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Emphasis in Languages | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| diabolo menthe Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5782 days ago 68 posts - 70 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Swedish, Japanese | Message 1 of 4 17 December 2010 at 12:50am | IP Logged | ||
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The other day my mother and I were having a laugh over moving the emphasis in a sentence, namely: If I knew
you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. We tried all of the following versions: If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. And it made me realise that I have never noticed this happening in French novels that I have read. Is this illustrated in the same way in other languages, does it even happen in other languages? I am aware that the song should have been called "Had I known you were coming...", but alas... This thread is inspired by the other thread on noun clusters, because I think English uses a lot of emphasis instead of syntax to change meaning. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6468 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 2 of 4 17 December 2010 at 1:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, we do make considerable use of syntax in English.
It may be technically correct to say "Had I known you were coming,...." but that construction seems rare, particularly in spoken English and at least in the United States. In fact, I teach English and I am far more likely to use "If I knew...." I'm ore likely to use "Had I known...." in more formal situations or when I'm trying to be more detached or polite. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 4924 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 3 of 4 17 December 2010 at 1:32am | IP Logged | ||
That's interesting. I would always say "had I known" rather than "if I knew", though when I hear the latter it doesn't strike me as incorrect. Maybe I'm not typical, though. My parents always laugh at me for saying "not to my knowledge" instead of "not that I know of". As for regional variation, the U.S. and Canada mostly just differ on pronunciation, not on what we actually say, right? So that's probably not the source of the difference. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5575 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 4 17 December 2010 at 3:50am | IP Logged | ||
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German does it just like that. (Well, with examples where putting an emphasis on some word actually makes sense.)
But that's spoken language, not written. Most of the time writers will avoid having to put a word in italics to show the emphasis and rather paraphrase the original sentence. I guess it's a way to avoid confusion/be more precise, or maybe just considered good style because everyone does it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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