When Swedish Bli Becomes Emotional: Analyzing Bli-constructions in their Italian Translations

This study presents an analysis of specific occurrences of Swedish bli-constructions, namely bli + adjective (bli+ADJ)  and bli + past participle (bli + PPT), and their Italian translations.

The Swedish verb bli (‘become’, ‘get’) is highly polysemous (Skrzypek, 2020), functioning in diverse contexts: it can denote a punctual event or process, serve as a passive auxiliary (Engdahl, 2006), express future time without implying change (Dahl, 2000), and, to a limited extent, indicate durativity or the onset of a durative action. Although the passive use of bli has been addressed in several studies (Skrzypek, 2020; Engdahl, 2006), there is, to our knowledge, no comprehensive analysis of bli in its full range of uses, nor of its Italian translations.

To shed light on this topic, we conducted a preliminary corpus-based analysis using two Swedish narrative texts and their Italian translations (Läckberg, 2004 [Cangemi]; Larsson, 2008 [De Marco]). Examining the Italian translations of bli+ADJ and bli+PPT, we identified recurring translation patterns (Table 1): i) the reflexive pronoun si+verb (si-construction); ii) passive constructions; iii) structures with diventare/divenire ‘become’+ADJ/PPT; iv) structures with essere/stare ‘be’ + ADJ/PPT. In some cases, the Italian translations exhibited a different morphosyntactic coding of arguments compared to the Swedish originals, reflecting alternations, i.e. a different valency pattern (Example iii). Additionally, other translations involve the use of idiomatic expressions, among others. Notably, among the bli-constructions analyzed, those expressing emotions or states of mind, as well as those involving gradable adjectives with inanimate subjects, were frequently translated using Italian si-constructions, the latter known to be a well-studied and complex domain (Pescarini, 2015; Cennamo & Jezek, 2011; Bentley, 2004; Monachesi, 1993, among others). The high frequency of si-constructions seems to suggest that, among the possible Italian translations, these are perceived as the most suitable constructions for conveying the meaning of the aforementioned bli-constructions. Indeed, one of the functions of the Italian si is to form de-agentive constructions (Pescarini, 2015), thus aligning with bli + emotions/states of mind and bli + gradable adjectives with inanimate subjects, which are likewise agentless constructions.

To verify the results of our preliminary analysis, we aim to expand the corpus of translated texts by including additional narrative works. Furthermore, we aim to investigate whether it is possible to further generalize a mapping, that is, a trend in the choice of constructions, between these bli-constructions and their Italian translations, which could either support or challenge the observations drawn from the initial sample (Table 1). 

Examples:

i) Sw. bli + emotion/state of mind ADJ/PPT > It. si-construction

Sw. Först bli-r hon  rädd.

first become-PRS she afraid.SG

‘At first she is afraid.’

It. In un primo momento si spavent-a.

in a first moment REFL.3 scare-PRS.3SG

'At first she is afraid.’

ii) Sw. bli + gradable ADJ > It. si-construction 

Sw. Det [hålet]  bli-r  större.

it [= hole] become-PRS bigger

‘It becomes bigger.’

It. Il  foro  si  allarg-a.

the hole REFL.3 widen-PRS.3SG

‘The hole widens.’

iii)  alternation: 

Sw. Jag  bli-r så jävla nedstämd.

I become-PRS so damn depressed.SG

'I become/get so damn depressed.’

It. Mi butt-a così giù.

1SG.DAT throw-PRS.3SG so down

'It gets me so down.’