Phraseological units with zoonyms in bilingual school dictionaries (Portuguese-English) and the issue of equivalences

Abstract

Phraseological units with zoonyms (UFz) are metaphorical expressions members of culture and which express specific aspects of communication, with a very specific tint to the conversation of speakers of a language. For this reason, it is expected that dictionaries can translate UFz into the target language, as closely as possible to the source language, with regard to informality. One expects to know how is the treatment of the UFz regarding equivalence is assigned in school bilingual dictionaries in the Portuguese-English direction. The research is based on assumptions of Bilingual Lexicography and Metalexicography with authors such as Casares (1950); Zgusta (1971, 1984); Bejóint (1981, 1994, 2000); Hartmann (2007); Welker (2004) at the interface made with the Phraseology with Zuluaga (1980); Ortiz Alvarez (2000); Corpas Pastor (1996); Xatara (1998), etc. The article aims at informing certain conceptualizations given to the equivalence and phraseology in an attempt to understand what can be expected of the translations offered for the UFz in the surveyed dictionaries. This is a side view of Budny’s thesis (2015) that shows the low incidence of these phraseologisms (about 37%) in those materials and the divergence of translations for them, translations that are not always satisfactory for the emblematic cultural aspect of the UFz.