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Simple and complex help constructions in English and Norwegian
A contrastive study
- Source: Languages in Contrast, Volume 24, Issue 1, Feb 2024, p. 84 - 108
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- 16 Feb 2023
- 06 Oct 2023
- 16 Feb 2024
Abstract
Abstract
This paper reports on a study of verbal help constructions in English and Norwegian. It is based on data from the English–Norwegian Parallel Corpus, and discusses 11 constructions in all, nine of which have a close parallel in the other language. The constructions vary in syntactic complexity from the simple intransitive, on the one-hand, to complex-transitives containing infinitive complements, on the other. The hypothesis is advanced that the simpler the basic syntactic structure of a construction, the more likely it is to be translated by a construction with a similar syntax. This hypothesis receives no support from the data. On the contrary, it is more complex constructions, containing an explicit helpee, that are more likely to be translated by a syntactically similar construction.