Evaluation Suffixes in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Works: Translation Difficulties

Abstract

The richest system of suffixes in the Russian language is ideally adapted for the expression of a vast range of different emotional relationships, not only gentle, affectionate, but many others for which it is sometimes quite difficult to find a definition. Translators face the challenge of untranslatability of diminutive-hypocoristic suffixes. In this respect, the most interesting objects of texts studies can be texts by Mikhail Bulgakov in which the author uses various words with diminutive-hypocoristic suffixes in his pursuit of a specific artistic task, viz. to transmit certain emotionally-colored connotations not always related exclusively to the amount value. The use of diminutive-hypocoristic suffixes in French is not common in word formation, which poses translation problems. It is important to note that the use of the stylistic nuances of diminutive-hypocoristic suffixes is of great importance for the understanding of Bulgakov’s irony, as well as penetrating those parts of the text that refer to the representatives of the so-called “new time” and are not conveyed in the translation.

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Sources

Boulgakov, M.A Coeur de chien: Traduit du Russe par Michel Pétris, Paris, 1996 (in Russian).

Boulgakov, M.A. Le Maitre et Marguerite: Traduit du Russe par Claude Ligny, Paris, 1997 (in Russian).