Icelandic Translations of the French Simple Future.

Abstract

The French simple future has no equivalent in the Icelandic verbal system and translators confronted with a verbal form from this category have to choose a substitut which express only part of the meaning. In this article we investigate how translators decide to use a modal form, like f.ex. munu + infinitif, or skulu + infinitif, rather then the present. Samples analysis indicate that when a modal form is used in Icelandic, certain components of the action which in French is expressed through the simple future are unde - fined and have no reference in the sentences of the same passage. This is especially true for the temporal frame and the direct object. another characteristic in the French text is that the sentence seems to contradict the general context of the passage from which one would rather infer a proposition expressing the opposite meaning. The hypothesis which is made in this article is that translators use a modal form when the French text has one of these characteristics in order to ensure the reader that the context in which the sentence is true is cognitively relevant. This hypothesis could add credit to the theory of Ernst august gutt who defines translation as a relevant driven cognitive activity, because it would indicate that the modal form is especially chosen when it leads to the interpretation of new propositions with a minimal effort.