WAYS OF TRANSMITTING MODAL MEANINGS IN DUTCH-RUSSIAN TRANSLATIONS: THE CASE OF THE MODAL PARTICLE MAAR Текст научной статьи по специальности «Языкознание и литературоведение»

nEPEBOAOBEAEHME

UDC 81-22

Ekaterina Tereshko

Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Rinske Sophia Vellinga

Lomonosov Moscow State University

WAYS OF TRANSMITTING MODAL MEANINGS IN DUTCH-RUSSIAN TRANSLATIONS: THE CASE OF THE MODAL PARTICLE MAAR

For citation: Tereshko E., Vellinga R. S. Ways of transmitting modal meanings in Dutch-Russian translation: The case of the modal particle maar. Scandinavian Philology, 2023, vol. 21, issue 1, pp. 73-95. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2023.105

In this study, we examine the strategies translators have at their disposal to render the meaning of Dutch modal particles in the Russian language. Modal particles are difficult to translate because the meaning of these words is abstract, highly context-dependent and sometimes open to multiple interpretations. Based on parallel Dutch-Russian texts we show which strategies translators use to express the functions of the Dutch modal particle maar 'but' in Russian. The modal particle maar is very often omitted in translations, because it has no equivalent in Russian and the image of reality given by the sentence does not become different in a translation when a modal particle is not translated. We find that maar is most often omitted in the function of mitigating the imperative. Translators compensate for the lack of an appropriate modal particle by using verbs with a narrower meaning in Russian which allows them to more accurately describe the drawn context. We also find that in some cases, translators make use of lexical and grammatical transformation such as using prefixes in Russian to soften the imperative, rather than omitting maar completely. In Russian, there are many possibilities to convey modal meaning in lexico-grammatical ways, for example using particles, verbs with a narrower meaning and prefixes that soften the imperative; modal verbs as such can take on the function of expressing modality, and also the verb tense can be used to convey modality.

Keywords: modal particles, Dutch, Russian, translation, particle maar.

1. INTRODUCTION

In the Dutch language, modal particles play a major role in communication processes, especially in informal, oral interaction between people. These particles make subtle changes to the meaning and have a pragmatic function in human communication. By adding a modal particle, the speaker can either soften the language utterance, or reinforce it. This makes particles very suitable for performing socially sensitive linguistic actions, such as making a request or command sound friendly.

This study focuses on the translation of the Dutch modal particle maar 'but' into Russian. It is important to know that the Russian language also contains modal particles and that much research has been conducted into the different ways of expressing modal aspects in Russian. However, the translation of Dutch modal particles into Russian is often not straightforward.

To the best of our knowledge there is little if any contrastive research on modal particles in the language pair Dutch-Russian. This article is a first attempt to prompt more contrastive research and a wider analysis of the translation of Dutch modal particles into the Russian language. It also aims to make a small contribution to the understanding of the meanings of maar by students of Dutch as a foreign language.

1.1. Dutch modal particles

What exactly is a modal particle (MP)? In scientific circles, there is no consensus as yet as to how this concept should be distinguished. Linguists broadly agree on a number of characteristics, but the precise definition of modal words and particles is far from being established. In the Dutch language, it is not unusual to encounter an utterance such as:

(1) Ik ga dan nu eerst toch maar eens even zitten.

I go MP MP MP MP MP MP MP sit.

"Anyway, first of all I will then just sit down now for a while", not the kind of sentence that you'd expect to hear from an English or Russian native speaker. The sentence contains no less than seven modal particles in a row: toch 'anyway', maar 'but', eens 'once', even 'for a while', dan 'then', nu 'now', and eerst 'first'. Let us have a brief look at the insights revealed by research into this particular word type.

1.2. Functions of Dutch modal particles

Particles used to be considered as adverbs, while in fact, they are not, as they belong to another part of speech, are always uninflected and they do not change the verb, the adjective or another adverb. It is difficult to define the meaning of particles or to make an accurate classification of them. Modal particles express the rational and emotional position of the speaker in relation to the utterance, so their meaning is not concrete and depends on the context and is created during the interaction [Fehringer, Cornips, 2019, p. 323]. According to Pos, who described the possibilities of translating Dutch particles into the Portuguese language, they can best be referred to as: "a word or locution that expresses inclusion, exclusion, emphasis, demonstration, rectification and situation" [Pos, 2010, p. 8]. Van der Wouden also mentions the shady adverbal aspects of modal particles [Wouden van der, 1999, p. 293]. It is often unclear to which phrase they belong, while their meaning is difficult to define. What exactly does dan and nu mean in (1)? As a matter of fact, dan 'then' is a reference to a moment in the future, while nu 'now' refers to the present.

According to the ANS (Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst, General Dutch Grammar), modal particles are words that can change the entire sentence content in a subtle way, in contrast to focus particles that relate to a particular phrase [Haeseryn et al., 1997, p. 457]. Well-known examples are nou 'well', dan 'then', toch 'anyway', maar 'but', eens 'once', even 'for a moment', but also words such as soms 'sometimes' can fulfil the function of a modal particle. This becomes clear in the following examples:

(2) Peter zag mijn vriend John soms in het café.

Peter saw my friend John sometimes in the café.

'Peter sometimes saw my friend John in the cafe.'

(3) Hallo Peter, heb jij John somsgezien in het café?

Hello Peter have you John MP seen in the cafe?

'Hello Peter, have you seen John in the café?'

Although the sentences (2) and (3) look very similar, the meanings are different depending on the interpretation put on the word soms 'sometimes'. In (2) soms indicates that Peter saw John in the cafe occasionally, rather than all of the time. However, in (3) Peter, heb jij John soms gezien in het café? 'Peter, have you seen John?' the word soms

in no way implies that the questioner is inquiring about Peter's infrequent observance of John in the cafe. It is more of a casual question as to whether Peter saw John in the cafe at some point, while at the same time indicating that the issue is of relatively minor significance. In (3) the word soms is being used as a modal particle and indicates a polite question that the speaker does not want to emphasize. This has a weakening effect on the request. Soms here is also mitigating and makes it easier for Peter to answer no. It is therefore not possible to use soms for example in court or another official situation where an exact answer is needed.

Before we describe the functions of the Dutch modal particle maar 'but', which is central to this study, we will briefly highlight our approach.

2. MATERIAL AND METHODS

In this study, 1,900 examples of the word maar (in all functions, including focal and adverbial) in six works of fiction, which were translated from Dutch into Russian, were selected by random sampling. The Amsterdam Slavic Parallel Aligned Corpus (ASPAC), kindly made available by its creator Adrian Barentsen, was used. This corpus includes original and translated texts of fiction, including 6,000,000 tokens in total. The works used for the selection of examples are Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 12 juni 1942 — 1 augustus 1944, by A. Frank, translated by Yu. Mogilevskaya, S. Belokrinitskaya and M. Novikova (1947, 1991), Pogingen iets van het leven te maken: Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 83% jaar by H. Groen translated by E. Vengerova (2014), Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw by M. de Moor translated by S. Knyazkova (2010), De aanslag by H. Mulisch translated by I. Grivnina (1982) and two works by children's author Annie M. G. Schmidt, Minoes translated by E. Lubarova (1970) and Wiplala translated by S. S. Belokrinitskaya (1957).

When referring to the analysed texts, we use the shortened versions of the titles of the original books:

(Het Achterhuis) — Anne Frank's diary by A. Frank

(Groen) — The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83% Years Old by H. Groen

(Eerst grijs) — First gray, then white, then blue by M. Moor

(De aanslag) — The assault by H. Mulisch

(Minoes) — Miss Minoes by Annie M. G. Schmidt

(Wiplala) — Wiplala by Annie M. G. Schmidt.

From Anne Frank's Diary, 400 examples were handled manually after automatic selection, and from all other works we looked at 300 examples each, selecting those in which the word maar 'but' is used in the modal sense while excluding the ones where maar is used as a conjunction or a focus particle. In total we managed to select 358 examples of the word maar with modal meaning, which is about 20 % of the total number of examples. Then we analysed all the selected examples, identifying the meanings of the modal particle maar and the strategies of its translation into Russian.

The classification of the meaning of the modal particle maar is complicated by its multifunctional character [Wouden van der, 2002, p. 4]. It is often difficult to distinguish between maar as a modal particle and other word types such as adverbs or interjections. As described above, there is no unambiguous definition of a modal particle in the current literature nor a full description of the modal and pragmatic functions. As a result, discussion may arise about the correct classification of the data.

For the purpose of this research we classified the meanings and pragmatic functions of the modal particle maar into nine categories. This classification is largely based on the extensive study by Foolen on the meaning of modal particles in general and in particular maar [Foolen, 1993, p. 165-194]. We obtained the following quantitative results (see Table):

The meanings and pragmatic functions of the modal particle maar

Meaning/Function Quantity

directive sentences (to weaken, urge, concede, or permit) 140

trivialisation 50

decision/conclusion 70

wish/condition 38

restriction 5

duration 12

opinion/judgement 8

reinforcement 21

formulaic language 15

Total 358

3. THE MEANING AND PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF THE MODAL PARTICLE MAAR IN THE ANALYSED TEXTS

For our research purposes we have chosen the particle maar 'but' because the semantic-pragmatic meaning nuances triggered by maar are various and therefore it is one of the most frequently used particles in the Dutch language. In addition, the particle maar has been thoroughly researched and described in studies on this subject. It is also interesting on account of the search for translation equivalents in the Russian language with a different set of particles.

The modal particle maar is often used — especially in colloquial speech — as a mitigator in directive sentences (requests, commands), when the speaker tries to make the addressee perform an action. In these type of sentences maar has a softening function and weakens the force or intensity of an illocutionary language act, for example when the speaker wants to convey politeness or reassure the addressee [Vismans, 1994, p. 26-34].

(4) Hindert niet, zeg het dan nu maar. (Minoes) Matter not say it then now MP.

'It doesn't matter, just tell me now.'

Other specific applications in directive contexts are [Foolen, 1993, p. 165-188]:

— giving permission

(5) Zeg maar gewoon Tibbe. Iedereen noemt me Tibbe. (Minoes) Say MP MP Tibbe. Everyone calls me Tibbe.

'Just say Tibbe. Everyone calls me Tibbe.'

— giving the addressee the opportunity to refuse or disagree with the speaker

(6) Dus vertel maar niks, als je liever niet wilt. (Wiplala) So tell MP nothing if you rather not want.

'So don't tell me if you don't want to.'

— urging, encouraging

(7) Wees, maar niet bescheiden, Anne. (Het Achterhuis) Be MP not modest, Anne.

'Don't be humble, Anne.'

— challenging

(8) "Kom maar op, lieverd," zei ik zacht. (Eerst grijs) "Come MP on, darling," said I softly.

'"Come on, darling," I said softly.'

— threatening

(9) Wacht maar af. Als straks de Russen komen, valt er voor jullie weinig te lachen. (De aanslag)

Wait MP PREFIX when soon the Russians come will there for you little to laugh.

'Just wait and see. When the Russians come, there will be little for you to laugh about.'

Foolen [Foolen, 1993, p. 168-171] and Vismans [Vismans, 1994, p. 5] demonstrate the sentence type restrictions of the modal particle maar. For instance, it cannot be used in interrogative sentences, but it freely occurs in different types of directive sentences. The statements in these sentences are often trivialised, and their significance played down as in:

(10) "Laten we dan maar aannemen dat het iemand was die er nu niet is" besloot hij. (Groen)

"Let us MP MP assume that it someone was who there now not is," decided he.

'Let's assume it was someone who is not here now.'

By using the trivialising maar, the speaker indicates that the utterance is just an ordinary suggestion, that there is no reason to wait any longer, or that the speaker has no objection to something the interlocutor would like to do. In non-imperative constructions, the "trivial" meaning is mainly found in sentences written in the first person. We found numerous examples of them in the analysed texts. Some of them will be seen in the section where we'll discuss translation strategies.

We also see maar as a fixed component in sentences expressing a hypothetical situation, a wish or condition:

(11) Als ik er maar bij kon zijn, was ik maar beneden. (Het Achterhuis) If I there MP with could be was I MP downstairs.

'If only I could be there, if only I could be down there.'

In declarative sentences, the modal particle maar can be seen in a "deciding" and an "evaluating" variety. As in directive sentences, the

sentences expressing a decision are often written in the first person, but can also be written in the third person when the speaker positions himself in the acting subject of the sentence:

(12) Er viel in het magazijn echter niet veel te stelen en daarom beproefden de dieven hun geluk maar een etage hoger. (Het Achterhuis)

There was in the warehouse however not much to steal and therefore tried the thieves their luck MP one floor higher.

'However, there was not much to steal in the warehouse, so the thieves tried their luck one floor higher,'

Foolen [Foolen, 1993, p. 182] states that the decision is usually accompanied by a negative evaluation of the actual alternative chosen, as is the case in (12).

The same negative connotation can be found in declarative sentences with an evaluative function, as in:

(13) Mevrouw Visser heeft me voor morgenmiddag uitgenodigd voor een kopje thee. Ik had moeten weigeren, al was het maar omdat ze stinkt. (Groen) Mrs. Visser has me for tomorrow afternoon invited for a cup tea I had must refuse if was it MP because she stinks.

'Mrs. Visser invited me for tea tomorrow afternoon. I should have refused, if only because she stinks.'

Even phrases that seem positive, such as maar goed 'it is a good thing that' and gelukkig maar 'fortunately, luckily' seem to be contradictory, and imply a more negative setting:

(14) Het is maar goed dat ik geen mopperpot ben. (Het Achterhuis) It is MP good that I not grumpy person am.

'It's a good thing I'm not a grumpy person'

For the purpose of relating the modal particle maar to sentence types, Foolen [Foolen, 1993, p. 85] understands by "durative maar", a continuing state or action that is not interrupted. Here, too, the statement is evaluated negatively.

(15) En het blijft maar te koud voor de tijd van het jaar. (Groen) And it remains MP too cold for the time of the year. 'And it's still too cold for the time of year.'

The modal particle maar in declarative sentences can also have a reinforcing effect, as is the case in directive sentences:

(16) De resultaten van een dergelijke opvoeding zijn maar al te duidelijk be-wezen. (Het Achterhuis)

The results of a such education have been MP all too clear proven. 'The results of such an education have been clearly demonstrated.'

Foolen mentions the use of maar as reinforcer in sentences with final om te (to, in order to). Here maar reinforces the focus of the subject in the main clause on the objective formulated in the final subclause [Foolen, 1993, p. 188].

(17) Nella Della vond het beter om maar ineens te handelen. (Wiplala) Nella Della found it better to MP at once to act.

'Nella Della thought it might be better to act immediately'

Other intended purposes of reinforcement are to express impatience, to convince the interlocutor, or to show superiority [Vismans, 1994, p. 34].

(18) "Breng ze dan maar gauw hier," zei ze bits. (Minoes) "Bring them then MP quickly here," said she briskly. '"Then bring them here quickly," she said briskly.'

Having described the variations in the modal meanings of maar, let us now outline some of the difficulties that may arise when translating sentences with this modal particle into Russian.

4. WAYS OF TRANSMITTING MODAL MEANINGS IN RUSSIAN 4.1. Modal meanings in Russian

As mentioned above, modal particles differ from focus particles in Dutch. This difference appears not only in their position in the sentence and the fact that modal particles are mostly integrated in the intonation of the utterance, but also in the highly abstract lexical meaning. This makes Dutch modal particles a challenge for translators. Much of the difficulty arises when translating between two languages, one of which has modal particles (Dutch), while the other may be considered as a "particle poor language" [Vandeweghe, 2014, p. 24]. The last is Russian in the context of this research, although we can speak about another set of particles in Russian.

The classic translation strategies described by Russian translation theoreticians L. S. Barhudarov [Barhudarov, 1975] and V. N. Komissa-

rov [Komissarov, 1990], where we speak about transformations in the translation, are not always applicable for Dutch modal particles. That is because when we speak about transformations in the translated text, we often have to deal with the referential meaning, while the modal particles have no references and spread their meaning to a whole utterance [Fischer, 2007, p. 53]. Thus we can speak about adding the pragmatic function of modal particles and presume that in the translation of them the illocutionary and perlocutionary meaning should be reproduced.

Modal meaning in the Russian language is the object of much scientific study in Russia. The first to mention modality as a significant field of study in linguistics was V. V. Vinogradov [Vinogradov, 1975]. He saw modality as a way to express the relevance of the content of speech to the reality. Vinogradov also mentioned that "the category of modality of a sentence belongs to the main, central linguistic categories, found in different forms in the languages of different systems" [Vinogradov, 1975, p. 59-60], and it has a mixed grammar-lexical character.

Following V. Vinogradov much scientific research was devoted to the problem of the definition and expression of modality in the Russian language. Nowadays the problem of the functional status of this category, its content and means of expression are seen by some researchers [Vaulina, 2013, p. 7] as solved. However, modality still generates heated debates among investigators. Over almost 100 years of study the complex phenomenon of modality has generated heated debate amongst investigators. Many theories have been proposed, whose adherents have frequently been in sharp disagreement with each other.

To illustrate this we can refer to a review article by I. Prosvirkina [Prosvirkina, 2002, p. 80], where she writes about different views on the ways of expressing subjective modality:

V. Vostokov believes that the subjective modality in a sentence is expressed using grammatical forms such as intonation, conjugated forms, modal words and particles, special syntactic constructions. <.. .> E. Galkina-Fedorchuk notes that repetitions, refrains, word order in a sentence, anaphoric repetitions of prepositions, isolated members of a sentence, phraseological unity give eva-luativeness to a sentence. Modal verbs and particles are also included to this list by many researches.

Such a list of expressions is commonly based on the list of modal expressions by V. Vinogradov, where he assigns the main role to intonation, but also analyses verb forms in detail, including in combination

with modal particles and adverbs, as well as lexical explanations and definitions. From the very beginning of modality studies, there is an allocation of two types of modality:

1) objective modality, that is, reflecting the attitude of the utterance or sentence to reality;

2) subjective modality, reflecting the speaker's attitude to the utterance or sentence.

The study of the last one is at the same time seen as the most complicated, but the most attractive thanks to a more complete reflection of the principle of anthropocentrism, which now prevails in science. Moreover, when studying subjective modality, it is extremely difficult to determine the border between modality proper and expressiveness and emotivity. Expressive meanings are often fused with modal ones and it is not always evident how to separate one of another. That is why some researchers, for example D. Paramonov [Paramonov, 2010], view modality "in the light of expressiveness".

In the Russian language we highlight the following ways to reflect modality.

1. Intonation. As mentioned above, intonation plays a great role in the coding and uncoding of a modal message. Intonation is of importance in affirmative, exclamatory and interrogative sentences with modal meaning and in combinations of different ways of reflecting modality, but it is difficult to define the intonation in the written text, that is why we do not consider it in this study.

2. Forms of tenses and moods of the verb. By themselves or in combination with modal particles, adverbs and lexical descriptions and definitions, verb forms can reflect a wide range of modal meanings. The verb forms of potential mood and imperative mood are mostly used to express modality. In means of form we include verbal prefiguring, especially по- as a separate item, and enclitics (e. g. -ка). A few examples to illustrate that include:

— Ты смотри-ка, какой умный! (бытовой разговор) (lit.) 'See, how smart he is!' (everyday conversation). — In a critical or sarcastic sense: he says or does something wrong, while he does not know or take into account something essential.

— Ох, я бы ему показал! (бытовой разговор) (lit.) 'Oh, I'd show him!' (everyday conversation). — In the sense of the general impossibility of changing someone's actions whilst wishing to correct them yourself.

Like in English and Dutch, modal meaning in Russian can be expressed by using the infinitive verb form:

— Я, жить в Америке? Ни за что!

— I, live in America? No way!

— Ik, in America wonen? Nooit van mijn leven!

There are other verb forms that can be used to reflect modality, also in combinations with modal particles or adverbs. But in this short review we don't have the space to look at all of them. The purpose of the article is to show the behavior of reflection of Dutch particles in the translations into Russian. This far we have named the verb forms as one of the translation strategies, we will see later which verb forms or verb moods are used in the translations on the concrete examples.

3. Lexical means. There are modal words, which can express modality. In this category we can speak about adjectives, particles, verbs and other words and phraseological units. We can list some of them in groups:

— assumption: кажется 'it seems', вероятно 'probably', едва ли 'hardly', чуть ли не 'almost, может быть 'may be' and others;

— opportunity, necessity: нельзя 'it is impossible, пора 'it is time, можно 'it is possible, должно, надобно, надо, нужно 'all four: it is necessary', важно 'it is important', след 'it should happen', не след 'it should not happen' and others;

— emotional characteristic: жаль, жалко 'it's a pity, стыдно, совестно 'ashamed, тошно 'sickening, завидно 'jealous, больно 'painful, страшно 'scary, грустно 'sad', боязно 'fearful' and others;

— moral and ethical characteristics: грех 'sin, стыд, срам, позор 'shame, досада 'annoyance', смех 'laughter', каторга 'hard labor in exile', жуть, ужас 'horror, страх 'fear, мука 'torment' and others;

— emotional-volitional characteristic: лень 'laziness', охота 'desire, неохота 'reluctance, недосуг 'lack of time/desire' and others.

In this overview we cannot of course list all the possible modal words but just a few examples to draw a picture of the ways of expressing modality in Russian.

The translation of the modal particles, just as in Dutch, requires interpretation of context. Some of the Russian particles qua form coincide with the adverbs given above, some of them not, but it is important to mention that the Russian modal particles differ from the Dutch ones: they are all seen as modal particles in Russian, while in Dutch a part

of them would be accounted to the discourse particles, and another part — to the focus particles. Some Russian particles in their turn have no equivalents in Dutch.

4. Syntax. One more way to express modality in Russian is through the order of words in a sentence. Although Russian does not have such strict rules with regard to word order as Dutch, the theme-rhematic articulation of a sentence can play a role in conveying modal meaning.

4.2. Translation strategies for the Dutch modal particle maar 'but' into Russian

Having briefly described the variations in the modal meanings of Dutch particle maar and the possible ways of transmitting these meanings in Russian, let us now outline the strategies that translators use when translating sentences with this modal particle into Russian.

4.2.1. Omission

It is common practice for the modal particle maar to be omitted in translations into Russian, because it has no equivalent in Russian and the meaning it conveys is redundant in Russian text. This does happen in almost half of the cases (approximately 48 %: 174 omissions in the sample). A third of these cases of omission of maar are imperative sentences in which the particle has the function of mitigating the imperative. These are often simple commands using the verbs komen 'come', gaan 'go', lopen 'walk', kijken 'watch', zeggen 'say', vertellen 'tell' and others (see also examples 19-22).

(19) "Hij is weg! Komt u maar!" riep Tibbe. (Minoes)

"He is gone come you MP," cried Tibbe.

'"He's gone! Come on!" cried Tibbe.'

Ушёл! Спускайтесь! — крикнул в ответ Тиббе.

"He's gone! Get down!" — shouted in answer Tibbe.

'"He's gone! Get down!" Tibbe shouted back'

(20) Ga maar gauw. Straks kom je nog te laat. (Eerst grijs)

Go MP quickly MP come you MP too late.

'You'd better go now, or you'll be late.'

Ну, хватит, теперь уходи поскорей, а то опоздаешь.

Well enough, now leave quickly or else you'll be late.

'Well, that's enough, now leave quickly, or you'll be late.'

(21) Zeg maar dat ik nu niet kan. (Minoes) Say MP, that I now not can.

'Tell that I can not do it now'

Передай ей, что сейчас я не могу с ней встретиться. Tell her that now I not can with her meet. 'Tell her that I can't meet her now.'

There is, however, a great variation in the verbs used when translating imperative sentences in Russian. For example, the verb komen in the sample is translated as спускаться 'to come down, приходить 'to come, заглянуть 'to look in, идти 'to go, пойти 'to go, вылезать 'to get out, Thanks to the use of verbs with a narrower meaning in Russian, the translator can describe the situation drawn in the work of fiction more precisely. In some cases, it is possible to talk about lexical and grammatical transformation (for example, the use of prefixes in Russian to soften the imperative), rather than complete omission. In addition, in some cases, lexical units, including particles, may be added in Russian (see example 20).

The particle maar is also omitted in the Russian translation when it has a decisive function in a Dutch sentence. Often, such sentences are a call to do something or a promise to do something in the absence of a better alternative:

(22) "Dan zal ik ook maar vertellen wat ik weet," zei hij. (Minoes) "Then shall I also MP tell what I know," said he.

'"I'll tell then also what I know," he said.'

В таком случае я тоже расскажу, что знаю, — сказал он.

"In such case I also tell what know," — said he.

'"In such a case I will also tell, what I know," — he said.'

However, the particle maar can also be found in narrative sentences, where it is also omitted in translation:

(23) Uiteindelijk heb ik die toch maar buiten neergelegd, want de stank ging er niet uit. (Groen)

Finally have I that MP MP outside put, because the stench went there not from.

'In the end, I put it outside anyway, because the stench wouldn't go away.'

В конце концов я всё-таки выбросил коврик, так как вонял он нещадно.

In end of ends I yet threw away carpet so how stank he mercilessly. 'In the end, I threw away the rug, as it smelled mercilessly.'

(24) Om wat terug te doen, herhaalde ik maar eens het laatste woord. (Eerst grijs)

In order to what back to do, repeated I MP MP the last word. 'In return, just to do something, I repeated the last word.'

Чтобы сказать что-то в ответ, я повторила последнее слово. To say something to answer, I repeated last word. 'To say something in return, I repeated the last word'

While in example (24) both particles — maar and eens — are omitted in translation, in example (23) one can argue about the nature of the transformation in translation. It is not entirely clear whether the Russian particle все-таки (after all, still) is a translation of the Dutch particle toch or the combination toch + maar. The translator could have translated the toch maar sequence with a single particle in Russian. The translation strategies of the Dutch particle sequences could be a topic for a separate, more in-depth study. In this paper, we look at ways of translating the particle maar, used in Dutch sentences both singly and in combination(s) with other particles.

The particle maar is also often (23 times, 13 %) omitted in sentences conveying the speaker's determination:

(25) Uit beleefdheid lachte iedereen toen maar mee, tot het lachen van mevrouw Been overging in huilen. (Groen)

'From politeness laughed everybody then MP with, till the laugh of Mrs. Been passed in crying.'

Из любезности все тоже рассмеялись и смеялись до тех пор, пока смех госпожи Бейн не перешел в рыдание.

'Out of courtesy, everyone laughed, too, and laughed until Mrs. Been's laughter turned into sobbing.'

There are also some cases in which the modality of maar is partially expressed by lexical means. For example, in the translation of the following sentence:

(26) De mouwen heb ik uiteindelijk maar opgerold. (Groen) The sleeves have I finally MP rolled up.

'Finally I rolled up the sleeves.'

А рукава я просто засучил. And sleeves I simply rolled up. 'And I just rolled up my sleeves.'

the word просто 'simply' is used, which partly conveys the modal meaning of the particle maar. Sometimes, however, with the help of vocabulary, the interpreter can present the situation described by looking at it from a different perspective, for example:

(27) Toen heeft iemand toch maar de zustergehaald. (Groen)

Then has somebody MP MP the sister got.

'Then someone called the nurse.'

Только тогда кто-то догадался позвать сестру.

Only then someone guessed call sister.

'Only then did someone guess to call the nurse.'

In this example, in the Dutch sentence there is a "counteraction" to the situation: Then someone did call the nurse. In the Russian translation, on the contrary, the situation required action and finally someone managed to call the nurse. In this case, we are also talking about the omission of the particle maar, but this omission is a part of the set of transformations to which the sentence is subjected in translation.

Another relatively large group of examples in which the particle maar is omitted are those sentences in which the particle has a durative meaning. To compensate for this lacuna, the translators also sometimes resort to the lexical possibilities of the Russian language, e. g.:

(28) En maar ongeduldig tegen benen aanrijden. En maar recht voor de lift

blijven staan... (Groen)

And MP impatient against legs drive on. And MP straight before the lift

remain stay...

'And impatiently run into legs. And stand in front of the lift.

Да ещё все ноги отдавишь, пока торчишь перед лифтом...

MP MP all legs crush, while stiking up in front of lift.

'You get your feet all over the place when you're stuck in front of a lift..'

The verb торчать 'to stick' itself conveys the duration and mean-inglessness of the action being performed, which in Dutch is expressed twice by the use of the particle maar. To translate the first particle in this example, the translator uses the Russian particle да 'yes' and еще 'also'. This method of translating the particle maar will be discussed below in the section on lexical-grammatical transformations.

It should be noted that omission also occurs when formulaic expressions that have analogues in Russian are substituted. For example, the

expression gelukkig maar 'to happiness, often used with a modal particle in the Dutch language, in the Russian equivalent reflects the same modality by other lexical means, without using particles: к счастью (lit.) 'to happiness'.

To summarise, the particle maar is most often omitted in the function of mitigating the imperative. In this case, the verb form sometimes takes over this function in Russian. In addition, the particle maar is often omitted in its concessive, decisive and durative sense, as well as in stable collocations.

4.2.2. The кхко-grammatical expression of modal meaning

As is evident from the descriptions of some examples of omissions, the modal meaning contained in the Dutch modal particle can be conveyed in Russian by grammatical and lexical means. As the modal meaning of the particle is related to the perception of the action being described, in the translations this evaluative function is most often taken over by the verb. The lexico-grammatical way of conveying modal meaning is used slightly less frequently — 151 times in the sample of this study, which is about 41 % of the whole sample.

When conveying the modal meaning of a Dutch sentence with the lexical means of the Russian language, Russian particles can be used: 1) formative бы 'would', хоть бы 'if only', пусть 'let', пускай 'let, да 'yes', давай(те) 'let(s)'; 2) reinforcing же 'though', пожалуй 'rather, все же 'though', ну 'well', и 'and', еще 'yet', даже 'even', просто 'simply', лучше 'better', уж 'much, that'; 3) restrictive хоть 'although', только 'only'; 4) reflexive particle себе 'itself'.

Here are a few examples of translations using particles from each group. The most common translations with formative particles are imperative sentences or statements of a desirable or hypothetical nature. It can also be a statement expressed indirectly.

(29) ...direct zien de Engelsen het en dan komen ze, kwamen ze maar... (De aanslag)

... directly see the English this and then come they, came they MP... '.. .immediately the English see it and then they come, if they just came..'

.англичане это живо увидят и прилетят, хоть бы они прилетели. .Englishmen this quick see and fly in, if only they came. '.the British will see it now and fly in, if only they would..'

(30) Kom, laat ik maar eens een nieuw glas voor u en mij gaan halen. (Eerst grijs)

Come, let I MP MP a new glass for you and me go get. 'Come, let me get a new glass for you and me.'

Ну да ладно, давайте я лучше схожу и принесу вам и себе ещё по стаканчику.

MP MP MP let I better go and bring to you and to me more by glass. 'Well, come on, let me go and get you and myself another drink.'

In the case of translation with particles, maar, while it has strengthening function in Dutch, is conveyed by particles in Russian that have either a concessive or a mitigating function:

(31) De clientèle laat zich het betuttelen maar al te graag welgevallen. (Groen) The customers let themself the patronising MP all too willingly welcome. 'The clientele is only too happy to be patronised.'

Клиентура слишком уж охотно позволяет себя третировать. Customers too much MP willingly allows themselves treason. 'The clientele is all too willing to allow themselves to be bullied.'

(32) Wacht maar af. Als straks de Russen komen, valt er voor jullie weinig te lachen. (De aanslag)

Wait MP Prefix. If soon the Russians come, falls there for you little to laugh.

'Just wait and see. When the Russians come, there will be little for you to laugh about.'

Ну, погодите. Вот придут русские, тогда вам не поздоровится.

MP wait. MP come Russians, then you not healthy.

'Well, wait a minute. When the Russians come, you'll be in trouble.'

The last example (32) requires a little comment. In this example, apart from the use of the Russian particle ну, the choice and form of the verb погодить 'wait' is interesting. This verb is more informal than the neutral verb ждать 'wait' in Russian. In addition, the use of the prefix по- is characteristic of the imperative and softens the command in Russian. In this example, hence, the strengthening function of the imperative of the Dutch particle maar is contrasted with the Russian particle ну and with the choice of verb and its form. Another way to transmit modality is, for example, to use the future tense of the verb in Russian. In addition, the modal meaning can also be conveyed by the modal verb in Russian:

(33) "Kom er maar weer uit, ze is weg" fluisterde Lotje. (Wiplala) "Come there MP again from, she is away," whispered Lotje. '"Come out, she's gone," Lotje whispered'

Можете выходить, она ушла, — прошептала Лотье.

May come out, she gone, — whispered Lotje.

'"You can come out now, she's gone," Lotje whispered'

The modal verb incorporates the modal meaning conveyed by the particle maar in Dutch, and this meaning therefore needs no additional means of expression in Russian.

In the sample of this study there are relatively many examples of the translation of the particle maar with the Russian reinforcing particle лучше 'better'. In Dutch, the reinforcing meaning of maar, which in Russian is conveyed by the particle лучше 'better, is sometimes duplicated by the adjectives liever 'better, more willingly' and beter 'better', but in other examples this meaning is only expressed by the particle maar.

(34) Op het gevaar af een chagrijnige ouwe brombeer te zijn zeg ik: laat mij maar lekker thuis. (Groen)

At the risk of a grumpy old bear to be say I: let me MP good at home. 'At the risk of being a grumpy old bear, I say: leave me at home.'

Можете считать меня старым занудой и брюзгой, но я всё же скажу: лучше оставьте меня дома.

May consider me old nerd and grouch, but I MP MP say: better leave me at home.

'Call me an old bore and a grouch, but I'll tell you this: you'd better leave me at home.'

The particle лучше 'better' is used in Russian translations to convey the concessive, reinforcing, mitigating and resultant meaning of the Dutch maar.

Thus, most of the examples of translating the particle maar in the lexical-grammatical way are translations with Russian particles and a great role plays the choice of the verb and its form, but our sample also contains examples of other translation strategies, e. g. lexical repetition. This method is applicable when translating imperative sentences to convey the imperative function of the particle maar:

(35) "Kom maar, klim maar verderzei Johannes heel zachtjes. (Wiplala) "Come MP, climb MP further," said Johannes very softly. '"Come on, climb on," Johannes said very softly.'

Давайте-давайте, лезьте, — тихонько скомандовал Йоханнес.

Give-give, climb, — quietly commanded Johannes.

'"Come on, come on," Johannes commanded quietly'

Therefore, the lexical-grammatical method involves translating the particle maar using Russian particles. In addition to this, the choice of verb and its form plays an important role. For example, the verb with the prefix по- is often used to mitigate the imperative in Russian, thus assuming the function of the Dutch particle maar. The choice of verb tenses is also important.

Moreover, the use of a modal verb in Russian can fully convey the modal meaning of the Dutch particle.

5. mNCLUSION

Having looked at some ways of transmitting modal meaning in Russian, which is expressed by means of a modal particle in Dutch, we can state that:

1. In Russian there are many possibilities to convey modal meaning in lexico-grammatical ways, for example using particles, verbs with a narrower meaning and prefixes that soften the imperative; modal verbs as such can take on the function of expressing modality, and also the verb tense can be used to convey modality.

2. In many cases the modal particle maar 'but' cannot be found in Russian. In these cases, it is often omitted. However, the modal meaning is not always considered redundant in this kind of utterance; in some cases, the modality is retained by the choice of the verb and its form in Russian.

The question of translation strategies for combinations of Dutch modal particles into Russian, which we have not touched upon in the course of our research, remains open. This topic provides a broad field for more detailed translation studies.

REFERENCES

Barhudarov L. S. Language and translation (Questions of general and private theory

of translation). Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 1975. 240 p. (In

Russian)

Fehringer C., Cornips L. The Use of Modal Particles in Netherlandic and Belgian Dutch Imperatives. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 31 (4), 2019. P. 323-362.

Fischer K. Grounding and Common Ground: Modal Particles and their Translation equivalents. Lexical Markers of Common Ground. Fetzer A., Fischer K. (eds). Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007. P. 47-66.

Foolen A. P. De betekenis van partikels: een dokumentatie van de stand van het onderzoek, met bijzonder aandacht voor 'maar'. PhD thesis. Nijmegen: Rad-boud University, 1993. 245 p.

Haeseryn W., Romijn K., Geerts G., de Rooij J., van den Toorn M. C. Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst. 2e geheel herziene druk. Groningen, Deurne: Mar-tinus Nijhoff and Wolters Plantijn, 1997. 1717 p.

Komissarov V. N. Translation Theory (Linguistic Aspects): Textbook for Foreign Language Institutes and Faculties. Moscow: Vysshaia shkola Publ., 1990. 253 p. (In Russian)

Paramonov D. A. The Phenomenon of Grammatically Expressed Modal Meanings in Contemporary Russian Enlighted by Expressiveness. Dr. Sci. thesis. Moscow, RUDN University Publ., 2010. 722 p. (In Russian)

Pos A. Nederlandse partikels in het Portugees. Internationale Neerlandistiek, 48 (2), 2010. P. 7-18.

Prosvirkina I. I. Subjective modality as a means of expressing evaluative value. Vestnik of the Orenburg State University, 6, 2002. P. 79-81. (In Russian)

Vandeweghe W. Modale partikels en vertaling. Internationale Neerlandistiek, 48 (2), 2014. P. 19-30.

Vaulina S. Modality as a communicative category: some debatable aspects of research. Vestnik of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. Series: Philology, Pedagogy, Psychology, 8, 2013. P. 7-12. (In Russian)

Vinogradov V. V. On the category of modality and modal words in Russian. In: Vinogradov V. V. Izbrannye trudy. Issledovaniia po russkoi grammatike. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1975. P. 53-87. (In Russian)

Vismans R. Modal particles in Dutch directives: a study in functional grammar. PhD thesis. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit, 1994. 277 p.

Wouden T. van der. Smeermiddelen van de taal. Partikels in het Nederlands. Onze taal, 68 (11), 1999. P. 292-296.

Wouden T. van der. Partikels: Naar een partikelwoordenboek voor het Nederlands. Nederlandse Taalkunde, 7 (1), 2002. P. 1-16.

Екатерина Терешко

Институт языкознания РАН

Ринске София Веллинга

Московский государственный университет им. М. В. Ломоносова СПОСОБЫ ПЕРЕДАЧИ МОДАЛЬНЫХ ЗНАЧЕНИЙ В ПЕРЕВОДАХ НИДЕРЛАНДСКИХ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННЫХ ТЕКСТОВ НА РУССКИЙ ЯЗЫК: МОДАЛЬНАЯ ЧАСТИЦА MAAR

Для цитирования: Tereshko E., Vellinga R. S. Ways of transmitting modal meanings in Dutch-Russian translation: The case of the modal particle maar // Скандинавская филология. 2023. Т. 21. Вып. 1. С. 73-95. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2023.105

В данном исследовании мы рассматриваем стратегии, использующиеся профессиональными переводчиками для передачи значения голландских модальных частиц в русском языке. Модальные частицы представляют сложность для перевода, поскольку значение этих слов абстрактно, сильно зависит от контекста и иногда допускает несколько толкований. На основе параллельных голландско-русских текстов мы показываем, какие стратегии используют переводчики для выражения функций нидерландской модальной частицы maar в русском языке. Модальная частица maar может опускаться в переводах, так как она не имеет эквивалента в русском языке, при этом значение предложения в целом не меняется, так как функции частицы берут на себя другие языковые средства. При анализе корпусного материала мы обнаружили, что чаще всего нидерландская частица maar опускается в переводе, если она используется в функции смягчения императива. В русском языке существует множество возможностей передать модальное значение лексико-грамматическими способами, например с помощью частиц, глаголов с более узким значением и приставок, смягчающих императив; функцию выражения модальности могут брать на себя модальные глаголы как таковые, а также для передачи модальности может использоваться время глагола. Во многих случаях модальная частица maar ('но') не встречается в русском языке. В таких случаях она часто опускается. Однако модальное значение не всегда считается избыточным в таких высказываниях; в некоторых случаях модальность сохраняется за счет выбора глагола и его формы в русском языке.

Ключевые слова: модальные частицы, голландский язык, нидерландский язык, перевод, частица maar.

Ekaterina Tereshko

PhD in Philology, Junior Researcher, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1, Bolshoy Kislovsky per., Moscow, 125009, Russian Federation E-mail: tereshko@iling-ran.ru

Терешко Екатерина Владимировна

кандидат филологических наук, младший научный сотрудник, Институт языкознания РАН,

Российская Федерация, 125009, Москва, Большой Кисловский пер., 1 E-mail: tereshko@iling-ran.ru

Rinske Sophia Vellinga

Lecturer,

Lomonosov Moscow State University,

1, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation

E-mail: rs.vellinga@yahoo.com

Веллинга Ринске София

преподаватель,

Московский государственный университет им. М. В. Ломоносова, Российская Федерация, 119991, Москва, Ленинские горы, 1 E-mail: rs.vellinga@yahoo.com

Received: November 8, 2022 Accepted: December 15, 2022