Film Dialogue Translation And The Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect In English And Chinese

This thesis proposes a new approach to film dialogue translation (FDT) with special reference to the translation process and quality of English-to-Chinese dubbing. In response to the persistent translation failures that led to widespread criticism of dubbed films and TV plays in China for their artificial \u27translation talk\u27, this study provides a pragmatic methodology derived from the integration of the theories and analytical systems of information flow in the tradition of the functionalist approach to speech and writing with the relevant theoretical and empirical findings from TS and other related branches of linguistics. It has developed and validated a translation model (FITNIATS) which makes the intonation unit (IU) the central unit of film dialogue translation. Arguing that any translation which treats dubbing as a simple script-to-script process, without transferring the prosodic properties of the spoken words into the commensurate functions of TL, is incomplete, the thesis demonstrates that, in order to reduce confusion and loss of meaning/rhythm, the SL dialogue should be rendered in the IUs with the stressed syllables well-timed in TL to keep the corresponding information foci in sync with the visual message. It shows that adhering to the sentence-to-sentence formula as the translation metastrategy with the information structure of the original film dialogue permuted can result in serious stylistic as well as communicative problems. Five key theoretical issues in TS are addressed in the context of FDT, viz., the relations between micro-structure and macro-structure translation perspectives, foreignizing vs. domesticating translation, the unit of translation, the levels of translation equivalence and the criteria for evaluating translation quality. lf equivalent effect is to be achieved in all relevant dimensions, it is argued that \u27FITness criteria\u27 need to be met in film translation assessment, and four such criteria arc proposed. This study demonstrates that prosody and word order, as sensitive indices of the information flow which occurs in film dialogue through the creation and perception of meaning, can provide a basis for minimizing cross-linguistic discrepancies and compensating for loss of the FIT functions, especially where conflicts arise between the syntactic and/or medium constraints and the adequate transfer of cultural-specific content and style. The implications of the model for subtitling arc also made explicit

The brain structure during language development: neural correlates of sentence comprehension in preschool children

Language skills increase as the brain matures and language specialization is linked to the left hemisphere. Among distinct language domains, sentence comprehension is particularly vital in language acquisition and, by comparison, requires a much longer time-span before full mastery in children. Although accumulating studies have revealed the neural mechanism underlying sentence comprehension acquisition, the development of the brain’s gray matter and its relation to sentence comprehension had not been fully understood. This thesis employs structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging data to investigate the neural correlates of sentence comprehension in preschoolers both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The first study examines how cortical thick- ness covariance is relevant for syntax in preschoolers and changes across development. Results suggest that the cortical thickness covariance of brain regions relevant for syntax increases from preschoolers to adults, whilst preschoolers with superior language abilities show a more adult-like covariance pattern. Reconstructing the white matter fiber tract connecting the left inferior frontal and superior temporal cortices using diffusion-weighted imaging data, the second study suggests that the reduced cortical thickness covariance in the left frontotemporal regions is likely due to immature white matter connectivity during preschool. The third study then investigated the cortical thickness asymmetry and its relation to sentence comprehension abilities. Results show that longitudinal cortical thick- ness asymmetry in the inferior frontal cortex was associated with improvements in sentence comprehension, further suggesting the crucial role of the inferior frontal cortex for sentence comprehension acquisition. Taken together, evidence from gray and white matter data provides new insights into the neuroscientific model of language acquisition and the emergence of syntactic processing during language development

The Micro Geopolitics of (Eco)Tourism: Competing Discourses and Collaboration in New Zealand and Brazil

DVD Slideshow disc of supplementary material available with the print copy of this thesis, held at the University of Waikato Library.This social science, interdisciplinary research deals with 'competing discourses' and 'collaboration'. The thesis examines issues of power in (eco)tourism development as manifested in the discursive construction and positionality of local stakeholders. It then inquires whether collaborative schemes can bridge the various interest groups dealing with nature tourism activities in a way that they can expand social, economic and environmental benefits. The language they use, the context they live in, and their relationships and interactions are systematically deconstructed to unveil possible collaborative models for conflict resolution that can advance the practices of (eco)tourism as well as bring collective gains regionally. The study maps the micro geopolitics that exist in all levels of ecotourism development: in its conceptualisation, design, planning and management. Focusing on nodes of conflict and nodes of collaboration, case studies were chosen in New Zealand and in Brazil that encompass public and private actors in (eco)tourism such as government agencies and small-scale tour operators. The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, Kuaka New Zealand Education Travel, and Silves and Itacar in Brazil are investigated in depth. The researcher is concerned with the values, perceptions and attitudes of local actors about the role and importance of (eco)tourism as a concentration area for conservationist networks. The author is skeptical about the constructions of (eco)tourism outside the context of local stakeholders that are 'imported' or imposed on them in a way that it increases pre-existing tensions and conflicts. With many cases in the literature showing that (eco)tourism lacks an institutional archetype to deliver all its promises, it is plausible to talk about nature-based tourism instead. However, the claim is not that simple, because ecotourism entails contentious issues; it is a complex activity as one takes it for social inclusion and as a tool for regional economic development. The author advocates that representative collaboration and partnerships can ease the move from destructive to constructive conflicts in (eco)tourism. Ecotourism is a complex activity as one uses it for social inclusion and as a tool for regional economic development. The author argues that the way (eco)tourism has been envisaged demands participatory managing structures such as local environmental governance (LEG) and deliberative associational spaces. One of the assumptions is that '(eco)tourism' can become even more meaningful and functional in its conservationist mission if locally discursively constructed, negotiated, and consensually implemented. For deconstructing the cases, 'critical contextual discourse analysis' (CCDA) was developed. It is a methodological approach and tool used to shed light on textual production (written or spoken), consumption and interpretation, and its influences on social practices within a specific regional context. Social constructionism and theory of collaboration conceptually introduce the case. The author adopted a 'critical realist' stand. In the analysis, collaborative adaptive management, triple bottom line, corporate social responsibility, accreditation programmes, and the importance of environmental education for human attachment to nature are discussed as a background. On the whole, 17 interviewees in New Zealand and 42 in Brazil contributed to this study. Yet, in order to contrast statements on the ground, questionnaires were sent to 37 tour operators in New Zealand. Secondary qualitative and quantitative data significantly added to the investigation, helping to validate or refute preliminary assumptions

Applied Cognitive Sciences

Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field in the study of the mind and intelligence. The term cognition refers to a variety of mental processes, including perception, problem solving, learning, decision making, language use, and emotional experience. The basis of the cognitive sciences is the contribution of philosophy and computing to the study of cognition. Computing is very important in the study of cognition because computer-aided research helps to develop mental processes, and computers are used to test scientific hypotheses about mental organization and functioning. This book provides a platform for reviewing these disciplines and presenting cognitive research as a separate discipline

Conciliating Syntactic and Semantic Constraints for Multi-Phase and Multi-Channel Region Segmentation

International audience<p>In this paper, we propose a method to extend the multi-phase piecewise-constant segmentationmethod of Mumford and Shah to the multi-channel case. To this effect, weshow that it is crucial to find an agreement between the syntactic constraint of obtainingregions that form a partition of the image space and the semantic constraint thatattributes a formal meaning to the segmented regions. We elaborate from the work ofSandberg at al. that addresses the same problem in the binary (2-phase) case and weshow that the agreement principle presented there, based on De Morgan’s law, cannotbe generalized to the multi-phase case. Therefore, we base the agreement betweensyntactic and semantic constraints on another mathematical principle, namely the fundamentaltheorem of equivalence relation. After we give some details regarding theimplementation of the method, we show results on brain MR T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, which illustrate the good behavior of our method, leading to robustjoint segmentation of brain structures and tumors.</p

A Bourdieusian Analysis of Intersectionality In Ontario’s Community College System

The main focus of my dissertation is a detailed investigation of how gender and race intersect in the Province’s community college administrations thereby creating marginalized and oppressive social structures. My original contribution to knowledge addresses the daily lived experiences of gender performativity, white patriarchy and racial discrimination in the managerial sector of the Ontario college system. The theoretical foundation is based upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu and the scholarship of several prominent feminist theorists, including Kate Huppatz, Lois McNay, Patricia Hill Collins and Judith Butler. Each of them critically expands upon Bourdieu’s concepts to focus on intersectional inequality, specific examples of which are found in the Province’s college middle management sector. This thesis deploys feminist Bourdieusian concepts, such as social and gender capital, to highlight gender and racial power in the matrix of symbolic domination that is situated in the Province’s colleges. It also directs attention to social practices of self empowerment to counter and resist the negative aspects of gender capital and racial hegemony. The mutually constitutive social dimensions of the college bureaucracy have never been the topic of such detailed and extensive research. No prior, published investigations exist that examine the Provincial community college system over issues related to whether and how individuals utilize gender capital to negotiate hierarchical positionality or contend with intersectional disadvantage. My findings document a systemically gendered and racialized work environment. Some middle managers purport to advance their careers by dominating others in the workplace. However, in response, there are others who demonstrate a form of proactive resistance to what they characterize as discriminatory institutional regimes of neoliberal patriarchy and white privilege. They do so through strategic practices designed to navigate the hidden, intersubjective contours and oppressive consequences of gender and racial inequality. My findings illustrate the broad social dimensions of these behaviours and the manner in which they are played out in the social field of Ontario’s community college system. Using a sequential, mixed methods approach to data acquisition, my work focuses on whether agents experience networks of power differently because of the impact of systemic inequality and how they choose to respond to resulting workplace marginalization. I argue that organizationally ensconced diversity policies fail to neutralize the intersectional struggles that are endlessly reproduced in dominant workplace social networks. “One-size-fits-all” policies, even with the imprimatur of law, fail to rout and neuter historical influences of white privilege and patriarchy. This failure negatively impacts subjective identities in the complex relationship between the individual, and the objective structure comprising the middle management field of practice. The findings of this study demonstrate how inequalities are sustained and reproduced cogeneratively because of unremedied gender and racial discrimination in the Province’s community colleges. My study brings to light an awareness of these intersecting oppressions and illuminates the implicit deficiencies of the institutional diversity rhetoric in Ontario. Ultimately, it brings into sharper focus the lived experiences of social inequity amid the naturalization of patriarchy and white privilege

Research on Teaching and Learning In Biology, Chemistry and Physics In ESERA 2013 Conference

This paper provides an overview of the topics in educational research that were published in the ESERA 2013 conference proceedings. The aim of the research was to identify what aspects of the teacher-student-content interaction were investigated frequently and what have been studied rarely. We used the categorization system developed by Kinnunen, Lampiselkä, Malmi and Meisalo (2016) and altogether 184 articles were analyzed. The analysis focused on secondary and tertiary level biology, chemistry, physics, and science education. The results showed that most of the studies focus on either the teacher’s pedagogical actions or on the student - content relationship. All other aspects were studied considerably less. For example, the teachers’ thoughts about the students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the goals and the content, and the teachers’ conceptions of the students’ actions towards achieving the goals were studied only rarely. Discussion about the scope and the coverage of the research in science education in Europe is needed.Peer reviewe

Creating Through Mind and Emotions

The texts presented in Proportion Harmonies and Identities (PHI) Creating Through Mind and Emotions were compiled to establish a multidisciplinary platform for presenting, interacting, and disseminating research. This platform also aims to foster the awareness and discussion on Creating Through Mind and Emotions, focusing on different visions relevant to Architecture, Arts and Humanities, Design and Social Sciences, and its importance and benefits for the sense of identity, both individual and communal. The idea of Creating Through Mind and Emotions has been a powerful motor for development since the Western Early Modern Age. Its theoretical and practical foundations have become the working tools of scientists, philosophers, and artists, who seek strategies and policies to accelerate the development process in different contexts