Old English verbs of saying and verb-initial order

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA CICHOSZ
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Foreign Influence ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
General Frequency

OE verb-initial main clauses are associated with a number of stylistic functions and they are said to co-occur with specific verb types, including verbs of saying (Mitchell 1985; Petrova 2006; Ohkado 2005). It has also been observed that the general frequency of the V-1 pattern in OE is text-specific and that the structure is exceptionally well represented in Bede (Calle-Martín & Miranda-García 2010; Ohkado 2000; Mitchell 1985). Latin influence has been suggested as a possible explanation for the high frequency of V-1 in this text, but this hypothesis has never been tested (Ohkado 2000). The aim of this study is to analyse V-1 main clauses containing verbs of saying in order to determine the motivation for the use of the pattern in OE and the possibility of foreign influence on the Bede translation. The analysis shows that OE V-1 clauses with verbs of saying are to a great extent lexically recurrent formulas used for turn-taking in conversations as well as marking transition in a story, and that their frequent use in the OE Bede is only partly influenced by the source text.

Give as a light verb

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-306
Author(s):  
Elena Martínez Caro ◽  
Jorge Arús-Hita
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
British English ◽  
Light Verb Constructions ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Pragmatic Variation ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract Light Verb Constructions (LVCs) have received widespread attention. Research on these constructions, however, has for the most part focused exclusively on their syntactic and lexical-semantic properties. Additionally, studies devoted to specific LVCs tend to neglect the phrasal-semantic and pragmatic variation brought about by the combination of a light verb with different nominal complements. This paper tries to fill those gaps by means of a quantitative and qualitative corpus-based study of Light give Constructions (LgiveCs). The quantitative analysis investigates frequencies of LgiveCs in British English and compares them across spoken and written (fiction) discourse, which reveals a high frequency of this construction in speech, especially in combinations of give with a ring, a kiss and an answer. When these combinations are excluded, LgiveCs are significantly more frequent in writing. In a complementary qualitative approach, we highlight the structural and discursive features of the construction and attempt to explore the factors that motivate the frequent use of the LgiveC in British English.

scholarly journals Reduplication of Consonant Graphemes in the Ormlum in The Light of Late Old English Scribal Evidence

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Mokrowiecki
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Standard View ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Scribal Tradition

AbstractAs opposed to previous studies, which usually attempt to refute the traditional interpretation put on the use of double consonants in The Ormulum, and attempt to advance an alternative explanation for the abnormally frequent use of <CC> digraphs, the current study primarily focuses on the standard view, which assumes that the scribe of MS Junius 1 applied double consonant graphemes to indicate vowel shortness. However, in this study the evidence comes not from The Ormulum but from two Late Old English MSS, as the use of double consonants to indicate vowel shortness is also occasionally attested in some earlier texts (Anderson - Britton 1997: 34, 51, 1999: 305, 317-323; Smith 2007: 107; and Laing 2008: 7-8). The major aim of this study is to show that the use of reduplicated consonant graphemes as indicators of vowel shortness is not confined exclusively to The Ormulum because this practice derives directly from Old English scribal tradition, where <CC> sequences were used not only to represent geminate (or long) consonants, but sporadically also for marking short vowels.

scholarly journals Przepisywanie Beowulfa: J.R.R. Tolkiena meandry przekładu

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (40) ◽  
pp. 47-63
Author(s):  
Tomasz Markiewka
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Vladimir Nabokov ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Alliterative Verse ◽  
Back Translation ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
The Ideal

Rewriting Boewulf: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Meandering Translation J.R.R. Tolkien’s works related to translation include both translations and adaptations in the form of pastiche. All of them have been published as posthumous editions, equipped with detailed critical commentaries and edited by the writer’s son, Christopher Tolkien. Among recent publications in English and Polish, one that deserves particular attention is a 1926 prose translation of the Old English poem Beowulf (2014, Polish ed. 2015). This edition presents Tolkien performing a few roles, acting as a translator, translation critic, editor, commentator, literary scholar, linguist, and creative writer. In fact, “translation” becomes a textual hybrid in which one can observe the work of a translator from the initial phase of close reading of a source text through three variants of prose translation (two from 1926 and one from 1942); alternative fragmentar translations in alliterative verse; a detailed philological and cultural commentary composed of lecture notes; original literary works inspired by Beowulf, which include the short story Sellic Spell (in two English versions and as a back translation into Old English); and two versions of the original poem The Lay of Beowulf. As a result, the 2014 edition of Tolkien’s Beowulf realizes the ideal of a translation once described by Vladimir Nabokov: the text of translation emerges from multilayered commentary, which, in Tolkien’s work, crosses the boundaries of languages and genres.

scholarly journals Passives of Possessive (ge)habban in a Passage in Ælfric’s Catholic Homily I, 33 in the Light of a Recently Discovered Augustinian Source

2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
Matti Kilpiö
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Remarkable Degree ◽  
Essential Unity ◽  
Base Text ◽  
Relaxed Formulation ◽  
The Trinity

AbstractThe main focus of this article is on a passage in Ælfric’s Catholic Homily I, 33 and its Latin source in Augustine’s Sermon 71. The correspondence between the Latin source text and Ælfric’s translation is exceptionally close, almost gloss-like. What is particularly striking is the occurrence of passives of possessive (ge)habban in the Old English, corresponding to passives of possessive habere in the source. In both Old English and Latin the expression of possession with the passives of both (ge)habban and habere is very rare. The Latin Trinitarian statement translated by Ælfric consists of three sentences which display a remarkable degree of parallelism at the level of syntax and lexis. This results in a compact statement consisting of parallel repeated elements, which not only establish differences between the three persons of the Godhead but also emphasise the essential unity underlying the Trinity. The article also briefly deals with another, syntactically more relaxed, formulation of the same Trinitarian statement occurring earlier in Augustine’s sermon and tentatively asks the question why Ælfric chose the more complex and unwieldy version with passives of habere as the base text for his translation.

Scytel: A New Old English Word for ‘Penis’

2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Word ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Dictionary Entry ◽  
Latin Word ◽  
Semantic Shift ◽  
Metaphorical Extension

Abstract In this paper, I examine the Old English word scytel, which appears in the Old English Medicina de quadrupedibus. I argue that, contrary to definitions offered in current Old English lexical aids, scytel does not mean ‘dung’, but rather ‘penis’. In the Medicina de quadrupedibus, OE scytel translates Lat. moium (from Greek μοιóν) ‘penis’. I begin by tracing the development of the definition/s of scytel in the lexicographic tradition (Sections 1.1 and 1.2) and in editions of the Medicina de quadrupedibus (Section 1.3). Starting with Bosworth-Toller (1882–1898), scytel (1) was defined as ‘dung’, apparently on the misperception of an etymological relationship between scytel (1) and Old English scitta, n. ‘shit’. Section 2 offers a discussion of the manuscripts containing the Old English Medicina de quadrupedibus and its Latin source text, and Section 3 contains a discussion of the two relevant recipes that contain OE scytel (1). In Section 4.1 I show that, in fact, scytel (1) cannot be etymologically related to any scit‑/scīt‑ ‘shit’ words in Old English, as the two derive from separate Germanic (Gmc.) and Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots. In Section 4.2, I argue that the scribe of the manuscripts containing scytel could not have written a non-etymological <y> for /i/, which eliminates the possibility that scytel is connected to scit‑/scīt‑ ‘shit’. It becomes clear, as demonstrated in Section 4.3, that scytel (1) ‘penis’ and scytel (2) ‘dart’ can be reconciled as a single dictionary entry, with ‘penis’ as a metaphorical extension of ‘dart’. I demonstrate in Section 4.4 that, from a cross-linguistic perspective, ‘dart’ > ‘penis’ is a well-attested semantic shift. Ultimately, it is clear that the Old English translator/s of the Medicina de quadrupedibus correctly translated the rare Latin word for ‘penis’ they encountered in the source text.

The regulation of gene mutation in plants

1970 ◽  
Vol 176 (1044) ◽  
pp. 295-302 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Mutation ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Related Phenomenon ◽  
Maize Seed ◽  
Pigment Synthesis ◽  
Entire Plant ◽  
General Frequency ◽  
The University ◽  
Epidermal Cell Layer

This discussion is based largely on work on mutable genes in maize by McClintock (1946-68, 1965), Brink and his associates (Barclay & Brink 1952; Brink & Nilan 1952), and Peterson (1966), with some points illustrated by reference to my own studies on Antirrhinum majus in collaboration with B. J. Harrison at the John Innes Institute and G. R. K. Sastry at the University of Leeds. The phenomenon of high mutability is, I believe, likely to have the same basis in Antirrhinum (and in numerous other flowering plants) as in maize. I shall not be dealing with the equally interesting and possibly related phenomenon of paramutation , described by Brink (1964). The mutability we are concerned with is set apart from most gene mutation by its extraordinarily high frequency. One finds alleles at well-known gene loci in both maize and Antirrhinum which mutate thousands of times in the development of every plant carrying them so that, if the gene in question controls pigmentation, numerous differently coloured spots and sectors of various sizes appear throughout the plant. All the examples I shall be mentioning concern anthocyanin pigmentation in the maize seed or in the epidermal cell layer of Antirrhinum. The mutations affect not only these visibly pigmented tissues but also the subepidermal cells, which do not normally form pigment themselves but give rise to germ cells which can transmit an altered capacity for pigment synthesis to the entire plant in the next generation. In some cases the frequency of mutations among the germ cells can amount to several per cent and in our Antirrhinum system we have occasionally encountered frequencies of more than 50 %. We are dealing here with a process which is at least 3 or 4 orders of magnitude more frequent than any reasonable estimate of the general frequency of errors in DNA replication.

scholarly journals Theme markedness in the translation of student translators

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudy Sofyan
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Target Language ◽  
News Item ◽  
Translation Product ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Analysis Design ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

A good translation product should be able to reflect the typical characteristics of the target language in terms of its function and structure. One of the structure features that can show that the target text (TT) is free from the influence of the structure of the source language (SL) is its theme structure. As there are both marked and unmarked themes, this would be considered as one of the options to characterize the TT structure. This is a research-based article aimed at finding out the extent of theme markedness in the student translators’ TTs. This research used content analysis design, taking 15 student translators as the participants. They were asked to translate two news item texts from English as the source text (ST) into Bahasa Indonesia as the TT. The data were collected using Translog. Based on the data analysis, it was found that: (i) simple unmarked theme (SUT) was the theme most frequently used in both the ST and the TTs; (ii) Indonesian news item texts were characterized by the frequent use of marked themes. This finding indicates that Indonesian news item text puts more emphasis on how the events presented in the text can be easily caught by the readers as SUT is characterized through the use of short clauses with low lexical density. This study concludes that English and Indonesian news item texts share a small number of similarities as most of their clauses are composed of simple marked themes (SMT) but the similarities are outweighed by a large number of differences.

scholarly journals Simile As An Effective Literary Device in the Vietnamese-English Translation Equivalent

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-123
Author(s):  
Nguyen Huu Chanh
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Rate ◽  
Translation Equivalent ◽  
Figure Of Speech ◽  
Literary Device ◽  
Complete Form ◽  
Literary Devices ◽  
Shed Light

Many Vietnamese writers have recognised the utility of literary devices to beautify the artistic features in written texts. Like other rhetorical devices, simile plays an essential role in bringing meaningful values close to the readers. The research aims at identifying the usage of simile in the translation equivalents between Vietnamese and English in  De men phieu luu ky and its translated version Diary of a cricket. From analysing 108 sentences by the descriptive qualitative research, the findings showed that (1) The high frequency of using the complete form of simile to express the figure of speech. (2) The imbalance in the translation rate between two languages and the most popular simile word of like usage in English translated text. (3) The variables of comparative words and themes used in the target text show the same meaning in the source text. Those conclusions shed light on the quality improvement on the target text, especially in both translator's training and further translation education. 

scholarly journals Translation of Biblical and Mythological Allusions in Three Shakespearean Tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Habib Alimardani ◽  
Esmail Zare Behtash
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Literary Device ◽  
The One

Allusions as a literary device are included in a text to express meanings that go beyond the mere words the author uses and depend to a large extent on familiarity to be comprehended. Thus, they carry meaning in the culture in which they arise while this meaning is missed in another culture. The translation of allusions, therefore, which includes two language cultures, requires enormous problem-solving skills and adoption of strategies allowing the translator to evoke more or less the same reaction as that of the source language audience (Leppihalme, 1997). This study explores the adoption of strategies by Pasargadi (1996) in translating allusions rooted in mythology and the Bible in three Shakespearean tragedies, i.e. Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet based on the classification suggested by Ruokonen (2010). The analysis of the results revealed that the translator made more frequent use of modifying than retentive strategies, 52.69% and 47.31% respectively. Further investigation of the translation strategies employed by the translator sheds greater light on the reliability of the classification by Ruokonen (2010) and results in a better grasp of how to guarantee as close an effect on the target text audience as the one created on the source text audience.  

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