Functions of realia in fiction (on the basis of Smagul Yelubay’s novel ‘Ak Boz Uy’)

Abstract

Realia are reflection of the national code in a language. They denote nominative information about geographical environment, history, everyday life, customs and traditions, domestic affairs of a certain nation. They also perform stylistic functions. While translating the realia in fiction into other languages, the nominative meaning of realia are preserved, but their pragmatic and stylistic functions aren’t usually taken into account. Moreover, there are very few research works which focus of the functions of realia in fiction. In the article the studies on functions of realia have been reviewed, and the functions of the realia in S.Yelubay’s novel ‘Ak Boz Uy’ have been indicated. The author identifies the nominative, i.e. temporal, geographical, ethno-cultural, and stylistic, i.e. symbolic, evaluating, associative, characterological, and expressive functions of culture-specific lexical units in the novel. The author has also emphasized the importance of taking into account the functions of realia in translation.