The structure and translation of realia-words: linguistic and cultural challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52673/18570461.25.1-76.17Keywords:
realia-words, cultural words, structure, grammatical form, Amintiri din copilărie, Ion CreangaAbstract
Translation serves as an indispensable tool for facilitating intercultural dialogue and knowledge transfer. It goes beyond mere linguistic conversion, involving cultural mediation between distinct systems. In intercultural interactions, translators encounter realia-words (also referred to as culture-bound elements, culture-specific concepts, culturespecific items, cultural words etc.), linguistic units with specific cultural meanings that often lack exact equivalents in other languages, making them challenging to translate. Realia-words are generally nouns and can be categorized into two groups: simple words and syntagmatic units. The study of the corpus from Ion Creangă,s work Amintiri din copilărie identified 357 realia-words, of which 239 are simple lexemes and 118 are syntagmatic units. The latter are further divided into subcategories based on formal complexity. The most productive syntagmatic structures include combinations such as N1 + N2 and N1 + N2 + N3.
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