mezhdometno-glagolnye formy

[John Dunn]

It is an interesting idea, and the English and the Russian constructions do have something in common, especially in terms of sentence structure.  Nevertheless, my interpretation of the English would be that it is merely an interjection without the verbal element.  The phrase is, I think, essentially onomatopoeic in origin, but used figuratively: the idea of the noise made by rapid physical activity (of one sort or another) is here transferred to the mental sphere.

The question of universality is worth pursuing, though I am not sure if the effects intended to be created by the Russian and the English constructions are identical.

John Dunn.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lena <nem at ONLINE.DEBRYANSK.RU>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:32:57 +0400
Subject: [SEELANGS] mezhdometno-glagolnye formy

Dear SEELANGERS,

 I would appreciate it very much
 if you could help me with
 identifying the status of
 "wham, bam" in the following
 sentence:

 Some mental quirk had had her
 jumping --; WHAM, BAM! --;
 to an instinctive conclusion, but it had been the wrong conclusion.
 
 Is it right to say that this
 functioning is somewhat equivalent to
 the Russian
 interjectional-verbal form
 (mezhdometno-glagolnaya forma):
 
 Говорит про одно, а потом вдруг... скок в другое место.
 (Govorit pro odno, a potom
 vdrug...SKOK v drugoye mesto.)

 It is definitely not a sound
 imitation.
 But interjectional-verbal forms
 are not typical of English.

 Or does it simply show the
 quickness of mental activity?
 
 Could it show the universality
 of thought with coexisting
 difference in language
 expression in every particular
 language?

With gratitude,
Nikolaenko Elena

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John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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