Difficult verbs of Russian language and English phrasal verbs

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That it is thinner to experience a situation with absence in the speech of phrasal verbs, it is possible to give an example from Russian. The matter is that at Russian there are also so-called phrasal verbs though at us they are called difficult verbs. Difference from the English phrasal verbs not absolutely big. Let's consider. In the English phrasal verb there is a verb, will tell cut – to cut + a basic prefix to him which gives him other shade of value, sometimes cardinally changing sense of the verb.

In Russian on the contrary, the basic prefix is ahead of a verb, but not after him. Further there are examples:

Cut up – нарезать

Cut off – отрезать

Cut down – урезать (cut down on spending – урезать затраты)

Cut out – вырезать

Cut through – прорезать

Cut into – to crash

Apparently from examples, on any prefix in English, there is the in Russian except that it goes a verb in the beginning. However not always these prefixes coincide.

Jane Pow has allocated the following characteristic signs of a phrasal verb:

1) The phrasal verb can be replaced with a "simple" verb: call up - telephone come by - obtain, put off - postpone, etc.

2) One more sign of phrasal verbs is the idiomatic. The idiom, as a rule, is understood as a combination of two or more words which value doesn't coincide with value of components. Many phrasal verbs possess value which can't be brought out of values of his components. For example: bring up - educate, give up - stop doing, using, etc.

3) The following property of a phrasal verb is an opportunity to have an adverbially postposition before and after the noun used with this verb.

Value of a postposition according to I.E. Anichkov:

1) Spatial value. For example: go in, come out, take away, bring back;

2) Abstract value. For example: let a person down = fail him; come in = find a place; bring out = expose; pull through = recover.

3) Emphasizes or supports value of a verb. For example: fall down, rise up, turn over, circle round;

4) Value combinations in which sense don't consist of values of verbs and postpositions. For example: come about = happen, fall out = quarrel, drop off = fall asleep; take in = deceive.

5) Combinations in which the postposition introduces lexically a specific shade.

In the last category the postposition introduces a shade:

a) perfect: eat up = eat the hole; carry out = execute;

b) Terminate, meaning not completeness of action, but the termination of incomplete action: leave off work; give up an attempt;

c) Interactive: strike up a tune, light up = begin smoking; break out = to start suddenly (of violent events).

d) But it is necessary to call this classification of phrasal verbs conditional.

Borders between categories are accurately not established; and the verb in one case can belong to the second category, and in another - to the fourth. It can speak the fact that over time to reveal etymology of this verb harder and harder and, therefore, its value becomes not brought out of his components. In addition, there are always verbs which allow various interpretations. Very numerous and various group the phrasal verbs expressing the movement and at the same time make it characterizing. Verbs of this group most often express not just the movements, and transition from one place to another. Therefore the majority of them is used with the postpositions specifying the direction of the movement (into, out, up, to). For example: stand up - to rise; go out - to leave, leave; go into - to enter; jump into - to jump. Separately it should be noted cases when the phrasal verb expresses the termination or, on the contrary, a start of motion. For example: get over - to finish, be quit with something; jump down - to jump off, come off; run out - to finish race; throw off, get off - to begin (something). Very big group is made by the phrasal verbs expressing transition of object from one state in other or his movement. In essence, the verbs objecting transition from the movement to immovability or a start of motion can be carried to this group or be considered as an intermediate link. In general, borders between separate groups of phrasal verbs are very unsteady in the lexical relation therefore it isn't easy to define them.

Phrasal verbs are very different both on the compatibility and on additional values which consist in them or which they gain in the text. They can express nature of action transition from one state to another, motivation to action, etc., but in all cases action is steadily characterized by the value concluded in the verb. or long: go on, talk away, struggle along; e) interactive or repeated. Such postpositions as again, anew, afresh, sometimes back and over joining verbs, form combinations to value of repetition of action: write again, write anew, write afresh. Separately it should be noted cases when the phrasal verb expresses the termination or, on the contrary, a start of motion. For example: get over - to finish, be quit with something; jump down - to jump off, come off; run out - to finish race; throw off, get off - to begin (something) Very big group is made by the phrasal verbs expressing transition of object from one state in other or his movement. In essence, the verbs objecting transition from the movement to immovability or a start of motion can be carried to this group or be considered as an intermediate link. In general, borders between separate groups of phrasal verbs are very unsteady in the lexical relation therefore it isn't easy to define them. [23, p. 211]

In general, the main function of phrasal verbs is conceptual categorization of reality in the speaker's mind. They denote not only actions or states as "ordinary" verbs do, but also specify their spatial, temporal or other characteristics. This ability to describe actions or states more precisely, vividly and emotionally is determined by the adverbial components of phrasal verbs. By combining with these elements, verbs of broader meaning are subjected to a regular and systematic multiplication of their semantic functions. While the English verb has no consistent structural representation of aspect, adverbial particles either impart an additional assertive meaning to the base verb (e.g. the durative verb sit merges with the particle down into the terminative phrasal verb sit down) or introduce a lexical modification to its fundamental semantics. In most cases adverbial elements denote the general spatial direction of the action or express its qualitative or quantitative characteristics, like beginning (set out), duration (bum along), completion (think out), intensity (hurry up), and so on.

Obviously, such semantic peculiarities of English phrasal verbs must influence the process of their translation into the Russian language, which has a highly developed system of verbal prefixes. In addition to their function that is analogous to that of English prefixes, Russian verbal prefixes resemble English adverbial particles in their semantic functions, also indicating various qualities of actions and states. Like adverbial particles in English, Russian prefixes are lexically strong. For example, the Russian prefix "раз-" denotes 1) division into parts (раскрошить); 2) distribution, direction of action in different directions (разъехаться); 3) action in reverse (разминировать); 4) termination of action or state (разлюбить); 5) intensification of action (расплясаться). Thus, in translation from English into Russian, the meaning of the English adverbial component of the phrasal verb is mostly conveyed by using the Russian prefix that reflects the character of the described action or state most accurately. To a greater degree, this refers rather to nuances of semantics than grammar. [24, p. 25]

When dealing with translation of English phrasal verbs or pre-analysis of their adverbial elements' meaning, one should always keep in mind their astounding polysemy, which sometimes borders on homonymy. Compare the following: take in 4 (to receive sb in one's home with welcome, as a guest) and take in 12 (to deceive sb) (Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs). It holds true for Russian prefixes as well, the same ones rendering different shades of meaning in different uses (see examples above). That is why it seems almost impossible to create a consistent rigid system of lexical correspondences between English adverbial particles and Russian prefixes, without encountering numerous debatable problems. Strictly speaking, proper translation of English phrasal verbs to a high degree depends on the context in which they are used, which suggests the appropriate interpretation of the described action. Having stated the specific characteristics of the action denoted by a certain phrasal verb, one can seek a Russian counterpart prefix, which is the closest in rendering the same idea and meets the lexical and grammatical requirements of translation into the target language.

For example, the sentence "The attack had gone across the field, been held up by machine-gun fire from sunken road, encountered no resistance in the town, and reached the bank of the river" [E. Hemingway, A Way You'll Never Be] should be translated as «Атака развертывалась на лугу и была приостановлена пулеметным огнем с дорожной выемки, не встретила отпора в городе и закончилась на берегу реки». According to the Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, in the above context the phrasal verb hold up has the following meaning: 2. to delay (sth or sb). The Russian prefix "при-" adequately renders the idea that the attack was delayed just for a while. The sentences "There was a little fire there. Nancy built it up, when it was already hot inside" [W. Faulkner, That Evening Sun] have the following translation: «В очаге еще были горячие угли, она их раздула, и пламя вспыхнуло". The adverbial particle up in the phrasal verb build up imparts the idea of increasing the size of the fire and shows the intensification of the action. According to the definition given in the Oxford Russian Dictionary, the most appropriate Russian prefix should be "раз-", indicating the intensification of action. For the sentence "Three or four times while I was going through their envelopes, I was tempted to get up and make a formal protest to M.Yoshoto" [J. D. Salinger, De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period] the best translation would be "И когда я просматривал их работы, меня не раз так и подмывало вскочить и обратиться с официальным протестом к мосье Йошото", as there is a proper semantic correspondence between the adverbial element through in the phrasal verb going through and the Russian prefix "про-" in the verb "просматривал", both denoting exhaustive action.

English phrasal verbs can be highly idiomatic, their meanings being unpredictable from the sum of their constituents' meanings (e.g. take in (to deceive), lay down (to build), let on (to tell a secret). In such cases, where the context or professional experience fail to reveal the sense of a phrasal verb, a good explanatory or bilingual dictionary can be of great help to the translator. For example, for a person who is not a native speaker of English, in the sentence "He liked to break in his assistants slowly" neither the context, nor the adverbial element of the phrasal verb hint at the real meaning of the combination break in.[25, p. 45]

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