The theories of grammatical transformation

Differences in the types of the two languages (analytical and synthetic) result in grammar transformations. A grammar transformation means a change of the original syntactic structure in translation. In very rare cases the translator manages to reserve the original syntactic structure by using analogous grammar forms in the TL or a word-for-word translation. This can be called a zero transformation. The latter concerns short simple sentences with equivalent grammar forms in the TL. She came into the room – она вошла в комнату. Omission of articles, linking verbs and other secondary elements of the Eng sentence in translation does not involve the change of the sentence structure. But basically the translator has to resort to a grammar transformation of a certain type or even their combination.

There are the following factors that can cause grammar transformation:

1. Absence of the corresponding grammar unit in the target language.

2. Non-coincidence of stylistic function of analogous grammar unit in the SL and TL.

3. Non-coincidence of semantic structure of lexical units in the SL and TL.

A transformation can be either complete or partial. A complete Tr takes place when there is a substitution of principal parts of a sentence. Partial if secondary parts are replaced in the TL. Grammar Tr can be conventionally subdivided into 4 types:

1.Transposition is a very frequent type of grammar transformation. It is high frequency can be easily accounted for: we should bare in mind the differences in the word order of Eng and Rus sentences, or in other words the differences of information structure (theme-rheme arrangement in the 2 Lang). The translator resorts to transposition to preserve a functional sentence prospective.

В темноте вспыхнула спичка – A match fled in the darkness.

А интуиции Гарри я доверял – And I trusted Harry’s instincts.

2. Substitution is a very common type of transformation. Substitutions can affect nearly all types of linguistic units. Substitution of word forms, parts of speech, sentence members, sentence types and types of syntactic relations.

A.Substitution of word forms. This type of Tr incomposes (включает) substitution of singular by plural andнаоборот, tense forms – past by present, passive by active и наоборот.

They never Caught (active) whoever did for him

– того, кто это сделал, так и не поймали (пассив).

B.Substitution of parts of speech. Replacement of Eng nouns by Rus verbs is especially typical. The Eng Lang makes a great use of so called nominalization (verbal nouns are used to denote actions).

It is our hope that – мы надеемся, что.

She gave him an Emerous Look – она Посмотрела на него Влюблено.

C.substitution of sentence members. Из-за тумана (adv) прекратилось движение – the fog (subj) stopped the traffic.

D.substitution of sentence types.

1. A simple sentence in the SL can be substituted by a compound or complex sentence in ht TL or наоборот. He had to duck his head just to enter the cell – ему пришлось наклонить голову, чтобы зайти в камеру. He stepped away as I stepped forward – С каждым моим шагом он отступал.

2. Sentence partitioning (fragmentation – членение предложения). They road back to Fairview mostly in silence, Heldi driving until they were 15 miles of New York City and the traffic got heavy. По дороги В Фейрвью оба в основной молчали. Хелди вела машину, пока до Нью-Йорка не осталось миль

15 и движение стало довольно плотным.

3. Sentence joining. He glanced at her for only a second. Then he returned his eyes in the road – Он бросил на неё мимолетный взгляд и вновь сосредоточился на дороге.

4. Substitution of syntactic relations. Both L-s make use of syndatic (союзный) and asindatic structures, but their frequency within the 2 Lang is different: Eng prefers syndatic structures, whereas Rus – asindatic. All I have in it is my 2 dresses and my shoes And my underwear And my socks And some other things – В нем только 2 платья, туфли, белье, носки и всякие мелочи.

3.Addition. Some implisive (имплицитный - скрытый) elements of the original text must be rendered in Tr by additional lexical or grammatical units. He Had Taken his hicary batton out of the custom-made holster he carried it in – дубинку он Уже Достал из самодельного чехла… Addition уже renders the meaning of priority expressed by the Eng past perfect form, the latter being a grammar lacking category in Rus.

3.Omission – this device is just the opposite to that of addition: it is aimed at eliminating redundancy (избыточность) of the units which are irrelevant in the context. The government resorted to force and violence – Правительство прибегло к насилию.

There may appear a necessity to rearrange elements of different levels: words, phrases, clauses or even sentences. Transposition of words and phrases may be caused by various reasons: differences in the accepted word order in SL and TL, presence or absence of emphasis, differences in the means of communicative syntax.

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