Floris Nijhuis, John L. A. Huisman, Roeland van Hout
The Zuiderzee area in the Netherlands is a former inlet sea at the heart of the crossroads of three major regional languages. While these regional languages are largely distinct, previous work by the dialectologist Kloeke indicated similarities due to contact over water, notably the realisation of the Proto-West Germanic vowels *ā and *a. Using various dialectometric methods, we analysed the distribution of these vowels for 121 localities in this region. Specifically, we tried to determine the dialectal landscape more thoroughly, find instances that illustrate cultural diffusion and migration, and evaluate the overall relationship between distance over water and vowel variations. Using a Bayesian population genetic method, admixture, we distinguished nine linguistically explainable clusters, demonstrating its potential. Moreover, we found evidence of cultural diffusion conforming to the overall presence of three different regional languages. Additionally, we employed the so-called matrix method in linear-mixed effects regression to demonstrate that the geographic distance helped to explain the geographic patterns of vowel variation. The distance over water was as effective a measure as the distance over land. We expect this to be common in areas with a history of intensive and sustained shipping traffic.
Nosso foco são práticas em que professores e estudantes se engajam em um trabalho de elaboração de entendimentos para a prova de proficiência em alemão. O objetivo é discutir como o conceito de língua alemã padrão é elaborado por estudantes e professores que participam das aulas de Língua Alemã no 1.º e 3.º anos. Os dados foram gerados em uma turma de 3.º ano e de 1.º ano por Dalla Vecchia em 2015, por meio de uma etnografia da linguagem (Garcez; Schulz 2015) situada teórica e metodologicamente no escopo da Linguística Aplicada em articulação com construtos epistemológicos da Sociolinguística e da Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica. Como resultados, apresentamos que, para além de a translinguagem estar a serviço da participação e está resultar em elaboração de entendimentos e avanço nas tarefas e compreensão do que constitui a prova de proficiência em alemão, os interagentes lançam mão de seu repertório linguístico e semiótico, para compreenderem o que é aceitável ou não na prova de proficiência. São práticas em que tensões emergem, para as quais eles trazem capital cultural em suábio e capital econômico que os posiciona em termos de reconhecer o alemão padrão como uma habilidade interessante para acrescentar ao seu currículo.
German literature, Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages
Der Beitrag widmet sich zunächst historischen Phasen der Medienentwicklung sowie den diese begleitenden medienkritischen Diskursen. Ausgangspunkt sind dabei Bertolt Brechts utopische Vorstellungen zur Verwendung des damals neuen Mediums Radio in den 1920er Jahren. Brecht forderte eine die Hörerschaft beteiligende interaktive Verwendung des medialen Apparats, die er mit der Hoffnung auf eine demokratischere Gesellschaft verband. Im historischen Vergleich werden dann Parallelen zwischen Brechts radiotheoretischen Überlegungen und den Erwartungen auf-gezeigt, die sich in den 1990er Jahren mit der Ausbreitung des Internets verbanden. Verfolgt man den Diskurs um die politischen und kulturellen Auswirkungen des Internets bis in die Gegenwart, dann zeigt sich, wie utopische Erwartungen in dystopische Befürchtungen umschlagen. Diesen Beobachtungen zur Seite gestellt wird eine knappe Darstellung von Brechts praktischen Versuchen zur „interaktiven“ Nutzung des Radios für die Aufführung literarischer Texte. Das wichtigste Beispiel hierfür ist Brechts Radiolehrstück „Der Flug der Lindbergs“. Sowohl Brechts experimentelle Verwendung des Radios als auch die technikbegeisterte Botschaft des Stückes wirken aus heutiger Sicht befremdlich, geben aber gerade dadurch Anregung zum Nachdenken über das Verhältnis von Mensch, Technik und Natur.
Abstract (english): From Bertolt Brecht‘s radio theory to social media. Theoretical and historical connections and food for thought for teaching German in a digitalised society
The article is first devoted to historical phases of media development and the ac-companying discourses of media criticism. The starting point is Bertolt Brecht‘s utopian ideas on the use of the then new medium of radio in the 1920s. Brecht called for an interactive use of the media apparatus that would involve the listeners, which he linked to the hope for a more democratic society. A historical comparison then reve-als parallels between Brecht‘s radio theoretical considerations and the expectations associated with the spread of the Internet in the 1990s. If one follows the discourse on the political and cultural effects of the Internet up to the present, it becomes apparent how utopian expectations turn into dystopian fears. These observations are juxtaposed with a concise account of Brecht‘s practical attempts at „interactive“ use of radio for the performance of literary texts. The most important example of this is Brecht‘s radio play Der Flug der Lindbergs. This is devoted in content to another new technology of the early 20th century, namely airplane technology. Both Brecht‘s experimental use of radio in the performance of the play and the celebration of flying as a triumph of man and technology over nature in terms of content seem disconcerting from today‘s perspective, however, and provide food for thought about the relation-ship between man, technology, and nature as well as the meaningful use of media.
Denne artikkelen tar for seg livssyklusen til datamateriale med utgangspunkt i det fysiske materialet i Språksamlingene ved Universitetet i Bergen. Materialet er gamle ordbokssedler over norrønt/gammelnorsk som senere ble overført til digitale løsninger. Det blir skissert hvordan dette materialet har blitt brukt om igjen for å bygge opp og supplere et nytt digitalt korpus (KoNoKs = Korpus over den norske Konungs skuggsjá) utformet for å besvare nye forskningsspørsmål. Som eksempel på en ny analyse basert på dette gamle forskningsmaterialet, rapporterer artikkelen om noen resultater fra en korpusstudie av syntaktisk variasjon i gammelnorsk.
Philology. Linguistics, Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages
This article describes the lemmatisation and treatment of kinship terms in a proposed English–Sotho, Sotho–English dictionary with an amalgamated lemmalist. The first requirement is to build a list of kinship terminology for the Sotho languages. Secondly, it is necessary in terms of space restriction to determine the most frequently used forms to be lemmatised in such a dictionary. Thirdly, the macrostructure and microstructure of the dictionary should be planned in terms of an amalgamated approach. A short explanation of the amalgamated model will be presented and a schematic illustration of the paternal family tree structure in the Sotho languages is given in the appendix. Specific attention is given to the compilation of the amalgamated lemmalist focusing on absolute cognates and absolute cognates with a difference in form. Finally, where the reduction of huge quantities of terms, e.g. all derived forms of a specific term in all three Sotho languages are at stake, a lexicographic convention will be suggested to sensibly reduce the number of lemmas and to combat redundancy.
Philology. Linguistics, Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
The need for unambiguous communication in the theoretical and applied fields of human activity, such as the legal profession, is constantly increasing. Terminologists and subject specialists are focused on the provision of unambiguous source- and target-language terms for well-defined concepts. In order to achieve this aim, it is necessary to determine the precise meanings of terms which enable users to comprehend and use them in a universally accepted manner. Legal language is one of the most difficult languages for special purposes since only legal experts versed in the special vocabulary can communicate successfully — laypeople tend to struggle comprehending the language of law, sometimes called legalese. This study deals with legal language, the bridging of communication problems in a legal setting by especially court interpreters, and difficulties these legal linguists may experience in this endeavour. Some word-forming principles are discussed and examples are given of typical multilingual coinages in the legal profession. Various matters relating to terminology usage in a multilingual society receive attention. Some of the principles of the standardisation, harmonisation and the internationalisation of the terminology of the legal profession are discussed. The research also addresses the work of the Centre for Legal Terminology in African Languages (CLTAL) and of other relevant terminology projects, e.g. that of the Centre for Political and Related Terminology in Southern Africa (CEPTSA).
Philology. Linguistics, Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania