Development of an Automation Tool for Translating English Phonosemantic Lexis into Russian

Introduction. This article deals with development of an automation tool for translating fiction texts. The tool is designed to work with sound-symbolic vocabulary. A distinctive feature of the tool is its approach to selecting translation equivalents: the algorithms propose equivalents based on their sound symbolic features. Owing to the rapid development of automated and machine translation technologies, it is the time to address the problem of translating iconic vocabulary. Methodology and sources. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on the principles of phonosemantics formulated in the works of S. V. Voronin, as well as descriptions of onomatopoeia presented in the studies of S. S. Shlyakhova. The article examines automated translation of sound-symbolic vocabulary through the use of motion verbs listed in the work of N. K. Kheimoinen. Results and discussion. The result of the study is a functioning tool in the form of a web application. The tool translates sound-symbolic elements from English into Russian by ranking their translation equivalents according to the degree of similarity between the original word and its translation from the perspective of sound symbolism. The calculation of this similarity becomes possible due to a unique approach – comparing the onomatopoeic formulas of the original word and its translations using the Levenshtein distance. Conclusion. The developed tool successfully accomplishes its task. Moreover, the unique methods it employs for selecting translation equivalents demonstrate the strong potential of this technology.

Authors: Egor O. Golovanov, Elena A. Shamina

Direction: Linguistics

Keywords: phonosemantics, onomatopoeia, fiction translation, motion verbs, Python

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