LINA MURINIENĖ

Vilnius Pedagogical University

TYPES OF TITLES OF TRANSLATED EUROPEAN UNION LEGAL ACTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

European Union legal acts and other documents began to be translated into Lithuanian in 1998, when Lithuania began preparing for negotiations on membership of the European Union. The volume of translations increased particularly from 2004, when Lithuania became a member of the Union.

Every day, many documents are translated into the official languages of the European Union in the Union’s institutions based in Brussels and Luxembourg, most often from English, less often from French, and still less often from other languages.

It is clear that the language of European Union (hereinafter — EU) documents influences administrative style¹. It may be argued that Lithuania’s accession to the European Union marked the beginning of “a new stage in the development of Lithuanian administrative language” (Vladarskienė 2006: 47; see also the same author 2005a: 111–112). Although it is still too early to speak of longstanding traditions in translating EU documents, certain tendencies to use one construction or another are already apparent.

This article is one of the first attempts to examine the main grammatical structural types of titles of translated EU documents and compare them with the titles of Lithuanian documents.

In Lithuania, the preparation and formatting of documents, including language requirements, are regulated by several legal acts. The most important are: the Law on the Procedure for Drafting Laws and Other Legal Normative Acts of the Republic of Lithuania (Žin., 1995, No. 41–991), Recommendations for Drafting Laws and Other Legal Acts (Žin., 2002, No. 50–1923), Rules for Document Management and Accounting (Žin., 2002, No. 5–211; 2005, No. 132–4773), and Rules for Drafting Documents (Žin., 2006, No. 60–2169)².

¹ The influence exerted by the language of European Union documents is also felt by other European languages (for the situation in Swedish and other Nordic languages, see Lindgren 2001: 110–111).

² For more details, see the entry “Office Administration Rules, Document Preparation” in the Language Consultation Bank of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/4380 (cf. also Vladarskienė 2005: 79).

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The translation of European Union legal acts and other documents into national languages (and thus into Lithuanian) is regulated in part by the Joint Practical Guide for the drafting of Community legislation, as well as the Interinstitutional Style Guide and other documents. Translation manuals or guidelines issued by the Council of Europe, the European Commission and other institutions are tailored to those institutions’ specific needs. All of them must be aligned with the aforementioned guides for drafting legal acts. To date, there is no document governing the correctness of translation language—a guide to translation into Lithuanian common to all European Union institutions (the so-called Interinstitutional Lithuanian Style Guide).

Lietuviškų dokumentų pavadinimų vartosena išsamiai aprašyta Prano Kniūkštos (2005: 142–165). Naujesni jų darymo polinkiai glaustai aptarti Rasuolės Vladarskienės. Pagal sandarą ji skiria tris pagrindinius dokumentų pavadinimų tipus: 1) junginiai su kilmininku, 2) konstrukcijos su prielinksniai, 3) konstrukcijos su bendratimi (Vladarskienė 2005: 80).

The structure of translated EU document titles is much more varied. In addition to the three types mentioned above, characteristic of Lithuanian, several others can be distinguished: constructions with a gerund, descriptive titles, constructions with a relative clause functioning as an attribute, and constructions with a present active participle.

The type of title is most often determined by the provision set out in the Interinstitutional Style Guide: translations into all European Union languages must be comparable. Much attention is paid to layout. It is required that the number of lines, typeface, font size, etc. in the original title and the translation as presented on the document’s cover page correspond. Compare the English, French, Lithuanian and linguistically particularly close Latvian titles of the European Parliament and Council Directive³:

DIRECTIVE 2008/68/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 September 2008 on the inland transport of dangerous goods

DIRECTIVE 2008/68/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 September 2008 on the inland transport of dangerous goods

³ Examples are taken from EUR-Lex, the online database of European Union legislation: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lt/index.htm

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DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

2008/68/EC

24 September 2008

concerning the carriage of dangerous goods by road

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

2008/68/EC

(24 September 2008)

for the domestic carriage of dangerous goods

The first two lines are used to indicate the author, type and number of the document (written in capital letters); the date is written in lowercase letters on the third line⁴, and the document’s subject is indicated on the fourth line.

In continuous text, the structure of legal act titles is partly changed—the date is moved to the beginning of the title. The title therefore becomes:

Directive 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on the carriage of dangerous goods by road (it would be better if the date followed the document’s authors: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 <...>).

As already mentioned, titles of the first three types are also used in translated documents, but their frequency of use differs from that in documents drafted in Lithuania. There are few translated EU document titles of the first type (genitive constructions) and the third type (infinitive constructions). The second type (prepositional constructions) is one of the more frequently used types.

GENITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

This is a relatively rare structural type of translated EU document titles⁵. Titles of this type most often seem to occur with the noun report:

OLAF Supervisory Committee activity report (December 2005 – May 2007); European Medicines Agency 2008 financial year income and expenditure report; 19th annual report on the implementation of the Structural Funds (2007).

⁴ In the Lithuanian version, the position of the date is wholly incompatible with Lithuanian syntax. Latvians get around this by writing the date in parentheses.

⁵ In Lithuania, this is one of the main ways of forming document titles (Vladarskienė 2005: 80).

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Genitive constructions are more commonly used in short forms of document titles; compare the full title with its abbreviated form given in parentheses:

Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive).

Short forms are convenient to use in the texts of other documents when it is sufficient to give an abbreviated document title.

PREPOSITIONAL CONSTRUCTIONS

In translated EU document titles, constructions with the preposition dėl (concerning) are the most common. They are among the most suitable ways of describing a document’s content⁶:

Commission decision dėl the Community’s 2008 financial contribution to a pilot project for health workers of 2 October 2008; European Parliament and Council directive 2008/96/EC dėl road infrastructure safety management of 19 November 2008.

The construction with the preposition apie (about) is more often used together with the noun ataskaita (report):

Commission ataskaita to the European Parliament and the Council apie the flax and hemp sector; Commission ataskaita to the Council and the European Parliament apie the implementation of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of 16 June 2003.

The question of the norms governing such usage is problematic and merits a separate article. Here, it should only be noted that the construction ataskaita apie (report about) has not yet been discussed in depth. This construction is considered undesirable in Lithuanian. The Kanceliarinės kalbos patarimai (Advice on Office Language) briefly states: the preposition apie is unsuitable either with the noun ataskaita (report) or with the verb atsiskaityti (to report/account)⁷. Among official—

⁶ Constructions with the preposition dėl are also very common in the titles of documents drafted in Lithuania (Vladarskienė 2005: 81; see also Šukys 1998: 385).

⁷ See http://lkz.mch.mii.lt/Kanceliarinis

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Among their normative sources, only the European Union’s EUROVOC thesaurus is worth mentioning; it uses staff report (Lith. staff report)⁸.

INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

Infinitive constructions, like genitive constructions, are rarely used in translated EU document titles. The infinitive may be used together with a noun in the accusative (invitation to express interest), and sometimes in an infinitival construction (recommendation to authorise the opening of negotiations). For example:

Commission recommendation to the Council to authorise the Commission to open negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement; Commission recommendation to the Council to allow the Commission to open negotiations on the Community’s participation in the work of the International Tax Dialogue; Call for expressions of interest in becoming a member of the advisory unit of the scientific committees on risk assessment and being included in the experts’ database; Call for applications under the ESPON 2013 programme.

These constructions form the basis of the title and are most often expanded by other word combinations.

As already noted, the structure of translated EU legal act and other document titles is more varied. In addition to titles characteristic of Lithuanian administrative language, several other types are used.

CONSTRUCTIONS WITH A GERUND

Titles that use constructions with a gerund are very rare:

Council recommendation to Poland with a view to correcting the situation of an excessive government deficit; Commission recommendation to the Council with a view to authorising the Commission to negotiate with the United States of America on an agreement renewing the cooperation programme in the fields of higher education and vocational training.

Titles of this type should not be proliferated; here the gerund construction can be replaced by a construction with the preposition for: recommendation <...> for <...> correcting the situation (cf. English Council Recommendation to Poland with a view to bring-

⁸ See http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/ev/ev.disph?l1=1&l2=2&l3=3&l4=4&a_term=117781

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ing an end to the situation of an excessive government deficit). It can also be formulated using the infinitive: recommendation <...> to authorise the Commission to conduct negotiations <...> (cf. English Recommendation from the Commission to the Council to authorise the Commission to negotiate with the United States of America an agreement renewing the cooperation programme in the field of higher education and vocational training).

Another case is international agreements, where it is hardly possible to avoid the participle. For example:

Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Belarus in the form of an Exchange of Letters (cf. English Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Republic of Belarus).

DESCRIPTIVE TITLES

Descriptive titles are most commonly found in EU documents intended for a wider public. In the text, the descriptive part is usually placed in quotation marks. For example:

Green Paper “Migration and mobility. Challenges and opportunities for EU education systems”; White Paper “Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU 2008–2013”; Commission Communication “Energy Efficiency – Reaching the 20% Target”.

Quotation marks are not used in the title on the document’s cover page. The titles of communications, White Papers and Green Papers are sometimes compound, and it is not always easy to determine which part of a document title should be regarded as descriptive; therefore, when titles are incorporated into continuous text, spelling (and, consequently, inflection) problems arise. Cf.:

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF REGIONS POLICY PLAN ON ASYLUM AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PROTECTION ACROSS THE EU

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS POLICY PLAN ON ASYLUM AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PROTECTION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

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CONSTRUCTIONS WITH A RELATIVE CLAUSE

A few examples:

Commission Regulation reglamentas (EC) No 924/2008 of 19 September 2008, whereby the export refund for non-quota sugar and isoglucose applicable until the end of the 2008/2009 marketing year is fixed; Commission direktyva 2008/82/EC of 30 July 2008, which amends the provisions of Directive 2008/38/EC concerning feedingstuffs intended to support renal function in cases of chronic renal failure.

If these were the titles of documents drawn up in Lithuania rather than translated titles of EU legal acts, constructions with a relative clause would compete with genitive constructions and would be corrected as follows: <...> normos <...> regulation establishing; <...> partial <...> directive amending provisions⁹. In the first case, a construction with the preposition on: regulation on establishing <...> the rate <...>.

Unfortunately, because of the formatting requirements already mentioned, in translations of European Union legal acts the part of a title that would normally be expressed in Lithuanian using the genitive cannot be moved to the beginning of the full title. As a result, very few translated document titles are phrased using genitive constructions.

CONSTRUCTIONS WITH AN ACTIVE PARTICIPLE

Titles of this structure merit closer attention. For example:

Commission Regulation reglamentas (EC) No 956/2008 of 29 September 2008, partially amending Annex IV to European Parliament and Council reglamento (EC) No 999/2001, laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies; Commission direktyva 2008/84/EC of 27 August 2008, laying down specific purity criteria concerning food additives other than colours and sweeteners.

⁹ Cf. the analogous structure of titles of legal acts drawn up in Lithuania: <...> law amending (and supplementing) (e.g., Law on the Restoration of the Rights of Persons Repressed for Resistance to the Occupation Regimes law amending (Žin., 2008, No. 137–5368); Law Amending and Supplementing Article 9 of the Law on the State Labour Inspectorate pakeitimo ir papildymo įstatymas (Žin., 2008, No. 137–5386)).

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In administrative style, it is very difficult to establish the limits of personification. This article attempts only to outline the main reasons for the spread of personification in this style and to identify the possible consequences of this phenomenon for the Lithuanian language system.

Personification is not uncommon in administrative (and scholarly) style; cf.:

The chairperson of the general meeting of members is elected from among the members of the credit union each time the meeting is convened, and until the election, the chairperson of the supervisory board presides, unless otherwise provided for in the credit union’s bylaws (Žin., 2008, Nr. 76-3003); the powers of the Director and Deputy Directors of the National Courts Administration are determined by the regulations of the National Courts Administration (Žin., 2008, Nr. 87-3472); the rules governing the tenant’s right of first refusal to renew the lease for a new term do not apply to a sublease agreement (Žin., 2000, Nr. 74-2262).

The tendency towards personification has become increasingly apparent in official usage in recent years. Alongside the metonymies customary in Lithuanian administrative style—the law permits, prohibits, establishes; in accordance with the procedure established by law, etc.—more and more expressions of this kind are appearing: the programme supports people with disabilities, the measure provides financial assistance, italics mark a term, the article discusses economic changes, and so on. In general, a pure style used appropriately, especially a specialized one (administrative or scholarly), is becoming rare. Our style authorities have spoken about this on numerous occasions.

There are probably two main reasons for the increasing use of personification: first, its use with complete disregard for stylistic requirements; second, the influence of English, which is most evident in translations of legal and scholarly texts.

The pattern of personification spreading in translations of EU legislation is simple: from an expression that at first glance seems suitable for use, regulation, partially amending another regulation (a grammatically correct and more metonymic form of personification), there is a gradual shift to metaphorical expression characteristic of belles-lettres, where artistic representation is based on the transfer of meaning (for more, see Župerka 1983: 82; 1997: 64–65).

The table below shows examples of translations into Lithuanian of EU legislation titles (retaining the original active participle form). For convenience, the English and Lithuanian titles have been abbreviated.

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USE OF THE ACTIVE PARTICIPLE IN THE TITLES OF EU LEGISLATION (cf. English and Lithuanian)

English

Lithuanian

Decision establishing an inventory and a common nomenclature of ingredients <...>

Decision, creating <...> an inventory of ingredients and a common nomenclature¹⁰

Decision authorising the placing on the market of Baobab dried fruit pulp <...>

Decision, allowing the placing on the market of dried pulp of the fruit of the baobab <...>

Decision granting a Community guarantee <...>

Decision, granting <...> the Community guarantee <...>

Decision implementing Common Position <...>

Decision, implementing the Common Position <...>

Directive simplifying procedures <...>

Directive, simplifying <...> rules

Directive adapting <...> to technical progress Council Directive <...>

Directive, adapting to technical progress Council Directive <...>

Regulation declaring certain categories of aid <...>

Regulation, declaring certain categories of aid <...>

Regulation apportioning <...> 5000 tonnes of short flax fibre and hemp fibre <...>

Regulation, allocating 5,000 tonnes of short flax fibre and hemp fibre <...>

Regulation correcting <...> Decision

Regulation, correcting <...> the decision

Regulation laying down certain detailed rules <...>

Regulation, laying down certain detailed <...> rules <...>

Regulation establishing a prohibition of fishing for herring <...>

Regulation, prohibiting <...> fishing for Atlantic herring <...>

In addition to the titles listed in the table¹¹, the following should also be mentioned as particularly linguistically flawed:

¹⁰ As already mentioned, all the examples are taken from the online EU legislation database EUR-Lex.

¹¹ The article does not consider whether the terms used are appropriate or inappropriate.

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direktyvą, išdėstanti aprašą; reglamentas, atidarantis kvotą ir nustatantis jos administravimą; reglamentas, sudarantis oro vežėjų sąrašą; reglamentas, įgyvendinantis Sutarties 81 straipsnį; reglamentas, skelbiantis konkursą; reglamentas, priimantis standartus; reglamentas, panaikinantis muitą; sprendimas, įspėjantis Graikiją; sprendimas, įsteigiantis komitetą; sprendimas, priimantis įsipareigojimą; sprendimas, patvirtinantis planus ir nustatantis finansinio įnašo dydį; sprendimas, priimantis agentūrų vadovą ir dokumentų žodyną; susitarimas, įsteigiantis asociaciją ir t. t.

Formulaicity is one of the most characteristic features of administrative style (see Župerka 1983: 106; 1997: 85; cf. also Vladarskienė 2004: 26). The translation of the English document title containing the present participle form amending, as iš dalies keičiantis, keičianti – “partially amending” – was adapted by analogy for translations of other document titles that use present participle forms, and became a template. The use of the present participle in translations is so widespread that even when the original does not contain a participial form, it can nevertheless be translated using a present participle, for example:

Decision 2006/784/EC, permitting the use of certain methods for grading pig carcases in France (cf. English Decision 2006/784/EC as regards the authorisation of a method for grading pig carcases in France).

A study of the translation into Lithuanian of the titles of EU legal acts published in the EUR-Lex database¹² showed that the wording iš dalies keičiantis, keičianti (“partially amending”) is used approximately 11,000 times in the majority of translated titles, while the wording kuriuo (kuria) iš dalies keičiamas (keičiama) (“by which [masculine/feminine] is partially amended”) is used only about 140 times¹³.

It might be thought that we need to follow a mode of translation as close as possible to English. However, this is not true: no country is obliged to copy the structure of a foreign language. According to Eglė Mikučionienė¹⁴, the English (or French) active participle is not blindly copied in translations into other European Union languages; instead, translators strive to retain the grammatical model of the national language. The Czechs and Slovaks retain their characteristic structure with a subordinate relative clause (kterou se mění; kterou sa mení – which is amended).

¹² The titles of EU legal acts examined were published in the EUR-Lex database between 2005 and 2008.

¹³ Most titles in translations of EU legal acts using a subordinate clause appeared relatively late—only from 2008 onwards.

¹⁴ This is based on E. Mikučionienė’s paper, “Some Linguistic Features of the Titles of European Union Regulations in Translation from English into Lithuanian,” delivered on 14 November 2008 at the 16th international scientific conference “Text: Linguistics and Poetics,” organized by Vilnius Pedagogical University, Šiauliai University, and the Latvian Language Institute of the University of Latvia. For the paper’s theses, see http://www.vpu.lt/index.php?2258529256

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Latvians also use a relative clause (ar ko groza – kuriuo keičia). Danish and Swedish use a construction with the preposition om (about, concerning) and a verbal noun (om ändring – apie keitimą; dėl keitimo); Spanish uses a relative subordinate clause with a reflexive verb (e.g., por el que se modifica – dėl kurio keičiasi). Portuguese and Italian translation variants are closer to English and French titles: they often use a relative subordinate clause introduced by the nominative form of the relative word which (que altera – kuris keičia).

Clearly, the principle of analogy has been applied unsuccessfully in translating the titles of EU documents into Lithuanian. Constructions with active participles are beginning to compete for official designation as a type of legal act. For instance, by unconditionally following the emerging translation pattern for amending, the English document title Council Decision on the signing of the Amending Protocol to the Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube of 18 August 1948 (Belgrade Convention) could be translated as follows: Council Decision on the signing of the Protocol amending the Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube of 18 August 1948 (Belgrade Convention). However, this method of translation is flawed. This is evident from the spelling of the English phrase Amending Protocol (both initial letters are capitalized); moreover, several sentences from the text of the aforementioned decision can be compared: The Preparatory Committee agreed on a final text of an Amending Protocol including the draft revised Belgrade Convention, on 6 June 2008; The procedure for the signature of the Amending Protocol is the first indent, first sentence of Article 300 (2) of the EC Treaty, which provides for a separate Council Decision concerning the signing of the Amending Protocol on behalf of the European Community. The phrase Amending Protocol cannot be translated using an active participle. Its only possible translation is protocol amending. The sentences quoted above are translated as follows: On 6 June 2008, the Preparatory Committee agreed on the final text of the protocol amending, which included the draft revised Belgrade Convention; Protocol amending is governed by the first sentence of the first indent of Article 300(2) of the EC Treaty, which provides that the Council shall adopt a separate decision when signing the protocol amending on behalf of the European Community.

If amending or amending protocols and other similar variants of this grammatical structure were to proliferate in translated EU documents, this would adversely affect the entire Lithuanian terminology system.

Titles often have a mixed structure: active participle constructions may be combined with prepositional (or other) constructions

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tions. This results in document titles that are impossible in Lithuanian, both stylistically and grammatically:

Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 regulation (EC) No 396/2005 on maximum pesticide residue levels in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and partly amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC (cf. English Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC); Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency (cf. English Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency).

Titles translated in this way are literal copies of the original, accepting a poor machine translation.

On the basis of linguistic analogy, without a good understanding of the language system, almost any linguistic fact can be legitimised as a norm. One way of avoiding the spread of ill-formed titles with an active participle is to use a relative clause¹⁵. Such usage would be closest to the original. Another linguistically viable option is to use a construction with the preposition for and a verbal noun, e.g., regulation concerning partial amendment, so that translated document titles would become more similar to those composed in Lithuania. For a decision title, not only a construction with the preposition on is appropriate, but also an infinitive, e.g.: decision on the establishment of a committee establishment and decision to establish a committee.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The structure of translated titles of European Union legal acts and other documents depends greatly on text layout requirements, which are common to all European Union countries and which all institutions translating EU texts must observe.

2. The main structural types of translated EU document titles are:

• genitive constructions,

• prepositional constructions,

¹⁵ The main regularities governing the replacement of subordinate attributive clauses with detached attributes are set out by J. Balkevičius (1963: 343–344) and later developed by K. Župerka (1995: 40–52).

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infinitive constructions,

gerund constructions,

descriptive titles,

constructions with a subordinate attributive clause,

constructions with an active participle.

The most common types are prepositional constructions and constructions with an active participle. Genitive constructions, infinitive constructions, and gerund constructions are the least frequently used in translated titles.

3. Constructions with an active participle used in the titles of European Union legal acts and other translated documents are defective not only from the perspective of Lithuanian administrative style, but also in terms of terminology formation and preserving its distinctiveness. This tendency must be curbed, as it could have negative consequences for the entire Lithuanian language system.

ŠALTINIAI

EUR-Lex – internetinė Europos Sąjungos teisės aktų bazė http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lt/index.htm

EUROVOC – elektroninis Europos Sąjungos terminų žodynas http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/ev/ev.main

Internetinė Lietuvos Respublikos Seimo dokumentų bazė http://www3.lrs.lt/dokpaieska

Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos Kalbos konsultacijų bankas http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/konsultacijos

LITERATŪRA

Balkevičius J. 1963: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.

Kanceliarinės kalbos patarimai. Sud. Pranas Kniūkšta. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, internetinis leidimas, 2007 (http://lkz.mch.mii.lt/Kanceliarinis).

Kniūkšta P. 2005: Administracinė kalba ir jos vartosena, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas.

Lindgren B. 2001: Language Cultivation in Sweden with a Short Survey on other Nordic countries. – Keelekorralduse konverents 18. ja 19. Novembril 1999, Talinn: Eesti Keele Instituut, 107–125.

Mikučionienė E. 2008: Kai kurie Europos Sąjungos reglamentų pavadinimų kalbinės raiškos ypatumai verčiant iš anglų kalbos į lietuvių kalbą. – Pranešimų tezės: 2008 m. lapkričio 14 d. Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto, Šiaulių

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universiteto ir Latvijos universiteto Latvių kalbos instituto 16-oji tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Tekstas: lingvistika ir poetika“ (http://www.vpu.lt/index.php?2258529256).

Šukys J. 1998: Lietuvių kalbos linksniai ir prielinksniai: vartosena ir normos, Kaunas: Šviesa.

Vladarskienė R. 2004: Sintaksinių priemonių ypatybės valstybės dokumentų kalboje, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas.

Vladarskienė R. 2005: Dokumentų pavadinimų darymo polinkiai. – Kalbos kultūra 78, 79–89.

Vladarskienė R. 2005a: Lietuvių administracinės kalbos pokyčiai. – Žmogus ir žodis 1, 110–113.

Vladarskienė R. 2006: Keletas pastabų apie lietuvių administracinę kalbą. – Kalbos kultūra 79, 41–50.

Župerka K. 1983: Lietuvių kalbos stilistika, Vilnius: Mokslas.

Župerka K. 1995: Kalbos priemonių konkurencija kaip lietuvių kalbos stilistikos objektas, Šiauliai: Šiaulių pedagoginis institutas.

Župerka K. 1997: Stilistika, Šiauliai: Šiaulių universitetas.

Gauta 2008 10 07

TITLE STRUCTURE OF THE TRANSLATED EU LEGISLATION AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

S u m m a r y

The article is an attempt to analyse the main grammatical structures employed in translating the titles of EU legal acts and other documents into Lithuanian, to compare them with the titles of Lithuanian legal acts as well as to identify major tendencies in their translation.

The structure of the titles of translated EU documents is more diverse than the structure of Lithuanian legal acts. The title structure of European legislative acts is often determined by the layout requirements which are common to all EU Member States and which all institutions translating EU texts have to observe.

In the Lithuanian translations of EU documents the following major structural types of the titles have been identified: word combinations with the genitive case, prepositional, infinitival and gerundial constructions, descriptive titles, constructions with a subordinate attributive clause and constructions with an active participle. Prepositional and participial constructions are the most frequent (the preposition dėl prevails). The least frequent are infinitival and gerundial constructions.

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The article focuses on an increasingly evident tendency to personification in the administrative style. Its distribution in the Lithuanian translations of EU legal acts tends to adopt the following pattern: grammatically correct and metonymic personifications in the titles, such as reglamentas, iš dalies keičiantis kitą reglamentą (regulation amending another regulation), shift towards entirely metaphorical expressions. The following constructions are linguistically completely unacceptable: direktyva, išdėstanti aprašą (Directive setting out the schedule); reglamentas, įgyvendinantis straipsnį (Regulation implementing article); reglamentas, skelbiantis konkursą (Regulation opening a standing invitation); sprendimas, priimantis įsipareigojimą (Decision accepting an undertaking); susitarimas, įsteigiantis asociaciją (Agreement establishing an association) etc.

Constructions containing active participles used in the titles of the EU legislation and other documents are inappropriate from the point of view of the Lithuanian administrative style, as well as from the standpoint of terminology creation and preservation of its national identity. This tendency ought to be interrupted since it could have negative impact on the entire system of the Lithuanian language.

LINA MURINIENĖ

Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas

Studentų g. 39, LT-08106 Vilnius

[email protected]

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