CHAPTER 4. ELLIPSIS IN COMPLEX SENTENCES IN THE NOVEL “GONE WITH THE WIND” IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE
4.1. A summary of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind”
4.2.2. Ellipsis of head noun alone
The last group of noun phrase ellipsis concerning ellipsis of head noun alone makes up for the largest proportion of 22 times, an equivalent to 84.62%. In this case, Vietnamese equivalents reduced to 14 times.
It is stated by Quirk et al. (1985) that head noun ellipsis is recognized when a function of a head noun from a previous clause is taken over by one of the elements
34
that would normally pre-modify the head noun. Quirk et al. (1985) mentions four elements that can function as a head instead of the elliptical head noun – these are numerative, adjective, and genitive cases. Ellipsis of head noun alone is demonstrated by the following examples.
(2) Outside, the late afternoon sun slanted down in the yard, throwing into gleaming brightness the dogwood trees that were solid masses of white blossoms against the background of new green ▲. (Page.6)
(Bên ngoài, nắng chiều chiếu nghiêng xuống khoảnh sân, ném những tia sáng chói chang lên hàng cây dương đào với từng chùm hoa trắng trên bối cảnh xanh um.)
This complex sentence collected from page 6 in the novel n English shows that in the noun phrase “the background of new green”, “background” is the head noun and
“of new green” is post-modifier. For this post-modifier, it can be understood that the noun ‘tree’ is elliptical and the full noun phrase will be “the background of new green trees”. This means that the head noun “trees” in the post-modifier “of new green” is omitted.
- That head nouns are omitted after numerals appears four times in the novel “Gone with the wind” and only one in Vietnamese equivalent.
From the following case below, we can see that head noun can be an elliptical case when they come after cardinal number, which later functions as a head.
(3) When the song had finished, two forms merge into one ▲came up the walk and mounted the steps. (page 202)
(Đến lúc bài ca chấm dứt, hai bóng người nhập làm một▲... cùng bước lên thềm.) (page 207)
“One” in English sentence and “một” in Vietnamese equivalent are both “one form”. In other words, there is relevant ellipsis in the Vietnamense equivalent.
In the rest case, although there is elliptical cases of head noun alone in English sentences, the Vietnamese equivalents have the full form. In the following case (5), the author uses cardinal number “twenty” to refer to “twenty children”, which mean that the head noun “children” is elliptical.
(4) My pet, as I told you before Bonnie was born, it is immaterial to me whether you have one child or twenty(▲) (page 874)
(Em cưng, như tôi đã nói trước khi có Bonnie, dù em có sinh thêm một hay hai chục đứa nữa tôi cũng không cần.)
35
When it comes to the numerative, it is an ordinal number that becomes a head of a noun phrase. As required by grammar it is used with a specific article the, or possessive adjective. For example:
(5). You eat as though each meal were your last ▲. (page 832) (Em làm như đang ăn bữa chót) (Page 761)
“You eat as though each meal were your last” can be understood as “You eat as though each meal were your last meal”. At the same time in the translation version the head noun is translated in full. “Your last” in English is translated into full head noun as “ăn bữa chót” in Vietnamese.
(6). “You’d think they’d had enough fighting in Virginia” said Cade bitterly, as he watched the two bristles like gamecocks over who should be the first ▲ to kiss the fluttering and flattered Aunt Pitty. (Page. 260)
(“Tụi nó làm người ta tưởng là đánh nhau chưa đủ ở Virginia” Cade gay gắt nói khi nhìn hai an hem Frontaine sừng sộ như hai con gà chọi tranh nhau được quyền hôn cô Pitty trước khiến cô vừa lo vừa sợ vừa thích thú.) (Page.262)
In (6) “the first” can be understood as “the first person”. This means that the head noun “person” is elliptical. In Vietnamese- translated version, the translator chose another way to translate this and there is no ellipsis equivalent to the English in English version.
- In noun phrases with possessive cases in complex sentences, head nouns can be omitted, possessive pronouns or possessive nouns then function as head nouns. This situation accounts for the large amount of ellipsis in noun phrase with fifteen cases.
For examples:
(7) It didn’t occur to her that the idea was Rhett Butler’s ▲.( Page194) (Nàng không nhận ra ấy lời nàng vừa nói chính là ▲của Rhett Butler)
(8) If only Ashley were her husband, instead of Melanie’s ▲, how sweet it would be to go to him and lay her head upon his shoulder and cry and shove her burdens on to him to work at as best he might (page 511)
(Phải chi Ashley là chồng nàng mà không phải▲ của Melanie thì sung sướng quá. Nàng sẽ dựa đầu vào vai, sẽ khóc với chàng và sẽ trao cho chàng tất cả gánh nặng của mình)- page 491
(9) She smiled up at him as she sipped the wine, knowing that her cheeks were more attractively pink than any of the dancer’s▲. (Page 596)
36
(Vừa nhấm nháp ly rượu ngọt, nàng vừa mỉm cười với y. Nàng tự biết đôi má của mình hồng hào và gợi cảm hơn bất cứ▲ một cô gái khác nào ở đây)- page 564
(10)The Congregation was as much stunned by Wade’s appearance as by Rehtt’s
▲, for the little boy was supposed to be a Catholic. (Page 884)
(Họ ngạc nhiên khi thấy Wade đi với hắn, bởi nghĩ rằng nó theo Công giáo) (page 807)
(11) My little inner world was gone, invaded by people whose throughts were not my throughts, whose actions were as alien as a Hottentot’s ▲. (Page 516) (Thế giới nội tâm bé nhỏ của anh đã tan biến,đã bị tư tưởng người khác xâm chiếm, những người đối với anh có những hành động thật xa lạ như thổ dân Hottentot (page 498)
(12) When her eyes caught his ▲, he smiles, showing animal-white teeth below a close- clipped black moustache. (Page 97)
Khi mắt nàng gặp▲ hắn, hắn mỉm cười đẻ lộ hàm răng trắng toát như răng thú dưới bộ râu mép đen tỉa sát. (Page 100)
It is easy to make out that “Rhett Butler’s” is elliptical for “Rhett Butler’s idea”,
“Belle’s”in (7) is for “Belle’s house” , “Melanie’s” in (8) is for “Melanie’s husband” , “dancer’s” in (10) is for “dancer’s cheeks”, “Rhett’s” in (10) is for
“Rhett’s appearance”, “Hottentot’s” in (11) is for “Hottentot’s actions”. Although the reduced genitive constructions above are cases of ellipsis, similar constructions with a possessive noun as a head are treated with virtual ellipsis or quasi- ellipsis because there are clear antecedents.
In Vietnamese equivalents sometimes there is a tendency that a head noun remains with the possessive case as the following:
(13) Do you think I’ll let you take that baby out of here when you’ll be drunk every night and most likely taking her to houses like that Belle’s ▲. (Page 922)
(Anh tưởng tôi để anh đem con tôi đi trong khi đêm nào anh cũng say sưa, đêm nào anh cũng dắt nó vào mấy chỗ như nhà con Belle.) (page 841)
It can be clearly seen that in Vietnamese equivalent the head nouns “nhà”are expressed with the possessive “Belle’s”. In other word, the head nouns are in the full sentence, the ellipsis does not happen.
37
At the same time the translator expressed other cases of head noun ellipsis in another way. She also omitted head nouns in her translated sentences as in (7), (8), (9),(11), and (12)
- In the instances where head nouns after adjectives are omitted, then the adjectives function as head nouns. In both following elliptical cases in which the head noun after adjective is omitted, their Vietnamese equivalents do not contain the ellipsis of head noun alone, they were translated in the full form.
(14) When at last she fainted, there was no place to lay her expect on the kitchen table, as very bed, chair and sofa in the house was filled with wounded ▲. (Page.312)
(Cuối cùng Melanie ngất đi và người nhà phải đặt nàng nằm trên một chiếc bàn trong bếp vì giường, ghế dựa, trường kỷ trong nhà đều đầy nghẹt những người bị thương) (page. 310)
In this case, though the former sentence does not concern about “people”, the readers still understand that the adjective “wounded” refers to “wounded people”. In Vietnamese equivalent this is translated into the full form “những người bị thương”
The same cases can be found in the following sentence:
(15) Everyone thought she had neglected her boy’s religious education and thought more of Rhett for trying to rectify the matter, even if he did take the boy to the Episcopal Church instead of the Catholic ▲. (page 884)
(Ai cũng cho rằng Scarlett đã lơ là về việc giáo dục đạo lý cậu con trai nên khi thấy Rhett cố cải thiện điều ấy, dù hắn đưa cậu bé vào Thánh công hội thay vì nhà thờ Công giáo, mọi người đều bắt đầu có đôi chút thiện cảm. ) (page 807)
To sum up, ellipsis of head noun alone in English noun phrases can be found both in English novel “Gone with the wind” and its Vietnamese-translated version by Vu Kim Thu. Often ellipsis of head noun alone involves deletions of head nouns after numerals, genitive case or adjectives. Like other types of ellipsis, when ellipsis of head noun alone is translated from English into Vietnamese, they are sometimes translated into the full form of the noun phrase.