that most of these terms are used frequently in the news texts circulated online, they have a history behind them and mainly do not have correspondence in Turkish. In so doing, first, the source text (English) and then the target text (Turkish) was provided in different sentences. And political metaphors were analysed based on three types of translation strategies (possibilities) set forth by van den Broeck (1981: 77): (1) Translation 'sensu stricto', (2) Substitution, and (3) Paraphrase.

Findings: According to the findings of the analysis of the political metaphors translation into Turkish, it was observed that translations of metaphors into Turkish are mainly carried out based on sensu stricto. However, it was also found out that metaphors may be rendered into Turkish through substitution and paraphrasing. One may also notice that some of the metaphors used in English do not have translational equivalents, which means that universal metaphors may not have gained a seat in the linguistic structure of Turkish if they are taken into consideration based on translation. It does not mean that Turkish does not have any linguistic correspondences, though. Besides, it was observed that while the words/phrases “eminence grise, big stick diplomacy, hard power/soft power” are translated into Turkish mostly literally, other two words/phrases including “figurehead, sacred cow” are translated into Turkish through paraphrasing or substitution based on the context and reflection of these terms as well as the context they are used in. As regards the intertextual use of political and sports terms, one may notice that there is a myriad of metaphorical terms that are borrowed from the repertoire of the field of sports and adapted into the political arena, two of which were given in example in the study. What is more interesting and striking, the BBC reporters are highly enthusiastic about making use of these intertextual uses which the researcher believes is because these metaphors are aimed at creating a lyrical and meaningful impact on the reader.

Conclusion: Language has changed considerably not only in people’s conversations but also in the field of academic researches and journalism. Thus, to gain access to and keep up with the changing language use, we all should be aware of the parameters that have led to the change in question. One of the notable and striking changes that are observed is metaphorical language use. Metaphors gain more importance in translations as readers are the only audience for whom writings are created. A myriad of sports terms are used as metaphors in the political discourse, which the researcher believes are preferred to make the speech or writing more idiomatic and effective. Thus, it is obvious that intertextuality should be analysed not only based on the re-use of previous texts in the new ones but also based on the metaphorical language use in various fields.

Recommendations: It is strongly recommended that future studies be conducted on the metaphorical use in different working languages and translations not only based on intertextuality but also based on other elements that are closely related to the field of translation studies. In this context, the difficulties arising from the translation of metaphors may be revealed. In short, the metaphorical language use may give clues about how language shapes and is shaped by the speaker’s tone and language

POLİTİK METAFOR ÇEVİRİSİ VE SPOR TERİMLERİNE DAYALI METİNLERARASILIK

Öz

This study has been designed to reveal metaphorical language use in terms of translations of political metaphors into Turkish as well as the use of sports terms as political metaphors based on intertextuality. A total of 70 metaphors (40 political metaphors; 30 sports terms) were chosen from en.wikipedia.org and bbc.com to investigate how political metaphors are handled in Turkish and how sports terms are used in political discourse. First, political metaphors were analysed based on three types of translation strategies (possibilities) set forth by van den Broeck (1981: 77): (1) Translation 'sensu stricto', (2) Substitution, and (3) Paraphrase. According to the findings of this analysis, sensu stricto is the common strategy preferred in translations of political metaphors into Turkish while substitution and paraphrasing are also used. Besides, the results of the analysis on the intertextual context of sports terms in political discourse show that a myriad of sports terms is used as metaphors in the political discourse, which are possibly preferred to make the speech or writing more idiomatic and effective.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Political Metaphors, Intertextuality

Kaynakça

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