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2014
mTm
Minor Translating Major

mTm
Major Translating Minor
Minor Translating Minor

a Translation Journal
a Translation Journal

volume 6
diavlos
mTm. Minor Translating Major-Major Translating Minor-Minor Translating Minor is
a new international refereed journal with an Editorial Board comprised of leading scholars
in the field of translation studies. mTm aims at starting and promoting a discussion on the
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ISSN 1791-8421 © 2014 Diavlos Publications, Athens

Volume 6, 2014

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Volume 6, 2014

GENERAL EDITOR
Michael Cronin, Dublin City University, Ireland
EDITORS
Anastasia Parianou, Ionian University, Greece
Panayotis I. Kelandrias, Ionian University, Greece

REVIEWS EDITOR
Paschalis Nikolaou, Ionian University, Greece

EDITORIAL BOARD
Jan Engberg, Århus Business School, Denmark
Sigmund Kvam, Østfold University College, Norway
Christina Schäffner, Aston University, U.K.
Jürgen F. Schopp, University of Tampere, Finland

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

Elif Daldeniz†, Okan University, Turkey
Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, University of Stockholm, Sweden
Cornelia Feyrer, University of Innsbruck, Austria
David Galvin, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Maurizio Gotti, University of Bergamo, Italy
Ada Gruntar Jermol, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Zuzana Jettmarovà, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
Vladimir Karabalić, University of Osijek, Croatia
Eleni Κassapi, University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Johrghos Kentrotis, Ionian University, Greece
Kinga Klaudy, ELTE University of Budapest, Hungary
Kaisa Koskinen, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Luise Liefländer-Koistinen, University of Joensuu, Finland
Anneliese Pitz, University of Oslo, Norway
Marisa Presas, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Valda Rudziša, Ventspils University College, Latvia
Antin Rydning, University of Oslo, Norway
Maria Sidiropoulou, University of Athens, Greece
Mary Snell-Hornby, University of Vienna, Austria
Kåre Solfjeld, Østfold University College, Norway
Vilelmini Sossoni, Ionian University, Greece

Diavlos Publications, Athens, Greece

 mTm
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Volume 6, December 2014

Contents
Early Modern Japanese and Korean Interpreters
Kim Nam Hui, Korea; Judy Wakabayashi, USA 3

Translation of Korean Culture-specific Lexis into English: Focus

on Change in Individual Learners
Vivian Lee, Korea 19

Researcher as Translator: David Roy and His English Retranslation

of Jin Ping Mei
Lintao Qi, Australia 39

La traduction d’un argot: Série blême et Mille modi per crepare in

montagna (Boris Vian)
Fabio Regattin, Italy 52

Transediting News Headlines: Idioms in the Spotlight

Despoina Panou, Greece 64

Foreignized translation and the case against “Chinese vernacular fiction”

Clement Tong, Canada 81

The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary Text

Translation
Mersina Šehić, Bosnia and Herzegovina 98

The role of collaborative translation protocols in translation teaching

Ludmila Baranova, Latvia 111

La traduction intraculturelle: défense et illustration

Desrine Bogle, Barbados 131
 The Equivalence of Bosnian and English Idioms in Literary Text
Translation
Mersina Šehić
University of Bihać

Abstract
The paper analyses stylistic adaptations of literary text translation as a basis for cross-linguistic study
of English and Bosnian idioms. The aim is to determine the degree of concordance of Bosnian and
English idioms, which we believe to be at a fairly low level. The full equivalence is rare in
comparative phraseology, because each language has its own system of conceptualization of reality,
and consequently develops specific categorization of experience. If an idiom in the original text
underwent some type of modification, it will be transposed in the target text. We believe that if an
idiom is not altered in the original, there is no reason for a translator to modify the translation
equivalent in any way. If, however, the author of the original opted for some kind of modification,
the translator is obliged to transfer it to the target text. Paraphrase should be the last option when we
are faced with idioms translation. When paraphrasing, not only the vividness and expressiveness of
an expression are lost, but we also remove the trace of the culture from whose language we translate.
Baker (2006: 63) claims a writer can not change the word order in an idiom, delete from or add to its
structure, replace one word with another, or alter the grammatical structure, except when s/he is
consciously employing a word play. This statement about conscious and intentional idiom
modification is particularly important to the phraseology of literary works, in which the author
consciously makes culture-specific changes for various stylistic reasons. From a sociolinguistic
aspect, idioms help to create a certain image about ourselves, the society we live in, and the system
of values and beliefs we share. Therefore, idioms should be assigned the best equivalent translation
possible, so that they may present us in the right way.

0. Introduction
Considerations presented in this paper are based on the analysis of the corpus of
idioms excerpted from the Pioneer Trilogy1, as well as their translation equivalents
in English. Idioms are

language units of semantic character which are reproduced in the speech act as a
whole, disposing at least two autosemantic words, of which at least one refers to
the semantic conversion, the units which due to their ability to fit into the
context, like every other word, can perform a syntactic function in the sentence.
(Matešić 1988: 5)

Idioms of comparison are constructions of the ‘X kao Y’ type in Bosnian (e.g.

stradati kao vo u kupusu), and ‘X as Y’ or ‘like X’ in English (e.g. smooth as silk,
like nobody's business). However, additional difficulties for translators result from
the fact that, in Ćopić’s writing for example, almost all idioms are modified. Thus,
a translator must pay special attention to preserve stylistic value that idioms

1
The novel written by Branko Ćopić, the most important Bosnian writer for children.

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provide to a text – and texts are, in our opinion, purveyors of cross-cultural

message.
We analysed the total of 165 idioms, 76 of which in its original form (or 46%
of the total corpus) and 89 modified idioms (or 54% of the corpus), and the same
number of translation equivalents in English. The criteria for the assignment of
translation equivalents are semantic, structural, stylistic and functional
equivalence. Morphological, formative, lexical, syntactic and combined
modifications were taken into consideration, while textual modifications are
important for stylistic effect that idiom accumulation provides in the literary text.
The degree of correspondence between idioms of comparison in Bosnian and
English is at a fairly low level, because the two languages are different – as
Riđanović (2007: 361) says “in grammar and vocabulary, as well as in ‘the spirit’
so that it is often impossible to translate from one language to another in the
traditional sense of the word”.
The paper is based on the three hypotheses:

a) the most of the comparative idioms in the Trilogy contains images of

animals, which gives insight into the setting (a rural area) and the
lifestyle of characters (attitudes, beliefs, rituals, etc.)
b) the most of these idioms is in a modified form,
c) the degree of concordance of Bosnian and English idioms is fairly low.

We approach the issue from sociolinguistic, cognitive and stylistic aspects.

1. Idiom as a Translation Challenge

We can claim with certainty that translating idioms is one of the biggest
challenges. When translating these complex linguistic units, many factors should
be taken into account. Important lexical relations between idioms themselves such
as phraseological synonymy and antonymy. However, the most important lexical
relationship between idioms, which plays a significant role in assigning translation
equivalents, is polysemy. Omazić (2002: 117) lists the following examples: (as)
smooth as oil, which has two equivalents in our language2, as slippery as an eel
with two equivalents3, and as flat as a pancake with five translation equivalents in
our language4. There are examples of idioms whose components differ
2
It can be used to describe softness of a creamy substance, e.g. a butter (mek kao maslac), or a
tranquil sea surface (miran kao ulje).
3
For a cunning person (Ljigav kao jegulja/literally: as slippery as an eel) and for a slippery road
(klizav kao led/literally: as slippery as ice).
4
Apart from the usual, most commonly used meaning, there is more semantic potential in this idiom.
It can also refer to flat tires, a voice, a joke, and a landscape. Omazić (2002: 117) lists:
tanak/spljošten kao palačinka, prazan, ispušten (za gume), monoton (za glas), neslan (za šalu) i ravan
kao dlan (za krajolik).

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significantly, but the idioms themselves have the same global meaning, which is a
result of very similar life situations or a similar reasoning about things and
phenomena. We have selected examples from the corpus which relate to the things
that are, in some sense, universal in the world:

a) idioms which reflect natural phenomena or something from nature (to

smell like a rose – mirisati kao đul, flash like a greased lightning – sinuti
poput munje),
b) a perception of good and evil, i.e. customary beliefs like ‘hell is a
punishment for the commission of evil’, ‘the devil is something negative,
dangerous, painful’ (boljeti kao vrag – hurt like hell; to shine like a good
deed in a naughty world).

Due to all this, we realise why there is a classification into so-called national
and international phraseology5. We rely on the concept of dynamic equivalence,
which was introduced in the theory of translation by Nida (1982: 200): “the
message of the original text has been transposed into the target language so that
the reaction of the recipient is essentially the same as that of the original
recipient”. The dynamic equivalence means “finding the nearest natural equivalent
of the message from the source language” so as to “adapt grammar, lexis and
cultural determinants” to give a more natural expression in the target language
(Munday 2012: 67). The results of determining translation equivalents are
represented statistically in the following diagram:

Table 1: Representation of translation equivalents expressed in percentage

5
A national phraseology includes the phrasal fund of a language that is characteristic of a particular
community and culture, while an international phraseology is common to many languages, and it
spread through the Bible, literature, sports, etc.

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In this paper, the full equivalence is a full match at the level of both form and
content, which is very rare in comparative phraseology, because each language has
its own system of conceptualizing reality, and consequently develops a specific
categorization of experience. This type of equivalence is found in idioms that have
the same source of origin (e.g. the Bible). Relative equivalents are further
subdivided into those which have:

1) the same meaning with different linguistic structure, e.g. zuriti u nekog
kao da si omađijan – as one enchanted/bewitched, as though they are
under a spell;
2) the same meaning with a different image, e.g. buljiti kao pečen brav,
buljiti kao rak – to stare like a calf's head; čist kao suza – as clear as
driven snow, as clear as crystal;
3) the same meaning with different both structure and image, e.g. bosti se
kao rogovi u vreći – be at odds; upiljiti u nekog kao mačka u miša – look
daggers at somebody.

Zero equivalents are those idioms which do not have their equivalent in the
TL and are replaced by the non-idiomatic lexemes or paraphrase. Paraphrasis
should be the last option, because in that case, we lose not only vividness,
expressiveness and stylogenity of an expression, but also remove the trace of the
culture from whose language we translate. Stojnić shares this attitude as well:

Like any other metaphor, metaphorical and idiomatic expressions are stylistically
marked. Therefore, although they can be translated literally and without
metaphorization without damaging the meaning, they must not be translated in
that manner, not only for the damage to the author's style, but also because they
carry a part of information in that figurativeness. (Stojnić 1980: 15)

2. Sociolinguistic Aspect
People shape literary images and associations, and formulate idiomatic and
figurative expressions, partly due to the knowledge of literature in different
languages and styles6. However, in most cases, a writer tailors a text as self-
sufficient and ‘a world on its own’. Idioms help him/her to be more convincing,
figurative and expressive.

2.1. The Choice of Conjunctions

In our opinion, even the choice of conjunctions in the structure of idioms is
not random, but depends on the style of a literary text and characterization of
characters in a novel, i.e. on how the author chooses to present his/her characters
6
see Menac (1992: 262).

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and their environment (e.g. whether they speak colloquially or not). Due to
aforementioned formulas for idiomatic constructions in English, as and like were
used, but the conjunctions as if and as though also correspond stylistically to
translation equivalents in our corpus.

Table 2: Representation of comparative conjunctions in the corpus

2.2. Zoonims
Animal idioms are called zoonims, and are considered within our first
hypothesis. Idioms in general reflect the spirit of a culture in which they incurred,
attitudes and lifestyle of people who coined and use them, as well as people’s
relationship with the surrounding world. Every nation introduces the images of its
environment in the explanation of some meaning. Therefore, comparative idioms
which Ćopić used illustrate largely a picturesque landscape of Podrmeč and the
speech of people from Krajina. The most common animal images in Bosnian
idioms are a ‘rabbit’ (7 examples) and ‘goat’ (6 examples), while ‘pig’ (4
examples) and ‘goat’ (4 examples) dominate English idioms.

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Figure 1: Animals in Bosnian idioms

Figure 2: Animals in English idioms

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As Popović says:

The style of good English writers is always idiomatic ... The study of idiomatic
expressions – many of whom are figurative and full of associations, which gives
color to author's style and sparkle conversation – is at the same time the first step
of getting to know the spirit of a European nation. Just as our proverbs7 contain
wisdom of our folk, thus idiomatic expressions of the English contain much of a
peculiar humor and practical common sense of their race, and there are plenty of
their imaginative worldview. (Popović in Radenković 1956: VI)

Analogously, if English idioms create a certain image of the Englishmen, then

Ćopić’s idioms characterise us, the native speakers, the society we live in, the
system of values and beliefs that we share. Therefore, they should be assigned the
best equivalent translation possible, so that they may present us in the right light.

3. Cognitive Aspect
Comparing structures so that one functions as a comparative standard (the so-
called standard of comparison) and the other as its goal (target) is our fundamental
cognitive ability. It has been concluded that different cultures categorize their
experiences differently due to different experiences in the world around them,
which are then so clearly reflected in the language. We agree with Buljan (2002:
54) that “experiential diversity inevitably results in linguistic diversity, as a
reflection of the different conceptual organization of the surrounding world”. To
provide examples, we singled out idioms with ‘red’ as well as those which refer to
‘red’ and/or ‘redness’:

Bosnian Idioms English Idioms

crven kao ljutit ćuran; rujna kao rascvjetala bulka; as red as a turkey-
pocrveniti kao bulka u polju podno Prokina gaja; cock; as red as a
buknuti kao vatra; crven kao motika u vatri; rumen poppy/peony; red as a
kao zora; planuti kao proljetna zora nad Prokinim bee-troot/a lobster;
gajem; pocrveniti kao vatra u sutonu; pocrveniti kao
suton u zapadnim oblacima; rumen kao breskva;
rumen kao divlja ruža u živici; pocrvenjeti kao
petokraka zvijezda komesara čete
Table 3: Idioms with ‘red’

The concordance among the images is evident in some idioms (e.g. crven kao
ćuran/as red as a turkey-cock), but the use of images from speaker’s environment

7
Many linguists think of proverbs as idioms in wider terms.

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is much more numerous. This could in some way be seen as an expansion of

idiom’s original form, which then results in regionalism (e.g. pocrveniti kao bulka
u polju podno Prokina gaja, planuti kao proljetna zora nad Prokinim gajem).
People often use colour idioms to describe psychological and emotional states8. A
change of skin color (usually face) is considered to be a symptom of a
physiological response to a sense of shame, fear, or anger, for example:

“Na pomen Maričina imena mladi majstor Lazar pocrvenje kao motika u
vatri, kao vatra u suton, kao suton u zapadnim oblacima”9.
“She flushed as red as the mulberry walls”10.
“He reached for it now in sudden embarrassment, her cheeks turning as red
as its flaming petals”11.

In her book Glas tradicije12, Škara writes:

The meaning of a sentence becomes comprehensible because the arrangement of

its constituent parts creates a certain image, and the phenomenon of an image is
based on our past experiences. Every nation introduces images of its
environment in the explanation of meaning. Certain images have a symbolic
value common to many nations, but also specific to each nation. Škara (1997:
116-117)

Traditionally, it has been argued that a comparison is composed of the three

elements: comparandum, comparatum and tertium comparationis13. Comparative
idioms in which tertium comparationis or comparandum are not expressed are
typical of both Bosnian and English. Our corpus includes like one of the family and
like a bolt from the blue, which some linguists14 do not consider comparisons in a
true sense of that word “because a condition for comparison which would make
sense in this context is missing”. We disagree because often the verb ‘missing’ on
the left can be reconstructed from the context, or the verb to be can be used. In that
case, the words on the right side of the conjunction are the basis for meaning.
When it comes to the basis of comparison, or tertium comparationis, it does not
8
Of course, emotions can be expressed through idioms whose component is not a colour [e.g.
nekome srce omekša kao zečiji rep (literally: someone’s heart softens like a rabbit’s tail) to express
compassion; as merry/chirpy as a cricket/bell to express happiness]. In this paper, we opted for
colour idioms.
9
“At the mention of Marica’s name, young master Lazar blushed like a hoe in the fire, like the fire in
the evening, like a dusk in the western clouds”. (Translated by M. Š.)
10
British National Corpus CA0 1211.
11
British National Corpus JXT 797.
12
The voice of tradition.
13
There is a disagreement among linguists about this as well, see e.g. Omazić (2000: 107).
14
e.g. Matešić, see Omazić (2000: 108).

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necessarily have to be stated explicitly, but can be inferred from the context. The
analysed corpus includes examples of explicitly used tertium comparationis (juriti
bučno kao južni vjetar), as well as examples of its implicit use (mirisati/lijepo/kao
đul, blistati/jako, jasno/kao pun mjesec).
A positive and negative evaluation of a term requires caution because it
depends on what the speaker actually wanted to say, especially if there is no
explicitly expressed tertium comparationis, as is makljati opasno kao bacač. The
idiom grunuti kao grom nebeski can have ‘strongly’, ‘loudly’ or ‘suddenly’ as
tertium comparationis, depending on what the speaker wanted to say. The idiom
rušiti se poput usova can have ‘rapidly’ or ‘uncontrollably’ as a tertium
comparationis, or something else that would have a negative connotation if it is
about someone or something that causes some damage. Omazić (2002: 121) offers
an example: “When she stabbed her toe, she screamed like mad”, and explains that
‘mad’ can amplify the meaning (she screamed loudly, badly), but also carry a
negative connotation (she screamed like he was berserk). There are two ways to
evaluate concepts:

a) One image as a means of evaluating different concepts, for example

‘pig/swine/hog’ (debeo kao prasac/as fat as a pig, ješan kao prase/as
greedy as a pig, bezobrazan kao krmče/as bold as brass). So, the match
in the two languages is evident in this example. However, if we consider
the example of ‘lamb’, the thesis about one comparison as expressive
means for evaluating multiple terms is confirmed only for Bosnian
(poslušan kao jagnje, dobar kao jagnje), but not English, because it
employs two different images ‘lamb’ and ‘gold’ (as meek as a lamb, as
good as gold). However, it should be noted here that ‘pig/swine/hog’ is a
noun with a negative connotation in both languages. There are idioms in
the corpus, however, with positive connotations in both languages (čist
kao suza/as clear as crystal, dobar kao dobar dan/as good as gold, zdrav
kao parip/healthy as a horse/fit as fiddle/fit as a flea).
b) Various images as a means of evaluation of a single concept. Consider
the idioms buljiti kao pečen brav and buljiti kao rak, where the term
‘buljiti/stare’ collocates with two different images ‘brav/calf’ and
‘ak/crab’. In English, these two idioms have one equivalent to stare like
a calf’s head. Another example is a pair of idioms brz kao hrt/brz kao
oči (as quick as flash/lightning) in Bosnian, and (as) smooth as
silk/velvet/mill-pond in English.

4. Stylistic Aspect
The linguistic ability of human beings itself is an inexhaustible source of study, so
it is not surprising that there are never enough studies on the creative word plays,
and thus on idioms. However, when it comes to the field of idiomatics itself, the

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least has been achieved in the study of stylogenity of idiomatic expressions. This
is partly due to the effort to define, classify and study the structure of these units
first, to be able to compare them across languages, genres, etc. Another factor
would be poor dictionary entries, i.e. an incomplete description of linguistic units
in general. This is a major concern when it comes to idioms, given their semantic
and syntactic complexity. During the corpus analysis, we focused on stylistic
markedness of Bosnian idioms because we believe it is of great importance for
their full semantization, which is crucial for assigning translation equivalents 15.
We analysed stylogenic elements of Ćopić’s idiostyle and identified levels of
linguostylistic analysis with specific types of stylemes (lexical and syntactic
stylistic devices). This contributed to better understanding and translation of
idioms, linguistic units with a very complex semantic potential. The main focus
has been inherently expressive lexicon16 because these forms comprise idioms in
the corpus, for example: miran kao bubica, mekan kao zečić (bubica, zečić =
diminutives), primicati se kao olujna oblačina (oblačina = an augmentative), ješan
kao prase (ješan/greedy = a pejorative), etc. In the following examples, the writer
uses punctuation to further emphasize the meaning:

“Vidi mu nosa, kao paprika”17.

“U-uh kako peče, kao živa vatra”18.
“Artiljerac, kuvar Lijan, dobro gađa – kao pijan”19.

In the later idiom dobro gađa – kao pijan, an apparent example of irony, the
writer contrasts two opposing images ‘shoot well’ and ‘be drunk’. In addition to
aforementioned diminutives and augmentatives, Ćopić used a significant number
of onomatopeisms (e.g.: šiknuti kao gusak/to honk like a goose, skvičati kao
svinjče/to squeal like a pig), slang (makljati kao jarac/hit like a ton of bricks),
loanwords [đinđuva (Hungarian: gyöngy; English: cheap jewelry, trinket, bead),
džukela (Turkish: džühela; English: cur), đul (Turkish: gül; English: rose), parip
(Greek: parippos; English: gelding)]20.
When faced with phraseological synonyms, Ćopić skillfully opted for those
expressions which trigger emotions, those which suited him best due to their
additional semantic potential and stylistic values. Of course, it all depends on what
the writer wants to achieve by using a specific lexis, or by omitting lexis he or she

15
see Šehić (2012: 8).
16
Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 218) classifies emotionally-expressive vocabulary into inherently
expressive and contextually-expressive vocabulary. Idioms, diminutives, augmentatives, pejoratives,
jargon and onomatopoeisms are inherently expressive vocabulary.
17
“Look at his nose, like pepper”.
18
“U-uh it burns, like a living fire”.
19
“Artilleryman, the cook Lijan, shoots well – like a drunk”.
20
Word origin has been verified in Bratoljub Klaić’s dictionary of foreign words (2004).

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could but did not use. For example, the idiom slagati se kao partizanska kolona (to
string together like a line of Partisans) reflects the time in which the author lived
and we characterised it as an authentic idiom. Thus, the author’s modifications
provide additional information (e.g. about the setting: Sanička dolina/Sana valley,
Prokin gaj/Prokin grove, or just the Grove).
When it comes to syntactic devices, Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 250) has
analyzed nominalisation, ellipsis, parcellation and inversion. There is no idiom in
the Trilogy whose components have been omitted or reduced. The language in
Ćopić’s works is rich and diverse. When he wrote, Ćopić did not summarise or
reduce, but added to common forms. He infrequently inverted idiom
components21. Thus, we have anteposition of a predicate (“Grunu kubura kao
grom, zadimi se bojište, izleti štap iz čičinih ruku, a poljar, padajući od straha na
zemlju, samo što ciknu: Upomoć, pogiboh!”)22, anteposition of a pronoun
(“Umjesto odgovora, nečim ponesen kao u snu, Jovanče se prignu i poljubi
djevojčicu u sjajno vlažno oko”)23, inversion of an adverbial (“Blistajući kao pun
mjesec, Mačak blaženo zagrli Kušlju, poče da ga miluje i češka oko ušiju i
odjednom prestravljeno izbeči oči i dreknu24. Tog istog trenutka jarac strelovito
ispade iz trapa i snažno, poput granate, raspali pogurenog čiču od pozadi” 25).

5. Conclusion
The paper deals with Bosnian and English idioms of comparison. The basis for
this analysis is the corpus of idioms from Ćopić’s novel The Pioneer Trilogy. The
paper confirms that:

a) most comparative idioms contain images of animals, which give us

information about the setting (a rural area), as well as the lifestyle of the
characters (attitudes, beliefs, rituals, etc.);
b) most comparative idioms in the Trilogy are modified;
c) the degree of concordance of Bosnian and English idioms is low.

21
Katnić-Bakaršić (2007: 257) considers an inversion to be “order N+G (new+given) [...] whereby
the component which carries a new information comes first”.
22
“It struck like a bolt from the blue, a battleground was in smoke, and a rod flung from the old
man’s hand, and the cook, falling from fear to the ground, only squeaked: Help, I’m dying!”
23
“Instead of answering, overpowered by something like in a dream, Jovanče bent down and kissed
the girl in a glossy wet eye”.
24
“Shining like a good deed in a naughtly world, Mačak embraced Kušlja blissfully, and started
caressing him and scratching behind the ears, but suddenly – terrified – he opens his eyes widely and
shouts”.
25
“That same moment, the goat rapidly burst out of the cellar and hit the old man hard from behind
like a shell”.

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 mTm. Minor Translating Major-Major Translating Minor-Minor Translating Vol. 6

The first hypothesis is fully confirmed. The most common animals in Bosnian
idioms are ‘rabbit/bunny’ (7 examples) and ‘goat’ (6 examples), and ‘pig’ (4
examples) and ‘goat’ (4 examples) in English. The hypothesis about the number of
modified idioms in the corpus is only partially confirmed: 46% of idioms are in
their original form, and 54% of idioms have been modified. The most common
type of modification is the expansion. No idiom in the corpus has been reduced,
which confirms our claim that Ćopić does not sum up or omit, but adds elements
in his writing. The corpus analysis confirmed our third hypothesis: only 28% of
idioms have full translation equivalents. Thus, the degree of concordance of
Bosnian and English idioms is low, which means that there is a difference between
them in at least one segment: a different linguistic structure, a different image, or
both. Lexical peculiarities reflect the specifics of a culture and community.
However, it would be unsubstantial to claim that there were no similarities in the
lexicon, which are a result of language contacts, knowledge about the world and
general semantic mechanisms.

Mersina Šehić, MA
University of Bihać, BiH
mersina.sehic@yahoo.com

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Mersina Šehić has defended her Masters thesis in the field of comparative
phraseology and currently teaches English at the University of Bihać. Ms. Šehić
has completed E-Teacher scholarship programme, Summative and Formative
Assessment in Language Learning and Teaching, sponsored by the U. S.
Department of State. She is engaged in two international projects at the Slavistics
Institute at the University of Graz, her research areas being comparative
phraseology and contact linguistics.

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