A Frame Semantic Approach to the Study of Quoting Verbs and Their Translation Strategies in Fiction: A Case Study of the Persian Translation of Heart of Darkness

The present investigation set out to examine the strategies employed in the translation of quoting verbs into Persian within a frame semantic approach. To this end, in the first stage of the research, a total of 360 quoting verbs used in Conrad's Heart of Darkness wasextracted and subjected to a comparative analysis with those employed by the Persian translator Saleh Hosseini, based on Sams' (2009) list of the frames of quoting verbs. Findings showed that, in addition to the high frequency of the frame of communication / statement, frames such as communication/question, communication/turn-taking, communication / manner, and communication/noise had a comparatively high occurrence, respectively, and that the realizations of other frames were either absent in both mini-corpora or quite negligible. In the next stage of the study, twelve translation strategy types employed by the translator were identified and their tokens were tabulated. Findings indicated that, subsequent to the literal translation strategy, strategies such as transformation of a descriptive quotative into a neutral one, transformation of a non - quoting verb into a quoting verb, use of adverbial phrase + verb and prepositional phrase + verb, and transformation of a single quoting verb into two quoting verbs in Persian had, respectively, the highest occurrences. It also seems that English in its written fictional genre deploys a greater number of quoting verbs and more flexible quotatives compared to Persian, thereby making the task of translation a challenging one for the Persian translator. Similar yet comprehensive investigations are likely to contribute to the empowerment of novice translators.