Grammatical gender processing in bilinguals: An analytic review

In this review article, we analyze how grammatical gender is represented and processed in the bilingual mind. To that end, we review the data from 13 existing behavioral studies of mainly late second language (L2) learners on the so-called gender congruency (GC) effect (facilitated processing for translation equivalents with the same gender, in comparison to those with a different gender) in L2 production and comprehension. The majority of the results showed a GC effect, regardless of the type of language involved. However, the state of cognateness of the target nouns, as well as the similarity between the gender systems of the bilingual speakers and their L2 proficiency, modulated the results. Interestingly, a gender agreement context is not required in order to observe gender effects, in that they are also observed with bare nouns. Overall, the findings support an integrative view of bilingual gender representation, with competitive and inhibitory processes at different levels of language processing underlying cross-language GC effects.This paper was funded by the Government of Spain-Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports– through the Training program for Academic Staff (Ayudas para la Formación del Profesorado Universitario, FPU grant BOE-B-2017-2646), the research project with reference PSI2015-65116-P granted by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the grant for research groups with reference GRC 2015/006 given by the Galician Government. This paper was funded by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal) through the state budget with reference IF / 00784/2013 / CP1158 / CT0013. The study has also been partially supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

Coherence in hybrid texts: The case of the Patient Information Leaflet genre

This article investigates the degree of coherence in a particular type of hybrid text, viz. the Patient Information Leaflet, which is a lay-oriented genre fusing original and derived textual elements. Having their source in the specialized genre named Summary of Product Characteristics, derived segments undergo various kinds and degrees of registerial simplification in the transfer to the Patient Information Leaflet. Given this complex textual genesis, the aim of the article is to investigate the nature and degree of coherence in the Patient Information Leaflet genre, and, more specifically, to investigate the degree of integration between derived and non-derived elements. Following Halliday/Hasan’s (1976) definition of the coherence concept, the article examines the genre’s contextual coherence in the form of registerial consistency and its text-internal coherence in the form of cohesiveness. For the investigation of cohesiveness, the analytical framework known as Cohesive Harmony Analysis (Hasan 1984, 1985) has been applied to a sample text from the genre, and likewise to a parallel lay-oriented, but non-hybrid text from the health column of a British quality newspaper, which serves as a control. While the investigation confirms already well-known problems with registerial consistency in the Patient Information Leaflet genre, the analytical results reflect a high degree of cohesiveness, and one that is even markedly higher than that of the non-hybrid control text. Further, the results reflect a high level of integration between derived and non-derived segments in the Patient Information Leaflet

Coherence in hybrid texts:The case of the Patient Information Leaflet genre

This article investigates the degree of coherence in a particular type of hybrid text, viz. the Patient Information Leaflet, which is a lay-oriented genre fusing original and derived textual elements. Having their source in the specialized genre named Summary of Product Characteristics, derived segments undergo various kinds and degrees of registerial simplification in the transfer to the Patient Information Leaflet. Given this complex textual genesis, the aim of the article is to investigate the nature and degree of coherence in the Patient Information Leaflet genre, and, more specifically, to investigate the degree of integration between derived and non-derived elements. Following Halliday/Hasan’s (1976) definition of the coherence concept, the article examines the genre’s contextual coherence in the form of registerial consistency and its text-internal coherence in the form of cohesiveness. For the investigation of cohesiveness, the analytical framework known as Cohesive Harmony Analysis (Hasan 1984, 1985) has been applied to a sample text from the genre, and likewise to a parallel lay-oriented, but non-hybrid text from the health column of a British quality newspaper, which serves as a control. While the investigation confirms already well-known problems with registerial consistency in the Patient Information Leaflet genre, the analytical results reflect a high degree of cohesiveness, and one that is even markedly higher than that of the non-hybrid control text. Further, the results reflect a high level of integration between derived and non-derived segments in the Patient Information Leaflet

Quirky NPs with Special Reference to Close Apposition

The intention of this dissertation has been to argue for the view that English Noun Phrases do not follow a straightforward, syntactic design. Traditionally considered as the easiest and simplest of all the constructions of language, the NP structure has turned out to comprise quite a varied group of forms. As a consequence, the NP category has provided an excellent illustration of the richness of language

Multiword expressions

Multiword expressions (MWEs) are a challenge for both the natural language applications and the linguistic theory because they often defy the application of the machinery developed for free combinations where the default is that the meaning of an utterance can be predicted from its structure. There is a rich body of primarily descriptive work on MWEs for many European languages but comparative work is little. The volume brings together MWE experts to explore the benefits of a multilingual perspective on MWEs. The ten contributions in this volume look at MWEs in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Maori, Modern Greek, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish. They discuss prominent issues in MWE research such as classification of MWEs, their formal grammatical modeling, and the description of individual MWE types from the point of view of different theoretical frameworks, such as Dependency Grammar, Generative Grammar, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Lexicon Grammar

Baltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture, Volume 8

The present dissertation deals with the artistic collaboration of a married couple, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald. Living in Glasgow at the turn of the century, theeå, Swedeny concentrated their work on interior design. However, artistic collaboration has been neglected by traditional art history, with its concentration on individual creativity. For the couple in question, this has meant that the work they created together has been mainly attributed to Mackintosh, thereby relegating Mac­donald to the role of spouse and assistant, rather than co-creator. The present disser­tation presents a different picture of the couple's collaboration, challenging and revi­sing our cultural perceptions about the creative abilities of the respective sexes. A selection of interiors created by the Mackintoshes is studied in order to shed light on their collaborative efforts. The analyses embark from the perspectives of «masculine» and «feminine» in order to show how the Mackintoshes created artistic wholeness in their interiors, while at the same time opening up the spaces for a mixture of actors, i.e. making the rooms accessible to men and women alike through their designs. During this epoch, the concepts of «masculine» and «feminine» were employed as natural points of reference in an attempt to explain social and cultural phenomena scientifically. The Mackintoshes made use of the era's conventions when creating interiors in the accepted division of masculine (hallways, dining rooms, libraries) and feminine (bedrooms, salons) spaces. However, with time they began to combine these accepted gender forms in order to create something new and modern. Just as the Mackintoshes could create more powerful works of art by combining their respective artistic talents, their spaces could accrue greater significance through the combination of masculine and feminine principles.digitalisering@um

Mediated discourse at the European Parliament: Empirical investigations

The purpose of this book is to showcase a diverse set of directions in empirical research on mediated discourse, reflecting on the state-of-the-art and the increasing intersection between Corpus-based Interpreting Studies (CBIS) and Corpus-based Translation Studies (CBTS). Undeniably, data from the European Parliament (EP) offer a great opportunity for such research. Not only does the institution provide a sizeable sample of oral debates held at the EP together with their simultaneous interpretations into all languages of the European Union. It also makes available written verbatim reports of the original speeches, which used to be translated. From a methodological perspective, EP materials thus guarantee a great degree of homogeneity, which is particularly valuable in corpus studies, where data comparability is frequently a challenge. In this volume, progress is visible in both CBIS and CBTS. In interpreting, it manifests itself notably in the availability of comprehensive transcription, annotation and alignment systems. In translation, datasets are becoming substantially richer in metadata, which allow for increasingly refined multi-factorial analysis. At the crossroads between the two fields, intermodal investigations bring to the fore what these mediation modes have in common and how they differ. The volume is thus aimed in particular at Interpreting and Translation scholars looking for new descriptive insights and methodological approaches in the investigation of mediated discourse, but it may be also of interest for (corpus) linguists analysing parliamentary discourse in general