Relative Clauses in English

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c. Criteria of a Good Translation

From many theories about translation, many linguists seem to agree to the criteria of a good translation. To meet the criteria of a good translation, a translation result should be accurate and natural. To make an accurate and natural translation needs a long process of preliminary and on-going study of the project. In this study, the participants were required to make a good translation as described above. Because the goal is to produce an idiomatic translation, accuracy and naturalness of the participants’ translation of relative clauses from Indonesian into English are taken into account.

3. Relative Clauses

Since this study discusses the translation of relative clauses from Indonesian into English, there are two viewpoints will be stated, relative clauses in English and relative clauses in Indonesian.

a. Relative Clauses in English

Relative clauses in English are also known as adjective clauses. A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun. Hewings 2001 states it “gives more information about someone or something referred to in a main clause”. English relative clauses are categorized into two major types, i.e. defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 17 1 Defining Relative Clauses One of the types of relative clauses is defining relative clauses. A defining relative clause, also called restrictive relative clause, describes “the preceding noun in such a way as to distinguish it from other nouns of the same class” Thomson and Martinet, 1995. According to Graver 1984, this kind of relative clause is “an essential part of the whole definitions, and cannot be omitted if the sentence as a whole is to make useful sense”. For example: a A conductor is a person who collects fares on a bus or tram. In the example above a, the words in italic is the relative clause. If we omit the relative clause, the sentence will be unclear and the sentence will be incomplete, as stated below: b A conductor is a person. In b the sentence is not clear because the meaning of ‘a person’ is too general. ‘A person’ is not always a conductor. Thus, the defining relative clause gives a clear understanding of the noun, as in the example a. Example a and b are taken from Graver 1984. Hewings 2001 adds that defining relative clauses “are used to specify which person or thing we mean, or which type of person or thing we mean”. Therefore, there is no need to use comma here. Defining relative clauses may describe a noun as subject or object. In constructing defining relative clauses, there are relative pronouns that can be used. They are who, whom, which, and that. Relative pronouns who and whom describe person, while relative pronoun which describes things. Relative pronoun that may PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 18 describe both person and things. Nonetheless, it is common to omit the relative pronoun as in the following example taken from Hewings 2001: c He showed me the rocks whichthat he had brought back from Australia . d He showed me the rocks he had brought back from Australia. In c, the relative pronouns in the brackets can be omitted example d without changing the meaning of the sentence. However, this omission can only be applied if the position of the relative pronoun in the sentence is as object relative, while it cannot be applied in contradiction if the position of the relative pronoun in the sentence is as subject relative. Relative pronoun that is only used in defining relative clauses. This special relative pronoun may also be used to refer to subject and object after the words something and anything. Words such as all, little, much, no and none used as nouns and superlatives may also used relative pronoun that. Relative pronoun which is also used to describe the same thing, but it less commonly occurs. 2 Non-defining Relative Clause The other type of relative clauses is non-defining relative clauses, also known as non-restrictive relative clauses. Thomson and Martinet 1995 state “Non-defining relative clauses are placed after nouns which are definite already”. Contrasting to defining relative clauses, non-defining relative clauses are enclosed by commas. Fabb 1994 adds “English nonrestrictive relative clauses differ from PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 19 restrictive relatives most obviously in that they are spoken with an intonational break like parentheticals”. See example below: e Peter, who had been driving all day, suggested stopping at the next town. Thomson and Martinet, 1995 In example e the words in italics is the relative clause. Non-defining relative clause does not modify the nouns but solely gives additional information to the noun. If we omit the relative clause in that sentence, the sentence is still complete. See the following example: f Peter suggested stopping at the next town. In non-defining relative clause, the relative pronoun cannot be omitted. Relative pronouns used in this construction are who, whom, and which. Relative pronouns who subject and whowhom object describe person, while which describe things. Non-defining relative clauses are formal forms and commonly found in written English. 3 Other Types of Relative There are other relative pronouns used in relative clauses construction. They are whose, when, where, etc. Relative pronoun whose is used to show possessive Azar, 1989. Example as follows: g I know the man whose bicycle was stolen. In example g, the relative clause modifies the noun ‘the man’. It can be seen that the bicycle belongs to the man. Relative pronouns when and where are often used in informal relative clause construction, but in formal English they are often PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 20 replaced by a phrase with preposition + which. See how the example g and h below differ without changing the meaning. h This was the place where we first met. Informal i This was the place atin which we first met. Formal 4 Zero Relative Clauses As stated before in defining relative clauses, it is common to omit the relative pronoun in the relative clauses See example d. The omission of the relative pronoun in relative clause construction thus is called zero relative clauses, usually indicated with the symbol ‘ø’. Zero relative clauses can only occur in defining relative clauses positioned as object relative. It cannot occur in the defining relative clauses positioned as subject relative. It also cannot occur in the non-defining relative clauses. In conclusion, the uses of relative pronouns are shown in the following table: Table 2.2 Uses of Relative Pronouns Yule, 2004 Subject relative Object relative After-preposition relative Possessive relatives Fronted Stranded who ø to which ø … to whose that that to whom that … to of which which which who … to whom which … to

b. Relative Clauses in Indonesian