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The phraseological unit more light was shed was translated by means of lexical transformation and the passive construction was replaced by an active one. The passive construction in the object clause also undergone lexical transformation – verbal construction was substituted by substantive one: по утверждению.
This example can illustrate the fact that lexical and grammatical transformations are closely related with each other.
Transposition, that’s, change of structure of the sentence may be caused by several reasons. But the main of them, as it has been mentioned before is the difference in the structure of the English and Russian languages. The fixed order of words in English bears hierarchic character, first come the primary parts of the sentence; noun, predicate followed by secondary parts. In Russian the word order is not fixed but one can observe the tendency to locate the main information at the end of sentences expressing it be the noun. The academic grammar of Russian points that the word order in Russian sentences follows the model: adverbial modifier, predicate and then the noun – that’s the order absolutely opposite to English. In Russian, the secondary part of the sentence can stand at the beginning if it represents the starting point of expression and introduces theme of given information, ex:
Вчера в Вашингтоне состоялась пресс-конференция.
The essence of the information is пресс-конференция – which is expressed by the noun located at the end of the sentence. Nevertheless, this word-order is not obligatory, ex:
Премьер-министр выступил вчера по телевидению.
Here we find the main essence at the beginning of sentence.
In English, according to fixed word order, the noun of the sentence stands at the beginning of clause. One of the prominent English linguists, Halliday marks that, usually (but not always) a starting point is intrinsic to English sentences.
Still in many cases the English sentence happens to be the center of informative message, compare A Press Conference was held in Washington yesterday. Usually it happens when the noun of the sentence is expressed with an indefinite article. Something, semantically new has got to be expressed in the sentence, and the earlier one should be opposed to the new one, which is being expressed. Therefore the indefinite article functions represents this new information, introduces it.
A smash-and-grab raid on two of the most important nationalized industries is being organized by the Tory Party.
Консерваторы собираются обрушиться на две самые значительные национализированные отрасли промышленности.
(the metaphor smash-and-grab has not been preserved in translated version)
Nevertheless, similar word order in English and Russian sentences are also evident.
A meeting of firemen’s and employers’ representatives scheduled for today has been postponed.
Намеченная на сегодня встреча представителей пожарников и предпринимателей была отложена.
A Catholic priest in South Africa told of the malnutrition, disease and starvation there.
Один католический священник из Южной Африки рассказывал о существующем там недоедании, болезнях и голоде.
Transposition is required when the English sentence contains a large group of nouns with indefinite article and then it is natural that they, being the center of informative message are placed at the end of the sentence. Besides, a short, compared with the noun predicate can not bear the emphatic sense of a large group of nouns.
A big wave of actions by all sections of workers – skilled and unskilled, men and women, manual and non-manual – for higher wages and equal pay, for shorter hours and a greater say in shaping the environment at work is rising.
Сейчас нарастает огромная волна забастовок трудящихся всех категорий – квалифицированных и не квалифицированных, мужчин и женщин, работников физического и умственного труда – за повышение зарплаты, за равную оплату женского труда, за сокращение рабочего дня, за улучшение условий труда.
It is very frequent when grammatical and lexical transformations demand supplementation or omission of some words or elements. Therefore omission and supplementation are frequently combined with other types of grammatical transformations and more frequently with substitution of parts of speech. Supplementation of parts of speech are characterized by several factors: difference in structures of the sentences and that short English sentences demand spread translation in the Russian language. Absence of some corresponding word or lexical-semantic variant in both languages is also one of the reasons of applying additional words in translation.
Реферат опубликован: 21/05/2007