SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS OF THE MARKERS OF UNCERTAINTY – THROUGH THE PRISM OF RUSSIAN TRANSLATED NARRATIVES

Abstract

Functioning of lexical and syntax units expressing uncertainty in Russian translated variants of English literary texts is described. The study is based on the hypothesis made by Elena V. Paducheva about uncertainty being a semantic predominant in the Russian picture of the world. The research is focused on the phenomenon of accumulation of the markers of uncertainty in Russian translations with domestication strategy in the passages expressing high subjectivity or creating the effect of defocusing. The results of the analysis show that the markers of uncertainty denoting unawareness, limited knowledge, inability to find exact nomination for an object or an event, or deliberate neglecting some information, increase in number in Russian translations, first of all in those aimed at creating domesticated, familiarized versions of original texts, linking them to the literary narrative tradition of the recipient culture. The described phenomenon does not appear in foreignized translations offering ‘estranged’ interpretations of a source text.