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019 Nominalization and verbalization
Bureaucratic texts can go rather heavy on the abstract nouns, which often need to be loosened up and recast in other forms:
Uzavreni dodatku je podminkou dalsi platnosti najemni smlouvy
This lease contract only continues to be valid on condition this annex is concluded
Bezdratove LAN, ktere vyzaduji rychlou obnovu sitovych systemu, jejichz nefunkcnost by mohla zpusobit katastrofu.
Wireless LANs involving the rapid restoration of network systems that could cause a disaster if not working.
Pro zvyseni atraktivnosti pro sve klienty firma zavadi system rizeni kvality ISO 9001.
The company is introducing the ISO 9001 quality control system to make it even more attractive to customers.
However it is more common in English than in Czech to personalize an action thus: Pracuje pomalu
He is a slow worker
The Prague School has something to say on this matter too. Jan Firbas developed the idea that words with more specific meanings are more likely to function as rhemes, while words with more general meaning tend to function as themes. The capacity of a word to assume the rhematic function by virtue of its semantic specificity is by him called "communicative dynamism". It is viewed as a matter of degree: the elements of an utterance are no longer simply classed as theme or rheme, but are considered to have a given degree of thematic or rhematic function.
Firbas uses this concept to compare verbs and nouns in Czech and English in terms of communicative dynamism. He concludes that verbs in Czech have greater dynamism than verbs in English. This is shown by the frequent use in English of semantically vague verbs in constructions with a more precise noun, where in Czech a single precise verb might be used, i.e.
konci - comes to a conclusion
rozhoduje - makes a decision
In Firbas' opinion, this difference accounts for the much greater overall frequency of nominal constructions in English than in Czech.
Uzavreni dodatku je podminkou dalsi platnosti najemni smlouvy
This lease contract only continues to be valid on condition this annex is concluded
Bezdratove LAN, ktere vyzaduji rychlou obnovu sitovych systemu, jejichz nefunkcnost by mohla zpusobit katastrofu.
Wireless LANs involving the rapid restoration of network systems that could cause a disaster if not working.
Pro zvyseni atraktivnosti pro sve klienty firma zavadi system rizeni kvality ISO 9001.
The company is introducing the ISO 9001 quality control system to make it even more attractive to customers.
However it is more common in English than in Czech to personalize an action thus: Pracuje pomalu
He is a slow worker
The Prague School has something to say on this matter too. Jan Firbas developed the idea that words with more specific meanings are more likely to function as rhemes, while words with more general meaning tend to function as themes. The capacity of a word to assume the rhematic function by virtue of its semantic specificity is by him called "communicative dynamism". It is viewed as a matter of degree: the elements of an utterance are no longer simply classed as theme or rheme, but are considered to have a given degree of thematic or rhematic function.
Firbas uses this concept to compare verbs and nouns in Czech and English in terms of communicative dynamism. He concludes that verbs in Czech have greater dynamism than verbs in English. This is shown by the frequent use in English of semantically vague verbs in constructions with a more precise noun, where in Czech a single precise verb might be used, i.e.
konci - comes to a conclusion
rozhoduje - makes a decision
In Firbas' opinion, this difference accounts for the much greater overall frequency of nominal constructions in English than in Czech.
zehrovak |
Latest page update: made by zehrovak
, Jul 18 2007, 3:19 PM EDT
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