RENDERING FUNCTION FEATURES OF THE FRENCH COLLOQUIAL INTERROGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN UKRAINIAN FICTION TRANSLATION

Oct 15, 2026

The article examines colloquial interrogative sentences whose function features shape meaning and communicative effect in source and target fiction texts. It focuses on how these French colloquial interrogatives are rendered in Ukrainian using analysis of J.-M. Guenassia’s “The Incorrigible Optimists Club” and its Ukrainian translation. The study highlights that translation difficulties stem less from text-functional properties than from structural, semantic, figurative, and socio-functional characteristics, including asymmetry of structural elements and register polyphony. Keywords: translation; rendering; colloquial interrogative sentences; functional features; transformations; Wh-question; adequacy of translation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Interrogative expression in modern linguistics and translation studies

Socio-functional and communicative-pragmatic equivalence in fiction translation

Variationist approach and language change in usage patterns

Defining interrogative sentences: syntactic vs semantic criteria

Speech act structure and the motivation for asking questions

Background and research focus on French colloquial interrogatives

RENDERING FUNCTION FEATURES OF THE FRENCH COLLOQUIAL INTERROGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN UKRAINIAN FICTION TRANSLATION Andriy Bilas Higher State Educational Establishment of Ukraine “Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University”, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine [bilas_andriy@ukr.net](bilas_andriy@ukr.net) The article deals with the problems of colloquial interrogative sentences having the function features in the source and target fiction texts. The importance of the research of interrogative sentences is defined by frequent use of questioning in the process of communication and a close connection of the problem of questioning with other sociolinguistic issues. The given paper outlines function features of the colloquial interrogative sentences on the material of J.-M. Guenassia’s “The Incorrigible Optimists Club” and its Ukrainian translation by means of the analysis of possible ways of their rendering into Ukrainian. The author takes into account many works devoted to the study of questioning as a linguistic and translation category, paying special attention to the place of interrogative sentences in the French colloquial speech. The analysis of the colloquial interrogatives functioning in J.-M. Guenassia’s novel “The Incorrigible Optimists Club” allows the author to conclude that translation difficulties are caused not so much by their text-functional features, but rather by their structural, semantic, figurative, and socio-functional characteristics, as well as by the asymmetry of the structural elements and register polyphony of the source and target languages. Keywords: translation; rendering; colloquial interrogative sentences; functional features; transformations; Wh-question; adequacy of translation. Introduction The interrogative expression is one of the important problems of modern linguistics and translation studies. The analysis of such types of sentences remains the topical issue nowadays since the nature of interrogative sentences is being interpreted ambiguously, mostly considering only some of their functional aspects. At the present stage of the development of the translation and linguistic sciences, little attention is paid to this kind of sentences. Although the importance of this topic is evident, the sociolinguistic and communicative aspects of the interrogative sentences pragmatics are still poorly studied within the sphere of translation. Since the communicative-pragmatic equivalence is one of the most important requirements of the fiction translation, it is worth paying special attention to the social-functional component of the interrogative sentence pragmatic orientation to be rendered as the adequate communicative effect in its translation. The adequate translation isnot possible without preserving the colloquial-register charge of the original interrogatives in the translation process. In view of the fact that the interrogative sentences have repeatedly been the subject of linguistic analysis, their socio-functional aspect did not receive sufficient elucidation in the field of translation. Their structural-semantic and functional updating in the translation process has not been studied sufficiently, which also determined the relevance of the subject matter of this paper. In modern linguistics and translation studies, the category of questioning is often considered within the framework of functional syntax, communication theory and pragmatics, by overlooking the socio-functional component of the linguistic content of the interrogatives, or even the problem of rendering their socially marked functions, caused by language changes in the translated text. For Waltereit (2018) language change, in essence, is a socially motivated shift in usage patterns of variants. In other words, language change is spread through the speech community. Under the variationist approach, variation is always there, so that there is not that much focus on individual innovations. In fact, innovations are seen as

FAQs

What problem does the article address in fiction translation?

It addresses how colloquial interrogative sentences are rendered so that their function features and communicative effect are preserved between French source and Ukrainian target texts.

What causes the main difficulties in translating these interrogatives?

The difficulties arise not primarily from their text-functional features, but from structural, semantic, figurative, and socio-functional characteristics, along with asymmetry of structural elements and register polyphony.

What role does socio-functional and communicative equivalence play?

Adequate fiction translation requires preserving the colloquial-register charge of the original interrogatives, so the translated text produces the intended communicative effect.

Oct 15, 2026

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