A Cognitive-Typological Analysis of Motion Encoding in Translation from Russian into Persian

Motion is one of the most fundamental cognitive concepts, encoded in typologically distinct ways across languages. According to Talmy’s (1985) theory, languages are divided into two groups: verb-framed (where Path is encoded in the verb) and satellite-framed (where Manner is encoded in the verb, Path in a satellite element). This study examines the behavior of Persian – a language exhibiting hybrid framing patterns – in translating Manner and Path from Russian (a satellite-framed language). It analyzes the role of linguistic typology in the selection of translation strategies. Situated within cognitive translation studies and the descriptive paradigm, this research draws on cognitive semantics as its theoretical and methodological foundation. The analysis of 80 cases extracted from the translation of a literary work reveals that Persian demonstrates a stable orientation toward verb-framed encoding model in the cross-linguistic transfer of these semantic components. Specifically, the Path component was retained and prioritized in the semantic core of the verb in 80% of the cases, while the Manner component was either omitted or subordinated in 60% of the cases, and was conveyed via verbal elements only in a limited number of the remaining cases. This asymmetrical pattern – namely, the prioritization of Path in the verb’s semantic core and the subordination of Manner – aligns with Talmy's predictions for verb-framed languages. Furthermore, this pattern remains dominant even under conditions of faithful translation. The findings attest to the determining influence of typological differences on translation decision-making, a phenomenon also explicable through Slobin’s «Thinking for Speaking» hypothesis.