Rabelais et ses phraséologismes gargantuesques : analyse des procédés de phraséotraduction en polonais, BCMS, chinois, japonais et portugais brésilien

Overview

Examines translation of phraseological units (PUs) in Chapter XI of Rabelais's Gargantua into Polish, BCMS, Chinese, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. Focus centers on the dual interpretative status of the PUs, which demand concurrent literal and figurative readings; translators frequently had to prioritize one reading, producing differential loss or shift. The study maps how Rabelaisian wordplay and PU unfrozenness are negotiated across distinct cultural and linguistic systems and identifies patterns of adaptation and innovation in the target texts.

Methods and approach

Performs a comparative text-based analysis of the selected chapter in the five target languages, grounded in a theoretical review of phraseological unit properties and degrees of conventionalization (unfrozenness). Applies an adapted classification of translation techniques to code and categorize translation choices observed in the corpora. Analytical focus includes alignment of source PU functions (literal/figurative tension), morphological and syntactic strategies, lexical substitution, explicitation, calquing, omission, and instances of translator-generated phraseological innovation.

Results

Translators employed a heterogeneous set of strategies: literal transfer when surface iconicity or bodily imagery was prioritized; figurative rendering when conventionalized meaning carried rhetorical force; explicitation and periphrasis where no target-language PU equivalent existed. Language-specific tendencies emerged: some translations preserved surface wordplay at the expense of conventional meaning, others neutralized wordplay to maintain pragmatic sense. An additional recurrent technique was identified in which translators create new target-language PUs or playful constructions to reproduce the pragmatic and stylistic effects of the Rabelaisian source, often through extensive reformulation.

Implications

Demonstrates that PU translation involving simultaneous literal and figurative readings requires methodological sensitivity to multifunctionality and to degrees of conventionalization; binary literal-versus-figurative models are insufficient. Highlights the productive role of translator creativity as a legitimate technique for preserving pragmatic and stylistic effects across cultural contexts, suggesting that pedagogical and evaluative frameworks should recognize deliberate phraseological innovation. Recommends expanded comparative corpora and experimental reception studies to assess how different strategies affect interpretive outcomes in target readerships.