Transpositions

Transposition may be defined as a change in the order of linguistic elements: words, phrases, clauses and sentences. Their order in the TL text may not correspond to that in the SL text.

This change of order is necessary to preserve fully the content of the utterance while observing the norms of the TL.

In considering the universal categories of definiteness and indefiniteness mention has been made of the two main parts of the sentence from the point of view of communication, viz. the known (theme) and new (rheme) elements of the utterance and their respective place in English and in Russian sentences. It should also be noted that the traditional word order in English is Subject – Predicate – Object – Adverbial modifiers while the common tendency in Russian is to place adverbial modifiers at the beginning of the sentence to be followed by the predicate and the subject at the end, e.g.

Strikes broke out in many British industries.

В ряде отраслей промышленности Великобритании вспыхнули забастовки.

 

Transposition can also be effected within a complex sentence. The arrangement of clauses in English is often governed by syntactical hierarchy, whereas in Russian precedence is taken by logical considerations, e.g.

He started back and fell against the railings, trembling as he looked up.

(W.M.Thackeray).

Взглянув наверх, он вздрогнул, отпрянул и, весь дрожа, прислонился к ограде.