Equivalence оf Impression оf а Text аnd Verbal Consciousness оf Native Speakers
The article discusses the possibilities of using the method of psycholinguistic anal- ysis in order to describe and evaluate the category of “equivalence of impression”, which characterizes the relationship between the translation of a literary text and its reader. The research is based on the works by I.A. Bunin and their translations into French, the phe- nomenon of semantic synesthesia in particular. Semantic synesthesia is considered as a special form of manifestation of functional and semantic syncretism in verbal means refer- ring to various sensory representations. Semantic synesthesia is one of the most important techniques characteristic for I.A. Bunin’s aesthetics, one of its semantic dominants, and has a significant impact on the aesthetic perception of the text by readers of the source text and the translation text. According to the results of the research, there are several ways of rendering synesthesia in the translation text such as its preservation, its partial or complete destruction, which influence the degree of equivalence of impression. Verification and ob- jectification of the results obtained is carried out by an experimental method using the anthropometric linguistic interviewing methodology. The experiment was carried out in two groups of test subjects (Russian-speaking and French-speaking students) by conduct- ing first a pilot, then the main experiment. It was followed by a synthesis of the results, comparing them and determining the degree of equivalence of impression of the French translation as % of semantic coincidences among Russian and French test subjects. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that equivalence of impression is a real phenomenon of verbal consciousness. This type of equivalence acquires paramount importance in evaluating the translation of literary texts. Consequently, developing a meth- odology for its testing becomes one of urgent tasks of linguistic and psycholinguistic re- search.