Vienas prijungiamųjų laiko sakinių su jungtuku „kai“ vartosenos atvejis

98 Languages and Culture | 84 RITA MILIŪNAITĖ lietuvių kalbos institutas ONE CONJUNCTIVE TIME SENTENCES with the Conjunct KAI Case of use ESSENTIAL WORDS: syntax, connective temporal sentences, syntax innovations, translation, standardization. 1. INTRODUCTION More than a decade ago, when the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language was discussing the syntax norms and deviations from them in the Language Advices (hereinafter referred to as KP), attention was drawn to one case of conjunctive sentences with the conjunction kai, which is not characteristic of Lithuanian language and is increasing in usage. was based on data from the Current Uses Catalog1, which at that time did not yet contain a large number of examples of this kind. It has been observed that both in the media (translated information) and in the translated fiction and popular literature some sentences with the conjunction sometimes create an unnatural relationship between the main and secondary action, for example (emphasis my own. – R. M.): They were married only six months ago, when their newly created happy life began to break down. (2003, self-development book, translated from English) In Lithuanian thinking, the meaning of this sentence, depending on the context, could be expressed several times, for example: They were married (or: married) only six months ago, and (and) their newly created happy life has already begun to fail. Although they had only been married for six months, their newly-created happy life began to fade. Just six months after their wedding, their newly-created happy life began to fall apart. 1 For more information on the record library, see 2009: 100–106. r. MiluNaItĖ. 99 Over time, it has become apparent that the use of sentences with the conjunction kai, which are similar to the subjunctive, continues to spread, and this case needs to be defined more precisely. Therefore, the aim of the article is to examine the new usage data and to try to clarify the definition of the KP recommendation and to supplement the proposition, i.e. to propose more varied possible ways of normative expression. 2. KP rEKoMENDacIJa: ATtempt to describe The case mentioned in KP was added to the errors of sentence conjunction, discussing the use of the conjunction kai2: kai vert. ntk. = and, ~ to compare two actions: Two hunters are hunting in the woods, when (=ir) one of them suddenly gets sick. A father and his daughter were travelling through the desert when (=and) he felt sick (| When a father and his daughter were travelling through the desert, he felt sick). Where? time to join secondary sentences: It was lunchtime, k a i he returned from town. We'll see what we can do. As you can see, the corrective phenomenon is described very concisely. the recommendation is deciphered as follows: the switch when two actions are placed next to each other is a translative non-useable expression, and instead of it is provided a switch and or a means of expression. Thus, the ground for correction is the incorrectly expressed relationship between the two actions. Compound connective tense sentences with kai, like all compound connective tense sentences, in Lithuanian usually indicate the action of the main element being more important than the action of the secondary element, and the definition of the KP recommendation says that the secondary tense elements with kai are not suitable when there is a comparative relationship between the two actions. corrections KP presented few and not varied, so they could not fully reveal the essence of the new syntax phenomenon. However, it should be noted that as one of the possible variants of the second amended example of the KP, a compound conjunctive sentence with when is also given, only the action relationship is not changed to a comparative one. The action of the main sentence point, expressed by 2 see. Language tips. Kn. 2. Syntax: 3. Various things. Editor: Rita Miliūnaitė, author of the text. Vitas Labutis and Aldonas Pupkis, ed. by Aldonas Pupkis, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2003, 2-as leid. 2005, 29–30. 100 Languages Culture | 84 verb keliavo, and the subjunctive, connected by the conjunction kai – keliavo, kai pasijuto, in the sentence to change places: kai keliavo, pasijuto. Therefore, the definition of ‘approximation of two acts’ needs to be clarified. 3. New Consumption Facts and their Research Opportunities Observation of the usage of the last decade allows us to say that four sukonstruotų (paprastai – išverstų) sakinių su jungtuku kai daugėja (paryškinti pagrindiniai ir šalutiniai veiksmai ir jų atlikėjai): policemen were unnaturally shot on Sunday near the town of Takoma (Washington State). The officers were reportedly sitting in a cafe before the shift began and working on their computers when the gunman entered through the door and began shooting. (lrytas.lt 2009 11 29) It is reported that one person was killed in the extraordinary incident. A policeman was standing and talking on the phone when the buildings collapsed. but this information has not yet been officially confirmed. reported that the inhabitants of the collapsed buildings managed to evacuate. (lrytas.lt 2010 06 01) People were gathering in offices after lunch break when a gunman entered a huge Discovery building in the north of the US capital. [...] It was almost five o'clock in the evening when at least two shots were fired. (lrytas.lt 2010 09 03) Daniil Korotchik, who lives in the northern part of the Curonian Spit in the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, was walking along the beach with his parents when he noticed a strange object shining brightly in the sun. (lr 2011 03 31) such cases require a broader context, which usually emerges from more than one sentence. It is important to take into account not only the syntactic, semantic (see Pajėdienė 2008), but also the communicative (transmission of information) aspect of connective sentences with kai. 4. NORMATIVE ASSESSMENT OF CONJUNCTIVE TIME RELATIONS AND ACTUAL TIME RELATIONS IN COMPONENT TIME SENTENTS WITH THE CONJUNCTIVE KAI The grammar of the contemporary Lithuanian language states that in connective sentences with the conjunction kai the time relationship of the elements “is undefined and depends on the meaning of the verbs acting as conjunctions, and on the meaning of the words to be responded to. One of the conjugative sentences with the conjunction when used in case 101 and other constructional characteristics" (DlKG 2005: 680)3. moreover, the time sentences are characterized by the combination of the tenses of the verbs that are the servants of the elements: the tenses of the verbs in both elements usually coincide, and the significance of simultaneity or sequence of actions depends on the relationship of the verbs (ibid.). For the sake of clarity, based on the statements and examples of the DlKG (DlKG 2005: 681–682), the relationships of the sentence elements of time are shown in Table 1. 1 lEntEl. compound connective tense sentences with when action Veiksmų relation45 relation from DlKG4Notes Frozen Spot Tin Spot Pavyzdžiai 1. Simultaneous actions that only overlap in part: 1.1. actions sun Side in the action is course of becomes all the meeting the time flax was in bloom. (1) When the factor factor flowed, our background5. 1.2. the actions coincide only at a certain moment or period of time When I'm acting, in the course I'm acting of the event (2) through the green circle, and I've got a bitch's trunk. The secondary action is background, longer (continuous), and the main action at some point interferes with the secondary. 1.3. actions often coincide at some point in the course of the event (3) friends When the two reached the actor-actor city, the market was in full swing. Pagrindinis veiksmas is longer (continuous), and the side action at some point interferes with the main one. 2. identical actions in time (their duration is very short or not taken into account at all) was angry, uncle, event event (4) I when you and I even did a thing I talked. by changing the focuses, the sequence of actions becomes clearer: the secondary action takes place before the main one. 3 For more information on connective time sentences, see 2004: 35–53. 4 For reasons of conciseness, the references to sentence sources in the DlKG are omitted; Verbs denoting actions are emphasized. 5 Syntax specialists use the concepts of background and figure to reveal the semantic relationships of the main and secondary focus (cf. Pajėdienė 2008, where it is based on the work of L. talmy: talmy The secondary action takes place before the main one. 1978). 102 Languages and Culture | 84 3. Non-simultaneous actions: 3.1. the event the other, actions in (5) When a the lot goes course of one after the actor gets tired, the other sleeps until midday. 3.2. actions of after the actor lay the event of other the the event (6) actors are When one gone, the behind another grove and the whistling bird flew to sleep, the owl flew. The side action takes place before the main one. 4. inverse relationship of the focuses, where the time of action is indicated by the main focus, always preceding the secondary: 4.1. actions of occurring one from the the course of factor factor the course (7) time when he Was sums returned pastures with the apes. Pagrindinis veiksmas is background, while it happens, the action of the secondary sentence also happens. 4.2. the actions at a certain moment take place at the same time of day has already the course of passed by step the event (8) The by step in the evening, when they drove up a hill and saw their native village. Pagrindinis veiksmas is background, while it is happening, the action of the secondary sentence occurs. When examining the relationships of compound conjunctive-temporal sentences with when actions, it is important to determine the different information load of the sentence parts according to the relevant part of the sentence, i.e. to clarify how the subject is expressed and how rema6. In Lithuanian, the subject usually precedes the rhyme, and if the rhyme is to be said earlier, at the beginning of the sentence, it is emphasized either by intonation or by the reverse word order (DlKG 2005: 646–647). 6 E.g.: “that part of the sentence that describes things known from the situation or context is called the theme, and the part that presents new, relevant information is called the rhyme”; lCE 2008: 19). so it can be said that the theme performs the connecting function of the text, and the rhyme – the informative one. Veiksmų relations Frozen Spot Tin Spot Pavyzdžiai from DlKG Notes r. MiluNaItĖ. One case of conjunctive sentences with the conjunction when usage 103 (2) secondary accent [theme] + main accent [rema]: š [t] + p [r]; (3) 1-os lentelės pavyzdžiuose temą ir remą galima skirti taip: (1) šalutinis dėmuo [tema] + pagrindinis dėmuo [rema]: š [t] + p [r]; secondary focus [theme] + main focus [rema]: sh [t] + p [r]; (4) main focus [rema] + secondary focus [tema]: p [r] + sh [t]; (5) secondary focus [theme] + main focus [rema]: sh [t] + p [r]; (6) secondary focus [theme] + main focus [rema]: sh [t] + p [r]; (7) main focus [theme] + secondary focus [rema]: p [t] + š [r]; (8) main focus [theme] + secondary focus [rema]: p [t] + sh [r]. In examples 1-6, the secondary element represents the subject and, in the case of a neutral order of elements in a compound connective sentence, it precedes the main element, which represents the rhyme, except in example 4, where the order of elements is reversed. In examples 7 and 8, as noted in DlKG, the relationship of the meaning of the themes is reversed: the main theme is represented by the secondary theme, the rhyme, but it is important that the theme goes before the rhyme here as well. The position of the posterior rem is considered a tendency of many Indo-European languages and almost a universality of languages (see Griškevičienė 2008: 25 and the literature cited there). 5. ORIGINAL AND VERIFICATION COMPARISON: ACTIVITIES ACCOUNTS ACTUAL SECTIONS OVERVIEW Since the sentences in question, as mentioned, are mostly found in translated texts, a comparative analysis of the translated and the original text would be useful. However, it is almost impossible to compare translated media texts with the original, because the media usually rely on more than one source when presenting foreign information and do not specify the sources very precisely. Therefore, it remains to rely on other available translated texts and their original, this time – a plethora of examples of fiction and popular science literature (see table 2; in the examples, the conjugable conjunctions are highlighted, and in the translation – the expression of the main and secondary action and the characters performing them). 104 Languages and Culture | 84 2 lEntEl. comparison of the original sentences with the secondary temporal focus and the translation (p – main focus, s – secondary focus, t – theme, r – rema) original (English) Translation from the perspective of the actual original and the translation (1) In November 1997 the team was surveying where we now stood, just a couple hundred yards from the village, when one of its members spotted a fragment of a hominid skull. In November 1997, the group was scouting the area where we were now standing – just a couple of hundred meters from the village – when one of its members noticed a fragment of a hominin skull. (NGl 31) p [t] + š [r] (2) George McGowan already had the front door open when his father-in-law arrived and honked the car horn loudly. When the in-law arrived, he licked, george McGowan was waiting with the door open. (Du 99) original: p [t] + š [r]; translation: š [t] + p [r] (3) I was filing yet another routinely tragic story of a driveby fatality when my editor, Daniel Aronstein, leaned my cube, said “catch,” […]. Rašiau dar vieną tragišką into my cage and shouted “catch me” and […]. (b 10) p [t] + š [r] (4) His unit had been gutted outside the guard. door where he resting in a safe house stood guard. (b 196) when their lookout was (5) Kim’s claw-hands trembled, when her caught the lever and and down. (b 17) trembled p [t] + š [r] as fingertips over the lever pulled down. he flickered she reached up, hooked (6) He watched through the p [t] + š [r] window as the sleek little shiny window as the sleek little shiny planeaircraft lifted smoothly off the runway MILIŪNAITĖ. 105 After examining the examples given7, it can be seen that the conjunction when is as follows: the subject of the main sentence does course (looked, wrote, rested, watched, etc.). at that time something happens, shouted, torn away, etc.), forms the basis of the secondary time element, planeaircraft lifted smoothly off the runway and took to the wide and took to the wide blue-and-white sky above Honolulu. above Honolulu. (b 176) r. most common pattern of compound conjunctive sentences with the something; its action is usually continuous and is expressed by the verbs of the and that second action, expressed by the verbs of the event object (noted, connected by the conjunction when. From the point of view of the actual blue-and-white sky above Honolulu. (7) He watched through the p [t] + š [r] division, in translation sentences of such a model, the main focus is the subject – a contextually known or informationally secondary thing, and the secondary time focus is the rhyme, i.e. a new, previously unmentioned and / or more important than the secondary idea. This corresponds to the ratio of table 1, which is not very common in Lithuanian, but rather exceptional and probably characteristic only of sentences with a certain defined content (the factor of the main focus is usually expressed by nouns denoting the concept of time). English, which is an analytical language, has a much stricter word order than synthetic languages, and the possibilities of expressing the actual part of a sentence in word order are rather limited: the fixed word structure primarily expresses the grammatical relationships of the parts of the sentence, rather than the informational structure of the sentence (cf. Griškevičienė 2008: 25). Therefore, translation researchers argue that in English “a sentence is 8-ą DlKG pavyzdį (4.2 atvejį), taigi atvirkštinį sakinio veiksmų prasmės formed according to the syntactic function of words and their combinations, while in Lithuanian logic is much more important: new information is placed at the end of the sentence, so that the order of words in the sentence has to be transformed during translation” (Navickienė, Kasteckaitė 2010: 44). In other words, in order to accurately convey the communicative structure of a sentence, it may be necessary to change the syntactic structure of the sentence when translating from English. Since it is much more common in Lithuanian to express the subject (in the case of the sentences under consideration – the time of action) by a secondary temporal element, and the rhyme – by the principal, regardless of where the secondary element is – before or after the principal, the translated sentences of table 2, except (2), should be edited. 6. POSSIBLE LIETUVIŠKos raIŠKos bŪDaI short, probably from English (even if it is not indicated in the source) messages in written (printed and internet) media about various7 It should be noted that the secondary time elements in the original language are connected by conjunctions when (mostly), as and sometimes (although not visible from the given examples) while. 106 Languages Culture | 84 worldwide events are presented in similar style and the same pattern (p [t] + sh [r]) as in the examples in Table 2. In Table 3, next to the examples of fiber from the media, at least one possible different – common to Lithuanian language – way of expression is indicated. this is important when searching for more varied matches than those provided in the KP. Both the examples of usage and the corrections highlight the expression of the main and secondary actions and the actors performing them. 3 lEntEl. Possible ways of Lithuanian expression instead of translative connective tense sentences with kai Vartosena taisymai taisymų comments (1) Once, I was in my office at a homeless centre handling paperwork when a particularly playful student knocked on my door. She didn't want to do the tasks she was given. (Bernardinai. lt 2011 01 26) Once, while I was handling paperwork in my office at the homeless centre, a particularly playful student knocked on my door. The secondary focus of the circumstance of time becomes the main, the former main – secondary. (2) Seventeen-year-old Vumilija Vumilia Makoye is having dinner when she hears a noise outside the window. Vimulija's mother Gemma (Jeme) immediately rush to the door to lock it. It's too late. (r (b and J) 2010 11 13) Seventeen-year-- old having dinner Vumilija Makoje (Vumilia Makoye) hears a noise outside the window. Instead of a secondary period with when, the time of the main action is expressed by a semi-participle. (3) On June 5, nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola were lying in their cribs when their parents Pauline and Nick The Coupparis heard a cry. When the parents ran into the room, they saw their bloody offspring and the fox that had attacked them. (lr 2010 07 24) On June 5, 2013, while nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola were lying in their cribs, their parents Pauline and Nick Coupparis heard a cry. The secondary focus becomes the main focus, and the former main focus becomes the secondary focus. r. MIlIūNaItĖ. Vienas prijungiamųjų laiko sakinių su jungtuku kai vartosenos atvejis 113 constructions, and their place is taken by incorrectly connected secondary elements of time sentences. A more detailed (and statistical) study of current usage, a comparative analysis of original and translated texts could better confirm this statement. but it can already be said that some of them are used according to the model of the English language, which sometimes makes the semantic connections of the parts of the compound sentence obscure, there is a risk of ambiguity, which is undoubtedly detrimental to communication. The analysis of the sentences in the examined translations shows that in incorrectly constructed (partly translated from English) connective tense sentences with when the relationship of actions is more often not comparative, because both actions do not take place as equivalent, and one action is background – partly overlapping with the main one or preceding it. in foninį veiksmą dažniau linkstama reikšti ne pagrindiniu, o šalutiniu sakinio Lithuanian accent. from the point of view of the actual division, the background action is usually the theme and the main action is the rhyme. Therefore, the neutral sentence model should be š [t] + p [r] or in reverse order of the elements: p [r] + š [t], and the model of sentences translated to the substrate is p [t] + š [r]. Therefore, the definition of sentence corrections in this model in the Language Advice needs to be refined to take into account the relevant part of the sentence. The recommendation should specify that the secondary elements of connective tense sentences with when are not suitable for constructing such compound connective tense sentences, the main focus of which is already known (theme) and the secondary is new information (rema), and the action of the main focus is the background for the action of the secondary focus. As the most appropriate substitutes should be presented participle, participle and semi-participle temporal circumstances, which would represent the main element of the translational model, as well as the syntactic roles of the main and secondary element, by moving the conjunction when, and only in rarer cases – compound conjunctive sentences. SOURCES alfa.lt – Internet news portal http://www.alfa.lt. b – James Patterson, Maxine Paetro. Bikini. Translation from English by Rima Kardelytė. Vilnius: alma littera, 2009. originalas: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro. Swimsuit. 2009. bernardinai.lt – internet portal http://bernardinai.lt. delfi.lt – internet news portal http://www.delfi.lt. 114 Languages and Culture | 84 Du – sandra brown. Dūmų uždanga. Iš anglų kalbos vertė Jovita Liutkutė. Vilnius: alma littera, 2010. originalas: sandra brown. Smoke screen. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. lrytas.lt – Internet news portal http://www.lrytas.lt. lr – daily newspaper Lietuvos rytas. LŽ – Lithuanian daily newspaper Lietuvos žinios. NGl – Science popularization magazine National Geographic Lithuania. Alma littera, 2010, no. 7 (10). Original: National Geographic. r (b and J) – daily newspaper Republika (supplement Brigita and Julius). lItEratūra DlKG 2005: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika. red. Vytautas ambrazas. 4-as pataisytas leidimas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. Griškevičienė a . 2008: reminių lietuvių kalbos pagrindinių sakinio dalių perteikimas norvegų kalboje. – Kalbotyra 58(3), 25–34. lKE 2008: Lietuvių kalbos enciklopedija. Parengė Kazys Morkūnas, redagavo Vytautas ambrazas. 2-as patikslintas ir papildytas leidimas, Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. Miliūnaitė r. 2009: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos vartosenos variantai, Vilnius: lietuvių kalbos institutas. Navickienė G., Kasteckaitė D. 2010: Gramatinių ir leksinių transformacijų panaudojimo aspektai stephen J. Dubnerio ir steven D. levitto knygos „Freakonomics“ vertime. – Kalbų studijos 16, 44–49. Pajėdienė J. 2004: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos prijungiamieji laiko sakiniai. – Acta linguistica Lithuanica 50, 35–53. Pajėdienė J. 2008: Kai kurie prijungiamųjų laiko sakinių semantikos aspektai. – Lietuvių kalba. Prieiga per internetą: http://www.lietuviukalba.lt/ index.php?id=109 (žiūrėta 2011 11 10). talmy l. 1978: Figure and Ground in complex sentences. – Greenberg J. H., Ferguson ch. a., Moravcsik E. a. (eds.), Universals of Human Language 4. Syntax. stanford: stanford university Press, 625–652. Gauta 2011 11 21 r. MIlIūNaItĖ. Vienas prijungiamųjų laiko sakinių su jungtuku kai vartosenos atvejis 115 suborDINatE clausEs WItH tHE coNJuctIoN KAI: a casE stuDY Summary the paper analyses a type of subordinate clauses with the conjunction kai, which are not characteristic of lithuanian. currently, they tend to appear in texts translated from English (cf. He watched through the window as the sleek little aircraft lifted smoothly off the runway and took to the wide blue-and-white sky above Honolulu). Word order in English, due to its analytical character, is much more fixed than in lithuanian, which is a synthetic language. therefore, the word order in an English sentence has limited possibilities to express functional sentence perspective. In English, it first of all expresses grammatical relationships between words rather than the information structure of the sentence. the above syntactic pattern has been adopted from English, which makes ample use of the conjunctions when, while and as rendered in lithuanian as kai. It consists of the main clause, which expresses background information (rendered by an imperfective verb), and a subordinate clause, which focuses on the main action or activity (rendered by a perfective verb). From the point of view of functional sentence perspective, the theme of a sentence is expressed by the main constituent and the rheme—by the subordinate constituent. such sentences in actual lithuanian usage were noticed more than a decade ago, and their number tends to increase. In the publication on usage recommendations Kalbos patarimai (2003) an attempt was made to define such sentences; there was also a proposal made to amend them; however, the data of their actual usage was scarce. after collecting more data, they were analysed from the point of view of the functional sentence perspective. as a result, we can see that lithuanian tends to express the relationship between an action or activity in the main clause and action or activity in the subordinate clause in a completely different way: the theme is expressed by the subordinate clause with the conjunction kai, and the rheme is expressed by the main clause. an inadequate translation of the clauses of time with the conjunction kai sometimes causes confusion. therefore, background timing of the action or activity in standard lithuanian should be expressed in other ways, mainly by participial, half-participial and gerundial adverbial modifiers of time, sometimes by subordinate clauses, where actions or activities in the two clauses go in parallel, are contrasted on an equal basis. KEy woRds: syntax, subordinate clauses of time, syntactic innovations, translation, codification. rIta MIlIūNaItĖ lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, lt-10308 Vilnius [email protected]