ANTONYMIC TRANSLATION: USING OPPOSITES TO PRESERVE MEANING IN TRANSLATION

Antonymic translation is a strategy where a translator uses an opposite (antonym) together with a grammatical change—often negation—to preserve the original meaning more naturally in the target language. It is especially useful when a literal translation sounds awkward, changes emphasis, or fails to deliver the same pragmatic effect. This thesis explains antonymic translation as a meaning-preserving transformation and shows its most common triggers: negative-to-positive reformulation, avoidance of unnatural double negatives, and idiomatic phrase rendering. The discussion is supported by translation-transformation research that describes antonymic translation as a method for avoiding distortion and achieving adequacy in difficult cases. Examples with commentary demonstrate how the technique works in practice and why it should be applied selectively rather than mechanically.