The Turkish Translation of Mapping Condition in Conceptualizing Metaphors: a Case Study of Heartbreak House

Abstract

The cognitive structure of metaphors has been at the centre over the last forty years. Conceptual metaphors in translation, the main focus of this study, have brought about difficulties and possible solutions translators may encounter during the translation process. The formula of conceptual metaphor is TARGET IS SOURCE, which refers to the conceptualization of the abstract concepts in the target domain with the partially more concrete concepts in the source domain. In other words, the ground of conceptual metaphors is revealed through the mappings between the target and source domains. Therefore, it is inevitable to mention the similar or different mapping conditions between languages. This study aims to analyse the translation of emotion metaphors from a conceptual perspective. For this purpose, data have been collected from Shaw's play, Heartbreak House, which is rich in emotion expressions. Then, the Turkish translation of the collected data was analysed in line with Mandelblit's (1995) Cognitive Translation Hypothesis and two concepts universality and variations coined by Kövecses (2004) for the cross-cultural emotion concepts. The analysis revealed that the emotion metaphors detected in the play have been mostly translated into Turkish through the similar mapping conditions with a rate of 51 % (n= 83). In some cases, the translator made some changes on the lexeme level, creating a new mapping schema in TT with a rate of 32 % (n=52). It was also found out that the translator conveyed the meaning of the emotion to the TL though there was no mapping condition emerged through the translator's lexeme preferences. © 2024 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne. All rights reserved.