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Volume 12, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1932-2798
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Abstract

Readers may infer that literary characters are sympathetic or unsympathetic based on the perceived phonetics of character names. Drawing on brand name literature in marketing, we investigate whether Slovene and English speakers can identify sympathetic and unsympathetic characters in Charles Dickens’s based solely on their names, despite being unfamiliar with the novel. Both Slovene and English speakers can make this distinction, suggesting that sound symbolism may help communicate Dickens’s intended characterizations. Dickens’s documented focus on creating meaningful names suggests the sound symbolism in his characters’ names is likely intentional. These findings are relevant to the translating convention of preserving proper names, which leaves spelling intact (given similar alphabets). Preserving the original names in translation may be justified for readers fluent enough to perceive the original name sounds. However, not altering character names in translation may sometimes lead to different phonetic perceptions, which alter the sound symbolic meaning.

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/content/journals/10.1075/tis.12.1.07pog
2017-04-10
2024-12-13

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/content/journals/10.1075/tis.12.1.07pog
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Sound symbolism in translation
Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association 12, 137 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.12.1.07pog
/content/journals/10.1075/tis.12.1.07pog
/content/journals/10.1075/tis.12.1.07pog
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Charles Dickens; Oliver Twist; proper names; Slovene; sound symbolism

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