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Does the verb come last in your languages
1. Does the Verb Come
Last in Your Languages
??
[Word-Order Typology & BT]
Sam Robert
MA, M.Phil, PhD
2. Content of the Presentation
1. Introduction to Word Order Typology
2. Distribution of Different Word-Orders
3. Word Order Typology of South Asian Languages
4. Importance of Word Order Analysis in Bible Translation
5. Features of Verb Ending(SOV) Languages
6. Conclusion
7. Further Reading
4. The words in a language will have an order or arrangement in sentences, which
may be different from the word order of another language.
In linguistics, the word order system of languages will be
treated as a part of the typological analysis. More precisely, it is
the part of syntactic typology.
In this session, we will be spending time to study the word order pattern and occurrence
of verbs in our languages.
5. • Linguistic typology is an inevitable part of the comparative and
contrastive analysis of languages. (We are really in a need of
typological analysis since we have SLs and TLs)
• The famous American linguist Joseph Harold Greenberg gave a new
life for the whole field of typology(Some Universals of Grammar with Particular
Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements,1966).
• Greenberg analysed a number of languages to identify their word
order differences and similarities.
• Greenberg basically looked into the order of Subject, Verb, and
Objects in languages
6. Subjects or objects could be words, phrases or
clauses. In a narrow sense, we can say his
method was to analyse constituent order
typology rather than analysing the ordering of
words.
7. Word Order
Sentences are made up of different kinds of words with different
functions. Generally, the entities in a sentence are classified as
Subject, Verb, and Object.
Subject ː who/what the sentence is about.
Verb ː What the subject does/is.
Object ː person or thing that is affected by the action of a verb
8. The following English sentence has subject, object, and verb.
John ate bread
S V O
From this example we can say that the basic word order of English is
Subject-Verb-Object, in which Verb comes medial position wherein the
Subject preceds and the Object follows the verb.
9. What determines the basic word order?
It is most frequent.
It is structurally and behaviourally unmarked.
It occurs in a pragmatically neutral context.
It does not consider flexible word order.
10.
11. Ordering of Subject, Object and Verb
There are different patterns of subject (S), object (O), and verb (V) arrangements in
world languages.
There is no uniformity in word order of world languages. (we cannot expect the same
word order from all the languages)
As far as the dominant order of subject, object, and verbs goes, we can have logically six
different kinds of word order. These six are observed in the languages around the globe.
12. Languages classified as one of the logically possible
six types.
• Subject + Object + Verb = SOV
• Subject + Verb + Object = SVO
• Verb + Subject + Object = VSO
• Verb + Object + Subject = VOS
• Object + Verb + Subject = OVS
• Object + Subject + Verb = OSV
13. Word Order English Equivalent
SOV God us loves
SVO God loves us
VSO Loves God us
VOS Loves us God
OVS Us loves God
OSV Us God loves
14. Languages with different word order
• SOV- Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Odiya etc.
• SVO - English, Greek, German, French, Khasi, Kashmiri etc.
• VSO – Irish, Tagalog etc.
• VOS- Malagasy (Madagascar)
• OVS- Hixkaryana (Amazon)
• OSV- Nadëb
15. SO FAR..
• What is word order typology.?
• Which are the possible word order types.?
• What is the word order of English.?
• What is the word order of your language.?
17. • All these six different word order patterns are not equally
found in the world.
• The most dominant word-order is SOV and it is followed by
the SVO pattern.
In the following slides we can see the statistical representation of the different word order patterns
and their distribution.
26. • Which are the most common word order patterns around the globe.?
• What is the rarest word order type in the world.?
• What is the word order of major source languages of Bible
translation?
28. Basic word order in South Asian Languages
(SAL)
The four major language families in the South Asian subcontinent are:
(i) Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Khmer and Munda),
(ii) Dravidian.
(iii) Indo-Aryan and
(iv) Tibeto-Burman.
All South Asian languages except Khasi, Pnar, Mnar, Jayantia, Kashmiri etc. are
Verb final languages (SOV).
29. SAL: word order typology
An example of a sentence from Hindi-Urdu reflecting subject (S) object (O)
verb (V) word order is given in (a).
Hindi-Urdu (Indo-Aryan)
a. āp ne mujhe dekh- ā thā
you erg me see- perf pst
SUBJECT OBJECT VERB AUX AUX
‘You had seen me.’
30. SAL: word order typology
An example of a sentence from Tamil reflecting subject (S) object (O)
verb (V) word order is given in (b).
Jesus a fig tree see-PAST-3sg.m
SUBJECT OBJECT VERB
‘Jesus saw a fig tree’
Iyēcu oru atti maram pār-ttār
31. In most SALs, the verb occurs in the final position of a
sentence as in (a) and (b).
However, in Khasi, the verb occurs in the medial position,
and in Kashmiri (IA) (Kachru 1973, Bhatt 1999, Raina 2002,
Wali and Koul 1997), the finite form of the verb – may it be
the main verb or the auxiliary – occurs in the second position
in a sentence as in German and Dutch. This is generally
referred to as the V2 position.
32. Khasi (Mon-Khmer) is a verb-medial language.
The verb in Khasi carries subject agreement marker in person, number and gender.
Nouns are either masculine or feminine, and they carry agreement marker.
u- rilaŋ u- (la)- pinyap ya- u- khla
m,s- Rilang m,s- pst- kill acc- m,s- tiger
SUBJECT AUX VERB OBJECT
‘Rilang killed a tiger.’
33. As we discovered the distribution of different word order pattern across the South
Asian Languages, SOV is the leading word order found in the subcontinent along with a
few languages with SVO pattern. All these SOV languages share a number of Syntactic
features. Such similarity in features could be due to two specific reasons:
i) “thousands of years of prolonged language contact amongst languages due to intense
bi- and multilingualism.
(ii) due to the fact that all these languages (except Khasi, which is verb- medial and
Kashmiri, which is a V2 language) are verb-final, and the position of the verb in terms
of verb-finality or non-verb-finality plays an instrumental role in the manifestation of
many identical structural traits.” (Subbarao 2012: ).
34. SAL Word Order
• In all South Asian languages the subject invariably precedes the object in
normal word order.
• One of the common features shared by all the languages of the South Asian
subcontinent is relatively free word order.
• Lexical constituents in a sentence can freely be moved/scrambled in Indo-
Aryan, Dravidian and Munda languages; such movement is less free in
Tibeto-Burman languages.
35. Instances of free order
The constituents of sentence (a) ‘You had seen me’ can be scrambled as in (1)–(3).
Hindi-Urdu (IA);
(1) mujhe āp ne dekh- ā thā
me you erg see- pref- pst
OBJECT SUBJECT VERB AUX-1 AUX-1
(2) dekh- ā thā āp ne mujhe
see- pref- pst you erg me
VERB AUX-1 AUX-2 SUB OBJECT
(3) mujhe dekh- ā thā āp ne
me see pref- pst you erg
OBJECT VERB AUX-1 AUX-2 SUB
36. However, the lexical constituents in a sentence can freely be
moved/scrambled in Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Munda
languages, the acceptance and high usage of the basic word
order SOV is obviously observed across these languages.
37. • Major word order type in South Asia.?
• SVO languages in India.?
• What is the word order your Mother tongue.?
• What is the word order type of your state language.?
• Identify the word order of the Source Language of your translation.?
39. Importance of ‘knowing the word order’
• The position of the verb plays a central role in determining the order
in which the elements in a sentence occur.
• This is important for translators and consultants to know if the
language type they are translating/checking into is different from
the source language.
40. English, Hebrew, and Greek are the languages Bible translators are
usually working from.
None of these source languages has the verb at the end in the
regular patterns.
Hebrew even has the verb first in many sentences and it also has
sentences similar to the others with the subject first, hence its really
important to know the word order pattern of the languages that we
work with.
41. Why should we know the word order pattern ?
• Translators working from these languages (English, Hebrew, Greek, etc.) into
languages with the verb at the end, can do their work easier.
• They can avoid many traps if they know the word order differences from one
language to another.
• If the consultants understand the structural reflections of word order typology
of Source Language (SL) and Target
Language (TL), they can avoid forcing the translators to follow the word
order pattern and related features of SL.
• Consultant can pursue the translators to bring out the natural grammatical
features of their language to communicate the message effectively.
42. What a Translator/Consultant Needs to Do..?
• Identify the word order of the source language (Ethnologue, WALS, etc.).
• Identify the word order of the target language.
• Impart the knowledge of structural gaps and similarities between the SL and TL.
• Understand the peculiarities of Verb ending languages.
• Help the translators to convey the message naturally and effectively.
43. What If I Do Structure Based Translation
ENG
Gen 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth
Prep. DA. Adverb Sub Verb Obj
Mal
Ulpaththi 1:1
aadhiyil daivam srishtichu akaasavum bhu:miyum
beginning -Loc. GOD create -pst heaven -com earth -com
Adverb Sub Verb Obj
Even though Malayalam has flexible word orders, the translation that strictly follows the
English structure seems unnatural and awkward because it is not effective and natural.
44. It’s better to understand the message of the Source Text and keep the
message without loosing any conceptual elements and put them into
the grammatical frame of the target language. Though, when the word
order pattern of Malayalam incorporated the message it would become
meaningful, grammatically more acceptable and natural.
aadhiyil diavam akaasavum bhu:miyum srishtichu
Beginning -Loc. GOD heaven-com earth -com create -past
Adverb+ Loc. Sub Obj Ver
45. • What is the need of a translator/consultant to study the word order
typology.?
• What problems in regard to word order typology can happen to a
translation.?
• What is the result of a structure based translation.?
47. Following are Some of the Ostensible
Differences Between SVO and SOV Languages
1. Position of the auxiliary verb
2. Order of indirect object and direct object
3. Adpositions (pre- and post-positions)
4. Position of the genitive
5. Place of adverb
6. Relative clauses
7. Subordinate clauses
8. Negatives
9. Order in time and place adverbials
48. 10. Pattern of Question word sentences
11. Topicalization-passives and clause order
12. Positive-negative contrast
13. General and specific
14. Gapping
15. Indirect to direct speech
16. A mirror image
49. Position of the auxiliary verb
oAn auxiliary verb helps the main (full) verb and is also called a "helping verb."
oWith auxiliary verbs, we can write sentences in different tenses, moods, or
aspects. Is, am, are, was, were, has, have, had, do, does, did, may etc, are
some of the auxiliaries in English.
oThe auxiliary verb in verb-final languages follows the main
verb, and in non-verb-final languages it precedes the main
verb.
50. for instance,
Mark 1:15
English (NIV) (1) “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come
near. Repent and believe the good news!
Hindi- (2) aur kaha, samay poora hua hai, aur parameshvar ka rajy
again said time fulfilled AUX. and GOD Gen. Kingdome
nikatt a gaya hai man firao aur susamachar par vishvas karo.
near come-past AUX heart change and gospel PP believe Imp. Verb
51. Tamil- (3) kalam niRaveRi vitt-atu. devanutaya raajyam samipaamaayi vitt-atu.
time come-past has- n.m God’s kingdom come near has n.m
In English, Mark chapter 1:15, the helping verb ‘has’ precedes the main verb ‘come’, but verses (2) &
(3) the auxiliary verbs come after the main verb in Hindi and Tamil.
In Hindi the auxiliary verb ‘hua hai’ follows main verb ‘poora‘ , likewise in Tamil the ‘niRaveRi’ and
‘samipaamaayi’ are the main verbs followed by the auxiliary verb ‘vitt’. But In khasi, an Indian
language with SVO patter, the auxiliary verb precedes main verb;
u- rilaŋ u- (la)- pinyap ya- u- khla
m,s- Rilang m,s AUX - kill acc- m,s- tiger
This is very clear that the verb ending languages have auxiliaries after the main
verb. This would be one of the structural differences of the TL from the SL.
52. N.B.
Auxiliary verbs are helping verbs
Unlike the source languages the SOV languages have auxiliaries after
the main verb
53. Order of indirect object and direct object
The first type of object is a direct object. A direct object is the noun or
pronoun receiving the action. A trick for identification is that direct objects
answer the question 'what?’
The second type of object is the indirect object, is noun or pronoun affected
by the action and the indirect objects answer the question ‘to whom’?.
Look at the example: ‘Katie threw baseball to Lisa.' The action is 'threw,’
'what is being thrown?' The 'baseball' is being thrown, and so the baseball
is the direct object. To whom it is thrown? Lisa, and so Lisa is the indirect
object.
54. The indirect object (IO) precedes the direct object (DO) in the
unmarked (canonical) word order of most SALs (SOV). The IO and DO
are in italics in the following Hindi example.
a. šyām ne rādhā ko gahne diye
Shyam erg Radha(IO) to jewelry (DO) gave
‘Shyam gave jewelry to Radha’
b. YAHOVA thanRe janaththinu sakthi nalkum (Mala. Psalm 29:11)
LORD his people(IO) strength(DO) give-fut.
‘The LORD will give strength unto his people’
55. Khasi, which is a [non verb final] language, has, as expected, the DO-IO
in unmarked order. Khasi (Mon-Khmer)
(c)proi ŋai- la- āy ya- ka- kɔt ha- u- dɔni
(I) 1 s- pst- give acc- f,s- book (DO) dat- m,s- Donny (IO)
‘I gave the book to Donny.’
Khasi is also permitted with IO-DO order.
56. From the examples a, b & c it’s obvious that the IO comes before DO
in the unmarked sentences in SOV languages, while in English and
Khasi DO comes before IO in most unmarked sentences. So, this can
be another structural difference we might see between SL and TL.
In English, there are two surface orders in which DO-IO occur: DO-IO
and IO-DO. Chomsky (1957) postulates the DO-IO order as deep
structure for English, and derives the IO-DO order by means of a
transformation labelled as the Dative Shift.
57. Adpositions (pre- and post-positions)
Adpositions are grammatical elements that connect syntactically with a
phrase and shows how the phrase needs to be interpreted in the context.
Adpositions can be either Prepositions or Postpositions.
A preposition is an adposition that occurs before
its complement and a postposition is an adposition that occurs
after its complement. On, at, in, down, since, to etc. are the
examples of Adpositions (preposition) in English.
58. All verb-medial languages such as English and French have
prepositions that occur to the left of the noun
All verb-final SALs have postpositions that follow the noun.
Though Persian, which is verb-final “is prepositional, but has one
postposition –ra for direct objects” (Comrie 1981: 85). ) Mizo
(Tibeto- Burman) has postpositions but Khasi has
prepositions.
59. In Mizo the adposition follows the noun
dɔkān- tsuŋ- ah
table on- Advmkr
‘On the table’
In Khasi (Mon-Khmer) has the adposition before the noun i.e.
preposition.
ha- lɔ r (ka)- tnōm
loc- surface f,s- roof
‘On the roof’
60. Eng: ‘Zacchaeus climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him (JESUS)’
prep obj
Mala: ‘sakkayi avane kaanentathinu oru kaattathi -mēl kayari’
Zacchaeus him to see a sycamore (obj) Postp climb past.
In English, it is called a preposition because the adposition ‘Into’
comes before the noun sycamore,
In Malayalam, the adposition – mēl comes after the
complement kaattathi (Sycamore), hence it is called postposition.
61. Hindi: mes par rakhi kitab
table on keep.past book
‘The book kept on the table’
oIn Hindi, the adposition ‘par’ follows its complement ‘mes’ (table) while in
English, the adposition (Preposition) ón’ precedes the complement table.
o It shows that the SOV languages almost always taking postpositions over
prepositions. The placing of adposition is very important structural feature in SOV
and SVO languages.
62. Position of the Genitive
“Genitive case indicates ownership”
The genitive case is a grammatical case for nouns and pronouns. It is most
commonly used for showing possession.
e.g. i. His house
ii. King’s son
In example (i) ‘his’ is genitive form of ‘he’ it can be replaced with the other
genitive forms such as ‘her, my, their, our’ etc. and in the latter example [‘s] is
the genitive case marker.
63. If the language has postpositions, the genitive precedes the head noun and in
languages with preposition the genitive almost always follows the head noun.
English is an exception to this, English can have genitive before the head noun as in
the SOV languages.
Malaː danielin-nRe viitu
Hindː daniel ka ghar
Englishː Daniel’s house
Greekː danielos Oikou
In all of these examples, the red coloured genitive markers precede the green
coloured head nouns in the SOV languages, but in English also the genitive
precedes the head noun but in other SVO languages genitive follows the head noun
as it is found in Greek example.
64. Greenberg (1963:78) postulated an implicational universal which
states that: “In languages with prepositions, the genitive almost
always follows the governing noun, while in languages with
postpositions it almost always precedes.” (Greenberg 1963:78). All
South Asian languages adhere to this Universal (Subbarao & Pandey).
65. In English ‘of’ is another closed class word that has a possessive
functioning. As ‘of’ comes as possessive it substantiates the
implicational universal i.e. the genitive follows the head noun.
Mat 1:1 :- the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham.
In ‘son of David’ ‘of’ is the possessive, which follows the head Son.
But, the word order pattern of this verse would be totally different in
SALs with SOV order.
66. Mal: ‘abrahaaminte puthran-aaya daavidhinte puthran-aaya yesu
Abraham – Genitive Son CopV David – Genitive Son CopV Jesus
kristhuvinte vamsaavali’
Christ –Genitive Generation.
In Malayalam, the genitive case marker is always attached with the nouns that
precede the head nouns (red coloured). And, In English the verse (Mat.1) begins
with the name of ‘Jesus Christ’ and telling the generation in a descending order.
But, in SOV languages the generation is clearly stated in the ascending order that
keeps the naturality of the target languages.
67. Another instance, Manipuri, a Tibeto-Burman language, and Khasi are spoken in
the parts of north-eastern region of India. Manipuri has it‘s genitive preceeding the
head noun but in Khasi, the SVO language, has genitive after the head noun.
Manipuri pritam gi lairik
Pritam of book
‘Pritam’s book’
Khasi ka- kɔt jɔŋ- u
f,s- book gen- he
‘his book‘
68. Place of Adverb
An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb (he
sings loudly), another adverb (ended too quickly), or even a
whole sentence (Fortunately, I had brought an umbrella).
English examples
Tom Longboat did not run badly.
The race finished too quickly.
Fortunately, Lucy recorded Tom’s win.
69. • As we consider the arrangement of verb-adverb combinations in the
sentences, the Verb final languages have adverbs before the verbs.
• This is an expected feature since they are verb ending languages. But,
non-verb final languages put adverbs after the verb and object.
e.g Hin : usne jaldhi kha liya
He quickly food take-past
‘He ate quickly’
In Hindi the adverb ‘jaldhi’ (quickly) comes before the verb ‘liya’ (took) but in
English quickly comes after the verb ‘ate’.
70. Special care needs to be taken when an adverb
comes between two verbs so that the word order
of the source languages does not interfere.
Otherwise mistakes will happen. For instance,
‘having gone quickly, he returned home today’
might be translated as ‘having gone, he quickly
returned home today’
71. Order in time and place adverbials
Time adverbials (T) precede place adverbials (P) in SOV languages, and they follow them
in non-verb-final languages.
Hmar
i. lali- n zīŋ- ah aizɔl- ah in- hmu- pui
(TIME) (PLACE)
Lali- erg tomorrow- advmkr Aizawl- in vrec meet with
Lali will meet you in Aizawl tomorrow
Thus, the order of their occurrence is TP as in Hmar in (i). In Khasi, it is PT just as in
English and French.
72. Relative clauses
A relative clause is a clause which modifies a noun. In English such clauses
are usually introduced by "who", "which", or "that", as in “The girl who came
yesterday went missing”. This sentence is the transformed structure of two
kernel sentences such as, i. The girl went missing,
ii. The girl came yesterday
The relative particle “who” has been used to combine two main clauses and
to transform one of them into subordinate.
73. • The translator's "source" languages normally prefer to have the
clause after the noun for example “He is the boy who came ”.
• verb-final languages generally prefer having noun modifiers before
the noun. For instance the same example in Malayalam becomes,
ivanaanu vann (u)-a payyan
The example clears that the verb ending languages bear relative
participle before the noun (red inked). In Malayalam relative participle
/a/ is attached with the verb that precedes the noun.
74. • There seem to be less problems in understanding if noun modifiers do not come
between the verb and its object.
• The main words are kept closer by having modifiers on the edge in both language
types: modifier-object-verb and verb-object-modifier.
• It is truly a complex operation of relative clauses so the translators and consultants,
who work with the verb-final languages, do not try to carry the exact structure of
source text where the modifiers come in after the noun.
• Since the source languages have the relative clauses after the head noun, many
translators are tempted to carry over this pattern wrongly into their translation.
• This is especially the case when their language allows exceptions in having the relative
clause after the noun.
75. • In many languages there are specific reasons for moving the relative to the
other side of the head noun.
• For example, if the clause has another noun of its own and is preceded by
another relative clause, it will probably not be clear whether the first
clause modifies the head noun or the noun in the second relative.
• For example, "the table which is big which is covered with a cloth"
becomes "which is big cloth covered table", meaning either "big table" or
"big cloth". Some languages in such cases allow one relative clause to move
behind the noun.
76. For instance in Hindi,
-‘yah mej jo bada he jo kapade se daki hui he’
this table which big is which cloth with cover is
This example shows the relative participle comes after the noun ‘mej’
(table), and the second relative comes before the noun ‘kapade’ (cloth) and
the verb phrase follows. Sometimes the translator will have to change the
clauses around or separate them to avoid ambiguity. Special practice is
necessary to get used to recognising relative clauses and making the change
to the regular and natural word order.
77. Subordinate clauses
A subordinate clause—also called a dependent clause—will begin
with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun and will contain
both a subject and a verb. This combination of words will not form
a complete sentence. It will instead make a reader want additional
information to finish the thought.
78. The verb final languages normally have dependent clauses before the
main clause, keeping the main verb at the end of the sentences. The
‘‘source‘‘ languages for Bible transaltion prefer to have the main clause
first. However, the order of clauses may be reversed in most languages
for emphasis [ F. Bliese, 1989].
For instance, I didn't go to college since it was Sunday
Malaː innu njarayarazhachayaayathukondu njan kolejil poyilla
today Sunday – so that I college went-not
79. Placing the clauses seperately is another technique to retain the emphasis
of the clauses. For example, “I did not go college. The reason is that it was
Sunday.“ This possibility can lead translators to follow the order of source
language clasues without considering what change in emphasis results.
Some version of Hindi translation of John 3ː16 literally keeps the clause,
“that whoever believes should not perish but have eternal life“ at the end
instead of at the beginning that is natural in most verb final languages.
But, languages such as Malayalam, Tamil etc. Keep “that whoever believes
should not perish but have eternal life“ at the beginning of the verse.
80. Hindi. ERV- परमेश्वर को जगत से इतना प्रेम था
God world so much Loved
कि उसने अपने एिमात्र पुत्र िो दे कदया, ताकि हर वह
आदमी जो उसमें कवश्वास रखता है, नष्ट न हो
जाये बल्कि उसे अनन्त जीवन कमल जाये।
Tamil- தேவன
் , தம்முடைய ஒரேரேறான குமாேடன
GOD
விசுவாசிக்கிறவன
் எவரனா அவன
்
ககை்டுே்ரோகாமல் நித்தியஜீவடன
அடையும்ேடிக்கு, அவடேத் தந்தருளி,
இவ்வளவாய் உலகே்தில் அன
் புகூர்ந்ோர்.
World Loved
81. Malayalam- തന്റെ ഏകജാതനായ പുത്തനിൽ
വിശ്വസിക്കുന്ന ഏവനുും നശ്ിച്ചുപപാകാറത
നിതയജീവൻ ത്പാപിപക്കണ്ടതിന്നു
ദൈവം അവറന നല്കുവാൻ തക്കവണ്ണും
GOD
ല ോകത്തെ സ്ലേഹിച്ചു
World Loved
In the above examples,
SOV languages do not follow the same pattern in subordinate clause
arrangement.
Hindi has the main clause at the beginning of the sentence, but Malayalam
keeps it at the end, however the emphasis is conveyed in both of these
translations. Tamil keeps the subject of the main clause at the beginning
and object and verb after the subordinates.
82. Another version of Tamil translation follows the pattern of arrangement in source text.
ERV- தேவன
் இவ் வுலகினனப் பபரிதும் தநசிே்ோர். எனரவ
GOD World So much Loved
தனது ஒரே குமாேடன இதற்குத் தந்தாே். ரதவன
் தன
் மகடனத்
தந்ததால் அவேில் நம்பிக்டக டவக்கிற எவரும்
ககை்டுே்ரோகாமல் நித்திய ஜீவடனே் கேறுவே்.
Flexibility of word order and freedom of entity movements allow the
translators choose from different options, but the selection of choice
must be based on the naturality of target text and have the same effect
as is in source text.
83. Negatives
A negative is a word or phrase that shows you reject or disagree with
something. ‘No, not, & never’ are the negatives in English. they just
express disagreement in a different way.
Negative doesn't necessarily mean that something is bad or that you
have a negative attitude. It just means you're negating something—in
other words, stating that the opposite is true. You could be referring to
anything: good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
84. Source languages have the negatives before the final
verb/noun/adjective etc. and verb-final languages have the negatives at
the end of the clause.
e.g A. Telugu: atanu ikkada leedu
He -is here not
B. Tamil: avan inke illai
He here not
C. Hindi: vaah yahaa pe naahi hai
He here not EX.V
D. Hebrew: hoa lea khean
he not here
He is not here
85. In Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and other SOV languages the negative comes after
the content words, and often the subject verb agreement and auxiliary
may follow or be attached with negative form.
In Hindi, the existential verb follows the negative word and the sentences
with main verbs will have negative between object and verb, but languages
such as Tamil and Malayalam have their negative particle at the end of the
sentences mostly attached with verb or auxiliaries.
86. Hindi : main ghar naheen jaa rahaa hoon
I home not go + Pre. aux
Mala: njan vittil pokunn -illa
I home go+ Pre. not
Telu : nēnu intiki velladam lēdu
I home go-Pre. not
I am not going home
It’s obvious that languages have different method of negations. In English, the
Negative generally goes between the auxiliary and main verb but in Hindi, it goes
between object and the main verb. In Malayalam and Telugu negative is placed at
the end of the sentences. So, It’s really important to know where the negation
comes in the target languages.
87. Pattern of Question Word sentences
We use question words to ask certain types of questions. Normally
the SVO languages have question words at the beginning of the
constructions;
Eng: what is your name? how old are you ?
Heb: מה
השם
שלך בן
כמה
אתה
Greek: πως σε λένε Πόσο χρονών είσαι
The green marked question words come in the beginning of the sentences. Since
Hebrew is written right to left, the first word is the one marked with green colour.
88. In SOV languages the question words prefer to come at the end of the construction.
what is your name
Kannada : ninna hesarēnu?
Telugu : nī pēru ēmiṭi?
Hindi : tumhaara naam kya he?
Malayalam: ninte peru entanu?
But, this pattern is not a strict rule for all the question word constructions since we
have exceptions and freedom of word movement.
89. Freedom of word movement will provide a set of choices. For example, ‘How old are you?’ can be
translated as following in Malayalam;
i ninakku ethra vayasaayi
you.dat how old-be Past
ii ethra vayasaayi ninakku
How old –be past you.dat
iii vayasu ethrayaayi ninakku
old how –be Past you
iv ninakku vayasu ethrayayii
you. dat age how –be past
All these constructions can convey the meaning successfully. But the task of a translator is to select one
from these. The selection must be based on what is most appropriate, and how much effective it is. As a
native speaker I would choose (i) since it has high frequency in the daily usage and it seems to be more
formal than the other three. And the final construction implies an extra pragmatic effect on the object.
90. Topicalization-passives and clause order
Topicalization means the emphasis placed on the topic or focus of a sentence by
proposing it to the beginning of the sentence; placing the topic at the beginning of
the sentence is typical for our source languages. The topicalization in the source
languages often done with transformation of an active sentence into passive
sentence.
For instance,
a. Solomon built a temple
b. A temple was built by Solomon
(a) Is a sentence with canonical word order, the (b) is an instance of topicalization.
91. In verb final languages the passive voice is not as common, and in some languages
it doesn’t even exist. This implies that the translators must be careful not to try to
copy the passive sentence structure in the source language. Otherwise, this can
result in unnatural sentence structure. For example the later part of Mathew 6:33
“all these things will be added to you.’’
the literally it can be translated as
“ithokkeyum ningalkku nalkapettirikkum” –passive. But, the proper translation is
“ithokkeyum ningalkku labhikkum” you will get all these.’ The passive voice in the
source text is conveyed through an active sentence in the target languages without
loosing its meaning or effect. In Malayalam grammar, passivation is allowed.
However, the translators did not use the passive voice to avoid readability issues.
92. o The tendency to have known elements first favours the verb final language pattern of
having dependent clause first.
o This because dependent clauses are more topical than main clauses. However, the
structure of our source languages often has topical dependent clauses following the main
clause.
o Source languages do not necessarily present materials in more universal logic order
[Math:1, genealogy of Christ].
o Clause order and discourse structure should follow topicality patterns in those languages
where they are normal. “Because”, “in order to”, “after”, “before”, “while” and other
similar words clues of high topicality.
o They should logically precede the new information. Verb final language translator should
not try to copy this structural changes in the source text, since we have the provision to
place dependent clause at the beginning.
93. Positive-negative contrast
In languages with verbs near beginning, the negative often comes before the positive,
as in ‘he did not come, but I kept waiting.” Verb final languages generally prefer to have
positive first. For instance, the above sentence will be translated “njaan kaathirinnu,
pakshe avan vannilla’ in Malayalam. it has the reverse structure of source text as “I kept
waiting, but he didn’t come”. It does not mean that the source text pattern, where
negative comes first, is strictly prohibited in Malayalam. However, the translator
should not be trapped into following source language structure just because his
language allows both of the options. The natural sequence in his language may very
well represent basic principles of effective communication.
94. General and specific
The study of language types can also offer basic insights of what comes fist in
ordering, general or specific. In our source languages the normal pattern is
specific comes before general. See the following examples
English Indian Languages
Mat 2:1 Bethlehem of Judea జుడాయ బేత్లెహెం (Telugu)
Judea Bethlehem
Mark 16:9 Mary Magdalene மகேதலனா மரியா (Tamil)
Magdalene Mary
Mark 3:19 Judas Iscariot ഇസ്കോരിത്ത ോെു ൂൈോ
(Mala)
Iscariot Jude
95. This feature is expected where the whole language set
up puts the main points first and explanation
afterward. In English, as a general rule, it seems to be
higher degree of readability in the order specific-
general than in the reverse order [Barclay, 1980]. In
verb-final languages, however, the opposite is true.
96. Gapping
Gapping refers to what happens when two sentences with the same verb are combined and the
repeated verb is deleted. For example, “Peter came at night, and Mary in the morning”-in this
sentence the past form of verb “come” is deleted in the second clause. But, in the verb final
languages the deletion will happen in the first clause, since the final verb cannot be deleted.
For instance,
pathros raathriyum meri ravley-um vannu -Malayalam
peter night – CordM Mary morning –CordM came
In the above Malayalam example the verb “vannu“ is deleted in the first clause and retained at the end of the
sentence.
97. The Biblical gapping is one feature of parallelism.
The translators must be careful, if he is trying to reproduce parallelism, that he does not
create impossible sentences as far as his own grammar allows.
For example Psalms 1:5
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
The Psalm 1:5 is an example of parallelism of two structurally similar sentences with the
same verb. If we split the sentence into two
. The wicked will not stand in the judgment.
. The sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous
98. In English the verb is placed in the first clause but in the verb ending languages will
have the verb at the end of the second clause.
Odia:- ehethu dhushta-mane bichaaro sthanore, oba paapi-mane
so wicked-pl judgement place nor sinnier-pl
dharmikamanoko mandolire thiya-he be-nahin
righteous-pl assembly stand Aux fut. not
If a translator tries to follow the source language structure that might lead to
produce an unnatural translation.
99. Indirect and Direct Speech
Direct speech and indirect speech are two modalities of reported speech.
Direct Speech: the message of the speaker is conveyed or reported in his own actual
words without any change.
Indirect Speech: the message of the speaker is conveyed or reported in our own words.
Example on Process of Conversion from Direct to Indirect Speech
a) Direct: Jesus said, “I am the door.”
b) Indirect: Jesus said that he was the door.
100. When we use direct speech in writing,
we place the words spoken between
quotation marks (" ") and there is no
change in these words.
101. • Subject initial source languages favour indirect speech as
against verb-final target languages with direct speech.
• Except Hebrew, which basically has sentences beginning
with verbs, the other "source" languages usually have
sentences beginning with subjects.
102. Subject-initial languages, however, will often change the quote into a
subordinate "that" clause.
In order to be really natural, translators in verb-final languages need
to change indirect speech "that" clauses into direct speech.
In many cases the Hebrew has direct speech which has been changed
into indirect speech in modern English translations in order to be
natural.
In these cases the translators need to remember that in his language he
has to return to the original structure
103. For example,
Gen 26:9
NIV- So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your
wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
GNT- Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife!
Why did you say she was your sister?”
Num 11:21
NIV- But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand
men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a
whole month!’
GNT-Moses said to the LORD, “Here I am leading 600,000 people,
and you say that you will give them enough meat for a
month?
104. Job 21: 14
NIV- Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.
GNV- The wicked tell God to leave them alone;
they don't want to know his will for their lives.
In the above examples NIV has retained the direct speech forms as in
Hebrew but GNT transforms them into indirect speech. While we
translate the verses in this sort we should not try to follow the GNT
that might lead to an unnatural result.
105. Mirror image
Mirror image means an image or object which is identical in form to another, but with
the structure reversed, as in a mirror.
• There is a significant structural difference between the source languages
and the receiver languages with SOV pattern.
• After the subjects of the sentences, virtually everything is reversed.
• The position of the noun subject must be switched if the dependent
clause subject is the same as in the main clause which now comes at the
end.
106. For instance,
“I bought Mary, the girl who had fever, to the hospital in town quickly in
order that she might not get worse.”
- In the verb final languages it would normally become
പനി ബാധിച്ച റപൺകുട്ടി പേരിയുറെ നില വഷളാകാതിരിപക്കണ്ടതിനു
fever caught girl Mary level not to get worse
ഞോൻ അവറള പട്ടണത്തിലുള്ള ആശ്ുപത്തിയിൽ റകാണ്ട് പപായി.-Mala
I her town hospital brought
107. Every additional structural complication, such
as more subordinate clauses, infinitives and
relatives, will result in an additional reversal
of order in the clauses.
108. Conclusion
There is no doubt that all these changes in structure make translating
into verb-final language complicated. Awareness of what the specific
changes are on basis of language type can help the translator to avoid
many pitfall and come up with a more natural translation.
109. Suggestions
Translators must read and study more about the typological features of source
and target languages.
Work to produce dynamic translation and avoid source text favoured approach.
Make sure that the naturality is not lost, and ensure the content is conveyed
clearly and successfully.
Ensure the effect of source text in the target text through the means necessary.
If there are choices, the translator must go with more appropriate, acceptable,
frequent and formal (not-informal) option.
110. Further Reading
• F Bliese, Loren 1989. Does the Verb Come Last in Your Language Bible translators,
Vol 40 no.2
• Comrie, Bernard. 1989. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. 2nd.
edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Dryer, Matthew S. 1997. On the six-way word order typology. Studies in Language
21.2:69-103.
• Firbas, Jan. 1964. From comparative word-order studies. BRNO Studies in English
4.111–26.
• Kirk, Peter. 2002. Discourse analysis of Zarafat ‘Joke’: An Azerbaijani short story by
Cümsüd sgndrov. In
• Comments on Discourse Structures in Ten Turkic Languages, ed. by John M.
Clifton and Deborah A. Clifton, 1-19. Dallas TX: SIL International.
• Levinsohn, Stephen H. 1999. Ordering of propositions in OV languages of Brazil.
Notes on Translation 13.1:54-56.
111. • Roberts, John R. 1997. The syntax of discourse structure. Notes on Translation 11.2.15–34.
• Tomlin, Russell S. 1986. Basic Word Order: Functional Principles. London: Croom Helm.
• Van Valin Jr., Robert D. 2005. Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge University
Press.
• Arnold, J. E., Losongco, A., Wasow, T., & Ginstrom, R. (2000). Heaviness vs. newness: The effects of
structural complexity and discourse status on constituent ordering. Language, 76, 28-55.
• Bauer, B. L. M. (1995). The emergence and development of SVO patterning in Latin andFrench.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bentz, C., & Christiansen, M. H. (2010). Linguistic adaptation at work? The change of word order
and case system from Latin to the Romance languages. In A. Smith, M. Schouwstra, B. de Boer &
K. Smith (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (pp.
26-33). Utrecht: World Scientific Publishing.
112. • Blake, B. (1988). Review of Russell Tomlin‟s basic word order. Journal
of Linguistics, 24, 213-217.
• Bock, J., & Warren, R. (1985). Conceptual accessibility and syntactic
structure in sentenceformulation. Cognition, 21, 47-67.
• Bornkessel‐Schlesewsky, I., & Schlesewsky, M. (2009). The role of
prominence informationin the teal‐time comprehension of transitive
constructions: A cross‐linguistic approach. Language and Linguistics
Compass, 3, 19-58.
![Does the Verb Come
Last in Your Languages
??
[Word-Order Typology & BT]
Sam Robert
MA, M.Phil, PhD](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/doestheverbcomelastinyourlanguages-210309153040/85/Does-the-verb-come-last-in-your-languages-1-320.jpg)
