From hypotaxis to parataxis : an investigation of English-German syntactic convergence in translation
Guided by the hypothesis that translation is a language contact situation that can influence language change, this study investigates a frequency shift from hypotactic to paratactic constructions in concessive and causal clauses in German management and business writing. The influence of the English SVO word order is assumed to cause language users of German to prefer verb-second, paratactic constructions to verb-final, hypotactic ones. The hypothesis is tested using a 1 million word diachronic corpus containing German translations and their source texts as well as a corpus of German non-translations. The texts date from 1982â3 and 2008, which allows a diachronic analysis of changes in the way English causal and concessive structures have been translated. The analysis shows that in the translations, parataxis is indeed becoming more frequent at the expense of hypotaxis, a phenomenon that, to some extent, also occurs in the non-translations. Based on a corpus of unedited draft translations, it can be shown that translators rather than editors are responsible for this shift. Most of the evidence, however, suggests that the shift towards parataxis is not predominantly caused by language contact with English.
Bisiada, Mario
Corpus Linguistics ; Translation Studies ; German
From hypotaxis to parataxis : an investigation of English-German syntactic convergence in translation. Guided by the hypothesis that translation is a language contact situation that can influence language change, this study investigates a frequency shift from hypotactic to paratactic constructions in concessive and causal clauses in German management and business writing. The influence of the English SVO word order is assumed to cause language users of German to prefer verb-second, paratactic constructions to verb-final, hypotactic ones. The hypothesis is tested using a 1 million word diachronic corpus containing German translations and their source texts as well as a corpus of German non-translations. The texts date from 1982â3 and 2008, which allows a diachronic analysis of changes in the way English causal and concessive structures have been translated. The analysis shows that in the translations, parataxis is indeed becoming more frequent at the expense of hypotaxis, a phenomenon that, to some extent, also occurs in the non-translations. Based on a corpus of unedited draft translations, it can be shown that translators rather than editors are responsible for this shift. Most of the evidence, however, suggests that the shift towards parataxis is not predominantly caused by language contact with English.
investigation english_german syntactic convergence translation guided hypothesis translation language_contact situation influence language_change study_investigates frequency shift concessive causal clauses german management business writing influence english svo word_order assume cause language users german prefer verb second construction verb final hypothesis_test use_word diachronic_corpus contain german translation source texts well corpus german non translations text date allow diachronic_analysis change way english causal concessive structure translate analysis_show translation indeed become frequent expense phenomenon extent also occur non translations based corpus unedited draft translation show translator rather editor responsible shift evidence however suggest shift_towards predominantly cause language_contact english