Translation Universals.pdf - ymerleksi - home
Translation Universals.pdf - ymerleksi - home
Translation Universals.pdf - ymerleksi - home
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Untypical frequencies in translated language 89<br />
b. Despite certain restrictions, the structure has an equivalent in English<br />
and Russian that can be productively paraphrased by a finite verb form<br />
(temporal construction).<br />
c. The structure has a clear straightforward equivalent in English and Russian<br />
that has no productive finite alternative (final construction).<br />
The factors mentioned are all common to English and Russian; Finnish is in<br />
this sense quite different from both. However, I will later mention features that<br />
differentiate English and Russian and show thatitisoftenthedissimilarities<br />
between these source languages that cause differences between translations<br />
from them. Now I will present my results concerning the differences in<br />
frequencies and distributions of referative, temporal and final constructions<br />
in translated and non-translated texts in more detail.<br />
3.2.1 The referative construction<br />
The referative construction is used in Finnish to contract an affirmative<br />
that-clause with verbs such as see, hear, believe and say etc. It represents<br />
a syntactic structure which is specific to the Finnish language and which<br />
has no straightforward equivalent in Russian and English. As examples (1)–<br />
(2) illustrate, in Finnish you can choose between a finite verb form and its<br />
compact, non-finite counterpart (irrespective of the verb), but in Russian and<br />
English it is typical to prefer either a non-finite or a finite verb form in referative<br />
expressions, and a choice between interchangeable variants is quite rare (in<br />
English the verb see requires a non-finite and know a finite verb form, in<br />
Russian corresponding expressions call for finite verb forms in both cases).<br />
(1) F a. Näin Liisan lukevan kirjaa. non-finite<br />
b. Näin, että Liisa lukee kirja. finite<br />
R Ja videla, čto Liisa čitaet knigu. finite<br />
E I saw Liisa read/reading a book. non-finite<br />
(2) F a. Tiedän hänen tulleen. non-finite<br />
b. Tiedän, että hän on tullut. finite<br />
R Ja znaju, čto ona prišla. finite<br />
E I know (that) she has come. finite<br />
The results show that translations have a lower frequency of referative constructions<br />
than the original Finnish texts (Figure 1). This tendency is especially<br />
strong in translations from Russian. The under-representation of referative<br />
constructions in translations seems quite logical as there is no systematic<br />
infinitive stimulus in corresponding structures in the source languages.
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