This thesis focuses on the explicitation of Latin-Greek terms in medical brochures that are intended for laypeople. It analyzes the presence of LG terms and the explicitation strategies in English...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the explicitation of Latin-Greek terms in medical brochures that are intended for laypeople. It analyzes the presence of LG terms and the explicitation strategies in English medical brochures that were translated from Dutch in comparison to non-translated medical brochures originally written in English. This study uses a comparable corpus methodology and its aim is to determine whether the translated brochures contain more LG term explicitation compared to the non-translated brochures. This is because research in Translation Studies has shown that the level of health literacy differs among laypeople, meaning that the medical brochures should be written in an understandable manner for everyone (Montalt, Zethsen, & Karwacka, 2018). Making a text comprehensible for laypeople can be done by using explicitation, which is adapting a unit of the text more extensively, for instance by omitting or adding terms. In this thesis, the LG terms found are classified into the following six categories that determine the explicitation strategy: definition/explanation, reformulation, exemplification/illustration, analogy, synonym, and hyperonym. This thesis compares the explicitation of LG terms in translated Dutch-English to non-translated English brochures, because it has been shown that English has had a better influx of Latin-based terminology compared to Northern European languages, that is Scandinavian or Germanic languages (Askehave and Zethsen, 2002; Zethsen, 2004). The results of this thesis show that the non-translated medical brochures in English actually contain a higher frequency of LG term explicitation compared to the medical brochures translated from Dutch. Possible reasons for these results could be that LG terms in everyday English are not as well-known and present as expected and there might exist a discrepancy between what can and cannot be considered lay terms when writing and translating medical brochures.Show less
Slang is a nonstandard informal vocabulary peculiar to a group. In this digital age, the reproduction and evolution of slang words has become faster due to the digital platforms that they are often...Show moreSlang is a nonstandard informal vocabulary peculiar to a group. In this digital age, the reproduction and evolution of slang words has become faster due to the digital platforms that they are often used in. Research has been done on the lexical aspects of slang and slang in general (Sornig (1981); Metcalf (2002)), and on forms of digital slang (McCulloch (2019)), but none view slang as a mode of translation and applied it to to other types of text besides messages on social media. This thesis will address where digital slang terms come from, and if their origins can help explain how likely they are to be understood by someone who speaks regular English. To do so I will annotate a slang translation of Harry Potter, and research the etymological origins of the slang to try to discover - using Metcalf’s (2002) FUDGE theory - which slang terms are more likely to be understood. I expect to find that the slang terms that more closely resemble regular English words are more likely to be understood.Show less
Pragmatic competence is a fundamental aspect of communicative ability and key to successful interaction between two or more interlocutors within a given socio-cultural context. It is widely...Show morePragmatic competence is a fundamental aspect of communicative ability and key to successful interaction between two or more interlocutors within a given socio-cultural context. It is widely accepted that its absence entails misunderstandings or communication breakdowns (Alsuhaibani, 2022; Tulgar, 2016). Therefore, teaching pragmatics in EFL classrooms is a crucial issue since it prepares second language learners to communicate effectively within an intercultural and multicultural context, which is, in fact, the ultimate goal of second language learning. Yet, in Greek EFL classes, pragmatics instruction is often absent. Admittedly, Greek EFL teachers are not native speakers of the language and have been taught English and its pragmatics as second-language learners themselves. Consequently, their limited exposure to the target L2 socio-cultural context may imply teachers’ low level of pragmatic knowledge, which influences their teaching of pragmatics. Besides, there are other issues that EFL instructors should deal with that hinder the incorporation of pragmatics in their lesson plans. This thesis aimed to investigate Greek EFL teachers’ pragmatic competence, their beliefs on L2 pragmatics instruction, and the challenges they face in integrating it into their EFL classroom. To achieve the thesis objectives, a mixed-methods research design was employed, using questionnaires (pragmatic comprehension scenarios, DCT, Likert-scale self-reports) and semi-structured interviews to collect data, which were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The present thesis showed that the 72 Greek EFL teachers who participated in the questionnaire have a relatively high level of pragmatic competence. This thesis also identified no correlation between teachers’ pragmatic competence and their years of teaching experience or their residing/studying/working abroad using the target language. Moreover, it is found that although most teachers do not include structured pragmatic instruction in their lesson plans, they do value L2 pragmatics teaching. Finally, teacher and learner factors, as well as the Greek EFL context itself, pose significant challenges in incorporating L2 pragmatic instructions in Greek EFL classrooms.Show less
Code switching can be defined as the use of more than one language, or ‘code’, by someone engaged in speech or text. It is a practise employed by multilinguals in both oral and written...Show moreCode switching can be defined as the use of more than one language, or ‘code’, by someone engaged in speech or text. It is a practise employed by multilinguals in both oral and written conversations. Different multilinguals will have different switching patterns. These patterns can vary depending on the speaker’s language proficiency, community norms, the typology of their languages, and the cultural or political relations these languages might have with one another, among many other reasons. Code switching between Spanish and English and Spanish and French has been the subject of various studies. Although trilingual research is rare (e.g. Parafita Couto et al., 2023; Valdés Kroff et al., 2023), there has also been some research on the connection between Spanish, French and English, but most of this work is based in the French-speaking provinces of Canada (e.g. COLEM, 2023; Pato, 2019, 2022). This paper aims to study the code-switching patterns among a set of trilingual siblings living in Geneva who have Colombian heritage and attend a British school in the city. The participants recorded themselves for up to 30 minutes having casual conversations following a prompt in three separate occasions. The switches were identified alongside general information about the corpus, such as how many languages were present in each clause, the clauses’ matrix language, the general use of each language in the corpus, among others. This paper focuses on intraclausal switching. We followed Deuchar et al. (2007)’s methodology which categorises each intraclausal switch into insertion, alteration, or congruent lexicalisation according to the code switching pattern it most aligned with following Muysken’s typology of bilingual speech patterns (2000).Because English, Spanish and French are typologically similar, combined with the fact our participants are fluent in all three languages, and due to the culturally open context of Geneva, we expected alternation to be the dominant switch pattern in the recorded conversations. Having said this, since the participants go to a British school where their education is mainly in English, and because the Colombian community in Geneva is not as big as other bilingual communities around the world, a dominant insertional pattern was also a possibility. The corpus was composed of mainly unilingual clauses with 7.8% of the first recording being bilingual clauses, 19.6% of the second recording, and 8.95% of the third. Only three clauses in the entire corpus were trilingual out of 1215. Once we had analysed the entirety of the conversations, the dominant pattern was indeed overwhelmingly insertion with 77.55% of the switches in the corpus presenting this pattern. Congruent lexicalisation was present in 11.56% of the switches and alternation in the other 10.88%. Although these results do not necessarily align with our expectations of codeswitching in Switzerland, we believe our participants’ specific background, namely the fact that language separation is encouraged in the different spheres of their lives, could explain the prevalence of insertion over alternation in our case study. We hope our research will contribute to bigger corpus studies of trilingual codeswitching patterns in different communities.Show less
This thesis questions whether dangling topics, also often called ''Chinese-style'' topics really only occur in Chinese. This is done by investigating Chinese (from mainland China and Taiwan),...Show moreThis thesis questions whether dangling topics, also often called ''Chinese-style'' topics really only occur in Chinese. This is done by investigating Chinese (from mainland China and Taiwan), Japanese, Turkish and Dutch. The results show that dangling topics in Chinese are only possible to a certain extent. Moreover, they are also acceptable in other languages (although mostly in marginal contexts).Show less
Ambiguity resolution has been a topic of debate in language processing models. The present study investigated the impact of punctuation and working memory in Garden Path structures and related...Show moreAmbiguity resolution has been a topic of debate in language processing models. The present study investigated the impact of punctuation and working memory in Garden Path structures and related these concepts with assumptions made under the Good Enough parsing approach. A word-by-word self-paced reading task was used to assess the effects. A backwards digit span and a reading span task were administered to measure the participant’s working memory capacity. The study found evidence for the presence of Garden Path effects in Late Closure structures. In the form of response accuracy to the comprehension questions, the data supports the Good Enough parsing approach’s assumption that ambiguities are not fully resolved. The scores on the backwards digit span task correlated positively with response accuracy on comprehension questions while reading span scores did not. Punctuation did not impact reading time of the disambiguating region nor response accuracy.Show less
Objectives/research questions: This thesis looks at Dutch-English determiner-noun code-switches and investigates whether there is a preference for the language of the determiner, whether the...Show moreObjectives/research questions: This thesis looks at Dutch-English determiner-noun code-switches and investigates whether there is a preference for the language of the determiner, whether the position of the switched nominal construction and language dominance affect these preferences; and whether these preferences support the predictions of the Minimalist Program (MP), which predicts that the languages with more phi features provides the determiner, or the Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF), which predicts that the determiner will come from the Matrix Language (ML). This thesis also investigates how grammatical gender assignment is resolved in a code-switch involving a Dutch determiner followed by an English noun, and how language dominance affects this. Methodology: The participants (N = 68, aged between 20 – 77) were split into a Dutch-dominant group, an English-dominant group, and a balanced Dutch-English bilingual group, based on their dominance score, which was calculated from their global language score as measured by the Bilingual Language Profile questionnaire. Participants completed two two-alternative forced-choice acceptability tasks (2AFC); one where they evaluated the acceptability of sentences with code-switches between the determiner and the noun that reflected the predictions of the MP, the MLF, of both, or none. The second task tested which Dutch grammatical gender the participant assigned to an English noun. Data and analysis: Results from the first 2AFC were analysed using Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgment, while the results of the second 2AFC task were used to create a frequency distribution of Dutch grammatical gender marking. Results: A general preference for an English determiner followed by a Dutch noun was found, though this preference is influenced by the matrix language of the sentence, the position of the code-switch in the sentence, as well as language dominance of the bilingual. The first task provided evidence supporting both the predictions of the MLF and the MP, as participants preferred a Dutch determiner followed by an English noun in pre-verbal position, which is what the MLF predicts, but participants preferred an English determiner followed by a Dutch noun in post-verbal position, which is what the MP predicts. Results from the second task suggest the common determiner de is preferred for English nouns by all participants, regardless of language dominance and regardless of the grammatical gender of the translation equivalent. Originality: Following Parafita Couto and Stadthagen-González’s methodology (2019), this study is one of the first studies to use the 2AFC acceptability judgment task analysed using Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgment to directly contrast the predictions of the MP and MLF, and is the first study to do so while controlling for language dominance. Furthermore, this study investigates a language pair that has yet to be researched extensively, in addition to investigating how grammatical gender assignment is resolved. Implications: Results provide evidence for a default gender assignment strategy, as well as evidence for a difference in code-switching preferences depending on language dominance. Furthermore, the results support Parafita Couto and Stadthagen-González’s (2019) suggestion that a theory that combines both the MLF and MP would be more useful to explain Dutch-English code-switches than either framework separately.Show less
Interjections such as 'wow', 'mhm' or 'oh boy', can be defined as conventionalized lingui,stic items that typically constitute a non-elliptical utterance of their own and express a speaker’s...Show moreInterjections such as 'wow', 'mhm' or 'oh boy', can be defined as conventionalized lingui,stic items that typically constitute a non-elliptical utterance of their own and express a speaker’s attitude towards a situation. Many studies have debated about topics like the extent of the interjection class, or the semantics of different types of interjections. However, the context of conversation is needed to truly grasp the way interjections are used in spoken language. This study investigates the interjections of Avatime, a Kwa language of Ghana, focusing specifically on how they are used in interactional discourse. I construct an inventory of the interjections used in a collection of Avatime conversations.I then analyze the functions, positions and multimodal properties of these interjections. The great majority of attested interjections are phatic in function (e.g., backchanneling or expressing agreement), while there is relatively little room for interjections expressing emotions. Most interjections occur on their own (as is part of their definition) or turn-initially. Avatime speakers also regularly communicate in sequences that consist of only interjections. Furthermore, conversation is not unimodal, and neither are interjections. A quarter of the Avatime interjections occur with a gesture (with hand, head or other body parts), although facial expressions are rarely involved in producing gestures. Furthermore, there seems to be great areal convergence of interjections in Avatime and surrounding languages, which are all influenced by the regional lingua franca Ewe. To better understand these areal patterns, and to place interjections in a wider typological perspective, more empirical studies like the present one are needed. Only with comparable data from diverse languages can we understand the use of interjections in conversations around the world, which ultimately is fundamental to understanding human interaction.Show less
There exists a significant amount of research on translation strategies regarding the subtitling of humour and wordplay. However, the translation of eggcorns, malapropisms, and other types of...Show moreThere exists a significant amount of research on translation strategies regarding the subtitling of humour and wordplay. However, the translation of eggcorns, malapropisms, and other types of linguistic blunders have been largely ignored. This thesis attempts to fill this research gap by investigating the translation strategies used for linguistic blunders, or ‘Rickyisms’, in the Dutch subtitles of the Netflix mockumentary Trailer Park Boys. The strategies omission, literal translation, and retention, which occur in taxonomies of existing research were identified. A high rate of omission (64.4%) indicates a significant loss of Rickyisms and humour for the following reasons: no suitable Dutch equivalent (21.5%), temporal/spatial restrictions (15.4%), and grammatical errors (33.8%). Additionally, an overlap between temporal/spatial restrictions and grammatical errors (13.8%) and some omissions which are unjustified (15.4%) were identified. A new two-phase model for the strategies where the Rickyism is retained has been developed. Phase one pertains to the translation of the phrase as if it were correct and phase two pertains to the translation of the error. This resulted in the categories Literal-Literal (58.3%), Literal-Substitution (13.9%), and Substitution-Substitution (27.8%). This first strategy seems to be the preferred one when the linguistic properties of the source and target language permit it. Substitution in phase two includes numerous different shifts in terms of type of error.Show less
Merchant’s (2004) work on fragment answers has been groundbreaking in how clausal ellipsis is discussed today. In the article, Merchant defends the notion that in fragmented utterances, an...Show moreMerchant’s (2004) work on fragment answers has been groundbreaking in how clausal ellipsis is discussed today. In the article, Merchant defends the notion that in fragmented utterances, an interpretable syntactic structure is present but elided on the surface; a view that has been much contended with (see e.g. van Riemsdijk 1978; Hausser and Zaefferer 1978; Ginzburg and Sag 2000; Jackendoff 2002; Barton 1990; Stainton 1995, 1997, 1998; Jackendoff and Culicover 2005). His main argument boils down to the fact that fragments in fragment answers are part of a generated structure, and are proven to undergo movement (p. 664). Ever since, movement has been a crucial element in the discussion on ellipsis. Consequently, Ott and Struckmeier (2017) published an article on why the theory by Merchant is false, using gapping, a type of clausal ellipsis, in German for their prime examples. This thesis aims to further tackle Merchant’s approach using gapping in Dutch and showing that particles in gapping propose significant problems for Merchant’s theory.Show less
This study uses the study by Valdez & Vandepitte (2020) as a framework to answer the research question: To what extent are the differences in attitude and expectation of translators and...Show moreThis study uses the study by Valdez & Vandepitte (2020) as a framework to answer the research question: To what extent are the differences in attitude and expectation of translators and reviewers on the Dutch translation market similar to the situation on the Portuguese biomedical translation market, as described in Valdez & Vandepitte (2020)? This is done by distributing a questionnaire to a group of translators and reviewers, who are active on the Dutch translation market with the language combination English and Dutch. Their answers reveal that the situation on the Dutch translation market is very similar to the situation on the Portuguese biomedical translation market: Translators and reviewers agree on the important aspects of translations (fluency and grammatical correctness) and on the degree to which reviewers should make changes to translations (only if actual mistakes are found, while ignoring personal preference). However, translators and reviewers on both the Dutch and Portuguese translation markets are somewhat unsatisfied with the work of their colleagues, because they appear to not follow the standards that they agree on. This dissatisfaction could be resolved by better communication between translators and reviewers, which is another point of dissatisfaction for translators and reviewers. The findings of this study support the recommendation made by Valdez & Vandepitte (2020) to focus more on communication during translator training.Show less
In forensic speaker comparison, there may be cases in which the speech samples to be compared are not in the same language. Research in forensic phonetics has however almost exclusively been done...Show moreIn forensic speaker comparison, there may be cases in which the speech samples to be compared are not in the same language. Research in forensic phonetics has however almost exclusively been done in monolingual contexts. This study aims to give more clarity about what features can be used in cross-linguistic speaker comparison. This is done by investigating whether proficient first language (L1) Dutch speakers of second language (L2) English adapt the vowel in and to the target language. L2 sound learning models predict that Dutch learners will have difficulty learning the difference between /ɛ/ and /æ/ and will therefore only be able to approximate nativelike pronunciation. The vowels in en and and of 35 proficient, female Dutch speakers of English were analyzed, both as a discourse marker and a coordinating conjunction. Mixed-effect models showed that for both word classes, the F1 and F2 were language-dependent. This means that the use of /æ/ as a characteristic in cross-linguistic speaker comparison is not useful.Show less
This thesis ventures into the particular climate of Mapudungun translators in Chile and scrutinizes the possibility of translation as an instrument of Mapuche activism. It investigates notions of...Show moreThis thesis ventures into the particular climate of Mapudungun translators in Chile and scrutinizes the possibility of translation as an instrument of Mapuche activism. It investigates notions of political agency, habitus, hybridity, and fluency to establish whether these suit the postcolonial condition of Indigenous Latin America. The study’s theoretical framework builds upon translation theories that consider the ties between transformative practices and political or activist engagement. The literature review explores the transformative elements of translation to deduce how activist translation can be defined. It additionally dissects Bourdieu’s conceptualization of habitus and agency to comprehend and analyze transformative translation practices in the postcolonial condition. This debate on postcolonial and translatorial paradigms is complemented by a consideration of the overarching crucial role of translation in Mapuche literature and the significant link between Indigenous identity and language. This thesis expands upon Bhabha’s hybridity and Venuti’s fluency to examine the viability of Rivera Cusicanqui’s ch’ixi as a framework to study Mapudungun translation. The study relies on semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to determine the political means of Mapudungun translations. The results provide insight into the different forms of sociopolitical translation undertaken by Mapudungun translators and what can be considered the task of the Mapudungun translator. Most importantly, this work provides incentive for further research into translation practices in Indigenous Latin America and demonstrates why this cultural region should not remain overlooked.Show less
When the Dutch settled in North America during the seventeenth century, for colonising and trade purposes, came language contact between the two groups of speakers. One result from this contact is...Show moreWhen the Dutch settled in North America during the seventeenth century, for colonising and trade purposes, came language contact between the two groups of speakers. One result from this contact is loanwords. This research investigates Dutch loanwords in American English and their frequency. Through a combination of Schultz’s (2012, 2017, 2018, 2019) framework, the Oxford English Dictionary and Van der Sijs’ (2010) glossary of Dutch loanwords in North American languages, this research was performed. The frequencies were analysed through the Corpus of Historical American English and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. These corpora provided an overview of the development of frequencies both over time and across text types. This research concludes that the frequency of Dutch loanwords in American English increases over time.Show less
This thesis provides an analysis of the translation of racial taboo language in Southern Gothic novels in the form of a descriptive case study. For this study, two well-known examples of Southern...Show moreThis thesis provides an analysis of the translation of racial taboo language in Southern Gothic novels in the form of a descriptive case study. For this study, two well-known examples of Southern Gothic fiction were selected: Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1941) and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). A crucial characteristic of Southern Gothic as a genre that differs from general American Gothic is the fact that it specifically explores the unpleasant realities of life in the American South, including racial injustices and prejudices. As a result, a prominent element in novels of this genre is that they include topics that could be considered problematic and even taboo in their writing, such as racial stereotyping and slurs targeting minority groups. The translation of such language is particularly problematic for translators, as the acceptance of taboo language and the way taboo words are used not only differs per cultural context but also changes over time. The analysis used an approach based on Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) as it will focus on the effect the use of taboo language in the target text (TT) might have within the target culture (TC). The analysis considered whether certain ethical considerations might have influenced the translation procurers the translators have employed and also how the source culture (SC) differs from the TC. This study found that the approach of translations from the 1960s and the 2010s was not significantly different for most instances of taboo language, while the ideology within both the SC and TC and the degree of acceptability for certain words has changed.Show less
