Topics in Linguistics最新文献

{"title":"The skill of natural interpreting in a trilingual child","authors":"E. Klapicova","doi":"10.2478/topling-2021-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2021-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present work seeks to contribute to the fields of translation and bilingual acquisition focusing on the particular case of natural translation/interpreting of a single Slovak/English/German balanced trilingual child between 0;03 and 8;01 years. Natural interpreting is a strategy used by bilinguals whereby a message expressed in one language (source language = SL) is reproduced in another (target language = TL). Our study is based on two premises: 1. Translation in a bilingual child is an innate skill which can be acquired without formal training and is developed through guidance and practice (Harris, 1978); and 2. Natural interpreting can occur within different combinations of languages. We address the issue of bilingual competence and in particular the relationship that exists between linguistic competence and performance in the process of interpretation activity in the bilingual child. The first aim of the study is to reveal the social-academic context and the main sources of linguistic input, which had an important effect on the speech development of the child. The second aim of the study is to show that a trilingual child was able to become a sophisticated interpreter as she gradually moved through stages of pre-translation, autotranslation and transduction to more complex forms of interpretation (Harris and Sherwood, 1978; Harris, 1976 and 1978). The third aim of the study is to document the types of errors produced by the child and through error analysis and statistical data reveal whether these errors may hinder the communication of accurate meaning in the TL. The translation competence of the bilingual child is analysed via different types of spontaneous, elicited and experimental data gathered from the child’s longitudinal production recorded by the researcher in diary annotations, audio recordings and video recordings. Examples of the child’s interpretations presented in this paper are transcribed in the CHAT format. The results of our study demonstrate that a trilingual child acquiring three languages in a bilingual community with the bilingual-monolingual interaction strategy used by parents at home can become a competent interpreter by the age of 8;01 years and deliver messages quite accurately in the TL regardless of the directionality of interpretation. The results of error analysis show that the type of errors produced by the child in the process of interpretation are mainly morphological and occasionally syntactic or intrusion errors, which do not lead to misinterpretation of the meaning of original message in the TL.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42742489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in academic research papers","authors":"Zuzana Kozáčiková","doi":"10.2478/topling-2021-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2021-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper explores stance complement clauses in the genre of academic discourse, analysing stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in economics research articles written in English by non-native writers. Following Biber’s taxonomy (2006) of common lexico-grammatical features used for stance analyses, the results of the study show that epistemic verbs of certainty and likelihood are an important means of communicating knowledge in this genre and thus, form an inseparable part of academic research writing. Moreover, the study seeks to analyse the contrast between stance to-infinitives and stance that-clauses in the studied corpus. While stance that-clauses relate mainly to the category of certainty; on the contrary, stance to-infinitive clauses are consciously or subconsciously chosen to lessen the risk of a face-threatening act and typically refer to writers’ sensory experience (e.g. verbs such as seem, appear, etc.). The findings suggest that research papers from the field of economics demonstrate a clear preference for factive verbs over non-factive verbs.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48115371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The relationship between speech and gestures in persons with aphasia: Evidence from the Czech perspective","authors":"M. Janečka","doi":"10.2478/topling-2021-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2021-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In my research, I replicate two fundamental hypotheses established by Jakob et al. (2011): 1) Persons with aphasia (PWA) produce more gestures than healthy control persons (HCP) during interpretation of texts; 2) The more speech-restricted a person with aphasia is, the more gestures he/she produces during the interpretation of a text. I work with 6 persons with diagnosed aphasia and 10 healthy control persons (or persons with no evident speech deficiency). From a methodological point of view, I point out the necessity to include a description of non-verbal elements in language description and, at the same time, to describe the data of the damage in persons with aphasia. I also introduce some possible perspectives for exploring the categories and the extent of speech damage in persons with aphasia and various ways in which they compensate for verbal deficiency with the aid of gestures. From the viewpoint of data processing methods, on the one hand, I explore the speech parameters: among others, quantity of words, and, on the other hand, the gesture parameters: quantity of gestures, diversity of gestures, etc. I find that Czech aphasic persons do use gestures to support their restricted verbal production and to substitute for verbal production where they do not have access to any given lexical items. My data also correlate with the general assumptions on speech production when considering different types of aphasia.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45094743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sentence-structure errors of machine translation into Slovak","authors":"Katarina Welnitzova, Dasa Munková","doi":"10.2478/topling-2021-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2021-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study identifies, classifies and analyses errors in machine translation (MT) outputs of journalistic texts from English into Slovak, using error analysis. The research results presented in the study are pioneering, since the issue of machine translation – with its strong interdisciplinary character and novelty – has not yet been studied in the Slovak academic environment. The evaluation of the errors is based on a framework for classification of MT errors devised by Vaňko, which was arranged for the Slovak language. The study discusses and explains the issues of sentence structure, including predicativeness, syntactic-semantic correlativeness, and a modal and communication sentence framework. We discovered that the majority of the errors are related to the categories of agreement, word order and nominal morpho-syntax. This fact clearly correlates with features of journalistic texts, in which nominal structures and nouns in all realizations are used to a great extent. Moreover, there are some serious differences between the languages which limit and affect the quality of translation.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42216247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modalized speech acts in a spoken learner corpus: The case of can and could","authors":"Petra Huschová","doi":"10.2478/topling-2021-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2021-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper examines the use of the modal auxiliaries can and could in speech acts produced by university students of English. Its aim is to explore syntactic patterns, semantic features and pragmatic functions of utterances containing can/could in Corpus of Czech Students’ Spoken English. Taking account of pragmatic factors, including broader linguistic and extralinguistic context, the analysis attempts to identify the illocutionary forces conveyed by the modalized speech acts excerpted from the corpus dialogues. The findings indicate that the modal verbs are commonly employed as a modifying device in indirect speech acts, particularly in conventionalized directives. As for their frequency of occurrence, can proves to be a widely used modal auxiliary in spoken learner discourse, whereas the more remote could appears in the corpus much less frequently in that it is associated with a higher degree of diffidence.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43286990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On body-part nouns and the expression of spatial and locative reference in Dagbani","authors":"S. Issah","doi":"10.2478/topling-2020-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper examines the linguistic means by which spatial relations are expressed in Dagbani, a Mabia (Gur) language spoken in the northern region of Ghana (West Africa). I pay particular attention to the grammar of Dagbani “postpositions” demonstrating that the system of locative expressions comprises words that share heterosemic relations with some body parts and landmark terms. I show that although these locative expressions are related both segmentally and suprasegmentally to the nominal items they might have developed from, they are distinct in terms of their semantic, syntactic and morphological properties. Consequently, I conclude that the body-part nouns in locative constructions are distinct syntactic categories due to the morphosyntactic and semantic differences they exhibit. These body-part nouns are thus analysed as grammaticalized items, which function as postpositions and instantiate a postpositional phrase (PostP) category. Finally, I propose possible series of semantic changes that could account for the development of the body-part terms as postpositions.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45125576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foids are worse than animals. A cognitive linguistics analysis of dehumanizing metaphors in online discourse","authors":"E. Prażmo","doi":"10.2478/topling-2020-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of the article is to examine the language used by an emerging online community known as incels. Incels are “involuntarily celibate” men who gather online to share their frustration and resentment. They blame their predicament on their alleged ugliness, as well as on the structure of modern Western society in general, and women’s behaviour in particular. Hate speech and violent language flourish on incel online forums to such an extent that most of their websites are taken down, one by one, due to breaches of rules around violent content. In the present article I aim to analyze the language used by incels, focusing on the dehumanizing metaphors used in order to describe women, who are the main target of incels’ hatred. This paper was realized within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis with special emphasis on conceptual metaphor theory.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47489756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems: Functional, semantic and chronological issues","authors":"O. Dobrovolska","doi":"10.2478/topling-2020-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article presents the results of a study of functional, semantic and chronological issues concerning Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems. The semantic group under investigation consists of 184 words, comprising 24.5% of the total number of loan-blends within the semantic group of Middle English occupational terms, and 8% of the total 2,417 Middle English occupational terms. 97 loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems were revealed on the basis of proper names. They constitute 13% of all Middle English occupational terms. a predominance of the function of identification and a very active usage with the aim of identifying people in medieval society prove loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems to be very popular. The data obtained in the study prove the very high level of popularity of Scandinavian borrowings in Middle English, as well as a prevalence of the names of artisans among all the semantic groups of the word stems. We noted an increase in the number of derivatives first attested in the 13th and the 14th centuries, whereas a decrease in the process of word formation on the basis of Scandinavian borrowings is noticed in the 15th century.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43930610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The metaphorical naming of selected dreaded diseases and medical conditions in Igbo language and thought","authors":"Ikenna Kamalu","doi":"10.2478/topling-2020-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), which forms the theoretical anchor of this study, expresses the role of language and cognition in construing and communicating human experiences. CMT posits that metaphor in discourse is shaped by the ideological orientation and cultural worldview of the speaker or group. Previous studies on Igbo language and culture have used insights from linguistics, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, religious studies among others to show how the group expresses its social and cultural experiences, but none, to the best of the present researcher’s knowledge, has used the CMT approach to study the group’s construal of dreaded diseases and medical conditions in its environment. Working within the tenets of CMT therefore, this study shows how the group uses metaphors to express ideation and tenor in relation to some dreaded diseases and conditions. The study reveals that the Igbo use different conceptual metaphors such as container, journey, leaf, natural/physical force, heavy burden, etc. to frame their understanding of some dreaded diseases and conditions. The diseases and conditions are named/classified according to the narratives around them; the effects of the disease on the skin of the sufferer; the visual impression of the disease on the distant other; the effects of the disease on the mind/brain of the sufferer; the physical effects of the disease on the body of the sufferer; and the assumed causes/sources of the disease. Descriptive and analytical approaches are used in the discussion of primary data. The language the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria use to express their understanding of their natural world and social relations is chiefly metaphorical, and the names they ascribe to diseases and medical conditions emanate from their understanding of their cultural and social orientations, bodily actions and experiences.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44695659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Logophoricity in discourse","authors":"M. Hirschová","doi":"10.2478/topling-2020-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper deals with the notion of logophoricity as a phenomenon pertaining to discourse, not grammar. An examination of the discourse role configurations (discourse environments) proposed by Peter Sells has shown that particular configurations are either overloaded by role-multiplication or non-specific. Instead of discourse environments, a general pragmatic matrix (a non-overt abstract sentence) is suggested, anchoring any utterance event to the current speaker’s perspective, including his/her communicative activity and temporal and spatial location. The role of the pragmatic matrix shows that all utterance events can be considered logophoric. At the same time, the pragmatic matrix underlines specific properties of explicit performative formulae.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42576114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}