LINGUOPRAGMATIC AND PROSODIC PECULIARITIES OF TRANSLATING SONG DISCOURSE IN ANIMATED CINEMA (BASED ON THE GERMAN AND UKRAINIAN LOCALIZATION OF THE FILM "DIE EISKÖNIGIN – VÖLLIG UNVERFROREN")

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive linguo-translatological analysis of how song discourse is rendered in the cinematic localization of the animated musical film "Die Eiskönigin – Völlig unverfroren" ("Frozen") into German and Ukrainian. The study highlights the song text as a complex semiotic entity. Here, the verbal component interacts closely with the musical structure, rhythm, and visual elements. Using the discursive-pragmatic approach, the paper investigates translation strategies and transformations. These are used to achieve prosodic equivalence and preserve the original communicative intent within the strict space and time limits of dubbing and subtitling. The paper also examines how constraints on rhyme, metrics, and vocal singability can lead to divergence from the original semantic structure in the German and Ukrainian versions. The findings show that the German localization focuses on formal and structural elegance. By contrast, the Ukrainian translation emphasizes pragmatic adaptation and semantic compression to keep the intended emotional and aesthetic effect for the audience. The historical context of the film's musical concept, rooted in the Broadway tradition, makes translation more difficult, as the songs serve narrative functions. The comparative analysis of key musical numbers, such as the climactic "Let It Go" ("Lass jetzt los" / "Vse odno"), illustrates the interplay between phonetic reduction, syllable-count retention, and pragmatic remodeling in audiomedial texts. Results reveal that German versions maintain line-by-line syntactic segmentation, whereas Ukrainian versions often rely on semantic restructuring and syntactic compression to meet the musical score's rhythmic and melodic demands. The Ukrainian translation deliberately disregards the literal denotative meaning of words to preserve the poetic form and euphony, and to create a powerful emotional and aesthetic effect.