Methods of Translating Metonymies in The Masnavi: Boosting Larson’s (1984) Model

Translation suffers from many limitations, one of which is the rendition of metonymical expressions from one language into another. Rarely any language can be found wherein no metonymy is used. This study is conducted to compare and analyze metonymies in Rumi’s Masnavi and its English translation by Mojaddedi (2004). Larson’s (1984) model was adopted as the framework for analyzing the way metonymies were rendered. In the first phase, the source-text metonymies and their equivalents were extracted from the First Book of the Masnavi and its translation. Then, the methods employed in rendering each metonymy were specified and the frequency of each method was determined. Finally, it was attempted to boost the current model. The results showed that ‘literal translation’ was the most commonly used method while ‘translation of metonymy into metonymic entity plus sense’ was the least frequently adopted method. Also, the study proved that Larson’s model doesn’t cover all methods used by Mojaddedi. Additionally, four new methods were detected by the researchers including Literal translation, Deletion, Generalization, and Specification.