Sich in den Schlaf plärren und jdn wachrütteln: Kausative Konstruktionen mit Resultats-Prädikativen im Deutschen und die Möglichkeit ihrer Übersetzung ins Italienische

In a translation process, the linguistic elements and functions that can be lost are those for which no corresponding structure in the target language is available. For the language pair German-Italian this includes causative constructions with predicative resultatives such as Pavarotti singt das Publikum aus dem Saal or Der Offizier brüllt den Gefreiten wach. Formally, these constructions resemble a transitive verb with an accusative complement and an additional directive complement or adjectival verbgroup-adverbial. But they can also be formed with verbs which in themselves do not permit an accusative complement with the respective semantic properties, but which are used as transitive verbs only in connection with another constituent, namely a resultatively interpretable adjective or a directive prepositional phrase. The constructions that follow this pattern can be lexically fixed, e.g. such verbs with an adjective preverb as trockenreiben, but also idiomatic formations such as jdn unter den Tisch trinken, or spontaneous creations in creative speech. In any case, the transitive structure in German builds rows, whereas in Italian it is not possible, or possible only to a very limited extent. It is characterized by a causative relation between the two predicative units – the verb, which expresses the mode of the action and the adjective or directive as a result of this action – which, however, is not explicit. Other characteristics are a high semantic density and, depending on the subtype, a high expressivity and pictoriality. In translation, the single characteristics compete with each other and can be lost, for instance when causativity has to be expressed as by translating (1): Con il suo canto, Pavarotti caccia il pubblico dalla sala. The article uses the method of language pair-related translation studies and examines, on the basis of two novels by Daniel Glattauer and their published Italian translations, which strategies are used to translate the various types and which of the features mentioned are lost in the process, and which can be preserved in Italian, possibly through creative translation solutions.