The Rendition of the Comic in the Comic Strip "Garfield" in Russian Translations: A Diachronic Perspective
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2026-4-16-27
The issues of analyzing the specificity of the phraseological fund from the perspective of a comparative aspect do not lose their significance in modern linguistics. The purpose of this article is to identify the lexical and semantic features of phraseological units with a zoonym component in Russian and Chinese. The research work is based on the application of comparative analysis method, which allowed to identify universal and unique lexical and semantic features of phraseological units with a zoonym component in Russian and Chinese; the method of quantitative analysis was used as well, which gave the opportunity to determine the most and least frequent thematic groups of phraseological units with a zoonym component nominating the specifics of the studied linguistic cultures. It has been proven that phraseological units with a zoonym component that demonstrates human actions specific features prevail in both Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures, which is explained by the significance of implementing specific actions. It is established that the semantic field of the phraseological units under consideration represents the physical actions and deeds of a person, the commission of specific actions by a person. On the contrary, phraseological units with a zoonym component reflecting the features of a person's appearance, namely tall stature and large figure, are included in a low-frequency group of phraseological units, since external qualities are not a factor determining social success in Russian and Chinese cultures. Russian and Chinese phraseological units with the help of zoonymic components reflect the energy and stubbornness in the character of Russians, desire to work and altruism in the character of the Chinese. It is proved that phraseological units with a zoonym component, representing the specifics of human labor activity, are included in the category of high-frequency units and reflect fundamental differences in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures. If the Chinese phraseological foundation, with the help of the zoonymic component, symbolizes numerous accents of human labor activity, including the representation of working conditions, quality of work, and adaptation to modern realities, then the Russian phraseological foundation typically has a dual attitude to work – from excessive workaholism to unwillingness to work and a moderate pace of duties’ performance. It is proved that phraseological units with zoonymic components of the thematic group “emotions and feelings” in Russian convey a wide range of feelings’ manifestations (fear, love, sympathy, dislike, etc.), while in the phraseological fund of the Chinese language, the zoonymic component reflects such feelings as grief and sadness. Russian and Chinese languages have different degrees of emotions and feelings expression dictated by the specifics of cultures – the emotionality and openness of Russians and the closeness when expressing emotions in public of the Chinese. The relevance of the study is determined by the stable presence of comic strips in contemporary media culture and their active circulation in intercultural communication. As a form of popular culture, comics represent an important component of global media discourse, combining verbal and visual elements and forming a specific type of creolized text. In such texts, meaning and comic effect arise from the interaction of several semiotic modes, including linguistic, graphic and visual components. This multimodal nature creates additional challenges for translators since humour is often based on wordplay, cultural references and context-dependent stylistic devices. Therefore, the problem of preserving comic effect in translation becomes particularly significant in the analysis of comics as creolized media texts. The aims of the research are to identify the linguistic devices used to create comic effect in the English-language comic strip “Garfield” and to determine the strategies employed to render these devices in Russian translations produced in different chronological periods. The corpus includes 200 comic strips belonging to two time spans: 1990–1994 and 2019–2024. The methodological framework of the study is based on the functional approach to translation, the concept of translation as rewriting, the theory of creolized texts and contemporary research on multimodal media discourse. Stylistic, comparative and quantitative methods are applied in order to identify stylistic devices, analyse their frequency and determine the dominant translation strategies. The analysis identified 476 instances of stylistic devices used to create comic effect. The results demonstrate the predominance of lexical–semantic means, primarily irony, hyperbole and pun, while syntactic devices and techniques based on the interaction between text and image also play a significant role. A comparative analysis of translations from the two periods reveals a shift in dominant translation strategies. Translations of 1990–1994 are characterized by adaptation and generalization aimed at simplifying the linguistic structure, whereas translations of 2019–2024 demonstrate a stronger orientation toward literal translation, calquing and the preservation of formal and stylistic features of the original text. The theoretical significance of the study lies in clarifying the mechanisms of comic effect in creolized media texts and in identifying the relationship between stylistic devices and translation strategies in multimodal discourse. The practical significance consists in the possibility of applying the results in translation practice, comic localization and the training of translators specializing in multimodal and media translation.
Keywords: translation studies, comic effect, comic strip, Garfield, creolized text, translation strategies
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Issue: 4, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS
Pages: 16 — 27
Downloads: 43