196 Jarle Ebeling, Signe Oksefjell Ebeling and Hilde Hasselgård
Table 11. Recurrent correspondences of the 3-word temporal expressions
Most frequent correspondence Other recurrent correspondences
Form + gloss frequency
a long time lenge (‘long’) 72% en lang stund (‘a long while’), lang tid
(‘long time’), forlengst (‘long ago’), i
lang tid (‘in long time’)
for a moment et øyeblikk
(‘an eye-wink’)66% en stund (‘a while’), et adj øyeblikk,
litt (‘a little’)
the same time samtidig 71% på samme tid (‘at same time’), på
en gang (‘at once’), i munnen på
hverandre (‘in each other’s mouths’ –
i.e. talking at the same time), Ø
the first time første gang 87% først (‘first’), første gangen
(‘first time-def’), ØThe most frequent correspondences in Table 11 are all more frequent in Norwegian
originals than in translations, though to varying degrees. Lenge is almost twice as
frequent in originals as in translations (305 vs. 164). Et øyeblikk, however, has
more similar frequencies in originals and translations (89 vs. 82); the same is true
of the second most frequent correspondence, en stund, which occurs 90 times in
originals, and 81 in translations. Samtidig is more than twice as frequent in origi-
nals as in translations (97 vs. 40), while første gang is only slightly more frequent
in originals than in translations (69 vs. 58).
We may note that zero correspondences are not very frequent with these tem-
poral expressions, in contrast to the adverbial expressions investigated in Case
study 1. This might be due to the referential character of circumstantial elements,
which could make them more resistant to being omitted from a translation than
textual and interpersonal ones, and also less likely to be added out of the blue.
Zero correspondences do, however, occur, chiefly in translations, as illustrated by
(33), but also in sources, as illustrated by (34).
(33) Sammy looked up at him for a moment and flopped back onto his foot. (MM1)
Sammy strakte seg opp og så på ham, og så la han seg ned igjen. (MM1T)
Lit.: ‘Sammy stretched himself and looked at him, and then he lay down again’
(34) Other youngsters of that age preferred skiing in the mountains at Easter,
thought Peter Hansdal, trying at the same time to convince himself that having
a tooth root-filled did n’t hurt at all. (EG1T)
Andre ungdommer foretrekker fjellet i påsken, tenkte Hansdal og tvang seg
til å tenke at det ikke gjorde vondt å få en tann rotfylt. (EG1)
Lit.: ‘other youngsters prefer the mountains at Easter, thought Hansdal and
forced himself to think that it did not hurt to have a tooth root-filled’