THE USE OF PASSIVE VOICE IN BILINGUAL STORY “A STRANGER IN THE MIRROR” AND “SOSOK ASING DALAM CERMIN”
PUTU AYU ASTY SENJA PRATIWI, S.S.,M.HUM
1986012520122002
FACULTY OF ARTS
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
2016
I. INTRODUCTION
situations in which it is used. Indonesian and English are two different languages which have both different system and grammatical structure. The passive construction is a crucial discourse feature in the English language.
In English, as in many other languages, the passive voice is a grammatical voice in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb, and passive refers more generally to verbs using this construction and the passages in which they are used. In English, a passive verb is periphrastic; that is, it does not have a one-word form, but consists of an auxiliary verb plus the past participle of the transitive verb. The auxiliary verb usually is a form of the verb to be, but other auxiliary verbs, such as get, are sometimes used.
Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known; however, who or what is performing the action. This paper talks about the shifting of passive voice to active voice or vice versa that exist in bilingual English-Indonesian novel by Sidney Sheldon entitled A Stranger in the Mirror that is translated into Sosok Asing dalam Cermin.
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
PASSIVE VOICE
“modes” such as transitive and intransitive modes. In clauses of transitive type there are two inherent roles at least –i.e. that of the affected participant and the agent or initiator (and in some cases the benefactor or recipient of the action). However, in intransitive type, there is only one inherent role.
Within these, we may find two or more alternative choices that we can choose from to express different process. One choice that we usually make is the passive structure where the patient is brought into prominence. Passivisation disassociates the actor so that it can either be put in focal position at the end or omitted. The actor or the initiator of the action is brought into perspective but it is not given a central role in the scene. The passive construction is agent-oriented. When a sentence is written in the passive voice, the agent of an action can be omitted. Even if the agent of an action is mentioned in a passive voice sentence, the emphasis is not on the actor, but on the receiver of the action. The subject slot in a sentence is the starring role. Anyone or anything relegated to a little sidecar of a prepositional phrase tacked on at the end of the sentence is not being emphasized at all. In scientific writing, however, passive voice is more readily accepted since using it allows one to write without using personal pronouns or the names of particular researchers as the subjects of sentences. The construction is called an active clause or said to be in active voice.
TYPES OF PASSIVE VOICE
in front of the actor. The second way is constructed by moving object to the front of the sentence, then omitting prefix meng- in the predicate, and move the subject to the suitable place before verb. Oleh is optional, except when the agent does not immediately follow the verb, in which case it is obligatory.
According to Sneddon (1996: 247) there are two classifications for the type of passive construction in Indonesian, they are: passive type one and passive type two. In passive type one the actor is third person that is pronoun dia or mereka, or a noun. Passive type one is also used if there is no actor is expressed. A third person singular agent can be expressed by either dia or–nya. They are optionally preceded by oleh. The pattern of passive voice type one is set out as follows:
Active voice: Subject (actor) + meN-verb + Object (patient)
Passive voice: Subject (patient) + di-verb + (oleh) + Agent
In passive type two the agent is a pronoun or pronoun substitute and comes before the verb which does not have a prefix. The structure is as follows:
Subject (patient) + Agent (actor) + Verb
and the preposition by is introduced before the agent. The prepositional agent phrase of passive sentence is an optional sentence element.
SHIFTING
Shifting means the process of going from the source language to the target language. There are two types of shift: level shift and category shift. Level shift means that a source language item at one linguistic level has a target language translation equivalent at a different level. It could be shifting from grammar to lexis or vice versa. In category shift, we referred to unbounded and rank bound translation. Rank bound translation only refer to the case where equivalent is deliberately limited to ranks below the sentence, thus leading “bad translation”; i.e. translation in which the target language text is either not a normal target language form at all, or is not relatable to the same situational substance as the source language text. In normal, unbounded translation, the equivalences may occur between sentences, clauses, groups, words and morphemes. In category shift there are also changes of structure, changes of class, and changes of term in systems, etc.
Class shift is grouping of members of a given unit which defined by operation in the structure of the unit next above. It occurs when the translation equivalent of a source language item is a member of different class from the original item.
Unit shift means changes of rank–that is departures from formal correspondence in which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the source language is a unit at a different rank in the target language.
III. DATA & ANALYSIS
There are some transitive and intransitive verbs, passive and active voice exists in the novel. The data and analysis are given below:
1. Let me put it this way. (Page 59, 2ndParagraph ) Mungkin bisa diumpamakan begini. (Page 81)
2. We have a big party. (Page 62, 5thParagraph, Last Line) Diadakan pesta besar. (Page 85, 3rdParagraph)
The example above shows the transformation between active voices in English version into passive voice in Indonesian version. The focus of the 1st sentence is the actor, in this case “we”. However the actor of the 2nd sentence is not expressed. There is structure shift in the sentences above.
We have a big party
Subject Predicate Object
Diadakan pesta besar
Predicate Object
Beside there is structure shift, the sentences above also contains group mark shift.
We have a big party
Modifier Qualifier Head
Diadakan pesta besar
Modifier Head Qualifier
stated, the sentence may raise question such as “who held a big party?” The meaning can be change if the actor is not expressed in the sentence.
3. …. The story was told in headlines… (Page 3, 3rdParagraph, 2ndLine) ….Kisah ini menjadi berita utama…..(Page 12,2ndParagraph, 2ndLine)
The 1st construction above is passive construction. In Sidney Sheldon novel Indonesian version, the construction is changed into active construction. If we translate the construction word to word, the sentence will be .. “Di berita utama kisah ini akan diceritakan”. Though the use of passive voice seems more frequent in Indonesian, but in this case, it is more appropriate to use active voice to translate the passive voice construction in English sentence. Where a passive translation would send unnatural, translation by active construction is usually given in the pattern of the active voice. The pattern of the active voice is: subject + men-verb + direct object. Besides the changes of passive sentence to the active, we also found a structure shift at the sentences. In grammar structure shift can be occur at all rank. The structure shift of the sentences above:
The story was told in headlines
Subject Predicate Adjuct
Kisah ini menjadi berita utama
Subject Predicate Object
structure shift insofar as it contains different elements with Indonesian SPO as its equivalent. There is no group rank shift found at the sentences above. Although there are some changes from passive into active voice and the structure shift, there is no change at the meaning of the sentence.
4. ….As he fond of saying….. (Page 9, 2ndParagraph, 2ndLine)
….Menurut istilah yang suka dipakainya…. (Page 11, 2ndParagraph, 3rdLine)
The 1st sentence uses active construction with the actor is the subject that is ‘he’. While the second sentence is constructed in passive voice. In Indonesian, passive construction is more frequent than in English. The Indonesian has two different forms of passive voice and the sentence above is classified into passive type one. Where the 3rd person singular agent expressed “-nya” have refer to the actor (he) who carried out the action.
5. A small frowned appeared on the chief purser’s face (Page 11, 3rd Paragraph, 2nd Line)
Terlihat dahi Chief Purser agak mengernyit (Page 14, 3rdParagraph, 2ndLine)
Both of the clauses above are intransitive clauses. However at the 1st sentence classified into passive construction and the other one is active construction. Structure shift occur at the sentences above.
A small frowned appeared on the chief’s purser’s face
Subject Predicate Complement
Complement Subject Predicate
In English, the subject is “a small frowned” and shifted into “dahi Chief Purser” in Indonesian. In English version, the complement is located at the back of the clause however it is in initial position in Indonesian version.
6. Everyone had money to spend. (Page 29, 1stParagraph, 5thLine)
Setiap orang punya uang untuk dibelanjakan. (Page 37, 1stParagraph, 7thLine)
The 1stsentence is an active sentence because it contains as active verb that is “to spend”. In Indonesian the verb “to spend” is translated into “dibelanjakan” and the sentence transformed from active into passive. However the changes do not make any change in the meaning. A number of “-kan” verbs with emotive adjective bases usually indicate that the actor undergoes the emotion of the passive. However, in general a transformation from active to passive has no effect on suffixes “-i” and “-kan”, which are retained when an active verb is transformed to a passive.
7. Something out of ordinary was happening. (Page 13, 5thParagraph 5 Last Line) Telah terjadi sesuatu yang luar biasa. (Page 18, 1stParagraph, Last Line)
At the sentences above group mark shifting occurred. At group rank, the shift can occur from MH (modifier and head) to MHQ (modifier, head and qualifier) or other construction.
Head Qualifier Modifier
Telah terjadi sesuatu yang luar biasa
Modifier Head Qualifier
The use of prefix –ter emphasized more about the state of being indicated by the verb.
III. CONCLUSION
Based on the Sidney Sheldon “A Stranger in the Mirror” both in English and Indonesian version, we can found the examples of the shifting from passive to active or vice versa. The shifting sometimes change the meaning, but in some other examples the meaning remain the same.
References
Sheldon, Sidney. 1976. A Stranger in the Mirror. Warner Books. New York and Boston. Sheldon, Sidney. Alih Bahasa Hidayat Saleh. 1993. Sosok Asing Dalam Cermin. Gramedia Pustaka.
Sneddon, James Neil. 1996. Indonesian Reference Grammar. Department of Employment, Education and Training.
