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Untypical frequencies in translated language 95
(7) F a. Kiirehdin ehtiäkseni junaan. non-finite
b. Kiirehdin, jotta ehtisin junaan. finite
R Ja toropilas´ čtoby uspet´ na poezd. non-finite
E I hurried ( in order) to catch the train. non-finite
AsFigure7shows,translatedtextsareagainstrikinglydifferentfromthe
original Finnish texts but the tendency is the opposite of that in the referative
construction: there are over twice as many final constructions in translations
than in original Finnish texts.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
628
564
232
TE-texts
TR-texts
OF-texts
Figure 7. Frequencies of final constructions
It might well be that the infinite verb forms in English and Russian
function as stimuli and result in over-representation of final constructions
in Finnish translations. This is supported by Nousiainen (1982), who found
that over 90% of final constructions in Finnish texts are translated as final (in
order) to- constructions into English. She also argues that no other non-finite
construction in Finnish has such a clear, straightforward equivalent in English.
Quirk et al. (1972:753) state that in English, clauses of purpose are in the great
majority of infinitivals.
In the use of the final construction there is evidence of a preference to place
qualifiers in back position in translations more often than in original Finnish
texts. The percentages are low (Table 5), but are still consonant with the results
concerning the word order of temporal constructions.
Table 5. Position of qualifiers in final constructions
Front position
Back position
f % f %
TE-texts N = 593 11 1.9 582 98.1
TR-texts N = 532 13 2.4 519 97.6
OF-texts N = 207 16 7.7 191 92.2