On Translation of Phatic Communion and Socio-cultural Relationships between the Characters of Novels

Abstract

The current study aims to examine the likely changes that the ignorance of cultural differences in translating phatic communion may cause in socio-cultural relationship (power relationship) of characters in fictional dialogues in translated novels. To this end, three novels, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll, The Third Policeman by O’Brien and Burmese Days by Orwell and their translations were selected. First, they were read carefully, and then their literary criticisms were studied to analyze characters in terms of their social status and power relationship. Next, phatic utterances were extracted from the texts and were classified into three types of phatic communion according to Laver’s Framework (self-oriented, other-oriented & neutral). Finally, each phatic token was compared with its translation to see whether or not their translation has changed the socio-cultural relationship between characters in the novels in question. The findings of the study revealed that 27 percent of the translated phatic utterances have changed the character’s power relationships.