The discourse-based approach towards the translation of metaphors: ‘Journey’, ‘movement’, and ‘body metaphors’ in translation of the Sesotho novel “Chaka”

Abstract

In a departure from other studies on metaphor translation, this paper employs the discourse-based approach to examine the procedures employed in translation of metaphors used in the Sesotho novel, Chaka, into English. The findings show that there is an alignment with Newmark’s (1988) framework even though the framework is prescriptive and is based on the traditional view of metaphor as purely linguistic. The substitution of a metaphor with a metaphor is the most frequent procedure. There is also the translation of metaphor into simile, the translation of metaphor into sense and the deletion of metaphor. The factors that determine the procedures are: the existence of metaphors with very close similar semantic and pragmatic functions; the existence of TL metaphors that are based on the same cognitive mappings as the SL metaphors, and closely resemble them; the existence of culture-specific metaphors that can be only be decoded if converted to simile; existence of culture-specific metaphors that may not be decoded even if simile is used and the employment of a metaphor for a rhetorical style that is foreign to TT readers. The use of the procedures creates a text that is idiomatic and generally resembles the ST in message, style and language.