Grammatical Transformations: Transpositions and Replacements (Partitioning), Additions and Omissions (Integrating).

Transformational model of translation. In the 60’s V.Rosentsveig (USSR) and E.Nida (USA) proposed a transformational model of translation based on transformational grammar. Nida subdivided the process of translation into three stages:

1. Analysis (an ambiguous surface structure is transformed into non-ambiguous kernel structures (ядерные структуры) to facilitate semantic interpretation.

e.g. основание школы =?® somebody founded a school

® a school had a foundation

1. Restructuring (partitioning or integrating) – the TL kernel structures are transformed into surface structures.

e.g. Your presence at the meeting is not obligatory. Not is it desirable. – Ваше присутствие на собрании необязательно и даже нежелательно. (the syntactic integration).

3. “A zero transformation” – the syntactic structure of the ST is preserved. The analogous TL grammatical forms are used (or word-for-word translation).

e.g. John took Mary by the hand.

There are no pure grammatical transformations, they go side by side with lexical changes and are interrelated and mutually dependent.

Grammatical forms seldom coincide even in number: onions – лук, oats – овес, peas – горох, gate – ворота, info – сведения, war atrocity – военные зверства, outskirts – окраина, lodgings, quarters – квартира, clothes – одежда (blues, risks, knowledge, alms, etc.)

Her cheek blushed.

He lent an attentive ear to her story.

Drop your eye into the book!

Tenses. There is no Perfect in Russian.

He said that he lived in Kiev.

He had always been so spruce and smart.

He was shabby and unwashed.

Gender in Russian: masculine, feminine, neutral. It can be formally expressed through agreement (эта дева, этот юноша), by inflection (стол_, окн о, сосн ы), by means of pronominal substitution (зверь – он).

In English: Yesterday I spoke to an artist. (She? He?)

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” a reader will find out that the story is told in the name of a girl only on the 12^th page, in Russian translation – in the 6^th sentence.

The choice of grammatical equivalent in the TL is determined by:

· the meaning inherent in the grammatical form itself

e.g. table - table s

· the lexical character of the word or word group used in this or that form

e.g. workers of all industries

various goods

You were made for me. You are the one.

· factors of style

a) for example, in Russian the use of Passive is mainly formal (bookish). Try to avoid it in translation.

e.g. By tomorrow we may be snowed in.

How is this phenomenon accounted for?

b) Russian and English use “historic present”, but only in English this form is employed in newspaper headlines.

e.g. Prominent Scientist Dies.

· frequency of use. If we translate every Passive by Passive, we’ll get the inevitable overloading of communication.

All types of grammatical transformations can be reduced to four types:

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