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The Expression of Tense, Aspect, Modality and Evidentiality in Albert Camus’s L'Étranger and Its Translations / L'Étranger de Camus et ses traductions : questions de temps, d'aspect, de modalité et d'évidentialité (TAME): An empirical study / Etude empirique
Edited by Eric Corre, Danh Thành Do-Hurinville and Huy Linh Dao
[Lingvisticæ Investigationes Supplementa 35] 2020
► pp. 221–243

Chapter 12
French tense challenged by Finnish aspects

| CNRS & Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
This article calls into question, on the basis of selected excerpts from the Finnish translation of Camus’ novel, Sivullinen, two commonly held ideas: (1) L’Étranger’s style is “oral”; (2) Finnic languages have a poor TAM system – if only tenses are considered. Different from Perfekti, that conveys a past event with present relevance, the Finnish Imperfekti is the verbal form of narrative dynamism: Imperfekti allows the speaker to take a stand as an observer of an action anchored in the past, it is theoretically the perfect tense for Meursault’s Finnish account. But the translator is confronted to a dilemma: in order to preserve the naturality of such a typologically different language, should he refrain from resorting to the multiple ressources of the Finnish aspectual derivation system, and stick to the standardized register of simple Imperfects? The restrictive temporality of Non-Finite Constructions provides a compromise solution.
Keywords: orality, typology, translation, French tense, Finnish aspect, Non Finite Constructions
Article outline
  • 1.L’Étranger’s temporality: pc vs. ps
  • 2.Orality of L’Étranger as a discourse
    • 2.1Impromptu speech vs. Simulated speech
    • 2.2Information structuring: The oral–written relationship
    • 2.3Oral features in L’Étranger?
  • 3.Finnish, a North-Western Uralic language
    • 3.1Typology of Finnic languages
    • 3.2Finnish verb: Tenses and aspects
      • 3.2.1Finnish past tenses
        • Summary: Difference Imperfekti / Perfekti
      • 3.2.2The Finnish TAM system
  • 4.L’Étranger / Sivullinen: Passé composé / Imparfait vs. Perfekti / Imperfekti?
    • 4.1Finnish aspect and resultativity
      • 4.1.1Verb derivations
      • 4.1.2Object case alternation
    • 4.2Non-Finite Constructions (nfcs) and temporality
      • Summary
  • 5.Final conclusion
  • Notes
  • Glossary
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lis.35.12fer
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