Copular clauses in English and in Czech

Markéta Malá

Charles University in Prague

Copular clauses – a comparative corpus-based approach

• Copular clauses: – clauses with a verbo-nominal predicate comprising a copular verb and a

subject complement– used to ascribe a quality, property or value to the subject

• Verbs:– both Czech and English: copular verbs be - být and become - stát se – English: a broader repertoire of copular verbs, various types of

attribution (e.g., verbs of ‘seeming’, attribution based on perception, verbs of ‘remaining’ etc.)

What means are employed in Czech to express such ‘modified attribution’?What can the constructions used in Czech suggest of the meaning of the respective copular verbs in English?In what ways can multilingual translation corpora be employed in contrastive research?

Material and methodology

• a parallel translation corpus of aligned Czech and English fiction texts

• a part of the InterCorp project – a multilingual corpus of 21 languages (49.3 mil. tokens) with Czech (44 mil. tokens) in the centre as a pivot language

• http://ucnk.ff.cuni.cz/intercorp/• http://www.korpus.cz/intercorp/

• Czech – English 4 mil. – 4.7 mil. tokens (34 texts + Project Syndicate), part-of-speech tagged

• Michael Barlow – ParaConc (alignment checked manually)• Web-based interface

• Pilot parallel sub-corpus used for the present study (cca 800 000 tokens)

English originals3 novels228011 tokens

English translations212200 tokens

Czech translations195509 tokens

Czech originals3 novels163566 tokens

Pilot parallel sub-corpus used for the present study

cca 800 000 tokensbidirectional, balanced (cf. Johansson 2007, Dušková 2004, 2005)

The scope of the study

• The copular verb proper be / být , which “does not add any semantic content to the predicate phrase it is contained in” (Pustet 2005 [2003], 5) – excluded

• Semi-copulas (or quasi-copulas, or complex-intransitives) “add meaning to the predicate phrases in which they are contained. This semantic function, while not directly affecting the inner core of the predicate phrase, that is, its lexical nucleus, by altering the intrinsic semantic content of the latter, consist in ‘importing’ ... meaning components into the predicate phrase.” (Pustet 2005 [2003], 5 - 6)

• 2 groups of semi-copulas:– verbs with depictive predicative complements (current copulas)

feel, continue, appear, look, keep, seem, smell, remain, sound, stay, prove, taste,

– verbs with resultative predicative complements (resulting copulas) become, grow, come, turn, fall, get, go.

Copular verbs in English originals and in English translations

Word-count (tokens)

Copular verbs (abs)

Copular verbs per 1000 tokens

English originals

228 011 1 054 4.6

English translations

212 200 760 3.6

(78% of E.orig.)

The correspondences between become and stát seEnglish sources > Czech translations

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

zero

5. catenative constr. "začít + inf."

4. copular "stát se"

3. lexical verb - other

2. prefix

1. final state (Adv)

1. The mountains around the school became icy gray .... - Hory kolem školy byly teď ledově šedé ....

[The mountains around the school were now icy gray ....]2. You that demon for pleasure who became so wise. Ty, která sis tak potrpěla na

zábavu a která jsi tolik zmoudřela. [prefix z- = change]3. We do, after all, wish him to become someone we can be proud of, don't we? Chceme

přece, aby vyrostl v člověka, na nějž budeme moci být hrdí, ne? [ grow up to be …]4. A small bolt from a cockpit became jewellery. Matice z pilotní kabiny se stala

šperkem.5. In jail he became serene and devious. Ve vězení začal být vážný a nevyzpytatelný.

[started to be …]

Translation counterparts of English copular clauses

A. Zero (overall semantic correspondence maintained but no identifiable explicit counterpart of copular predicate identifiable)

B. Overt:

Verbal

lexical verb (semantic class)

copular verb (být, stát se)

catenative construction (začít [start] / přestat [cease] + inf.)

Verbal prefix

Verbo-nominal (mít pocit)

Adverbial (epistemic, time)

Clausal (comment clause)

Translation counterparts of English copular clauses – exx I

A. Zero‘Bullstrode, Millicent’ then became a Slytherin. ‘Bullstrodeovou, Millicent’ (object) zařadil klobouk (subject) do Zmijozelu → B.M. was placed in Slytherin by the hat.

B. Overt: Verbal lexical verb (semantic class)

it seemed a place rather than a time vnímá to spíš jako místo než čas → she perceives it …

copular verb (být, stát se) it seems unfair to ask a young woman to make judgements so crucial to her

future happiness …je nespravedlivé chtít po mladé ženě, aby se rozhodovala o svém budoucím

štěstí … → it iscatenative construction (začít / přestat + inf.)

As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. Jak nastal listopad, začalo být velice chladno. → started to be

Translation counterparts of English copular clauses – exx II

Verbal prefix Neville went bright red … Neville zrudl jako krocan …

Verbo-nominalHe felt very strange. Měl velice podivný pocit. → had a very strange feeling

Adverbial (epistemic) Ichiro seemed to consider this for a moment. Ičiró o tom zjevně chvíli uvažoval. → apparently

Clausal Noriko, however, seems very proud of her apartment …Noriko je však, jak se mi zdá, na svůj byt velice hrdá … →

it seems to me

“One of the most fascinating aspects of multi-lingual corpora is that they can make meanings visible through translation patterns.” (Johansson 2007)

total zero verbal vb- nom.

adverbial clau-sal

lexical verb copular verb cate-nat.

prefix res.

epist tmp / man

re-sult. per-cept.

oth. stát se být

become 156 4 30 3 10 23 23 18 36 1 0 8 0

turn 16 0 2 0 0 1 2 2 9 0 0 0 0

go 35 0 8 0 0 0 2 0 25 0 0 0 0

fall 30 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 23 0 0 2 0

grow 31 0 10 0 3 0 3 3 12 0 0 0 0

get 48 2 12 3 1 0 9 6 12 2 0 1 0

come 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

prove 8 0 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

appear 38 7 0 17 5 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 1

look 169 4 6 141 1 0 7 0 2 0 7 1 0

seem 317 43 0 135 5 0 5 0 1 7 108 3 10

sound 26 1 0 14 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 0

feel 79 0 0 37 8 0 15 0 1 16 2 0 0

taste 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

remain 39 6 4 1 22 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 0

continue 49 17 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 30 0

stay 7 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

keep 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

total 1054 84 82 354 67 26 70 29 123 29 126 53 11

total zero verbal vb- nom.

adverbial clau-sal

lexical verb copular verb cate-nat.

prefix res.

epist tmp / man

re-sult. per-cept.

oth. stát se být

become 156 4 30 3 10 23 23 18 36 1 0 8 0

turn 16 0 2 0 0 1 2 2 9 0 0 0 0

go 35 0 8 0 0 0 2 0 25 0 0 0 0

fall 30 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 23 0 0 2 0

grow 31 0 10 0 3 0 3 3 12 0 0 0 0

get 48 2 12 3 1 0 9 6 12 2 0 1 0

come 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

prove 8 0 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

appear 38 7 0 17 5 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 1

look 169 4 6 141 1 0 7 0 2 0 7 1 0

seem 317 43 0 135 5 0 5 0 1 7 108 3 10

sound 26 1 0 14 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 0

feel 79 0 0 37 8 0 15 0 1 16 2 0 0

taste 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

remain 39 6 4 1 22 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 0

continue 49 17 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 30 0

stay 7 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

keep 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

total 1054 84 82 354 67 26 70 29 123 29 126 53 11

become, turn, go, fall, get, grow, come, prove

0 50 100 150

copulastát se

catenativec.

copulabýt

lexical vb

prefix

1. Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he? Tatínek se zbláznil, viď?

2. … Father must be going blind Tatínkovi zřejmě slábne zrak.

3.a. Harry thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker.

Harry si říkal, že i krvavé skvrny jsou větší.

3.b. I'm getting so frightened, Ichiro, I can hardly eat, ….

Já už jsem tak vyděšená, že ani jíst nemůžu, … .

4. She grew harsh with herself and the patients. Začala být k sobě i pacientům drsnější.

5. Their like will never fall victim to the sort of grand catastrophe that …Takoví se nikdy nestanou obětí katastrofy, jaká ….

Remain, continue, stay, keep

0 20 40

lexicalvb

adv.time

zero

1. As I remember, supper continued to proceed in a most satisfactory manner. Pokud se pamatuji, probíhala večeře klidně a příjemně.

2. Mori-san remained absorbed by his pictures. Mori-san si dál zkoumavě prohlížel obrázky.

3. He stays awake in any case this night, to see if the figure moves towards him. Zůstává tu noc v každém případě vzhůru, aby viděl, zda se postava pohne směrem k němu.

Appear, look, seem, sound, feel, taste

0 200 400

zero

adv.epistemic

lexical vb

1. … and it seemed to her a reversal of Kim … a připadalo jí to jako Kim naruby.

2. he seems capable in that category. je zřejmě v tomhle směru schopný.

3. Well, your mother for one doesn't seem to think so. No, například tvoje maminka si to nemyslí.

Epistemic modification

• “As if”

A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

Zepředu jako by k nim doléhalo tiché šustění a cinkání. • Adverbials: zřejmě, očividně, zjevně, zdánlivě,

nejspíš, asi, možná, nepochybně

… they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.

… nejspíš si mysleli, že by ho to mohlo přivést na nebezpečné nápady.

Tracing the function

English copular verbs

Czech prefix

Czech modal adverbial

Czech lexical vb

Czech copula

etc.

etc.

etc.

English copula

English modal vb.

English modal adv.

English modal adj.

English comment clause

zero

Epistemic adverbials: zřejmě, očividně, zjevně, zdánlivě, nejspíš, asi, možná, nepochybně

Englishoriginals

Englishtranslations

Σ (%) Σ (%)

modal adv. 210 40.3 111 46.8

copular vbs 77 14.8 7 3.0

modal vbs 110 21.1 34 14.3

comment cl. 60 11.5 27 11.4

modal adj. 18 3.5 5 2.2

zero 46 8.2 53 22.4

521 100 237 100

• Adverbials: obviously, apparently, clearly, seemingly, no doubt, of course, probably, patently

• Copular vbs: seem, appear, look

Different preferences in different languages (paradigms of choice vs patterns of choice)

The experiencer

• “… the sense verbs and verbs of seeming license a to phrase where the oblique NP expresses the experiencer.” (Huddleston & Pullum, 263)

• seem: “somebody or something gives the experiencer the impression of being something or doing something.” (Johansson, 118)

• English originals > Czech translations: expression of the experiencer by the dative, corresponding to the English to-PP, is about 4.6 times more frequent than explicit reference to the experiencer in the original English texts.

To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible …

Někomu tak mladému jako ty to jistě zní neuvěřitelně …

The experiencer

More frequently overt in Czech:• Obligatory complement with some verbs of perception

It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant. Připadalo mu, že snad sedí na nějaké rostlině.

• Optional with others – different preferences

After what seemed an age, she turned and left.

Zdálo se jim, že to trvá celou věčnost, pak se však paní Norrisová otočila a vyšla ven.

Czech English

become 1 0

turn 1 0

go 4 0

fall 0 0

get 0 0

grow 0 0

come 1 0

prove 0 0

appear 9 1

look 7 2

seem 43 17

sound 6 0

feel 25 1

taste 0 0

remain 0 0

continue 0 0

stay 1 0

keep 0 0

97 21

The dative: d. (in)commodi

1. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green.

Rána mu ošklivě zezelenala;

2. Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.

Wood se teď tvářil, jako by se mu naráz splnily všecky jeho

sny.

3. … that its details have stayed imprinted on my memory

že se mi ve všech podrobnostech vryl do paměti

English originals

English translations

Czech translations

Czech originals

Using bi-directional parallel corpora

making meanings visible through translation patterns (Johansson)

making it possible to proceed from function to its realization form

different preferences in different languages: paradigmatic choice vs patterns of choice (Neumann)

the source text can leave its mark on the translation (overuse / underuse)

surprises

ReferencesBiber, D. et al. (1999) The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written

English. Harlow: Longman.Dušková, L. (2004) ‘Syntactic constancy of the subject complement,

Part 1: A comparison between Czech and English.’ Linguistica Pragensia XIV/2, pp 57-71.

Dušková, L. (2005) ‘Syntactic constancy of the subject complement, Part 2: A comparison between English and Czech.’ Linguistica Pragensia XV/1, pp 1-17.

Huddleston, R. & G. Pullum (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP.

Johansson, S. (2007) Seeing through multilingual corpora. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Pustet, R. (2003) Copulas. Universals in the Categorization of the Lexicon. Oxford: OUP.

Quirk, R. et al. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.