Translation Feature of Occasionalisms in Harry Potter: A Comparative Study of English, Russian, and Kazakh Versions

Authors

  • Aizhan Talgatkyzy Kussaiynova

    Department of Foreign Philology and Translation Studies Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty 050002, Kazakhstan
  • Gaukhar Tleukabylovna Yersultanova

    Department of Language Education, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050002, Kazakhstan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i11.10185
Received: 25 May 2025 | Revised: 22 August 2025 | Accepted: 27 August 2025 | Published Online: 24 October 2025

Abstract

Occasionalism is very important to the imaginary world, how characters develop, and how the story is told, so translators need to find a balance between being faithful to the original and creating linguistic and cultural substitutes for the audience. This study explores the difficulties in converting nonce words inside the Harry Potter books, and it stresses their stylistic, semantic, and cultural subtleties. This study also explains the particular foreignization as well as domestication that is applied for the transfer of English occasional words into Russian along with the Kazakh language. Some instances within certain studies show how many translations encounter those problems. The research utilized a comparative and corpus-based approach by creating a parallel corpus of the texts in English, Kazakh, and Russian, finding 100 occasionalisms, and analysing their translation strategies which included borrowing, calque, substitution, and descriptive translation. In addition to the textual analysis, using the surveys to collect evaluation data allowed us to analyse the audience perception with regard to the clarity, culture, and acceptability of the translations of occasionalisms. This paper highlights the importance of specific inventiveness, subtle cultural awareness, and expert language skills in translating nonce words. By examining the multiple strategies along with specific challenges within the Harry Potter translations, it offers useful insights into the wide-ranging field of literary translation, in addition to the detailed interplay between language and imagination.

Keywords:

Occasionalism; Translation Methods; Foreignization; Domestication; Harry Potter

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How to Cite

Kussaiynova, A. T., & Yersultanova, G. T. (2025). Translation Feature of Occasionalisms in Harry Potter: A Comparative Study of English, Russian, and Kazakh Versions. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(11), 1049–1062. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i11.10185

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 11 (November 2025)

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Article

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Copyright © 2025 Aizhan Talgatkyzy Kussaiynova, Gaukhar Tleukabylovna Yersultanova

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