Evaluative noun phrases in journalism and their translation from English into Finnish

The article compares the frequencies, functions and effects of evaluative premodified noun phrases (NPs) in English and Finnish newspaper and magazine texts and discusses the relevance of potential differences to translation. In addition to neutral specifications, premodifiers in NPs often express clearly subjective evaluations, which are thus presented as presupposed and generally accepted facts. This manipulative strategy is one example of the linguistic realisation of ideology, i.e. the explicit and implicit ways in which values, beliefs and attitudes are reflected in language use (van Dijk 1993, Fairclough 1990, 1995a, 1995b, Fowler 1991). The findings suggest that, first, Finnish NPs often have a causal or concessive function; second, the frequency of strong evaluative NPs is higher in English texts; and third, both English and Finnish tend to use premodifications for negative rather than positive evaluations. These differences might give rise to modification of NPs in translation.