Notes on the concept of «translator's competence»

The first part of the article touches upon metatheoretical constraints to translator's qualities research represented by the «methodological infancy» of Translation Studies (TS), the role that professional self-esteem of translators plays in TS research, and the lack of importance attributed to a pure science of translation. The main part is devoted to the concept of «translator's competence» under which the qualities of translators have been typically addressed. I will discuss some problems with the notion of competence as underlying knowledge. Then, I will introduce a point of view adapted from Keen (1988): if understood as aptitude, competence is the result of performance in the translator's history, not its cause. This could be appropriate to overcome a speculative tradition of translator's qualities research.La primera part d'aquest article tracta de les limitacions metateòriques en la recerca sobre les qualitats del traductor representades per la «infantesa metodològica» dels Estudis de Traducció (ET), pel paper que l'autoestima professional dels traductors juga en la recerca en ET i pel fet que no s'atribueix prou importància a una ciència pura de traducció. El gruix de l'article és dedicat al concepte de «competència del traductor», dins el qual normalment s'han agrupat les qualitats dels traductors. Abordaré alguns problemes relacionats amb la noció de competència com a coneixement subjacent. Seguidament introduiré un punt de vista adaptat de Keen (1988): si l'entenem com una aptitud, la competència es el resultat del rendiment en la trajectòria del traductor, no la seva causa. Això podria ser adequat per a superar una tradició especulativa en la recerca sobre les qualitats del traductor

NITSCH, Mathias (2013). Grundlagen für die Restitution von Swadesh's "basic vocabulary" im "Wörterbuch der Botokudensprache". Munique: GRIN Verlag. Pp. 252. ISBN 978-3-656-49579-6.

Resenha da tese de conclusão de curso (Diplomarbeit) de Matthias Nitsch intitulada Grundlagen fuer die Restitution von Swadesh's "basic vocabulary" im "Woerterbuch der Botokudensprache" [Fundamentos para a restituição do "basic vocabulary" de Swadesh no "Woerterbuch der Botokudensprache"] publicado em 2013. O livro traz as primeiras informações biográficas oriundas de pesquisa em documentos primários (certidões de nascimento, casamento e óbito, histórico escolar etc.) sobre Bruno Rudolph, o autor do "Woerterbuch der Botokudensprache" [Dicionário da língua dos botocudos] publicado em 1909 e sobre o qual só se conhecia a profissão de farmacêutico

INTRINSIC FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY RELATED TO LEXICAL STRESS IN THE SPEECH OF PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON\u27S DISEASE

Intrinsic fundamental frequency (IF0) refers to a systematic difference in f0 between vowels of different heights in a similar phonetic context: high vowels tend to have higher f0 than lower vowels. Various hypotheses as to the cause of IF0 have been raised, differing mainly on the nature they attribute to the phenomenon: whether it is passive (automatic), resulting from articulatory movements that reach these segments without intending IF0 specifically; or active (controlled), deliberately generated due to reasons of perception or compensatory processes. In this article, we hope to contribute to the debate with f0 data obtained from patients suffering from Parkinson\u27s disease (PD). 631 / a, i / vowels were analysed from recordings of an extract of text read aloud. As a result, IF0 was observed not only in participants from the control group, but also from the PD group, and the trends for participants with dysarthria were no different from those in the control group in the stressed syllable. The fact that we did not observe significant differences between the groups favours the hypothesis that IF0 is automatic. As dysarthric subjects have impaired motor control, the fact that they display IF0 with no difference from the individuals in the control group suggests that the mechanism involved in the phenomenon is similar for both. Our data does not permit us to indicate clearly which biomechanical mechanism would be the best causal explanation for these differences between high and low vowels, but they appear to be consistent with the hypotheses that emphasize the importance of tongue height

On the duration of nasal vowels in Brazilian Portuguese

Este estudo visou reavaliar os achados de Moraes Wetzels (1992) sobre a duração de vogais nasais distintivas do PB ao ampliar as vogais e os contextos estudados. Segundo a hipótese, uma maior duração da vogal nasal é uma manifestação, no nível da implementação fonética, de uma representação bimoraica e por isso a vogal nasal resultaria mais longa do que as vogais orais e mesmo do que as vogais nasais alofônicas, cuja representação é monomoraica. Foram registradas três repetições de 15 palavras representando cinco contextos diferentes por sujeitos falantes do dialeto de BH. A análise por modelos de efeitos mistos mostrou que a hipótese se refere apenas ao comportamento do [a] antes de plosiva e do [i] antes de fricativa. A hipótese foi também reformulada nos termos da “primazia moraica” (moraic primacy): os falantes mostram maior variação se comparados seu tempo de articulação de segmentos diferentes quando tais segmentos são ocupados por apenas uma mora. Analisaram-se então a variação na duração das vogais [a, i] orais e nasais em contexto seguido por plosiva ou fricativa. Embora vogais sejam mais longas antes de fricativa do que de plosiva, esta diferença aqui só foi atestada nas vogais orais, o que é condizente com a hipótese de que duas moras ocupam mais tempo fonológico restringindo a variação coarticulatória durante a implementação fonética

Articulatory speech measures can be related to the severity of multiple sclerosis

Background: Dysarthria is one of the most frequent communication disorders in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), with an estimated prevalence of around 50%. However, it is unclear if there is a relationship between dysarthria and the severity or duration of the disease. Objective: Describe the speech pattern in MS, correlate with clinical data, and compare with controls. Methods: A group of MS patients (n = 73) matched to healthy controls (n = 37) by sex and age. Individuals with neurological and/or systemic conditions that could interfere with speech were excluded. MS group clinical data were obtained through the analysis of medical records. The speech assessment consisted of auditory-perceptual and speech acoustic analysis, from recording the following speech tasks: phonation and breathing (sustained vowel/a/); prosody (sentences with different intonation patterns) and articulation (diadochokinesis; spontaneous speech; diphthong/iu/repeatedly). Results: In MS, 72.6% of the individuals presented mild dysarthria, with alterations in speech subsystems: phonation, breathing, resonance, and articulation. In the acoustic analysis, individuals with MS were significantly worse than the control group (CG) in the variables: standard deviation of the fundamental frequency (p = 0.001) and maximum phonation time (p = 0.041). In diadochokinesis, individuals with MS had a lower number of syllables, duration, and phonation time, but larger pauses per seconds, and in spontaneous speech, a high number of pauses were evidenced as compared to CG. Correlations were found between phonation time in spontaneous speech and the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) (r = − 0.238, p = 0.043) and phonation ratio in spontaneous speech and EDSS (r = −0.265, p = 0.023), which indicates a correlation between the number of pauses during spontaneous speech and the severity of the disease. Conclusion: The speech profile in MS patients was mild dysarthria, with a decline in the phonatory, respiratory, resonant, and articulatory subsystems of speech, respectively, in order of prevalence. The increased number of pauses during speech and lower rates of phonation ratio can reflect the severity of MS

Dierences in spontaneous speech fluency between Parkinson’s disease and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3

Background: The basal ganglia and cerebellum both have a role in speech production although the eect of isolated involvement of these structures on speech fluency remains unclear. Objective: The study aimed to assess the dierences in the articulatory pattern in patients with cerebellar vs. basal ganglia disorders. Methods: A total of 20 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD), 20 with spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), and 40 controls (control group, CG) were included. Diadochokinesis (DDK) and monolog tasks were collected. Results: The only variable that distinguished SCA3 carriers from the CG was the number of syllables in the monolog, with SCA3 patients of a significantly lower number. For patients with PD, the number of syllables, phonation time, DDK, and monolog were significantly lower than for CG. Patients with PD were significantly worse compared to patients with SCA3 in the number of syllables and phonation time in DDK, and phonation time in monolog. Additionally, there was a significant correlation between the number of syllables in the monolog and the MDS-UPDRS III for participants with PD, and the Friedreich Ataxia Rating Scale for participants with SCA3 suggesting a relationship between speech and general motor functioning. Conclusion: The monolog task is better at discriminating individuals with cerebellar vs. Parkinson’s diseases as well as dierentiating healthy control and was related to the severity of the disease

Dysarthria in hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4

Objective: To describe the speech pattern of patients with hereditary Spastic Paraplegia type 4 (SPG4) and correlated it with their clinical data. Methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out in two university hospitals in Brazil. Two groups participated in the study: the case group (n = 28) with a confirmed genetic diagnosis for SPG4 and a control group (n = 17) matched for sex and age. The speech assessment of both groups included: speech task recording, acoustic analysis, and auditory-perceptual analysis. In addition, disease severity was assessed with the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS). Results: In the auditory-perceptual analysis, 53.5% (n = 15) of individuals with SPG4 were dysarthric, with mild to moderate changes in the subsystems of phonation and articulation. On acoustic analysis, SPG4 subjects’ performances were worse in measurements related to breathing (maximum phonation time) and articulation (speech rate, articulation rate). The articulation variables (speech rate, articulation rate) are related to the age of onset of the first motor symptom. Conclusion: Dysarthria in SPG4 is frequent and mild, and it did not evolve in conjunction with more advanced motor diseases. This data suggest that diagnosed patients should be screened and referred for speech therapy evaluation and those pathophysiological mechanisms of speech involvement may differ from the length-dependent degeneration of the corticospinal tract