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Chapter 6. Mapping additivity through translation

From French aussi to Italian anche and back in the Europarl-direct corpus
  • Cecilia Andorno and Anna-Maria De Cesare
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Focus on Additivity
This chapter is in the book Focus on Additivity

Abstract

Many languages have an overabundant set of additive focus adverbs (AFAs), whose differences are mostly investigated in semantic (e.g. scalarity) or syntactic (scope phenomena and restrictions for specific domains of association) terms. The present study adopts a discourse perspective on the issue, comparing two cross-linguistic, near-equivalent AFAs (Italian anche and French aussi) in original texts and their translations in the Europarl corpus. Specifically, this study describes the relation established between the constituent in the scope of the AFA and its alternatives, which can be either co-textually available or contextually inferable. Comparing the frequencies of anche and aussi in original texts and taking into account their translation equivalents confirms important differences between these adverbs. While aussi is more restricted to the syntagmatic function of linking co-textually available alternatives in adjacent sentences, anche appears in a wider array of uses, including cases in which the identification of alternatives requires more complex inferential steps, as they are distant or even implicit to the domain of association.

Abstract

Many languages have an overabundant set of additive focus adverbs (AFAs), whose differences are mostly investigated in semantic (e.g. scalarity) or syntactic (scope phenomena and restrictions for specific domains of association) terms. The present study adopts a discourse perspective on the issue, comparing two cross-linguistic, near-equivalent AFAs (Italian anche and French aussi) in original texts and their translations in the Europarl corpus. Specifically, this study describes the relation established between the constituent in the scope of the AFA and its alternatives, which can be either co-textually available or contextually inferable. Comparing the frequencies of anche and aussi in original texts and taking into account their translation equivalents confirms important differences between these adverbs. While aussi is more restricted to the syntagmatic function of linking co-textually available alternatives in adjacent sentences, anche appears in a wider array of uses, including cases in which the identification of alternatives requires more complex inferential steps, as they are distant or even implicit to the domain of association.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a typological and historical perspective
  5. Chapter 1. Syntax and semantics of additive focus markers from a cross-linguistic perspective 23
  6. Chapter 2. Meaning both ‘also’ and ‘only’? 45
  7. Part II. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a semantic, prosodic and pragmatic perspective
  8. Chapter 3. On the distribution of additive focus particles addirittura and perfino/persino in Italian 79
  9. Chapter 4. French additive particle aussi 107
  10. Chapter 5. Processing additivity in Spanish 137
  11. Part III. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a discourse-oriented perspective
  12. Chapter 6. Mapping additivity through translation 157
  13. Chapter 7. The scalar operator even and its German equivalents 201
  14. Part IV. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a language contact perspective
  15. Chapter 8. Additive focus particles in German-speaking learners of Italian as L2 237
  16. Chapter 9. Additive relations in L2 French 265
  17. Chapter 10. Ënghe, ence and also anche 311
  18. Focusing modifiers index 331
  19. General index 333
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.278.06and

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a typological and historical perspective
  5. Chapter 1. Syntax and semantics of additive focus markers from a cross-linguistic perspective 23
  6. Chapter 2. Meaning both ‘also’ and ‘only’? 45
  7. Part II. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a semantic, prosodic and pragmatic perspective
  8. Chapter 3. On the distribution of additive focus particles addirittura and perfino/persino in Italian 79
  9. Chapter 4. French additive particle aussi 107
  10. Chapter 5. Processing additivity in Spanish 137
  11. Part III. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a discourse-oriented perspective
  12. Chapter 6. Mapping additivity through translation 157
  13. Chapter 7. The scalar operator even and its German equivalents 201
  14. Part IV. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a language contact perspective
  15. Chapter 8. Additive focus particles in German-speaking learners of Italian as L2 237
  16. Chapter 9. Additive relations in L2 French 265
  17. Chapter 10. Ënghe, ence and also anche 311
  18. Focusing modifiers index 331
  19. General index 333
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