Abstract:
The task of the translator is finding equivalents. The translator is faced with the problem
of lack of equivalents in the process of translation as no two languages in the world are
identical. These problems may occur in all the strata of a language such as lexical,
morphological. syntactical and semantical. Here the main focus will be on the syntactic
level. The problems that occur in the syntactical level can be discussed according to the
grammatical categories of gender, number, tense, voice and person. The objective of this
paper is to focus on the concept of person and lay emphasis on how it manifests itself in
the task of translation.
The category of person relates to the notion of the participant roles. In most of the
languages participant roles are systematically defined through a closed system of
pronouns which may be organized along a variety of dimensions. The most common
dimension-distinction is that between
• first Person
Second Person
Third person
(Identifying the speaker or a group which includes the speaker)
(Identifying the person or the persons addressed)
(Identifying the persons or things other than the speaker and
addressee.
••
In addition to the main distinction based on participant role, the person system may be
organized along a variety of other dimensions. The person system in some languages may
have a gender or number dimension which applies to the whole system or to parts of it. In
case of Sinhala it has a more detailed person system compared to English where there is
only seven.
In this paper we intend to discuss the problems encountered in translating the concept of
person.
