Strategie linguistiche di redazione e traduzione (inglese)

STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

10/11.10.2022 Main functions of punctuation

Marking logical relationships between parts of a text –

➔ Semantic and/or syntactic

◆ ● • Which concepts/words in a message go together, and which ones are to be

kept separate?

● • Which concepts/words are hierarchically ordered with respect to other

concepts/words – e.g. foregrounded or backgrounded? –

They are thus similar to mathematical symbols

◆ ● • (A + B) x C = Y

○ [A plus B, multiplied by C, equals Y]

● • A + (B x C) = D

○ [A, plus B multiplied by C, equals D ]

Rendering the modulation of the reader’s voice

➔ – Ups and downs, level tone, pauses and emphasis/expressiveness

◆

• Signalling the speaker’s attitude and communicative intention

➔ – He won the lottery. (neutral – a statement)

◆ – He won the lottery? (surprise – a request for confirmation)

◆

• Therefore, it is not a mere embellishment – it crucially clarifies what a message means

➔ • Language-specific rules

➔ – Not all logical relationships, voice modulations, attitudes or intentions are signalled

◆ by means of punctuation marks

– Not all logical relationships, voice modulations, attitudes or intentions are signalled

◆ by means of the same punctuation marks across languages

Word-level punctuation marks

Apostrophe

• It marks the possessive form of a noun; e.g.:

➔ – Sharon’s computer

◆ – My parents’ advice

◆

• It marks the plural of abbreviations/numbers; e.g.:

➔ – the 1950’s

◆ – the do’s and don’t’s of netiquette

◆ – To dot the i’s and cross the t’s

◆

• It marks contractions; e.g.:

➔ – Lovely day, isn’t it?

◆ – Don’t touch it!

◆ – Won’t you please help me?

◆

Hyphen

• It may divide words in compounds

➔ – In such cases, the hyphen suggests something like 'and', 'between', 'a combination

◆ of' ● • teacher-parent association

● • love-hate relationship

• Alternatively, it may divide parts of words

➔ – self-help literature

◆ – ex-boyfriend

◆ – no-win situation

◆ – under-loved

◆ – look-alike

◆

• When used in complex adjectives with (near- )participial forms (i.e. ending in –ing or –ed)

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STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

– The meaning of the entire noun phrase has to be decoded from right to left

◆ ● • World-shaking news = ‘news that shakes/shook/ has shaken/will shake the

world’

○ – News is the Agent, World is the Patient

● • A two-legged creature = ‘a creature with two legs’

○ – Creature is the Carrier of an attribute

○ – Leg is the Attribute

● • Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers. = ‘lovers who are crossed by the

stars’

○ – Lovers is the Patient, Star is the Agent, Cross is the Action 18

• The hyphen is extremely important in (near- )complex participial adjectives:

➔ – If removed, the meaning the phrase changes or, worse, the phrase becomes

◆ nonsensical

● • Time-consuming task = ‘task that consumes time’

○ – ?*Time consuming task = ?*’time that consumes task’

● • Adjective-forming prefixes = ‘prefixes for forming adjectives, prefixes that

form adjectives’

○ – ?*Adjective forming prefixes = ?*’adjective that forms prefixes

Slash/Stroke

• It shows alternatives

➔ – the speaker/writer

◆ ● • It could be replaced by “or”

○ – The speaker or writer

• It separates units of information

➔ – C:/Documents/English/grammar/punctuation

◆

Quotation marks

• Various names for them

➔ – Inverted commas/ quotation marks / quote marks / quotes / scare quotes

◆

• Guidelines – rather than strict rules – on how to use them

➔ – Different text types and publishers have different requirements

◆

• They may mark the title of a book/film/song

➔ – I’ve never seen “Titanic”.

◆

• They may signal the non-literal meaning (e.g. an unusual, ironic, euphemistic sense) of a

➔ word/phrase

– Yesterday I finally spoke to the “great” man.

◆ – Remarkably few ever try to “take cuts”

◆

• Single quotation marks indicate the gloss/translation of a term, expression or entire message,

➔ e.g. – Tree means ‘albero’ in Italian.

◆

• Italics may signal that a term, phrase or other text segment

➔ – is being mentioned rather than used; e.g.

◆ ● • Tree means ‘albero’ in Italian.

● • Indeed, in such cases, it can be preceded by ‘‘the term/ expression…’’; e.g.

○ – The word tree means ‘albero’ in Italian.

– or is to be placed under emphasis; e.g.

➔ • ‘‘We have completed it, I’m sure.’’

◆ • ‘‘It was general, not generic.’’

◆

• They may frame reported speech

➔ – He asked: “How come I’m not as good as on TV?” OR

◆ – He asked, “How come I’m not as good as on TV?”

◆

• When the reporting formula is inserted as a backgrounded text segment in between two parts

➔ of reported speech,

– Then this formula is preceded and followed by commas

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STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

– And the first comma occurs before quotation marks; e.g.

◆ ● • “How come,” he asked, “ I’m not as good as on TV?”

Clause-level punctuation marks

Colon

• It signals falling intonation and a pause.

➔ • It signals that what comes later in the text is logically connected to what comes before

➔ – Indeed, it could be replaced by a suitable linker

◆

• It may introduce an explanation (elaboration, clarification, identification of information);

➔ e.g.: – Thanks to cable television there is Court TV: 24-hour-aday coverage of everyone’s

◆ problems but your own.

– Here the colon could be replaced by “that is”, because what follows is an

◆ explanation

● • Thanks to cable television there is Court TV, that is, 24-hour-aday coverage

of everyone’s problems but your own.

• It may introduce a list; e.g.:

➔ – There are three items on today’s agenda: Fred’s retirement, the launch of three new

◆ products, and suggested changes to our company’s brochure.

– Here the colon could be replaced by “these are”, because what follows clarifies

◆ what specific items are being referred to

● • There are three items on today’s agenda, and these are Fred’s retirement, the

launch of three new products, and suggested changes to our company’s

brochure.

• It may introduce reported speech/thought; e.g.:

➔ – She said: “What a wonderful story!”

◆ – Here the colon could be replaced by “this”, a generic announcement of the content

◆ about to be mentioned

Comma

• From the prosodic point of view, a comma signals

➔ – A brief pause in the text

◆ – The end of an information unit (of variable length), but NOT the end of the entire

◆ message

– The boundaries of phrases or clauses

◆ – When reading out loud,

◆ ● • It is often associated with level intonation

● • But it may also signal lower pitch level when marking the boundaries of

parenthetical remarks

• It separates items on a list; e.g.:

➔ – I’ve bought milk, carrots, toilet paper[,] and laundry detergent.

◆ ● • NB: the comma before the conjunction and can often be omitted, e.g.:

○ – I saw Anne and Jane.

● • but it is recommended if it separates ‘‘large’’ items encoding different

‘‘thought groups’’, e.g.:

○ – A. Who’s coming to the party?

○ – B: Paul and Mary, Susy and Bob, and Alice. [= 2 couples + 1 single

woman]

● • and it is HIGHLY recommended if it separates two coordinate clauses; e.g.:

○ – I saw Anne, and Jane saw Peter.

» Unambiguous: event 1 and event 2

◆

○ – [cf. I saw Anne and Jane saw Peter.

» Ambiguous up to “Jane” and thus to avoid: the reader may

◆ at first interpret “Anne and Jane” as the direct objects of the

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STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

first “saw”, only to realize that the sentence falls apart right

after that]

• It separates parts of a clause (e.g. adverbials, appositions); e.g.:

➔ – Adverbial: Californians, in all their delusional [delirante] glory, are not afraid to

◆ pick up a guitar and make an absolutely terrible recording.

– Adverbial: For the most part, the same is true of the Californians themselves.

◆ – Apposition: Leanne, the maid of honour from my wedding, is coming over this

◆ weekend.

– Apposition: A great civil rights leader, John Lewis left a lasting legacy.

◆ ● • (An apposition is a noun phrase that occurs right next to and renames

another noun phrase, clarifying what/who its referent is.)

• It separates main clauses from coordinate clauses, and coordinate clauses from one another;

➔ e.g.: – I did my shopping, then we drove back home together, only to find that our home

◆ had been broken into.

– Bath is historic, Hollywood is cultural.

◆ ● • (Main and coordinate clauses are potentially self-standing clauses.)

• It separates

➔ – Subordinate clauses from main clauses

◆ – Or subordinate clauses from one another (including non-restrictive relative clauses)

◆ when they appear at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence

• Examples

➔ – If you don’t mind, can you come a bit earlier tomorrow morning?

◆ – If America’s greatest export is itself, Californians appear to be the ones most ready

◆ to wrap it up and ship it.

– The teacher, who was on her sixth husband, politely told the children not to make

◆ fun of “traditional” people.

– The dangerous European type of louse-carried typhus fever, which kills from a fifth

◆ to about three fourths of those who get it, is always present in the highlands of

Bolivia.

• It separates non-finite subordinate clauses (i.e. expressed with V-ing or V-ed verb forms),

➔ from the main clause, whether they appear before or after the main clause; e.g.

• The comma is crucial in such cases – it clarifies that the underlying/understood subject of

➔ the V-ing/V-ed form is coreferential with the subject in the main clause

– In the examples above Walking is to be understood as a gerund ‘camminando’, an

◆ action performed by the subject (i.e. ‘mentre cammino’)

– In the examples above, abandoned is to be understood as ‘feeling/being abandoned’,

◆ an event undergone by the subject 32 Comma, cont.

• If the comma signalling the boundary between the main clause and the subordinate clause

➔ were removed,

• And if the V-ing or V-ed form appeared right after a noun phrase,

➔ • Then that V-ing orV-ed form might be understood as a participle modifying the noun phrase

➔ they immediately follow

• This would change the meaning of the sentence, or make it nonsensical; e.g.

➔ – walking would be understood as a present participle modifying errands

◆ ● • *I tend to think about my errands walking down the street. = *‘I tend to

think about my errands which walk [=‘le quali camminano] down the street’

– abandoned would be understood as a past participle modifying divinities

◆ ● • *» He turned to pagan divinities abandoned [‘(le quali erano state)

abbandonate’] by his friends. 33 Comma, cont.

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STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

• A comma does not usually separate a subject from the predicate.

➔ – Even if the subject is long

◆ – Even if the subject is structurally complex

◆ – Even if the subject is hard to understand as a result of its length and structure

◆ – Even if one inserts a pause after the subject

◆ – Even if the intonation pattern changes after the subject

◆

• Examples

➔ – For Bill to take me to my favorite restaurant on my birthday was very thoughtful.

◆ – An immunologically mediated reaction to a protein allergen (food) possibly

◆ precipitated by mucosal disruption (viral) activates the cascade of immunologic

events that may create and perpetuate recurrent oral diseases. (Lyon KF (2005)

“Gingivostomatitis”, Vet Clin Small Anim, 35, 891-911; p. 898)

– The precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts

◆ insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated is such as to cause

epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude to lay upon the logical and

semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably

be expected to bear (Yes, Prime Minister series) 34 Comma, cont.

• There are a few exceptions

➔ • There are a few exceptions, cont.

➔ – When the absence of a comma would create ambiguity, leaving the reader in the

◆ dark as to where to chunk the text

● • Murder is the only crime that does not increase during a full moon. Theft,

disorderly conduct, armed robbery, assault and battery, and rape, increase

dramatically during a full moon.

○ – Without a comma after rape, the reader might at first mistakenly

think that rape increase is a compound

» This is because both rape and increase could be nouns or

◆ verbs

» There is no inflectional morphology keeping them apart

◆

• There are a few exceptions, cont.

➔ – When the subject is so long that the reader might get lost in the text

◆ ● • But even in this case, the comma is optional; e.g.

○ – Finally, an endemic lack of a proper “culture of the Web” – not

meant as a way to understand online environment compared with real

life also in language or community-related terms (see Porter 1997) –

for which poor awareness of the implication that this kind of

communication has in many users, emphasizes the incidence of such

events, as the Internet could represent a sort of free port implying no

consequences.

Commas and quotation marks

• Commas and quotation marks may be crucial in signalling thought groups in long messages;

➔ – The meaning conveyed changes depending on

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STRATEGIE LINGUISTICHE DI REDAZIONE E TRADUZIONE (INGLESE) 2022-2023

● • Where pauses are made

● • And where commas and/or quotation marks are inserted 39 Commas and

quotation marks, cont.

• Examples from P. Rogerson and J. B. Gilbert’s “Speaking Clearly”, CUP, 1990.

➔

Semicolon

• It signals falling intonation and a pause.

➔ • It can separate items on a list, especially if these are long and syntactically complex (e.g. if

➔ they are encoded in clauses); e.g.

– You will need to bring the following: sleeping bag, pillow, and pyjamas for the

◆ overnight stay; water bottle, waterproof jacket, sweatshirt, and walking boots for the

afternoon trek; and a swimming kit for the river activities.

● • Cf. You will need to bring the following: a sleeping bag, a pillow, pyjamas,

a water bottle, a waterproof jacket, a sweatshirt, walking boots, and a

swimming kit. Semicolon, cont.

• It can separate clauses that are part of the same mini-narrative

➔ – I.e. the account of an event with two or more episodes; the description of a situation

◆ with multiple components

• Therefore, it signals their relatedness; e.g.

➔ – Joan likes eggs; Jennifer does not.

◆ – I have a big test tomorrow; I can’t go out.

◆ – If you want me to go out tonight, you need to help me with my homework first; and

◆ if you say no, I’ll know that you don’t really care about going out.

• However, this is not a frequent choice

➔ – Anglophones prefer full stops in such cases 42 Semicolon, cont.

◆

• Clauses/sentences may be separated by a conjunctive adverb

➔ – E.g. however, therefore, hence, nevertheless, meanwhile, consequently

◆

• A conjunctive adverb is a linker that