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Translation equivalents and function of eventive objects after the verbs "give/make" ("give an answer/make a promise")
Bláhová, Jana ; Šaldová, Pavlína (advisor) ; Brůhová, Gabriela (referee)
This BA thesis deals with the description of eventive objects after the verbs give and make. There is no equivalent construction in Czech and therefore the thesis focuses on the translation equivalents as well. The eventive object is a part of verbo-nominal constructions (the verb reflects the grammatical categories; the eventive object bears the meaning). One of the functions of the construction is modification and quantification flexibility (e.g. she gave a sad smile). Usually the modificators (both pre- and postmodificators) of the eventive noun are translated as adverbials into Czech. The position of the adverbial in the Czech sentence can cause problems in translation. In terms of methodology, the thesis is based on the analysis of 100 eventive objects exported from English original texts and their translation equivalents. The corpus of examples was acquired from InterCorp parallel corpus available under Český národní korpus. Firstly, and most importantly, clear criteria of the construction have to be established. Then the individual examples of the construction will be classified and described. Finally, the translation equivalents and modification will be analysed.
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The conjunctions "if" vs. "whether" in interrogative subordinate clauses
Žáková, Iveta ; Brůhová, Gabriela (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The BA thesis focuses on the variation between the two conjunctions if and whether in subordinate closed interrogatives. Since the two subordinators are from the semantical point of view regarded as interchangeable, they represent competing variants between which the speaker can freely choose. It is believed that speakers' preference for either one or the other variant is determined by internal or external variables. The purpose of this study is to examine this phenomenon in order to provide further knowledge about the influence of variables determining speakers' choice between the two options. The study is corpus-based; the research part is devoted to examination of 200 examples of closed dependent interrogatives introduced by the conjunction if or whether, excerpted from the spoken version of British National Corpus 2014. The collected data are examined from the point of view of a single variable, starting with the internal factors proceeding to the external. The analysis initially focuses on the examination of governing verbs and sentence type. Then, it is investigated whether the character of the subordinate clause plays an influential role; the examination is devoted to the syntactic function realised by the clause, to finite or non-finite, as well as alternative or non-alternative character....
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English gerund and its Czech translation counterparts
Plutnarová, Anna-Marie ; Brůhová, Gabriela (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The purpose of this study was to give account of the various Czech translational counterparts of the English gerund in the position of a noun premodifier, i.e., a modifier that stands before the noun it modifies. Since there is no direct equivalent of the English gerund in the Czech language, other means of translation are needed to be used for the translation of gerunds into Czech. The theoretical part gives account on the differences between finite and non-finite verb forms since the English gerund is one of the three non-finite verb forms, as well as on what a gerund is and what its syntactic functions are. Furthermore, the differences between the English gerund and present participles are described, as both of these forms share the -ing suffix. A description of the differences and similarities between gerunds and verbal nouns is given as well, since not all grammar books accept the two forms as separate units. The practical part is devoted to the analysis of 100 examples which were extracted from the parallel corpus InterCorp. The aim of this study was to determine and show the different translational counterparts of the English gerund in the premodifying position in the Czech language. The results show that in most cases the syntactical function which the gerund has in the English sentence is...
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(Non-)prepositional -ing complementation of stop a prevent: a register perspective
Průšová, Karolína ; Šaldová, Pavlína (advisor) ; Brůhová, Gabriela (referee)
The thesis investigates (non-)prepositional -ing complementation of stop and prevent, i.e., the constructions prevent/stop + NP + from + -ing and prevent/stop + NP + -ing, from the perspective of their competition is three registers and from the perspective of structural and semantic factors potentially influencing the choice between the from-construction and the from- less one (including the construction with the gerundial complement poss-ing, i.e., prevent + genitive NP + -ing). Since the frequency of the from-construction and the from-less construction has been proved to be to some extent a matter of dialect (it differs in British and American English), the thesis aims to compare frequency of these realizations of complements of prevent/stop from the perspective of text type, namely in three selected registers representing the British variety. Material for analysis was extracted from six corpora/subcorpora representing fiction, academic language, and periodicals, with each two corpora/subcorpora representing one register. The theoretical part of the thesis describes complementation of prevent and stop from both the synchronic and diachronic perspectives and summarizes the results of the studies dealing with the from-construction, the from-less construction and the construction with the gerundial...
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The rise in the productivity of the o'clock construction
Erazímová, Lucie ; Sláma, Jakub (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The BA thesis zeroes in on the [non-numeral] o'clock construction, exemplified by instances such as beer o'clock or stupid o'clock, relying on the framework of Usage-based Construction Grammar. The central aim of the thesis is to reconstruct the semantic and syntactic development of the construction in recent years and to analyse the rise in the productivity. The theoretical part introduces the framework of Usage-based Construction Grammar and the terminology relevant for the analysis, such as type and token frequency, entrenchment, and productivity. The third chapter describes the distinct but related senses of o'clock according to English dictionaries and lays foundation for later attempts to construe a more precise explanation of the nature and the meaning of the [non-numeral] o'clock construction. The analysis of 329 examples, collected from COHA, COCA, BNC, and Twitter, focuses on the type-based, semantic, and grammatical productivity of items in the free slot of the [non- numeral] o'clock construction. Additional focus is given to the external syntax of the construction. The qualitative analysis outlines basic observations about the collective interaction between the semantic and grammatical properties of free-slot types and the external syntax, and further discusses their relevance to the...
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English existential and existential-locative constructions (there + be) and their Czech counterparts
Rubešová, Michaela ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The analysis of the syntactic structure of the notional subject NP confirmed the indefinite and zero articles to be the most frequent determiners. Being used to introduce the S on the scene, they occur mainly with the common nouns denoting concrete entities in the Exist and Exist-loc types. The newness of the S in Czech is implied by the word order, in which it typically occupies the end position indicating its rhematic function. The indefinite article is also the prevailing determiner of the singular count nouns in the Actional constructions, whose Czech counterparts may be subjectless verbal or nominal clauses. The Actional constructions containing notional subjects determined by a zero article are usually reflected in Czech sentences containing both the subject and predicate; the predicate reflects the subject action noun and the subject is added to the Czech structure to express the agent of the verbal action. There is a tendency for the adjectival premodifiers of the English notional subjects to become the adverbial premodifiers of the corresponding Czech predicates. Another determiner often appearing in the subject NP is the negative quantifier no. Interestingly, it has proved to be the most common means of forming negation in there constructions as opposed to the negative particle not. Again, Czech...
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The noun phrase in the spoken and written academic monologue
Slówik, Ondřej ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
Noun phrase is the most versatile type of phrase in English both in terms of its syntactic function and its complexity. Syntactically, it can serve as the realization form of any clause element except for the finite clause predicate. It can only perform the predicative function in verbless clauses (e.g. The door!), which are generally rare and stylistically marked. As far as its internal structure is concerned, the noun phrase may comprise a single word (e.g. London, I) but its complexity may increase considerably due to extensive modification (e.g. the second stunningly beautiful lady from London who arrived yesterday) The aim of this B.A. thesis is the analysis of the noun phrase structure in written and spoken academic monologue. Its task will be to prove the assumption that although the number of noun phrases in written and spoken academic monologues do not differ significantly, their structure and complexity is different. Spoken and written English differ in many aspects. Written language is usually prepared in advance whereas spoken language is always partially impromptu even if it is planned ahead of time. Generally, some kinds of linguistic structures, including complex phrasal structures, are difficult to produce in real-time circumstances. A speaker would also place himself in a complicated...
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Syntactic and semantic aspects of a ditransitive construction with the verb "give" and an eventive object
Červenková, Tereza ; Brůhová, Gabriela (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The thesis observes the construction with the ditransitive light verb give and the eventive object, in which the eventive object carries the verbal meaning. The thesis focuses on the observation of the object ordering in this construction, i.e. of the indirect and the direct, eventive object. While Quirk et. al. (1985) do not anticipate such constructions to appear in other sentence patterns than SVOiOd, Huddleston & Pullum (2002) state that under certain circumstances, the indirect object may be paraphrased by the prepositional object. The aim of the thesis is to ascertain whether this alternation of the objects can appear in the constructions and to describe the factors influencing such paraphrase. For the purposes of the thesis, 100 instances of the construction with the light give and the eventive object were extracted from The British National Corpus. The analytical part of the thesis will pay attention to their characteristics and this examination will try to determine the main aspects of the object ordering in these constructions. Besides the characterisation of the eventive object from the semantic and formal point of view, the thesis will also observe the semantic and syntactic aspects of the indirect object and their influence on the object ordering. Furthermore, the thesis will focus on the...
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English translation counterparts of Czech relative clauses
Sedláčková, Markéta ; Šaldová, Pavlína (advisor) ; Dušková, Libuše (referee)
The thesis studies authentic English translation counterparts of the Czech relative clauses with the relative in nominative with the objective to describe realization forms of this modifier, which uses nonfinite clauses on a larger scale. In addition, English signals restrictive function of the modifiers with a comma, Czech does not do so. The theoretical part deals separately with English and Czech syntactic relations, modification, and related topics. It sums up main differences and similarities perceived as the consequence of the differences between analytical-nominal character of English, and flective-verbal character of Czech. The study proceeds from general to more detailed, i. e. from the syntactic relations to the non-obligatory process of the modification of the noun. Next, the characterisitics of nominal phrase constituents is described, emphasising the relative clause. However, English part is more focused on the non-finite modifiers, as is supposed that their presence in the data will be denser. Hence, there are separate sections speaking about -ing participle, -ed participle, infinitive, adjectives, prepositional phrase, and apposition. The excerption results show that the relative clause may be translated into preposed adjectives and other types of finite dependent clauses. As the next topic,...
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English first person plural imperative clauses and their Czech counterparts
Zvěřinová, Simona ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The present thesis studies the English 1st person plural imperative clause. Specifically it focuses on outlining the various possible categories of illocutionary force expressed by it. Czech translation counterparts of the clause are used as an ancillary means of determining these categories. In the process of utilising these counterparts during the analysis, the study also identifies specific markers in the Czech language helpful in determining categories of illocutionary force of the English originals. The thesis is comprised of two main parts. The first, theoretical part focuses on describing the grammatical form of the 1st person plural imperative clause, on forming the framework of discourse function and categories of illocutionary force as utilised by the study, on summarising the distribution of the 1st person plural imperative clause across the fields of discourse and on outlining the various syntactic and/or lexical means through which the Czech language expresses the directive discourse function. The second, empirical part analyses one hundred examples of English 1st person imperative clauses and their Czech counterparts from the parallel translation corpus InterCorp.
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