METAPHORIC COVID NEOLOGISMS AND THEIR TRANSLATION PECULIARITIES

Abstract

The present paper examines the translatability of English metaphoric neologisms into Armenian in COVID discourse and investigates certain translation strategies used to deal with the problem, which, if not solved, will result in unexpressive translations leading to inefficient communication. The research focuses on the translation peculiarities of the new concepts (often expressed metaphorically) which form a new layer of medical disease terminology of the global vocabulary. Words used in COVID discourse need to be treated with care and responsibility since the usage of COVID neologisms fuels tension and creates distortion in public mind and, thus, causes panic and improper conduct. The results achieved through the application of the methods of induction and deduction prove that the translation of such terms serves to better understand the sender’s message (although there are cases of ambiguity due to some hidden extra-linguistic basis) and discloses the fact that in the postmodern COVID period metaphor and metaphoric neologisms in healthcare, business and global media communication are coined quickly as a result of radical social changes, an unprecedented amount of “polluted” information, negative attitudes towards vaccination campaigns and false conspiracy narratives. Both English and Armenian metaphoric neologisms highlight the various aspects of the mentioned social response.