The introduction of the concept of exaptation into the field of linguistics. A comparison of the history of the concept in evolution and linguistics. The various changes it underwent and the...Show moreThe introduction of the concept of exaptation into the field of linguistics. A comparison of the history of the concept in evolution and linguistics. The various changes it underwent and the transformation that was required to fit it into the field of linguistics. It further explores the impact it had on both fields.Show less
The patient information leaflet contains a lot of Latin-Greek medical terminology which laypeople often do not understand. Many studies have been performed that focus on how Latin-Greek medical...Show moreThe patient information leaflet contains a lot of Latin-Greek medical terminology which laypeople often do not understand. Many studies have been performed that focus on how Latin-Greek medical terminology is translated into different languages, looking at different language pairs. However, little research has been done on the translation of Latin-Greek terminology in English-Dutch patient information leaflets. In order to fill this gap, this thesis analyzes the use of Latin-Greek terminology in the English PILs and the popularization strategies that were used to translate the terms for Dutch laypeople. This study poses two questions. Firstly, whether more Latin-Greek terms are used in the English PILs, as many English lay terms are Latin or Greek-based terms. Secondly, whether there is a significant difference in the number of occurrences of popularization strategies containing Latin-Greek terminology, lay terminology and explication in the English and Dutch PIL sections. The results show that more Latin-Greek terms that are used in the English PILs are indeed Latin or Greek-based terms. The second question, however, could not be answered, as the results of the analysis showed similar number of occurrences of popularization strategies. Further and more extensive research has to be done on the use of Latin-Greek terms and popularization strategies in PILs in order for the second research question posed in this study to be answered.Show less
Ever since the introduction of Translation Universals, their existence has been widely debated. Explicitation and implicitation are no exception to this. These Translation Universals, both...Show moreEver since the introduction of Translation Universals, their existence has been widely debated. Explicitation and implicitation are no exception to this. These Translation Universals, both separately and together, have been studied in a variety of genres and text types. This thesis examined explicitation and implicitation in Dutch Patient Information Leaflets (PILs). It looked at how explicit the Dutch PILs were, what the rate of explicitation to implicitation was, and which explicitation and implicitation strategies were used. To study this, a bilingual parallel corpus of English and Dutch PILs of orally taken contraceptives was analysed. The source and target texts were compared side by side and occurrences of explicitation and implicitation were identified, the rate of explicitation to implicitation was calculated and the different implicitation strategies used were determined. The results show a rate of 60% explicitation and 40% implicitation, with 234 explicitation shifts and 156 implicitation shifts identified. Additionally, a wide range of explicitation and implicitation strategies was found, with the most common explicitation strategies being the addition of a connective element, the filling of an elliptical structure and the use of lexical repetition. The most commonly used implicitation strategy, by far, was the use of a hypernym. Overall, Dutch PILs were more explicit than English ones, especially concerning connectives, though English PILs were more explicit in regard to hyponyms. With this research into explicitation and implicitation, we are one step closer to either confirming or disputing these Translation Universals, using the method proposed by Chesterman (2010). Additionally, by researching the explicitness of PILs, we contribute to the existing research on their lay-friendliness.Show less
Dialects have been studied in different ways for centuries, from the dialectal maps that pioneered the field to the contemporary analysis between urban speech and rural speech. Through the medium...Show moreDialects have been studied in different ways for centuries, from the dialectal maps that pioneered the field to the contemporary analysis between urban speech and rural speech. Through the medium of drama scripts produced by Dublin playwrights, this thesis studies how Dublin speech has shifted in its representation and, by extension, how the variety has shifted. With the aim of giving insight into the accuracy of representation, the sociolinguistic aspects of how language varieties are represented by characters of different backgrounds and how this intersects with the aspect of time. By analyzing nine separate plays written by three authors, across about 80 years, the study concluded that drama encapsulates a high degree of non-standard variety-specific features. These are especially apparent in the use of grammatical features, phrasal constructions, and vocabulary. The incorporation of the Irish language and the use of minor respellings to portray non-standard speech was, however, concluded to be mainly stylistic. Yet, a lot of items corresponding to documented Dublin features were found in the texts. Out of these it was the grammatical items that stood out the most. Several grammatical forms were found across all authors, specific forms that also corresponded to Irish and Dublin features. Lastly, this study could not add much to the sociolinguistic aspects of literary non-standard representation. As the play portrayed working class speakers without any upper-class characters involved.Show less
The current study offers the first clause type anticipation based on the prosody of Beijing Mandarin for native Taiwan Mandarin listeners, building upon the research of Gryllia et al. (2020). By...Show moreThe current study offers the first clause type anticipation based on the prosody of Beijing Mandarin for native Taiwan Mandarin listeners, building upon the research of Gryllia et al. (2020). By conducting an online audio-gating experiment, our findings indicated that TM listeners encounter difficulties anticipating wh-questions based on BM prosodic cues, whereas the anticipation of declaratives was more successful. The effect of the clause types intended by the BM speaker was significant from Gate II, and the effect of tones in Gate III suggested an intertwined interaction between tone and intonation. Additionally, the impact of the gate and its interaction with the intended clause type was also shown to influence the clause type anticipation.Show less
This thesis presents a contrastive analysis between the observational stand-up comedies of the Greek Lambros Fisfis and the American Jim Gaffigan. The analysis criterion was the different...Show moreThis thesis presents a contrastive analysis between the observational stand-up comedies of the Greek Lambros Fisfis and the American Jim Gaffigan. The analysis criterion was the different linguistic devices used on the grounds of the first Knowledge Resource, the Language, offered by the General Theory of Verbal Humor (Attardo & Raskin 1991), the four Humor Identification Forms (Shade 1996), and the five levels of linguistic analysis (morphology, syntax, phonetics-phonology, semantics, and pragmatics). To what extent does each comedian rely on the different linguistic devices corresponding to the five levels of linguistic analysis to elicit laughter from the audience? Subsequently, how different or similar is each comedian’s approach regarding the different levels of analysis from which they draw their devices and the different types of the devices themselves? To answer these questions, I present a comparative analysis of the linguistic devices used in 15 clips from Fisfis’ playlist on YouTube, “Να ένας Σοφός” (Here is a Wise Man) and Gaffigan’s playlist on YouTube, “Laugh Society” respectively. The results suggest that both comedians relied mainly on the Verbal Humor Identification Form, and Fisfis used more devices than Gaffigan on the morphological, phonetic-phonological, and pragmatic levels. Gaffigan, on the other hand, used more devices than Fisfis on the syntactic and semantic levels.Show less
The research relates to the use of conditionals in the warning paragraph of medicinal contraindications in a patient information leaflet (PIL) or Package Leaflet (PL), and whether aspects of the...Show moreThe research relates to the use of conditionals in the warning paragraph of medicinal contraindications in a patient information leaflet (PIL) or Package Leaflet (PL), and whether aspects of the language used can be identified as a source of anxiety for patients with prescription medicines.Show less
This thesis examines body-part and non-body-part idiom translation by student translators from Japanese into English or Dutch. Several researches have been conducted regarding the perceived...Show moreThis thesis examines body-part and non-body-part idiom translation by student translators from Japanese into English or Dutch. Several researches have been conducted regarding the perceived translatability of body-part idioms, but the actual translation of these idioms as well as student translation has not been widely researched. Body parts are a major aspect of figurative language, but body-part idiom translation, the image of body parts in translation, is an area that is under researched. By examining the strategies student translators use as well as their reflections on the translations, this study argues that both body-part and non-body-part idioms are preferably translated using figurative language. In addition, body parts and their image (or other images) can and do play a part in the translation decision, however, no strong preference for body parts to be transferred can be detected in this study. However, this study also argues that other images, might play a role in the translation decision for student translators.Show less
The present study aims to investigate the use of Japanese loanwords in Mandarin Chinese-speaking Otaku communities by combining database observation with three elicitation tasks: 1) a questionnaire...Show moreThe present study aims to investigate the use of Japanese loanwords in Mandarin Chinese-speaking Otaku communities by combining database observation with three elicitation tasks: 1) a questionnaire on knowledge and using circumstances of the loans, 2) a set of read-aloud tasks following the questionnaire in Task 1 for tonal assignment strategies, and 3) a timed loanword-identification task. Linguistic dimensions of the data are carefully investigated, and variations in different individuals’ uses are also observed. Based on these findings, the role of misperception and identity in tonal adaptation, the limbo between code switching and lexical borrowing, as well as the role of orthographic representations are reflected on.Show less
This thesis examines whether native speakers of Dutch can aspirate unvoiced word-initial plosives in English as a second language and if they are able to do so to the same degree as native speakers...Show moreThis thesis examines whether native speakers of Dutch can aspirate unvoiced word-initial plosives in English as a second language and if they are able to do so to the same degree as native speakers of English. Aspiration was measured in word-initial unvoiced plosives /p, t, k/ using Voice Onset Time (VOT). Influence of sex, age, age of onset of the second language, and self-reported general pronunciation ability in English were also examined. Native Dutch VOT generally lies between 0-20ms, while native English VOT is anywhere between 50-100 ms. Using recordings from 19 participants who read both Dutch and English sentences out loud, it was found that participants increased their aspiration with an average of 10 ms when switching from Dutch to English. The analysis also shows that two participants out of 19 had an average VOT at a native-like level (>50 ms). Further investigation showed that sex, age, and age of onset did not influence VOT. Participants who graded their general pronunciation abilities with an 8 or higher did show a bigger increase in VOT, but there was no correlation to higher VOT in English when compared to other speakers. Other results showed that /p, t, k/ were not aspirated to the same extent, with /t/ being aspirated significantly more and /p/ significantly less. Lastly, the co-existence of words in both English and Dutch did not significantly alter the VOT, only when words started with /k/ did aspiration significantly improve when the exact word also existed in Dutch. These results conclude that native speakers of Dutch increase aspiration and can aspirate to a native-like degree while speaking English. Any defining factors of the participants who were able to do so are not available due to the limited sample size.Show less
As offensive and taboo language is becoming increasingly common in day-to-day life, this type of language has also become a part of our entertainment media, including in subtitles. Offensive and...Show moreAs offensive and taboo language is becoming increasingly common in day-to-day life, this type of language has also become a part of our entertainment media, including in subtitles. Offensive and taboo language can be used for many different reasons and to create many different effects in the source text. This means that offensive and taboo language can also be used for a character’s characterisation, meaning it will be a way for them to express their own personality, their intent, or to form a relationship with the people around them. However, subtitlers often deal with spatio-temporal constraints that will not allow them to retain every single instance of offensive and taboo language in the target text. This means offensive and taboo language is often the first to be omitted, and this could potentially negatively affect the characterisation of certain characters. This study is an analysis of the offensive and taboo language in the first season of Netflix’s Sex Education and the characterisation of four characters in the English and Dutch subtitles. Ávila-Cabrera’s (2016) taxonomy of offensive and taboo language was used to categorise the offensive and taboo language that was found in the target text. Pinker’s (2007) and Dynel’s (2012) typologies of function were used to classify the functions of the offensive and taboo language. Lastly, a combination of Vinay & Darbelnet’s (2000) and Díaz Cintas & Remael’s (2007) translation strategies were used. The results show that, even though all four characters had parts of their offensive or taboo language omitted during the translation process, their characterisation was not negatively affected. This entails that the Dutch subtitles did not portray an entirely different personality compared to the English source text.Show less
This study investigates language use and code switching (CS) in parliamentary sessions of the People’s Council of Representatives in Aceh, Indonesia. Three recordings of plenary sessions of the...Show moreThis study investigates language use and code switching (CS) in parliamentary sessions of the People’s Council of Representatives in Aceh, Indonesia. Three recordings of plenary sessions of the Council were transcribed and used as data sources for the research. The study used transcriptions to obtain frequency and syntactic constructions and interviews with speakers of Acehnese to obtain social functions and perceived attitudes toward CS. It was found that the use of Acehnese relative to Indonesian and other languages in the parliamentary was 26.5% in terms of word count and 3.3% in terms of continuous speech duration and furthermore could be classified as CS wherein Acehnese served either as Matrix and Embedded Language based on Matrix Language Framework (MLF – Myers-Scotton and Jake, 2009). The CS were mostly intersentential in both direction and extrasentential CS were found only from Indonesian to Acehnese. In addition, the CS mainly functioned as a manner of quotation and interlocutor addressing. This study contributed to a better understanding of language and code switching in politically-motivated settings in Aceh or other multilingual regions in Indonesia. Future research in this area could focus on the intellectual and political factors underlying deliberate code switching.Show less
This thesis focuses on idiolect translation when certain features of the idiolect are not present in the target language. The protagonist in Alan Bennett’s “The Uncommon Reader” is based on Queen...Show moreThis thesis focuses on idiolect translation when certain features of the idiolect are not present in the target language. The protagonist in Alan Bennett’s “The Uncommon Reader” is based on Queen Elizabeth II and contains features that are not present in Dutch. In order to investigate how the idiolect of the protagonist has been translated into Dutch, the research question for this thesis is the following: “How is the royal idiolect in ‘The Uncommon Reader’ by Alan Bennett translated into Dutch?” This was researched by determining the features of the idiolect of Queen Elizabeth II; which of these features were used by Bennett; and how they were translated into Dutch. The royal idiolect in “The Uncommon Reader” was analysed and compared to the Dutch translation. In order to determine how the idiolect was translated, the translation strategies used by the translators were determined based on the analysis. The results of the analysis show that the translators stayed close to the source text by maintaining the linguistic variation that is used in the source text. They also used several translation strategies to maintain the sense of the source text, while changing some features of the royal idiolect that were not present in the target language. The translation strategies that the translators used the most are: clause structure change; sentence structure change; changes in schemes and tropes; explication; and paraphrasing.Show less
Translating cultural references (CRs) in literature is notoriously difficult and depends on context, significance of the CR in the text, and familiarity of the TT reader with the source language...Show moreTranslating cultural references (CRs) in literature is notoriously difficult and depends on context, significance of the CR in the text, and familiarity of the TT reader with the source language and culture. TT readers’ needs can be expected to be different depending on their knowledge of the source language and culture. This means that for one language pair, strategies for the translation of CRs still differ, depending on directionality of the translation. This study provides a quantitative analysis of the first 100 CRs from 5 novels translated from English to Dutch, and 5 novels translated from Dutch to English. The translation pairs were categorized by translation strategy (using Olk, 2001) as well as by type of CR (using Grit, 1997), analysing the degree of domestication or foreignization of the overall translation strategies as well as the strategies per CR type. The analysis shows that, overall, the strategies used for translating from English to Dutch are more foreignizing. The results from this study may be used to aid translator’s choices by providing insight into the effect of their individual choices, as well as future reader reception studies.Show less
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