31. Topic-comment relationship.

Most often, this due to the necessity preserving in fact what is called “functional sentence perspective”, namely, the division of the sentence into two main parts from the point of view of communication: “the known” or “theme” and “the new” or “rheme”, in Russian this division of the sentence is usually expressed by means of word order: what is already known or supposed to be known to the receptor (usually from the preceding context), that is, the “theme” is placed at the beginning of the sentence whereas what is new, that is, communicated for the first time and , therefore, what forms the semantically most important part of the message (“rheme”) is placed at the end. In English the word order is arranged, on the whole, along the same lines; however, in certain cases the “theme” is placed at the end and the “rheme”, at the be-ginning due to the fact that the “rheme” is marked differently, namely, by the use of the indefinite article (or, with plural forms of nouns and with uncountable nouns, the “zero article”) with the noun which is the subject of the sentence. There-fore, in Russian the word order in such cases must be reversed, that is, the sentence subject which is the “rheme” of the sentence must be placed at the end. Cf.:

A boy came in – Вошел мальчик.

But: The boy came in – Мальчик вошел.

Likewise: A match flared in the darkness – В темноте вспыхнула спичка.

Light was coming into the cellar from somewhere – В подвал откуда-то проникал свет.

Cigarettes were passed after lunch – После завтрака подали сигареты.

Within a complex sentence, a similar tendency is observed: in Russian, the first place is occupied by that part of the sentence (main or subordinate clause) which must logically precede the second, whereas in English the position of both clauses, though not quite fixed, is in most cases governed by purely syntactical rules; namely, the main clause precedes, in most cases, the subordinate one. This often calls for a change in the order of the clauses in translation, as, for instance: He trembled as he looked up – Взглянув наверх, он задрожал. (Note here also the rendering of the English subordinate clause by means of the Russian verbal adverb; see above, the preceding lecture).

Within a passage of discourse, independent sentences are also transposed, as in the following example: “You goin’ to court this morning?” asked Jim. We had strolled over. (H. Lee, To kill a Mockingbird).

Мы подошли. – Вы в суд пойдете? – спросил Джим. (пер. Н. Галь и Р. Облонской)

Here the transposition of the sentence is used to make up for the absence in Russian of the difference between the Past Indefinite and the Past Perfect (the action of the second English sentence precedes that of the first). See also below, on additions.

32. Types, kinds, individuality of text.

Depending on whether a text is cognitively or emotionally oriented & how objective info is presented in it:

1) Scientific & tech. texts ? 2) official texts & doc’s ? 3) texts of mass media, journalistic texts ? 4) colloq. & everyday texts ? 5) fiction

Most cognitively rich - 1), the other types – gradual decrease of cognit. & increase of emotional info. Most emotional – fiction, & its degree of aesthetization is also import. => fiction = emotional + aesthetic info

Cognit. info – always useful, reasonable, must be true-to-fact. Emotional info – doesn’t have to be reasonable or logical

But: no clear border btw styles => this class-tion – relative

Also from 1 to 5 = decrease of objectivity. Author of a scientific text – absol-ly objective & impartial, of a fictional text – the opposite, even if the author is not present in a text as such, he’s “seen” behind every phrase, there’re always el-ts of unreality present in a fictional text

Within every functional style – its own subtypes, hierarchy, E.g.: scientific: academic article, article in an encyclopedia, a semi-popular essay, a school textbook, etc, & the material in these types will be presented diff-ly. The same – with other styles, in various types of texts within 1 style – diff. organization of content & form, which has to be preserved in the t-tion

ACADEMIC SCIENTIFIC & TECH. TEXTS

All scientific texts (ScT) are strictly unified in content. The style of exposition is always the same Author of a ScT – a specialist, a scientist, an expert in the field he’s writing in. He’s never anonymous. But an author may be not 1 person, but a group of scientists or some scient. org-tion, it this case the author’s indiv-ty is reduced to minimum ‘cos he is the vehicle of corporate knowledge in this case. Author of a ScT is always guided by the experience of the preceding generations of investigators in order to repeat their mistakes & to take into account their positive experience & achievements.

Even in the ScT the pecul-ties of the style of narration differ in diff. cultures: in Rus. or Germ. texts the author has less freedom than in an Eng. one

Sc & tech. texts – char-zed by presence of both verbal & non-verbal sign systems. Schemes, charts, diagrams, illustrations, etc – quite common. But these are the easiest for the t-tor, since they’re very often international & may thus be transferred into the TT without any changes.

Verbal – more difficult. They have to be objective, which is achieved by diff. ling. means:

1) subject – very often a noun, often a term form the field the text specializes in. It can also be secondary nomination = pronouns which point to the noun that has already been mentioned: Rus.: это, указанное свойство, качество, обст-во; Eng.: the former, the latter, the afore/above-mentioned

2) In Rus & Germ, the author is rarely expressed as the subject of action. He can only sometimes allow himself to say “we”, but not too often either. Eng. – “I” is preferable as the subject

Impersonality in general – typical for ScT. Cf: Rus.: «была предпринята попытка показать» instead of «я предпринял попытку…», «в настоящей работе затрагивается…»instead of «в своей работе я затрагиваю ряд важных вопросов», «можно сделать следующий вывод» instead of «мы приходим к следующему выводу»

Eng – diff.: “In my work, I consider several fundamental questions” = OK, but in t-tion – “в настоящей работе затрагивается” is preferable, ‘cos if the t-tor leaves it as it is, he will show that the author is too “impudent”

3) Verbs – in Pres. forms, in Eng. – pres. indef. to show the absoluteness & objectivity of the facts given in the text, & their independence of any time frames

4) nominal parts of speech – very frequent (nouns, pronouns, adj.) Abstract N – most common, or substantivized adj. It’s quite clear, ‘cos a scientist shows some qualities inherent in the described notions & doesn’t take into account concrete objects, substances, materials, etc

5) Use of special lexical units – terms (= a word or a word comb-tion that denotes a notion from a special field of scientific knowledge or practical activity). They are usually supplied with definition when they are 1st mentioned in the text. A term should always be t-ted by the corresponding term in the TL – no approximations!!

Thus, main features of a term: monosemantic, emotionally neutral, precise, context resistant, systemic, compact. But there is often more than 1 mean-g in a term if the word refers to diff. fields: bucket = 1) поршень; 2) блок памяти; 3) everyday use – ведро (not a term already)

There are special bilingual explanatory dict-ries to help in t-ting terms. When a t-tor sees an unknown term in the ST, he at 1st should find its def-tion in the SL dict-ry, then check the variants up in the bilingual one, & then check them in the explanat. dict-ry of the TL

If a term = a neologism => create a new term in the TL applying the same pattern of word-formation as in the SL, consulting a specialist if possible

In Eng. – unstable compounds as terms – quite frequent. Their central mean-g is concentrated in the last word of the compound term => t-te them beg-ning from the end: radio wave propagation = распространение радиоволн, frequency modulated voice-frequency telegraph equipment = аппаратура тональной телеграфии с частотной модуляцией

Class-tion of terms: I. based on the function of words: terms (spinal cord – спинной мозг), non-terms (понятия не имею, че за шняга такая?), nuclear voc-lary found in scholarly research (computer, lens), words of everyday use (whale), functional words (hence, therefore, for = because)

II. based on the structure of terms: simple terms (engine), complex (thermometer), hyphenated complex (anti-cancer compounds), abbrev-ns (DNA), acronyms (laser), letter terms (U-turn)

6) Neutral voc-lary: “to be of great importance” = иметь важное значение, играть важную роль, but not «иметь роль, играть значение»

Cliches: в заключение = to conclude, возникает закономерный вопрос = the question is bound to arise, что касается = as for/as far as…is concerned

Shortenings: - abbreviations common for a certain field: DNA (ДНК) (medicine), АТМ (банкомат) (banking), VAT (НДС) (banking), SL & TL (t-tion theory)

- shortenings from common word stock: и т.д. = etc (et cetera), Germ. usw (und so weiter), напр. = e.g., Germ. z. B.

- shortenings made espec-ly for 1 text. They are usually defined or deciphered when 1st mentioned or attached in a special list of terms

General rule of t-ting short-ngs: preserve the original way of their formation

Expressions of subjectivity & personal opinion: as it may seem, obviously, in my opinion, to be sure, по всей вероятности, вероятно, как представляется, как кажется, of referring to previous scientific experience: as is well known, как известно

7) Means of formal cohesion: pronouns, conjunctions, parenthesis (следовательно, далее, поскольку…постольку). They make texts logical => should always be preserved

Preparation for t-tion of ScT: 1) study the topic, the core of the problem & the way the topic is presented (terms, typical expressions) 2) learn the author’s background (if he’s not a contemporary – study some history of his times), 3) learn smth about the scientific importance of the work u’re about to t-te, about the evolution of terms (again, if author - not a contemporary)

POPULAR SCIENTIFIC (PS) TEXTS

They are: textbooks, articles, brochures. Less academic, ‘coz the recipient = not a specialist but just someone who’s interested in or is studying the field. In college textbooks, e.g., not only new terms will be supplied with definition, but conventional old ones as well, ‘coz students don’t know them. School textbook – even less academic, fewer terms, simpler syntactic constructions

The author of an article in a PS magazine remains a highly qualified specialist in the field, but now he is clearly seen, he gives examples from his own life experience, can use “I”. His goal – to make a common person interested in his subject => he uses colloq. words, words with evaluative connotation, can tell anecdotes or jokes

OFFICIAL TEXTS (OT) & DOC’S

They may be: written: contracts, application forms, business correspondence or oral: speeches at receptions, conferences, business meetings, press conferences

The narrative in this type of texts is also organized logically, not associatively (as in fiction). Besides, in business letters e.g., there is a fixed order of arranging components: the addresser’s introduction, report ab. the source from which he learned ab. the addressee’s org-tion or ab. the issue discussed; the essence of the request, offer, complaint, etc; a demand; a suggestion as to how to cope with the existing problem; conclusion with the author’s signature, date.

T-tor has to preserve all the rules, but change the scheme, the order of comp-nents or whatever necess. to make the text just as official as the original

OT: official documentary (legal texts) & everyday official (business corresp-ce & business papers)