the syntax analysis of interrogative sentence in indonesian and english

Ari Natarina S.Pd - Post-Graduate Study Linguistics DepartmentUdayana University - 2008

THE SYNTAX ANALYSIS OF INTERROGATIVE

SENTENCE IN INDONESIAN AND ENGLISH

VERSION OF HARRY POTTER AND THE

DEATHLY HALLOWS

By:

Ari Natarina, S.Pd

Translation Studies

Linguistics Department

Udayana University

2008

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken SL texts to

equivalent written or spoken TL texts. In general, the purpose of translation is to

reproduce various kinds of texts—including religious, literary, scientific, and

philosophical texts—in another language. Therefore, the texts would be available to

wider readers.

It is well known that linguistic variation and diversity are the very nature of

human language. If language were just a classification for a set of general or universal

concepts, it would be easy to translate from an SL to a TL. The concepts of one

language may differ radically from the other is true, since each language articulates or

organizes their words differently. One of the troublesome problems of translation is

the disparity among languages. The bigger the gap between the SL and the TL, the

more difficult it will be to transfer the message from the SL to the TL.

The degree of variation allowed by the human linguistic capacity can only be

understood through the comparison of different grammatical systems. The study of

the syntactic diversity offered by dialects of a language helps us to better understand

the limits of variation in the structuring of sentences. It is for this reason that the study

of variation is necessary.

In the framework of transformational-generative grammar (of which

government and binding theory and minimalism are recent developments), the

structure of a sentence is represented by phrase structure trees, otherwise known as

phrase markers or tree diagrams. Such trees provide information about the sentences

they represent by showing the hierarchical relations between their component parts.

This paper is focused on explicating the grammatical structure of interrogative

sentences in English and compared it with the interrogative grammatical structure of

Indonesian language.

The data are taken from chapter I and II of an English novel Harry Potter and

the Deathly Hallows, which is written by J.K.Rowling. The data that is being taken is

the interrogative sentences; both direct and indirect speech. It is then analyzed

semantically and syntactically by using tree diagrams.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_and_binding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational-generative_grammar


CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

2.1 Theory of Translation

There are several definitions about translation. According to Bell (1991)

“Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a

representation of an equivalent text in a second language.” Further, he discussed about

how texts in different languages can be equivalent in different degrees. It can be fully

equivalent or partially equivalent based on the different levels of presentation (in

respect of context, semantics, grammar, lexis, etc.).

Larson (1998) explained that translation consists of transferring the meaning

of the source language into the target language. Transferring the meaning can be done

by changing the form of the first language to the form of second language by way of

semantic meaning. Although the form is changed, the meaning must be held constant.

Nida and Taber believe that a translation should be aimed at reproducing the

message instead of the similarity between the source language and the target language

messages.

Although there are so many differences in the ways the translation expert

define the word “translation”, they agreed on the basic principles which focus on

meaning as the most important consideration.

Larson (1998) described a translation continuum ranging from very literal, to

literal, to modified literal, to near idiomatic, to idiomatic, and then to unduly free. If a

text is translated word-per-word the result will be literal. Whereas a translated text can

be called idiomatic if it considers the context of the text and the culture of the source

language and the target language, not only focusing on the dictionary meaning of the

words, during the translation process. Unduly free translation occurs when the

translator modify the text too much, without regarding the structure of the source

language text. The mapping of a translation continuum can be seen below.

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Figure 1. Translation continuum

The structure of sentence plays an important role in translation. The source

language might have similar or different structure with the target language. A

translator should be knowledgeable with the structure of both languages in order to be

able to produce an idiomatic translation; otherwise it will be resulted in an unduly free

translation if he does not put the structure of sentences in both languages into

consideration.

Sentences can be classified into four different moods, that is the basic reason

for their utterance. The types of sentence based on its mood are statements, questions,

imperatives, and exclamations. Questions are sometimes said to be in the interrogative

mood. There are two kinds of question, namely real question and rhetorical question.

Both real and rhetorical have the same interrogative grammatical form, which consist

of question mark, question words, and a rise of intonation in the last pitch. However,

each serves different purpose. The purpose of a real question is to ask for information

(Larson, 1998: p. 259). It requires answer. The intention of a rhetorical question is to

give command or to make statement in a more polite way. An example of

rhetorical question can be seen below:

“I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for

you?” (14)

Although the sentence above may look like real question, it is not a

question that requires answer. It implies threat to whom the

question is intended.

In translation, problems usually occur in translating rhetorical question as it

might be needed to be translated into another form of sentence such as imperative or

statement. As for the real question, the translator could find the appropriate form of

asking for the same information in the receptor language.

2.2 The Structure of Interrogative Sentences in English

2.2.1 Yes/No Questions

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very literal

Inconsistent mixture

Modified literal

Near idiomatic

Idiomatic literal Unduly free


Yes/no questions are questions that can be answered simply by yes or no. To

turn a core sentence into a yes/no question, you have to move a part of the main

verb to the front of the sentence (Morenberg, 1997: p.97). If the main verb

contains a modal, HAVE, or BE, then it should be moved to the front. If the

sentence has no modal, HAVE, or BE, then DO should be added in the front of

the sentence, in order to make a yes/no question. According to Morenberg

(1997) the disjunction, or the movement of the modal, HAVE, or BE, does not

change any functional relationship. For example:

“Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they

professed to desire for so many years?” (17)

Does Skeeter really feel that four short weeks have been enough to gain

a full picture of Dumbledore’s long and extraordinary life?(29)

If we change the sentence back into the core sentence, we can see that the

subject, the predicate, the direct object, and the object complement remain in

exactly the same relationship.

My return, my rise to power, is not the very thing they

professed to desire for so many years.

Skeeter really feels that four short weeks have been enough to gain a full

picture of Dumbledore’s long and extraordinary life.

2.2.2 Wh-Questions

To make a core sentence into a Wh-questions, a noun phrase has to be replaced

by an interrogative pronoun (what, who, or whom) or an adverb phrase has to be

replaced by an interrogative pro-adverb (when, why, how, how often). And

sometimes a determiner is replaced by whose, which, or what.

Generally, after a noun phrase, determiner, or adverb phrase has been replaced,

the replacement should be put in the beginning of the sentence. The disjunction

also requires the movement of modal, HAVE, or BE. If the core sentence does

not contain auxiliary element, the auxiliary DO can be added to the sentence to

make it into a Wh-question. An illustration of making interrogative sentence

from core sentence can be seen below:

You see this when you look in the mirror.

“What do you see when you look in the mirror?” (25)

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‘This’ is a noun phrase, therefore it should be replaced by an interrogative

pronoun ‘what’. The main verb ‘see’ does not contain auxiliary element,

therefore ‘do’ must be added after the interrogative pronoun.

The man tipped to be the Minister of Magic was content to remain a

mere headmaster because of this.

Why was the man tipped to be the Minister of Magic content to remain a

mere headmaster? (26)

The adverbial phrase ‘because of this’ is replaced by a pro-adverb ‘why’

because it is asking for a reason. The verb BE (was) is moved to follow the pro-

adverb ‘why’.

2.3 The Structure of Interrogative Sentences in Indonesian

2.3.1 Yes/No Questions

The grammatical structure of yes/no questions has no difference with the

grammatical structure of statements. However, it is spoken with interrogative

intonation, marked by a rise in the final pitch, and written with a final question

mark (Sneddon, 1996). Sometimes, it can be made overtly interrogative by

placing apa or apakah before it. The word apa and apakah in this sense do not

have lexical function but it only act as a signal that what follows is a question.

Therefore it can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence.

These words are called a question marker. It is different with interrogative

pronoun apa. For example:

- Apa kamu bekerja?

What you work? (Are you working?)

- Kamu kerja apa?

You work what? (What do you do?)

The word apa in the first sentence can be omitted, whereas in the second

sentence it can not be omitted, as it will change the meaning of the sentence,

because it is the object of the verb.

If question marker does not occur, -kah can be attached to another word, usually

the predicate center, to indicate the construction is question. The word that –kah

is being attached to is usually placed first in the sentence. If the predicate centre

is a phrase, for instance an adjective or locative phrase, or if the phrase contains

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time marker, modal or negative, -kah can attach to the final word of the phrase,

the whole phrase then placed in the beginning of the question.

i.e. Bekerjakah kamu?

Work you? (Are you working?)

Sangat pintarkah dia?

Really clever he? (Is he really clever?)

Bukan can be also attached to a statement to turn it into a question. It

corresponds to a sentence tag with BE, HAVE, or DO in English. Bukan is

placed in the beginning of the sentence if –kah is being attached to it.

e.g. Bukankah itu ayahmu?

Isn’t that your father? or That is your father, isn’t it?

2.3.2 Specific Questions

Specific questions require specific information. It contains a question word or

interrogative, corresponding to one of the ‘wh-‘ words in English (Sneddon,

1996).

INDONESIAN ENGLISH

apa what

Siapa who

(di/ke/dari) mana where (at / to / from)

(yang) mana which

kapan when

bagaimana how

berapa How much/many

kenapa, mengapa why

Siapa and apa are interrogative pronouns. Apa can modifies a noun, meaning

‘what’. Siapa is an independent phrase if it does not follow a noun and it is a

possessive, meaning ‘whose’, if it follows a noun. Both words can follow

preposition and it can not be separated from a preceding preposition. Apa and

siapa cannot occur as subject of a passive clause. The construction will be

changed to an identifying clause where the question word, followed by yang,

becomes the predicate.

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Mana means ‘where’ when it follows a locative preposition and it can not be

separated from preposition. It means ‘which’, if it follows ‘yang’.

Berapa precedes a noun as an indefinite number meaning ‘how many’. It means

‘which, what’ if it follows a noun that refers to something belonging to a series

in which the members are distinguished by a number.

Question words of time, reason and manner usually like kapan, bagaimana,

mengapa, occur first in the clause.

In specific question –kah attaches to the question word, which comes first in the

cluse. If the question word is part of a phrase, the whole phrase occur first, with

–kah attached to the last word of the phrase. If siapa or apa occur as object of

an active verb, -kah can not be attached to it, unless the question word occur

first in an identifying clause.

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CHAPTER III

THE ANALYSIS OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE

STRUCTURE IN ENGLISH AND INDONESIAN

The data is taken from chapter 1 and 2 of Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows which is translated into Indonesian. There are 34

interrogative sentences in all (see Appendix), however only some

will be analyzed. The structure of the sentence of both languages

will be discussed in this chapter. It will be compared to see the

similarity and difference between English and Indonesian language

structure and also to figure out whether there are any lost or gain of

meaning during the translation process.

Some of the sentences do not have the structure of an

interrogative sentence, as it is in form of informal conversation, e.g:

Sentence 13.

“Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?”

"Kau pikir aku akan memberikan tongkatku, Lucius? Tongkatku?"

The structure of this sentence in English is a statement structure,

however the intonation rise at the final of the sentence which

indicates a questions. It is a rhetorical question where the speaker

showed his cynicism toward the hearer by asking question that does

not need an answer. In Indonesian, the structure of the sentence is

question structure, as the structure of a statement and question in

Indonesian is similar.

Other sentences have the structure of an interrogative

sentence. For examples:

Sentence 5.

“Where are they going to hide the boy next?”

"Dimana anak itu akan disembunyikan nantinya?”

There is no structure difference of this sentence in both languages. The sentence can

be translated literally and still make sense. The question word ‘where’ is translated

into ‘di mana’. Mana is always preceded by a preposition. ‘Di’ is chosen to precede

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‘mana’ in this sentence because it is asking about the place where the boy will be

hidden at. ‘Going to’ here indicates future, therefore it is translated into the

conjunction ‘akan’ which indicates future in Indonesian.

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S

NP: Subj VP:Pred

AdvManner

MV VP PrepP

BE NP:DObj

Noun Verb Verb Det Noun Adv

ARE

Where are they going to hide the boy next?

S

NP:Subj VP:Pred

NP

NP MV

Prep N

N Det Conj V:Passive Adv.Time

di mana

Di mana anak itu akan disembunyikan nantinya?

Sentence 8.

“Have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner

quiet?”

"Bukankah aku sudah menyuruhmu untuk membuat tawanan kita tetap diam?"

This is a kind of rhetorical question. The speaker real intention is to give order to the

hearer, not to ask for information. There is loss and gain in the process of translating

this sentence into Indonesian. The word ‘bukankah’ is added to indicate that it is a

negative sentence in replacement of ‘tidak’ (the equivalent of ‘not’). The word

‘bukan’ is used as a sentence tag, which is used to seek confirmation. The question

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marker ‘apa’ is not added in this sentence because –kah is already attached to the

word ‘bukan’.

S

NP:Subj VP: Pred

NP

PP

VP

AdjP

MV

V NP

Aux

N neg PastPart ProN Prep PresPart PossP N Adj

have

Have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoners quiet?

S

VP:Pred

NP:DObj

PP:Comp

VP

N MV

NP

Neg NP AdjP

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ProN Adv V N Prep V N PossN

Adv Adj Bukankah

Bukankah aku sudah menyuruhmu untuk membuat tahanan

kita tetap diam?

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Sentence 20.

“Will you babysit the cubs?”

“Apakah kau akan merawat anaknya itu?”

S

NP:Subj VP:Pred

MV:Future

NP: DObj

modal

N V Det N

WILL

Will you babysit the cubs?

S

NP: Subj VP: Pred

MV NP

QuesMarker ProN Conj V N PossPDet

Apakah kau akan merawat anak nya itu?

The word ‘will’ indicates future. In Indonesian it is translated to

‘akan’. However, in Indonesian the word ‘akan’ is part of the main

verb. The word ‘will’ is replaced by question marker ‘apakah’

instead. The word ‘akan’ can actually be placed in the beginning of

the sentence if ‘–kah’ is attached to it.

The direct object ‘the cubs’ is translated into ‘anaknya itu’. Cub

means the baby of animal from the cat family. However Indonesian

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language does not have specific word like that. ‘Anak’ can be used

to refer to any baby, either animals or human. ‘The’ is a determiner

that points at a particular thing that they already know which. There

is no such kind of determiner in Indonesian, therefore possessive

pronoun ‘nya’ and demonstrative ‘itu’ need to be added to show

which one they are talking about.

Sentence 22.

“Do you recognize our guest, Severus?” asked Voldemort.

"Apa kau mengenali tamu kita, Severus?” tanya Voldemort.

S

NP:Subj VP: Pred

MV NP:DObj

Aux

Noun Verb PossP Noun PropN

DO

Do you recognize our guest, Severus?

S

NP:Subj VP:Pred

Question MV NP:DObj

Marker

ProN V N ProN

Apa kau mengenali tamu kita, Severus?

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This is a yes/no question. It can be seen from the structure where DO is added in the

beginning of the sentence. In the Indonesian translation, a question marker ‘apa’ is

also added. The word ‘apa’ is not an interrogative pronoun because it has no lexical

function and can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. There is

no loss or gain in the meaning of the sentence as it can be translated literally.

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Sentence 28.

How did Dumbledore really meet his end?

Bagaimana Dumbledore meninggal?

S

NP:Subj VP:Pred

MV NP: DObj AdvManner

PropN Adv Aux V PossP N

DO

How did Dumbledore really meet his end?

S

NP:Subj VP:Pred

PropN V adv.manner

Bagaimana Dumbledore meninggal?

This is a specific question. There are many losses in translating this sentence as it can

not be translated literally into Indonesian. The meaning of ‘meet his end’ in this

sentence is death. Therefore the verb ‘meet’ which is a transitive verb and the noun

phrase ‘his end’ is translated into one intransitive verb in Indonesia that is

‘meninggal’. So the sentence in Indonesian consist only the subject and the predicate,

but it does not have an object.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Translation has always been an interesting subject to study. It requires vast

knowledge in the source language and target language, either in its meaning

(semantics), structure (syntax), and culture. This paper is focused on the analysis of

interrogative sentence structure in English and Indonesian.

From the comparative analysis done in the previous chapter about

interrogative sentences in English and Indonesian, it can be seen that both languages

have similarity and differences in its grammatical structure. The similarities are both

languages have two types of interrogative sentence, namely yes/no questions and

specific questions (wh-questions), it has rise in the final pitch, and it uses question

marker. While the difference is that in Indonesian yes/no questions, the grammatical

structure of an interrogative sentence is not different with the grammatical structure of

a statement. Whereas in English, the modal, HAVE, or BE should be moved to the

beginning of the sentence.

By knowing the similarities and differences in the grammatical structure of

interrogative sentences, it is hoped that an idiomatic translation can be produced.

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REFERENCES

Larson, M.L. (1998). Meaning-based translation: a guide to cross-language

equivalence (2nd edition). Maryland: University Press of America

Morenberg, Max. (1997). Doing Grammar (2nd edition). New York: Oxford

University Press

Sneddon, J.N. (1996). Indonesian Reference: Grammar. New South Wales: Allen &

Unwin Pty Ltd.

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the syntax analysis of interrogative sentence in indonesian and english

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