Publication Date

2018

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Freedman, Reva

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Computer Science

Abstract

I investigated statistically significant factors that effect syntactic changes in French and

English during translation of by phrases using the passive voice. Relative clauses containing this

structure were also looked at. This feature was chosen from information that was gathered from

experts in the form of academic texts on English-French translation, as well as handbooks

intended for an audience of professional translators. Data came from the proceedings of the

Canadian Parliament (the Hansard), which are published in French and English. Passive

sentences were collected from the output of the Stanford Parser. Animacy was found to be a

significant factor in whether or not the arguments of a passive by phrase would change order in

translation. Information status will need further investigation. While relative clauses are still

subject to this effect, this syntactic shift occurs far less often than in sentences not containing

relative clauses.

Extent

54 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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