4 The text structure of parliamentary discourse
4.4 Dependencies of EDUs
4.4.1 Three examples from the corpus
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have relatively more textualisations pertaining to the levels below. In the following sections, I explain the analyses of these two parameters and present the results.
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grammatical characteristics are highlighted between square brackets in capital letters; see EDU
#9 in the Danish excerpt.
# EDU English translation Syntactic relation
(dependency) 1 Hr. formand, lad mig først slå
fast, at for os at se er
Amsterdam-traktaten en langt bedre traktat end Maastricht-traktaten.
Mr President, let me first establish that in our view the Amsterdam Treaty is a much better treaty than the
Maastricht Treaty.
independent sentence (a)
2 Det synes jeg er vigtigt at holde fast i.
I think it is important to bear that in mind.
independent sentence (a)
3 Der er i Amsterdam-traktaten lagt vægt på, hvad vi i Danmark har kaldt vores mærkesager,
The Amsterdam Treaty places emphasis on what we in Denmark have called our important issues,
main clause as part of a sentence (b) 4 men det er også mærkesager for
mange andre.
but they are also important issues for many others.
coordinate main clause (c) to #3 5 Eksempler herpå er bedre
miljøbeskyttelse, samarbejde om bekæmpelse af
arbejdsløshed, åbenhed og større indflydelse til Europa-Parlamentet.
Examples include better environmental protection, cooperation in the fight against unemployment, transparency and greater influence of the European Parliament.
independent sentence (a)
6 Jeg vil dog sige, at på nogle områder har vi noget besvær med betænkningen om Amsterdam-traktaten.
However, I would like to say that we have some difficulties with the report on the
Amsterdam Treaty regarding some points.
independent sentence (a)
7 Vi er nødt til at stemme imod nogle af områderne.
We will have to vote against some of the points.
independent sentence (a)
8 Vi mener, at det er meget beklageligt, at man vil forsøge at lægge hindringer i vejen for udvidelsen
We think it is very regrettable that people should want to put obstacles in the way of
enlargement
matrix clause (b)
9 ved at kræve, at alle
institutionelle reformer skulle være på plads,
by [TO DEMAND] that all institutional reforms should be in place
infinitival clause (f) to
#8
10 inden udvidelsen påbegyndes. before the enlargement begins. subordinate finite adverbial clause (d) to
#9 Table 4.2: Danish excerpt with annotations <ep-97-11-19.txt:161>
In this example from the Danish part of the corpus, we can see how five out of ten EDUs have been textualised as independent sentences (level a), and only two EDUs (#9 and #10) are textualised at the more dependent, subordinate levels (d) and (f). The English example in Table
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4.3 shows similar patterns with respect to syntactic relations: four EDUs are independent sentences and three different EDUs are found at the other top levels (b)-(e) of the deverbalisation scale, EDU#2+4+8. The main difference with the Danish example is the presence of a participial modifier (level h) in EDU#3.
# EDU Syntactic relation (dependency)
1 Mr President, firstly, I find it quite incredible that Mr Tindemans is being hailed here as a visionary.
independent sentence (a) 2 I do not know how someone [EDU#3+4) can
be considered a visionary.
matrix clause (b)
3 living in the Dark Ages, present participial modifier (h) to someone in # 2
4 who believes in military blocs, global militarisation and imperialism
relative clause (e) to someone in #2 and
#3
5 It is a ludicrous thought. independent sentence (a)
6 On the issue of imperialism, it is quite clear in paragraph 4 of this document that 'the purpose of a common defence policy is to protect the Union's interest in all areas, including security of supply'.
independent sentence (a)
7 That is disgraceful. independent sentence (a)
8 You are saying that you want a defence policy and defence system,
matrix clause (b) 9 not to protect yourself against potential
aggressors,
infinitive clause (f) to #8 10 but to protect your fundamental selfish
interests.
coordinate infinitive clause (f) to #9 Table 4.3: English excerpt with annotations <ep-98-05-13.txt:201>
The Italian example in Table 4.4 exhibits many of the textualisations found in the Danish and English examples. However, there are no EDUs shaped as whole independent sentences, because all intrasentential EDUs have subordinate EDUs attached; in some cases such as EDUs#4-6 and EDUs#8-10, even subordinate EDUs have subordinate EDUs attached, yielding a deeper text structure consisting of more degrees of subordination (see Ferrari & Zampese, 2000, p. 143), as shown in Section 4.4.2.1. This phenomenon is feasible because the Italian text has longer and fewer sentences (see Table 4.1), and because it contains embedded insertions such as the ones in EDUs#5+6 and EDUs#9 and relative clauses in EDU#9+10. In the next
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section, I shall elaborate on the differences observed in these examples and describe the overall dependency patterns of the three languages.
# EDU English translation Syntactic relation
(dependency) 1 Signora Presidente, desidero
informare il Parlamento di una grave iniziativa
Madam President, I would like to inform Parliament of a serious initiative
matrix clause (b) 2 che è stata presa la settimana
scorsa, in Italia, dal governo regionale della Regione Lazio.
which has been undertaken last week in Italy by the regional government of the Lazio region.
relative clause (e) to iniziativa #1
3 Questo ha infatti costituito una commissione per il controllo dei libri di testo di storia nelle scuole, commissione
The regional government has established a committee to monitor the history textbooks used in schools, committee
matrix clause (b)
4 che deve controllare fino a che punto [EDU#5+6] questi testi sono inficiati di marxismo.
which is to ascertain the extent to which
[EDUs#5+6] these texts are influenced by Marxism
relative clause (e) to commissione in #3
5 - come dicono i neofascisti - as the neo-fascists say subordinate finite adverbial clause (d) to
punto in #4 6 che sono al governo nel Lazio - who are in power in Lazio - relative clause (e) to
neofascisti in #5 7 Il fatto è che questi testi
presentano soltanto la storia d'Italia, della Seconda guerra mondiale, del nazismo e del fascismo
The fact is that these texts merely present the history of Italy, of the Second World War, of Nazism and Fascism,
matrix clause (b)
8 assumendo, come ovvio, che non si possono mettere sullo stesso piano i valori [EDU#9] e le idee [EDU#10]
assuming that it is clear that the values [EDU#9] and the ideas [EDU#10] cannot be regarded as equal.
gerund (g) to #7
9 per cui si sono battuti i resistenti e gli antifascisti
for which the resistance and the antifascists were fighting
relative clause (e) to valori in #8 10 che hanno ispirato Hitler e
Mussolini.
which motivated Hitler and Mussolini
relative clause (e) to idee in #8 Table 4.4: Italian excerpt with annotations <ep-00-11-13.txt:31>