How mental spaces shape the Libras translation of children’s stories

Abstract

This article analyzes the processes involved in the translation of a children’s story with regard to the uses of mental spaces in the elaboration of utterances and meanings. This is a qualitative research study that seeks to contribute to the field of Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS). The material chosen for the study was the story entitled ‘A Sementinha’ (The Little Seed), translated and signed by a deaf teacher, a member of the team at the Support Center for the Deaf and Professionals in Deaf Education of Paraná - CAS Guarapuava (2021). For data production, the story was divided into three moments, and in each of these moments, a sentence was chosen for analysis and discussion of how the translation of the children’s story genre was shaped in relation to mental spaces. The analysis considered whether or not these five main points were present: the enunciator’s imagetic production in the space of enunciation; the body as the main reference in the organization of the uses of mental spaces; the predominance of which mental space(s); the deictic-anaphoric function in the syntactic structure; the need to indicate a better use of mental spaces. The results indicate the greater recurrence in the use of token mental space, since the translator makes abundant use of Classifiers. In some sentences, there is a smooth passage and with a punctual transition from this space to the surrogate mental space. And that the signed children’s story is characterized as an important resource for enjoyment and potentiates the development of the deaf child.
Keywords: Translation/interpretation. Libras. Children’s story. Mental spaces.