Determining intended evidence relations in natural language arguments

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72555/1/j.1467-8640.1991.tb00386.x.pd

Variability of cohesive patterns : personal reference markers in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting

The purpose of the following study is to examine how the two modes of interpreting, simultaneous and consecutive, influence the choice and rendition of personal reference cohesive markers. Taking into account the inherent constraints, these two types of interpreting can be expected to be heavily marked by mode-specific shifts in cohesion. It has been hypothesised that the rendition of cohesive devices in simultaneous interpreting would differ from its realisation in the consecutive mode given the range of inherent constraints

Translators' communicative assumptions in subtitling Chinese feature films into English

PhD ThesisMedium-bound features and translation strategies are two central issues in the study of subtitling. However, the translator, who reacts to the medium-bound features and opts for translation strategies, has remained outside the focus in research on subtitling. The scarcity of studies on the translator in the context of subtitling seems to suggest that the translator in this type of translation is simply viewed as a transparent vehicle. This study attempts to shed light on the translator’s discursive presence in subtitling by proposing the use of a new concept, the translator’s communicative assumptions. A bottom-up model, rooted in Descriptive Translation Studies, has been established to investigate the translator’s communicative assumptions. This model consists of a comparative phase followed by an analysis phase. The English subtitles of three Chinese feature films were examined using this model in order to reveal the translators’ communicative assumptions. In the comparative phase, the original dialogues and the subtitles are compared in order to identify and categorise micro-structural shifts in the subtitles. In the following analysis phase, Bordwell’s (1997) approach to filmic perception and cognition, Text World Theory and Relevance Theory are adapted and combined to provide a theoretical framework and analytical tools to further scrutinise patterns and tendencies observed at the comparative phase. The comparative-analysis model proves to be a useful tool to reveal translators’ communicative assumptions in subtitling. The findings show that although translation shifts take place at various levels, the translator makes linguistic adjustments to give priority to syuzhet (plot elements) related to his/her own established fabula (story). Consequently, syuzhet is made more explicit; film characters’ inner worlds and personality are enhanced; culture-specific and stylistic features of the original dialogue exchanges are generally diminished. Viewers seem to be regarded as cultural outsiders who have little knowledge of the Chinese culture in general and need additional assistance in the comprehension of certain syuzhet information

On Left and Right Dislocation: A Dynamic Perspective

The paper argues that by modelling the incremental and left-right process of interpretation as a process of growth of logical form (representing logical forms as trees), an integrated typology of left-dislocation and right-dislocation phenomena becomes available, bringing out not merely the similarities between these types of phenomena, but also their asymmetry. The data covered include hanging topic left dislocation, clitic left dislocation, left dislocation, pronoun doubling, expletives, extraposition, and right node raising, with each set of data analysed in terms of general principles of tree growth. In the light of the success in providing a characterisation of the asymmetry between left and right periphery phenomena, a result not achieved in more wellknown formalisms, the paper concludes that grammar formalisms should model the dynamics of language processing in time.Articl

Limitations On Simultaneity In Sign Language

When we converse, information is often conveyed in multiple ways. For those using spoken language, we have, besides the vocal tract, nonverbal articulators as well, including eye gaze (Hanna & Brennan 2007), gesture (Kendon 2004), facial expression (Busso & Narayanan 2007), lip pointing (Sherzer 1983), and puffed cheeks (Sherzer 1993). Likewise, for those using a sign language, we have, besides the hands, nonmanual articulators as well, including facial expressions, eye gaze, mouth, and body posture (Baker & Padden 1978). In this short report we investigate how much information can be simultaneously expressed in sign language (by counting ‘propositions’) and conclude that there are limitations. We then consider the nature of these limitations, and finish by briefly comparing the situation in spoken language to the situation in sign languages

Comparison of Surface Language Generators: A Case Study in Choice of Connectives

Language generation systems have used a variety of grammatical formalisms for producing syntactic structure and yet, there has been little research evaluating the formalisms for the specifics of the generation task. In our work at Columbia we have primarily used a unification based formalism, a Functional Unification Grammar (FUG) [Kay 79] and have found it well suited for many of the generation tasks we have addressed. Over the course of the past 5 years we have also explored the use of various off-the-shelf parsing formalisms, including an Augmented Transition Network (ATN) [Woods 70]. a Bottom-Up Chan Parser (BUP) [Finin 84], and a Declarative Clause Grammar (DCG) [Pereira & Warren 80]. In this paper, we identify the characteristics of FDG that we find useful for generation and contrast these with characteristics of the parsing formalisms and with other formalisms that are typically used for generation