Blogs - Linguistics

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- Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish 2023-06-15This volume offers a comprehensive snapshot of the breadth of empirical research currently being conducted on the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish during study abroad. Research on this topic spans diverse methodological approaches, types of programs, linguistic structures, and learner characteristics, which is reflected in the contributions in this volume. This diversity […]
- Innovative Approaches to Research in Hispanic Linguistics 2023-06-15This volume presents research from across the subdisciplines of Hispanic Linguistics in an attempt to showcase how new research methods, together with a renewed focus on language variation, have advanced our field. This volume is divided into three sections of original research, with the first describing regional variation of Spanish, the second synchronic variation, and […]
- Slowing Metaphor Down 2023-06-15If thinking can be fast or slow, metaphorical thinking can be fast and slow too. But metaphorical thinking does not occur as often and in the ways that many metaphor scholars today think. Slow metaphorical thinking does mean, however, that we can exert more control over metaphor than has previously been acknowledged. We can even […]
- The Ditransitive Alternation in Present-Day German 2023-06-15The ditransitive (or “dative”) alternation is a much-studied phenomenon in contemporary linguistics. This monograph is the first to address the alternation in present-day written German from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. As well as providing a corpus-based analysis of extensively annotated data and detailed statistical information, the book also contributes to the theory of […]
- Instrumentalising Foreign Language Pedagogy in Translator and Interpreter Training 2023-06-15This volume offers a wide array of cutting-edge original research on the implementation of Foreign Language Pedagogy in translator and interpreter training, a still rather unexplored field of research in Translation Studies. It is divided in two distinct sections. The first section focuses on theoretical approaches to this topic. The chapters of this section will […]
- Understanding Language and Cognition through Bilingualism 2023-06-15Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light […]
- Stance in Flemish Sign Language 2023-06-09Abstract In this contribution, we offer a first exploration of stance expressions in Flemish Sign Language (VGT). Biber and Finegan (1989) define stance as the expression of feelings, attitudes, judgments, commitments, and assessments. The few studies focusing on stance in signed languages have shown that stance can be expressed by various structures and mechanisms such […]
- On the semiotic diversity of language 2023-06-09Abstract Language is complex in many respects. When conceived as a system that is to be analysed at all levels of linguistic structure, it is interpreted as a static and abstract phenomenon in which the rules are disconnected from their context of use. However, the ability to do language, construed as a fundamentally social practice […]
- Prosodic marking of contrast in LSFB (French Belgian Sign Language) 2023-06-09Abstract This paper examines the relationships between information structure and prosody in LSFB (French Belgian Sign Language), focusing on the marking of contrast. A recurrent assertion in the literature is that contrast is always marked by prosodic prominence. We discuss this interaction at the manual level by investigating the connections between the presence or absence […]
- Gesture at the crossroads 2023-06-09Abstract Task-based exchanges are known to have multiple co-occurring interactive structures that prompt interlocutors to integrate various semiotic fields (Goodwin 2000). In addition to underlying norms of cooperative interaction, task-based exchanges include joint accomplishment of some activity. In this study, a group of co-workers (two hearing and one deaf) engaged in a team-building exercise where […]
- Who’s got the upper hand? 2023-06-09Abstract A large body of research has highlighted the tight, carefully organised temporal coordination of interaction. When taking turns, people tend to minimise the occurrence of gaps and overlaps (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974). Within the field of signed language linguistics, however, there is an ongoing debate: while some researchers claim that signers orient to […]
- Turn-taking in the interactive Linguistic Landscape 2023-06-09Abstract Building on Linguistic Landscape (LL) research that highlights its interactivity, we examine how interaction is a crucial element in the creation of meaning in the LL. Our analysis draws on the concept of turn-taking from conversation analysis, in applying the concept of turn, i.e. individual interactants’ contributions to conversation, and introducing its counterpart in […]
- A corpus-based study of ‘Away gestures’ across four signed languages 2023-06-09Abstract This paper presents a study of four recurrent gestures: sweeping away, holding away, brushing away and throwing away. These forms have so far only been studied for spoken languages and are said to form the ‘family of Away gestures’, which is semantically motivated by the effect of actions of removing or keeping away of […]
- Foreign accent in L1 (first language) 2023-06-09Abstract This study builds on Flege et al. (2006) and evaluated the influence of chronological age and length of residence in North America on degree of foreign accent in first language (L1) Korean by Korean adults and children in immigrant settings. The adult (A4/6) and child (C4/6) immigrants lived in the host countries for 4 or […]
- Review of Shengyu (2022): The Translator’s Mirror for the Romantic: Cao Xueqin’s Dream and David Hawkes’ Stone 2023-06-09
- Turning points as a tool in narrative research 2023-06-09Abstract This article focuses on how the concept of “turning points” can be used in narrative research when studying people’s (professional) identities and identity formation. By examining various understandings of turning points, we aim to show how they can be identified and used as analytical tools in different ways when conducting narrative analyses of (professional) […]
- Translating intercultural interactions in the Netflix-branded film American Factory 2023-06-09Abstract The Netflix-branded film American Factory glaringly illustrates China’s and the United States’s contrasting views on capitalism, propaganda, and labour rights. The film directors have argued that the entangling of clashing civilisations that permeates numerous layers of the documentary is delivered in a subtle and nuanced manner. However, the English and Chinese subtitles of the […]
- Showing where you stand 2023-06-09Abstract Enactment is a frequent depictive strategy used to denote referents. Its referential functions are increasingly well-documented cross-linguistically, notably in sign languages. A lesser-known function of enactment is that of stance expression. By enacting a referent, language users can also convey their own perspective and comment on the enacted individual. In this article, it is […]
- Put another way 2023-06-09Abstract Reformulation involves saying something again in a different way. Because of its metalinguistic nature (Rabatel 2017), combined with its general aim of clarifying the utterance, we propose to consider the act of reformulation as offering a window to the way interlocutors process and adjust themselves and their utterances in their social language practices. More […]
- Receptive vocabulary size estimates for general and academic vocabulary at a multi-campus Australian
university 2023-06-08Abstract There are few published estimates of vocabulary sizes amongst students in tertiary education. Research does not offer estimates of the vocabulary size tertiary students might be expected to possess, though estimates exist for K-12 education, some EFL contexts, and the general population. Such research is important. For reading comprehension during tertiary education, a vocabulary […]