TRADUCTION ET MODALITE 2 CAN MAY_HD

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TRADUCTION ET MODALITE
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b. Les circonstances rendent (im)possible la perception.
They give him a night vision headset so he can "see in the dark".
c. La perception est un phénomène objectif.
CAN / MAY
John saw/heard a bird : la perception s’impose à John
Traduire la permission
John looked at /listened to a bird : John oriente son attention vers la perception
John
a bird
I do not allow you to use a calculator. Source = locuteur ≈ MAY
You are not allowed to use a calculator. Source ≠ locuteur ≈ CAN
Can I call you "sugar plum"?
No.
"Pussycat"?
No!
"Angel drawers"?
No you may not! (Monty Python)
"May I smoke here?"
"As far as I know you can." (* As far as I know you may.)
That was fucking great if I may say so.
John
a bird
John could see/hear a bird : preconstruction de “a bird” comme percept
Joan of Arc heard voices.
Jeanne d’Arc entendait des voix. (des voix s’imposent à elle)
?Joan of Arc could hear voices.
Sitting in bed, Mary's heart pounded. She could hear voices down the narrow
hallway of the mobile home.
d. La perception implique un effort d’attention pour accéder à la perception.
If I'm in a very quiet room and put my ear on the keyboard I can hear a very
faint beeping every 4-5 seconds.
May I ask you a personal question?
Scientifically valid conclusions may not be drawn from such tests.
Verbes de perception ou les 5 sens de CAN
I (can) hear her voice.
I (could) see the moon.
a. Les capacités du sujet rendent (im)possible la perception.
But the eyes of a young brave are good. He can see very far. He is a lynx.
e. On présente la perception avec du recul.
It is a crisp, sunny morning in America's heartland. The date is September 15,
1995. The place is the corner of Fifth and Robinson Streets, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. I can see an enormous crater where a massive office building once
stood. I can hear the bulldozers going about their grim work.
CAN
et MAY à valeur « sporadique »
Elephants can be dangerous.
= Elephants are sometimes dangerous
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= Some elephants are dangerous.
Au passé :
Elephants may range from 6 to 12 feet high at the shoulder. They may weigh
5,000 to 14,000 pounds.
The women’s and girls’ clothes were brighter. Their dresses might be red,
purple, blue or green.
If threatened, elephants may trumpet a warning through their trunks.
You could catch swordfish with a hook and line, and a swordfish back then
might weigh up to a thousand pounds.
Lions may weigh up to 500 pounds. Les lions peuvent peser jusqu’à 250 kilos.
Lions can weigh up to 500 pounds. Les lions peuvent peser jusqu’à 250 kilos.
Traduire BE APT / LIABLE / LIKELY TO
CAN : propriété potentielle.
MAY : va en plus « situationnaliser
».
Pour cette raison:
Lions can be dangerous.
Lions may be dangerous.
A lion can be dangerous.
*A lion may be dangerous.
A lion may be dangerous if you creep up on it.
CF. exemple du premier séminaire
A priori pouvoir reste un bon candidat:
Even when treated, dogs are liable to die of pneumonia.
There is consensus that the bites of certain dogs are likely to be more harmful
than others.
What is more, dogs are apt to be more active in new surroundings.
It is likely that John will win the race.
* It is liable/apt that John will win the race.
If the wind blows from the South, it can be cold-very cold, actually.
Si le vent du sud souffle, il peut faire très froid. (Linguee)
In a climate where the pursuit of possessions has become a national obsession,
it is apt that it has become a booming business.
In cold conditions it may be impossible to provide effective heating and
ventilation.
Lorsque le froid règne, il peut s'avérer impossible de chauffer ou de
ventiler. (Linguee)
Les trois acceptent d’être complétés par un infinitif :
It may be cold outside and we have suffered a storm on the weekend, but
life is not so bad for parliamentarians when we consider the contrast.
Il arrive qu'il fasse un peu froid dehors et nous avons certes eu une
tempête au cours de la fin de semaine, mais les parlementaires ne s'en
tirent pas trop mal si on compare leur situation. (Linguee)
Your brother is likely/apt/liable to have thrown it away.
It is likely/apt/liable to rain.
If you live in Seattle where it is apt to rain on your family reunion, you might
consider installing an outdoor pavilion like this one.
LIKELY : le plus neutre des trois, et exprime essentiellement une
probabilité. Sa traduction peut passer par des expressions comme « il y a
de fortes chances que » :
Your brother is likely to have many of your genes.
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En revanche, APT, et plus encore LIABLE, vont généralement véhiculer une
connotation négative, avec des traductions qui pourront pencher cette fois
vers « il y a des risques que », « être du genre à », « avoir tendance à »,
etc.
MAY / MIGHT : hypothétiquement réalisable
? Their team is liable to win.
You are liable to a fine. Vous êtes passibles d’une amende.
You will be held liable for what you say. Vous serez tenus pour responsable de
vos propos.
Currently, the city's population is a little more than 600,000. It might jump above
800,000 people in a decade.
APT,
If I had decided to leave sooner I might / could have been on the same flight.
quant à lui, tend également à véhiculer cette connotation négative,
mais il met surtout en avant le fait que l’énonciateur fonde sa probabilité
sur une connaissance du comportement du sujet.
A man apt to promise is apt to forget.
Ground coriander is apt to lose its aroma quickly.
Currently, the city's population is a little more than 600,000. It could jump above
800,000 people in a decade.
I could be your dad. Can you imagine that?
“You're feeling frightened because of being ill. It's what happens when you get a
temperature.”
“I might die.”
“You won't.”
“I could. What if I did? What'll happen?”
Even the most reliable computer is apt to break down eventually.
It is apt to rain in September.
It might not have been Jack. Il se pourrait que ça ne soit pas Jack qui ait fait ça.
It couldn’t have been Jack. Jack n’aurait pas pu faire ça.
It is likely to rain today.
CAN
et la valeur de forte improbabilité
The sniper can’t have seen me (or else he was too slow).
Le sniper n’a pas dû me voir (ou alors il a été trop lent).
?Le sniper n’a pas pu me voir (ou alors il a été trop lent).
*The sniper can have seen me.
The sniper may/must have seen me.
En anglais américain :
The sniper must not have seen me (or else he was too slow).
Accompagné d’un infinitif parfait (HAVE + V-EN), MIGHT peut aussi construire
une valeur d’irréel (ou de contrefactuel) :
We spoke to her, and she never answered a word. She might have been dead
except that she shuddered every now and then.
???Nous lui parlions, et elle ne répondait rien. Elle aurait pu être morte si ce
n’est qu’elle frissonnait par moments.
Lorsque le co-énonciateur est impliqué dans un événement négatif, il n’est
pas rare qu’une valeur de reproche vienne se greffer sur la valeur d’irréel.
“You might have been run over,” said Lucy gravely.
MAY
CAN / COULD VS. MAY / MIGHT
the force be with you
:
CAN / COULD : pas inconceivable
May she never forget me.
May you not indulge in anything.
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Puis-je vous poser une question ?
Est-ce que je peux vous poser une question ?
Puisses-tu tomber dans ce puits et t’y noyer !
Peux-tu tomber dans ce puits et t’y noyer !
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5.7. MAY et l’éventualité
The result of this analysis will frequently not enable the full identification of the
substances which have originally been used and which may or may not have
already been registered for that use in the article.
Souvent les résultats de l'analyse ne permettront pas d'identifier totalement les
substances qui ont été utilisées initialement et qui peuvent avoir déjà été
enregistrées ou non pour cette utilisation dans l'article. (Linguee)
Traduction classique :
She may call you tomorrow.
MAY
There are some factors that indicate she may have been planning this,
specifically that she cut her hair to avoid being recognized.
concessif
A fool? Well I may be a fool but I win in the end.
I may be a woman, but I’ve got rights.
Destroy any evidence he might have left before being arrested.
Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far
more than art imitates life.
MAY
… or MAY NOT ?
Listen, all I'm saying ma'am, is she may or may not be under age, therefore we
may or may not need her parents to be here.
We do not know how many victims may or may not be participating in these
hearings.
We have a committee to follow this up because there are things that may or
may not have been overlooked. (Linguee)
Ils sont là pour examiner plus en profondeur ces questions, car il y a des
choses qu'on a peut-être oubliées. (Linguee)
GRAPIREX : It may relieve your headache. Or, of course, it may not. Who can
tell ? Try it. The odds against you are only 3 to 1. Grapirex:
I also was wondering what type of resources the government might actually
invest on investigating a case that it may or may not advocate.
Je me demande quelles ressources le gouvernement va investir afin de
déterminer s'il défendra ou non une personne. (Linguee)
And I cannot help adding, however strange it may seem, that I owe much to the
philosophical writings of Mr. Hume.
What remains as memory is a different thing, however much it may resemble
the past.
Try as she may, in her voice there’s a flaw.
Try as she might, Grace is unable to camouflage the wrinkles.