Local grammar and translation equivalents-Preliminary findings for consider and its german translations Renate Reichardt University of birmingham Abstract: The premise of this paper is that the local grammar of words, specifically their syntactic valency complements, guides the choice of translation equivalents. the hypothesis is that the preferred translation equivalent of a word is the one which is closest to the valency pattern of the original word. Valency theory is concerned with the local grammar of words, i.e. with the property of a word to combine with a certain number of elements in forming larger units(Emons 1974).A corpus linguistic approach was chosen for the exploration of the relationship between the valency patterns of a word and its corresponding meaning in another exe languages English and German were investigated, but the approach is equally suitable to explore the grammar-lexis interplay between a wide range of languages. The case study examines the polysemous verb CONSIDER and its German equivalents. Frequency analysis showed a preference of the syntactic valency patterns of CONSIDER for certain translation equivalents. Valency patterns are thus a useful indicator of likely translations into another language, a finding which can be useful in the second language classroom in translation training or in the compilation of dictionaries and grammars. On hand, the contrastive analysis has also shown that there is great overall flexibility in the choice of translation equivalents, which illustrates that what is often considered a straightforward rule-based construction process is much more flexible and unpredictable 1. Assumptions and methods ed by Firth(1957) and Sinclair(1991), who argued that meaning depends on the environment in which a word occurs. The purpose of this investigation is to explore the lexis-grammar interface from a contrastive perspective. Focusing on the local grammar of words, i.e. their syntactic valency patterns, a corpus investigation into the polysemous verb CONSIDER and its German translation equivalents is undertaken lI Meaning, paraphrase and translation Any language is based on conventions amongst its users. Words do not in themselves carry an inherent meaning, but the meaning, usually expressed as a paraphrase, is negotiated in the discourse and thus acquired by language users(Teubert 2004). In contrastive linguistics the paraphrase expressing the meaning of a word is the chosen translation equivalent. This study differs from similar stud ies(e.g. Duffner et al. 2009; Noel 1996)in that translation equivalents are established from a multilingual corpus (EuroParl), rather than being taken from existing dictionaries or being based on monolingual meaning interpretations
1 Local grammar and translation equivalents - Preliminary findings for CONSIDER and its German translations Renate Reichardt University of Birmingham Abstract: The premise of this paper is that the local grammar of words, specifically their syntactic valency complements, guides the choice of translation equivalents. The hypothesis is that the preferred translation equivalent of a word is the one which is closest to the valency pattern of the original word. Valency theory is concerned with the local grammar of words, i.e. with the property of a word to combine with a certain number of elements in forming larger units (Emons 1974). A corpus linguistic approach was chosen for the exploration of the relationship between the valency patterns of a word and its corresponding meaning in another language. For exemplification the languages English and German were investigated, but the approach is equally suitable to explore the grammar-lexis interplay between a wide range of languages. The case study examines the polysemous verb CONSIDER and its German equivalents. Frequency analysis showed a preference of the syntactic valency patterns of CONSIDER for certain translation equivalents. Valency patterns are thus a useful indicator of likely translations into another language, a finding which can be useful in the second language classroom, in translation training or in the compilation of dictionaries and grammars. On the other hand, the contrastive analysis has also shown that there is great overall flexibility in the choice of translation equivalents, which illustrates that what is often considered a straightforward rule-based construction process is much more flexible and unpredictable. 1. Assumptions and methods The research is inspired by Firth (1957) and Sinclair (1991), who argued that meaning depends on the environment in which a word occurs. The purpose of this investigation is to explore the lexis-grammar interface from a contrastive perspective. Focusing on the local grammar of words, i.e. their syntactic valency patterns, a corpus investigation into the polysemous verb CONSIDER and its German translation equivalents is undertaken. 1.1 Meaning, paraphrase and translation Any language is based on conventions amongst its users. Words do not in themselves carry an inherent meaning, but the meaning, usually expressed as a paraphrase, is negotiated in the discourse and thus acquired by language users (Teubert 2004). In contrastive linguistics the paraphrase expressing the meaning of a word is the chosen translation equivalent. This study differs from similar studies (e.g. Duffner et al. 2009; Noël 1996) in that translation equivalents are established from a multilingual corpus (EuroParl), rather than being taken from existing dictionaries or being based on monolingual meaning interpretations
Most words are polysemous, i.e. they have more than one meaning depending on the environment of usage. Thus, when learning the meaning or meanings of a word, users also acquire knowledge about the environment of a word (hoey 2005 ), i.e. its usage context, typical occurrences(collocations) and its structural use (grammar and colligations). Valency theory is a suitable method for the contrastive analysis of syntactic and semantic investigations between languages 1. 2 Syntactic and semantic interpretation of language The trad itional distinction between lexis and grammar as separate areas of study has changed towards a theory of a lexis-grammar continuum(e.g. Romer Schulze 2009 Sinclair 1991)which emphasises the strong interaction between the two. However,as noted by Fischer (1997), it will always be debatable whether syntax influences semantics or vice versa, and, secondly, to what extent syntax and semantics are independently capable of analysis. It is noteworthy that various linguistic theories tend to emphasise the one or the other level, thereby showing the philosophical stance of the linguists concerned. Furthermore, no generalisations can be made regard ing congruence of syntactic and semantic properties of words- these relationships are based on the local grammar, i.e. the individual properties, of words 1. 2.1 Valency theory Valency theory relates to local grammar, i.e. grammar that is specific to the individual word or lexical item and cannot be explained by the general grammar rules of a language(Teubert 2003). Cornell et al(2003: 8: see also Welke 1988; Engel and Schumacher 1976; Tesniere 1959)summarize the valency approach as follows Lexical items have the power to structure their surroundings syntactically and semantically Sentences are organised bottom-up, from words to larger units Lexical items, in particular the verb, demand complements to create phrases that are syntactically and semantically complete. Adjuncts can be added freely, giving additional information The basic assumption of valency theory is that the verb occupies a central position in the sentence because the verb determines how many other elements have to occur in order to form a grammatically correct sentence(Homberger 2001). Thus, valency patterns primarily represent syntactic patterning. However, complements also have semantic functions, since valency is not to be seen simply as a'slot-and-filler'theory (Gotz-Votteler 2007). Sentence elements expressing syntactic relations are commonly referred to as complements', while elements expressing semantic relations are called arguments. Probably because of this dual aspect, Sinclair(2004: 18)predicted that valency grammar. is likely to see an upsurge of interest. The sentence elements which could occur with almost any verb in any sentence are generally referred to as adjuncts. It should also be noted that the current understand ing of valency is not restricted to verbs but can be applied to all word-classes, e. g. nouns("consideration for others' but not ' belief for others) or adjectives (considerate of others' but not plative of others).[1] Recently, valency theory has received fresh interest in British and American linguistics as it forms part of the analysis of constructions( Goldberg 2006, Fillmore 2007)
2 Most words are polysemous, i.e. they have more than one meaning depending on the environment of usage. Thus, when learning the meaning or meanings of a word, users also acquire knowledge about the environment of a word (Hoey 2005), i.e. its usage context, typical occurrences (collocations) and its structural use (grammar and colligations). Valency theory is a suitable method for the contrastive analysis of syntactic and semantic investigations between languages. 1.2 Syntactic and semantic interpretation of language The traditional distinction between lexis and grammar as separate areas of study has changed towards a theory of a lexis-grammar continuum (e.g. Römer & Schulze 2009; Sinclair 1991) which emphasises the strong interaction between the two. However, as noted by Fischer (1997), it will always be debatable whether syntax influences semantics or vice versa, and, secondly, to what extent syntax and semantics are independently capable of analysis. It is noteworthy that various linguistic theories tend to emphasise the one or the other level, thereby showing the philosophical stance of the linguists concerned. Furthermore, no generalisations can be made regarding congruence of syntactic and semantic properties of words – these relationships are based on the local grammar, i.e. the individual properties, of words. 1.2.1 Valency theory Valency theory relates to local grammar, i.e. grammar that is specific to the individual word or lexical item and cannot be explained by the general grammar rules of a language (Teubert 2003). Cornell et al (2003: 8; see also Welke 1988; Engel and Schumacher 1976; Tesnière 1959) summarize the valency approach as follows: • Lexical items have the power to structure their surroundings syntactically and semantically. • Sentences are organised bottom-up, from words to larger units. • Lexical items, in particular the verb, demand complements to create phrases that are syntactically and semantically complete. Adjuncts can be added freely, giving additional information. The basic assumption of valency theory is that the verb occupies a central position in the sentence because the verb determines how many other elements have to occur in order to form a grammatically correct sentence (Homberger 2001). Thus, valency patterns primarily represent syntactic patterning. However, complements also have semantic functions, since valency is not to be seen simply as a ‘slot-and-filler’ theory (Götz-Votteler 2007). Sentence elements expressing syntactic relations are commonly referred to as ‘complements’, while elements expressing semantic relations are called ‘arguments’. Probably because of this dual aspect, Sinclair (2004: 18) predicted that “valency grammar ... is likely to see an upsurge of interest.” The sentence elements which could occur with almost any verb in any sentence are generally referred to as adjuncts. It should also be noted that the current understanding of valency is not restricted to verbs but can be applied to all word-classes, e.g. nouns (‘consideration for others’ but not ‘belief for others’) or adjectives (‘considerate of others’ but not ‘contemplative of others’). [1] Recently, valency theory has received fresh interest in British and American linguistics as it forms part of the analysis of constructions (Goldberg 2006; Fillmore 2007)
However, the approach to valency, or 'valence, applied in construction grammar focuses on the semantic aspects, mainly the semantic roles of the sentence elements. In contrast, the focus in this investigation is on the syntactic valency patterns and their function in meaning identification, i.e. the translation choices Due to its versatility and the possibility to investigate language largely independently, at various levels, valency theory is a suitable theoretical framework to undertake contrastive studies 1.3 Corpus investigation The corpus used for the cross-linguistic English-German investigation is the EuroParl corpus, which consists of European Parliament Proceedings published in the 1l official languages of the European Union and thus represents a specif ic language domain. In order to validate the identified syntactic valency patterns of the verb CONSIDER and those of its translation equivalents(TEs) in the Euro Parl investigation the findings are compared with monolingual reference corpora. The reference corpus for English is the Bank of English corpus(BoE; corpus at the University of Birmingham), and for possible ld losyncrasies of word use, i.e. the syntactic patterning, in EuroP ar ei German the Deutsches Referenz Korpus(DeReKo; corpus at the Institute of German Language, Mannheim). Such a comparison with a reference corpus will identify any Differences between corpora are not uncommon in corpus linguistics. These may be due to the different compositions of corpora. For example, while EuroParl is a spoken corpus where mental verbs are an important device used to express stance, the reference corpora are mixed corpora includ ing a number of different genres. Table 1 shows a comparison of the frequencies per million words of CONSIDER, its word-forms, and two complementation patterns, a non-finite ing-clause(example sentence 1)and a the clause(example sentence 2), in EuroParl and the BoE (1) THINGS have been going so badly for Marks Spencer, they should consider hiring a female marketing boss. BoE) (2) We consider that the expenditure relating to the agreement is compulsory. (EuroParl) Table 1. Occurrences coNsider in EuroParl and BoE EuroParl BOE per million permillion CONSIDER 4951 100%253.64 100% consider 3006455%8976 35% considers 52.27 10%11.06 4%6 considered 136.5325%109.7543% considering 60.07 11%43.07 17% CONSIDER+(-ing) 25.73 5%25.73 10%
3 However, the approach to valency, or ‘valence’, applied in construction grammar focuses on the semantic aspects, mainly the semantic roles of the sentence elements. In contrast, the focus in this investigation is on the syntactic valency patterns and their function in meaning identification, i.e. the translation choices. Due to its versatility and the possibility to investigate language largely independently, at various levels, valency theory is a suitable theoretical framework to undertake contrastive studies. 1.3 Corpus investigation The corpus used for the cross-linguistic English-German investigation is the EuroParl corpus, which consists of European Parliament Proceedings published in the 11 official languages of the European Union and thus represents a specific language domain. In order to validate the identified syntactic valency patterns of the verb CONSIDER and those of its translation equivalents (TEs) in the EuroParl investigation the findings are compared with monolingual reference corpora. The reference corpus for English is the Bank of English corpus (BoE; corpus at the University of Birmingham), and for German the Deutsches Referenz Korpus (DeReKo; corpus at the Institute of German Language, Mannheim). Such a comparison with a reference corpus will identify any possible idiosyncrasies of word use, i.e. the syntactic patterning, in EuroParl. Differences between corpora are not uncommon in corpus linguistics. These may be due to the different compositions of corpora. For example, while EuroParl is a spoken corpus where mental verbs are an important device used to express stance, the reference corpora are mixed corpora including a number of different genres. Table 1 shows a comparison of the frequencies per million words of CONSIDER, its word-forms, and two complementation patterns, a non-finite ing-clause (example sentence 1) and a thatclause (example sentence 2), in EuroParl and the BoE. (1) THINGS have been going so badly for Marks & Spencer, they should consider hiring a female marketing boss. (BoE) (2) We consider that the expenditure relating to the agreement is compulsory. (EuroParl) Table 1. Occurrences CONSIDER in EuroParl and BoE EuroParl BoE per million % per million % CONSIDER 549.51 100% 253.64 100% consider 300.64 55% 89.76 35% considers 52.27 10% 11.06 4% considered 136.53 25% 109.75 43% considering 60.07 11% 43.07 17% CONSIDER+(-ing) 25.73 5% 25.73 10%
CONSIDER+that.43 l6%8.79 3% It is notable that, overall, the lemma CoNSIDER is more frequent in EuroParl than in the BoE and that there are differences in the distribution of the individual word -forms Also non-finite ing-clauses are more frequent in the BoE, while thal-clauses are more fr It in euro parl Due to the differences between various corpora, the validity of generalisations drawn from corpus findings is often questioned. As noted by Leech(1991: 27)the representativeness of a corpus"must largely be regarded as an act of faith". This study is concerned with a comparison of the syntactic valency patterns between words and those of their preferred translations, therefore genre differences are of no interest as long as the investigated syntactic patterns occur sufficiently frequently in the reference For the present study, translation d irection is not seen to be relevant since the interest lies in the syntactic differences between an English verb and those of its german counterpart. However, it should be noted that since source language (original) and target language(translation) are unknown in EuroParl, it is, strictly speaking, not correct to talk of TEs in a comparison of different languages in EuroParl. Nevertheless for simplicity, this report refers to English as the source language and german as the target language, i.e. the TE 1. 4 Frequency analysis Starting with the verb CONSIDER, 200 randomly chosen concordance lines from EuroParl were analysed for their TEs. Occurrences where a form of CONSIDER functions s adjective, as in example sentence 3, were excluded, since this study is concerned with verb valency. Excluded lines were replaced (3)I hope that the House will, on reflection, accept the considered view of the In the next step, the possible valency sentence patterns for CONSIDER were identified For this, the 200 lines which were used for the identification of the TEs were analysed Add itionally, 200 lines from the Boe were analysed for reference Having established the valency sentence patterns and the preferred TEs, it was possible to investigate whether the tes occur with the same or a different pattern. two approaches were available for this investigation Sort concordance lines according to valency complements and compare these with the TE Sort concordance lines according to TEs and compare the valency complements of original and TE The first option would require that EuroParl is annotated or parsed for the identif ied valency complements For this reason the second option was pursued In the next step, the previously identified TEs for the verb CONSIDER were extracted For example, the analysis of the 200 lines from Euro Parl showed HALTEN as the most frequent TE for CONSIDER. A search in EuroParl for CONSIDER and HALTEN produced 1.730 concord ance lines. It has to be noted that the actual number of occurrences is lower, since Para Conc, the concordance programme used for the investigation, will
4 CONSIDER+that 87.43 16% 8.79 3% It is notable that, overall, the lemma CONSIDER is more frequent in EuroParl than in the BoE, and that there are differences in the distribution of the individual word -forms. Also non-finite ing-clauses are more frequent in the BoE, while that-clauses are more frequent in EuroParl. Due to the differences between various corpora, the validity of generalisations drawn from corpus findings is often questioned. As noted by Leech (1991: 27) the representativeness of a corpus “must largely be regarded as an act of faith”. This study is concerned with a comparison of the syntactic valency patterns between words and those of their preferred translations, therefore genre differences are of no interest as long as the investigated syntactic patterns occur sufficiently frequently in the reference corpora. For the present study, translation direction is not seen to be relevant since the interest lies in the syntactic differences between an English verb and those of its German counterpart. However, it should be noted that since source language (original) and target language (translation) are unknown in EuroParl, it is, strictly speaking, not correct to talk of TEs in a comparison of different languages in EuroParl. Nevertheless, for simplicity, this report refers to English as the source language and German as the target language, i.e. the TE. 1.4 Frequency analysis Starting with the verb CONSIDER, 200 randomly chosen concordance lines from EuroParl were analysed for their TEs. Occurrences where a form of CONSIDER functions as adjective, as in example sentence 3, were excluded, since this study is concerned with verb valency. Excluded lines were replaced. (3) I hope that the House will, on reflection, accept the considered view of the Commission. In the next step, the possible valency sentence patterns for CONSIDER were identified. For this, the 200 lines which were used for the identification of the TEs were analysed. Additionally, 200 lines from the BoE were analysed for reference. Having established the valency sentence patterns and the preferred TEs, it was possible to investigate whether the TEs occur with the same or a different pattern. Two approaches were available for this investigation: i. Sort concordance lines according to valency complements and compare these with the TEs. ii. Sort concordance lines according to TEs and compare the valency complements of original and TE. The first option would require that EuroParl is annotated or parsed for the identified valency complements. For this reason the second option was pursued. In the next step, the previously identified TEs for the verb CONSIDER were extracted. For example, the analysis of the 200 lines from EuroParl showed HALTEN as the most frequent TE for CONSIDER. A search in EuroParl for CONSIDER and HALTEN produced 1,730 concordance lines. It has to be noted that the actual number of occurrences is lower, since ParaConc, the concordance programme used for the investigation, will
look for search words at sentence level mis-hits, as demonstrated in example sentence 4, are included. [2] (4-E) Two major areas of concern about the proposal were considered by the Committee (4G) Der AusschuB befaBte sich mit zwei wichtigen Aspekten des Vorschlags, die er fur problematisch hielt. As can be seen, CONSIDER is actually translated as BEFASSEN(single underlining), whereas HALTEN refers to of concern'(bold underlining) 50 concordance lines, every n-th occurrence, of CONSIDER with a specific tE were nitially investigated. For example, from the 1, 730 lines of CONSIDER with the TE halten 50 lines were extracted and transformed into active canonical clauses without adjuncts as demonstrated in example sentence 5 (5-E) Our airport is very close to housing and, like 20% of Europe citizens. we suffer levels of noise from aircraft which health experts consider to be unacceptable Transformation (5a-E) Health experts consider the levels of noise from aircraft to be unacceptable Unser Flughafen liegt ganz in der Nahe der Wohngebiete, und wie 20% der europaischen Burger leiden wir unter einer Fluglarmbelastung, die Gesundheitsexperten fur untragbar halten Transformatio (5a-G) Gesundheitsexperten halten die Fluglarmbelastigung fur These 50 transformed lines were then analysed for the syntactic patterns of the original and the te (figure 1) s时dwru-lnf 而5/心印 sub tintes or ange wws sustance 30we ans der t ogp perot booted the daoting posad 0d k wh e nch fwer ngebrocte stpengscnworhweustwoien 11565Dms fa recen assi o ltm me aar Geme'nshuftbeiuoe Cer Rat hec es her wondo, des D ooo torturer swr过 anear re emghekse her on sgre0cmn度键 set Le se wondered EtN ausschuss ro ovenden TYe cdos oer c Arrse a豳m部操出q的 Fone Erucunso wo 6a0IWr Autem ei er nawng see heme pecifener zubehareelr s山 b es adj wb dos 153oeh hate es fuer chhg, auss oe Massnwhm 24 leone ered it toper Do soumo ow the new Commas 0o see wbem 轴 rites fuer ncre oass von滑MDw00 122WN彩的画钟峰6的过的智的 Figure 1. Extract from valency comparison of CONSIDER and the TE HALTEN The question which arises at this point of the investigation is whether 50 concordance lines are sufficient to produce reliable and viable find ings. For this reason, a further three sets of 50 concordance lines were analysed for the two most frequent TEs of CONSIDER, ViZ. HALTEN and BETRACHTEN. As can be seen in Table 2, the frequent patterns for a te of CONSIDER are the same in all four data sets, although the rank order changes slightly between the sets. Therefore, it seems sufficient to work with 50 concordance lines, especially given that the remainder of the tEs are less frequent than
5 look for search words at sentence level mis-hits, as demonstrated in example sentence 4, are included. [2] (4-E) Two major areas of concern about the proposal were considered by the Committee. (4-G) Der Ausschuß befaßte sich mit zwei wichtigen Aspekten des Vorschlags, die er für problematisch hielt. As can be seen, CONSIDER is actually translated as BEFASSEN (single underlining), whereas HALTEN refers to ‘of concern’ (bold underlining). 50 concordance lines, every n-th occurrence, of CONSIDER with a specific TE were initially investigated. For example, from the 1,730 lines of CONSIDER with the TE HALTEN 50 lines were extracted and transformed into active canonical clauses without adjuncts as demonstrated in example sentence 5. (5-E) Our airport is very close to housing and, like 20% of Europe’s citizens, we suffer levels of noise from aircraft which health experts consider to be unacceptable. Transformation: (5a-E) Health experts consider the levels of noise from aircraft to be unacceptable. (5-G) Unser Flughafen liegt ganz in der Nähe der Wohngebiete, und wie 20% der europäischen Bürger leiden wir unter einer Fluglärmbelastung, die Gesundheitsexperten für untragbar halten. Transformation: (5a-G) Gesundheitsexperten halten die Fluglärmbelästigung für untragbar. These 50 transformed lines were then analysed for the syntactic patterns of the original and the TE (figure 1). Figure 1. Extract from valency comparison of CONSIDER and the TE HALTEN The question which arises at this point of the investigation is whether 50 concordance lines are sufficient to produce reliable and viable findings. For this reason, a further three sets of 50 concordance lines were analysed for the two most frequent TEs of CONSIDER, viz. HALTEN and BETRACHTEN. As can be seen in Table 2, the frequent patterns for a TE of CONSIDER are the same in all four data sets, although the rank order changes slightly between the sets. Therefore, it seems sufficient to work with 50 concordance lines, especially given that the remainder of the TEs are less frequent than
HALTEN and BEtRaCHtEn. a similar approach was used by Groom(2007)in order to analyze semantic sequences of salient grammatical words Table 2. Valency pattern d istribution in four samples(of 50 concordance lines each)of CONSIDER with the most frequent TEs HALTEN and BETRACHTEN halten halten 2 halten 3 haltenaHALTEN betrach-betrach-betrach- betrach- sub obi nom sub obi ad Isub obj nom-as sub obj vb-to-be-nom 当吗吗 0.25 sub it nom vb-that sub it adjvb-that sub it nom vb-to-inf sub it adi vb-to-in TOTAL In the final step of the investigation the syntactic valency patterns of the German TEs were compared with the patterns of CONSIDER It is believed that the approach taken is sufficiently reliable to identify trends regarding the interplay of local grammar and word meaning, i.e. TEs. However, this investigation does not claim to be exhaustive, but attempts to provide an overview of the key principles in contrastive linguistic research using valency theory and corpus 2. Valency complements in contrastive linguistics Valency does not relate to general properties of words but to specific subclasses of words. For example, in English a distinction is often made between subclasses of verbs ypically followed by an -ing or a to-inf-form, while German distinguishes between verbs typically followed by a sentence element in the accusative case and those typically followed by a dative ( Table 3, example sentences 6 to 9) Table 3. Examples of subclasses of verb valency in English and German Example rb Example sentence (6-E)The European Parliament should consider (function: object) fundamental change in attitude in this area (6-G) Das Europaische Parlament muB in Betracht ziehen, an einer solchen prinzipiellen Veranderung mitzuwirken to-infinitive form need (-E) Cohesion policy needs to be strengthened (7-G) Die Kohasionspolitik muB weiter gestarkt
6 HALTEN and BETRACHTEN. A similar approach was used by Groom (2007) in order to analyze semantic sequences of salient grammatical words. Table 2. Valency pattern distribution in four samples (of 50 concordance lines each) of CONSIDER with the most frequent TEs HALTEN and BETRACHTEN In the final step of the investigation the syntactic valency patterns of the German TEs were compared with the patterns of CONSIDER. It is believed that the approach taken is sufficiently reliable to identify trends regarding the interplay of local grammar and word meaning, i.e. TEs. However, this investigation does not claim to be exhaustive, but attempts to provide an overview of the key principles in contrastive linguistic research using valency theory and corpus investigation. 2. Valency complements in contrastive linguistics Valency does not relate to general properties of words but to specific subclasses of words. For example, in English a distinction is often made between subclasses of verbs typically followed by an -ing or a to-inf-form, while German distinguishes between verbs typically followed by a sentence element in the accusative case and those typically followed by a dative (Table 3, example sentences 6 to 9). Table 3. Examples of subclasses of verb valency in English and German English Example verb Example sentence -ing form (function: object) consider (6-E) The European Parliament should consider contributing to the introduction of a fundamental change in attitude in this area. (6-G) Das Europäische Parlament muß in Betracht ziehen, an einer solchen prinzipiellen Veränderung mitzuwirken. to-infinitive form (function: object) need (7-E) Cohesion policy needs to be strengthened further. (7-G) Die Kohäsionspolitik muß weiter gestärkt
wengen Ex German verb Example sentence Accusative halter (8-G)Ich personlich halte ihn fur eine sehr (consider) gefahrliche Person (function: object) (8-E)I personally consider him to be a very dangerous politician Dative helfen (9-G) Die damit verbundenen Stabilitats complement (help) vereinbarungen helfen dem EurosproBling sich (function: object) klar nach vorne blickend zu entfalten (9-E)The stabil ity pacts will help the young euro to develop with a clear eye on the future As can be seen in Table 3 different forms fulfil the same function; viz. that of object (Quirk et al. 1985). 3] Sub-classification of realisation forms, as shown in Table 4 example sentence 10, helps to show the link between function and form between languages. The English ing-complementation functioning as object can be labelled . Its German counterpart is realised in German with a wh-clause which also functions as object and can be labelled Table 4 Example analysis of valency complement types for English and German (10-E) We will, howeve conside raising the tog r, matter with the issues concerning Turkish development poli in the framework of pre- accession strategy Valenc adjunct (10-G) Wir Werde jedoch profen, inwiefern wir we Probleme Angelegenheit Zusammen regionalen Entwicklungspolitik im Rahme nsprechen neue wengen Heranfuhrungsstrate den turkish Beholden
7 werden. German Example verb Example sentence Accusative complement (function: object) halten (consider) (8-G) Ich persönlich halte ihn für eine sehr gefährliche Person. (8-E) I personally consider him to be a very dangerous politician. Dative complement (function: object) helfen (help) (9-G) Die damit verbundenen Stabilitätsvereinbarungen helfen dem Eurosprößling sich klar nach vorne blickend zu entfalten. (9-E) The stability pacts will help the young euro to develop with a clear eye on the future. As can be seen in Table 3 different forms fulfil the same function; viz. that of object (Quirk et al. 1985). [3] Sub-classification of realisation forms, as shown in Table 4 example sentence 10, helps to show the link between function and form between languages. The English ing-complementation functioning as object can be labelled . Its German counterpart is realised in German with a wh-clause which also functions as object and can be labelled . Table 4. Example analysis of valency complement types for English and German (10-E) We will, howeve r, conside r raising the matter with the Turkish authorities, together with other issues concerning regional development policies in the framework of the new preaccession strategy for Turkey. Valenc y adjunct adjunct (10-G) Wir Werde n jedoch prüfen, inwiefern wir diese Angelegenheit ... ... ansprechen werden. ... sowie weitere Probleme im Zusammenhang mit der regionalen Entwicklungspolitik im Rahmen der neuen Heranführungsstrate gie bei den türkischen Behörden
Valenc Prepositional complement Prepositional complement Adverbial <sit <sit complements Situational complement Situational complement Directional complement Directional complement
8 Valenc y adjunct adjunct Differences in the realisation forms, i.e. valency patterns of words, exist between different languages and often make a contrastive analysis difficult. The parameters for the analysis of different languages may vary as language specific characteristics need to be accounted for (Emons 1974). On the other hand, a contrastive analysis needs to be based on homogeneous criteria for the classification of the valency complements (Bianco 1980). It is therefore important to use the same categories or labels for the classification of valency complements in order to make the comparison between languages as transparent as possible. That valency theory never experienced a breakthrough in the analysis of English might have to do with the morphological properties of the language. English has mostly lost the noun-inflections indicating the cases which are generally seen as parameter for the analysis of valency complements (Polenz 2008). Table 5. Valency complements in German and English (based on Engel 2009 and Fisher 1997) German English Case complements Nominative complement; main function: subject Subject complement Accusative complement; main function: direct object Object complement Genitive complement --- Dative complement; main functions: indirect object or direct object Indirect object Prepositional complements Prepositional complement Prepositional complement Adverbial complements Situational complement Situational complement Directional complement Directional complement
Expansive complement . Expansive Predicative complements Nominal complement Nominal complement ≤adp Adjectival complement Adjecti Modificational complement Verbal complements Verbal complement Verbal complement Table 5 shows a comparison of the core syntactic valency complement types for English and German. A compromise had to be made with regard to the German ca complements as their function and use in german is not fully congruent with the chosen categories of subject complement and object complement in English, the accusative mainly corresponds to the direct object , and the dative often matches the ind irect object in English (Fischer 1997). These eleven English and twelve German valency complement types are sufficient to analyse any clause or sentence regarding its valency sentence patterns For the various individual verbs there are only a limited number of possible combinations (Schumacher et al. 2004); depend ing on how many complement types a verb can occur with, its valency number can be established as mono -, di-, tri-or tetravalent 2.1 The Valency Sentence Patterns of CONSIDER Table 6 shows the 17 valency sentence patterns identified for the verb CONSIDER based on 200 randomly chosen concordance lines. As can be seen, the core valency types are further differentiated depend ing on their realisation form. For example, the object in the di-valent pattern has four realisation forms: with a noun phrase , with a that-clause , with a wh-clause and a non-finite ing- clause Table 6. Valency sentence patterns of CONSIDER Mono-valent (11) The Commission should hear the sectors views, consult, listen, consider
9 Expansive complement Expansive complement Predicative complements Nominal complement Nominal complement Adjectival complement Adjectival complement --- Modificational complement Verbal complements Verbal complement Verbal complement Table 5 shows a comparison of the core syntactic valency complement types for English and German. A compromise had to be made with regard to the German case complements as their function and use in German is not fully congruent with the chosen categories of subject complement and object complement . However, since in the majority of occurrences the German cases can be matched to a respective syntactic function in English, function categories seem to be the most suitable categorisation to accommodate both languages. Thus, the nominative is generally equivalent to the subject in English, the accusative mainly corresponds to the direct object , and the dative often matches the indirect object in English (Fischer 1997). These eleven English and twelve German valency complement types are sufficient to analyse any clause or sentence regarding its valency sentence patterns. For the various individual verbs there are only a limited number of possible combinations (Schumacher et al. 2004); depending on how many complement types a verb can occur with, its valency number can be established as mono-, di-, tri- or tetravalent. 2.1 The Valency Sentence Patterns of CONSIDER Table 6 shows the 17 valency sentence patterns identified for the verb CONSIDER based on 200 randomly chosen concordance lines. As can be seen, the core valency types are further differentiated depending on their realisation form. For example, the object in the di-valent pattern has four realisation forms: with a noun phrase , with a that-clause , with a wh-clause and a non-finite ing-clause . Table 6. Valency sentence patterns of CONSIDER Mono-valent (11) The Commission should hear the sector’s views, consult, listen, consider
Di-valent (14)We/consider /how the European Union might be provided with a constitution (15)We/consider /revising the Structural Funds Tri-valent (16 We/consider/ this agreement /a milestone in future relations with the Latin American countries (18) The report/considers/ labour costs / as the main source of inflation (19)We/consider /these matters /as tabooed (20)We/ considered building motorways / to be a fundamental complement sub obj vb-to-be-a小 (2)Health experts /consider/the levels of noise pollution /to be unacceptable (23) The government/considered/him/for a peerage With correlate"it' structure <sub it nom yb-that (24)I/consider /it/a scandal / that Europe stands by watching such a thing happen <sub it adj vb-that (25)We/consider /it /only logical /that funds are made available sub it nom vb-to-inp
10 Di-valent (12) We / consider / exchange rate mechanisms. (13) I / do not consider / that the Council tried to answer my question. (14) We / consider / how the European Union might be provided with a constitution. (15) We / consider / revising the Structural Funds. Tri-valent (16) We / consider / this agreement / a milestone in future relations with the Latin American countries. (17) We / consider / the reforms / necessary. (18) The report / considers / labour costs / as the main source of inflation. (19) We / consider / these matters / as tabooed. (20) We / considered / building motorways / to be a fundamental complement. (21) Health experts / consider / the levels of noise pollution / to be unacceptable. (22) The Presidency / considered / this subject / to fall within the competence of the Committee. (23) The government / considered / him / for a peerage. With correlate ‘it’ structure (24) I / consider / it / a scandal / that Europe stands by watching such a thing happen. (25) We / consider / it / only logical / that funds are made available
