LINGUIST List 8.1711

Fri Nov 28 1997

Sum: Translation of "actance", "actant"

Editor for this issue: Elaine Halleck <elainelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Thierry Selva, Translation of "actance", "actant"

Dear Linguists,

One month ago (sorry for the delay), I asked you what would be the
english translation for the french words "actant" and "actance". I
thank all the people who kindly answered me and propose a summary of
the answers, as there are small differences:

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From: "Michel Saint-Laurent" <saintlamERE.UMontreal.CA>

Bonjour,

Le mot " actant " est souvent traduit par " agent " en anglais.

Quant a " actance " je l'ignore, desole.

En esperant vous avoir aide quelque peu,

Michel Saint-Laurent,
Linguiste-informaticien
Montreal, Quebec

Etudiant a la ma\238trise en phonologie computationnelle
Universite de Montreal
Courriel : saintlamere.umontreal.ca
Internet : http://tornade.ere.umontreal.ca/~saintlam
*********************************


*********************************
From: Richard Waltereit <richard.waltereituni-tuebingen.de>

Cher M. Selva,
la traduction anglaise de "actant" et "actance" est tout simplement
"actant" et "actance". Pour "actant", je l'ai verifie dans le
dictionnaire linguistique de H. Bussmann (Routledge dictionary of
language and linguistics), qui a le lemma "actant". Le mot "actance" a
ete invente par Gilbert Lazard (je crois), et Lazard lui-m\234me a publie
un article en anglais intitule "Actance variation and categories of the
object", dans le volume "Objects" edite par F. Plank.
Avec mes salutations distinguees,
Richard Waltereit, Universitat Tubingen, Romanisches Seminar
richard.waltereituni-tuebingen.de
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From: ch459torfree.net (David H. Sanderson)

For the translation of these terms refer to the English translation of the
dictionary of semiotics by Greimas and Courtez. Semiotics and Language:
an analytical dictionary, trans. Larry Crist/Daniel Patte/James Lee/ et. al.
(Indiana U.P., 1982).
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*********************************
From: cornishcict.fr (Francis Cornish)

Dear Dr. Selva,

You've probably already received a multitude of responses to your posting on
the "Linguist List" by now (I've only just read your message, as I get the
"skeletal" version, which means I have to look up the messages I want to
read on Netscape - which is often jammed...).

"Actance" is literally "actancy" in English; but perhaps a more meaningful
translation for English speakers would be something like "argument structure".
"Actant" is "argument" (the nearest one can get, I suggest).

Best wishes,

Francis Cornish,
Universite de Toulouse-Le Mirail
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From: "V. Hachard" <v-hachardmagic.fr>

Bonjour,
 Les deux termes sont traduits par G. Lazard lui-meme par
"acrancy" et "actant", dans l'article de presentation en anglais qu'il
a fait du groupe RIVALC (recherche interlinguistique sur les
variations d'actance et leurs correlats). La reference en est :
"Researches on acrancy", in Actances, no. 6 (1991), pp. 3-58. Je
pense qu'il emploie les memes termes dans le texte qu'il a publie
sur le meme sujet (peut-etre, d'ailleurs, le meme texte),
dans Shibatani, M. & Bynon, Th. (eds), Approaches to language
typology, Oxford university press, 1995.

 Bien a vous

 V. Hachard
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From: P.A.Rowlettmod-lang.salford.ac.uk

Thierry,

I asked that very question when I wrote a review, in English, of Lazard's
'L'actance' for the Journal of French Language Studies 5.2. Lazard himself
uses the term 'actancy' in the titles of his own work written in English.
Personally, I find this term rather 'un-English' but was unable to come up
with anything better.

Paul

Dr Paul Rowlett
Head of French
Department of Modern Languages
University of Salford
Salford M5 4WT
Greater Manchester
United Kingdom
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======================= Thierry SELVA =========================

Laboratoire d'Informatique de Besancon (LIB)
Universite de Franche - Comte
UFR des Sciences et Techniques
16, route de Gray - 25030 Besancon Cedex
France

Tel : 03 81 66 64 61
Fax : 03 81 66 64 50

>From Abroad
Tel : 33 3 81 66 64 61
Fax : 33 3 81 66 64 50

Web : http://lib.univ-fcomte.fr/PEOPLE/selva/Selva.html
============== email : selvalib.univ-fcomte.fr =======================