Mostovi 2002 Word order in Slovene and English
David Limon
Word order in Slovene and English
Povzetek
Besedni vrstni red v slovenščini in angleščini
Razlike v besednem redu v slovenskem in angleškem jeziku so v članku obravnavane z vidika
predstavitve informacije. Članek vsebuje tudi predloge, kdaj je pri prevajanju iz slovenščine v
angleščino najbolj potrebno spremeniti besedni red.
Abstract
Word order in Slovene and English
Differences in word order between Slovene and English are discussed from the point of view
of presentation of information. The author offers guidelines as to when a change ofword order
is likely when translating from Slovene to English.
Introduction
There is much emphasis in discussions of
the problems of translating from Slovene to
English on vocabulary/terminology or smaller
lexico-grammatical units. Similarly, the trans-
lation revision process usually focuses on sur-
face features such as prepositions, articles and
punctuation. However, one of the most com-
mon problems I come across in reviewing
translations is to do not with which words are
used, but the order in which they are used -
most of the right words seem to be there, but
the sentence stili does not read or 'sound' like
English. This is the issue I would like to look at
more closely here.
The flow of information
Word order is far freer in Slovene than in
English: »the Slovene inflectional system
means there is little scope for ambiguity and
the sequential order of words does not change
their syntactic or semantic functions« (Herrity
2000, 333). Slovene word order varies accord-
lng to communicative, expressive or stylistic
factors; in English it matters not only from a
syntactic point of view, but with regard to ease
°f Processing by the reader. In particular, the
Information principle and the principle of
end-weight (Biber et al 1999, Ch. 11) lead read-
ers to expect information to be distributed in a
particular way; failing to adhere to these prin-
ciples for no apparent contextual reason un-
dermines both the cohesion and coherence of
the text, causing problems for the reader.
Information in a text can be divided into
given and new. The former is treated by the
speaker/writer as recoverable from the pre-
ceding discourse or context of situation; the
latter is what the speaker/writer chooses to
present as worthy of attention or 'newswor-
thy' (see Halliday 1967 and Fries 1994). The
45
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 45-52
preferred distribution of information in the
clause in English is for a gradual rise in infor¬
mation load as the clause progresses - this is
the 'information principle'. The unmarked
pattern is always given-new. This makes the
j ob of the listener/reader easier and also con-
tributes to cohesion as the given information
is »closest to that which it connects back to
and the new information is very often taken
up in the subsequent discourse« (Biber et al,
op.cit. 897). Consider the following (invent-
ed) sequence:
The report I'm talking about is the
one we discussed at the last meet-
ing. We were supposed to respond
to it within a few days.
Both of these sentences begin with informa¬
tion which the speaker feels can be understood
from what has been said before and build up to
the information the speaker regards as most
'newsworthy'. This does not mean that the cli-
max of information has to be at the end of the
clause - information can be re-ordered or frag-
mented to serve the needs of discourse. Howev-
er, deviating from the principle does mean that
the resulting clause is stylistically marked (we
shall see some examples below).
Word order
This term is partly a misnomer, as we are ac-
tually referring to the order of elements such
as phrases and clauses rather than just words:
i.e. subject, verb, objects, predicates and adver-
bials. 1 English word order may not exactly be
fixed, there is variation, but »the placement of
core elements in the clause is strictlv regulat-
ed« (Biber et al, op.cit. 898; my underlining).
Any variations that do occur are unusual or
marked choices of word order.
With the exception of certain interrogative
(e.g. involving 'do') and negative clauses (e.g.
follotving 'Never'), there is a preferred, un-
The information principle is supported by
the general principle of end focus, which plač-
es the nuclear intonation or stress on the last
lexical item in the clause - and thus on the
new information:
The spokesperson announced that
they were satisfied with the results
of the new measures .
This is not undermined by 'double focus', in
which an adverbial at the start of the sentence
may also be emphasised:
At today's press conference, the
minister expressed his confidence
that the conference would be a suc-
cess .
Further support is provided by the princi¬
ple of end-weight. In any clause, elements are
frequently of different size, complexity or
weight: by placing long and complex ele¬
ments towards the end of the clause, we ease
comprehension by the receiver, who does not
have to retain complex information in short-
term memory. Since 'heavy' elements tend to
have a high information load, then the infor¬
mation principle and the principle of end-
weight often reinforce each other.
marked order of clause elements: subject be¬
fore before verb, verb before its complements,
and so on. Marked word order is where core
clause elements are placed in an unusual posi-
tion to achieve cohesion, emphasis or some
other stylistic effect. The major clause patterns
in English, determined largely by how many
elements the verb combines with, are as fol-
lows2:
SV Subject - verb phrase
Ansvvers the question 'What does/
did X do?' Often has an optional
adverb added.
We shall continue to use the term 'word order' in the rest of this article, rather than 'order of clause elements'.
for reasons of familiarity.
2 This analysis is based on that used in the Longman Grammar of English (Biber at al 1999). Note that in other
grammars (such as Quirk et al) 'predicate' may be referred to as 'complement'.
46
Mostovi 2002 Word order in Slovene and English
e.g. We waited (patiently).
SVA Subject - verb phrase - obligatory
adverbial
Answers 'When is/was X? Where is/
was X?' The adverbial may be left
out.
e.g. He was lying on the floor.
SVPs Subject - verb phrase - subject
predicate
Characterising pattern answers
‘What is/was X (like)? How did/has
X change/changed?'
e.g. She was a teacher for ten years,
now she's a translator.
e.g. The restaurant was closed by
the health inspector.
Identifying pattern answers
'Which one is/was X?'
e.g. My only reliable source of work
is a local publisher.
SVOd Subject - verb phrase - direct object
e.g. The demonstrators burned the
American flag.
e.g. He wrote a book about climate
change.
SVOp Subject - verb phrase - preposition-
al object
This pattern is rather difficult to
distinguish from SVA! The preposi-
tional object can be elicited with
the question 'Who? What?'
e.g. A newly appointed commis-
sion will look into ways of eco-
nomic and industrial co-operation.
SVOjOd Subject - verb phrase - indirect ob¬
ject - direct object
e.g. Ivan's mum brought him a cup
of coffee.
SVOdOp Subject - verb phrase - direct object
- prepositional object
e.g. Some analysts blame the situa-
tion on tough competition in the
European market.
SVOdPD Subject - verb phrase - direct obj ect
- object predicate
e.g. My mother found it cold here.
e.g. I didn't find it funny.
SVOdA Subject - verb phrase - direct object
- obligatory adverbial
e.g. She placed the baby on a blan-
ket in the living room.
e.g. Leave the essay in my pigeon
hole.
Of course, clauses are adapted to fit the re-
guirements of communication . For example,
in visual descriptions such as we find in tour-
ist guides, the fronting of locational informa-
tion reflects the way we use such guides and
look at the world around us (the technical
term for this is 'iconicity'):
Below the castle, nestle the red-
roofed houses of the old town.
Similarly, we may switch from the active to
the passive voice to retain the same 'theme' in
subject position, maintain cohesion and thus
ease processing:
The Minister got out of the car. He
was immediately surrounded by
journalists.
These and other devices, such as the use of
existential 'There' (e.g. There are are so many
reasons why 1 can't marry you.) and clefting
(e.g. It's the expense that worries me.) can be
employed to make clauses fit the context,
building a coherent text, giving emphasis
where required and making the reader's task
easier. However, what concerns us here is spe-
cifically the construction of clauses as part of
the process of translating from Slovene to Eng¬
lish.
Translating from Slovene
Before putting anything down in English, we
should analyse the Slovene sentence or clause
(in the čase of a complex sentence) and identi-
fy in particular the main verb and the subject,
followed by any objects, predicates and adver-
bials - including those which give a temporal,
1 47
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 45-52
locational or other 'frame' to the sentence and
may need to go in initial position. We should
also bear in mind the given-new information
pattern and the end-weight principle. Let us
now look at some examples.
Sentences beginning with a
preposition
Our first group of examples involve an ini¬
tial prepositional phrase in Slovene that either
functions as the prepositional object of the
verb or indicates the frame of the action.3 In
the first example, from an Adria Airways pas-
senger information sheet, we find the pattern:
prepositional object, direct object, time adver-
bial, verb, subject. In the suggested transla-
tion, the framing time adverbial goes at the
front of the clause, follovved by subject, verb
and object; in this way, the most newsworthy
information is placed at the end:
(l s) Z najpomembnejšimi varnostnimi
napotki vas bo pred poletom seznani¬
lo naše kabinsko osebje
(1 E) Before take-off (A), the cabin crew
(S) will acquaint (V) you (Od) with
important safety procedures (Op)4
In the next example, which immediately fol-
lows the heading Kajenje na letalu, the use of
the passive means that the object (vvhich con-
veys given information in the context) is in
subject position and the newsworthy informa¬
tion contained in the adverbial phrase again
occurs at the end of the sentence:
(2S) Na rednih in čarterskih poletih Adrie
Airways kajenje ni dovoljeno.
(2e) Smoking (Od) is not permitted
(Vpass ) on any of Adria's scheduled
or charter flights (A).
Example 3, from a formal letter, involves
transposition (a prepositional phrase is trans-
lated by a noun phrase) as well as a shift to an
unmarked SVO pattern, with the heaviest item
(the complex noun phrase vvith the head word
'memories') last:
(3S) V lepem spominu mi je ostal tudi vaš
uradni obisk v Sloveniji konec janu¬
arja.
(3e) I (S) also have (V) very positive
memories of your official visit to
Slovenia at the end of January (Od).
The next two examples, involving different
prepositions, come from a law on the recogni-
tion of the qualifications of EU citizens. The
first involves the pattern prepositional object,
verb, subject, direct object, vvhich becomes a
more regular SVO pattern in English, vvith a
gradually rising information load:
(4S) Zoper odločbo ministrstva ima kan¬
didat pravico vložiti pritožbo na
Vlado Republike Slovenije.
(4g) An applicant (S) shall have (V) a
right to lodge an appeal (Od)
against the decision of the ministry
(Op) vvith the Government of the
Republic of Slovenia (Op).
The second involves a reflexive verb, signal-
ling the need for the passive in English, vvhich
allovvs the sentence element of greatest
'vveight' to occur at the end of the sentence:
(5S) Za vloge in upravna dejanja, oprav¬
ljena po tem zakonu, se plačuje tak¬
sa po zakonu, ki ureja upravne
takse.
(SE) A fee in line vvith the act governing
administrative fees (Od ) shall be
paid (Vpass) for applications and ad¬
ministrative tasks performed under
the present act (Op).
The next example also involves the passive
and a shift of information from the beginning
to the end of the clause:
(6S) Med vzletanjem in pristajanjem si
morate pripeti varnostni pas
Note that the frame is usually locational: where a temporal frame is involved this may well be expressed by a
sentence initial adverb in English.
Note that in ali examples in this article, the translation suggested is not necessarily the published one.
48
Mostovi 2002 Word order in Slovene and English
(6e) Passengers (Od) are requested
(Vpass) to fasten (V) their seatbelts
(S) during take-off and landing (A)
Note that the change from the direct form of
address to third person (passengers) is due the
preference in English for indirectness in situa-
tions when orders are being given. For similar
reasons, the suggested translation is preferable
to the published one involving the active voice
and modal 'must' (Passengers must fasten
their seatbelts).
In the final example of this type, from a
company web site, the most newsworthy In¬
formation is in clause-final position in both
the original and the translation; however, the
information from the initial prepositional
phrase is moved to later in the clause to be-
come part of the complex noun phrase:
(7S) Na Mercatorjevih prodajnih policah
je okoli 77% izdelkov slovenskih pro¬
izvajalcev.
(7e) Around 77% of the products on
Mercator's shelves (S) are (V) of
Slovene origin (Ps).
So, the presence of a sentence- or clause-in-
itial preposition in Slovene represents an im-
portant clue pointing to the need for a possi-
ble change of word order in translation.
However, we can only be sure of this need by
considering also the information and end-
tveight principles as well as the use of trans-
formational devices such as the passive.
Sentences beginning with the
object
Where the Slovene sentence begins with the
object of the verb, the English sentence is like-
ly to begin in the same way only if the passive
is called for. In the first example, from a maga¬
zine text about Suha Krajina, we find the pat¬
tern direct object, subject, verb, adverbial. In
the translation, a change of word order is es-
sential:
(8S) Sedanjo značilno podobo je grad
dobil sredi 16. stoletja.
(8e) The castle (S) acquired (V) its cur-
rent characteristic appearance (Od)
in the mid-16th century (A)
By contrast, in example 9 (from the Adria
text) the passive can be used, as the agent of
the action is understood (the passenger) and so
the translation can begin in the same way as
the original:
(9S) Ročno prtljago namestite v za to na¬
menjen predal nad sedežem.
(9e) Your hand luggage (Od) should be
placed (Vpass) in the overhead lock-
ers intended for this purpose (A).
Hovvever, there are some local adjustments
to word order due to another difference be-
tvveen the two languages: namely, the ability
in Slovene to pre-modify a noun with a prepo¬
sitional phrase (za to namenjen), which has to
become a predicative phrase in English (in¬
tended for this purpose) 5 . We may think of this
latter phrase as a relative clause with ellipsis of
the relative pronoun; in other similar cases a
full relative clause may be used: e.g. Pred 10 leti
umrli umetnik je ustvaril - 'The artist, who
died 10 years ago, was the creator of'. Return-
ing to example 9, we might also note that the
pattern 'N + prepositional phrase' in Slovene
(predal nad sedežem) becomes the N-phrase
'the overhead lockers' in English.
In example 10, a reversal of word order is re-
quired in order to achieve a SVO pattern in
English; there is no reason to use the passive
here and the new information should come at
the end of the English sentence:
(10s) Konkretne rezultate je dal program
Računalniško opismenjevanje.
(10E) The Computer literacy programme
(S) has brought (V) tangible results
(Od).
Even when the object occurs in sentence in¬
itial position for reasons of emphasis, as in this
example from a report on Aerodrom Ljublja¬
na, the word order would usually be changed
5 It could be argued here that this phrase is unnecessary in information terms.
49
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 45-52
in English to plače the emphasised informa-
tion later in the clause:
(ll s) Veliko zaupanje v našo družbo je
pokazal trg vrednostnih papirjev
(11E) The securities markets (S) showed
(V) their great faith (Od) in our
company (A)
In example 12, from a formal letter, the
newsworthy information stands at the end of
the sentence in both original and translation,
but the order of the remaining elements is
changed to achieve an SVO pattern:
(12s) Vaš nastop na okrogli mizi o prihod¬
nosti Evropske unije sem spremljal z
velikim zanimanjem.
(12e) I (S) listened to (V) your contribu-
tion (Od) during the round table
discussion on the future of the Eu-
ropean Union (A) with particular
interest (A).
Further examples are not required here, as
the point is clear: a Slovene sentence begin-
ning with the object of the main verb will re-
quire a shift in word order in English to put the
object after the verb (and the subject before it)
unless there is a positive reason to use the pas-
sive in that particular context.
Sentences beginning with a
passive participle
Where a Slovene sentence begins with the
past passive participle, the corresponding Eng¬
lish sentence may plače the passive form at the
end of the sentence, as in the following para-
graph from the 2000 NPAA report:
(13s) Pripravljenih je bilo 12 novih izo¬
braževalnih programov tehniških in
srednjih strokovnih šol ter štirje novi
višješolski programi ter 10 novih izo¬
braževalnih programov v dualnem
sistemu poklicnega izobraževanja.
Sprejeti so bili konkretni ukrepi za
zniževanje osipa na področju sred¬
njega šolstva.
(13E1 ) Tvvelve new educational pro-
grammes for secondary technical
schools, four new further educa-
tion programmes, and ten new vo-
cational training programmes
within the apprenticeship (dual)
scheme have been prepared. Specif-
ic measures to reduce dropout in
secondary schools have been
adopted .
Hovvever, this leads here to what is some-
times referred to as a 'dangling verb': the read-
er has to retain a lot of information in short-
term memory before finding out what the ver-
bal action is. It also has the effect of focusing
on the passive verb, which may not convey the
most newsworthy information in the sen¬
tence. It is preferable, especially in multi-
clause sentences, to plače the verb after the
first noun phrase (object). In the first sentence
below, this requires the addition of a coordi-
nating conjunction (italicised):
(13E2) Tvvelve new educational pro¬
grammes for secondary technical
schools have been prepared, as well
as four new further education pro¬
grammes and ten new vocational
training programmes vvithin the
apprenticeship (dual) scheme. Spe-
cific measures have been adopted
to reduce dropout in secondary
schools.
In the next example (from a nevvs report) in-
volving initial emphasis, the order of the ele¬
ments in the first short clause stili needs to
change:
(14s) Prizadeti so vsi - trgovine, hoteli, tur¬
istične agencije.
(14e) Ali are affected - shops, hotels, and
tourist agencies.
Note that the unmarked pattern 'Shops, ho¬
tels, and tourist agencies are ali affected.
vvould fail to convey the required emphasis.
Sentences beginning with a
verb
In the follovving short paragraph from the
2000 NPAA Report, there are three clauses be-
50
Mostovi 2002 Word order in Slovene and English
ginning with a verb where a change of word
order is required and a similar clause (the ini-
tial one) which begins with a time adverbial:
(15s) Iz leta v leto se izjemno povečuje šte¬
vilo mest na tetciarni ravni, povečuje
se število diplomantov. Nastajajo sa¬
mostojne visoke šole, začela se je pre¬
obrazba podiplomskega študija.
(15e) The number of študent places at
tertiary level is increasing substan-
tially each year; the number of
graduates is also increasing. New
independent higher education in-
stitutions are being established and
the renevval of postgraduate studies
has been launched .
Where a reflexive verb (e.g. povečati se, za¬
četi se) begins a clause in Slovene, the English
translation may either require the subject to be
made specific and placed before the verb (e.g.
in the first sentence), or may call for the use of
the passive (e.g. in the final clause). The same
may occur with clause-initial intransitive
verbs, such as nastajati, translated here by the
passive.
Sentences beginning with a
reason clause
The presence of a reason clause at the start of
a Slovene sentence, especially if the clause is
relatively lengthy, may signal the need for a
change in word order in English. This is both
because of the information principle and the
principle of end-weight - the reader should
not be expected to carry too much informa¬
tion in short-term memory. In the follovving
example (again from the NPAA report), the
subordinate reason clause is longer than the
main clause:
(16s) Zaradi večjega števila decentralizi¬
ranih akcij v okviru komunitarnih
programov in vključitve EVS (Evrop¬
sko prostovoljno delo) v program
Youth bo potrebno okrepiti kadrov¬
sko zasedbo obeh nacionalnih agen¬
cij;
(16e) New positions will be needed in
both of the national agencies be¬
cause of the increase in the number
of decentralised actions within the
second-generation programmes;
Sentences beginning with an
adverb
A Slovene sentence may begin with an ad¬
verb of manner in order to draw attention to
the quality (of performance) that the adverb
indicates, as in this statement from the web-
site of the company Zaslon:
(17s) Hitro, varno in cenovno učinkovito
podpiramo katerokoli finančno sto¬
ritev na katerikoli tržni poti.
The pattern in Slovene could be represented
as: adverbial, [subject] verb, object, preposi-
tional phrase. To translate this into English,
not only do we need to plače the subject and
verb at the start of the sentence, but to use ad-
jectives rather than adverbs (although in the
second suggested translation the adjectives
help form an adverbial phrase):
(17E1 ) We (S) provide (V) guick, secure
and cost-efficient support (Od) for
any financial Service (Op) in any
distribution channel (A).
(17E2) We (S) support (V) in a guick, se¬
cure and cost-efficient manner (A)
any financial Service (Od) in any
distribution channel (A).
Sentences beginning with the
subject predicate
Placing the subject predicate or comple-
ment in sentence initial position, and thus be¬
fore the verb, for purposes of emphasis seems
relatively common in Slovene. This frequent-
ly involves placing an adjective such as po¬
memben and zanimiv, perhaps modified by an
intensifier such as zelo, at the start of the sen¬
tence. In the following example, taken from
the 2000 NPAA report to Brussels, the predi-
51
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 45-52
cate is longer than the subject, which may lead
us, because of the principle of end-weight, to
change the word order:
(18s) Pomemben pokazatelj učinka uved¬
be davka na dodano vrednost je tudi
število zavezancev za DDV.
(18e) The number of those registered for
VAT (S) is (V) another important in-
dicator of the effect of the intro-
duction of this tax (Ps).
Note that we could began here with 'Anoth¬
er important indicator', but then it would be
the number of those registered for VAT that
would become the focus of the sentence.
The approach often taken in sentences of
this type in English is to use the empty subject
'It', which means that there is no fundamental
change in vvord order:
(19s) Zelo velikega pomena za naše pod¬
jetje je, da si naše stranke in poslovni
partnerji o nas ustvarijo dobro mne¬
nje.
(19e) It is of vital importance that our
customers and business contacts
form a favourable opinion of our
company.
Conclusion
The differences between word order in Slov-
ene and English should be constantly borne in
mind when translating between the two lan-
guages. Retaining Slovene word order in an
English text will make the reader's task much
more difficult (or may actually mislead) be¬
cause it will lead to constant violations of both
the information principle and the principle of
end-weight. The need for a change in vvord or-
References
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. and Fin-
egan, E. (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and
Written English. Harlovv: Pearson Education.
Fries, P.H. (1994) 'On Theme, Rheme and discourse
goals'. In Coulthard, R. M. (ed.) Advances in Written
Text Analysis. London: Routledge: 229-249.
We will conclude with an interesting and
stylistically marked example, taken from the
2000 NPAA report. The original sequence of el-
ements has to be reversed in the translation so
that the subject predicate is located after the
verb:
(20s) Kvaliteten premik pri razvoju zgo¬
raj naštetih procesov in politik po¬
meni vstop v vse tri programe EU
na področju izobraževanja, poklic¬
nega izobraževanja in usposablja¬
nja ter mladine s 1. majem 1999.
(20e) Slovenia's participation in the
three EU programmes in the field
of education, training and youth,
which began on 1 May 1999, has
brought about a gualitative im-
provement in the development of
these policies and their implemen-
tation.
It is, of course, Slovenia's participation in
the EU programmes that has brought about
(we might also say Ted to', 'resulted in', per-
haps even 'meant') a qualitative improve-
ment, not the other way round, and it is the
latter information that should come at the end
of the sentence in English.
der may be signalled by a Slovene sentence or
clause beginning with a preposition, the ob-
ject of the main verb, a passive participle, a (re-
flexive) verb, an adverb, a reason clause or the
subject predicate. And as a general rule, unless
the passive is involved, one should always look
long and hard at any sentence in an English
translation in vvhich the verb precedes the sub¬
ject.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1967) 'Notes on transitivity and theme
in English: Part 2'. Journal ofLinguistics 3: 199-244.
Herrity, P. (2000) Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar.
London and New York: Routledge.
52