Aspects of language and style in Mihail Sadoveanu’s The hatchet [articol]

Abstract

The paper aims at stylistically comparing a selected excerpt of a Romanian contemporary novel, The Hatchet, with its English translation, laying stress on the lexical and grammatical levels. The study also includes an analysis of the Romanian text at the symbolic level. In the first part of the paper, Choice and Motivation, we will try to explain some of our translation choices and describe patterns of stylistic change which occurs during translation, laying emphasis on such elements as: parts of speech, sentence structure, descriptive patterns, constructions used for stylistic purposes, rhythm, insistent repetitions, the stylistic significances of several definite articles, as well as the use of unliterary forms of verbs and nouns, specific to the vernacular language. The second part of the study, Visual and Auditory Elements, focuses, at the symbolic level, on both the visual and auditory elements within the text. It deals first with the visual elements, at the lexical and stylistic levels, with a special emphasis on the auditory elements, analyzed at the lexical, phonetical and syntactical levels.