1.2. A Description of Adjective ........ 11
1.3. Definition and Characteristics of an Attribute...16
CHAPTER 2. THE TRANSLATION OF ATTRIBUTIVE GROUPS......... 20
2.1. Translating Attributive Clusters.......... 20
2.2. Problems of Translation of Attributive Groups..... 23
2.3. Possessives vs. Attributive Nouns....... 25
CONCLUSION ................. 28
Appendix
CHAPTER 1. DEFINITION OF TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE AND ATTRIBUTE
1.2. A Description of Adjective
... Comparable adjectives are also known as "gradable" adjectives, because they tend to allow grading adverbs such as very, rather, and so on.
Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared in this way, different approaches are used. Indeed, even within English, two different approaches are used: the suffixes -er and -est, and the words more and most. (In English, the general tendency is for shorter adjectives and adjectives from Anglo-Saxon to use -er and -est, and for longer adjectives and adjectives from French, Latin, Greek, and other languages to use more and most.) By either approach, English adjectives therefore have positive forms (big), comparative forms (bigger), and superlative forms (biggest). However, many other languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms.
Attributive adjectives, and other noun modifiers, may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun's referent, hence "restricting" its reference) or non-restrictively (helping to describe an already-identified noun). For example:
"He was a lazy sort, who would avoid a difficult task and fill his working hours with easy ones."
"difficult" is restrictive - it tells us which tasks he avoids, distinguishing these from the easy ones: "Only those tasks that are difficult".
"She had the job of sorting out the mess left by her predecessor, and she performed this difficult task with great acumen."
"difficult" is non-restrictive - we already know which task it was, but the adjective describes it more fully: "The aforementioned task, which (by the way) is difficult"
In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, in Spanish la tarea difícil means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task that is difficult" (restrictive), whereas la difícil tarea means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task, which is difficult" (non-restrictive). ...
CHAPTER 2. THE TRANSLATION OF ATTRIBUTIVE GROUPS
2.1. Translating Attributive Clusters
... Taking into account the more laconic and compressive character of English speech, it is sometimes necessary to extend the structure when translating into Russian: a five-man committee – комитет, состоящий из пяти человек, opinion poll – опрос общественного мнения, peace committee – комитет защиты мира.
Since English prefers prepositional attributes, whereas Russian tends to use postpositional modifiers, [13, 62] a translator has to substitute an adjective with a noun, which is especially typical of ethnic names: Australian prosperity – процветание Австралии – Австралияның көркеюі; Russian president – президент России – Ресей президенті.
There are some rare cases when an English attribute follows the noun: the man next door – человек, живущий по соседству; сосед – көршілес үйде тұратын адам; көрші. Sometimes the position of the attribute changes the meaning of the phrase: He is a hardworking and responsible employee. – Он трудолюбивый и ответственный работник –Ол еңбекқор және жауапкершілігі мол жұмыскер.You will be the person responsible if anything goes wrong in the project. – Ты будешь виноватым, если проект не пойдет. –Егер жоба дұрыс болмаса сен кінәлі болып қаласың. I’d like to thank everyone concerned for making the occasion run so smoothly. – Я бы хотел поблагодарить всех имеющих к этому отношение за то, что у нас все прошло так гладко – Мен барлығы жақсы өткені үшін және осыған қатысы бар адамдарға алғыс айтқым келеді. Concerned parents have complained about the dangerous playground. – Обеспокоенные родители жалуются на то, что на детской площадке стало опасно играть – Мазасызданған ата-аналар ойнау алаңында қауіпті екеніне шағымданды.
Sometimes Russian attributive groups may correspond to a single English word, so calque translation will seem over worded: официальный орган печати – gazette, папка документов – file. [16, 25]
Translating attributive quotations (цитатные речения) is another challenging problem. They often have predicative relations between the components and, therefore, resemble separate clauses. For instance, There is a sort of Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-I-wish-I-could-do-something-to-make-it-better-and-nobler expression about Montmorency (Jerome K. Jerome). Монморенси глядит на вас с таким выражением, словно хочет сказать: «О, как испорчен этот мир и как бы я желал сделать его лучше и благороднее». –Монморенсидің көзқарасы сіздерге бірдене айтқысы келетіндей: "О, мына өмір сондай өзгерген және мен оны жақсы да, адалда болып өзгеруін тілер едім. (Пер. М. Салье) ...
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. "Adjectives". Capital Community College Foundation. Capital Community College Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
2. Bell R. Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice. – London & New York: Longman, 1991.
3. Benjamin W. Illuminations. – New York, 1955.
4. Encyclopedia Britannica Version 1997. CD-ROM.
5. Payne J.R., "Language Universals and Language Types", in Collinge, ed., An Encyclopedia of Language1990.
