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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
51

Towards terminology research as a practical philosophy of information : the terminology of radical constructivism as a case in point

Neubauer, P. B. January 2014 (has links)
The thesis presents a perspective on the possibility of harnessing sociocognitive terminology and related practices to the aim of describing philosophical terminology. In this case, the terminology of the radical constructivist philosopher Ernst von Glasersfeld is surveyed as a starting point. The experimental terminological records produced are re-incorporated into the theoretical basis constituted by the thesis. Therefore, its aim can be seen as twofold; the description of philosophical terminology also entails theory construction. The practice described can be seen as regenerative theory construction. It incorporates elements of formulation and of codification/ language engineering in terms of contemporary computational possibilities. In terms of its theoretical basis, the project extends not only to the terminology used in the corpus texts but also to concepts and terms needed to understand these in the first place. The outlook can be described as heuristic and experimental. The approach breaks down to the following sub-problems. Each can be seen as characteristic for terminology description in the human sciences: (1) The idea of conceptual entities and concept description needs to be adjusted to the field of experience. This starts from sociocognitive terminology and incorporates the anthropological view of concept analysis. (2) The conceptual entity of stereotype has to be accounted for, as the variance of the descriptions of immaterial objects suggests that they can only be apprehended in a radically simplified manner. (3) The application of prototype theory employed as by sociocognitive theory and the Aristotelian concept theory of (post-)classical terminology research needs to be adapted to the description of ideal types. This is compressed into the concept of scientificity. (4) The principles developed need to be compressed into the conventional categories of principle and approach. These categories need to be set in relation to both philosophical concepts and experience. (5) This design of a possible practice needs to be adapted to existing procedures. The existing procedures may be in need of clarification or redefinition against the background of their usage in non-standard contexts. (6) To facilitate this mutual adaptation, peculiarities of the context of philosophical terminography are explored and compressed under the concept of disciplinarity. To this, there is a declarative aspect and a procedural one. (7) The procedural approach to disciplinarity develops an understanding of the intentional aspect of agenda and interest. These orient the development of potential consensus about disciplinarity within the constraints of context and therefore the apparent identity of (sub- (sub-))cultures inside the context. (8) Following these observations, the overall theoretical and methodological construct is tested against exemplary cases. To conclude, a practice for implementing these considerations is suggested. It includes the use of text fragments as units for textographic philosophical terminography and an understanding of computational information management practices appropriate to its principles.
52

Letter to Raul Lino : cultural identity in Portuguese architecture : the 'Inquerito' and the architecture of its protagonists in the 1960s

Ollero Neves, R. January 2001 (has links)
Cultural identity is an issue that has concerned Portuguese artistic thought in a subliminal way ever since the end of the XIX century, with influences in architecture. Raul Lino, at the beginning of the last Century, was one of those who tried in a conscious manner, to tackle this problem both at the practical and theoretical level. Nevertheless, he never lived to see the real meaning of his proposal fully understood, not even after the retrospective of his work in the 1970 Exhibition in Lisbon. The intention behind this "Letter" is to give continuity to the perspective first formulated by him, starting from the analysis of one of the most significant accomplishments in the history of the Portuguese architecture, the INQUERITO into vernacular architecture. Having guaranteed the importance of cultural identity versus architecture as the driving force of the research, via the testimonies given by a host of relevant personalities in Portuguese cultural life, and evaluated the antecedents and convergences of the identity issue, the research field was defined as well as the methodology. This is based on a qualitative model which rendered the investigation viable, enabling the echoes of the INQUERITO to be appreciated in the architecture of the 1960s. The INQUERITO is therefore the subject of analysis and evaluation, as an instrument of research into the unique Portuguese vernacular architecture. The erudite architecture of its "protagonists" is also evaluated using similar criteria to assess the concerns with identity issue, mostly of a qualitative nature, as a corollary to the sensitivity side of the same issue. Finally, the importance of the identity perspective gave rise to an attempt at projecting the findings onto the teaching of architecture, so as to improve on the necessary humanization of relationships between real places and all their actors.
53

The transmission and reception of P.B. Shelley in Owenite and Chartist newspapers and periodicals

Morgan, J. A. January 2014 (has links)
This thesis examines the nature of the relationship between Shelley and the thought, politics, and discursive practices of Owenism and Chartism. Its objects of analysis are Owenite periodicals and Chartist newspapers, which I theorise as active in the process of transmission and reception. This thesis locates the reception and transmission of Shelley’s poetry and politics within the broader context of the movements’ political and social commitments. It makes an original contribution to knowledge by demonstrating that the movements used Shelley’s poetry critically and with discrimination. It also argues that Owenite and Chartist approaches to Shelley changed as the movements developed over time in response to historical pressures. I argue that a cultural materialist approach enables us to reconsider the nature of Shelley’s influence and popularity within these movements, something that has become a critical commonplace. It also allows us to distinguish between Owenite and Chartist ‘Shelleys’. I argue that the Owenite periodicals the Crisis and the New Moral World produced a qualitatively different Shelley from the one that emerged in Chartist newspapers such as the Northern Star. Although there was a degree of overlap between the two movements in terms of social commitments and personnel, the parameters set by the formal qualities and discursive strategies of the movements’ print cultures allowed different Shelleys to emerge within them. In terms of content, the Owenites quoted Shelley’s poetry to support their social theories and the most frequently quoted poems were Queen Mab and The Revolt of Islam. The Chartists also used Queen Mab, but were less interested in a feminist poem like Revolt and more interested in poems that allowed them to articulate class conflict. I account for such differences within my broader argument: that the two movements had qualitatively different conceptions of the possibilities of language and aesthetics, and different approaches to social conflict.
54

Investigating teenage visitors to science discovery centres : the case of Techniquest

Simons, N. C. January 2014 (has links)
Science discovery centres and science museums have been considered one of the most important institutions in the public understanding of science and technology (Lewenstein 2001). However, science discovery centres attract few teenage visitors. Visitation to cultural attractions has often been dominated by visitors with a higher socio-economic status and a higher educational background (Rowe 2011). It is nonetheless the case that few teenagers visit science discovery centres, regardless of their socio-economic background. Prior research into the motivations of adult visitors to museums has indicated that cultural factors, which may be correlated with demographics, but are not determined by them, can explain why some people visit and some do not (Merriman 1991, Hood 1983). Further research has suggested more nuanced explanations relating to personal identity issues (Rounds 2006, Falk 2006, Falk 2011) and agendas (Doering and Pekarik 1996). Much of the previous research that has been undertaken focuses on the museum cultural landscape and adult visitors. This research provides an investigation into teenage attitudes towards, and perceptions of, Techniquest Science Discovery Centre in Cardiff, with a focus on how they perceive informal science learning and the relationship between education and entertainment. The study used a mixed-methods approach (Creswell 2006) utilising an attitude survey (n=647) and a series of focus groups (n=39) with teenagers. Statistical and thematic analysis was applied to the resulting data. The research found that the majority of teenagers had complex interpretations of Techniquest, in which prior experience of it shaped perceptions of what it could offer them now. Although these interpretations encompassed a mixture of structural, personal, and situational factors, key to their interpretation was the memory of having had to negotiate various social roles when at the centre. These roles often challenged their personal entry agendas. The teenagers demonstrated a 'performative’ element (Goffman 1959, vom Lehn 2006) in their behaviour, which was based on social interaction with others and was also connected to how they ‘framed’ the situation (as education or entertainment or both). This was linked to an idea of 'identity maintenance', whereby they sought to preserve social and situational experiences that they had predefined. While it was found that many of the younger teenagers saw a more synergic relationship between education and entertainment, the older teenagers had a more complex and ambivalent view; they saw the science discovery centre as both a leisure destination and a school resource and identified some conflict between these two things. This study provides much needed data and analysis that can inform future practice and improve engagement with teenage audiences in science discovery centres.
55

Through the weather glass

Burnett, L. January 2013 (has links)
This Creative Writing thesis argues for the need to rethink our understanding of climate change and focuses on the response of creative writers to this phenomenon, whilst also offering its own creative contribution. The critical component aims at articulating a post-climate change poetics. It reviews the mainstream literature in popular science writing, fiction and poetry from the point of view of a political frame-analysis of climate change, to demonstrate how a certain understanding of climate change maps onto conventions of literary genre. The thesis takes the view that many mainstream literary attempts to negotiate climate change are compromised by the teleological way in which they conceive of the phenomenon. As an alternative position, it draws on the work of climatologist Mike Hulme and physicist and cultural theorist Karen Barad to encourage participation in climate change as a condition for negotiating its meaning. Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass is proposed as a model for literary production informed by this poetics and as a model for the author’s own creative practice. The creative component of this thesis is an intra-generic text presenting the fictionalised narrative of a cycle expedition the author made from Salford to the Greek island of Ikaria in the summer of 2010. This substantial work aims to interrogate, imagine, and enquire into the epistemology of a post-climate change world.
56

Language use and maintenance among the Moroccan minority in Britain

Jamai, A. January 2008 (has links)
The goal of this study is to investigate language use among a relatively young immigrant community in Britain with a view to finding out what role English plays in their lives, whether they still use their languages of origin, and what are the reasons for their particular language behaviour. Language use and maintenance in an immigrant minority setting is an important area of investigation if one is to understand some of the factors involved in the community's integration process, or the lack of it, in general, and to appreciate the role of language for integration in particular. Minority communities adopt a number of linguistic strategies for communication among themselves and their wider community. In most cases, these linguistic strategies are dictated by both the social and linguistic environment the immigrant minority finds itself living in. The thesis first looks at the sociolinguistic situation of Morocco in order to establish the linguistic background of this community. It then considers the British Moroccans from a socio-economic perspective with a view to identifying factors that may influence language shift behaviour. The empirical part of the thesis is concerned with establishing linguistic as well as non-linguistic determinants of language maintenance such as those that influence language choice, code-switching, attitudes and use of language-specific media. The study has two main hypotheses: first, the Moroccan community in Britain is undergoing a generational language shift, and second, typical Moroccan sociolinguistic patterns are reflected in the language use of Moroccan speakers in Britain as well. While the former hypothesis has, on the whole, proved correct, the latter did not hold true.
57

The translation of intertextual expressions in political articles

Al-Taher, M. A. January 2008 (has links)
The study discusses the translation of intertextual expressions in political articles, aiming at understanding the role of intertextuality within the cultural, ideological and individual circles. Critical discourse analysis shows clearly how indispensible intertextuality is to political discourse in particular as a major ideological tool, especially in the information age when the media employ numerous forms of intertextuality to reinforce their message in terms of legitimisation or delegitimisation. Political newspaper comments tend to belong to the argumentative or vocative (appellative) type of texts, which are intended to achieve a maximum impact on the receiver. In an attempt to relay intertextual expressions across languages, a culture-specific problem is mainly found since different aspects of intertextuality are likely to arise in social, historical, religious and literary terrns which form the unique background of each culture. It is suggested that a three-stage process underpins the successful translation of intertextual expressions. First, an intertextual expression needs to be identified; second, its 'host of associations' have to be fully comprehended; thirdly, the appropriate type of equivalence is to be chosen to 'reflect the same ideological force' of the original expression. This is often achieved by means of functional equivalencc, which provides corresponding target language culture expressions that are expected to 'Invoke the same effect' of those of the source language culture.
58

On the communicative role of word order in written modern standard Arabic : a contribution to functional linguistics

Osman, Mirghani El-Sayed January 1989 (has links)
The majority of the available studies which have been done on word order in Arabic are derived from improvised and restricted data taken from the classical variety of Arabic. ALL these studies are generatively-oriented, and consequently their main concern was to find out which word order is the basic one and which orders derive from it. In brief, all these studies are basically structural and have very little, if anything, to do with the situations in which the language was used or with the factors that motivated it's use. We think that such treatments are inadequate, because: (1) the modern standard variety has been totally neglected, and (2) the basic functions of Language as a tool of human communication is not accounted for by these studies. To make up for these inadequacies we are going to approach the issue of word order from a functional vantage point which seeks to relate the structure and it's function. Secondly, we will choose 'Modern Standard Arabic' to be our field of inquiry. Thirdly, all the examples which we are going to discuss will be taken from concrete linguistic situations. We intend to test the following hypotheses: 1. The traditional dichotomy of word order in marked/unmarked terms at the sentence level is unsatisfactory. 2. It is useful to differentiate between basicness and unmarkedness of word order. 3. The frequency with which each word order type occurs may depend on the type of text, and the attitude of the writer towards his/her addressees. 4. A switch from a certain word order-type to another within the same text can sometimes be determined by a shift in the text-typologicalfocus. 5. Permutations of sentence constituents in Arabic sometimes change the grammatical status of the constituents permuted and sometimes do not. 6. The Principle of Functional Sentence Perspective has great influence in Arabic Language, 7. Passivization as a syntactic device influences the order of words in Arabic. 8. Reasons for having different word orders in Arabic can be elucidated by appealing to other cornrnunicative considerations. 9. Different word orders in Arabic serve semantic, syntactic and pragmatic functions.
59

The consecutive conference interpreter as intercultural mediator : a cognitive-pragmatic approach to the interpreter's role

Al-Zahran, Aladdin January 2007 (has links)
This thesis is an empirical and interdisciplinary investigation into the consecutive conference interpreter’s (CCIr) role as intercultural mediator. It seeks to determine whether there is a case for intercultural mediation in conference interpreting despite the greater degree of cultural transparency that characterises discourse in conference interpreting situations (CISs) when compared with other settings such as community and/or court interpreting. It also proposes an account of the CCIr’s role as intercultural mediator as an alternative to other accounts of the interpreter’s role in the literature on conference interpreting because those accounts do not explain clearly the CCIr’s role or are in conflict with very well-established concepts and principles associated with translation/interpreting such as faithfulness, accuracy, neutrality or accessibility. The account of the CCIr’s role as intercultural mediator is derived from the principles of a theoretical framework that draws on the findings of the theory of sense (Seleskovitch and Lederer 1995) and Sperber and Wilson’s (1986; 1995) relevance theory of communication (RT). The account provides the basis for formulating a clearer definition of the concept of intercultural mediation in the context of consecutive conference interpreting (CCI). Analyses of two types of data underpin the investigation: data from authentic examples from interpreters’ actual performance and data from 295 responses to a worldwide survey of professional conference interpreters conducted by this researcher for use in this thesis. Results of both analyses confirm the case for intercultural mediation in CISs and the validity of the proposed account of the CCIr’s role as intercultural mediator though situationality has been found to play an important role in the extent to which intercultural mediation is needed. Results also shed light on CCIrs’ use of cultural mediation procedures and the role of interpreters’ professional status, experience and language direction on their ability/willingness to perform intercultural mediation.
60

Translation quality assessment : a situational/textual model for the evaluation of Arabic/English translations

Benhaddou, Mohamed January 1991 (has links)
Translation evaluation is one of the main concerns of translation theorists, members of translation revision boards, and most importantly it is the concern of translator trainers. Translation quality has often been associated with the correctness of the grammatical structure and the appropriateness of the lexical item. Little concern has empirically been given to units larger than the sentence, i.e. text. This seems to be the result of the prevailing linguistic trend that has put more emphasis on a -context-free' sentence, rather than on text in context. This study proposes to investigate, discuss and develop a translation quality assessment model that takes text, not a sentence as the ultimate aim of analysis. The study will also attempt to explore the theoretical and practical implications of the model to be developed for the training of translators in the Arab world. The model to be developed should be based on the definition that translation is the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically, pragmatically and textually equivalent text in the target language. Text, then, is the focus of interest in this study. Therefore, the model will be developed within the framework of text lingui4Vics for which text is regarded as a communicative occurrence. The developed model will serve as a means to evaluating the quality of Arabic-English translations of a particular type of texts, argumentative text type. Therefore, two argumentative texts in the form of newspaper editorials, selected from two Moroccan quality newspapers will be analyzed along the dimensions of what will be known in this study as a Situational/Textual model. The resultant "textual profile" will, then, be taken as a "yardstick" against which will be measured 81 translations collected from Fand School of Advanced Translation (FST) and 5 from the department of modern languages, Salford University (SU). The first introductory chapter lays out the main arguments of the thesis. Chapters two and three present and discuss sentence-oriented translation models, and text-oriented translation models respectively. Chapter four presents and discusses the following: a) the three aspects of meaning: semantic, pragmatic, and textual, b) language function vs. text function, and finally C) House's (1981) model of translation quality assessment. Chapter five presents the method of operation, discusses the decision criteria needed to deal with the dimensions linguistic correlates, and finally illustrates the extended situational/textual model for translation quality assessment. Chapter six is the application of the model on the two Arabic argumentative texts. In addition, argumentative text structure will be discussed and the difference between Arabic and English argumentative texts will be explained. Finally, chapter seven includes the source language text (SLT), and the target language text (TLT) statement of comparison and statement of quality, and a discussion of the theoretical implication of the model for the training of translators in the Arab world.

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