Saturday, 23 August 2008

pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

I think the biggest Germanism in Amy's speech is fronting a topic, perhaps because it's a useful device that has no real counterpart in English (in general); English tends to stress the topic but not move it.

For example, she might say, "Here we were already", "Here must we get off", or "This want I not", which are good translations of German "Hier waren wir schonmal", "Hier müssen wir aussteigen", and "Das möchte ich nicht", but where I would say "We've been here already", "Here's where we have to get off", and "I don't want this" instead.


In unrelated news, Amy said, "I hurt myself!" today—an improvement over her previous "I hurt meself!". (Though I imagine there are some native English speakers who would disagree, for whom that would be overly formal and "meself" more natural :D)

As for her pronoun use, it still seems rather arbitrary whether she'll use he/him/his/himself or she/her/her/herself to refer to anyone in particular.

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pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)
Philip Newton

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