1. Lexis and Grammar for Translation Dott. M. Gatto Lingue e Culture per il Turismo Lingua e Traduzione Inglese I

2. Noun Phrases Structural features Semantic features Syntactic function

3. A lady An English lady An old English lady A strange old English lady with blue dress with a blue dress

4. Structure A An English An old English A strange old English lady with a blue dress

5. Structure A strange old Englishladywith a blue dress PREMODIFICATION HEAD POSTMODIFICATION

6. Semantic role Noun phrases typically refer topeople, animals, objects, places, institutions, emotions, phenomena….

7. Syntactic Function Subject Object Indirect Object Complement of preposition Apposition Subject/Object predicative

8. Focus on structure A Noun Phrase is composed potentially of three parts: HEAD (i.e. WHAT we are talking about): the minimial requirement for the occurrence of the phrase; it is generally realised by a noun or a pronoun (he, one, someone, books, journey…) other elements (optionally occurring) which add further information about the head itself: - PREMODIFICATION - POSTMODIFICATION

9. Premodification A lady An English lady An old English lady A strange old English lady with a blue dress

10. POSTMODIFICATION qualifiers > add further information concerning extrinsic features the beautiful girl in the corner the red book on your desk

11. Focus on HEAD A NOUN : John, girl, cat… A PRONOUN (no pre-/post-modification): he, she, we… AN ADJECTIVE (with articles): the rich, the poor…

12. Focus on determiners Determiners: - articles > a/an, the, Ø - demonstratives > this/that ; these/those - possessives > my, your,… - s genitive > Toms, the moons… -quantifiers > much/many; (a) little/(a) few... -partitives > some, any, no -distributives > each/every, either/neither ; - all/no(none) ; both/half

13. Focus on… ARTICLES

14. Translation problems: Different use of the definite article in English and Italian: ITALIAN > generic context > IL TURISMO, LA LETTERATURA ENGLISH > generic context > TOURISM, LITERATURE ITALIAN > preference for definite articles Si è rotto LA gamba ENGLISH > preference for possessives He broke HIS leg

15. The functional perspective The use of articles is generally associated by student to a number of rules to be learned by heart. Lets address the problem from a different perspective by trying to grasp the function of articles in English

16. The use of articles depends in English on two basic factors: the grammar status of the noun as mass/count the context as generic/specific

18. MASS COUNT In English when we use a NP, the language obliges us to make it clear whether the referent is perceived as a discrete, countable entity OR an indivisibile, non-countable mass entity.

19. * It is a grammar category (it cannot be inferred from the observationof reality): E.g. MILK = MASS/ INFORMATION = MASS * It is language-specific (it changes from language to language): E.g. UN LATTE (?)/UNINFORMAZIONE

20. Articles and massnouns: Ø article + singular > e.g. milk > mass: Ø milk [*A milk (inaccettabile)] Also consider double use: coffee (substance) > mass: Ø Coffee is stimulant coffee (cup) > count: May I have a coffee, please? work > mass: Ø Work in cooperation is… job > count: Tom is looking for a job What about translation?

21. Grammatical markers of count: car/cars > count: I bought a car / The car I bought… / All the cars…/ Ø Cars are… * all articles (a, the, Ø ) are used

22. GENERIC SPECIFIC The use of definite and indefinite articles helps us understand if reference to something is generic or specific

23. Generic reference is given by: Ø + mass > childhood A/AN; THE + count sing. > a/the child Ø + count plural > children

24. Specific reference is given by: THE (mass +count) THE + mass > THE childhood [of many 19 th century writers was unhappy] THE + count sing. > THE child THE + count plural > THE children [The children I saw in the garden…]