TllE SUBSET OF HEBREW PFU3POSITIO~~3
SHOWING SPATIAL RELATIONS
OF STATIC CONTIGUITY
by
Herbert Sturhahn
B. A . , Bob Jones University, 1962
M. A., Bob Jones University,
i.965
A THESIS SUBMITTED I N PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIRFMENTS FOR THE DEGRl3E OF
MASTER OF ARTS
i n t h e Department
of
Modern Languages
@ HERBERT STURHAHN
SIMON FRASER UNImRSITY
~ u g u s t ,1969
EXAMINING COMMITTEE APPHOVAL
E. R. Colhouh
Senior Supervisor
D. Nurse
Supervisorj Comaittee
J. H. Wahlgren
Examining Committee
P. L. Wagner
Examining Committee
ABSTRACT
The purpose of t h i s t h e s i s i s t o demonstrate t h a t i n
t r a n s l a t i o n t h e r e a r e no i n t e r l i n g u a l c r i t e r i a which determine
t h e use of a s p e c i f i c l e x i c a l i t e m i n t h e t a r g e t language f o r
a given i t e m i n t h e source language.
The c r i t e r i a f o r determining
t r a n s l a t i o n e q u i v a l e n t s a r e e x t r a l i n g u i s t i c and i n t r a l i n g u a l .
The
ex.tra1inguisti.c c r i t e r i r ~a r e s i t u a t i o n s which t h e l i l l g u i s t i c events
refer to.
Items
ill
two languages a r e t r a n s l a t i o n e q u i v a l e n t s only
because t h e y r e f e r t o t h e same s i t u a t i o n i n r e a l i t y .
The i n t r a l i n g u a l
c r i t e r i a a r e t h e ccztegories and systems of a language--which
determine
t h e use of p a r t i c u l a r c l a s s e s and items.
The p a r t i c u l a r i t e m under d i s c u s s i o n a r e "ba" and " ? a l W which
c o n s t i t u t e t h e subset of Hebrew p r e p o s i t i o n s showing s p a t i a l r e l a t i o n s
of s t a t i c c o n t i g u i t y .
They axe compared w i t h English p r e p o s i t i o n s
a s formal correspondents and t e x t u a l e q u i v a l e n t s .
>
The sense concepts
( s y n t a c t i c and s e X m t i c f u n c t i o n s ) of t h e Hebrew items and t h e i r
English e q u i v a l e n t s a r e s t u d i e d i n d e t a i l and compared.
Several f a c t s
emerge from t h i s study t o confirm t h e hypothesis t h a t t h e c r i t e r i a
for
f i n d i n g a t a r g e t I:mguage e q u i v a l e n t f o r a source l n n g u a ~ ei t e m a r e not
interlinppal.
I n t h e case of t h e s u b s e t of p r e p o s i t i o n s s t u d i e d i n
t h i s paper t h e a s s o c i a t e d l e x i c a l items o f t e n determine t h e p a r t i c u l a r
p r e p o s i t i o n t o be used.
Other c r i t e r i a a r e t h e s i t u a t i o n t o which t h e
l i n g u i s t i c event r e f e r s and t h e meaning)of t h e p r e p o s i t i o n i t s e l f .
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
I N T R O D U C T I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l
CHAPTER I:
. . . . . . . . . . . . .2
OF TERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
BACKGROUND OF MODERN HEBREW
CHAPTER 11: DEFINITION
CHAPTER 111: THF: DEGREE O F CONVERGENCE BETWEEN
FORMAL CORRESPONDENCE AND TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE
O F THE CLASS
CHAPTER I V :
PREPOSITION'^ I N HEBREN AND E N G L I S H
,
. . . . . .10
A COMPARISON O F THE S E N S E CONCEPTS
O F THE HEBFEW P F E P O S I T I O N S AND T H E I R E N G L I S H
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
TRANSLATION EQUIVALENTS
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of t h i s t h e s i s i s t o show t h a t i n t r a n s l a t i o n
t h e r e a r e no i n t e r l i n g u a l c r i t e r i a which determine t h e use of a
s p e c i f i c l e x i c a l item i n t h e t a r g e t language f o r a given item i n
t h e source language.
The c r i t e r i a f o r determining t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents a r e e x t r a l i n g u i s t i c and i n t r a l i n g u a l .
The extra-
l i n g u i s t i c c r i t e r i a a r e t h e s i t u a t i o n s which t h e l i n g u i s t i c events
refer to.
Items i n two languages a r e t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents only
because they r e f e r t o t h e same s i t u a t i o n i n r e a l i t y .
The i n t r a -
l i n g u a l c r i t e r i a a r e t h e categories and systems of a languagewhich determine t h e use of p a r t i c u l a r c l a s s e s and items.
The items under discussion i n t h i s t h e s i s a r e two Hebrew
prepositions and t h e i r English t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents.
The
Hebrew and English items a r e compared as formal correspondents
and t e x t u a l equivalents; a d e t a i l e d study i s made of t h e i r sense
concepts, i s @what
. , t h e i r s y n t a c t i c and semantic functions are;
and t h e i r sense concepts a r e compared.
BACKGROUND OF MODERN HEBREW
CHAPTER I.
Madern Hebrew as spoken i n I s r a e l teday i s very c l o s e l y r e l a t e d
t s C l a s s i c a l Hebrew, t h e language i n which most of t h e Old Testament
i s written.
When t h e modern Z i o n i s t s decided t o use Hebrew a s t h e i r
n a t i o n a l language t h e y took t h e vocabulary and grammar from C l a s s i c a l
( o r ~ i b l i c a l )Hebrew with necessary vocabulary items from p o s t - B i b l i c a l
(Mishnaic) Hebrew.
Both t h e grammar and t h e vocabulary of Modern
Hebrew were g r e a t l y influenced by t h e background of t h e Z i o n i s t s ,
some of whom had been i n P a l e s t i n e f o r generations and were b i l i n g u a l ,
speaking Hebrew and Arabic, b u t most of whom were Europeans who brought
with them t h e Yiddish Language.
Haim Blanc suggests t h a t Yiddish was
t h e most powerful non-Hebraic i n f l u e n c e on Modern Hebrew.
1
There a r e two main t y p e s of Hebrew pronunciation corresponding
roughly w i t h t h e two groups of Z i o n i s t s mentioned above.
The Sephardic
pronunciation i s t h a t used by t h e Jewish communities i n t h e Arabic
speaking world, i . e . ,
North A f r i c a and t h e Middle E a s t ; t h e Ashkenazic
pronunciation i s t h a t used by t h e Jewish communities of Europe and
America.
There a r e , of course, v a r i a t i o n s w i t h i n t h e Sephardic and
Ashkenazic groups.
The phonology of Modern Hebrew i s t h a t of Sephardic Hebrew w i t h
Ashkenazic i n f l u e n c e seen i n t h e s t r e s s p a t t e r n of a few f i x e d phrases
and proper names.
The reason f o r t h e choice of Sephardic was t h a t it
-
%aim Blanc, "Some Yiddish I n f l u e n c e s i n I s r a e l i Hebrew," The
F i e l d of Yiddish, (1965), ed. Wriel Weinreich, p. 185.
was b e l i e v e d t o be c l o s e r than t h e Ashkenazic t o t h e C l a s s i c a l Hebrew
pronunciation.
2
This b e l i e f was probzbly influenced by t h e f a c t t h a t
t h e r e was a majority of Sephardic Jews r e s i d e n t i n P a l e s t i n e i n t h e
l a t e nineteenth century when t h e modern Z i o n i s t immigration began. 3
The Sephardic Jews a l s o had o f f i c i a l r e c o g n i t i o n from t h e Turkish
government which gave them g r e a t e r s o c i a l s t a t u r e i n t h e i r communities
than t h e r e c e n t immigrants.
C l a s s i c a l Hebrew was i n use a s a spoken language by t h e I s r a e l i t e s
u n t i l t h e Babylonian c a p t i v i t y ( c . 586 B.C.).
4
After t h e r e t u r n of
some of t h e people from Babylon t h e Hebrew language was s t i l l used but
cane under more and more influence by Aramaic, t h e language of t h e
western p a r t of t h e Persian Empire.
By t h e t u r n of t h e e r a Hebrew had
ceased t o be used a s a f i r s t language by t h e common people who t h e n
used Aramaic, generously s p r i n k l e d with Hebraisms.
Hebrew continued
i n use by Jewish communities a l l over t h e world a s a language o f ins t r u c t i o n i n r e l i g i o u s l y o r i e n t e d schools, a s a language of worship
and prayer i n t h e synagogues, a s a language of correspondence between
communities whose n a t i o n a l languages were d i f f e r e n t , and a s a spoken
language a t various times and i n various p a r t s of t h e world, but
Ruth Finer Mintz ( ~ d i t o rand rans slat or) Modern Hebrew Poetry:
A B i l i n g u a l Anthology_, (1966) , p. x x v i i
.
% i l l i a m Chomsky, Hebrew: The E t e r n a l Language,
(1957), pp. 113 f f .
4Harry M. Orlinsky, Ancient I s r a e l , ( 1 9 6 0 ) ~p. 148.
5 ~ E.
. Cowley , Desenius Hebrew Grammar, ( 1 9 1 0 ) ~pp. 13-16.
especially i n Palestine. 6
,
h-nen t h e Z i o n i s t s began t o s e t t l e i n P a l e s t i n e many of them
immediately began t o l e a r n and use Hebrew.
There were some European
n a t i o n a l groups who opposed t h e use of Hebrew b u t t h e y soon l o s t
ground and Hebrew was u n o f f i c i a l l y e s t a b l i s h e d as t h e language of
t h e pioneers and t h e language of i n s t r u c t i o n i n many of t h e i r schools.
I n 1904
t h e Language Committee of t h e Teachers1 Organization o f
'I...
P a l e s t i n e was charged with t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of f i x i n g t h e pronounciation
[ s i c ] , t h e s p e l l i n g , and t h e coining of new words . I t 7
was
". .. firmly e s t a b l i s h e d a s t h e unquestionable
i n s t r u c t i o n i n t h e schools of P a l e s t i n e . . .
I n 1918 Hebrew
language of
118
There a r e two main f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c i n g t h e language today.
First,
t h e Academy of Hebrew Language makes decisions on grammar, vocabulary
and s p e l l i n g which a r e c a r r i e d out by t h e o f f i c i a l r a d i o s t a t i o n and
Many of t h e vocabulary items which a r e coined a r e
newspapers.
t e c h n i c a l terms borrowed from English.
Second, t h e usage of t h e people
i n t h e i r everyday l i f e , which i s influenced by Arabic,'
b r i n g s new
idioms and terms i n t o t h e language.
6Mintz, Op. C i t . , p. xxxi.
Cf. W i l l i a m Chomskyls Statement, 'I...
t h e r e i s ample evidence t o prove t h a t even f o r conversational purposes
o r a l Hebrew has been employed, i n l i m i t e d degree and i n c e r t a i n
l o c a l i t i e s , throughout t h e h i s t o r y of t h e Jewish people." Hebrew: The
E t e r n a l Language ( 19%') , p. 26.
8
Ibid.
'1bi.d
*
9
pp. x x x v i i i
- xxxix.
So many people i n t h e S t a t e of I s r a e l a r e immigrants t h a t it
i s necessary f o r t h e s t a t e t o maintain many schools f o r t h e teaching
of Hebrew t o a d u l t s and t h e s e a r e found i n cooperative settlements,
v i l l a g e s , towns and c i t i e s throughout I s r a e l .
The kind of Hebrew discussed i n t h i s paper i s t h a t taught i n
t h e schools f o r adult immigrants.
3
pq+n
&
The sample t e x t i s taken from
which i s an Ulpan textbook, t h e t i t l e of which
i s t r a n s l a t e d A Thousand Words ; p a r t 2.
Whenever t h e designation,
"Hebrew", i s used i n t h i s paper it means Modern Hebrew a s spoken i n
t h e S t a t e of I s r a e l .
DEFINITION OF TERMS
CHAPTER 11.
The subject of t h i s paper i s t h e t r a n s l a t i o n of two p a r t i c u l a r
items i n Hebrew.
Therefore, d e f i n i t i o n s of t r a n s l a t i o n i n general
and of s e v e r a l o t h e r terms used i n t h e discussion are necessary.
Translation i s defined by J. C. Catford as "the replacement of t e x t u a l
m a t e r i a l i n one language
language....
1110
... by equivalent t e x t u a l m a t e r i a l i n another
Eugene Nida expresses t h e view t h a t i n t r a n s l a t i n g
one t a k e s "a unique message i n t h e source language" and t h e n one
" ' c r e a t e s 1 an equally unique message i n t h e r e c e p t o r ( o r t a r g e t )
language.
""
( ~ b b r e v i a t i o n sSL and TL w i l l be used i n t h i s paper.)
This can be explained g r a p h i c a l l y by p u t t i n g t h e t h r e e l e v e l s o r
12
major components of a language i n diagram form a s i n Figure 1.
A''
L i n g u i s t i c Theory of T r a n s l a t i o n (London, 1965), p. 20.
' l ~ o v a r d a Science of T r a n s l a t i n g (Leiden, 1964), p. 9.
Cf. M.A.K. Halliday, Angus McIntosh and P e t e r Strevens, The Lin u i s t i c
Sciences and Language Teachin? te on don, 1964), pp. 123,
t h e t r a n s l a t o r observes an event i n
t h e same i d e a i s expressed. '
one language
and performs a r e l a t e d event i n another
language.
But t h e t o t a l r e s u l t i s two t e x t s which s t a n d i n mutual r e l a t i o n ;
each, a s it were ' a t r a n s l a t i o n o f 1 t h e other."
...
...
...
'*~he terminology i s t h a t of Sydney M. Lamb, Outline of
S t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l Grammar (washington, D. C . , 1966), pp. 1, 2.
Figure 1
I
There a r e many thousands of
elements i n t h i s component
such a s events, phenomena,
relationships, etc.
This component includes what
i s t r a d i t i o n a l l y c a l l e d syntax
and lexicon.
GRAMMAR
Y
PHONOLOGY
The number of elements i n
t h i s component i s very small,
e.g., about twenty-six f o r t h e
Hebrew language.
I n Figure 1 t h e grammar i s shown t o be t h e connecting l i n k between
semo1og;y and phonology, and s i n c e every language has a d i f f e r e n t system
of grammar it i s c l e a r t h a t i n order t o g e t t h e same message i n two
languages it i s necessary, when t r a n s l a t i n g from one t o t h e o t h e r , t o
attempt t o get back t o t h e semology and c r e a t e a message describing t h e
same events, phenomena, r e l a t i o n s h i p s , e t c . a s were described i n t h e
source language.
The best u n i t t o work with as a p i e c e of t r a n s l a t i o n m a t e r i a l i s
t h e sentence. l3 However,
"... t h e
concept of equivalent items and cate-
.
g o r i e s at various ranks i s a meaningful one.. "I4 and i n t h i s paper t h e
item which i s discussed i s t h e c l a s s "preposition."
I n dealing with t h e
p r e p o s i t i o n t h e p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrase must be included i n t h e discussion.
13willard V. Quine i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h e r e i s some doubt a s t o whether
one can speak of t h e meaning even of a sentence because of t h e i n t e r dependence of sentences i n many kinds of communication. "Meaning and
ran slat ion," The S t r u c t u r e of Language, eds
J e r r y A. Fodor and
J e r r o l d J. Katz , (~nglewoodC l i f f s , New J e r s e y , 1964) , 460-478, p. 463.
.
"Halliday,
McIntosh and Strevens (1964) , p. 126.
This i s e s p e c i a l l y necessary i n t r a n s l a t i o n because t h e r e i s not
always a TL formal correspondent f o r a p a r t i c u l a r SL item.
Thus, if
t h e Hebrew p r e p o s i t i o n under discussion has ne English p r e p o s i t i o n
as a t e x t u a l equivalent, t h e equivalent w i l l be sought a t a higher
rank, i . e . ,
a t group rank o r a t clause rank.
The main concern i n
t h i s paper i s , however, t o discuss two members e f t h e c l a s s "preposition"
i n Hebrew and t h e i r t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents i n English. 1 5
Class, as defined by Halliday , i s
" ...a
i d e n t i f i e d by operation i n a s t r u c t u r e . 1116
grouping of items
The c l a s s "preposition"
i n Hebrew i s a c l a s s of r e l a t i o n a l 1 7 morphemes which occur before noun
groups and before o t h e r p r e p o s i t i o n s and p a r t i c l e s i n c e r t a i n f i x e d
( i d i o m a t i c ) phrases,
18 some of which a r e compound p r e p o s i t i o n s .
The
c l a s s "preposition" i n English i s a c l a s s of r e l a t i o n a l words o r groups
which occur before noun groups t o form a d v e r b i a l groups. 1 9
15The grammatical terminology used i n t h i s paper, u n l e s s otherwise
s p e c i f i e d , i s t h a t of M. A. K. Halliday, "Categories of t h e Theory of
Grammar," WORD,
- X V I I , December 1961, 241-292.
17cf.
Nida (1964), p. 62.
18This d e f i n i t i o n i s adapted from Z e l l i g S. H a r r i s t discussion o f
c l a s s e s of Arabic i n S t r u c t u r a l L i n g u i s t i c s (Chicago, 1951), p. 286.
The c l a s s "noun groups" includes objective-possessive s u f f i x e s and
c e r t a i n i n t e r r o g a t i v e pronouns ( o r "introducers" a s H a r r i s l a b e l s them).
19cf.
J. McH. S i n c l a i r , A Course i n Spoken English, ( 3 , ~ra.mmar)
f f . Many p r e p o s i t i o n s have t h e f e a t u r e of being
" .compounded of s e v e r a l 'words ' b u t [ a r e ] analysed i n grammar 'as s i n g l e
words." p. 84.
ondo don, 1965), pp. 81
..
A formal correspondent i s d e f i n e d as,
" ...any
TL category which
may be s a i d t o occupy, a s n e a r l y a s p o s s i b l e , t h e same p l a c e i n t h e
economy of t h e TL a s t h e given SL category occupies i n t h e SL. tr20
t e x t u a l e q u i v a l e n t i s defined a s
" . ..any
A
TL t e x t o r p o r t i o n of t e x t
which i s observed on a p a r t i c u l a r occasisn...+,o be t h e e q u i v a l e n t of
.
a given SL t e x t o r p o r t i o n of t e x t rr21
CHAPTER 111.
I
THE DEGREE OF CONVERGENCE BETWEEN FORMAL CORRESPONDENCE
AND TEXL'UAL EQUIVALENCE OF THE CLASS " P ~ P O S I T I O N "
I N MODERN HEBREW AND ENGLISH
The f a c t t h a t t h e Hebrew prepositions a r e defined a s morphemes
and t h e English prepositions as words would seem t o p r o h i b i t a t t h e
outset any discussion of formal correspondence.
Although i n Hebrew
t h e r e a r e s e v e r a l grammatical c l a s s e s which have bound morphemes as
exponents t h e i r operations i n t h e s t r u c t u r e s of Hebrew correspond q u i t e
r e g u l a r l y with t h e operations of equivalent c l a s s e s i n English
s t r u c t u r e s which have words a s exponents.
An example of t h i s i s t h e
d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e which i s given i n t h e Hebrew grammar books as a bound
morpheme "ha" and i s r e a l i z e d , a f t e r t h e operat ion of morphophonological
r u l e s , as "ha," "he1' o r "a"
.
This morpheme operates i n t h e s t r u c t u r e s
of Hebrew as t h e word "the1' operates i n t h e s t r u c t u r e s of English,
with t h e obvious q u a l i f i c a t i o n t h a t t h e use of each i s determined by
t h e grammar of i t s respective language.
Thus t h e difference i n rank
between t h e Hebrew a r t i c l e and English a r t i c l e does not p r o h i b i t t h e i r
r e l a t i o n a s formal correspondents.
Some members of t h e c l a s s
11
preposition" i n Hebrew a r e morphemes and some a r e words (e.g., "ban
and "?al" r e s p e c t i v e l y ) .
Two c r i t e r i a a r e used t o d i f f e r e n t i a t e
between words and morphemes i n Hebrew.
A word can have s t r e s s ; a
morpheme by i t s e l f cannot.
A word does not undergo morphophonological
changes; a morpheme does.
But because of t h e evident correspondence of
Hebrew and English prepositions i n grammatical s t r u c t u r e s , Hebrew
prepositions can be considered words f o r t h e purposes of t h i s study.
The descriptions of t h e two Tanguages must a l s o i n d i c a t e t h e
f e a s i b i l i t y of attempting t o show any comparison between a c l a s s i n
one language and a c l a s s i n t h e other. 22
If i n t h e
"
... s e l e c t i o n
among categories and items i n t h e t a r g e t language t h a t a r e recognized
on contextual c r i t e r i a a s equivalent t o categories and items i n t h e
source language..
.lta3
one finds t h a t t h e r e i s some apparent formal
correspondence between t h e c l a s s e s of t h e two languages, t h e n one can
begin t o look f o r t h e degree of convergence between formal correspondence
and t e x t u a l equivalence of t h e c l a s s e s i n t h e two languages.
But i f
one finds t h a t t h e r e i s a c l a s s i n t h e SL f o r which t h e r e i s no formal
correspondent c l a s s i n t h e TL another course must be taken t o determine
t e x t u a l equivalence. 24
There i s some evident formal correspondence
between t h e c l a s s e s of Hebrew and English and t h e t a s k of determining
t h e degree of convergence between formal correspondence and t e x t u a l
equivalence of t h e c l a s s "preposition" i s possible.
The Hebrew
prepositions "ba" and "?al", which c o n s t i t u t e a subset of t h e s e t
( o r "class," i n Halliday's terminology) of prepositions w i l l represent
t h e c l a s s "preposition" i n t h i s study.
This subset of prepositions
shows s p a t i a l r e l a t i o n s of s t a t i c contiguity.
"These descriptions must be "...written according t o t h e same
grammatical theory. " E. A. Levenston, "A C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of Language
Differences," IRAL IV/3, Sept. 1966, 199-206, p. 200.
2 3 ~ a l l i d a y ,McIntosh and Strevens (1964)~ p . 125.
2 4 ~ no u t l i n e of procedure f o r t h i s s o r t of undertaking i s given by
E. A. Levenston, "The 'Translation Paradigm,' A Technique f o r Contrastive
Syntax," IRAL 3.221-225 (1965).
A.
The Preposition "ba" and i t s English Equivalents.
I
The English t r a n s l a t i o n s given f o r t h i s preposition by
Ben-Yehudals Pocket English-Hebrew Hebrew-English Dictionary 25
a r e , " i n , a t , by, with."
Other p o s s i b i l i t i e s a r e , "into, on, among,
These English equivalents of t h e Hebrew "ban a r e
during, f o r , of.
j u s t those equivalents which a r e prepositions, i . e . ,
formal
There a r e a l s o occurrences of "ba" i n t h e Hebrew
correspondents.
t e x t which have an English equivalent "nil" and t h e r e a r e occurrences
which have no equivalent a t word rank (not t h e same as " n i l " ) .
In
t h e l a t t e r case t h e equivalent can be found a t group o r clause rank,
i.e.,
t h e group o r clause being t h e u n i t of t r a n s l a t i o n , and t h e
English equivalent may be a group, a clause o r a word.
I n 265 occurrences of t h e preposition "ban i n s e v e r a l passages
of n a r r a t i v e and conversation taken from t h e Ulpan textbook,
P'$D
q$S
I
, the
following a r e t h e English equivalents:
2 5 ~ h u dBen-Yehuda and David Weinstein, eds. ( ~ e wYork: Washington
Square Press, Inc. , 1961).
2 6 ~ r o mt h e t r a n s l a t i o n of t h e examined t e x t made by t h e w r i t e r of
t h i s paper with t h e help of Aya Keren and Menachem Lorber, n a t i v e
speakers of Hebrew.
with
Figure 2
during
among
for
into
nil
group rank equivalents
idioms
TOTAL
With t h e s e d a t a t h e t r a n s l a t i o n equivalences of "ba" i n terms of
p r o b a b i l i t i e s can be s t a t e d . 2 7
These a r e found by dividing t h e number
of occurrences of a c e r t a i n English t r a n s l a t i o n equivalent by t h e t o t a l
number of occurrences of t h e Hebrew p r e p o s i t i o n .
I f every occurrence
of p r e p o s i t i o n y i n Hebrew were t r a n s l a t e d by p r e p o s i t i o n z i n English
t h e p r o b a b i l i t y of y=z would be 1. I f t h e Hebrew p r e p o s i t i o n y could
never be t r a n s l a t e d by English p r e p o s i t i o n x t h e p r o b a b i l i t y of y=x
would be 0.
Of course, i f e i t h e r of t h e l i m i t s , 0 o r 1, were e v e r
reached t h e r e would be no need f o r any discussion on t h e s u b j e c t ; b u t
2 7 ~ .C. Catford, A L i n g u i s t i c Theory of T r a n s l a t i o n ( ~ o n d o n ,1965).
pp. 30 f f .
<he values between t h e limits can be u s e f u l t o t h e t r a n s l a t o r , e s p e c i a l l y
i f they a r e combined with contextual f a c t o r s such as a r e provided by t h e
study i n chapter I V of t h i s paper.
The unconditioned equivalences ( i . e . ,
without any contextual f a c t o r s having been considered) of "ba" i n terms
of p r o b a b i l i t i e s a r e a s shown
i n Figure 3.
with
by
during
among
Figure 3
for
into
of
nil
group rank equivalents
idioms
To f i n d t h e degree of convergence between formal correspondence
and t e x t u a l equivalence we t a k e t h e t o t a l number of t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents f o r t h e preposition "ba" which a r e English prepositions and
divide by 265, t h e t o t a l number of occurrences of "ban i n t h e t e x t
sample. 28 The unconditioned equivalence p r o b a b i l i t y of t h e equivalence
28J. C. Catford (1965), p. 33.
Hebrew p r e p o s i t i o n = English p r e p w i t i o n " i s .8113.
11
The degree of
convergence between formal correspondence and t e x t u a l equivalence i s
t h u s seen t o be q u i t e high.
There i s a p o s s i b i l i t y here f o r d i f f e r e n t
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s of t h e data.
The degree of convergence given above
was found by adding equivalents 1
t h e t o t a l number, 265.
- 1 0 of
Figure 2 and dividing by
But i n equivalent 12 t h e r e a r e some phrases
which could be given a t word rank i f t h e t r a n s l a t o r i s i n t e r e s t e d i n
finding a l l denotative meanings and not l i m i t i n g himself t o connotative
meanings .29
Thus t h e equivalence p r o b a b i l i t y could be higher a t t h e
r i s k of g e t t i n g awkward t r a n s l a t i o n s o r undesirable s t y l i s t i c d i f f e r e n c e s .
Some phrases which i n Hebrew a r e i n t h e r e g i s t e r of everyday speech have
English equivalents i n a p o e t i c r e g i s t e r ,
English "he s a i d i n h i s h e a r t .
"
30
e.g. Hebrew " ? m a r balibo" i s
To t r a n s l a t e t h i s phrase i n English a s
"he s a i d i n h i s heart" would be t o give it formal equivalence; t o t r a n s l a t e
2 9 ~ h eterms "denotative" and "connotative" a r e from S. I . Hayakawa.
Language i n Thowht andBction,
2nd e d i t i o n ( ~ e wYork, 1964), p. 58.
Hayakawa introduces t h e s e terms and t h e n a c t u a l l y uses t h e terms
11extensional" (which i s d e n o t a t i v e ) and " i n t e n s i o n a l (which i s connotative).
The terms a r e used i n t h i s paper with meanings d i f f e r i n g s l i g h t l y from
Hayakawals "extensional" and "intensional."
The denotative meaning i s
t h a t which it r e f e r s t o i n t h e p h y s i c a l o r non-physical world. The
connotative meaning i s t h a t which i s suggested i n t h e mind of t h e speaker
o r hearer.
30The d e f i n i t i o n of " r e g i s t e r " d i f f e r s with each w r i t e r who t r e a t s
.
and Gregory, "An Approach t o t h e Study of s t y l e , "
t h e s u b j e c t ( ~ f Spencer
L i n g u i s t i c s and S t y l e , ed. John Spencer ondo don, 1964), f n . on pp. 86-87.
The broadest d e f i n i t i o n and most u s e f u l f o r t h i s paper i s t h a t of
Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens (1964), p. 87. Register i s , he name
given t o a v a r i e t y of language d i s t i n g u i s h e d according t o use. . . I 1
it as, "he s a i d t o himself" would be t o give it dynamic equivalence. 3 1
The former t r a n s l a t i o n may be thought by some English speakers t o be
a p e r f e c t l y good English expression and i n no need of being re-worded
as, "he s a i d t o himself" o r "he thought."
The reason f o r t h i s
opinion may b e s t be explained by a statement of Professor C. Rabin:
There a r e cases...where
the literature translated
at t h e e a r l y s t a g e i s so widely read and a u t h o r i t a t i v e ,
o r s i ~ n p l yt h e volume of t r a n s l a t i o n a t t h a t s t a g e i s s o
v a s t , t h a t t h e reading p u b l i c becomes accustomed t o t h e
a l i e n s t y l e , and even comes t o t h i n k of it a s t h e only
aypropriate s t y l e f o r t h i s ty-pe of l i t e r a t u r e , and no
The most common
ixprovement i s p o s s i b l e any more.
type o 2 t h i s f i x a t i o n a r i s e s from t r a n s l a t i o n s of t h e
Bible.
...
3
It i s b e t t e r t o s t a y within equivalent r e g i s t e r s o r s t y l e s when
translating.
ransl slating c o n s i s t s i n producing i n t h e r e c e p t o r
language t h e c l o s e s t n a t u r a l equivalent t o t h e message of t h e source
language, f i r s t i n meaning and secondly i n s t y l e . ?? 33
B.
The Preposition "?al" and i t s English Equivalents.
According t o Ben-Yehudals Pocket English-Hebrew Hebrew-English
Dictionary t h e English equivalents of t h e p r e p o s i t i o n "?al" a r e , "on,
upon, concerning, toward, a g a i n s t , to."
I n t h e t e x t used f o r t h i s study
t h e equivalents , "at" and "of" were a l s o found, "about" replaces
II
concerning" and "against" w a s not found.
31~ormal and dynamic equivalence a r e terms used by Eugene Nida,
Toward a Science of T r a n s l a t i n g ( ~ e i d e n ,1964), pp. 159 f f .
321'~heL i n g u i s t i c s of T r a n s l a t i o n ," , h p e c ts of Translation ( London,
1 9 5 8 ) ~ 123-145, p. 134.
33~ugeneNida, " ~ r i n c i p l e sof Translation a s Exemplified by Bible
rans slat in^," On Translation, ed. Reuben Brower, p. 19.
I n 76 occurrences of t h e preposition "3al" ( i n t h e same passages
qL7x a s were used f o r t h e study of "ba")
from
I
t h e English equivalents are as i n Figure
1. on
4.
25
2.
about
22
3.
to
2
4.
at
2
5.
upon
2
6.
of
1
7.
nil
6
8.
group rank equivalents
3
9.
idioms
13
TOTAL
76
Figure
4
The unconditioned equivalences of "?all' i n terms of p r o b a b i l i t i e s
a r e a s shown i n Figure 5 .
on
.3289
about
.2895
to
.0263
at
.0263
upon
.0263
of
.0132
n i1
-0789
group rank equivalents
.0395
idioms
.1711
Figure 5
The degree of convergence between formal correspondence and
t e x t u a l equivalence of t h e Hebrew preposition "3al" and i t s
English equivalents i s ,7105.
For t h e t o t a l number of examples of
"ball and tl?alll found i n t h e sample t e x t it i s ,7889.
These a r e
unconditioned equivalences i n terms of p r o b a b i l i t i e s and t h e numbers
would change with t h e use of d i f f e r e n t t e x t samples o r d i f f e r e n t
prepositions.
But t h e r e i s no reason t o b e l i e v e t h a t t h e v a r i a t i o n
would be great enough t o n u l l i f y t h e statement t h a t t h e degree of
convergence between formal correspondence and t e x t u a l equivalence
of prepositions i n Hebrew and English i s high.
CHAPTER I V .
I
A COMPARISON OF THE SENSE CONCEPTS OF THE HEBREW
PREPOSITIONS "ba" AND " ? a l N AND THEIR ENGLISH
TRANSLATI ON EQUIVALENTS
Even a s u p e r f i c i a l . examination of phrases i n which t h e
p r e p o s i t i o n s "ba" and "?all' occur shows t h a t t h e y r e p r e s e n t more t h a n
one sense concept each.34
The phrases examined i n t h i s paper a r e
c l a s s i f i e d according t o t h e kinds of o b j e c t s , events o r a b s t r a c t s which
a r e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e p r e p o s i t i o n . 35
This c l a s s i f i c a t i o n y i e l d s t h e
various sense concepts of t h e p r e p o s i t i o n .
Enough of t h e context w i l l
be given i n t h e examples t o give a c l e a r p i c t u r e of meanings.
I n most
i n s t a n c e s t h i s means giving t h e p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrase and sometimes a
word o r phrase preceding t h e p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrase.
A.
Sense Concepts o f Hebrew "ba"
T r a n s l a t i o n equivalents a r e given i n t h i s l i s t f o r t h e convenience
of t h e r e a d e r ; t h e y a r e n o t meant t o i n d i c a t e sense concepts a s such.
1.
a.
b a l i z k a t ha?avoda
( a t t h e employment o f f i c e )
b.
pkca gad01 bar050
( a l a r g e wound on h i s head)
34The sense concept of a word i s i t s s y n t a c t i c and semantic function.
I. S a s t r i , repositions i n 'Chemical Abstracts:'
A Sememic
Cf. Madurnla
Study," L i n g u i s t i c s , &II,
A p r i l 1968, 42-51, who found t h a t
.most
of t h e common p r e p o s i t i o n s i n present day English r e p r e s e n t more t h a n one
sense concept." p. 42.
"..
3 5 ~ h eterms "object," "event," " a b s t r a c t " and " r e l a t i o n a l " a r e t h e
four p r i n c i p a l f u n c t i o n c l a s s e s according t o Eugene Nida, Toward a Science
of T r a n s l a t i n g ( ~ e i d e n ,1964), p. 63.
The word following t h e preposition i n both e x m p l e s i s an
object;
a. i s a geographical l o c a t i o n and b. i s a l o c a t i o n on
a body.
The sense concept of "ba" i n both examples i s " r e l a t i o n a l
specifying a point i n space. "
2.
bayom geni 36
( on on day )
The word following "bal' i s an event, a period of time within
conventional limits.
The sense concept of "ba" i s l l r e l a t i o n a l
specifying a point i n time."
3.
baga?a gm6ne
( a t e i g h t o1clock)
The word following "ball i s an event, a point i n time i d e n t i f i e d
by convention.
The sense concept of "ba" i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying
.
a point i n time
4.
"
uvat iyulim37
(and on excursions)
The word following "ba" i s an event, a designation of an a c t i v i t y .
The sense concept of "bat' i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n a range
of a c t i v i t i e s
5.
.
"
rak hagiborim gebahem
(only t h e heroes who were among them)
The word following "ba" i s an o b j e c t , a group of people within
s p e c i f i c limits.
environment."
The sense concept of "ba" i s " r e l a t i o n a l s p e c i e i n g
The boundaries of t h e environment i n t h i s example a r e
not s p a t i a l nor temporal a s such but r a t h e r t h e l i m i t a t i o n s of t h e
"ha."
36The vowel "a" i n "bayom" i s t h e exponent of t h e d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e
The r u l e i s , ba + ha + noun -t b a + noun.
37The preposition "ba" i s here r e a l i z e d a s "van because of a
phonological r u l e which changes c e r t a i n stops t o hornorganic f r i c a t i v e s
a f t e r a vowel.
membership of a s e t , i n t h i s c a s e , ' t h e s e t of " ~ e w sl i v i n g i n
Jerus a l e u i n 1660.
6.
"
ha?ig b a x a l i f a ha?afura
( t h e man i n t h e grey s u i t )
The word following "baN i s an o b j e c t , a f e a t u r e of description
i n t h i s phrase.
a descriptive-and
The sense concept of "bat' i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying
limiting-feature,"
The p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrase
shows t h a t t h i s p a r t i c u l a r member of t h e s e t "men"
ig
a l s o a member
of t h e subset "men who wear grey s u i t s . "
7.
r a ? i t a ba?enkxa
(you saw it with your own eyes)
The word following "ba" i s an object, t h e means used t o perform
t h e action.
The sense concept of '%a" i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying t h e
means by which an a c t i o n i s accomplished."
8.
l a h i k a r e bagem ? i n i t
( t o be c a l l e d by a Hebrew name)
The word following "ba" i s an a b s t r a c t , t h e means by which an
action i s performed.
The sense, concept of "ba" i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying
t h e means by which an action i s accomplished."
9.
panu lamemgala b i g ? e l a
(they turned t o t h e government
with a question)
The word following "ba" i s an event which accompanies t h e action
s p e c i f i e d by t h e event word before t h e preposition.
The sense concept
of "ba" i s " r e l a t i o n a l showing accompaniment of one event by another
event. "
The foregoing l i s t of sense cdncepts of "ba" can be c l a s s i f i e d
i n four main s e t s , two of which can be divided i n t o subsets of f i n e r
senses depending on the, context. 38 The subsets of each s e t a r e i n
complementary d i s t r i b u t i o n .
The sense concepts of "ba" found i n t h i s
study a r e :
1.
Relational specifying a point which may have s p a t i a l ,
temporal o r a b s t r a c t boundaries.
Examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2.
Relational speci w i n g a d e s c r i p t i v e o r l i m i t i n g f e a t u r e .
Example 6.
The l i m i t s which a r e speci f i e d a r e t h e f e a t u r e s which s e t apart
t h e members of a subset f r o m t h e r e s t of t h e members of t h e given s e t .
3.
Relational specifying t h e means by which an a c t i o n i s
accomplished.
The means may be an o b j e c t , i . e . ,
an a b s t r a c t e n t i t y , i . e . "name."
4.
"eyes" o r
Examples 7, 8.
Relational showing accompaniment of one event by another
event.
Example 9 .
I n a l l t h e above examples t h e prepositions occurred with nouns.
They a l s o occur i n Hebrew with pronominal s u f f i x e s which agree with
t h e i r antecedents i n gender and number, and a r e i n t e r p r e t e d as though
38cf. David C. Bennett, "English prepositions : a s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l
approach ,I1 Journal of L i n g u i s t i c s , I V , No. 2, October 1968, 153-172,
p. 156.
a c t u a l l y occurring with t h e antece'dent.
B.
Sense Concepts of t h e English T r a n s l a t i o n
~ ~ u i v a l e n of
t s t h e Hebrew P r e p o s i t i o n "ba"
.
The Hebrew item ffbafli s a r e l a t i o n a l which according t o t h e
findings i n chapter I11 i s t r a n s l a t e d a s "in" almost f i f t y percent of
t h e time.
The f i r s t impression t h a t an English speaker g e t s when he
t h i n k s of t h e sense concept sf "in" i s t h a t it s p e c i f i e s t h e boundaries
w i t h i n which an object o r event i s found. 39
his i s , i n f a c t , t r u e f o r
t h e "in" which i s one of t h e t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents of t h e Hebrew
p r e p o s i t i o n "ba"
.
The f a c t t h a t a c e r t a i n number of English p r e p o s i t i o n s can be
.
t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents of ffbalfi n various contexts does not n e c e s s a r i l y
40
i n d i c a t e t h a t each one corresponds t o a p a r t i c u l a r sense concept of "baft.
The converse i s a l s o not n e c e s s a r i l y t r u e , i . e . ,
t h a t a l l t h e English
t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents of "ba" have a sense concept i n common.
The
sense concepts of p r e p o s i t i o n s ' i n any p a r t i c u l a r language a r e independent
of t h o s e of any o t h e r language.
The language we speak f o r c e s us t o s e l e c t and
group elements of our experience of t h e world i n
w a y s which it d i c t a t e s . It provides a kind of g r i d
3 9 ~ e n n e t t (1968, p. 156) c i t e s Lindkvist l s example which shows "inff
specif'ying p o i n t s i n a space with t h r e e dimensions, i n an a r e a with two
dimensions and i n a l i n e with one dimension.
40Cf. Bennett (1968, p. 164) on coextensiveness of "in" and "on" i n
c e r t a i n s i t u a t i o n s . Professor T. H i l l a l s o suggested an example of t w o ,
p r e p o s i t i o n s which a r e exact synonyms i n t h e language of some ~ n ~ l i s h
speakers, i .e. , "amongf' and "amongst".
,
o r s e r i e s of g r i d s , through which we 'see1 t h e world,
d i s s e c t e d along l i n e s l a i d down by t h e systems of t h e
,
language. 41
The systems of prepositions i n Hebrew and English must be i n v e s t i g a t e d
independently of one another and a f t e r t h e g r i d s which d e l i n e a t e t h e
sense concepts of t h e prepositions f o r each language have been found
by using i n t r a l i n g u a l c r i t e r i a an i n t e r l i n g u a l comparison can be made.
This i s done by finding t h e preposition i n t h e two languages which
a r e "interchangeable i n a given s i t u a t i o n ; " i . e . ,
equivalents
they a r e t r a n s l a t i o n
.42
I n examining t h e t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents o f "ba" t o discover t h e i r
sense concepts t h e c r i t e r i o n w i l l be (as f o r t h e examination of "ba"
above) t h e collocation of t h e preposition with distinguishable l e x i c a l
sets.
1. Phrases i n which t h e preposition "in" i s t h e English
equivalent of "ba"
.
a.
bavate s g f e r
i n t h e schools
b.
babdker
i n t h e morning
baxalukat
i n newspaper d i s t r i b u t i o n
d.
bicva?im 4 3
i n c o l o r ( s)
e.
bagola
i n exile
c
.
41J. C. Catford, "The Teaching of English as a Foreign Language"
( A l e c t u r e given at t h e Communications Research Centre, University
College, London, February 1958) , p 14. (Mimeographed)
.
.
42J. C. Catford, A Linguistic Theory of Translation (London, 1965),
p* 49.
43The vowel "ini n s t e a d of "a" i s explained by t h e r u l e ,
#Ci + Cd + X.
#Ca + Ca + X
-+
,
The sense concepts of "in" i n t h e s e examples are:
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space
b.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n time
c.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n a range of a c t i v i t i e s
d.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a d e s c r i p t i v e o r l i m i t i n g feature
e.
r e l a t i o n a l s p e c i e i n g a point i n space
Example e was l i s t e d separately from example a because i n
\I
t h e combination of preposition and following noun t h e sense seems t o
be one of exclusion r a t h e r than inclusion.
However, t h e r e l a t i o n a l
llI
I
s p e c i f i e s a l o c a t i o n t h e boundaries of which a r e defined by t h e
1 1 ~ ~ 1 1
word following t h e r e l a t i o n a l .
It j u s t happens t h a t i n t h e example
!I
i
H
!I!
"in e x i l e " t h e location i s r e l a t i v e l y l a r g e , i n f a c t , l a r g e r t h m t h e
p a r t t h a t i s l e f t of t h e universe o r p a r t of t h e universe which i s
t a c i t l y accepted a s t h e whole.
t o g e t h e r with example a.
Example e can t h e r e f o r e be c l a s s i f i e d
I n Hebrew t h e expression "outside" i s "baxuc"
which i s l i t e r a l l y "in t h e outside."
This i s a s i m i l a r case t o t h e
example "in e x i l e . !!
2.
Phrases i n which "at" i s t h e English equivalent of "ba":
a.
baligkat ha?avoda
a t t h e employment o f f i c e
b.
basa?a xameg
at f i v e o'clock
c.
hayu ?asukim t a n i d balimudim
they were always busy at t h e i r
studies
I
The sense concepts of t h e preposition "at" i n t h e s e examples
are :
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space
b.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n time
c.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n a range of a c t i v i t i e s
3.
Phrases i n which "on" i s t h e English equivalent of "bat':
a.
baraxov
on t h e s t r e e t
b.
bqyom geni
on Monday
c.
p&a gad01 barogo
a l a r g e wound on h i s head
d.
uvatiyulim
and on excursions
The sense concepts of t h e preposition "on" i n these examples
are :
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space (geographical)
b.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n time
c.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space (on a body)
d.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n a range of a c t i v i t i e s
David C. Bennett, i n h i s paper on English prepositions, gives
an example i n English o f t h e coextensiveness of t h e prepositions "in"
and "on".
There are c e r t a i n s i t u a t i o n s i n r e a l i t y t h a t
can be perceived by a speaker of English as involving
e i t h e r on-ness or in-ness.
One such s i t u a t i o n i s t h e
boarding of a t r a i n , which ~p be perceived as g e t t i n g
7-r
onto it o r g e t t i n g i n t o it.
-
-
I n Hebrew t h e r e i s no need t o speak of coextensiveness of two d i f f e r e n t
44
Bennett (1968) , p. 164.
prepositions i n t h i s s i t u a t i o n i n ' r e a l i t y because t h e preposition
"bat' covers t h e concepts of in-ness and on-ness i n t h e sense of
the example of t h e t r a i n .
One of t h e above examples, "on t h e s t r e e t ,"could a l s o be
c i t e d as a s i t u a t i o n i n r e a l i t y t h a t can be perceived as involving
e i t h e r in-ness o r on-ness-with
a qualification.
This phrase w i l l
be used i n a sentence t o i l l u s t r a t e t h e discussion.
The children a r e playing on t h e s t r e e t .
The children are alayinn i n t h e s t r e e t .
The denotative meanings of these sentences seem t o be t h e sane but
the connotative meanings a r e d i f f e r e n t .
e.
way of saying both sentences, i.
I n Hebrew t h e r e i s only one
"hayaladim masaxakim baraxov. "
When a person says, "The children a r e playing on t h e s t r e e t ,I'
he is making a statement of f a c t and t h e emotional content of t h e
statement i s neutral.
But i f he says, "The children a r e playing i n
t h e s t r e e t , " t h e emotional content of t h e statement i s one of
disapproval. 45
4.
Phrases i n which "by" i s t h e English equivalent of "ba":
a.
nos'lim barakgvet
t r a v e l l i n g by t r a i n
b.
lahikare bagem T i v r i t
t o be c a l l e d by a Hebrew name
45Charles J. Fillmore, "The Grammar of H i t t i n g and Breakin ,I1
Working Papers i n Linguistics (0hio S t a t e University, 19 7 makes"
,it nay well be t h a t c e r t a i n aspects of t h e meanings
t h e statement,
of m & x s p e c i f i c words i n a language a r e every 5 i t as w e l l 'explained'
by a handful of examples and an anecdote as by a theory."
-
"..
re=
The sense concept of t h e preposition " b f ' i n
these examples
i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying means by which en action i s accomplished.
5. Phrases i n which "with" i s t h e English equivalent of "ban:
a.
r a ? i t a ba?enbxa
hexlitu a
bavakaz
tkf'not l a m e d a l a
you saw [it ] with your own eyes
they determined t o go t o the
government with a request
The sense concepts of t h e preposition "with" i n these examples
are :
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying the means by which an action i s
accomplished
b.
r e l a t i o n a l showing accompaniment of one event by another
event
6.
A phrase i n which "during" i s t h e English equivalent of
"ball
.
ma ?os i m bayom
what do they do during t h e day?
The sense concept i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n time."
7.
A phrase i n which "among1;"i s t h e English equivalent of
flbalf
9
rak hagiborim Sebahem
only t h e heroes among them
4611bavaka~a"i s here used as an ordinary prepositional phrase
whereas it usually has t h e meaning "please" as one l e x i c a l item.
( ~ f p.46
.
of t h i s paper.)
The sense concept i s l l r e l a t i d n a l specifying t h e environment
which, i n t h i s case, consists of t h e membership of a s e t , r a t h e r
than one having s p a t i a l o r temporal dimensions.
8.
A phrase i n which "for" i s t h e English equivalent of
ltba!f
9
roce ?mi laheragem b a t o r
I want t o be r e g i s t e r e d f o r
la3avoda
t h e work l i n e
The sense concept of t h e preposition "for" i n t h i s example i s
11
r e l a t i o n a l speci f'ying environment.
9.
Phrases i n which t h e English equivalent of t h e Hebrew
preposition "ba" i s n i l :
a.
hamakomot g e ? a n h u mavakrim
t h e p l a c e s which we visit
b ahem
*
b.
v a h i t x i l bagi?ur gel0
and he began
c.
kara bamixt av
he read
(them)47
*
*
h i s lesson
the letter
Although t h e English equivalent of "ban i s n i l i n t h e s e examples
t h e sense concepts of "ba" can be c l a s s i f i e d under " r e l a t i o n a l
specifying a point i n space o r i n a range of a c t i v i t i e s " because t h e
events a r e considered as taking place within t h e boundaries of t h e object
o r event s p e c i f i e d by t h e noun a f t e r t h e preposition.
I n example c
4 7 ~ nHebrew t h e r e l a t i v e pronoun does not replace t h e pronoun sf
t h e m d e r l y i n g clause. I n English t h e clause "we v i s i t them," when it
i s r e l a t i v i z e d , becomes "which we v i s i t " b u t i n Hebrew both proneuns
remain i n t h e surface s t r u c t u r e .
t h e use of t h e preposition "be" i n a i c a t e s t h a t t h e act of reading
was being done i n t h e l e t t e r and not i n a book or newspaper o r
other reading material.
I f t h e Hebrew speaker meant t o say, " ~ e
read t h e (complete contents of t h e ) l e t t e r ,"he would say, "kara
? e t hamixtav," not using t h e preposition "ba" but t h e marker of t h e
objective case, "?et."
10. Phrases i n which "of" i s t h e English t r a n s l a t i o n equivalent
of "bat' :
a.
baraxov hamerkazi b a ? i r
on t h e main s t r e e t of t h e c i t y
b.
hagadol banimle hamizrax
t h e l a r g e s t of t h e p o r t s of t h e
hakarov
Near East
The sense concepts of t h e preposition "of" i n these examples are:
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space
b.
r e l a t i o n a l s p e c i e i n g t h e environment
The boundaries of t h e environment i n example b a r e not s p a t i a l
o r temporal as such but t h e l i m i t a t i o n s of t h e membership of t h e s e t
of a l l p o r t s i n t h e Near East.
11.
A phrase i n which "into" i s t h e English equivalent of "bag',
t o bring a t a b l e i n t o it
(i.e. , i n t o t h e room)
lahikanes bo Hulxan
The sense concept of "into" i n t h i s example i s "relational.
specifying a point i n space."
The movement toward a point i n space i s
i n t h e verb, not i n t h e preposition.
48
I n t h e examples found i n t h e
4 8C f . t h e phrase, "hahl.xan bax6der1' which means, "the t a b l e i s
i n t h e room."
31
t e x t sample i n t h i s study t h e preposition "into" as a t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalent i s probably not absolutely necessary f o r t h e sentence
i n which it i s found t o make sense.
Catford suggests t h a t English
speakers have a tendency t o use t h e s t a t i c form "in" r a t h e r than
t h e approach form "into," "...whenever
t h e idea of d i r e c t e d motion,
implying approach o r a r r i v a l , i s already covered by t h e accompanying
verb. 1849
The foregoing l i s t of sense concepts of English t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents of Hebrew "ba" can be c l a s s i f i e d i n four s e t s , two of
which can be divided i n t o subsets with f i n e r senses depending on t h e
cant e x t
.
1. Relational specifying a point ( o r l o c a t i o n ) which may
have s p a t i a l , temporal o r a b s t r a c t boundaries.
Examples 1 (except d ) , 2, 3, 6, 7 , 10, 11.
2.
Relational specifying a d e s c r i p t i v e o r l i m i t i n g feature.
Example Id.
3.
Relational specifying means by which an action i s accomplished.
The means can be an object o r an a b s t r a c t .
4.
Examples 4, 5a.
Relational showing accompaniment of one event by another
event.
Example 5b.
It i s evident from t h e exanination o f t h e sense concepts of
English t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents of Hebrew "bat' t h a t s e v e r a l English
prepositions may have a sense concept ( o r s e v e r a l concepts i n
a more d e l i c a t e division) i n commol).
e.g.
,
a t the employment off i c e
on t h e s t r e e t
i n t h e schools
I n these phrases t h e prepositions "at ," "on" and "in" specify a
location i n space.
a t f i v e o f clock
en Monday
i n t h e morning
In these phrases t h e prepositions "at," "on" and "in" specify a point
i n time.
It would be helpful t o the t r a n s l a t o r i f features of t h e Hebrew
prepositional phrase would give an indication of t h e t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalent which i s necessary i n each p a r t i c u l a r case.
Fillmore
t e n t a t i v e l y proposes f o r English t h a t locative and temporal prepositions
"...are
e i t h e r semantically nonempty ( i n which case they a r e
introduced as optional choices f r o m t h e lexicon), o r they are selected
by t h e p a r t i c u l a r associated noun.
...50
The above examples of temporal
phrases i l l u s t r a t e t h e preposition being "selected by t h e p a r t i c u l a r
associated noun."
The examples of locative phrases i l l u s t r a t e t h e
prepositions which a r e "semantically nonempty
."
There i s a difference,
f o r example, between t h e phrases, "at t h e office" and "in t h e office."
The difference can be explained as folluws.
"In" can only be used when
t h e object or event before t h e preposition i s within t h e boundaries
50Charles J. Fillmore, 'The Case f o r Case," Universals i n Linguistic
Theory, Emmon Bach and Robert T. Harms, eds , ( ~ e wYork, 1968), 1-88,
p. 32.
.
defined by t h e object a f t e r t h e preposition.
"At"
i s used when t h e
object o r event before t h e preposition i s considered t o be i n t h e
proximity of t h e object a f t e r t h e preposition but not n e c e s s a r i l y
within any defined boundaries. 51
These explanations can be represented
graphically as i n Figure 6.
Figure 6
The c i r c l e represents t h e boundaries defined by t h e object a f t e r
t h e preposition.
The squares represent t h e objects o r events before
t h e preposition.
For example, i n t h e sentence, " ~ o h ni s i n t h e house,"
t h e use of t h e preposition "in" s p e c i f i e s t h a t John's location i s within
t h e boundaries (walls, roof and f l o o r ) of t h e house.
I n t h e sentence,
" ~ o h ni s a t t h e house," t h e use of t h e preposition "at" s p e c i f i e s only
t h a t John's l o c a t i o n i s i n t h e proximity of t h e house, which could be
on t h e i n s i d e o r close t o t h e house on t h e outside.
"..
.hold
5 1 ~ a t f o r d (1958, p. 151, s a i d t h a t t h e r e l a t i o n s of "in"
towards t h e i n t e r i o r of something," whereas t h e r e l a t i o n s of "at"
a r e i n d i f f e r e n t with regard t o the.. . i n t e r i o r i t y of t h e end term."
"...
If t h e preposition "on" i s added t o t h i s comparison t h e p i c t u r e
I
w i l l be a s i n Figure 7.
Figure 7
I n t h e sentence, "John is on t h e house," t h e use of t h e preposition
/
11
on" s p e c i f i e s t h a t John's location i s contiguous with t h e boundaries
of t h e house ( i n t h i s case t h e r o o f ) and on t h e outside.
Perhaps t h e emotional content of t h e sentence,
he children
are playing i n t h e s t r e e t , " i s r e l a t e d t o t h e f a c t t h a t "in" s p e c i f i e s
t h e l o c a t i o n of t h e children within t h e same boundaries which a l s o
limit t h e location of t r a f f i c which i s dangerous t o children.
other hand,
On t h e
he children are playing on t h e s t r e e t ," does not have
t h e connotation of danger because "on" s p e c i f i e s only t h a t t h e location
of t h e children i s oontiguous with a c e r t a i n p a r t of t h e surface of t h e
ground which i s c a l l e d "the s t r e e t
."
Fillmore f u r t h e r proposes (concerning t h e choice of prepositions )
t h a t , " s p e c i f i c verbs may have associated with them c e r t a i n requirements
f o r preposition choice..
."52
The verb "register," f o r example,
chooses t h e preposition "for" i n e x q l e 8 above.
I f adjectives
a r e considered a subset of verbs ( a s i s done by Fillmore, c i t i n g
t h e "Posttll-Lakoff
doctrine")53 then examples 2c and lob can a l s o
be given as verbs which choose t h e preposition.
cheoses t h e preposition ''at
."
The verb "be busy"
The verb "be l a r g e s t " chooses t h e
preposition "of .ll
From these findings it i s seen t h a t t h e temporal prepositions
tr in,rt
and
ttatll
vonll
a r e chosen by t h e associated noun and t h e l o c a t i v e
prepositions "in," "at1' and "on" a r e s e l e c t e d p a r t l y by t h e
associated noun and a r e p a r t l y "...introduced
frem t h e lexicon. "54
verb.
a s optional choices
Other prepositions a r e chosen by t h e associated
I n a l l t h r e e cases, although t h e Hebrew phrase may contain t h e
marker which s e l e c t s a temporal, l o c a t i v e , instrumental o r other kind
of preposition, it does not contain t h e marker which s e l e c t s among
t h e possible t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents.
It i s t h e English noun or
verb associated with t h e preposition and/or t h e semantic differences
i n t h e English prepositions which s e l e c t t h e correct t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalent.
1.
C.
Sense Concepts of Hebrew "?aln
a.
y a h ? a 1 harfcpa
(they s a t on t h e f l o o r )
b.
bo?u ?alknu yamirn g e l
kibuc gluyot
( t h e time of t h e gathering of
t h e e x i l e s has come upon us)
The word following t h e preposition i n both examples i s an object.
The sense concept of "?al" i n these examples i s :
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space
b.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n time
The sense concept of example b i s i n t e r p r e t e d a s it i s because
temporal dimensions are t r e a t e d a s analogous t o s p a t i a l dimensions.
2.
a.
saperl&u?alhak6tel
( t e l l u s about t h e w a l l )
b.
s i p e r ? a l halimudim
(he t o l d [them] about h i s s t u d i e s )
The word following t h e preposition i n example a i s an object; i n
example b it i s an event.
The sense concept of "?al" i n both examples
is " r e l a t i o n a l specirying t h e (topic of a communicative event ,"
3.
a.
meta ? a l a v ? i & o ,
( h i s wife died on him)
b,
tavakeg raxadm l a 1
baneha
(she w i l l ask f o r mercy on her
children)
The word following t h e preposition i n t h e s e examples i s an object,
a person,
The sense concept 01' "?all' i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying t h e
person f o r whom an event is [
4.
+ 1 beneficial."
-
ha?ahuvim ? a 1 k o l hayailadim
( t h e f a v o r i t e s of all t h e c h i l d r e n )
The word following t h e preposition i s an object, a person.
The
sense concept of "?all' i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying t h e person who performs
an event, "
A comparison of t h e sense concepts of "ba" and "?all' can be
graphically represented a s i n Figure 8.
Figure 8
ll?alll i s used when t h e object o r event before t h e preposition
i s contiguous with and orl t h e outside of t h e boundaries of t h e
object a f t e r t h e preposition.
"ba" i s used when t h e object or event
before t h e preposition i s within t h e boundaries of t h e object a f t e r
t h e preposition.
D.
Sense Concepts of t h e English Translation
Equivalents of t h e Hebrew preposition "3al"
1. Phrases i n which "on" i s t h e English equivalent of "?all1:
a.
y o h i m ?a1 h a s a f s a l
s i t t i n g on t h e bench
b.
haraca?a ?a1 hamacav
baxakla?ut
t h e l e c t u r e was on t h e a g r i c u l t u r a l
situation
The sense concept of t h e preposition "on" i n these examples is:
a.
r e l a t i o n a l specifying a point i n space
b.
r e l a t i o n a l specif'ying t h e t o p i c of a communicative event
I
2.
A phrase i n which "about" i s t h e English equivalent of "?als',
a conversation about government
housing
s i x a ?a1 hagikun
The sense concept of "about" i n t h i s example i s " r e l a t i o n a l
specifying t h e t o p i c of a communicative event."
3.
A phrase i n which "to1' i s t h e Engliah equivalent of ll?al",
ma ?efgar la?anot ?a1 h ? e l o t rabat k o l kax
What can one answer t o so many questions?
The sense concept of "to" i n t h i s example i s "relational. specifying
the t o p i c of a comunicative event."
4.
A phraee i n which "at1' i s t h e English equivalent o f 'lt?all'm
they looked a t t h e c i t y
hem h i b f t u ? a l h a ? i r
The sense concept of "at" i n t h i s example i s "relationrhl specifying
a point i n space
5.
."
A phrase i n which "uponv i s t h e English equivalent of "?allt,
hacarot geba?u ? a 1 hagamen vaharaze
t h e troubles which
came upon Laurel and
Hardy
The sense concept of "upon" i n t h i s example i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying
t h e person f o r whom an event i s [
6,
+
- 1 beneficial."
A phrase i n which "of" i s t h e English equivalent of "?aln, .
ha?ahuvim ?a1 k o l hayaladim
t h e f a v o r i t e s of a l l t h e
children
The sense concept of t h e preposition "of" i n t h i s example i s
" r e l a t i o n a l specif'ying t h e person who performs an event."
7.
Phrases i n which t h e ~ n ~ i i equivalent
sh
of "?alWi s n i l ;
a.
gomrim ? a 1 ham68ek
they a r e guarding
b.
r a x e l mavaka ?a1 baneha
Rachel laments
c.
xazru ? a 1 hadvarim gelamdu
they reviewed
had learned
d.
hayom gebo hodi?u ? a 1
hakamat madinat y i s r a ? e l
t h e day on which they announced
* t h e establishment of t h e S t a t e
of I s r a e l
*
* her
*
t h e farm
children
t h e things they
The verb i n Hebrew i n example a must have t h e preposition ll?al"
accompanying it.
I n examples b , c and d t h e sense concept of t h e
preposition ll?al" i s " r e l a t i o n a l specifying t h e t o p i c of a communicative
event.
"
The foregoing l i s t of sense concepts of English t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents of Hebrew "3al" can be c l a s s i f i e d i n four s e t s , t v o of which
can be divided . i n t o subsets.
1, Relational specifying a point which
o r temporal boundaries.
2.
rnw
have s p a t i a l
Examples l a , 4.
I
Relational specifying t h e t o p i c of a communicative e w n t .
Examples l b , 2, 3.
3.
Relational s p e c i o i n g t h e person f o r whom an event i s
[+I
- b e n e f i c i a l . Example 5.
4.
Relational specif'ying t h e person who performs an event.
Example 6.
A comparison of t h e sense coricepts of t h e Hebrew l o c a t i v e
prepositions, %au and "?al", with t h e sense concepts of t h e English
l o c a t i v e prepositions, "in ," "on" and "at," can be made by combining
Figure 8 with Figure 7 as i n Figure 9.
Figure 9
This i s a comparison of sense concepts; not a representation
of t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents.
The l o c a t i v e preposition "ba" i s sometimes
t r a n s l a t e d as "on" (although t h i s does not show i n Figure 9 ) , but t h i s
i s because of t h e difference i n meaning of t h e nouns a f t e r t h e preposition
i n Hebrew and English.
Equivalent nouns do not belong t o p a r a l l e l
l e x i c a l s e t s i n t h e two languages.
For example, i n t h e sentence,
"hayaladim masaxakim baraxov" ( t h e c h i l d r e n a r e playing on/in t h e s t r e e t )
t h e noun "raxov" i s considered a l o c a t i o n within s p e c i f i c boundaries
whereas t h e English noun " s t r e e t " can be considered a l o c a t i o n within
s p e c i f i c boundaries o r a c e r t a i n p a r t of t h e ground surface.
rr at11
When
i s used t o t r a n s l a t e "ba" o r "?aln it shows t h a t English does not
s p e c i w t h e l o c a t i o n as exactly as Hebrew does.
E. Equivalents Found at Group Rank.
The t r a n s l a t i o n s of p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrases i n t h e foregoing
s e c t i o n a r e equivalents a t word rank (word f o r word t r a n s l a t i o n s ) .
Sometimes, however, it i s not p o s s i b l e t o f i n d equivalents a t word
rank.
It m y be t h a t a t r a n s l a t i o n of a phrase a t word rank does
not have t h e same meaning as t h e phrase i n t h e source language o r
it may be t h a t it has no discoverable meaning at all-as
case with idioms.
is the
I n e i t h e r case a t r a n s l a t i o n at word rank i s
undesirable and t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents must be sought a t a higher
rank.
A good t r a n s l a t i o n i s one
"... i n which equivalences shif't
f r e e l y up and down t h e rank scale..., "55
equivalents a r e given at group rank.
I n t h e following phrases
Although t h e word f o r word
English t r a n s l a t i o n s of t h e s e phrases could be considered as equivalent
i n denotative meaning they a r e not equivalent i n connotative
meaning.
Nida quotes Joos as s t a t i n g as t h e first l a w of semantics,
"That meaning i s b e s t which adds l e a s t t o t h e t o t a l meaning o f t h e
.
context "56
Translating t h e Hebrew statement, " ? m a r balibo," i n t o
English, "he s a i d i n h i s h e a r t ," adds t o t h e t o t a l meaning.
The
English speaker f e e l s t h a t he i s reading o r hearing poetry whereas t h e
Hebrew speaker uses "?mar balibo" i n t h e r e g i s t e r of everyday speech.
56Martin Joos, "Towards a F i r s t Theorem o f Semantics" ( A paper
delivered before t h e Linguistic Society of America, December 29, 19531,
c i t e d by Eugene A. Nida (1964), p, 182.
Other phrases are b e s t t r a n s l a t e d a t group rank because, although
L
they may be m d e s s t m d a b l e , they a r e s t i l t e d o r awkward in English
i f equivalents a r e given a t word rank.
I n t h e following examples t h e t r a n s l a t i o n a t word rank w i l l be
given i n t h e first l i n e of English and t h e equivalent a t group rank
i n t h e second English l i n e .
1. Phrases with the preposition "ban:
a.
? m a r balibo
he s a i d i n h i s h e a r t
he s a i d t o himself
b,
ma hamacav ba?inyan ha?avoda
What i s t h e s i t u a t i o n i n t h e
matter of work?
What i s t h e s i t u a t i o n regarding
work?
c,
be?inyan ze bikru bagikunim
I n t h i s matter they v i s i t e d
housing developments
.
With t h i s i n mind they v i s i t e d
housing developments.
d.
kax l o moce xen ba?enay
Like t h i s it does not f i n d
favor i n my eyes.
I don't l i k e it l i k e t h i s .
e
.
bahit raggut
with excitement
excitedly
f.
ba?isavlanut
with impatience
impatiently
g.
basimxa
with joy, happiness, pleasure
j oy f'ully
h.
bakicur
, happily,
with curtness
curtly
gladly
i
.
with c e r t a i n t y
bavaday
c e r t a i n l y , of course
j
.
i n short (time)
bakarov
shortly
i n truth
really
i n silence
silently
, quietly
with precision
precisely, exactly
n.
baxuc la?brec
i n outside with regard t o
the country
abroad
o.
beyhad
i n togetherness
together
!Fhese phrases which are t r a n s l a t e d a t group rank could be divided
i n t o two s e t s .
The members of one s e t , examples a , b, c , d, and n,
are given t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents a t group rank f o r s t y l i s t i c reasons.
The members of t h e other s e t , examples e , f , g, h , i , j, k, 1, m, and
o, have two obvious c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s i n common.
They consist of t h e
preposition "ba" and an a b s t r a c t , and they are t r a n s l a t e d by an adverb
ending i n "ly" (except f o r example
a
+
0).
This does not indicate another
5 7 ~ h er u l e which changes "a" t o "e" i n "be?emetl' i s ,
/
?Vim
Vi
-
sense concept f o r "ba" but it does point out a marker i n t h e Hebrew
phrase which indicates t h a t t h e t r a n s l a t i o n equivalent i n English w i l l
be an adverb.
The sense concept i s s t i l l " r e l a t i o n a l specifying a
point with a b s t r a c t boundaries."
2.
Phrases with t h e preposition "?aln:
a.
vadhlet y i s r a 3 e l ?aleha
and t h e f l a g of I s r a e l on it
f l y i n g t h e f l a g of I s r a e l
b.
l a h h e t ? a l s a f s a l halimudim t o s i t on t h e bench of learning
t o be a student
c.
?avot&nu l.)ibitu ?a1 hakever g e l r a x e l be?ahava
t
our ancestors looked a t t h e
tomb of Rachel with love
our ancestors regarded t h e tomb
of Rachel with love
F, Idioms,
Some of t h e phrases which must be t r a n s l a t e d a t group rank a r e
idiomatic.
An idiom
ma;Y
be defined as a s t r i n g of words whoae meaning
i s not predictable from t h e combined meanings of i t s constituents o r
from t h e s t r u c t u r e of t h e string.58
Even i f t h e appropriate equivalent
of a given preposition can normally be predicted by i t s context i n t h e
SL together with t h e context of i t s several possible equivalents i n t h e
TL t h i s would not be t r u e of a preposition which i s a constituent of
an idiom.
Bennett says of English prepositions:
58This d e f i n i t i o n i s adapted from t h e dis.cussion of idioms i n
Charles F. Hockett , A Course i n Modern Linguistics ( ~ e wYork, 1958),
pp. 171-173, and Bennett (19681, p. 169.
I
Wherever a preposition occurs a s a constituent
of &n idiom, it i s s u f f i c i e n t merely t o s t a t e t h i s
f a c t . The preposition as such has no connection t o
t h e higher l e v e l s of l i n g u i s t i c s t r u c t u r e . %
This i s a l s o t r u e of Hebrew prepositions and, f o r t h e purpose of
t r a n s l a t i o n , idioms i n t h e source language and t h e i r t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents i n t h e t a r g e t language must be given simply a s a l i s t
of items.
This i s a l s o t h e suggestion of Bar-Hillel f o r machine
".,. t o have an idiom dictionary,
t h e regular word ( o r ",stem1') dictionary. ... 60
translation, i.e.,
i n addition t o
tr
1, Examples of prepositional phrases with "be" which are
idioms :
a.
lavasof
t o i n t h e end
finally
b.
uvexen
and i n s o
and t h e r e f o r e
c,
baxol zot
in a l l this
i n s p i t e of t h i s
do bayoter
i n more, with "more-ncss"
most ( s u p e r l a t i v e masker of
an adjective o r adverb)
e.
b a h ? a tova
i n a good hour
may t h e moment bring luck
f, bilvad
i n a p a r t , i n alone
only
60Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Language and Information: Selected E~sa#
on t h e i r Theory and Application ( ~ e a d i n g ,Massachusetts, Inc, , 19
, p.
50.
I
with request
please
maxabddet ? e t kulam
basuk&riyot
She honors everyone with candies.
She serves candies t o everyone.
bicxok
with a laugh, i n laughter
f o r a joke
i n interior
inside
Examples df p r e p o s i t i o n a l phrases with "?al" which a r e idioms:
?af ? a 1 p i ken moge y o t e r yafe l a x a
even on mouth thus Moshe i s a b e t t e r [name] f o r you
nevertheless Moshe i s a b e t t e r [name] f o r you
xaval ? a 1 hazman
a p i t y about t h e time
i t ' s a shame t o waste time
k;e?amda yavan ? a 1 ? m a when Greece stood on your nation
when Greece threatened your n a t i o n
? a 1 ken l o n a f a l
upon thus it did not f a l l
f o r t h a t reason it did not f a l l
gkunat yamin moge ? a 1 gem moze montifi6ri
t h e Yemin Moshe q u a r t e r upon name of Moshe Montefiore
.
t h e Yemin Moshe q u a r t e r named a f t e r Moshe Montefiore
k i ?aravim h i t n a f l u ?alehem because krabs f e l l on them
because Arabs attacked them
Zev ? a 1 yad x h a
s i t on hand of Hanna
s i t beside Hanna
from on t h e roof
I
above t h e roof
Assuming t h a t words have meanings by themselves, these examples
of idiomatic prepositional phrases have been given t r a n s l a t i o n
equivalents a t word rank t o show the impossibility of finding any
meaning f o r t h e whole phrase i n t h i s
ww.
The groups "bat ox1' (example lj), "?a1 yad" (exsmple 2g1 and
tl
me?alW (exmple 2h) @re compound prepositions.
This f a c t would be
significant i n a s t a t i s t i c a l study such as i s given i n chapter 111
of t h i s paper,
One would have t o decide whether t o l i s t t h e groups
under idioms with "be" and "3al" or as separate item.
CONCLUSION
I
From t h i s study of a subset of Hebrew prepositions s e v e r a l
s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t s f o r t r a n s l a t i o n from Hebrew t o English were found.
The p r o b a b i l i t y of a Hebrew preposition being t r a n s l a t e d by an English
preposition i s high, but t h e r e i s no one-to-one
Hebrew preposition x = English preposition y."
11
r e l a t i o n s h i p such as
Each language has i t s
own semology o r system of d i v i s i o n of r e a l i t y i n t o u n i t s .
c l e a r l y i l l u s t r a t e d by,the
systems of s p a t i a l r e l a t i o n s o f t h e two
languages t r e a t e d i n t h i s paper.
t h e r e i s no one-to-one
l e x i c a l items.
This i s
Even within a p a r t i c u l a r language
r e l a t i o n s h i p between semological u n i t s and
One word may be t h e exponent of s e v e r a l sense concepts
and one sense concept; may have s e v e r a l words as exponents.
To f i n d t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents of prepositions:
1. choose from t h e l i s t of possible t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents
s t a r t i n g with t h e item which has t h e highest p r o b a b i l i t y
value,
2.
f i n d which item m a y be chosen by t h e associated noun and/or
verb,
3.
choose t h e preposition f o r i t s meaning,
4.
choose t h e appropriate item from t h e l i s t of idioms.
These s t e p s a r e not a d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e a c t u a l procedure but rather
a theoretical. and systematic method of finding t r a n s l a t i o n equivalents
of p r e p o s i t i o n s ; and, of course, only those s t e p s which apply t o any
p a r t i c u l a r case a r e taken.
criteria.
R + ~ Sinvolve
interlin~ual
The c r i t e r i a involved i n s t e p 1 a r e e x t r a l i n g u i s t i c and those
i n s t e p s 2, 3 and
L
None of t h e s e
4 are intralingual.
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-
APPENDIX
I
Transcription
The transcription used i n t h i s paper t o represent t h e Hebrew
examples i s s i m i l a r t o t h a t of Haiim Rose'n, A Textbook of I s r a e l i
Hebrew, 2nd corrected edition, (Chicago:
Press, 1966), p. 6 .
The University of Chica.go
It may be called roughly a phonetic t r a n s c r i p t i o n
of an I s r a e l i speaking slowly.
g l o t t a l stop where ): and
y
~ o s 6 n ' st r a n s c r i p t i o n omits the
a r e found i n Hebrew spelling and
have t h e same vowel a f t e r them as before, thus giving a lengthened
vowel.
The g l o t t a l stop i s kept i n t h a t environment i n t h i s paper.
S t r e s s i n Hebrew i s normally on the ultimate s y l l a b l e of a word and
i s marked i n t h e transcription only where it is not ultimate,
Hebrew
alphabet
Transcription
symbol
Phonetic description
g l o t t a l stop
voiced b i l a b i a l stop
voiced labio-dent al f r i c a t i v e
voiced velar stop
voiced alveolar stop
voiceless g l o t t a l f r i c a t i v e
voiced labio-dental f r i c a t i v e
voiced alveolar groove f r i c a t i v e
voiceless velar f r i c a t i v e
voiceless alveolar stop
glide (high front t o adjoining
vowel)
3
k
3
x
,
voiceless velar stop
voiceless velar f r i c a t i v e
clear l a t e r a l
b i l a b i a l nasal
alveolar nasal
voiceless alveolar groove
fricative
g l o t t a l stop
voiceless b i l a b i a l stop
voiceless labio-dental f r i c a t i v e
voiceless alveolar a f f r i c a t e
voiceless velar stop
uvular t r i l l ( o r a p i c a l t r i l l )
n
8
alveo-palat al groove f r i c a t i v e
s
alveolar groove f r i c a t i v e
t
voiceless alveolar stop
Vuwels a r e represented i n Hebrew orthography by symbols below,
beside, o r above t h e consonant symbol which they follow.
In the
following description X represents t h e consonant preceding t h e vowel
being described.
Hebrew symbols
,.?
Transcription
symbol
Phonetic description
i
high front
.* and X.
-X and X
e
mid front
a
low
ix
o
mid back
and ;1X
u
high back
and
X
Z
T
OX
X
and
central-neutral