Participial co-predications in French and their translation into Finnish

Eva HavuSorbonne Nouvelle-CIEH / University of Helsinkieva.havu@helsinki.fi

Introduction

French secondary predications include also participial constructions:[1a] Furieux, il est partiHe left furious[1b] Arrivé à l’aéroport, il a pris un taxi.[Having] arrived at the airport, he took a taxi[1c] Voyant le taxi arriver, il a appelé sa femme.Seeing the cab arrive, he called his wife.

Present participles can function as co-predications, like gerunds:[1d] En regardant le taxi arriver, il parlait avec sa femmeWhile watching the cab arrive, he talked to his wife

Both –ant forms converbs ( « nonfinite verb form[s] whose main function is to mark adverbial subordination » : Haspelmath 1995 : 3)

Introduction

- ant forms: non finite verb forms “Their notional subject is not expressed explicitly but

depends for its reference on an outside controller”, Haspelmath, 1995 : 18

Their semantic interpretation depends on the main clause / context /sociocultural phenomena (König & van der Auwera (1990: 337) [2a] Habitant à Paris, Pierre a vu la Tour Eiffel  > Since Peter lives in Paris, he has seen the Eiffel Tower[2b] Habitant à Paris, Pierre n’a pas vu la Tour EiffelAlthough Peter lives in Paris, he has not seen the… [2c] Habitant à Paris, Pierre voyait la Tour Eiffel tous lesjours> When Peter lived in Paris, he saw the E. T. every day

- ant forms and subordination

Syntactic structure not that of subordinate clauses (which express more openly the semantic relation with the main clause: conjunction, finite verb form)

But: functional subordination (Cristofaro 2003) : temporal, aspectual and modal meaning dependent on the semantics of the main clause (cf. Haspelmath 1995, Nedjalkov 1998: 423, Valijärvi 2007: 36)

Functional alternatives to adverbial subordinate clauses (Cristofaro 2003: 296); seem to be especially courant in languages which do not have a great variety of adverbial conjunctions Herlin & Leino & Visapää (2005 : 27):[3a] Regardant à sa gauche, il a vu le facteur.Looking to the left, he saw the postman[3b] Quand il a regardé à sa gauche, il a vu le facteur:When he..

Other strategies

The same converbal relation may be expressed by other non-finite means (Valijärvi 2007: 36; Raible 1994: 119):

verbal nouns, infinitives accompanied by adpositions: [4a] Katselin televisiota syömiseni aikanaI watched television ‘during my eating’- parataxis, coordination or juxtaposition[4b] Söin. Katselin televisiotaI ate. I watched television use of adverbs or particles[4c] Söin. Samalla katselin televisiota.I ate. At the same time I watched television

Translation of French –ant converbs into Finnish: Finnish converbs Subordinate clauses Strategies mentioned above

French converbs

French « ideal » converbal form: gerund (Halmøy, 2003 : 154, Haspelmath, 1995): has only an adverbial use[5a] Il mange en lisant un livre ‘He eats reading a book’[5b] Il mange rapidement ‘He eats quickly’

Present participle considered as an adjectival verb form: refers to NP, which converbs never do:[6a] Ce chateau datant du XII siècle est magnifique.[6b] Ce chateau moyenâgeux est magnifique.[6c] *Ce chateau en datant du XII siècle, est …‘This castle dating from the 12th century / This medieval

castle is magnificent (see Halmøy, 2003 : 4, 30)

French converbs

But: present participles have certain converbal functions: sometimes in the same context as gerunds although not the same function (Halmøy, 2003 : 156-157):[7a] Regardant à sa gauche, il vit le facteurWhen he looked to the right, he saw the postman (He lookedand he saw: slight succession)[7b] En regardant à sa gauche, il vit le facteurWhile he was looking to the right, he saw the postman(simultaneous actions)

The converbal interpretation of the present participle only one of the discourse effects of the construction: “normally” used to describe or characterise a NP

Initial and final positions (distance from NP): possibility to adverbial interpretations (see Havu & Pierrard 2008)

Finnish converbs

What would be the Finnish converbs corresponding to the French –ant forms?

Finnish does not have detached secondary predications:

[8]Fermant la porte, il partit > *Sulkien oven, hän lähti, ‘Closing the door he left’

a verb form called “gerund” a present participle functioning as a converb:

Finnish present participles are [only] adjectival forms, adnominal modifiers with both attributive and predicative uses (Hakulinen & alii 2004: 148, 487, Koivisto 2005: 148, Valijärvi 2007: 32) :[9] Une femme charmante/Cette femme est charmanteViehättävä nainen / Tämä nainen on viehättävä‘A charming woman / This woman is charming’.

Finnish converbs

But: other types of converbs > in Finnish certain infinitives (see Herlin & Leino & Visapää 2005 : 26, König & van der Auwera 1990 : 537, Valijärvi 2007).

Herlin & Leino & Visapää (2005 : 27): the infinitives corresponding the best to the category of converbs (König 1995) are:

the “long” form of the first infinitive (purpose: juostakseen ‘in order to run’

the instructive (manner) and inessive (temporal co-incidence) of the second infinitive (juosten ‘running’; juostessa ‘while running’

the adessive of the third infinitive (instrument: juoksemalla ‘by running’

Valijärvi (2007: 13, 32): two more non finite verb forms function as converbs

the abessive of the third infinitive (juoksematta ‘without running’ , the partitive of the passive participle (juostua ‘after running’).

Finnish converbs

The three converbs appearing in the translation of the –ant forms are the instructive of the second infinitive (prototypical

semantic meaning: manner; in addition concomitance, means, cause, concession, posterior temporality, consequence, explanation, contrast…

inessive of the second infinitive (prototypical semantic meaning: temporal co-incidence; in addition condition, contrast, adversativity, means, cause, purpose…

adessive of the third infinitive (prototypical semantic meaning: instrument; in addition manner, concomitance, temporal simultaneity, condition… (cf. Valijärvi 2007: 3, 4, 39; Hakulinen & al. 2004: 1200-1201, 1210-1211)

Comparison: French and Finnish converbs

In addition, if description of NP (= non converbal use): attributive present participle:[10] Datant du 12e siècle, ce château est magnifique.1100-luvulta peräisin oleva linna on vaikuttava.‘This castle dating from the 12th century ismagnificent’

Comparison: French: two converbs (present participle and

gerund) Finnish: three infinitives Both French and Finnish converbs have a large scale

of semantic meanings How do these forms correspond to each other? Do Finnish translators make a difference between

the two –ant forms?

Comparison : French and Finnish converbs

When both –ant forms appear in the same syntactic context > same infinitive in Finnish ?[11a] Regardant à sa gauche, il vit le facteur.Katsoessaan vasemmalle hän näki postinkantajan‘Looking to his left he saw the postman’[11b] En regardant le paysage, il aperçut un renard.Katsoessaan maisemaa hän havaitsi ketun. (While) looking at the the landscape he noticed a fox

When only one of the forms correct > different infinitives / non finite forms in Finnish?[12a] Il se déplace en rampant / ?rampantHän etenee ryömimällä ‘He advances (by) crawling’[12b] Ce château, datant du 12e siècle, est magnifique/ *en

datant1100-luvulta peräisin oleva linna on vaikuttava.‘This castle dating from the 12th century is impressive’

Translations of the –ant forms

Translations of French converbs by Finnish converbs Other types of translation only mentioned

Corpus: Amélie Nothomb (1999) Stupeur et tremblements >

Annikki Suni Nöyrin palvelijanne (1999) Jean Echenoz (1999) Je m’en vais > Erkki Jukarainen Minä

lähden (2001) Anna Gavalda (1999) Je voudrais que quelqu'un

m'attende quelque part > Titia Schuurman Kunpa joku odottaisi minua jossakin (2001)

Translations depend on the position of the –ant form Initial position Final position Intermedial position

Present participles and gerunds preceding the main clause

A. Translations with an infinitive Present participles translated by the inessive (temporal co-

incidence ) or the instructive (manner) of the 2nd infinitive (prototypical meanings):[13a] S’éloignant un peu malgré les consignes, Ferrer aperçut [...].(Ech. 35) Edetessään määräyksistä huolimatta hieman kauemmas Ferrer erotti[...] (Ju. 29) [13b] Le retenant un moment sur le palier, [...], il lui exposa qu’il[...] (Ech. 39) Pidätellen vierastaan tasanteella hän selitti – [...] – että [...] (Ju. 33)

Gerunds mostly translated by the inessive of the 2nd infinitive (temporal co-incidence: prototypical meaning). Sometimes adessive of the 3rd infinitive (instrument: prototypical meaning):[14] En passant mon chemin, je continue de sourire [...] (Ga. 10)Jatkaessani matkaa hymyilen edelleen, ajattelen [...] (Sch. 8)

Present participles and gerunds preceding the main clause

B. Other nonfinite verb forms French present participles able to express a slight

succession Prenant son manteau, il sortit > He took his coat and went

out Traditionally not possible for Finnish converbs

But: Ontermaa 2005: 333: Marsalkka lähti Mussolinin luo keskustellen hänen kanssaan pitkähkön ajan > Marshall [Mannerheim] went to Mussolini discussing with him for a long while (criticised use; see also Pokela (2005: 310)

Finnish translations: no non-prototypical uses Succession > passive form of the past participle (ayant

fait / having done):(15) [...] : avisant un dirigeable dans le ciel, il courut [...].(No. 111-112)[...] : huomattuaan taivaalla ilmalaivan hän ryntäsi [...] (Su.75) = ayant avisé; ’having noticed’

Present participles and gerunds preceding the main clause

C. Other solutions Purely descriptive present participles > relative clause:

(16) [...] rien ne rappelait les activités artistiques passées dugaleriste. Sauf encore, disgracieux et burinés, servant de table basseou de support de téléviseur, deux blocs de marbre [...](Ech. 17) Ehkä myös kaksi taltalla nyrhittyä rumaa marmorimöhkälettä, jotkatoimivat matalana pöytänä tai television alustana [...] (Ju. 14)

Present participle > subordinate clause, coordination, juxtaposition: direct translation not possible or atypical ; no visible reason):(17) Sur cette couchette, enfin seule et soupirant d’aise, seretournant avant de se remettre à ronfloter, l’infirmière Brigittereplonge confortablement dans le sommeil. (Ech. 48) Punkalla makaava hoituri-Brigitte huokaa tyytyväisenä jäätyäänvihdoin yksin, kääntää kylkeä ja alkaa jälleen kuorsata kevyesti. (Ju.40) = soupire, se retourne et se remet à ronfloter

Present participles and gerunds preceding the main clause

Temporal gerunds which are not coreferential with the subject> subordinate clause

(18) En cherchant le cours de la couronne suédoise à la date du20/2/1990, ma bouche prit l’initiative de parler : (No. 80)Kun etsin Ruotsin kruunun kurssia 20.2.1990, suuni teki aloitteen japuhui: (Su. 53)

If gerund seems to note a slight anteriority with the main verb > coordination

(19) En me montrant une basse, elle m’a dit:.. (Ga. 654)Hän osoitti minulle bassoa ja sanoi :.. (Sch. 58)

Other types of translation (not always obvious reason) (20) Tout en se livrant à ce comportement pitoyable, elle regardait ses collègues à la dérobée. (No. 111)Säälittävän esityksensä aikana Fubuki joutui vielä vilkuilemaan työtovereitaan. (Su. 75)

Final present participles and gerunds

A. Translations with an infinitive Present participles mostly translated by constructions with finite

verb forms Among non finite translations: instructive of the 2nd infinitive the

most common: Manner:

(21a) Je servis chaque tasse[...], psalmodiant les plus raffinées des formulesd’usage, baissant les yeux et m’inclinant. (No. 19)[…]: tarjoilin jokaisen kupin [...] lausuen tyylikkäimmät kohteliaisuusfraasit,painaen katseeni ja kumartaen. (Su. 130)

Cause:(21b) […], il sourit, croyant que, […], je m’étais trompée de commodités.(No. 138-139)[…] hän hymyili luullen, että […]olin erehtynyt mukavuuslaitoksesta. (Su. 94)

Concession / opposition(21c) Pour vous venger de mon attitude envers vous, vous n’avez pas hésité àsaboter la comptabilité de Yumimoto, sachant pertinemment que vos tortsretomberaient sur moi ! (No. 67)Kostitte suhtautumiseni sabotoimalla Yumimoton kirjanpitoa tietäen varsinhyvin, että syy lankeaisi minun päälleni ! (Su. 45) 

Final present participles and gerunds

Gerunds also mostly translated by a finite construction All three non finite forms appear in their prototypical

semantic use: Instrument/ manner

(22a) Monsieur Saito rythmait ma production en ladéchirant, […] (No. 11)Herra Saito rytmitti luomistyötäni repimällä aina sen tulokset[...] (Su. 8)

Temporal co-incidence(22b) Je crus mourir de rire en constatant qu’il s’agissait durèglement du club de golf […](No. 35)Olin kuolla nauruun todetessani, että paperissa oli herraSaiton golfklubin säännöt. (Su. 24)

Manner(22c) Il ajouta en soupirant : […](No. 183)Haneda jatkoi huokaisten: (Su. 124)

Final present participles and gerunds

B. Other solutions Mostly present participles and gerunds translated by a

finite construction (subordinate clause, coordination, juxtaposition, independent construction…): direct translation impossible, succession, different subjects…:(23a) De retour à mon bureau, je passai le reste de lajournée à simuler une activité minimale tout en analysantmon imbécillité, […](No. 126)Työpöydän ääreen palattuani teeskentelin lopun päiväätekeväni jotain pientä. Analysoin tyhmyyttäni, joka olikinvarsin laaja mietiskelynaihe. (Su. 85)(23b) Je ressentis pour lui une sotte bouffée de tendresse enpensant qu’il pesait le tiers de son agresseur. (No. 20)Minussa ailahti typerä hellyys häntä kohtaan, kun ajattelin[…] (Su. 13) = ’dans moi surgit une sotte bouffée de

tendresse …’

Intermedial position: non converbal present participles / gerunds

Present participles usually non converbal > relative clause:(24) [...] deux papiers froissés, traînant jadis sur le pont[...] (Ech. 81) Kahdesta rypistyneestä paperiarkista, jotka olivat aikoinaanajelehtineet kannella [...](Ju. 69)

Gerunds > often finite construction, especially when do not correspond to the prototypical meaning of one of the Finnish infinitives: ex. 25: condition(25) On lui avait même laissé entendre qu’on pourrait, encherchant bien, se procurer des informations plus détaillées[...] (Ech. 30)Hänen oli annettu myös ymmärtää, että jos oikein yrittäisi,[...] voisi saada tarkempiakin tietoja. (Ju. 26)

Final remarks

Finnish converbs are used in translating the French –ant converbs when they can be used in their prototypical semantic meaning, Only exception: translation of the final present

participle (rare in French) > infinitives with different semantic meanings.

Initial French converbs much more often translated by a Finnish infinitive than final converbs

Final position = distance from the subject > finite verb form (conjunctional subordination, coordination, juxtaposition, other solution…)

Final remarks

Do translators distinguish between present participles and gerunds?> difficult: French and Finnish converbs’ meanings mostly overlap

the adessive of the 2nd infinitive only infinitive corresponding only to an instrumental gerund (never to a present participle)

Difference appears in another way which takes into consideration the combination ‘position + infinitive + semantic interpretation’: only the combination ‘initial position + inessive of

the 2nd infinitive corresponds to both the –ant forms ( “similar use” even in French: Regardant /En regardant à sa gauche, il vit le facteur)

other positions: only one of the –ant forms appears / dominates

Final remarksPP = present participle / Ger = gerund

2nd infinitive inessive

2nd infinitive instruct.

3rd infinitive adessive

Non con-verbal PP

initial position

PP / Ger:temporal coincidence

PP: manner

Ger: instr.

 final position

(PP) / Ger:temporal coincidence

PP / Ger: manner (PP also cause,concession)

Ger: instr.

Intermedial position:

___ Ger: manner

_____ PP: description