Hasil untuk "Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages"

Ben Dammers, Matthias Knopp, Andreas Seidler

Editorial zur MiDU-Ausgabe 2/2025

Alexa Stoicescu

This article explores the representation of robots in Dutch literature, analyzing how posthumanist thought – particularly the dismantling of binary hierarchies between human and non-human – shapes these narratives. By examining works from Til Brugman, Gerrit Krol, and Adriaan van Dis, spanning from 1927 to 2017, the research highlights evolving views on robots as humanoid beings interacting with humans. Posthumanism emphasizes the coexistence of humans and other life forms, including machines, challenging traditional power dynamics. The article focuses on literary strategies, considering robot gender, language, and embodiment, while questioning whether these stories refl ect a posthumanist vision of robots as integrated into human society. These works reveal complex relationships between humans and robots.

Irena Barbara Kalla, Aleksandra Markiewicz

This article analyses the representation in children’s literature of phenomena such as consumerism, recycling, and the use and reuse of raw materials and resources within the context of ecocritical and ethical discourse. Our focus is on how contemporary children’s literature portrays the issues related to these phenomena, especially when it comes to treating someone or something as waste or as recyclable material. Through the analysis of Jagna and Eco-challenges and Sustainable Grandma we discuss children’s creativity in thinking about recycling as well as ethical issues related to waste within the framework of Waste Studies.

P. Faustini, T. Covões

Abstract The debate around fake news has grown recently because of the potential harm they can have on different fields, being politics one of the most affected. Due to the amount of news being published every day, several studies in computer science have proposed models using machine learning to detect fake news. However, most of these studies focus on news from one language (mostly English) or rely on characteristics of social media-specific platforms (like Twitter or Sina Weibo). Our work proposes to detect fake news using only text features that can be generated regardless of the source platform and are the most independent of the language as possible. We carried out experiments from five datasets, comprising both texts and social media posts, in three language groups: Germanic, Latin, and Slavic, and got competitive results when compared to benchmarks. We compared the results obtained through a custom set of features and with other popular techniques when dealing with natural language processing, such as bag-of-words and Word2Vec.

B. Mees

The Vimose plane features an early runic inscription that has long remained opaque, with none of the attempts to explain it having commanded assent in the historiography. Like the inscription on the Vimose buckle, however, the text on the wood plane appears to preserve an early example of West Germanic religious language. The inscription on the sharpener shows some parallels with comparable Roman texts but also distinctively West Germanic phonological development. The text on the plane seems to be one of several early runic texts found in the Southern Scandinavian votive bogs that preserve Ingvaeonic features.

Marceli Cherchiglia Aquino, Franz Mechtenberg, Maria Giovanna Tassinari

In diesem Artikel werden die Ergebnisse eines internationalen Teletandemkooperationsprojekts zwischen der Freien Universität Berlin und der Universität von São Paulo vorgestellt, dessen Hauptaugenmerk auf den Auswirkungen des Programms aus der Sicht seiner teilnehmenden Studierenden liegt. Teletandempartnerschaften beruhen auf der Zusammenarbeit zwischen Universitäten in der ganzen Welt, bei denen Studierende verschiedener Zielsprachen die Möglichkeit haben, ihre Sprach- und Kulturkenntnisse in einem gemeinsamen Kontext in Videokonferenzen (z.B. über Meet, Zoom, Skype) zu vertiefen. In diesem Projekt, an dem brasilianische und deutsche Studierende beteiligt waren, wurden die Studierenden neben dem gemeinsamen Lernen in Tandempartnerschaften von den Projektkoordinator:innen bei drei Gruppen-Treffen begleitet (Einführungstreffen, Zwischen-Feedback und abschließendes Feedback-Treffen). Um Hypothesen über die Ziele, Erwartungen, Erfahrungen brasilianischer und deutscher Studierender zu sammeln, wurden zwei Datenerhebungen mit Hilfe von Online-Fragebögen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf ein großes Potenzial von Teletandemprojekten hin, nicht nur für eine bessere Kommunikation in der Zielsprache, sondern auch für den Zuwachs von Motivation, Autonomie und Empathie sowie für eine kritische Reflexion über den individuellen Lernprozess.

Zeige Lars Erik

Else Berit Molde, Ilka Wunderlich

I denne artikkelen argumenterer vi for bruken av semistrukturerte dybdeintervju som metode innenfor andrespråksforskningen. Vi bruker det kvalitative datamaterialet fra NINjA-prosjektet, et forskningsprosjekt ved Universitetet i Bergen som har som mål å kartlegge og utforske den språklige praksisen blant internasjonalt ansatte i universitets- og høgskolesektoren i Norge. De tre intervjustadiene planlegging, intervjuing og analysering drøftes i både teori og praksis, og vi viser eksempler på interaksjonsmønstre og spørsmålstyper i selve intervjuene, utviklingen av intervjuguiden og kategorier, hypoteser og teorier vi har formulert i tråd med grounded theory. Den kvalitative delen av NINjA-prosjektet har en talerfokusert tilnærming, der de personlige erfaringene til denne gruppen andrespråksinnlærere står sentralt, og i artikkelen diskuterer vi hvordan vi mener semistrukturerte dybdeintervju kan være en velegnet metode for å få dypere innsikt i språklige erfaringer blant internasjonalt ansatte.

S. Vinker

Kiesewalter Carolin

Gruber Helmut

Hrsg. v. Jan M. Boelmann und Matthis Kepser

Jens Fleischhauer

Abstract This paper deals with the influence of animacy on affectedness. German, like other Germanic languages, requires oblique marking of the inanimate undergoer argument of verbs of contact by impact (e.g. hit, kick, bite), whereas the animate undergoer argument takes non-oblique marking. Inanimacy does not necessarily result in oblique marking; undergoer arguments with inanimate referents are realized in a non-oblique construction if a change of state or location is explicitly predicated, as in resultative constructions. This suggests that the marking of inanimate undergoer arguments is conditioned by two factors: animacy and affectedness. The basic claim is that animate and inanimate entities are affected differently by hitting, kicking and similar activities. Inanimates can only be physically affected, whereas animates can be psychologically affected as well. Since verbs of contact by impact do not entail a change of state/location, they do not represent their undergoer arguments as being (necessarily) physically affected. Hence, the potential psychological effect of hitting, kicking and the like on animate beings gives rise for interpreting animate undergoer arguments of those verbs as being affected.

Marcel Ištván

This article describes the theoretical basis, set-up and the conclusions of a research aimed at finding text-optimization techniques which would increase the comprehension and better the attitudes towards a text to make it more comprehensible to the reader. Effects of the same text manipulations were observed in two languages – Dutch and Slovak. Also the importance of the language background and the eventual existence of prior knowledge were investigated. For this research two texts were selected, namely the instructions provided with the tax declaration form and an instruction manual provided with a digital camera. The texts were optimized and rewritten into two variants. A simple approach, usable by not linguistically educated professionals, is based on the principle of rewriting the text into a dialogue. The more elaborate and time consuming approach is based on linguistic analysis and a more distinctive typographic rearrangement of the text. The main conclusion that can be drawn is that the simple rewrite-to-dialogue approach did mostly deliver the same or even better results than the more elaborate text manipulation. The effect on improving the ability to answer questions about information in the text proved to be language independent, and the importance of prior knowledge was confirmed.

Radu Drăgulescu

German Vocabulary in Romanian Plant Names. A Report of Romanian Lexicographic Practice.This paper examines an important but insufficiently investigated phenomenon — lexical innovation as a result of plant naming and the expression of national customs and traditions — by showing various linguistic influences in common plant names. E. Coşeriu considers this phenomenon to be given insufficient importance by linguists, given that fact that individual speakers became creators of language/poetry whenever they named a plant. I am of the opinion that a botanical lexicon of a particular region, once known, is not only a thesaurus, but can also be regarded as a document of a resident population or place in the past. First and foremost, botanical folk terminology has a practical value in that it identifies, distinguishes and categorizes members of the plant kingdom within a given natural realm. It, however, also has great theoretical significance for linguists, both with regard to the etymons from which they are derived, and to the metaphorical meanings that the phytonyms usually have. The article focuses on a selected area of Romanian specialized lexicography and offers an insight into the most recent lexicographic recording of Romanian plant names. Since, however, the German vocabulary in the commonly used plant names has been rather marginalized in the Romanian specialized literature, and since its characteristics have only been recorded and described loosely, the explanations are based solely on borrowed and/or adapted Romanian plant names of German origin. Other extraneous correspondences, mix-ups, erroneous assignments, other plant species or formations with the terms German/nemţesc (‘deutsch’) or Transylvanian-Saxon/săsesc (‘sächsisch’) etc., were not considered here. In my paper this rich inventory of plant names will be presented and exemplified using the German vocabulary listed here.

Hanelle Fourie Blair

Dictionaries and Deaf Users — Current Problems and the Need for Better Solutions. Sign language lexicography is a branch of lexicography that has until now been a largely vague, unimportant area. The development of sign language lexicography has in the past been subject to various forms of bias and limitation. Often it was not considered necessary to compile a bilingual dictionary in which it is also possible to look up a sign because bilingual sign language dictionaries were mostly aimed at hearing people who wanted to or had to learn the lan­guage. In addition to that it was very difficult, owing to the nature of printed dictionaries and the lack of a sign lan­guage orthography, to present and order signs so that they may be searched with­out using a writ­ten search term. Some notation systems were developed in an effort to circum­vent this problem, but these systems never found widespread acceptance with regular users. The devel­op­ment of electronic sign language dictionaries however have caused a revolution in sign language lexicography. It is no longer unusual to find electronic sign language dictionaries in which it is not only possible to search for a word, but also for a sign, usually according to one or more of the sign's parameters, like handshape. Such dictionaries make it possible for a Deaf user to obtain direct access to his or her first language (sign language) without any knowledge of the sec­ond language (the written language). The article also points out a newly proposed model for very young Deaf users which allows them to also search for a sign or word via concept.

Anna Carolina Schäfer

O objetivo deste trabalho é divulgar e analisar os resultados de uma pesquisa realizada em três instituições paulistanas nas quais se ensina/aprende alemão como língua estrangeira. A pesquisa teve como objetivo geral investigar as crenças que alunos de língua alemã mantêm em relação a seu processo de aprendizagem. O corpus, coletado a partir de questionários e entrevistas, revelou muitas dessas crenças, referentes, por exemplo, à aprendizagem de gramática. Os resultados também apontam para a existência de uma relação entre as crenças e a adoção de determinadas estratégias de aprendizagem. Durante a análise, buscou-se identificar possíveis origens para as crenças detectadas, bem como os efeitos potenciais das mesmas sobre a aprendizagem da língua alemã. No presente artigo, algumas das crenças constatadas no estudo serão descritas e analisadas em relação a pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos da didática de línguas estrangeiras para o ensino de gramática.

Daniel Ridings

&lt;p&gt;The article presents the status of the PEDANT project with parallel corpora at the Language Bank at Göteborg University. The solutions for access to the corpus data are presented. Access is provided by way of the internet and standard applications and SGML-aware programming tools. The SGML format for encoding translation pairs is outlined together. The methods allow working with everything from plain text to texts densely encoded with linguistic information.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;<br>&lt;p&gt;In hierdie artikel word 'n beskrywing gegee van die stand van die PEDANT-projek met parallelle korpora by die Taalbank by die Universiteit van Göteborg. Oplossings vir die verkryging van toegang tot die korpusdata word aangedui. Toegang word verskaf deur middel van die Internet en standaardtoepassings en SGML-sensitiewe programmeringshulpmiddels. Die SGML-formaat vir die enkodering van vertaalpare word gesamentlik geskets. Hierdie metodes laat toe dat gewerk kan word met enigiets vanaf suiwer teks tot tekste wat taalkundig dig geëtiketteer is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

Gert Webelhuth

Henning Bergenholtz, Rufus H. Gouws

&lt;p&gt;ABSTRACT: In lexicography the concepts of prescription and description have been employed for a long time without there ever being a clear definition of the terms prescription/prescriptive and description/descriptive. This article gives a brief historical account of some of the early uses of these approaches in linguistics and lexicography and argues that, although they have primarily been interpreted as linguistic terms, there is a need for a separate and clearly defined lexicographic application. Contrary to description and prescription, the concept of proscription does not have a linguistic tradition but it has primarily been introduced in the field of lexicography. Different types of prescription, description and proscription are discussed with specific reference to their potential use in dictionaries with text reception and text production as functions. Preferred approaches for the different functions are indicated. It is shown how an optimal use of a prescriptive, descriptive or proscriptive approach could be impeded by a polyfunctional dictionary. Consequently arguments are given in favour of monofunctional dictionaries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;OPSOMMING: 'n Funksionele benadering tot die keuse tussen deskriptief, preskriptief en proskriptief in die leksikografie. In die leksikografie is die begrippe preskripsie en deskripsie lank gebruik sonder dat daar 'n duidelike definisie van die terme preskripsie/ preskriptief en deskripsie/deskriptief was. Hierdie artikel bied 'n kort historiese oorsig oor sommige van die vroeë gebruike van hierdie benaderings in die taalkunde en die leksikografie, en redeneer dat, alhoewel hulle primêr as taalkundige terme geïnterpreteer is, daar 'n werklike behoefte bestaan aan 'n afsonderlike en duidelik omskrewe leksikografiese toepassing. In teenstelling met deskripsie en preskripsie, het die begrip proskripsie nie 'n taalkundige tradisie nie, maar is primêr op die terrein van die leksikografie ingevoer. Verskillende tipes preskripsie, deskripsie en proskripsie word bespreek met spesifieke verwysing na die potensiële gebruik in woordeboeke met teksresepsie en teksproduksie as funksies. Voorkeurbenaderings vir die verskillende funksies word aangedui. Daar word gewys hoe 'n optimale gebruik van 'n preskriptiewe, deskriptiewe en proskriptiewe benadering benadeel kan word deur 'n polifunksionele woordeboek. Gevolglik word argumente ten gunste van 'n monofunksionele woordeboek gegee.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sleutelwoorde: DESKRIPSIE, DESKRIPTIEF, ENSIKLOPEDIES, FUNKSIES, KOGNITIEWE FUNKSIE, KOMMUNIKATIEWE FUNKSIE, MONOFUNKSIONEEL, POLIFUNKSIONEEL, PRESKRIPSIE, PRESKRIPTIEF, PROSKRIPSIE, PROSKRIPTIEF, SEMANTIES, TEKSPRODUKSIE, TEKSRESEPSIE&lt;/p&gt;