The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary Text Translation

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mTm. Minor Translating Major-Major Translating Minor-Minor Translating Minor isa new international refereed journal with an Editorial Board comprised of leading scholarsin the field of translation studies. mTm aims at starting and promoting a discussion on theparticularities of translation from major into minor languages and vice versa, as well as oftranslation between minor languages. By the term minor language, we mean either alanguage of limited diffusion or one of intermediate diffusion compared to a majorlanguage or language of unlimited diffusion. By the term major language, we mean eithera language of unlimited diffusion such as English, or a language that enjoys major statuswithin a state where others, officially recognised minor languages are also spoken (e.g.Finnish as an official language in Finland compared to Swedish).

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Volume 6, 2014

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Volume 6, 2014

GENERAL EDITORMichael Cronin, Dublin City University, Ireland

EDITORSAnastasia Parianou, Ionian University, Greece

Panayotis I. Kelandrias, Ionian University, Greece

REVIEWS EDITORPaschalis Nikolaou, Ionian University, Greece

EDITORIAL BOARDJan Engberg, Århus Business School, Denmark

Sigmund Kvam, Østfold University College, NorwayChristina Schäffner, Aston University, U.K.

Jürgen F. Schopp, University of Tampere, Finland

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARDElif Daldeniz†, Okan University, Turkey

Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, University of Stockholm, SwedenCornelia Feyrer, University of Innsbruck, AustriaDavid Galvin, University of Innsbruck, AustriaMaurizio Gotti, University of Bergamo, Italy

Ada Gruntar Jermol, University of Ljubljana, SloveniaZuzana Jettmarovà, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic

Vladimir Karabalić, University of Osijek, CroatiaEleni Κassapi, University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Johrghos Kentrotis, Ionian University, GreeceKinga Klaudy, ELTE University of Budapest, HungaryKaisa Koskinen, University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Luise Liefländer-Koistinen, University of Joensuu, FinlandAnneliese Pitz, University of Oslo, Norway

Marisa Presas, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, SpainValda Rudziša, Ventspils University College, Latvia

Antin Rydning, University of Oslo, NorwayMaria Sidiropoulou, University of Athens, GreeceMary Snell-Hornby, University of Vienna, AustriaKåre Solfjeld, Østfold University College, Norway

Vilelmini Sossoni, Ionian University, Greece

Diavlos Publications, Athens, Greece

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Volume 6, December 2014

Contents

Early Modern Japanese and Korean InterpretersKim Nam Hui, Korea; Judy Wakabayashi, USA 3

Translation of Korean Culture-specific Lexis into English: Focuson Change in Individual LearnersVivian Lee, Korea 19

Researcher as Translator: David Roy and His English Retranslationof Jin Ping MeiLintao Qi, Australia 39

La traduction d’un argot: Série blême et Mille modi per crepare inmontagna (Boris Vian)Fabio Regattin, Italy 52

Transediting News Headlines: Idioms in the SpotlightDespoina Panou, Greece 64

Foreignized translation and the case against “Chinese vernacular fiction”Clement Tong, Canada 81

The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary TextTranslationMersina Šehić, Bosnia and Herzegovina 98

The role of collaborative translation protocols in translation teachingLudmila Baranova, Latvia 111

La traduction intraculturelle: défense et illustrationDesrine Bogle, Barbados 131

The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary TextTranslationMersina Šehić

University of Bihać

AbstractThe paper analyses stylistic adaptations of literary text translation as a basis for cross-linguistic studyof English and Bosnian idioms. The aim is to determine the degree of concordance of Bosnian andEnglish idioms, which we believe to be at a fairly low level. The full equivalence is rare incomparative phraseology, because each language has its own system of conceptualization of reality,and consequently develops specific categorization of experience. If an idiom in the original textunderwent some type of modification, it will be transposed in the target text. We believe that if anidiom is not altered in the original, there is no reason for a translator to modify the translationequivalent in any way. If, however, the author of the original opted for some kind of modification,the translator is obliged to transfer it to the target text. Paraphrase should be the last option when weare faced with idioms translation. When paraphrasing, not only the vividness and expressiveness ofan expression are lost, but we also remove the trace of the culture from whose language we translate.Baker (2006: 63) claims a writer can not change the word order in an idiom, delete from or add to itsstructure, replace one word with another, or alter the grammatical structure, except when s/he isconsciously employing a word play. This statement about conscious and intentional idiommodification is particularly important to the phraseology of literary works, in which the authorconsciously makes culture-specific changes for various stylistic reasons. From a sociolinguisticaspect, idioms help to create a certain image about ourselves, the society we live in, and the systemof values and beliefs we share. Therefore, idioms should be assigned the best equivalent translationpossible, so that they may present us in the right way.

0. IntroductionConsiderations presented in this paper are based on the analysis of the corpus ofidioms excerpted from the Pioneer Trilogy1, as well as their translation equivalentsin English. Idioms are

language units of semantic character which are reproduced in the speech act as awhole, disposing at least two autosemantic words, of which at least one refers tothe semantic conversion, the units which due to their ability to fit into thecontext, like every other word, can perform a syntactic function in the sentence.(Matešić 1988: 5)

Idioms of comparison are constructions of the ‘X kao Y’ type in Bosnian (e.g.stradati kao vo u kupusu), and ‘X as Y’ or ‘like X’ in English (e.g. smooth as silk,like nobody's business). However, additional difficulties for translators result fromthe fact that, in Ćopić’s writing for example, almost all idioms are modified. Thus,a translator must pay special attention to preserve stylistic value that idioms

1 The novel written by Branko Ćopić, the most important Bosnian writer for children.

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provide to a text – and texts are, in our opinion, purveyors of cross-culturalmessage.

We analysed the total of 165 idioms, 76 of which in its original form (or 46%of the total corpus) and 89 modified idioms (or 54% of the corpus), and the samenumber of translation equivalents in English. The criteria for the assignment oftranslation equivalents are semantic, structural, stylistic and functionalequivalence. Morphological, formative, lexical, syntactic and combinedmodifications were taken into consideration, while textual modifications areimportant for stylistic effect that idiom accumulation provides in the literary text.The degree of correspondence between idioms of comparison in Bosnian andEnglish is at a fairly low level, because the two languages are different – asRiđanović (2007: 361) says “in grammar and vocabulary, as well as in ‘the spirit’so that it is often impossible to translate from one language to another in thetraditional sense of the word”.

The paper is based on the three hypotheses:

a) the most of the comparative idioms in the Trilogy contains images ofanimals, which gives insight into the setting (a rural area) and thelifestyle of characters (attitudes, beliefs, rituals, etc.)

b) the most of these idioms is in a modified form,c) the degree of concordance of Bosnian and English idioms is fairly low.

We approach the issue from sociolinguistic, cognitive and stylistic aspects.

1. Idiom as a Translation ChallengeWe can claim with certainty that translating idioms is one of the biggestchallenges. When translating these complex linguistic units, many factors shouldbe taken into account. Important lexical relations between idioms themselves suchas phraseological synonymy and antonymy. However, the most important lexicalrelationship between idioms, which plays a significant role in assigning translationequivalents, is polysemy. Omazić (2002: 117) lists the following examples: (as)smooth as oil, which has two equivalents in our language2, as slippery as an eelwith two equivalents3, and as flat as a pancake with five translation equivalents inour language4. There are examples of idioms whose components differ

2 It can be used to describe softness of a creamy substance, e.g. a butter (mek kao maslac), or atranquil sea surface (miran kao ulje).3 For a cunning person (Ljigav kao jegulja/literally: as slippery as an eel) and for a slippery road(klizav kao led/literally: as slippery as ice).4 Apart from the usual, most commonly used meaning, there is more semantic potential in this idiom.It can also refer to flat tires, a voice, a joke, and a landscape. Omazić (2002: 117) lists:tanak/spljošten kao palačinka, prazan, ispušten (za gume), monoton (za glas), neslan (za šalu) i ravankao dlan (za krajolik).

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Mersina Šehić. The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary Text Translation

significantly, but the idioms themselves have the same global meaning, which is aresult of very similar life situations or a similar reasoning about things andphenomena. We have selected examples from the corpus which relate to the thingsthat are, in some sense, universal in the world:

a) idioms which reflect natural phenomena or something from nature (tosmell like a rose – mirisati kao đul, flash like a greased lightning – sinutipoput munje),

b) a perception of good and evil, i.e. customary beliefs like ‘hell is apunishment for the commission of evil’, ‘the devil is something negative,dangerous, painful’ (boljeti kao vrag – hurt like hell; to shine like a gooddeed in a naughty world).

Due to all this, we realise why there is a classification into so-called nationaland international phraseology5. We rely on the concept of dynamic equivalence,which was introduced in the theory of translation by Nida (1982: 200): “themessage of the original text has been transposed into the target language so thatthe reaction of the recipient is essentially the same as that of the originalrecipient”. The dynamic equivalence means “finding the nearest natural equivalentof the message from the source language” so as to “adapt grammar, lexis andcultural determinants” to give a more natural expression in the target language(Munday 2012: 67). The results of determining translation equivalents arerepresented statistically in the following diagram:

Table 1: Representation of translation equivalents expressed in percentage

5 A national phraseology includes the phrasal fund of a language that is characteristic of a particularcommunity and culture, while an international phraseology is common to many languages, and itspread through the Bible, literature, sports, etc.

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In this paper, the full equivalence is a full match at the level of both form andcontent, which is very rare in comparative phraseology, because each language hasits own system of conceptualizing reality, and consequently develops a specificcategorization of experience. This type of equivalence is found in idioms that havethe same source of origin (e.g. the Bible). Relative equivalents are furthersubdivided into those which have:

1) the same meaning with different linguistic structure, e.g. zuriti u nekogkao da si omađijan – as one enchanted/bewitched, as though they areunder a spell;

2) the same meaning with a different image, e.g. buljiti kao pečen brav,buljiti kao rak – to stare like a calf's head; čist kao suza – as clear asdriven snow, as clear as crystal;

3) the same meaning with different both structure and image, e.g. bosti sekao rogovi u vreći – be at odds; upiljiti u nekog kao mačka u miša – lookdaggers at somebody.

Zero equivalents are those idioms which do not have their equivalent in theTL and are replaced by the non-idiomatic lexemes or paraphrase. Paraphrasisshould be the last option, because in that case, we lose not only vividness,expressiveness and stylogenity of an expression, but also remove the trace of theculture from whose language we translate. Stojnić shares this attitude as well:

Like any other metaphor, metaphorical and idiomatic expressions are stylisticallymarked. Therefore, although they can be translated literally and withoutmetaphorization without damaging the meaning, they must not be translated inthat manner, not only for the damage to the author's style, but also because theycarry a part of information in that figurativeness. (Stojnić 1980: 15)

2. Sociolinguistic AspectPeople shape literary images and associations, and formulate idiomatic andfigurative expressions, partly due to the knowledge of literature in differentlanguages and styles6. However, in most cases, a writer tailors a text as self-sufficient and ‘a world on its own’. Idioms help him/her to be more convincing,figurative and expressive.

2.1. The Choice of ConjunctionsIn our opinion, even the choice of conjunctions in the structure of idioms is

not random, but depends on the style of a literary text and characterization ofcharacters in a novel, i.e. on how the author chooses to present his/her characters

6 see Menac (1992: 262).

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and their environment (e.g. whether they speak colloquially or not). Due toaforementioned formulas for idiomatic constructions in English, as and like wereused, but the conjunctions as if and as though also correspond stylistically totranslation equivalents in our corpus.

Table 2: Representation of comparative conjunctions in the corpus

2.2. ZoonimsAnimal idioms are called zoonims, and are considered within our first

hypothesis. Idioms in general reflect the spirit of a culture in which they incurred,attitudes and lifestyle of people who coined and use them, as well as people’srelationship with the surrounding world. Every nation introduces the images of itsenvironment in the explanation of some meaning. Therefore, comparative idiomswhich Ćopić used illustrate largely a picturesque landscape of Podrmeč and thespeech of people from Krajina. The most common animal images in Bosnianidioms are a ‘rabbit’ (7 examples) and ‘goat’ (6 examples), while ‘pig’ (4examples) and ‘goat’ (4 examples) dominate English idioms.

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Figure 1: Animals in Bosnian idioms

Figure 2: Animals in English idioms

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As Popović says:

The style of good English writers is always idiomatic ... The study of idiomaticexpressions – many of whom are figurative and full of associations, which givescolor to author's style and sparkle conversation – is at the same time the first stepof getting to know the spirit of a European nation. Just as our proverbs7 containwisdom of our folk, thus idiomatic expressions of the English contain much of apeculiar humor and practical common sense of their race, and there are plenty oftheir imaginative worldview. (Popović in Radenković 1956: VI)

Analogously, if English idioms create a certain image of the Englishmen, thenĆopić’s idioms characterise us, the native speakers, the society we live in, thesystem of values and beliefs that we share. Therefore, they should be assigned thebest equivalent translation possible, so that they may present us in the right light.

3. Cognitive AspectComparing structures so that one functions as a comparative standard (the so-called standard of comparison) and the other as its goal (target) is our fundamentalcognitive ability. It has been concluded that different cultures categorize theirexperiences differently due to different experiences in the world around them,which are then so clearly reflected in the language. We agree with Buljan (2002:54) that “experiential diversity inevitably results in linguistic diversity, as areflection of the different conceptual organization of the surrounding world”. Toprovide examples, we singled out idioms with ‘red’ as well as those which refer to‘red’ and/or ‘redness’:

Bosnian Idioms English Idioms

crven kao ljutit ćuran; rujna kao rascvjetala bulka;pocrveniti kao bulka u polju podno Prokina gaja;buknuti kao vatra; crven kao motika u vatri; rumenkao zora; planuti kao proljetna zora nad Prokinimgajem; pocrveniti kao vatra u sutonu; pocrveniti kaosuton u zapadnim oblacima; rumen kao breskva;rumen kao divlja ruža u živici; pocrvenjeti kaopetokraka zvijezda komesara čete

as red as a turkey-cock; as red as apoppy/peony; red as abee-troot/a lobster;

Table 3: Idioms with ‘red’

The concordance among the images is evident in some idioms (e.g. crven kaoćuran/as red as a turkey-cock), but the use of images from speaker’s environment

7 Many linguists think of proverbs as idioms in wider terms.

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is much more numerous. This could in some way be seen as an expansion ofidiom’s original form, which then results in regionalism (e.g. pocrveniti kao bulkau polju podno Prokina gaja, planuti kao proljetna zora nad Prokinim gajem).People often use colour idioms to describe psychological and emotional states8. Achange of skin color (usually face) is considered to be a symptom of aphysiological response to a sense of shame, fear, or anger, for example:

“Na pomen Maričina imena mladi majstor Lazar pocrvenje kao motika uvatri, kao vatra u suton, kao suton u zapadnim oblacima”9.“She flushed as red as the mulberry walls”10.“He reached for it now in sudden embarrassment, her cheeks turning as redas its flaming petals”11.

In her book Glas tradicije12, Škara writes:

The meaning of a sentence becomes comprehensible because the arrangement ofits constituent parts creates a certain image, and the phenomenon of an image isbased on our past experiences. Every nation introduces images of itsenvironment in the explanation of meaning. Certain images have a symbolicvalue common to many nations, but also specific to each nation. Škara (1997:116-117)

Traditionally, it has been argued that a comparison is composed of the threeelements: comparandum, comparatum and tertium comparationis13. Comparativeidioms in which tertium comparationis or comparandum are not expressed aretypical of both Bosnian and English. Our corpus includes like one of the family andlike a bolt from the blue, which some linguists14 do not consider comparisons in atrue sense of that word “because a condition for comparison which would makesense in this context is missing”. We disagree because often the verb ‘missing’ onthe left can be reconstructed from the context, or the verb to be can be used. In thatcase, the words on the right side of the conjunction are the basis for meaning.When it comes to the basis of comparison, or tertium comparationis, it does not

8 Of course, emotions can be expressed through idioms whose component is not a colour [e.g.nekome srce omekša kao zečiji rep (literally: someone’s heart softens like a rabbit’s tail) to expresscompassion; as merry/chirpy as a cricket/bell to express happiness]. In this paper, we opted forcolour idioms.9 “At the mention of Marica’s name, young master Lazar blushed like a hoe in the fire, like the fire inthe evening, like a dusk in the western clouds”. (Translated by M. Š.)10 British National Corpus CA0 1211.11 British National Corpus JXT 797.12 The voice of tradition.13 There is a disagreement among linguists about this as well, see e.g. Omazić (2000: 107).14 e.g. Matešić, see Omazić (2000: 108).

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necessarily have to be stated explicitly, but can be inferred from the context. Theanalysed corpus includes examples of explicitly used tertium comparationis (juritibučno kao južni vjetar), as well as examples of its implicit use (mirisati/lijepo/kaođul, blistati/jako, jasno/kao pun mjesec).

A positive and negative evaluation of a term requires caution because itdepends on what the speaker actually wanted to say, especially if there is noexplicitly expressed tertium comparationis, as is makljati opasno kao bacač. Theidiom grunuti kao grom nebeski can have ‘strongly’, ‘loudly’ or ‘suddenly’ astertium comparationis, depending on what the speaker wanted to say. The idiomrušiti se poput usova can have ‘rapidly’ or ‘uncontrollably’ as a tertiumcomparationis, or something else that would have a negative connotation if it isabout someone or something that causes some damage. Omazić (2002: 121) offersan example: “When she stabbed her toe, she screamed like mad”, and explains that‘mad’ can amplify the meaning (she screamed loudly, badly), but also carry anegative connotation (she screamed like he was berserk). There are two ways toevaluate concepts:

a) One image as a means of evaluating different concepts, for example‘pig/swine/hog’ (debeo kao prasac/as fat as a pig, ješan kao prase/asgreedy as a pig, bezobrazan kao krmče/as bold as brass). So, the matchin the two languages is evident in this example. However, if we considerthe example of ‘lamb’, the thesis about one comparison as expressivemeans for evaluating multiple terms is confirmed only for Bosnian(poslušan kao jagnje, dobar kao jagnje), but not English, because itemploys two different images ‘lamb’ and ‘gold’ (as meek as a lamb, asgood as gold). However, it should be noted here that ‘pig/swine/hog’ is anoun with a negative connotation in both languages. There are idioms inthe corpus, however, with positive connotations in both languages (čistkao suza/as clear as crystal, dobar kao dobar dan/as good as gold, zdravkao parip/healthy as a horse/fit as fiddle/fit as a flea).

b) Various images as a means of evaluation of a single concept. Considerthe idioms buljiti kao pečen brav and buljiti kao rak, where the term‘buljiti/stare’ collocates with two different images ‘brav/calf’ and‘ak/crab’. In English, these two idioms have one equivalent to stare likea calf’s head. Another example is a pair of idioms brz kao hrt/brz kaooči (as quick as flash/lightning) in Bosnian, and (as) smooth assilk/velvet/mill-pond in English.

4. Stylistic AspectThe linguistic ability of human beings itself is an inexhaustible source of study, soit is not surprising that there are never enough studies on the creative word plays,and thus on idioms. However, when it comes to the field of idiomatics itself, the

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least has been achieved in the study of stylogenity of idiomatic expressions. Thisis partly due to the effort to define, classify and study the structure of these unitsfirst, to be able to compare them across languages, genres, etc. Another factorwould be poor dictionary entries, i.e. an incomplete description of linguistic unitsin general. This is a major concern when it comes to idioms, given their semanticand syntactic complexity. During the corpus analysis, we focused on stylisticmarkedness of Bosnian idioms because we believe it is of great importance fortheir full semantization, which is crucial for assigning translation equivalents15.

We analysed stylogenic elements of Ćopić’s idiostyle and identified levels oflinguostylistic analysis with specific types of stylemes (lexical and syntacticstylistic devices). This contributed to better understanding and translation ofidioms, linguistic units with a very complex semantic potential. The main focushas been inherently expressive lexicon16 because these forms comprise idioms inthe corpus, for example: miran kao bubica, mekan kao zečić (bubica, zečić =diminutives), primicati se kao olujna oblačina (oblačina = an augmentative), ješankao prase (ješan/greedy = a pejorative), etc. In the following examples, the writeruses punctuation to further emphasize the meaning:

“Vidi mu nosa, kao paprika”17.“U-uh kako peče, kao živa vatra”18.“Artiljerac, kuvar Lijan, dobro gađa – kao pijan”19.

In the later idiom dobro gađa – kao pijan, an apparent example of irony, thewriter contrasts two opposing images ‘shoot well’ and ‘be drunk’. In addition toaforementioned diminutives and augmentatives, Ćopić used a significant numberof onomatopeisms (e.g.: šiknuti kao gusak/to honk like a goose, skvičati kaosvinjče/to squeal like a pig), slang (makljati kao jarac/hit like a ton of bricks),loanwords [đinđuva (Hungarian: gyöngy; English: cheap jewelry, trinket, bead),džukela (Turkish: džühela; English: cur), đul (Turkish: gül; English: rose), parip(Greek: parippos; English: gelding)]20.

When faced with phraseological synonyms, Ćopić skillfully opted for thoseexpressions which trigger emotions, those which suited him best due to theiradditional semantic potential and stylistic values. Of course, it all depends on whatthe writer wants to achieve by using a specific lexis, or by omitting lexis he or she

15 see Šehić (2012: 8).16 Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 218) classifies emotionally-expressive vocabulary into inherentlyexpressive and contextually-expressive vocabulary. Idioms, diminutives, augmentatives, pejoratives,jargon and onomatopoeisms are inherently expressive vocabulary.17 “Look at his nose, like pepper”.18 “U-uh it burns, like a living fire”.19 “Artilleryman, the cook Lijan, shoots well – like a drunk”.20 Word origin has been verified in Bratoljub Klaić’s dictionary of foreign words (2004).

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could but did not use. For example, the idiom slagati se kao partizanska kolona (tostring together like a line of Partisans) reflects the time in which the author livedand we characterised it as an authentic idiom. Thus, the author’s modificationsprovide additional information (e.g. about the setting: Sanička dolina/Sana valley,Prokin gaj/Prokin grove, or just the Grove).

When it comes to syntactic devices, Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 250) hasanalyzed nominalisation, ellipsis, parcellation and inversion. There is no idiom inthe Trilogy whose components have been omitted or reduced. The language inĆopić’s works is rich and diverse. When he wrote, Ćopić did not summarise orreduce, but added to common forms. He infrequently inverted idiomcomponents21. Thus, we have anteposition of a predicate (“Grunu kubura kaogrom, zadimi se bojište, izleti štap iz čičinih ruku, a poljar, padajući od straha nazemlju, samo što ciknu: Upomoć, pogiboh!”)22, anteposition of a pronoun(“Umjesto odgovora, nečim ponesen kao u snu, Jovanče se prignu i poljubidjevojčicu u sjajno vlažno oko”)23, inversion of an adverbial (“Blistajući kao punmjesec, Mačak blaženo zagrli Kušlju, poče da ga miluje i češka oko ušiju iodjednom prestravljeno izbeči oči i dreknu24. Tog istog trenutka jarac strelovitoispade iz trapa i snažno, poput granate, raspali pogurenog čiču od pozadi” 25).

5. ConclusionThe paper deals with Bosnian and English idioms of comparison. The basis forthis analysis is the corpus of idioms from Ćopić’s novel The Pioneer Trilogy. Thepaper confirms that:

a) most comparative idioms contain images of animals, which give usinformation about the setting (a rural area), as well as the lifestyle of thecharacters (attitudes, beliefs, rituals, etc.);

b) most comparative idioms in the Trilogy are modified;c) the degree of concordance of Bosnian and English idioms is low.

21 Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 257) considers an inversion to be “order N+G (new+given) [...] wherebythe component which carries a new information comes first”.22 “It struck like a bolt from the blue, a battleground was in smoke, and a rod flung from the oldman’s hand, and the cook, falling from fear to the ground, only squeaked: Help, I’m dying!”23 “Instead of answering, overpowered by something like in a dream, Jovanče bent down and kissedthe girl in a glossy wet eye”.24 “Shining like a good deed in a naughtly world, Mačak embraced Kušlja blissfully, and startedcaressing him and scratching behind the ears, but suddenly – terrified – he opens his eyes widely andshouts”.25 “That same moment, the goat rapidly burst out of the cellar and hit the old man hard from behindlike a shell”.

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The first hypothesis is fully confirmed. The most common animals in Bosnianidioms are ‘rabbit/bunny’ (7 examples) and ‘goat’ (6 examples), and ‘pig’ (4examples) and ‘goat’ (4 examples) in English. The hypothesis about the number ofmodified idioms in the corpus is only partially confirmed: 46% of idioms are intheir original form, and 54% of idioms have been modified. The most commontype of modification is the expansion. No idiom in the corpus has been reduced,which confirms our claim that Ćopić does not sum up or omit, but adds elementsin his writing. The corpus analysis confirmed our third hypothesis: only 28% ofidioms have full translation equivalents. Thus, the degree of concordance ofBosnian and English idioms is low, which means that there is a difference betweenthem in at least one segment: a different linguistic structure, a different image, orboth. Lexical peculiarities reflect the specifics of a culture and community.However, it would be unsubstantial to claim that there were no similarities in thelexicon, which are a result of language contacts, knowledge about the world andgeneral semantic mechanisms.

Mersina Šehić, MAUniversity of Bihać, BiH

[email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

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Mersina Šehić has defended her Masters thesis in the field of comparativephraseology and currently teaches English at the University of Bihać. Ms. Šehićhas completed E-Teacher scholarship programme, Summative and FormativeAssessment in Language Learning and Teaching, sponsored by the U. S.Department of State. She is engaged in two international projects at the SlavisticsInstitute at the University of Graz, her research areas being comparativephraseology and contact linguistics.

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The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary Text Translation

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