ELIMINATION OF LACUNAE IN THE ENGLISH-UKRAINIAN LEGAL TRANSLATION (BASED ON LEXICAL ITEMS DENOTING LEGAL PROFESSIONS)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of elimination of lacunar lexical items denoting legal professions while translating from English into Ukrainian. In particular, the study substantiates the choice of translation strategy and methods of delacunization taking into account the context of the original text. The authors mentioned that the lacunarity of the mentioned legal terms is caused by the fact that Ukraine and a number of English-speaking countries belong to different types of legal systems, viz., to Romano-Germanic and Anglo-Saxon respectively. The translation strategies of foreignization and domestication are considered to be the basic ones for translating lacunas into the target language. However, scholars do not recommend using the strategy of domestication often while translating legal texts. Instead, they suggest using another type of strategy – neutralization. The mentioned strategy involves using neutral style and the elimination of the cultural peculiarities of the source and target community. The scientific research proves that the strategy chosen by the translator determines methods of elimination of lacunar lexical items in legal translation; videlicet the strategy of domestication involves the use of generalization and a functional analogue in the target text while foreignization involves the descriptive method, calquing, and transcoding. The authors indicate that there are more terms denoting legal professions in the English language than in Ukrainian. It means that legal responsibilities and duties undergo more subdivisions in the English-speaking countries than in Ukraine. The research proves that the strategy of foreignization is used to preserve the authenticity of the original text and to indicate the professional duties of the lawyers referred to in the source text accurately. It should be mentioned that the strategy of domestication is more receptive to people who are not familiar with the Anglo-Saxon legal system or are not lawyers by profession. The use of the method of functional analogue and generalization is traced in cases where the source text focuses on the duties of lawyers which are identical in the source and target legal cultures. The study of the issue of eliminating lacunar lexical items while translating legal texts from English into Ukrainian are the prospects for further research.