Semantic and Pragmatic Transformation of Metaphors in Literary Translation

This article examines how metaphors change in literary translation at two levels: the semantic level, where the tenor, vehicle and connotative range of an image may be altered, and the pragmatic level, where the effect that the metaphor produces on the reader and the inferences the reader is invited to draw may differ from the original. Drawing on recent studies in translation studies and cognitive linguistics, the article reviews the main approaches to the translation of metaphor and compares the procedures that translators use to deal with it, including retention, substitution, paraphrase and deletion. The analysis shows that partial transfer is the most frequent outcome, and that the loss of a metaphor often reduces the pragmatic equivalence of the text even when its literal meaning is preserved. On this basis, the article proposes a three-stage analytical procedure for evaluating metaphor transformation in literary texts, which begins with the identification of the metaphor, continues with the comparison of its semantic and pragmatic content, and ends with an assessment of its functional effect in the target text.