This article aims to verify and refine the positions of Polish phonemic vowels in the IPA Vowel Diagram as proposed in phonetic literature. To achieve this, neural network models trained on productions of Cardinal Vowels by a representative group of phoneticians were used. This automated approach eliminates potential confounding effects of individual researchers’ intuitions, and the locations established this way may be more accurate within the Cardinal Vowel System. The results suggest positions similar to those proposed in articulatory descriptions found in the literature. Nonetheless, the placements tend to be more central. These findings are consistent with the observation that the relatively small inventory of Polish vowels does not require tense phonetic productions. All this points to the conclusion that the positions of Polish phonemic vowels should be placed slightly away from the edges of the Vowel Diagram, indicating more lax articulations.
This study examines consonant mutation particularly in Esahie[1] and Nzema. The reason for the study arises from the mutuality in the two languages. Again, previous studies have superficially treated this subject in the separate languages. However, the subject of consonant mutation is common in the above languages, yet the prevailing characteristics of the phenomenon are similar and dissimilar in the languages. Thus, this study compares and contrast consonant mutation in the two related languages to establish a correlation. In this vein, it discusses the mutational pattern, directionalities and voicing. Data for this study are assembled from four native speakers of each of the languages and literature of the respective languages. The data are analysed within the purview of Distinctive Feature Theory. The study identifies evidence to the relational effect that, the phonological environments in which the various realizations of mutation occurs also results in a harmony system. However, they differ in their mutational domains. The featural agreement normally forges between the vowel-consonant. Again, it is observed in Nzema and Esahie that, the common feature responsible for mutation in the alternant pairs, [k/x] and [k/g] is [dorsal]; [d/l] and [d/n] is [coronal]; [ʨ/ɕ] is [+strident] and [b/m] is [labial]. In both languages, harmonic assimilation is bidirectional.
[1] Esahie is also known as Sefwi, Sehwi, or Asahyue. In Ghana, the language is classified as part of the linguistic Akan group of the larger Akan dialects, even though it shares very close intelligibility with Nzema (a solely ethnographic Akan) than Twi and Mfantse (which are both linguistic and ethnographic Akan). Therefore, in this paper, we shall refer to both variants as separate languages.
Computational linguistics. Natural language processing, Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar
Keywords: Book of Al-Ayyam, Taha Hossein, Khadiv Jam, Al-Ayyam Translating, Referential Meaning, Slippage in theReferential Meaning.IntroductionWhether we consider the translation unit as a word, a sentence, a text, or even a concept, the quest for finding the appropriate equivalent for vocabulary remains essential and effective. Understanding the meaning of sentences or texts does not occur in isolation; it is inherently connected to the vocabulary used. Therefore, when translating a text from one language to another, the translator’s initial task should be to assess the meaning of individual words.Peter Newmark contends that translators who dismiss the translation of individual words in favor of focusing solely on sentences and messages deceive themselves. After all, every sentence or text comprises words, each of which independently carries a meaning that reflects a tangible or abstract reality from the external world. Consequently, many experts prioritize the referential meaning—the genuine and concrete sense of words—over other potential meanings. As long as a translator can convey a word’s referential meaning accurately in the target language, there is no need to resort to alternative interpretations.Nevertheless, it is observed that translators occasionally falter when translating the referential meaning. In this essay, the authors aim to analyze and evaluate the translation of the second volume of Hossein Khadiojam’s book Al-Ayyam, specifically addressing the factors that led to deviations from the intended referential meaning.Literature ReviewNumerous studies have explored various aspects of meaning and the quest for equivalence in translation. Among these, the following noteworthy works can be highlighted:“Pragmatics of Referential Meanings of Words in the Translation Process of Nahj al-Balaghah” (1396-2016)by Seyyed Mehdi Masbooq: In this article, Masbooq and colleagues meticulously examine one hundred and twelve words from Nahj al-Balaghah across translations by Mr. Jafari, Dashti, Faqihi, and Faiz al-Islam. The study sheds light on challenges faced by translators, including issues related to vocabulary structure, as well as formal and spiritual nuances of the words.“Research on Translation from Arabic to Persian Based on the Process of ‘Spiritual Equivalence’ (Case Study of the Novel Al-Sakriye)” (1393-2013)by Adnan Tahmasabi and Siddiqa Jafari: This article delves into the translation process, exploring lexical equivalence and language structures across different lexical and semantic layers, with a focus on Al-Sukariyyeh’s novel.“Types of Meaning in Translation” (1393-2013)by Alireza Khan Jan: Khan Jan addresses the critical issue of distinguishing between various types of meaning, emphasizing its significance from Halliday’s perspective.“Criticism on the Translation of ‘Al-Ibarat’: A Testimony to the Necessity of Proficiency in Source and Target Languages” (2012)by Shahriar Gitti and colleagues: Through a critical examination of the translation of the textbook Al-Ibrate, the authors discuss common errors and their underlying causes, emphasizing the challenges faced by translators due to insufficient fluency in both the source and target languages.“Etymology of Words in Nahj al-Balagha: An Emphasis on Ibn-Faris’s Method” (1391-2013): Hossein Mu-yadi’s thesis delves into the etymology process of words found in Nahj al-Balagha. By analyzing the semantics and roots of the vocabulary, the study explores Ibn-Faris’s approach and its impact on vocabulary comprehension.“Pragmatics of ‘Translation Equivalence’ for Words in Quran Translation” (2011)by Hamidreza Mirhaji and colleagues: This article emphasizes the necessity of considering different semantic layers to achieve translation equivalence. The authors examine the process of equivalence and equality at the word level, highlighting that translations from the Quran often lack sufficient attention to the principle of “translation equivalence.” Translators tend to focus primarily on transferring the referential meaning, often overlooking other semantic layers.“Text, Metatext, and Analysis of Basic and Relative Meaning: A Comparative Study with Interpretation” (1386-2006)by Dr. Mohammad Baqer Saeedi Roshan: In this article, the author compares the perspectives of Muslim scholars and contemporary semantic approaches regarding situational meaning and pragmatics as the primary meaning of words, both within and outside the context. The study also explores the relative meaning of words, as understood from the context and text.Although referential meaning—one of the types of meaning—has been analyzed and evaluated in various books and research, there appears to be a gap in independent research regarding its importance, impact on understanding other meanings, and the factors contributing to translator errors in handling referential meaning during translation.On the contrary, the focus of this research lies on the referential meaning within the context of equivalence-seeking during the translation of the second volume of Al-Ayam. The authors aim to address the following questions:What factors contributed to Khadiojam’s errors in translating the referential meaning of certain words?Which factor occurred most frequently?To achieve this, the authors have extracted 69 examples from the second volume of Al-Ayam, where they believe Khadiojam deviated from the intended referential meaning. Due to space constraints, the article provides a select few examples for each factor, followed by an evaluation and analysis using a comparative approach.Conclusion
Karla Tatiana Yara Falla, Maria Ximena Collazos Perdomo
This narrative research study allows us to learn about the usefulness of the mandatory institutional English courses at the Universidad Surcolombiana, Neiva branch, for students of other undergraduate programs in English and their academic, professional, and personal impact. It uses the open interview anonymously to collect their experiences and to promote free expression by using questions related to the courses and based on their environment and previous contact with English using Spanish to better understand. Likewise, the English for Specific Purposes model was taken into account and presented as an idea to the students as a strategy to implement it in the different programs. The results indicated that the benefits obtained in these courses were very limited for English learning and improving the level of students, evidencing the need for English according to their program for the adequate professional development of each one.
Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar, Romanic languages
La enseñanza de las oraciones impersonales en Secundaria y Bachillerato las presenta como un tipo especial de oraciones que no tienen sujeto. Sin embargo, ello significaría una anomalía en el análisis funcional del concepto de oración. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar una experiencia de aula en Bachillerato basada en la elaboración de hipótesis y de actividades reflexivas. En primer lugar, se discutirán las nociones de sujeto. Posteriormente, se revisarán los tipos de oraciones impersonales que se suelen estudiar en la enseñanza media. Y, finalmente, a partir de algunas actividades basadas en la tipología de Bosque y Gallego (2016) y Gallego y Gutiérrez (2022) se trabajarán los argumentos que aparecen en los verbos impersonales.
The article questions if human speech communication (SC) involves a transfer of information. The information functioning in speech communication is dwelled upon in the information and systemic activity approaches. The informational approach adequately explains only the direct method of information transfer, while the systemic activity approach is relevant for the sign-mediated speech communication typical for human interaction. The more heuristic thesis is that the perception of the chain of linguistic sign bodies produced in the intersubjective space only starts the construction of the perceived speech message content by the recipient. The completeness of the constructed speech message content depends entirely on the recipient, who has the optimal common consciousness with the speaker. The purpose of speech messages is not the actual construction of the content by the recipient, but the development of the message personal meaning. In human speech communication, the communicants do not transmit information, but use verbal signs bodies to actualize images of consciousness which are developed within a single ethnic culture and therefore are common for them. The incentive for the common consciousness development by the communicants is their participation in joint activities that ensure their earthly existence.
Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar, Semantics
El desarrollo de comunidades sostenibles parte del rescate de la espiritualidad intrínseca del ser humano con su entorno de vida y depende del estímulo de sus capacidades como sujeto activo para darle respuestas creativas a la actual problemática socio-ambiental, la potenciación de resiliencia. Cuba, en su condición insular, sufre de múltiples los impactos del cambio climático, las acciones de adaptación necesitan del flujo de respuesta a nivel institucional y de la autogestión local. Los proyectos comunitarios en Centro Habana son indispensables para el rescate de los valores socio-ambientales. La sistematización de experiencias concretas de prácticas sostenibles visibiliza las potencialidades de modelos alternativos y permite articular y fortalecer sus propuestas para la construcción de comunidades sostenibles y resilientes.
Philology. Linguistics, Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar
F. Hubers, Thijs Trompenaars, Sebastian Collin
et al.
Prescriptive grammar rules are taught in education, generally to ban the use of certain frequently encountered constructions in everyday language. This may lead to hypercorrection, meaning that the prescribed form in one construction is extended to another one in which it is in fact prohibited by prescriptive grammar. We discuss two such cases in Dutch: the hypercorrect use of the comparative particle dan ‘than’ in equative constructions, and the hypercorrect use of the accusative pronoun hen ‘them’ for a dative object. In two experiments, high school students of three educational levels were tested on their use of these hypercorrect forms (nexp1 = 162, nexp2 = 159). Our results indicate an overall large amount of hypercorrection across all levels of education, including pre-university level students who otherwise perform better in constructions targeted by prescriptive grammar rules. We conclude that while teaching prescriptive grammar rules to high school students seems to increase their use of correct forms in certain constructions, this comes at a cost of hypercorrection in others.
Abstract Legal translation training involves the acquisition and development of a set of sub-competences that constitute legal translation competence (Cao, Deborah. 2007. Translating law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 2011. Developing legal translation competence: An integrative process-oriented approach. Comparative Legilinguistics. International Journal for Legal Communications 5. 7–21; Piecychna, Beata. 2013. Legal translation competence in the light of translational hermeneutics. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 34(47). 141–159; Soriano Barabino, Guadalupe. 2016. Comparative law for legal translators. Oxford: Peter Lang; Soriano Barabino, Guadalupe. 2018. La formación del traductor jurídico: Análisis de la competencia traductora en traducción jurídica y propuesta de programa formativo. Quaderns: Revista de Traduccio 25. 217–229). The development of those sub-competences is part of a complex process where students are faced with different concepts and translation strategies and techniques which are not necessarily easy to grasp for trainee translators (Way, Catherine. 2014. Structuring a legal translation course: A framework for decision-making in legal translation training. In Le Cheng, King Kui Sin & Anne Wagner (eds.), The Ashgate handbook of legal translation. Farnham: Ashgate), particularly when applied to a legal context. It is our experience that translation students tend to focus on the product (text production) and do not spend enough time analysing the source text, which results in obvious mistakes in mainly – but not only – cultural (legal), textual and linguistic aspects. The interdisciplinary nature of legal translation calls for an integrative model for teaching and learning. The model presented provides trainees with a framework for source text analysis that places the communicative situation and the translation brief at the core from which three fundamental dimensions, based on the aspects mentioned above, develop. Elements such as the legal cultures involved, legal text typologies or the level of specialisation of terms and discourse are some of the aspects to be considered, so allowing trainees to achieve a thorough understanding of the source text for a conscious translation. The model will be applied to a specific source text and translation brief.
Abstract This paper develops a visual analysis of the environmental webpages of 20 global companies, considered to be the world’s greatest polluters in terms of their carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Our aim is to determine how these companies build a public reputation as environmentally concerned agents in relation to climate change. The analysis is based on the theoretical and methodological propositions put forward by Critical Discourse Analysis, ecolinguistics and multimodal analysis. More specifically, we take into account Kress and van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design, which enables us to describe and classify the images on webpages and to determine how these images are used to enforce certain narratives and ideologies. The paper also develops a comparative study of promotional strategies and the level of development and communicative efficiency of the sustainability webpages of Western and non-Western companies, on the one hand, and of global companies and environmental NGOs on the other.
Purpose of the study: The study aims to find parallels between legal translation practice and training by analyzing the case study methods' capabilities and limitations in academic institutions. It presents a comparative research of various situations of professional communication and legal documents employed as learning tools for the case study method in a classroom environment. Methodology: The primary methods used in this research are case study method, analysis of ESP teaching materials, methods of comparative linguistics, descriptive statistics, and translation studies. The study rests on the use of translation techniques in Russian-English translation of case briefs that is why the author used algorithm-based machine translation software and grammar analysis software for in-depth analysis of legal documents. Main Findings: Regular exercise following the suggested patterns of language training based on comparative legal case studies improves the relative translation competence and students' readiness for written and oral 'on-the-spot' translation in Russian-English language pair. It develops professional cross-cultural communication skills at the end of the final semester of Legal English training. Applications of this study: The results of the research, including the suggested exercise patterns for implementing the case study method in teaching Russian-English translation, may be used as Legal English learning tools. Besides, some results of the research may contribute to the improvement of output quality of machine translation systems and the development of legal tech software. Novelty of this study: The article presents a case study method used in legal translation training and task design for advanced levels of Legal English. The secondary goal is to find teaching methods that may enhance the learning motivation of Legal English students by realistic scenarios of business simulation games. The novelty aspect is the practical use of adjustable frames in task design.
Comparative constructions pose a challenge in Natural Language Inference (NLI), which is the task of determining whether a text entails a hypothesis. Comparatives are structurally complex in that they interact with other linguistic phenomena such as quantifiers, numerals, and lexical antonyms. In formal semantics, there is a rich body of work on comparatives and gradable expressions using the notion of degree. However, a logical inference system for comparatives has not been sufficiently developed for use in the NLI task. In this paper, we present a compositional semantics that maps various comparative constructions in English to semantic representations via Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) parsers and combine it with an inference system based on automated theorem proving. We evaluate our system on three NLI datasets that contain complex logical inferences with comparatives, generalized quantifiers, and numerals. We show that the system outperforms previous logic-based systems as well as recent deep learning-based models.
Alla Mykhailivna Bogush, Tetiana Mykhailivna Korolova, Popova Oleksandra Volodymyrivna
The article covers the issues related to the development of reading skills of the students majoring/minoring in English and Chinese (as non-native languages). In the backdrop of linguistic differences between English and Chinese, this action research was conducted to investigate the components of the reading skills, which are to be developed within the Bachelor programs. The primary purpose of the article is to analyze the methodological background for teaching Ukrainian students to perceive information from authentic texts. The methods of induction and deduction enabled us to analyze and generalize the theoretical bases for the investigated topic, to systemize the results of the study (the reading tactics and strategies, classification of reading activities). The study was based on focused observation using the register as a tool for data collecting for two semesters each in three groups of third-year students at Ushynsky University. The total sample size was 54. The article presents an analysis of difficulties in reading English and Chinese texts: 1) phonological level – differences in sound pronunciation (English: /T/, /D/ /w/, /N/, /x/, etc.; Chinese: the alveolo-palatal consonants j, q, x; affricates zh, z; consonant r, etc.), the phonetic phenomena (English: nasal plosion, lateral plosion, loss of plosion, assimilation, reduction/elision, etc.; Chinese: tone, erization); 2) lexical level – conversion (in English) and transposition (in Chinese), homonymy, polysemy; 3) grammatical level – the division of lexicon into parts of speech, different word order in English and Chinese sentences, (non)segmentation of English and Chinese syntagms/clauses/compound sentences, use of tenses, etc. The article contains some recommendations for English and Chinese reading classrooms.
Language plays an important role in human life that can be seen from various perspectives such as the cultural perspective, linguistic perspective, social perspective, psychological perspective, perspective of gender and moral and ethical perspectives. This is undoubtedly a proven fact that we use language and at the same time, language uses us to define, designate, tag and shape our places in the society (Cameron, 2005). This role of language is generally suitable for all human race either male or female but the basic purpose of this study is to explain how language shapes a woman’s place and identity in society. Often we find that women face linguistic discrimination in two different ways: one is the way; they are taught to speak and use language and the other way is about how language treats them (Lakoff, 2004). These linguistic disparities tend to specify a woman’s role and function in the society as a sex object, a servant, a wife, a daughter, a mother and specifically a woman (Kerber, 1988). The researcher collected the data for this study from Ibsen’s (1999) ‘A Doll’s House’ in which different lexical items, phrases and sentences were uttered intentionally to explain the role of the main character Nora as a wife, as a daughter and as a woman. The researcher examined the speeches of different characters only to show the language –made and man- made places of women in the society. For this purpose, the researcher used a theoretical framework based on the qualitative approach while consulting the related ideas of Lakoff (2004) who, in her ‘Dominance Theory,’ explains how language shapes a woman’s place in the society by analyzing her own speeches and the speeches of different people in the society. The findings of the study go a long way in telling people and the upcoming researchers that language not only specifies gender roles individually, but also internally and externally as well. Basically different social characters surrounding a woman use language in such a way that it starts shaping a woman’s character in different sub- characters as explained in the work of Ibsen (1999). Furthermore, language use tells us that a man remains a man in every situation either as a father, as a husband, as a son, and above all as a man but a woman’s place in society is changeable according to language use and those tagged names that men have used for women ever. For example, if a little girl talks roughly like a boy, she is scolded by her parents and friends (Lakoff, 2004). This process of socialization is harmful in the sense that it is making women weak, incapable and less –confident but if we analyze the last lines spoken by Nora in the selected text of Ibsen (1999), we come to know that constant battering and hammering of socialization and generalization are now making women aware of their individual place and identity in the society and they are now looking at life from a different perspective that is still unacceptable in the man-made society (Kramer, 1974). This study will open new avenues for sociolinguists to study language and gender keenly and critically.
Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar, Oral communication. Speech
Abstract In L1 grammar teaching, teachers often struggle with the students’ conceptual understanding of the subject matter. Frequently, students do not acquire an in-depth understanding of grammar, and they seem generally incapable of reasoning about grammatical problems. Some scholars have argued that an in-depth understanding of grammar requires making connections between concepts from traditional grammar and underlying metaconcepts from linguistic theory. In the current study, we evaluate an intervention aiming to do this, following up on a previous study that found a significant effect for such an approach in university students of Dutch Language and Literature (d = 0.62). In the current study, 119 Dutch secondary school students’ grammatical reasonings (N = 684) were evaluated by language teachers, teacher educators and linguists pre and post intervention using comparative judgement. Results indicate that the intervention significantly boosted the students’ ability to reason grammatically (d = 0.46), and that many students can reason based on linguistic metaconcepts. The study also shows that reasoning based on explicit underlying linguistic metaconcepts and on explicit concepts from traditional grammar is more favored by teachers and (educational) linguists than reasoning without explicit (meta)concepts. However, some students show signs of incomplete acquisition of the metaconcepts. The paper discusses explanations for this incomplete acquisition.
Abstract:The rajaz meter of Hausa is based on syllable quantity. In its dimeter form, it deploys lines consisting of two metra, each usually containing six moras. A variety of metra occur, and the key analytic challenge is to single out the legal metra from the set of logically possible ones. We propose an analysis, framed in maximum entropy optimality theory, that does this and also accounts for the statistical distribution of metron types, varying from poem to poem, within the line and stanza. We demonstrate a law of comparative frequency for rajaz and show how it emerges naturally in the maxent framework when competing candidates are in a relationship of harmonic bounding.Turning to how the verse is sung, we observe that rajaz verse rhythm is typically remapped onto a distinct sung rhythm. We consider grammatical architectures that can characterize this remapping. Lastly, we develop a maxent phonetic grammar to predict the durations of the sung syllables. Our constraints simultaneously invoke all levels of structure: the syllables and moras of the phonology, the grids used for poetic scansion, and the grids used for sung rhythm.