Some Reflections on the Translation of Elements of «Repeated Discourse»

Abstract

The use of repeated discourse justifies the consideration of lato sensu phraseology. Among the various units covered by this broad concept of Phraseology, non-idiomatic verbonominal constructions (NVC) (non-idiomatic collocations) and idioms have been chosen for this analysis and reflection. For all the subgroups of these NVCs it is necessary to specify, in their citation form, the semanticity (woman, man, child, etc.), the semantic role and the syntactic function of the lexical units or fillers which fill the argument slots of the verb and evoke both its meaning and its syntagmatic semantic macrostructure (SSM). This is due to the fact that only (partially) transparent NVCs have also a literal meaning and an extended midstructure with a communicative potential that can make their translation into other languages difficult, not only in a playful use (puns).