Metaphoricity of perception adjectives: a translation perspective

The paper aims to examine the metaphorical uses of English adjectives denoting perceptual qualities (taste, temperature and touch) and ways of rendering them in Lithuanian. Based on the data of the Parallel Corpus, the types of translation are identified and discussed in relation to cross-linguistic variation as well as other factors affecting translation. The study is carried out in the framework of cognitive approach to metaphor and its translation: individual metaphorical expressions are linked to conceptual metaphors underlying them, with the focus on the source domain exploited in the source and target languages. From this view, metaphorical rendering of English adjectives in Lithuanian falls into two types: the original metaphor is either retained (if the same perceptual quality is expressed, directly or indirectly) or replaced by another metaphor (if a different source domain is introduced, usually a quality perceived through a different sense or some physical sensation). Other types of translation include cases of non-metaphorical rendering: loss of metaphoricity due to paraphrase (literal expression) and omission of the metaphorical meaning.The findings show that the original metaphor is preserved in around 30% of all cases. Other types of translation are mainly determined by two factors: cross-linguistic asymmetry (a different range of the metaphorical meanings of English adjectives and their equivalents in Lithuanian, differences in connotation, specific lexical and syntactic patterns of the target language) and the subjective choice of the translator (individual preference for a certain expression).