The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the attributive noun classes, as well as their suffixal counterparts, firstly in Bantu, and secondly in Zulu. The investigation will be done with reference to aspects such as the following: the general distribution, meaning and function of the attributive noun class prefixes in Bantu. This study will also investigate the distinction between those prefixes which are exclusively used to categorise size and shape deviations, namely those belonging to classes 12/13, 19, 20, 21 and 22; and those class prefixes which have a secondary function of indicating such deviations, namely the prefixes of classes 5/6, 7/8 and 11. The main concern is the way in which these prefixes are often associated with positive or negative emotive perceptions regarding size and shape, and are therefore often used to express amelioration and derogation. In languages such as Zulu and Northern Sotho the existence of possible frozen remnants of such attributive noun class prefixes will be investigated. Some Bantu languages such as Venda that express variations in size and shape as well as the emotive perception by means of suffixes, or by a combination of prefixes and suffixes will be investigated. The possible semantic overlap between the meanings expressed by attributive class prefixes, and/or between the meanings expressed by attributive class prefixes and so-called ‘attributive suffixes’ will also be scrutinized. Apart from the aspects mentioned above, the relationship between augmentative and diminutive suffixes and the notion [+ feminine] in languages such as Zulu and Northern Sotho will be scrutinized. The occurrence of the Zulu suffix -azana/-azane, which is apparently a combination of the diminutive and augmentative suffixes, will also be investigated. This study will firstly provide a typological overview of the various strategies employed in Bantu in order to express variations in shape and size, as well as of the emotive perceptions that accompany such variations. Secondly, this study will provide an insight into the way in which shape and size variations, amelioration and derogation are expressed in Zulu through the utilisation of diminutive and augmentative suffixes. An indication will also be given of the possible diachronic development of attributive categories in this language. This study will make a significant contribution not only to the field of diachronic and comparative Bantu linguistics, but also to Zulu linguistics. This research will furthermore lead to a deeper understanding of the strategies employed in Zulu to express the semantic nuances of amelioration and derogation. / Dissertation (MA (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / African Languages / unrestricted

This thesis uses language corpora to analyze Czech translations of a linguistically asymmetric phenomenon of German privatives ending in -frei and -los from three perspectives: translation typology (micro-stylistics and macro-stylistics), Popovič's stylistic adequacy (shifts of expression: intensification of expression, attenuation of expression, correspondence of expression) and potentially intrinsic feature of German privatives to perceive the fact of absence ("privation") as positive or negative. Privatives are adjectives that express the absence of substance or quality that is represented in their first (left) component; in the context of this work they are limited to adjectives ending in -frei, -los, -arm and -leer. In the Introduction the current state of research is outlined and its time and local limitations are explained. It is emphasized that corpus is here used not just for translation as such but also for theory of translation. The hypothesis starts from the assumption that German privatives as phenomena of grammar have no equivalent on this level in Czech; therefore a direct translation equivalent is often missing. For this reason it is also probable that the translator will have to decide for such Czech translation of one German privative that comprises more words or even a whole...

Ce mémoire est une synthèse de plusieurs études à l'intersection des systèmes dynamiques dans l'analyse statistique de séquences, de l'analyse d'algorithmes dans des arbres aléatoires et des processus stochastiques discrets. Les résultats établis ont des applications dans des domaines variés allant des séquences biologiques aux modèles de régression linéaire, processus de branchement, en passant par la statistique fonctionnelle et les estimations d'indicateurs de risque appliqués à l'assurance. Tous les résultats établis utilisent d'une façon ou d'une autre le caractère récursif de la structure étudiée, en faisant apparaître des invariants comme des martingales. Elles sont au coeur de ce mémoire, utilisées comme outils dans les preuves ou comme objets d'étude.

Hur språkspecifika ord ska översättas mellan två språk är inte alltid självklart. Därför har denna uppsats i syfte att undersöka hur ryska diminutiva vanliga substantiv översätts till svenska. Svårigheten vid översättning uppstår bland annat av att ryska är ett språk rikt på diminutiv medan användning av diminutiv i svenska är sällsynt. På grund av denna skillnad är det inte givet att det finns en lexikal motsvarighet i svenska för ryska diminutiv och översättningen måste anpassas om den ska få med den diminutiva innebörden.  Genom att undersöka hur ryska diminutiv brukar översättas till svenska, och om ryska diminutiv uppstår vid översättning från svenska, kan den rysk-svenska språkspecificiteten för diminutiv kartläggas. Med hjälp av en parallellkorpus kan genuina texter och deras översättningar undersökas i en kvalitativ analys för att kategorisera de vanligaste översättningsstrategierna och huruvida den diminutiva innebörden bevaras vid översättning.  Denna uppsats undersökning visar att ryska diminutiv av vanliga substantiv är språkspecifika gentemot svenska. Detta då innebörden oftast går förlorad vid översättning till svenska, medan diminutiv ofta uppstår vid översättning till ryska, trots att den svenska källtexten helt saknar diminutiva ord. / Каким образом лингвоспецифичные слова должны быть переведены между двумя языками, не всегда очевидно. Цель этой диссертации исследовать, как русские уменьшительно-ласкательные существительные переводятся на шведский язык. Трудности при переводе возникают, помимо прочего, из-за того, что в русском языке диминутивы широко распространены, тогда как в шведском языке они используются редко. По причине этих различий нельзя полноправно утверждать, что в шведском языке существует лексический эквивалент русских диминутивов, следовательно, любой перевод должен быть адаптирован, если он включает уменьшительно-ласкательные слова. Путем анализа того, как русские диминутивы обычно переводятся на шведский язык и как возникают русские уменьшительные формы при переводе со шведского, можно выявить русско-шведскую лингвистическую специфику уменьшительно-ласкательных. С помощью параллельного корпуса в этой работе анализируются самые распространенные стратегии перевода. Исследование в данном дипломном сочинении показывает, что русские уменьшительно-ласкательные формы имён нарицательных являются лингвоспецифичными, поскольку значение чаще всего теряется. При переводе со шведского на русский часто появляются диминутивы, хотя в шведских текстах они могут полностью отсутствовать. / How language specific words should be translated between two languages is not always obvious. Therefore, this thesis has the intention to examine how Russian diminutive common nouns are translated into Swedish. The difficulties of translation, inter alia, arise from the fact that the Russian language is rich in diminutives, whereas the usage of diminutives in Swedish is rare. Because of this difference, it is not guaranteed that there is a lexical counterpart in Swedish for Russian diminutives, and the translation must be adapted to retain the diminutive meaning. By examining how Russian diminutives usually are translated into Swedish, and whether Russian diminutives emerge during translation from Swedish, the Russian-Swedish language specificity for diminutives could be mapped. With the help of a parallel corpus, native texts and their translations can be examined in a qualitative analysis to categorise the most common translation strategies, and whether the diminutive meaning is retained during translation. The findings presented in this thesis demonstrate that Russian diminutives of common nouns are exceedingly language specific toward Swedish, as the meaning frequently is lost. During translation from Swedish to Russian diminutives usually emerge, despite that the Swedish original text completely lacks diminutive words.