UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI
Filozofická fakulta
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky
PRÝ SEEN THROUGH ITS ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS
bakalářská práce
Autor: Anna Raszková, APLEKO
Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Michaela Martinková, PhD.
Olomouc 2013
Prohlašuji, ţe jsem tuto bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně a uvedla úplný
seznam citované a pouţité literatury.
V Olomouci dne 26. 4. 2013 ………………………
Poděkování
Ráda bych poděkovala paní Mgr. Michaele Martinkové, PhD. za její cenné rady,
trpělivost a pomoc při vedení této práce.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 5
2. Defining the Czech particle prý ......................................................... 7
2.1. The particle prý ............................................................................................. 7
2.2. Definition of prý in the Czech dictionaries and grammar books................... 7
2.3. Disambiguating the meaning of prý ............................................................ 11
3. ―Prý‖ seen through the English equivalents ..................................... 16
3.1. Methods ....................................................................................................... 16
3.1.1. The corpus used.................................................................................... 16
3.1.2. The query ............................................................................................. 16
3.2. Data analysis ................................................................................................ 18
3.3. The source of the information is known ...................................................... 21
3.4. The source of the information is unknown .................................................. 28
3.5. Prý without an English equivalent in the English original text ................... 34
4. Conclusions ...................................................................................... 39
5. Czech summary ................................................................................ 42
6. Works cited ...................................................................................... 45
5
1. Introduction
The Czech particle prý has either the meaning of doubt or uncertainty that arises
from paraphrasing somebody else‘s speech or it serves as a signal of introducing
somebody else‘s direct speech (Červená 1994, 320). As Johansson argues, ―in
monolingual corpora we can easily study forms and formal patterns, but meanings
are less accessible. One of the most fascinating aspects of multilingual corpora is that
they can make meanings visible through translation‖ (2007, 57). This thesis aims to
address the following question: Can the meaning of the particle prý be seen through
its English equivalents? More specifically, what is it in the English original that leads
the translator to use the word prý in the translation? To achieve this goal, the
multilingual corpus InterCorp is used.
The first part of the thesis reviews what the origin of the particle prý is and
how it is defined in the Czech dictionaries. The dictionaries introduce two basic
meanings of the particle prý. Firstly, the word prý is defined by Slovník spisovné
češtiny pro školu a veřejnost as a modal particle expressing doubt or uncertainty that
rise from the fact that we do not know the source of the information (Červená 1994,
320). Slovník spisovného jazyka českého further differentiates between the source of
the information that is known (in that case prý is used in an utterance that is
reproduced directly with doubt or irony) or unknown (again, prý expresses doubt or
uncertainty) (1989, 516).
Secondly, prý is used to introduce somebody else‘s direct speech. Karlík et al.
(2002, 375) argue that prý also functions as a means of introducing somebody else‘s
direct or indirect speech and serves only as a signal of such a reproduction of speech.
Hoffmanová and Kolářová state that the particle prý is used in order to avoid the
repetition of Czech equivalents of verbs such as say, tell, hear, read or of other verbs
of giving information or receiving information (2007, 97-98). Since the examined
texts are random extracts from English fiction, it is expected that the translators will
use the particle prý in this way.
The second part of the thesis describes the methods that were used to extract
the relevant data from the corpus. The source texts for the research are the English
original texts of fiction that are translated into Czech. The source text and the Czech
translated text in which the particle prý is used are compared.
6
The third part of the thesis deals with the analysis of the data. Firstly, each
one of the English original sentences is examined and it is decided whether the
source of the information is known or unknown, i.e. whether we are able to identify
the source of the information in the text. When the source of the information is
known, it is assumed that the particle prý in the Czech translation is used to introduce
somebody else‘s direct or indirect speech. When the source of the information is
unknown, it is assumed that the particle prý in the Czech translation expresses the
main meaning suggested by the Czech dictionaries, i. e. the meaning of doubt or
uncertainty, which expresses the distance between the speaker and the reported
message.
7
2. Defining the Czech particle prý
2.1. The particle prý
According to the Czech etymological dictionaries, the particle prý originally had full
inflectional and derivational morphology. Etymologický slovník jazyka českého states
that prý developed from the third person singular of the Czech verb pravit/praviti
(―Z 3. sg. praes. praví resp. aoristu pravi vzniklo adv. signalisující cizí výrok prai >
praj > prej >, z toho hyperkorektní spisovné prý‖1) (Machek 1997, 481). In other
words, the original form of this particle was praví se [say3SG REFL]. This form lost its
morphology and it developed in the particle prý which signals somebody else‘s
utterance (Machek 1997, 481).
Prý is thus a member of a closed-class category of particles. According to
Mluvnice češtiny 2, particles express the relationship of the speaker either to the
hearer or to the subject of the utterance. They are not related to the sentence
members but to the whole sentence. In a not-syntagmatic way, particles may relate to
verbs, adverbs, adjectives or even nouns (Petr 1986, 228)
In Czech, particles are classified into several categories and subcategories.
Prý belongs to the category of evaluative particles and its subcategory of modal
particles (Petr 1986, 232-233).
2.2. Definition of prý in the Czech dictionaries and grammar books
The Czech dictionaries provide general information regarding the particle prý.
Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost states two meanings of prý. Here the
original dictionary entry is included:
prý část. 1. modál. s význ. nejistoty, nezaručenosti, pochybnosti, plynoucí z
toho, že jde o přejaté sdělení: padaly p. kroupy; je p. nemocen; měl p. mu
říci, ţe to nechce 2. navaz. hovor. uvádí cizí přímou řeč: Přišel k nám Jan. P.
dělej, jdeme do kina, řekl
1 In this thesis, the word prej will not be examined.
8
Firstly, prý is defined as a modal particle that is used as a means of
expressing doubt or uncertainty that arises from the fact that the utterance is
reproduced. Secondly, prý is defined as a colloquial expression that introduces
somebody else’s direct speech (Červená 1994, 320).
Slovník spisovného jazyka českého defines prý differently and states that the
particle has actually three meanings. The dictionary entry is included again:
prý (ob. téţ prej) část. 1. naznačuje, že jde o sdělení přejaté z neurč. pramene,
zprav. nezaručeného n. podceňovaného: má prý velký plat; uţ je prý zase
zdráv; je prý to hodný chlapec; slyšela jsem, ţe vy prý nechcete jít; prý se
u nich nyní ani neukáţe 2. naznačuje, že jde o sdělení přímo přejaté, ale
reprodukované s pochybností, s ironií n. s přehlížením: domlouvají mi,
ať prý to nedělám; máte prý jít domů vzkazují vám, ţe...; tvrdila mi, ţe
prý o tom nic nevěděla; pospíchal, aby prý na něho nemusili čekat 3.
uvádí cizí přímou řeč: přijde za mnou maminka. Prý dělej, dělej, musíme
na procházku (Pujm.); ptali jsme se, nebude-li jim to vadit — prý ne
Since this third meaning (and the second meaning in Slovník spisovné češtiny
pro školu a veřejnost), in which prý introduces somebody else‘s speech, is less
complicated than its first and second meaning, I will discuss it first. Karlík et al.
(2002, 375) state that utterances may be reproduced in three ways:2
by using the quotation marks – introducing direct speech (uvozená řeč přímá)
by using the particle prý
by paraphrasing the utterance – introducing indirect speech (uvozená řeč
nepřímá)
Karlík et al. then go on to say that when the utterance is reproduced by using
the particle prý, its form is usually the same as the form of the original utterance
(2002, 375). In this case, prý functions as the quotation marks (1):
(1) Prý otevři okno. [Karlík et al. 2002, 375]
2 Karlík zde hovoří o reprodukci prvotních výpovědí. Výpovědi realizované v nějaké
prvotní komunikační situaci jako tzv. přímá řeč, …, mohou být v jiné (druhotné) situaci
reprodukovány v podstatě třemi způsoby: (1) formou uvozené řeči přímé …, (2) formou
výpovědního útvaru s částicí prý …, (3) formou uvozené řeči nepřímé … (Karlík et al. 2002, 375).
9
However, the form of the original utterance may change as well (2). This way
of reproducing somebody else‘s speech is then getting closer to the indirect speech
(2002, 375):
(2) Ţe prý abych otevřel okno. [Karlík et al. 2002, 375]
Hoffmanová and Kolářová (2007, 93) suggest that ―prý takes part in textual
transitions between direct and indirect speech‖. On the basis of this statement, the
thesis will differentiate between the usage of prý as a signal of introducing direct
or indirect speech.
Now the first and the second meaning of prý listed in Slovník spisovného
jazyka českého have to be discussed. Both meanings express some kind of distance
of the speaker towards the content of the utterance. Firstly, this dictionary defines prý
as a particle which suggests that the source of the reproduced utterance is uncertain,
unsubstantiated or underestimated. Secondly, prý suggests that the particular
utterance is reproduced directly with doubt or irony, i.e. the speaker is aware of the
source of the utterance (1989, 516). In other words, the speaker knows who said
what and he or she paraphrases it. The first two meanings thus differ with respect to
the question whether the source of an utterance is known or unknown. Those two
meanings, however, correspond to the meaning of the word prý that is called modal
in Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost. To support this statement, Grepl
and Karlík claim that the communicative function of an utterance often expresses a
certain attitude of the speaker to the utterance or to the hearer. They go on to define
four types of attitude, one of which is the attitude of epistemic modality, which,
according to them, can also be expressed by the particle prý.3 The attitude of
epistemic modality shows the speaker‘s amount of certainty about the truth value of
an utterance (1998, 479-483). In Příruční mluvnice češtiny, Grepl claims that prý
expresses somebody else‘s opinion. The speaker is able, by using the particle prý, to
3 Modální částice se někdy nazývají „větná příslovce―. To je zdůvodněno především funkčně, zčásti I
historicky. Nejsou větným členem, nevstupují do syntaktických vztahů s jinými větnými členy, mají
povahu vsuvek. Některé jsou skutečně svým původem „pokleslé― vloţené věty, např. možná, prý,
pravědpodobně. Nejednou se lexikální výrazy jistotní modality chovají syntakticky buď jako
predikátory, pojí se tedy s vedlejší větou, nebo jako funkční modální částice. (Grepl and Karlík 1998,
483).
10
express some kind of distance in case he/she doubts the validity of the utterance and
to express that what he says is reproduced – that he read or heard about it somewhere
(2012, 626). This attitude of distance is a kind of expression of epistemic modality,
too.4
With respect to epistemic modality, the concept of evidentiality, on which
there has been an increasing amount of literature in recent years, has to be
mentioned. Aikhenvald (2004, 1) defines evidentiality as a ―grammatical category,
whose primary meaning is information source.‖ She then states that: ―in about a
quarter of the world‘s languages, every statement must specify the type of source on
which it is based – for example, whether the speaker saw it or heard it, or inferred it
from indirect evidence, or learnt it from someone else. … Marking one‘s information
source indicates how one learnt something‖ (Aikhenvald 2004, 1). The category of
evidentiality is absent in most major European languages (Aikhenvald 2004, 7) and
with respect to this fact, Hirschová, in her presentation (2012), admits that
evidentiality is not a grammatical category in Czech. It can only be expressed by
using other means of expressing evidentiality, either lexical (3) or syntactic (4).
Those expressions are called evidential markers (Hirschová, 2012).
(3) Adverbs (viditelně, slyšitelně, zdánlivě, údajně), adverbial case forms (podle
mně, podle předpovědi), particles (prý), verbs (zdá se, vypadá to, jeví se)
[Hirschová]
(4) Vidím/viděl jsem, slyším, soudím, domnívám se, ţe … [Hirschová]
The particle prý is here considered to be a lexical evidential marker.
Hirschová differentiates between epistemic modality and evidentiality in this way:
―Evidentials specify the source, the knowledge of which authorizes the
speaker to assert something, (gives the speaker grounding to present some
information). Epistemic modality expresses evaluation, (momentary,
4 Mluvčí se můţe distancovat od záruk o pravdivosti sdělovaného, tvrzeného …(o) tak, ţe to, co říká,
má „z druhé ruky―, tj. ţe to od někoho slyšel, někde četl apod. Slouţí k tomu zvl.:
Slovesa s významem „předávání informace― (říkat, šuškat, psát).
Slovesa s významem „získávání informace― (slyšet, dovědět se, zjistit).
Částice prý, snad, údajně. Prý (snad, údajně) bude dražší nájemné.
Modální sloveso mít: Má být dražší nájemné. (Grepl et al. 2012, 626-627).
11
subjective) conviction, belief of the speaker towards the truthfulness of
his/her assertion. In the speech of native speakers, these two domains
overlap and, many of the expressions pertaining both to evidentials and to
epistemic modality can be considered ambiguous (modal verbs muset, moci,
mít)‖ (Hirschová, 2012).
However, since prý is clearly defined as an expression of epistemic modality
in the Czech grammar books (as mentioned above) and evidentiality is not a
grammatical category in Czech, this thesis will not operate with the category of
evidentiality. As far as I can tell, the contemporary Czech literature does not mention
the concept of evidentiality. It seems that some linguists try to apply this category to
various languages in which evidentiality is not a part of the grammar, i.e. it is not
compulsory and it is not realized by special morphemes. This effort is then
inconsistent with the already accepted categories like epistemic modality and it leads
to the overlapping categories.
2.3. Disambiguating the meaning of prý
On the basis of what the dictionaries state, it seems that the modal meaning of prý is
the main meaning of this word. The dictionaries state this meaning at the first place
and the Czech grammar (Grepl 2012, Grepl and Karlík 1998) mentions the particle
prý mainly in connection with epistemic modality. It seems that the meaning of prý
as a signal of quoting is only marginal. The usage of prý as a means of introducing
indirect speech is not a part of the dictionary entries. Nevertheless, it is important for
the purpose of this thesis which examines English literary texts. Hoffmanová and
Kolářová argue that the particle prý is often used in order to make the reproduction
of a dialogue lively and dynamic (5) and the Czech fiction authors use prý in this
way (2007, 98).
(5) ―Včera mi telefonoval,‖ pravil V.
―Jak se má ?‖
―Říkal, ţe uţ začíná pracovat.‖
12
―Řekl jsem, ţe T. bude mít padesát roků, tak aby třeba o něm něco napsal.
Nečetl prý jeho poslední věci a nemá je. Já mu je půjčím. (L. Vaculík, Český
snář). [Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2002, 98]
As far as I can tell, the only study focused on the particle prý is a corpus
based study by Hoffmanová and Kolářová (2007). According to Hoffmanová and
Kolářová, it deals with ―the possibilities for functional and semantic differentiation
of the Czech word prý‖ (2007, 93) in SYN20005, which consists of various texts.
Rather unsystematically, Hoffmanová and Kolářová examine how the word prý
combines with different words or phrases, e.g. jak, údajně, možná, pravděpodobně,
the verba dicendi, the verbs of giving or receiving information. In some examples,
the question whether the source of the information is known or unknown is taken
into consideration, thus concentrating on the question whether the particle prý has a
modal meaning or whether it serves as a means of introducing somebody else‘s
speech. Since the criteria used in this article are quite heterogeneous, I decided to
introduce some examples that seem relevant to this thesis.
For example, Hoffmanová and Kolářová state that in some cases, ―prý may be
considered to be a neutral and rather technical signal of reproducing
(paraphrasing or quoting) somebody else‘s speech‖ (2007, 93).6 They list three
examples that are supposed to demonstrate this phenomenon. In (6), prý functions as
a means of paraphrasing somebody else‘s speech. In (6a) and (6b), it is indicated
whose speech is paraphrased.
(6)
a. Starostové protestují proti likvidaci autobusových spojů, poněvadţ prý
desítkám občanů hrozí ztráta kontaktů se světem.
[Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2007, 94]
5 Corpus SYN2000 is a large Czech synchronic corpus which consists of various types of texts. From
60 % it consists of journalistic texts, 25 % are texts from technical literature and from 15 % it consists
of fiction texts. 6 V některých případech můţeme prý pokládat za poměrně neutrální, spíše „technický― signál
reprodukování (citování, parafrázování) (Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2007, 93).
13
b. Bosenský prezident pohrozil, ţe se jeho ministr schůzky nezúčastní, protoţe
prý srbská strana neplní své závazky.
[Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2007, 94]
On the other hand, in (7), it is not indicated whose speech is paraphrased.
This example thus should not be considered to be a signal of reproducing somebody
else‘s speech, on the basis of the fact that we do not know the source of the
information. Prý has a modal meaning because the information is uncertain and its
source is unknown:
(7) M. Albrightová nemá pověst právě nejbystřejšího diplomata, proto jí prý
přezdívají Halfbright, tedy Polobystrá.
[Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2007, 94]
When the examples in (6) are closely examined, it is found that even their
interpretation is not clear. The source of the information is known (starostové,
bosenský president) and the verbs to protest, to threaten (protestovat, pohrozit)
suggest the reproduction of somebody else‘s speech. On the other hand, it can be
argued that the word starostové is not the source of the information and the clause
with prý has a modal meaning because the source in this clause is unknown. Prý may
also suggest the speaker‘s doubt about what the first sentence communicates and this
interpretation leads to the modal meaning, too. In a Czech sentence, the meaning of
the particle prý is thus not always clear. When the source of the information is
present in a Czech sentence, the main difficulty lies in deciding whether prý serves as
a signal of reproducing somebody else‘s speech or whether it carries what linguists
(Grepl 2012, Grepl and Karlík 1998) call a modal meaning. The use of a specific
intonation or the presence of the extra-linguistic signs (like the movement of the
eyebrows) may be helpful in the process of deciding on the meaning of the particle
prý but this is not something to be found and studied in written texts.
A great deal of attention is paid to the collocability of the word prý. Again,
Hoffmanová and Kolářová emphasize the importance of the differentiation between
the known and the unknown source. The source is often expressed in the
14
constructions with jak; the adverb jak can refer either to a very concrete source and
the use of the particle prý then signals the reproduction of the speech (8) (2007, 96).
(8) Jak uvádí Mladá fronta, M. prý nebyl přítomen.
[Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2002, 96]
The other possibility is that jak refers to a source that is doubtful, uncertain or
unknown (9) (2007, 96) and prý then carries the modal meaning.
(9) Jak se říká, prý … [Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2002, 96]
Hoffmanová and Kolářová (2007, 97) go on to say that prý occurs with verbs
of giving or receiving information. Not only verba dicendi belong here, but also
verbs such as read, overhear and others. (10) and (11) thus do not bring any new
information that could shed some light on the difference between the meanings of
prý; Hoffmanová and Kolářová only use them to demonstrate the fact that prý occurs
in connection with the verba dicendi and they differentiate between the known and
the unknown source. In (10), it is the case of a reproduction of a dialog where the
source is known.
(10) Řekl jim, ţe leţí, prý jí není dobře. [Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2002, 97]
In (11), the source of the utterance is unknown and prý has a modal meaning.
(11) Říkalo se, ţe se prý bojí o svůj ţivot [Hoffmanová and Kolářová 2002, 97]
Although the article by Hoffmanová and Kolářová provides us with a great
number of examples of prý that occur in SYN2000, it does not state what usage of
prý is more dominant. We are not able to compare the usage of prý with a modal
meaning and the usage of prý that serves as a way of reproducing somebody else‘s
speech. This thesis will focus on a specific type of texts, to be more concrete, it will
examine only the English fiction. I will try to decide what usage of the particle prý is
typical in the translation from English to Czech. In the decision-making process, the
15
answer to the question whether the source of the information is known or unknown
serves as the main criterion in defining the meaning of prý.
It is expected that the use of the particle prý will be a sign of a dialogue
reproduction, i. e. prý introduces a reproduction of somebody else‘s speech. Prý in
such cases plays the role of a functional word and does not carry any modal meaning.
16
3. “Prý” seen through the English equivalents
3.1. Methods
This part of the thesis focuses on the methods that were used during the research. It
describes the corpus used and the queries that were created to extract the data. It also
describes the methods used to sort out the data.
3.1.1. The corpus used
The corpus-based study was conducted by the means of the online corpus InterCorp,
a large parallel translation corpus covering 27 languages, with Czech as a pivot
language, i.e. Czech is either the source or the target language. I used the Park
interface and worked with parallel English and Czech texts. Since this thesis focuses
on the English equivalents, only translations of texts of English fiction from English
to Czech (49 texts, 7,226,876 words) were considered. The data were downloaded
before the 8th
of April when the old version was upgraded to the 6th
version.
3.1.2. The query
Before the query could be created at all, the settings in the Intercorp had to be
adjusted. Since there are 27 languages that can be compared with Czech, the right
language of the source texts had to be chosen. This thesis focuses on the English to
Czech translation and for this reason, Czech and English were the languages of the
source texts (see Figure 1).
17
Figure 1: The choice of the corpora according to the source language
The next step was to go through the texts that were either Czech or English
fiction. This adjustment had to be done manually.7 Since the aim is to examine the
translation from English to Czech, i.e. the thesis examines the expressions in the
English original that lead the translator to use the particle prý in the translation, the
Czech originals had to be excluded as well as non-fiction texts and translation from a
third language (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: The Czech originals and the non-fiction texts are excluded
7 When the choice of the text is done automatically, some mistakes may occur. For example, when we
filter the texts according to the source language and we choose English, Intercorp does not include
Chevalier‘s book Dívka s perlou, even though it is an English original text.
18
The last step was to create the query itself. Since the particle prý has no
morphology, the final query was very simple. The particle prý had to be searched in
the Czech part of the parallel corpus. It was searched as a ―word‖ (slovní tvar) (see
Figure 3), with both the upper-case and the lower-case initial letter.
Figure 3: The query used to search prý
3.2. Data analysis
When the query shown above was applied, 322 tokens of prý in the Czech translation
were obtained, i. e. 322 sentences that contained the particle prý.
The most complicated part of the research was to state the criteria according
to which I would sort the data. The dictionaries say that firstly, prý is used in Czech
in the utterances that generally express doubt or uncertainty. In an utterance, the
source of information is either unknown (the doubt or uncertainty rises from the fact
that the source is anonymous) or known, in which case the speaker expresses some
kind of irony or doubt about what is stated in the utterance. Secondly, prý is used to
introduce direct speech. For the sake of the clarity, Table 1 brings a summary of how
the dictionaries define prý.8
Table 1: Prý as defined by the dictionaries
Prý expresses doubt or uncertainty Source of information is unknown –
doubt or uncertainty rises from the fact
that the source of information is
anonymous
8 Dictionary definitions are listed and analyzed in more detail in section 2.
19
Source of information is known – the
speaker expresses irony or doubt about
what is said
Prý used to introduce direct speech
The data (322 tokens of prý) had to be sorted manually. Irony and doubt soon
turned out to be difficult to use as a criterion for sorting. A more concrete criterion
had to be adopted.
I differentiated between the known and the unknown source of the
information. When the source of the utterance is known, the English equivalent of
the particle prý introduces either direct or the indirect speech. When the source of the
information is unknown, it is expected that the English equivalent of prý expresses
doubt or uncertainty. In some examples, this differentiation could not be used
because the English equivalent of the particle prý could not be identified (Table 2).
Table 2: The criteria used for sorting
1. Prý – the source is known
2. Prý – the source is unknown
3. Prý – the English equivalent not found
The data downloaded from Intercorp usually show only a small part of the
English original text and since the source of the information can be found also in the
preceding sentences, these had to be taken into account. I used the Park interface
which enabled me to see a wider context in order identify the source of the
information. For further research, I copied the additional sentences into a table I
created for this purpose (see Figure 4).
20
Figure 4: An excerpt from the table used for sorting the data
Figure 4 also shows how I proceeded in order to divide the data according to
the criteria. There are 4 columns; in the first column, I used colour-coding; each
coloured cell was aligned to a single token. The blue colour was used for the known
source of the information, the red colour was used for the unknown source of the
information and the purple colour was used for the tokens which had no equivalent
of prý in the English original. The second column presents the Czech translation, the
third column presents the English source text. In the fourth column, a wider context
is introduced, if needed.
Figure 5: Data sorted by the source of the information (known/unknown)
21
It follows from Figure 5 that the number of tokens where the source of the
information is known in the English original (193 tokens, blue colour) is about 2
times bigger than in cases where the source is unknown (105 tokens, red colour). In
24 cases, the English equivalent of the particle prý was not identified.
3.3. The source of the information is known
The blue column in Figure 5 (193 tokens) shows the number of cases where the
source of the information in the English original sentence was known. Such a high
number suggests that when the source of the information is known, prý serves as a
means of introducing somebody else‘s speech.
In Czech, prý may introduce direct speech (see Section 2.2). Only 1 such
sentence was found in Intercorp (12).
(12)
a. He tried to remain calm. ―What can I do for you, Officer?‖ ―Where's Jack?‖
Cal's heart stopped and sweat popped through his skin. ―Jack who?‖ Jack
who. Byrd glanced over his shoulder and smiled at his partner. The
uniformed cops had surrounded the car. ―Jack Nance. Your good friend.
Where is he?‖ ―I haven't seen him.‖ ―Well, what a coincidence. [GJC]
b. „Prý jaký Jack.― [GJC]
In two tokens, the source of the information is in English introduced by the
preposition according to, as in (13, 14).
(13)
a. He wasn‘t going anywhere for a while, according to his attorney.
[GJC]
b. Teď prý chvíli nikam nepůjde, tvrdila jeho advokátka.
[GJC]
(14)
a. According at least to Noriko‘s account of things, he was still in the midst of
his story when I interrupted by turning to young Mitsuo Saito and saying:
[IKA]
22
b. Podle Noričina tvrzení jsem ho prý ani nenechal domluvit.
[IKA]
Table 3 shows the frequency of the English equivalents of the particle prý
where the source of the information is introduced in the subject of an English
reporting clause or in a phrase equivalent to prý:
Table 3: The English equivalents of the particle prý when the source is known
Number of tokens %
ACCORDING TO 2 1,04
Verbs in an English reporting clause
SAY 86 44,55
TELL 27 13,99
CALL 9 4,66
EXPLAIN 5 2,59
INSIST, DEMAND, CLAIM 5 2,59
TALK 5 2,59
APOLOGIZE, BE SORRY 4 2,07
ASK 3 1,55
WRITE 3 1,55
ACCUSE 2 1,04
ADD 2 1,04
CHAT 2 1,04
FIND 2 1,04
MENTION 2 1,04
THINK 2 1,04
REPLY 2 1,04
OTHER 30 15,54
TOTAL 193 100,00
The most frequent verb in the reporting clause equivalent to prý is the verb
say (84 tokens), e.g. (15, 16, 17, 18 and 19). The subject of the reporting clause is
either nominal or pronominal. However, pronominal subjects predominate;
antecedents for the anaphoric use of the pronouns could always be identified in the
text:
(15)
a. He had fallen on his feet in Buenos Ayres, he said, and had come over to
the old country just for holidays. [JJD]
23
b. Prý se mu podařilo uchytit se v Buenos Aires a vrátil se do rodné země jen
na dovolenou. [JJD]
(16)
a. He tried to blackmail me, and said he‘s going to tell Sir Winston.
[SDS]
b. Snaţil se mě vydírat, ţe prý všechno prozradí Siru Winstonovi.
[SDS]
(17)
a. She came back early, said she had an appointment.
[SARH]
b. Vrátila se z té vycházky dřív, protoţe prý měla nějakou schůzku.
[SARH]
(18)
a. He said he forgives me for the intrusion. [SDS]
b. Prý mi odpouští, ţe jsem sem tak vtrhl. [SDS]
(19)
a. ―She‘s fine, sends her love, says nobody‘s stalking her yet, and asked me to
deliver this.‖ [GJP]
b. ―Je v pořádku, moc tě pozdravuje, prý ji ještě nikdo nesleduje a poţádala
mne, abych ti předal tohle.‖ [GJP]
In (20), (21) and (22) prý is equivalent to a reporting clause introducing direct
speech in English.
(20)
a. He‘d scoffed and said some really nasty things that boiled down to “one
time doesn’t make babies.” [LJL]
b. Vysmíval se mi a říkal odporné věci, ţe prý se z jedné noci děti nerodí.
[LJL]
(21)
a. He said he was related to Princess Galitzine but explained, perhaps taking a
swipe at his less prepossessing rival Dolgorouki, “that he does not wish to
use his own title because he considers it a ridiculous affectation some
24
Russian aristocrats tend to indulge in, especially here in Paris.”
[RAV]
b. Říkal, ţe je příbuzný s kněţnou Galicynou, ale vysvětloval, snad aby zasadil
ránu svému méně úspěšnému rivalovi Dolgorukému, „ţe nechce uţívat
svého šlechtického titulu; pokládá prý za směšnou afektovanost, kdyţ si v
tom někteří ruští aristokraté libují, zejména tady v Paříţi.― [RAV]
(22)
a. She looked away. ―The library's always the nicest room in the house, ―she
quoted, and ran her eyes along the books. “The mirror of the soul” books
were. The Faerie Queene and Kinglake's Crimea; Keats and the Kreutzer
Sonata. There they were, reflecting. What? What remedy was there for her
at her age-the age of the century, thirty-nine-in books? [WVB]
b. „Zrcadlo duše,― prý jsou knihy. Královna víl, Kinglakův Krym; Keats a
Kreutzerova sonáta. Tady stojí a zrcadlí. [WVB]
The second most common English equivalent of prý is the reporting clause
with the verb tell (27 tokens), e. g. (23).
(23)
a. Noriko told me she was extremely puzzled by Father's behaviour that night.
[IKA]
b. Noriko prý vůbec nevěděla, co si má o tatínkově chování myslet.
[IKA]
In (24a), the English equivalent seems to be the reporting clause with the verb
tell and with the subject housekeeper. However, the verb tell is translated into Czech
(řekla) as well (24b).
(24)
a. But after the king was gone off, the housekeeper sent for Gobborn and
Jack, and told them that she had watched for a chance to warn them, for the
king was so afraid they should carry their art away and build some other
king as fine a castle, he meant to take their lives on the morrow. [AEF]
25
b. Sotva král odejel, zavolala posluhovačka na tesaře a na Jeníka a řekla jim,
ţe uţ nějakou dobu je chce varovat. Král se prý tolik obává, ţe aţ odejdou,
vezmou si s sebou své umění a jinému králi potom zámek zrovna tak krásný
postaví, ţe je nazítří o ţivot chce připravit. [AEF]
What happened was that the translator divided the English original sentence
into two sentences in Czech, in one of which the particle prý was used as an
equivalent of the reporting clause in the English original. The two clauses are divided
either by a full stop or by a comma in the Czech sentence. This is also the case in
(25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30).
(25)
a. She said they adore the boy, that they‗re completely different when they‗re
around him, like nice people. [LJL]
b. Říkala, ţe chlapce milují, ţe jsou úplně jiní, kdyţ jsou s ním. V té chvíli
jsou prý z nich velmi příjemní lidé. [LJL]
(26)
a. The Tortoise repeated this plea two or three times over, while his
tormentors persisted with their abuse, accusing him of laziness and of
relying on the rest of us to do his share of the work. [IKA]
b. Ţelva svou prosbu dvakrát či třikrát opakoval, ale ti trapiči ho dál vinili z
lenosti. Prý spoléhá, ţe ostatní udělají práci za něj. [IKA]
(27)
a. Nevertheless, he welcomed Giustiniana and her siblings ―like a father‖ (he
was cooler toward Mrs. Anna) and announced that his wife, Lady Mary,
would be back from the country the following month and would introduce
them to society. He would personally make sure they were soon presented to
Court as well. Until then, it would be good form if Giustiniana, Bettina, and
Tonnina stayed mostly around the house. [RAV]
b. Nicméně uvítal Giustinianu i její sourozence „jako otec― (k paní Anně byl
chladnější) a oznámil jim, ţe jeho ţena, lady Mary, se příští měsíc vrátí z
venkova a uvede je do společnosti .On sám prý zajistí, aby byli brzy
představeni také u dvora. [RAV]
26
(28)
a. He ended by asserting that I must not escape punishment for taking the file.
It was an egregious breach of duty owed to the client, RiverOaks. I was not
a criminal, and they had no difficulty in forgetting the grand larceny charge.
[GJS]
b. Skončil prohlášením, ţe bych neměl ujít trestu za to, ţe jsem spis odnesl.
Bylo to do nebe volající nedodrţení slibu daného klientovi, v tomto případě
RiverOaks. Nejsem prý kriminálník a jim nedělá potíţe zapomenout na
obvinění z trestného činu krádeţe. [GJS]
(29)
a. One of them was a big red-headed detective-sergeant named Norgard who
said he owed me twenty-five dollars but had had to use it to buy a new suit
when he got his job back. [CRM]
b. Jednou z nich byl vysoký zrzavý serţant jménem Norgard , který prohlásil,
ţe mi dluţí pětadvacet dolarů, ale musel je prý pouţít na zakoupení nového
obleku, kdyţ ho znovu přijali do sluţby. [CRM]
(30)
a. He didn‘t even reach it, so he blamed the stones, saying they were too light.
[RAV]
b. Ani ho nezasáhl, tvrdil tedy, ţe za to mohou ty kameny: prý byly moc
lehké. [RAV]
In Intercorp, there were tokens which appeared only once (30 tokens). Such a
high number of tokens with frequency of just 1 suggests a great diversity of verbs in
reporting clauses or verbs/nouns in phrases whose function is to introduce somebody
else‘s speech in English: e.g. shout, chide, answer, beg, learn from, read, her report
was, announce, complain, acknowledge, believe, assure, sign, invite, discuss, have
great news, suppose, speak, assert, boast. Let me mention here three examples (31),
(32) and (33).
(31)
a. (… but he eluded the skill of them all; and they were at last obliged to
accept the secondhand intelligence of their neighbour, Lady Lucas. Her
27
report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him.)
He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and, to
crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
Nothing could be more delightful! [AJP]
b. Je prý docela mladý, okouzlujícího zevnějšku, nesmírně přívětivý, a nadto
se hodlá zúčastnit příštího společenského večírku i s četnými přáteli.
[AJP]
(32)
a. „Anyway, the last time I saw him, he was boasting about this great guy
he‗d just met, and how this man was taking him under his wing, how
everything was gonna be different, and … ― [FJP]
b. „Ale kdyţ jsme se viděli naposledy, básnil přede mnou o nějakém úţasném
chlapíkovi, který se prý o něj postará, jak se všechno změní, a … ―
[FJP]
(33)
a. … she accused Denise of having had unfair outside help in choosing her
balanced academic diet of English, history, philosophy, and biology.
[FJC]
b. A napadla Denisu, ţe si se svou vyváţenou dietou angličtiny, dějin, filozofie
a biologie nechala poradit od někoho zvenčí, coţ prý je nefér. [FJC]
In (34b), the English equivalent of prý seems to be the phrase signed Jay
Gatsby and the particle prý in Czech is used in order to report what Gatsby wrote.
However, the particle prý precedes the verb podepsat. In this case, it is more likely
that the particle prý was added in the Czech translation.
(34)
a. He had seen me several times, and had intended to call on me long before,
but a peculiar combination of circumstances had prevented it - signed Jay
Gatsby, in a majestic hand. [FFSG]
b. Viděl prý mě několikrát a chtěl mě uţ dávno navštívit, ale zvláštní shoda
okolností tomu zabránila - podepsáno Jay Gatsby, majestátním rukopisem.
[FFSG]
28
There were also three cases of the verb write (35) in the English equivalents
of prý. In (35a), the clause she wrote is found in the first sentence; in Czech,
however, prý is used in the second sentence (35b).
(35)
a. She was deeply grateful to him and to his lady friend, she wrote. She had
found peace at the convent and the abbess was very kind. [RAV]
b. Psala, jak je hluboce vděčná jemu i jeho přítelkyním. V klášteře prý našla
klid a abatyše je nesmírně laskavá. [RAV]
Examples (36) and (37) are introduced in order to show some of the verbs in
the reporting clauses that appeared with the frequency of 2 in Intercorp. In (36), it is
the verb suppose and in (37), it is the verb mention.
(36)
a. He supposed he forgot to, that‘s all. [FFSG]
b. Asi prý zapomněl, to je všechno. [FFSG]
(37)
a. She‗d gone to bed, according to Warren. This early? She’d mentioned a
headache, which made Jeremy feel like the worst cad, for having forgotten
… [LJL]
b. Prý ji bolela hlava. [LJL]
3.4. The source of the information is unknown
Table 5 shows the frequency of the English equivalents of the particle prý which
were found in the sentences where the source of the information was not identified.
The attitude of doubt or uncertainty is always found in these English original
sentences.
Table 4: The English equivalents of the particle prý when the source is unknown
Adverbs as English equivalents of prý Number of tokens %
PRESUMABLY 2 1,90
SUPPOSEDLY 1 0,95
Verbs in an English reporting clause
29
SAY 38 36,14
HEAR 21 20,00
RUMOUR 9 8,57
SUPPOSE 7 6,69
TELL 7 6,69
A WORD + BE 4 3,80
SEEM 3 2,89
UNDERSTAND 2 1,90
OTHER 11 10,47
TOTAL 100 100,00
In (38) and (39), the English equivalent of prý is an adverb (3 tokens).
(38)
a. She had a debut after the armistice, and in February she was presumably
engaged to a man from New Orleans. [FFSG]
b. Po příměří ji po prvé uvedli do společnosti a v únoru se prý zasnoubila s
nějakým člověkem z New Orleansu. [FFSG]
(39)
a. They seemed to possess some kind of instinct which told them several
seconds in advance when a rocket was coming, although the rockets
supposedly travelled faster than sound. [OG]
b. Jako by měli šestý smysl, který je upozornil několik sekund předtím, neţ
přiletěla raketa, ačkoliv se prý rakety pohybovaly rychleji neţ zvuk.
[OG]
In most cases, again, the English equivalent of prý is a reporting clause with
various verbs. However, unlike in examples mentioned in section 3.3, the subject of
the reporting clause is always general. This is the case of the phrase (so) they say
(40) and (41) or so they tell me (42). Again, a reporting clause with the verb say is
the most common English equivalent of prý (38 tokens).
(40)
a. They say older people sleep less than we do, but from our experience this
seems quite incorrect. [IKA]
b. Starší lidé prý spí méně neţ my, ale podle všeho to tak nebude. [IKA]
30
(41)
a. Think of the marvelous inventions they say we‘ll soon enjoy: electricity in
every house, the motorized car. [FML]
b. Pomyslete na ty úţasné vynálezy, z nichţ se prý budeme brzy všichni těšit:
v kaţdém domě elektřina, motorová vozidla. [FML]
(42)
a. But I was saying: can the Christian faith adapt itself? In times like these …
At Larting no one goes to church … There‗s the dogs, there‗s the pictures
… It‗s odd that science, so they tell me, is making things (so to speak)
more spiritual … [WVB]
b. Psí dostihy, biograf … To je zvláštní, věda prý takřka oduševňuje svět …
[WVB]
The source is missing also in reporting clauses in which only addressee is
mentioned, such as I/we hear (43), (44). A reporting clause with hear is the second
most frequent English equivalent of prý (21 tokens) in the group of tokens where the
source of the information is unknown.
(43)
a. I hear that Dubrovnik is the most beautiful city in the world, she wrote in
her dark, angular letters, on the paper with the raised lined grids that she
used. I wish you'd come be my eyes. [SARH]
b. Dubrovník je prý nejkrásnější město na světě, psala tlustým tmavým
hranatým písmem na papíře s vyraţenou mříţkou. Byla bych moc ráda,
kdybyste přijeli a byli mýma očima. [SARH]
(44)
a. ―We hear you‘re fond of playing the piano, Miss Noriko,‖ I remember Mrs
Saito remarking at one point. [IKA]
b. ―Prý hrajete ráda na piano, slečno Noriko,‖ podotkla paní Saitová.
[IKA]
Prý is also equivalent to a reporting clause with the verb in the passive form.
There is no reference to any concrete source (45, 46, 47 and 48).
31
(45)
a. There were twelve men, so it was said, in the village of Fish, twelve sombre
and inexplicable souls who sucked a lean milk from the almost literally bare
rock upon which a mysterious populatory force had begotten them.
[FFSD]
b. Bylo prý dvanáct muţů ve vesnici Fish, dvanáct podmračených a
nevysvětlitelných duší, které sály hubené mléko ze skály téměř doslovně
holé, na níţ je zplodila záhadná rodící síla. [FFSD]
(46)
a. Shortly after Patrick disappeared, he learned that Pepper Scarboro was
rumored to have been lost in the fire. [GJP]
b. Krátce po svém zmizení se Patrick dozvěděl, ţe Pepper Scarboro prý
zahynul při poţáru jeho auta. [GJP]
(47)
a. His affections were understood to be deep. [WVM]
b. Jeho oddanost prý byla hluboká. [WVM]
(48)
a. I’m told that the initial tests have gone very well. [KJAF]
b. Klinické testy prý zatím probíhají velice dobře. [KJAF]
In some cases, the verb in the reporting clause is translated into Czech and
simultaneously, the particle prý is used (49, 50, 51, and 52). The translator divides
the English original sentence into two parts, the second of which is introduced by the
particle prý.9
(49)
a. They say all surgeons are on the way to becoming extinct, that in a few
years we‘ll be as out-of-date as the dodo and the witch doctor. [HAF]
b. Říká se, ţe chirurgové jsou na vymření – za pár let prý budeme tak
nemoderní jako dodo a šamani. [HAF]
(50)
9 The same phenomenon could be observed in (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30) when the source of the
information was known.
32
a. No one knows why, or how, but they’re saying that when he couldn‘t kill
Harry Potter, Voldemort‘s power somehow broke -- and that‘s why he‘s
gone. [RJKH]
b. Nikdo neví proč ani jak, ale říkají, ţe Voldemortova moc se nějak zhroutila,
kdyţ nedokázal zabít Harryho Pottera – a proto prý zmizel. [RJKH]
(51)
a. ―I did hear, too, that there was a time, when sermon-making was not so
palatable to you as it seems to be at present; that you actually declared your
resolution of never taking orders, and that the business had been
compromised accordingly.‖ [AJP]
b. ―A rovněţ jsem se doslechla, ţe v jisté době se vám kazatelské poslání
nezdálo tak lákavé jako nyní – prý jste sám prohlásil, ţe farářem nikdy
nebudete, a tak se ta záleţitost rozhodla podle toho.‖ [AJP]
(52)
a. Amanda quickly scans the woman‘s face for signs of her rumored brow lift.
[FJP]
b. Amanda rychle zapátrala na jejím čele po údajném liftingu, který si prý
nechala udělat. [FJP]
The English equivalent of prý is also found in the form of the noun phrase,
e.g. the/a word is (53) and (54), the rumours of (55). Again, the translator divides the
English original sentence into two parts (by a full stop or a comma). The noun phrase
is translated in the first part, the particle prý is used in the second part.
(53)
a. ―Word at the center is that he was killed in a hit-and-run accident
somewhere near here.‖ [KJAF]
b. „V ústavu se povídá, ţe ho nějaký bezohledný řidič srazil a ujel. Prý tady
někde.‖ [KJAF]
(54)
33
a. Word was that only poor Lady Coventry was still at home, slowly dying of
lead poisoning from using too much whitening powder on her delicate skin.
[RAV]
b. Říkalo se, ţe doma je jen chudák lady Coventryová; prý pomalu umírá na
otravu olovem, kterou si způsobila tím, ţe si na svou jemnou pokoţku
nanesla příliš mnoho bělicího pudru. [RAV]
(55)
a. If questioned concerning his early arrival, he could say, I suppose, that he
had come to tell Dr. Sarton of rumors of a Medievalist attack on
Spacetown, urge him to take secret precautions to avoid open trouble
between Spacers and Earthmen. [AIC]
b. Kdyby se ho někdo ptal, proč přijel tak brzy, předpokládám, ţe by byl řekl,
ţe přišel upozornit dr. Sartona na pověsti o středověkářích, kteří se prý
chystají zaútočit na Vesmírné Město, a poţádal ho o tajná opatření, aby se
zabránilo otevřené sráţce mezi Vesmířany a Pozemšťany. [AIC]
There were also three tokens of the phrase it seems (3 tokens) as an English
equivalent of prý (56, 57 and 58).
(56)
a. ―So when Willem began hitting Catharina it seems Tanneke got in between
them to protect her.‖ [CTG]
b. „Takţe kdyţ Willem začal Catharinu mlátit, Tanneke prý vběhla mezi ně,
aby ji chránila. [CTG]
(57)
a. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems, and
there they are to stay I do not know how long. [AJP]
b. Odstěhovali se do Newcastlu, to je prý aţ někde daleko na severu, a
zůstanou tam pánbůhví jak dlouho. [AJP]
(58)
a. It seems van Ruijven wanted one of his kitchen maids to sit for a painting
with him. [CTG]
34
b. Van Ruijven prý chtěl, aby jedna ze sluţek z jeho kuchyně pózovala pro
obraz spolu s ním. [CTG]
In (59), the phrase the rumor is (59a) is translated as tvrdí se in Czech (59b).
The noun rumour is defined as ―a piece of information or a story that people talk
about, but that may not be true‖ in the Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary
(Hornby 2006, 1281). On the other hand, the verb tvrditi is defined as ―říkat,
prohlašovat s jistotou, ubezpečovat‖ (speak with certainty, assure) in Slovník
spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost (Červená 1994, 461). Those definitions seem
to be opposites. However, the absence of the source of the information in (59b)
seems to be strong enough to express doubt or uncertainty, even though the verb
tvrdit is used.
(59)
a. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are -- are -- that they're -- dead.
[RJKH]
b. A tvrdí se, ţe Lily a James Potterovi jsou jsou - ţe prý jsou mrtví.
[RJKH]
3.5. Prý without an English equivalent in the English original text
There are 24 examples in Intercorp where the particle prý is used in the Czech
translation, even though no direct English equivalent could be identified in the
English original sentence. The particle prý is added by the translator.
In (60a), the reader is only informed about the fact that the boy needed some
money. No attitude of doubt or uncertainty is expressed in the original sentence.
Similar examples are introduced in (60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65).
(60)
a. (It was imperceptible to anyone else, but Ned would know if the mail was
checked. He had a letter in there, in a bright red envelope, one he‘d mailed
three days earlier from Cincinnati, then raced south.) In it he’d sent Percy
a check for $1, 000, money the boy needed for a set of artist’s supplies.
35
(In an earlier letter, Ned had revealed that he had once owned a modern art
gallery in Greenwich Village.) [GJB]
b. Posílal v něm Percymu šek na jeden tisíc dolarů, které prý chlapec
potřebuje na nákup výtvarnických potřeb. [GJB]
(61)
a. (―The sous-chef had to leave, and since I was the nearest volunteer who
wasn‘t busy at the moment, I was pressed into duty.) While Mordecai
made sandwiches, I chopped celery, carrots, and onions for an hour, all
under the careful eye of Miss Dolly, one of the founding members of the
church, who’d been in charge of feeding the homeless for eleven years
now. [GJS]
b. Zatímco Mordecai mazal sendviče, já asi hodinu krájel celer, mrkev a cibuli,
to vše pod bedlivým dozorem slečny Dolly, jedné ze zakládajících členek
církve. Slečna Dolly se prý věnuje krmení bezdomovců uţ jedenáctý rok.
[GJS]
(62)
a. (He‘d been a friend for seven years, close at times. More often than not,
though, we‘d been too busy for friendship. ―Why are they pointing at me?‖
―The file has something to do with Mister.) You went to Braden Chance
and demanded to see it. (You were seen near his office the night it
disappeared. There is evidence someone gave you some keys that perhaps
you shouldn‘t have had.‖ ―Is that all?‖ ) [GJS]
b. Prý jsi šel k Bradenu Chanceovi a chtěl spis vidět. [GJS]
(63)
a. (―Chuck,‖ said Alfred, startled. ―Hello.‖ ―Planning a conquest.) The
husband’s out of town forever.” (Alfred laughed because there was
nothing else for it. He and Chuck met in the street often, the engineer
standing at attention, the banker relaxing at the wheel.) [FJC]
b. … Manţel prý nadobro utekl z města.‖ [FJC]
(64)
a. (And now, for a certain time, he was to be away from home. That respect
for a New England education which is the bane of all provincial places,
which drains them yearly of their most promising young men, had seized
36
upon his parents.) Nothing would suit them but that he should go to St
Midas‘ School near Boston- Hades was too small to hold their darling and
gifted son. [FFSD]
b. Nedali jinak, musí prý do školy sv. Midase u Bostonu - Hades je příliš malý
na to, aby stačil jejich milovanému a nadanému synáčkovi. [FFSD]
(65)
a. Outside the white tent, the usual crowd of anarchists, eyed warily by a
police detail that was later criticized as having been too small, openly
carried banners and placards and privately, in the pockets of their cargo
pants, carried powerful bar magnets with which they hoped, amid the cake-
eating and punch-drinking and confusion, to erase much data from the
center‗s new Global Desktops. [GJS]
b. Před bílým stanem se shromáţdila obvyklá skupinka anarchistů, jejichţ
počínání unaveně sledovali členové policejní jednotky, jeţ byla později
kritizovaná za to, ţe prý byla příliš malá. Anarchisté otevřeně třímali
transparenty a nápisy a skrytě, v kapsách pytlovitých kalhot si nesli silné
tyčové magnety, jelikoţ doufali, ţe aţ propukne všeobecné pojídání koláčků
a popíjení punče, podaří se jim v nastalém zmatku z nových počítačů
vymazat veškerá data. [GJS]
In (66, 67, and 68), the particle prý was not only added in the translation, but
the meaning of the English original sentence is significantly changed due to the
translation. Those examples show the translations that are at least problematic.
In (66), prý translates a modal verb in its epistemic use:
(66)
a. … Robots have dreamed up a new one, by the way. A multiple robot.‖ ―A
what?‖ ―What I said. There‘s a big contract for it. It must be just the thing
for asteroid mining. You have a master robot with six sub-robots under it. --
- Like your fingers.‖ [AIR]
b. Prý je to jedinečná věc pro těţbu nerostů na asteroidech. [AIR]
37
Similarly, in (68a), the phrase … would doubtless be hailed is translated with
the particle prý. The conditional originally present in the English sentence is lost in
the Czech translation (68b). In (68c) I list an alternative translation of this phrase.
(67)
a. The inhabitants have been so long out of the world that, though they make a
show of keeping up to date in dress and manners and literature, they depend
to a great extent on hearsay, and a function that in Hades would be
considered elaborate would doubtless be hailed by a Chicago beef-princess
as ―perhaps a little tacky.― [FFSD]
b. Obyvatelé tam uţ tak dlouho ţijí odříznuti od světa, ţe ačkoliv velmi
okázale drţí krok s módou v oblékání, ve vybraných způsobech a v
literatuře, musí do značné míry spoléhat jen na to, co se kde doslechnou, a o
záleţitosti, kterou by v Hadesu povaţovali za vybranou, vyjádřila prý se
chicagská dobytkářská princezna, ţe „je snad trochu šmírácká―. [FFSD]
c. Obyvatelé tam uţ tak dlouho ţijí odříznuti od světa, ţe ačkoliv velmi
okázale drţí krok s módou v oblékání, ve vybraných způsobech a v
literatuře, musí do značné míry spoléhat jen na to, co se kde doslechnou, a o
záleţitosti, kterou by v Hadesu povaţovali za vybranou, by se chicagská
dobytkářská princezna nepochybně vyjádřila, ţe „je snad trochu
šmírácká―.
In (69b), the translator added some information (že prý ji vycvičí) that is not
mentioned in the English original sentence (69a) at all.
(68)
a. (… orphaned triplets from Vermont, arrived two days later. Healthier
physically, that is, for their story was very sad. The mother was shot out of
season, apparently so the shooter could give the cubs to his uncle as pets, all
very illegal.) The uncle then took one of the female cubs to work to show
off, and one of his coworkers turned him in. (The story then hit the
newspapers and television in Vermont.) [KBGE]
38
b. Strýc se pak jednou ze samiček chlubil, že prý ji vycvičí a jeho
spolupracovník ho udal. [KBGE]
39
4. Conclusions
The aim of this thesis was to answer the question if it is possible to see the meaning
of the Czech particle prý through its English equivalents. Since the equivalents of prý
were examined in the English original sentence, the main criterion used for sorting
was to differentiate between the known and the unknown source of the information.
During the research, there were found tokens which did not match any of the criteria,
i. e. the English equivalent was not found. Table 5 summarizes the results of the
research.
Table 5: Data sorted by the source of the information (known/unknown)
Criterion Number of tokens
Prý – the source is known 193
Prý – the source is unknown 105
Prý – added in the translation 24
Total 322
The results of the research are rather unexpected and surprising, with respect
to what the Czech dictionaries say about prý (i.e. it is defined as a particle mainly
referring to the source that is unknown, doubtful or uncertain, see Section 2.2).
However, there were 193 tokens of the particle prý where the source of the
information was known in the English original sentence, almost twice as many as
those where the source of the information was unknown (105). In the former cases
(193 tokens), the particle prý plays the role of a functional word and does not
carry any modal meaning that would suggest doubt or uncertainty. The source of
the information can be introduced in a phrase such as according to, her report was,
but in most cases, the source of the information is introduced by a reporting clause
with various verbs. The subject of the reporting clause is either nominal or
pronominal – its anaphoric antecedents can always be identified in the English
original text. The most frequent reporting verbs are say (86), tell (27) and call (9) but
there are also other verbs such as accuse, mention, suppose, add, explain which
suggests there is a great variety in the equivalents of prý. In 30 tokens, the English
40
equivalent appeared only once; in 8 tokens, the frequency of the English equivalent
was only 2.
The research has shown that the translator uses the particle prý in order to
translate a complicated and often long English sentence. In an English sentence, the
source of the information is present as well as a reporting clause or a phrase
equivalent to the particle prý. The translator divides the original sentence into two
parts by a full stop or by a comma. The equivalent to the reporting clause or to the
phrase is literally translated in Czech, usually in the first sentence. The second
sentence is introduced by the particle prý.
The same phenomenon (dividing complicated composite sentences into two
simple sentences) was observable also in the cases where the source of the
information was unknown.
In comparison with the known source, the group of the English equivalents of
prý that expresses doubt or uncertainty is less diverse and their usage seems to be
more stable. Here, the particle prý expresses the meaning that was defined by the
Czech dictionaries. Again, the English equivalents are in the form of reporting
clauses. However, the subject of such a reporting clause is always general and
impersonal, usually in the form of the phrase (so) they say (again, the most common
equivalent of prý) or (so) they tell me. The source of the information is not present in
reporting clauses in which only addressee is mentioned, such as I/we hear (second
most common equivalent of prý – 21 tokens). The passive forms of verbs are widely
used, thus somehow expressing the distance from what is communicated (are
supposed, is said, were understood, the rumour is). In 3 tokens, the English
equivalent is expressed by an adverb (presumably, supposedly).
In 24 cases, the English equivalent was not present in the original sentence.
The particle prý was added in the translation or the translation from English to Czech
was in some cases problematic10
.
Generally, the research has shown that the usage of the particle prý as a
means of introducing direct or indirect speech is much more common than it was
expected, at least on the basis of what the Czech dictionaries say about this particle.
10
See examples (66, 67 and 68).
41
When the source of the information is known, prý loses the meaning of doubt or
uncertainty and becomes, as was mentioned before, a functional word that signals
somebody else‘s speech.
A very important question for a further research arises: What meanings of the
particle prý are seen through English equivalents when the translation from Czech to
English is considered? It would be possible to compare the results and to find out
whether the distribution of the English equivalents of prý will be similar or different.
42
5. Czech summary
Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá otázkou, zda je význam slova prý moţno vidět skrz
jeho anglické ekvivalenty v anglických zdrojových textech, konkrétněji tedy otázkou,
co vedlo českého překladatele k tomu, aby v překladu pouţil slovo prý. Jako
zdrojová data jsou pouţity texty anglické beletrie a jejich český překlad v korpusu
Intercorp.
V teoretické části se práce zabývá etymologickým původem slova prý a jeho
definicí v českých slovnících (Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost 1994,
Slovník spisovného jazyka českého 1989), kde má částice prý tyto významy:
1. Pochybnost, nejistota, která plyne z toho, ţe je zdroj informace neznámý a ţe
jde o přejaté sdělení.
2. Sdělení je přímo přejaté, ale reprodukované s pochybností nebo s ironií.
3. Uvádí cizí přímou řeč.
Dále se práce opírá o informace získané z literatury zaměřené na českou
gramatiku, kde je prý definováno jako prostředek vyjádření jistotní modality, jeţ
vyjadřuje distanc mluvčího k obsahu sdělení. České mluvnice dále uvádějí, ţe částice
prý také uvádí cizí nepřímou řeč. Značná pozornost je věnována studii, která zkoumá
slovo prý v monolingválním korpusu SYN2000.
Praktická část práce se zabývá samotným výzkumem. K analýze byla pouţita
data z paralelního korpusu Intercorp. Při sestavování samotného dotazu bylo nejdříve
nutné zajistit, aby zkoumané texty byly pouze anglické originály, tzn., aby se ve
výsledcích objevoval v české části překlad slova prý z angličtiny do češtiny.
K výzkumu bylo pouţito celkem 49 textů anglické beletrie. Poté byl sestaven
samotný dotaz. Slovo prý bylo hledáno v české části korpusu jako slovní tvar, jak
s velkým, tak s malým počátečním písmenem. Pomocí korpusu Intercorp bylo
nalezeno 322 výskytů slova prý.
Pro třídění dat musela být stanovena kritéria. Pochybnost nebo ironie, které
uvádí české slovníky, se jako kritéria ukázaly být málo konkrétní, a proto bylo nutné
stanovit formálnější pravidla pro třídění. Jako nosné kritérium bylo pouţito rozlišení
mezi známým a neznámým zdrojem informace. V obou případech byl dohledatelný
anglický ekvivalent slova prý. Data byla tedy ručně roztříděna na základě tohoto
kritéria. Během třídění se objevily také případy, kde nebylo moţno rozlišit, zda je
43
zdroj informace známý nebo neznámý. Byla proto vytvořena třetí kategorie pro
třídění dat, do níţ byly přiřazeny případy, u nichţ nebyl dohledán anglický
ekvivalent slova prý.
Celkové výsledky výzkumu byly značně překvapivé, vzhledem k tomu, ţe
slovníky uvádějí jako hlavní význam slova prý význam nejistoty nebo pochybnosti,
která plyne z toho, ţe je zdroj informace neznámý. Celkem ve 193 případech byl
zdroj informace v anglickém originále známý, coţ je dvakrát více neţ případů, kde
byl zdroj informace neznámý (105 případů). Ve 24 případech nebylo moţné určit
anglický ekvivalent slova prý.
Zdroj informace známý. Výsledky ukazují, ţe při překladu z angličtiny do
češtiny je slovo prý pouţito jako prostředek pro uvádění cizí přímé nebo nepřímé
řeči, přičemţ byl nalezen pouze jeden případ, kdy bylo slovo prý pouţito k uvození
řeči přímé. Dále byla práce zaměřena na zkoumání samotných anglických
ekvivalentů. Bylo zjištěno, ţe nejčastějším ekvivalentem částice prý je hlavní věta
s verbem dicendi, v jejímţ podmětu je uveden zdroj informace. Podmět je vţdy
nominální nebo pronominální. Nejčastějšími slovesy jsou slovesa say (86 případů),
tell (27 případů) a call (9 případů). Škála sloves, která mohou být pouţita, je ale
mnohem širší, jelikoţ bylo nalezeno mnoho sloves, která se objevují pouze
s frekvencí 2 či 1. Bylo také zjištěno, ţe anglickým ekvivalentem mohou být i
některá slovní spojení s podstatnými jmény nebo předloţkové vazby (acccording to).
Průzkum dále ukázal, ţe v případě dlouhého a komplikovaného souvětí v anglickém
originále je zde tendence při překladu rozdělit toto souvětí na dvě části. Tyto části
jsou v češtině odděleny tečkou nebo čárkou, přičemţ v první části je zpravidla
přeloţena hlavní věta s verbem dicenci a druhá část je uvozena částicí prý.
Zdroj informace neznámý. Ve 105 případech byla v anglické větě vyjádřena
pochybnost nebo nejistota vyplývající z toho, ţe zdroj informace nebyl dohledán.
Anglickým ekvivalentem je opět nejčastěji hlavní věta s verbem dicendi. Podmět je
ale vţdy pouze obecný a neosobní, vyjadřuje tak distanc mluvčího ke sdělovanému
tvrzení (they say, they tell me). Zdroj informace není také uveden v případě slovního
spojení I/we hear, kde je zmíněn pouze příjemce sdělení. Nejčastějšími slovesy jsou
say (38 případů), hear (21 případů), rumour (9 případů). Dále můţe být anglickým
ekvivalentem hlavní věta s verbem dicendi, která je v pasivu (it is said, he was
rumoured, they were understood), nebo příslovce jako presumably, supposedly(3
44
případy). Znovu se také objevuje tendence rozdělovat sloţitá anglická souvětí, jako
tomu bylo u známého zdroje.
Třetí kategorií, která vznikla při třídění dat, jsou příklady, kdy anglický
ekvivalent nebyl v původní anglické větě dohledatelný (24 případů). V těchto
případech byla částice prý přidána samotným překladatelem. Objevily se také
případy, kdy byla částice prý nejen přidána, ale samotný překlad byl přinejmenším
sporný (fráze it must be přeloţena pomocí prý).
Celkově výzkum ukázal, ţe uţití částice prý jako prostředku uvození přímé či
nepřímé řeči je mnohem častější, neţ se předpokládalo, přinejmenším s ohledem na
to, jak je tato částice definována v českých slovnících (Slovník spisovné češtiny pro
školu a veřejnost 1994, Slovník spisovného jazyka českého 1989). Při tomto uţití
ztrácí částice prý svůj význam nejistoty nebo pochybnosti o sdělovaném tvrzení a
slouţí pouze jako funkční slovo, které uvozuje cizí řeč.
Ukázalo se, ţe toto téma je značně široké a nabízí podněty pro případný další
výzkum v budoucnosti. Bylo by moţné zaměřit se na zkoumání překladu částice prý
z češtiny do angličtiny, tedy postupovat opačným směrem, neţ tomu bylo činěno
doposud v této práci. Bylo by moţné porovnat výsledky a zjistit, zda je distribuce
anglických ekvivalentů slova prý podobná nebo rozdílná.
45
6. Works cited
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2004. Evidentiality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Červená, Vlasta. 1994. Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost.
Edited by Mejstřík, Vladimír, František Daneš, Jaroslav Machač, and Josef
Filipec. Praha: Academia.
Hornby, A. S. 2006. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.
7th
edition. Edited by Wehmeier, Sally, Colin McIntosh, Joanna Turnbull,
and Michael Ashby. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grepl, Miroslav. 2012. Příruční mluvnice češtiny. Edited by Karlík, Petr, Marek
Nekula, and Zdenka Rusínová. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny.
Grepl, Miroslav, Petr Karlík. 1998. Skladba češtiny. Olomouc: Votobia.
Hoffmanová, Jana and Ivana, Kolářová. 2007. ―Slovo prý/prej: moţnosti jeho
funkční a sémantické diferenciace.‖ In Gramatika a korpus/ Grammar &
Corpora, edited by Štícha, F., and Šimandl, J., 93–102. Praha: ÚJČ AV.
Johansson, Stig. 2007. ―Seeing through multilingual corpora.‖ In Corpus Linguistics
25 Years on, edited by Roberta Facchinetti, 51–73. New York: Rodopi.
Karlík, Petr, Marek Nekula, and Jana Pleskalová, eds. 2002. Encyklopedický slovník
češtiny. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny.
Machek, Václav. 1997. Etymologický slovník jazyka českého. Praha: Lidové noviny.
Petr, Jan. 1986. Mluvnice češtiny. [Díl] 2, Tvarosloví. Edited by Veselková, Jarmila,
Miroslav Komárek, and Jan Kořenský. Praha: Academia.
Slovník spisovného jazyka českého. IV, P-Q. 1989. Praha: Academia.
Czech National Corpus - InterCorp. Institute of the Czech National Corpus FF UK,
Praha. Accessible at WWW: http://ucnk.ff.cuni.cz/intercorp/
Hirschová, Milada. 2012. ―Presentation on Evidential markers, modificators,
sentence adverbs, predicates – another interface of syntax, semantics and
pragmatics wihtin syntax.‖ Presented on the 29th
of October in Olomouc.
The examples used in this thesis come from those English fiction texts:
[AEF] anonym. English Fairy Tales
[AIC] Asimov, Isaac. The Caves of Steel
46
[AIR] Asimov, Isaac. Reason
[AJP] Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice
[CRM] Chandler, Raymond. The Man Who Liked Dogs
[CTG] Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with Pearl Earring
[FFSD] Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Diamond as Big as Ritz
[FFSG] Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby
[FJP] Fieldingová, Joy. Puppet
[FJC] Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections
[FML] Frost, Mark. The List of Seven
[GJK] Grisham, John. Client
[GJP] Grisham, John. The Partner
[HAF] Hailey, Arthur. The Final Diagnosis
[IKA] Ishiguro, Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World
[JJD] Joyce, James. The Dubliners
[KJAF] Krentz, Jayne Ann. Falling Awake
[KBGE] Kilham, Benjamin, Gray. Ed,Among the Bears
[LJL] Lindsey, Johanna. A Loving Scoundrel
[OG] Orwell, George. 1984
[RAV] Di Robilant, Andrea. A Venetian Affair
[RJKH] Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
[SARH] Siddons, Anne Rivers. Hill Towns
[SDS] Steel, Danielle. Second Chance
[WVB] Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts
