Tyler Perry and The Weight of Misrepresentation

Criticism of black film production often includes discussions of narrow typecasting and stereotypical role portrayal. Previous research shows that consumers of black films attest that such films are an accurate depiction of black culture. However, consequences of negative stereotypes presented in mainstream media are rarely discussed. The purpose of this study is to define and examine the stereotypes of African American women in film. By way of semiotic film content analysis this research will look at the relationship and function between specific historical stereotypes and the behaviors of female characters in Tyler Perry’s most popular films. This research examines role portrayals in relation to character traits that are historically classified as the “Mammy,” “Sapphire” and “Jezebel” stereotype classifications

Swearing: Force and Language

This study attempts to address the question, “Why in contemporary times does swearing have a more acceptable role as a means of persuasion in the public sphere than it previously did?” This question is approached with constant reference to two minor scandals in state politics in which politicians Dick Cheney and Jack Layton swore without significant reprisal and, in fact, were rewarded for their violation of decorum. Much of the inquiry attempts to characterize swearing by its action upon language rather than simply its meaning. In the second chapter, this is done through considerations of the philosophy of Condillac, Rousseau, Herder, and Vico. The last section draws on texts by Plato and Aristotle to consider persuasion as such before turning to recent writings by Marcuse and Sloterdijk that address the cynical character of the times that allows swearing to be persuasive

Multilingual and Multi-Generational Italian Identity in a Netflix Series: Subtitling Generazione56k (2021) into English

This article reports on an investigation into the representation of “Italianness” in the recent Netflix Italian series Generazione 56k, which was exported to Englishspeaking countries. The series deals with characters from different generations and displays regional varieties. This qualitative study examined the macro- and microstrategies used in the creation of English subtitles for the first season. The focus is on key functions of telecinematic discourse, i.e., characterisation, realism, and humour, which is realised through the use of (a) multilingualism in the broadest sense, including geographical dialects, and (b) multi-generational language (colloquialisms, “unconventional language”, particularly, teenage and youth language, and taboo). Findings reveal a tendency towards neutralisation strategies in the English subtitles. Even considering the constraints inherent in the subtitling mode, these strategies do not successfully represent “Italianness” with its local geographical diversity, and only partially convey the representation of multi-generational language, also affecting humour. The themes which engage millennials, however, are expressed and might be appreciated by an international audience. Our analysis and conclusions suggest it may be interesting to understand whether younger generations, increasingly accustomed to “multilingualism” especially in Netflix programmes, would also envisage a different subtitling experience

“Don't y'all care about nothin' other than prettifyin'?” Idiolects in three dubs of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Följande avhandling är en kvalitativ fallstudie av översättningen av idiolekter i de svenska, norska och finska dubbningarna av animationsserien My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I den engelska originaldialogen använder sig var och en av seriens huvudkaraktärer av karaktärsspecifika stildrag som framhäver deras personligheter, som ett led i seriens produktions- och konstnärliga ledare Lauren Fausts mål att skapa kvinnliga karaktärer med distinkta personligheter. Stildragen utgörs av dialekt, språklekar (allitteration, rim, ordlekar, neologismer) och kodväxling (lån av ord från ett språk medan man kommunicerar huvudsakligen på ett annat). Avhandlingen undersöker om dubbningarna återskapat stildragen eller ersatt dem med mer konventionellt språk, och om och hur de använda översättningsstrategierna inverkat på karaktäriseringen och i förlängning seriens feministiska målsättningar. Analysen baseras delvis på István Fodors teorier om synkronisering, men även på praktiska aspekter av dubbningsarbetet. Resultaten av studien visade att framför allt karaktären Applejacks karaktärisering påverkats då dialektala drag bytts ut mot mer allmänna talspråkliga drag i alla dubbningarna, och även flera av karaktären Pinkie Pies språklekar hade strukits i framförallt de svenska och finska dubbningarna. Avhandlingens slutsatser kan intressera framförallt personer verksamma inom dubbningsindustrin och/eller intresserade av hur kvinnliga karaktärer porträtteras i media.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Multilingual and Multi-Generational Italian Identity in a Netflix Series: Subtitling Generazione 56k (2021) into English

This paper reports an investigation into the representation of “Italianness” in the recent Netflix Italian series Generazione 56k, which was exported to English-speaking countries. This series deals with characters from different generations and displays regional varieties. This qualitative study examined the macro- and micro-strategies used in the creation of English subtitles for the first season. The focus is on key functions of telecinematic discourse, i.e., characterisation, realism, and humour, realised through the use of (a) multilingualism in the broadest sense, including geographical dialects, and (b) multi-generational language (colloquialisms, “unconventional language”, particularly, teenage and youth language, and taboo). Findings reveal a tendency towards neutralisation strategies in the English subtitles. Even considering the constraints inherent in the subtitling mode, these strategies do not successfully represent “Italianness” with its local geographical diversity, and only partially convey the representation of multi-generational language, also affecting humour. The themes engaging millennials, however, are expressed and might be appreciated by an international audience. In the light of our analysis and conclusions, it may be interesting to understand whether younger generations, increasingly accustomed to “multilingualism” especially in Netflix programmes, would also envisage a different subtitling experience

Basics of Language for Language Learners

Second editionTools and Strategies for Language Learning -- Sounding Like a Native Speaker -- Thinking Like a Native Speaker -- Acting Like a Native SpeakerItem not openly available

Makings of imagination in alternative cultural spaces in Cairo

To speak of space as a concept, how it is produced, de/reconstructed, and imagined is a process that involves multiplicities of understanding about the makings that take place. My concern is in this research is exploring the dynamic relationships that take place between cultural spaces in Cairo, the subjectivities of their participants and the possibilities that might be offered through these relations for a different social imagination that could be manifested in the details of their everydayness. The main question of my thesis is; In which ways and conditions can some of the contemporary cultural spaces in Cairo situate their presence and serve as a liberating spaces that nurture imaginations capable of transfiguring the status quo whether intellectual, social or political. My research questions are anchored in four focal theoretical concepts: space, subjectivity, imagination and how these concepts are manifested in everydayness. I will not deal with them as separate, linear or static concepts but as dimensions that are constantly in dynamic change in relation to each other. I will not attempt a cause/effect analysis and I am not after a comparative or a descriptive analysis of the two cultural spaces I chose ( Nahda Association- Jesuit\u27s culture centre in Cairo, The Choir Project of Cairo). I believe this different and dynamic configuration of theorizing will enable different moods of thinking and greater capacity of exploration to acquire different kind of knowledge about the contemporary moment in Cairo\u27s cultural scene, which is rapidly changing and how they can possibly provide fertile conditions for a different social imagination to take place

On past participle agreement in transitive clauses in French

This paper provides a Minimalist analysis of past participle agreement in French in transitive clauses. Our account posits that the head v of vP in such structures carries an (accusativeassigning) structural case feature which may apply (with or without concomitant agreement) to case-mark a clause-mate object, the subject of a defective complement clause, or an intermediate copy of a preposed subject in spec-CP. In structures where a goal is extracted from vP (e.g. via wh-movement) v also carries an edge feature, and may also carry a specificity feature and a set of (number and gender) agreement features. We show how these assumptions account for agreement of a participle with a preposed specific clausemate object or defective-clause subject, and for the absence of agreement with an embedded object, with the complement of an impersonal verb, and with the subject of an embedded (finite or nonfinite) CP complement. We also argue that the absence of agreement marking (in expected contexts) on the participles faitmade and laissélet in infinitive structures is essentially viral in nature. Finally, we claim that obligatory participle agreement with reflexive and reciprocal objects arises because the derivation of reflexives involves A-movement and concomitant agreement