Akhmet Baitursynuly’s Parallel Corpus: Lexical transformations in translation

Abstract

This article explores various types of lexical transformations applied in the translation of Akhmet Baitursynuly’s selected works into Russian. The research is based on the developing Kazakh-Russian parallel corpus of Baitursynuly’s texts, which serves as a valuable linguistic resource. The study is motivated by the authors’ dual role as both translators of Baitursynuly’s works and developers of the parallel corpus. The objective of the research is to analyze the characteristics of lexical transformations in translation and to outline the principles of working with the Kazakh-Russian parallel corpus in translation practice. The advantages of using a parallel corpus as a tool for translation research and practice are also discussed. The study identifies several types of lexical transformations, including transcription, transliteration, concretization, generalization, lexical addition, omission, semantic development, and holistic transformation. A significant contribution of this study is the development of software that enables the automatic comparison of Russian and Kazakh texts. This tool enhances translation efficiency by reducing the time required to identify equivalents, facilitates translation analysis, and enables an assessment of the adequacy of applied translation strategies. The findings contribute to the advancement of translation studies and corpus linguistics, demonstrating the effectiveness of parallel corpora in translation research and practice. Particular attention is given to custom-built software developed to automatically compare Kazakh and Russian texts. This tool speeds up the process of finding equivalents, increases the accuracy of translation analysis, and enables the assessment of translation strategies. The results presented make a valuable contribution to the fields of translation studies and corpus linguistics, creating new opportunities for researching Baitursynov’s legacy. The relevance of this study is supported by current trends in the use of corpus linguistics in translation studies. The parallel corpus does not perform automatic translation functions but supports in-depth analysis to improve translation quality. This article is the first to provide a detailed description of the development stages and application principles of the Kazakh- Russian parallel corpus of A. Baitursynov. The article also presents examples of translators’ detailed work to ensure accurate transfer of meaning and form, along with average statistics on the types of lexical transformations found in the analyzed texts.