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31WAYS OF TRANSLATION OF THE PASSIVE VOICE FROM ENGLISH INTO FRENCH FROM THE NOVEL "THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY" BY DOUGLAS ADAMS Isaeva V.G.
Isaeva Valeria Gennadievna — Student,
DEPARTMENT OF ROMANO-GERMANIC PHILOLOGY AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, INSTITUTE OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, BELGOROD STATE NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY, BELGOROD
Abstract: the present research paper is focused on methods of translation of the English passive voice constructions into French; the aim is to find out which differences and similarities have both languages in application of the passive voice. Such kind of research takes a very important role in identifying conceptions, norms and models of use of the passive voice.
Keywords: passive voice, English, French, basic structure, get-passives, prepositional passives, faire l'objet de.
This study is an analysis of the English passive voice in comparison to the French passive constructions. For a very long period now linguists all over the world have been interested in the passive voice, its construction and structure. For a better understanding and explaining of the passive voice different language levels are supposed to be considered. This is the main difficulty in passive voice studies. This category is highly used in the English language and that is why it needs to be studied in view of its cognitive, communicative and pragmatic significance. To find out which methods of translation from English into French are more appropriate and highly used, how the constructions in both languages differ and what they have in common, we will examine the translation of the examples from Corpus I into French. The French examples are taken from the French version of the novel « Le Guide du voyageur galactique », translated by Jean Bonnefoy.
Basic Passive Voice Structure
The pattern of the basic passive voice constructions in French resembles the one in the English language, i.e. an auxiliary (verb usually être, which is the counterpart of be) and the past participle form. Examples 1b and 3b easily prove this fact, as the constructions are the same in both languages. The English examples are translated into French keeping their temporal and aspectual characteristics.
1a. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of them were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper... (Corpus I, page 1, ll. 11-14);
1b. Bien des solutions avaient été suggérées mais la plupart d'entre elles faisaient largement intervenir la mise en circulation de petits bouts de papier vert. (Corpus II, page 15, ll. 14-16);
2a. The bottle would then be refilled. The game would be played again. (Corpus I, page 14, ll. 30-31);
2b. On remplissait de nouveau la bouteille. Et le jeu recommençait. (Corpus II, page 32, ll. 1-2);
3a. As soon as a predetermined quantity had been consumed, the final loser would have to perform a forfeit, which was usually obscenely biological. (Corpus I, page 15, ll. 3-5);
3b. Dès qu'avait été consommée une quantité prédéterminée, le perdant devait accomplir un gage, lu plus souvent d'un caractère biologiquement obscène. (Corpus II, page 32, ll. 7-10).
French example 2b does not have the classic passive voice construction in its structure. The game would be played is translated into French by means of the active voice construction. The lexical verb played is translated by the verb recommençait, with the prefix re- instead of the adverb again. The French language tends to avoid passive voice constructions in favour of the active voice or the structures with passive interpretation. Would be refilled in 2a is translated by means of the impersonal pronoun on. This pronoun is highly used in the French language. The sentences with the pronoun on have an active structure, where on is the subject. In the French language this construction is very handy, as it helps avoid the basic passive voice structure.
Get-passives
The auxiliary get is often used in the passive voice constructions. In the English language get takes place of the auxiliary be in the sentence. In French the passive voice constructions with get are translated in different ways, as there is no any corresponding structure. For example, it would hardly be acceptable to translate get in 4a or 6a as devenir or obtenir. It can be replaced by être but with the tendency to avoid passive voice constructions, any other acceptable form is preferable, as the impersonal construction with the pronoun on in example 4b, or the active voice form in 6b. However example 5a is translated into French by means of the classic passive voice construction with the auxiliary être and the past participle.
4a. [...] and no one would have to get nailed for anything (Corpus I, page 2, ll. 8-9);
4b. Et puis, un beau jeudi, près de deux mille ans après qu'on eut cloué un homme sur un arbre pour avoir dit combien ça pourrait être chouette de se montrer sympa avec les gens [...] (Corpus II, page 16, ll. 8-11);
5a. Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sorts of parties. (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 19-22);
5b. Plus d'un physicien respectable estimait ne pouvoir encaisser une telle chose, en partie parce que c'était rabaisser la science, et en parti parce qu'ils n'étaient jamais invités. (Corpus II, page 117, ll. 3-6);
6a. [...] who was arguing with a spokesman for the bulldozer drivers about whether or not Arthur Dent constituted a mental health hazard, and how much they should get paid if he did. (Corpus I, page 15, ll. 20-23);
6b. [.] qui était en discussion avec un port parole des chauffeurs de bulldozer pour savoir si oui ou non le cas Arthur Dent relevait de la psychiatrie et, dans l'affirmative, combien il faudrait les payer. (Corpus II, page 32, ll. 26-30).
Example 7a is translated into French by means of the verbal construction se faire+infmitive. This infinitive construction may be read with a passive interpretation. According to the context, the protagonists made an effort and initiated their rescue, but still it happened by means of the spaceship, so an action was applied on them. Moreover in both examples there are agents it and lui, introduced by by and par, respectively. This form is highly used in everyday language, as it requires to conjugate just the verb se faire. Except se faire, another pronominal forms such as se laisser in 8b and 9b. The verb se faire has a causative character, as it makes a subject to be responsible for an action at some extent. The reflexive occurs when the subject undergoes some action evoked by the verb. On the contrary, se laisser emphasizes its passive nature, as it means do not be concerned/preoccupied. Se voir, s'entendre may be also considered as the structures obtaining passive interpretation.
7a. "Bright idea of mine" said Ford, "to find a passing spaceship and get rescued by it". (Corpus I, page 80, ll. 19-20);
19b. Belle idée que j'ai eue, reprit Ford, de trouver un astronef de passage et de nous faire recueillir par lui. (Corpus II, page 109, ll. 30-32);
8a. For a moment his embittered racial soul had been touched, but he thought no - too little too late. (Corpus I, page 67, ll. 29-31);
8b. Durant un moment, sa conscience de race aigrie s'était laissé toucher mais il se ravisa: non, c'était trop peu, et trop tard. (Corpus II, page 94, ll. 30-32, page 95, ll. 1);
9a Arthur would not be deterred. «A party six months ago. On Earth...England...» (Corpus I, page 107, ll. 23-24);
9b Mais Arthur ne se laissait pas démonter. Il poursuivit : « Une soirée, il y a six mois. Sur Terre. en Angleterre. » (Corpus II, page 143, ll. 8-10).
Prepositional Passives
Prepositional passives occur quite often in the English language. This type of passive voice constructions has a stranded preposition in its structure. It is a quite common phenomenon in English. Below are examples of such passives with their translation in French.
10a The room was much as Slartibarfast had described it. In seven and a half million years it had been well looked after and cleaned regularly every century or so. (Corpus I, page 178, ll. 21-23);
10b La pièce était fort semblable à la description de Slartibartfast. En sept millions et demi d'années, elle avait été soigneusement entretenue et régulièrement nettoyée à peu près une fois par siècle. (Corpus II, page 228, ll. 8-11);
11a He kicked the hatch they'd just been thrown through. (Corpus I, page 74, ll. 12-13);
11b Il donna un coup de pied dans la porte par laquelle on venait de les jeter. (Corpus I, page 102, ll. 30-31);
12a What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with. (Corpus I, page 27, ll. 23-28);
12b [.] son raisonnement était que tout homme ainsi capable de sillonner de long en large la Galaxie en vivant à la dure, de zoner en affrontant de terribles épreuves et de s'en tirer sans avoir perdu sa serviette ne peut être assurément qu'un homme digne d'estime. (Corpus II, page 45, ll. 13-17).
This construction is not typical for the French language. It is not at all in use. As seen from the examples, no prepositional structure is presented. Looked after in example 10a is a phrasal verb. It is translated with the basic passive voice construction, which evidently does not have any preposition in its structure. The preposition through refers to the preposition par in example 11b. But while through
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takes the last position in the sentence, par is "inside" the structure and functions as a binding element between the principle and subordinate clauses, which in turn forms relation between the clauses. Generally the passive construction from example 11a is translated in French with the impersonal active structure with on taking the role of the subject. Un homme digne d'estime is the translation of the infinitive prepositional passive man to be reckoned with into French. Except the preposition de, which does not correspond to the preposition with from example 12a, there are no other prepositions in the sentence. Un homme digne d'estime means a man who deserves to be admired. It may be considered as a concealed passive though the structure is active and estime is a noun. Faire l'objet de
The basic passive voice structure it has been compiled and recompiled in example 13a is translated in the French language by means of the construction fait l'objet de, which is not typical to the English language. Together with such structures as subir, être la cible de, être la victime de, être la proie de, construction fait l'objet de semantically may be related to the passive voice. One of the meanings of the verbal construction faire l'objet de quelque chose in English is to be subjected to something or sometimes suffer from something. These verbs imply passive reading, which means that the Guide has been subjected to adjustments and updates. So the Guide has been adjusted and updated.
13a It [the Guide] has been compiled and recompiled many times over many years and under many different editorships. (Corpus I, page 76, ll. 2-4);
13b Il a fait l'objet de bien des remaniements et mises à jour depuis bien des années et sous la responsabilité de nombreux rédacteurs. (Corpus II, page 105, ll. 2-5); Conclusion
In this research paper we examined how the examples from the English corpus were translated into French. Both languages, English and French, have differences as well as similarities. The way of using of the passive voice is not an exception.
In comparison to the English language the French passive has one distinctive feature. Past participles can be modified according to gender and number, whereas in the English language it is not at all applicable.
The French language as well as the English language has the canonical passive voice construction. However, as mentioned above, French searches every time for a way to avoid the basic passive structure. It should be admitted that except habitual passive voice constructions with their specific morphology and canonical definition, associated with the classic syntactical scheme, there are other compatible constructions with one or a number of similar distinctive features in French as well as in English. Whereas the English language requires nothing but passive, the French language is not restricted to a particular passive construction. Very often the active voice, pronominal or impersonal constructions are used. Structures with the impersonal pronoun on are quite widespread. Some English passives find their translations in verbal constructions such as faire l'objet de, subir, être la victime de, etc. In most cases this helps avoid an ambiguity, whereas in English it occurs quite often.
References
1. Adams Douglas. Le. Guide du voyageur galactique H2G2,I. Barcelona: composition Nord Compo, 2016 (translated from English by Jean Bonnefoy. Edited Denoël, 1982).
2. Adams Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Del Rey ® Books, 2015 (originally published in 1980).
3. Haspelmath Martin. "Further remarks on reciprocal constructions". Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. (ed.). Reciprocal constructions. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2007.
4. Huddleston & Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
5. Miller J. Semantics and Syntax: Parallels and connections. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985.
6. Puckica Jerôme. "Passive Constructions in Present-Day English". University Grenoble 3, France: LIDILEM (EA 609), 2009.
7. Pullum Geoffrey K. "Fear and Loathing of the English Passive". Language and Communication. [Electronic resource], 2014. URL: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/passive_loathing.pdf/ (date of access: 07.05.2017).
8. QuirkR., et al. "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language". London: Longman, 1985.
9. Tseng Jesse. "English Prepositional Passive Constructions". Stanford Department of Linguistics and CSLI's LinGO Lab Stefan Müller (Editor), 2007.
