The English and Lithuanian SP and the Morphosyntactic Realization In
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VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE Dana Šven čionien ÷ THE ENGLISH AND LITHUANIAN SYNTACTIC PREDICATES AND THE MORPHOSYNTACTIC REALIZATION IN TECHNICAL TEXTS SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION HUMANITIES, PHILOLOGY (Linguistics 04 H) Kaunas, 2009 1 The research was accomplished in the period from 2005 to 2008 at Kaunas University of Technology. Research supervisor: Prof. habil. dr. Vitas Labutis (Vilnius University, Humanities, Philology, Linguistics 04 H) (in the period from 2005 to 2009) Procedure consultant: Dr. Violeta Kal ÷dait ÷ (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Philology, Linguistics 04H) (in the period from 2008 to 2009) The dissertation defence is held at the Scientific Board (branch of linguistics), Vytautas Magnus University . Chairperson: Prof. habil. dr. Ineta Dabašinskien ÷ (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H), Vytautas Magnus University) Members: Dr. Jūrat ÷ Ruzait ÷ (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H), Vytautas Magnus University) Prof. dr. Axel Holvoet (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04H), Institute of the Lithuanian Language) Prof. habil. dr. Olegas Poliakovas (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H), Vilnius University) Doc. dr. Jolanta Vaskelien ÷ (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H), Šiauliai University) Official opponents: Prof. habil. dr. Aurelija Usonien ÷ (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H), Vilnius University) Prof. habil. dr. Aloyzas Gudavi čius (Humanities, Philology, Linguistics (04 H) Šiauliai University) Language editor: Dr. Carys Lloyd Jones (Education science (07 S), Philology (04 H), University of London, United Kingdom) The defence session is to be held at 12 a.m. on 23 October 2009 at the public meeting of the Council of Philological Sciences of Vytautas Magnus University and the Institute of the Lithuanian Language in the room of Prof. M. Gimbutien ÷, at the Central Building of Vytautas Magnus University. Address: K.Donelaitis str. 52. LT-44246, Kaunas, Lithuania. Phone: (8 37) 32 78 30, fax: (8 37) 20 38 58 The summary of the dissertation was mailed on September 23, 2009. The dissertation is available at the M. Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and the Library of the Institute of Lithuanian Language in Vilnius, as well as in the Libraries of Vytautas Magnus University and Kaunas University of Technology in Kaunas. 2 VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS LIETUVI Ų KALBOS INSTITUTAS KAUNO TECHNOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS Dana Šven čionien ÷ ANGL Ų IR LIETUVI Ų KALB Ų SINTAKSINIAI PREDIKATAI IR J Ų MORFO SINTAKSINIS REALIZAVIMAS TECHNINIUOSE TEKSTUOSE Daktaro disertacijos santrauka Humanitariniai mokslai, filologija (04 H) Kaunas, 2009 3 Disertacija rengta 2005–2008 metais Kauno technologijos universitete. Disertacija ginama eksternu. Mokslinis vadovas: Prof. habil. dr. Vitas Labutis (Vilniaus Universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) (konsultavo 2005–2009 m. m. ) Mokslin ÷ konsultant ÷: Doc. dr. Violeta Kal ÷dait ÷ (Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) (2008–2009 m. m.). Disertacija ginama Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto ir Lietuvi ų kalbos instituto mokslo taryboje (filologijos kryptis). Pirminink ÷: Prof. habil. dr. Ineta Dabašinskien ÷ (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) Nariai: Dr. Jūrat ÷ Ruzait ÷ (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) Prof. dr. Axel Holvoet (Lietuvi ų kalbos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) Prof. habil. dr. Olegas Poliakovas (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) Doc. dr. Jolanta Vaskelien ÷ (Šiauli ų universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H) Oponentai: Prof. habil. dr. Aurelija Usonien ÷ (humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H, Vilniaus universitetas) Prof. habil. dr. Aloyzas Gudavi čius (humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H, Šiauli ų universitetas). Kalbos redaktor ÷: Dr. Carys Lloyd Jones (Edukologija (07 S), filologija (04 H), Londono universitetas, Jungtin ÷ Karalyst ÷) Disertacija bus ginama viešame Filologijos mokslo krypties tarybos pos ÷dyje 2009 m. spalio 23 d. (penktadien į) 12 val. Prof. M. Gimbutien ÷s auditorijoje. Adresas: K.Donelai čio 52, LT-44246, Kaunas, Lietuva. Tel.: (8 37) 32 78 30, faksas: (8 37) 20 38 58. Disertacijos santrauka išsiuntin ÷ta 2009 m. rugs ÷jo men. 23 d. Disertacij ą galima perži ūr÷ti Nacionalin ÷je M Mažvydo bibliotekoje, Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto ir Lietuvi ų kalbos instituto bibliotekose bei Kauno Technologijos universiteto bibliotekoje. 4 INTRODUCTION The translation from the English language into Lithuanian has been and will always be of great significance. It is especially topical nowadays when the European Union is expanding. The English language is important not only for communities who use it as the means of communication, but for international communication as well. The Lithuanian language is important for its users to preserve the culture and traditions as well as being the backbone of the nation’s identity. The significance of the Lithuanian language has been especially appreciated within diachronic comparative linguistics, typological linguistics, general linguistics and social linguistics. It is useful to observe how the Lithuanian language conforms to contemporary living and culture and how it realizes the potency hidden in the language system. The focus of the thesis. The chosen focus of the study is the syntactic predicate (hereinafter SP) and its morphosyntactic realization in technical texts in the English and Lithuanian languages. The study presents the basic notions of linguistic terms related to the concept of predicate used in English and Lithuanian grammars. Modern English grammar books often use the term predicate in more than one sense: the predicate is considered to be either one of the essential parts of a sentence (Onions, 1971: 4; Burton–Roberts, 1998: 35) or the grammatical centre of a sentence with its semantic units that the remaining syntactic elements of the structure ( construction ) can depend on (Jacobs, 1995: 12; Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 50). The concept predicate (V) with the first meaning used in English grammars corresponds to what is defined by the concept tarinys predicate in the studies of Lithuanian syntax. Thus in order to compare the concept of predicate in both languages the modifier syntactic has to be added to the traditional concept of predicate (V) used in English linguistics. The concept predicate generally refers to predication . In modern Lithuanian linguistics, the concept predication is rather diverse and even ambivalent. Predication is treated as a general relationship of the sentence content with fact or reality and is expressed by the categories of modality, tense and person (Balkevi čius, 1963: 17). This sense of predication refers to the relationship between the subject and the predicate (Sirtautas, Grenda, 1988: 17; Ambrazas, red., 1996: 487; Labutis, 2002: 100). In a general sense, predication is regarded as a speech–act (Mork ūnas, 1999: 495, 496). Predicativity of a sentence is closely related to the grammatical categories of a verb that express tense, modality, mood, and convey the meaning. The verb forms of SP that organize English interrogative and negative sentences, conjugated verb forms with the participle, gerund or infinitive (aspect, voice, reflexivity, modal verbs with the infinitive or participle), the verb forms of be with the participle in the Lithuanian language (compound tenses of verb forms) are considered to be analytical. In the syntactic sentence structure (hereinafter SynSS), the morphosyntactic expression of SP is determined by the grammatical forms of verbs, which to a great extent influence types of relations 5 between words in the structure of SP in the English and Lithuanian languages. The grammaticality and the boundaries of verb forms composing the types of the English SP often do not correspond to the structural types of the Lithuanian SP. The study does not deal with the verb forms that do not express SP (e.g. the gerund in English, the participle in the attributive position in Lithuanian, the infinitive expressing purpose, the participle in the position of a modifier in Lithuanian as participles alone neither form the centre of a sentence nor form the predicate). The type of SP (V) of the analytical structure is very specific in the English language. This type of SP is composed of independent words as separate morphemes (e.g. auxiliary verb, modal verb, participle, gerund) (e.g. the verb forms of continuous [is working ] and perfect [have modified ], voice [is done ], future [ will arrive ]) and other affixes to indicate the grammatical meaning. In contrast to the English analytical verb form as SP, the Lithuanian SP is generally formed with the auxiliary verb be and the participle (e.g. you have emphasized: esate pabr ÷žęs; was closed: buvo uždarytas ) and by means of affixation. Therefore, the interface between syntax and morphology is included in this study. The study discusses the structural types of SP (V) that show the systemic correlation between the specificity of conjugated verb forms and grammatical expression of verb in the English and Lithuanian languages. The hypotheses of the thesis are as follows: 1. The syntactic data of the English language and their equivalents in Lithuanian are interpreted in a different way due to the different terminology established by the grammars of both languages. English grammar studies are rich in diverse linguistic trends and theories.