Passive constructions in translation

Abstract

This paper presents a corpus-based analysis of passive constructions and their translation from English and German into Catalan. The analysis is grounded in a systematic categorization of the construction families in the three languages and their translation correspondences, focusing on both form and meaning (content and construal) and accounting for shifts in meaning between the source and target texts. The findings are relevant from both translation-oriented and contrastive perspectives. First, it is shown how passive constructions in the three languages are interconnected through translation. Second, these connections offer insights into the category of passive constructions and their variation across languages.