No description available.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Viewing cross-cultural dance performances on international tours or as part of international dance festivals has become common practice all over the world. For critique writers, choreographers/ dancers and the audience the accessibility of such a diverse variety of dance has both advantages and disadvantages. Cross-cultural differences in these performances challenge strategies of viewing and perception which may lead to aesthetic enrichment but these performances also risk being misunderstood. In dance critique writing, such a misunderstanding may result in a negative critique projecting, in a worst scenario, negative prejudices on the respective cultures. This thesis investigates how attitudes towards, and perceptions of, cultural differences are reflected in cross-cultural dance critiques, through the use of particular linguistic and stylistic devices. Analysis strategies deriving from Critical Discourse Analysis and Text Analysis are used to uncover the critique’s strategies to communicate their evaluation including ways of persuasion and power. I analyse six critiques from three countries on the performance Beautiful Me performed on international tours by the Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa. My initial hypothesis is that cultural differences may lead to negative critiques due to intercultural misunderstanding. Since viewing Performance Art is not only influenced by the critique writer’s cultural background but also by their perception attitude towards the performance, the analysis takes perception modes such as a theatre semiotic approach and a phenomenological approach into consideration. Interestingly, different perception modes seem to have a greater impact on the outcome of a critique than cross-cultural differences. This means that most negative evaluations must have their origin in the applied strategy of viewing and perceiving dance. The critic seems to interpret and embed the perceived features of the dance performance into specific cultural or socio-political contexts forming an individual, often complex evaluation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Om te kyk na kruiskulturele dansuitvoerings deur dansgeselskappe op internasionale toere of as deel van internasionale dansfeeste, het wêreldwyd algemene praktyk geword. Vir kritici, choreograwe/dansers en die gehoor hou die toeganklikheid van so ’n diverse verskeidenheid dans sowel voordele as nadele in. Kruiskulturele verskille in hierdie vertonings daag kyk- en waarneem-strategieë uit, wat tot estetiese verryking mag lei. Daar is egter ook ’n moontlikheid dat hierdie vertonings verkeerd geïnterpreteer mag word. Só ’n waninterpretasie in dansresensies mag lei tot negatiewe kritiek wat, in uiterste gevalle, negatiewe vooroordele oor die betrokke kulture projekteer. Hierdie tesis doen ondersoek na die wyse waarop houdings teenoor en persepsies van kultuurverskille in kruiskulturele dansresensies deur middel van spesifieke talige en stilistiese middele gereflekteer word. Analitiese strategieë uit die velde Kritiese Diskoersanalise en Teksanalise word gebruik om kritici se strategieë wat ’n oordeel kommunikeer, bloot te lê. Ek analiseer ses resensies uit drie lande wat handel oor die vertoning Beautiful Me wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse dansgeselskap Vuyani Dance Theatre tydens internasionale toere opgevoer is. My aanvanklike hipotese is dat kultuurverskille aanleiding mag gee tot negatiewe kritiek vanweë interkulturele misverstande. Aangesien die beoordeling van Uitvoerende Kunste nie slegs deur die kritikus se kulturele agtergrond beïnvloed word nie, maar ook deur hul waarnemingshouding teenoor die vertoning, neem die analise waarnemingsmodusse soos ’n teater-semiotiek-benadering en ’n fenomenologiese benadering in ag. Interessant genoeg, lyk dit asof verskillende waarnemingsmodusse ’n groter impak het op die uitkoms van kritiek as kruiskulturele verskille. Dít beteken dat die meeste negatiewe oordele hul oorsprong moet hê in die toegepaste strategie van dans kyk en waarneem. Dit blyk dat die kritikus die waargenome eienskappe van die dansuitvoering interpreteer en inbed in spesifieke kulturele of sosio-politiese kontekste wat aanleiding gee tot die verskillende, dikwels komplekse maniere van beoordeling.

Denna uppsats undersöker de metaforer som används i svenska för att benämna känslan sorg. Den metafordefinition som tillämpas är den konceptuella, myntad av Lakoff & Johnson (1980), där metaforer ses som språklig evidens för kognitiva mappningar och består av en så kallas måldomän och källdomän. Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva och kartlägga de olika sorgemetaforernas källdomäner och att anknyta dessa till tre metaforer på övergripande nivå, som i tidigare studier visat vara viktiga för figurativt känslospråk; PSYKET SOM KROPP-METAFOREN (Sweetser 1990), METAFOREN FÖR HÄNDELSESTRUKTUR (Lakoff & Johnson 1999 och Kövecses 2000) och KRAFTMETAFOREN (Kövecses 2000), varav den sistnämnda i tidigare studier av Kövecses (2000) lyfts fram som en för känslospråk dominerande metafor. Metoderna som tillämpas utgörs av en textanalys och en korpusstudie, där metaforer först manuellt extraheras och analyseras från böcker och hemsidor med sorgetema för att sedan uppsökas i korpora. Resultatet uppvisar en stor variation i de metaforer som används och 21 metaforer noteras, med 14 undergrupper. Alla tre tidigare metaforer förekommer. KRAFTMETAFOREN utgör dock inte en dominerande övergrupp, vilket tros kunna bero på att forskning kring metaforen främst skett inom engelska, men även det faktum att sorgen som definierad i studien inte utgör en prototypisk känsla. / This study examines metaphors used in Swedish for the emotion grief. The definition of metaphor applied is the one of the conceptual metaphor, as presented by Lakoff & Johnson (1980), where metaphors are considered to be linguistic evidence of cognitive mappings and consist of a target and source domain. The aim of the study is to describe and map the different source domains, as well as to relate them to three basic level metaphors, that earlier research has shown to be of importance to emotional language; THE BODY AS MIND METAPHOR (Sweetser 1990), THE EVENT STRUCTURE METAPHOR (Lakoff & Johnson 1999 and Kövecses 2000) and THE FORCE METAPHOR (Kövecses 2000). Previous studies by Kövecses (2000) have treated the latter one as a dominating metaphor for more specific level emotion metaphors. The adopted methods consist of a text analysis and a corpus study, where metaphors are extracted from grief themed books and webpages and analyzed manually to later be sought up in corpora. The results show diversity in source domain and a total of 21 superordinate metaphors and 14 subordinate ones are observed. All three basic level metaphors feature. THE FORCE METAPHOR does however not qualify as a dominating metaphor which can function as a superordinate metaphor for all others. This is believed to be due to the fact that most earlier research has focused on English, as well as that the definition of grief used throughout the study does not constitute a prototypical emotion.

Through the history have the women been subordinated to the men, structures that still are present in these days even though feminist movements have tried work against them. One platform that is quite common to use for drawing attention to a certain subject is popular culture. Here the author can disguise their thoughts or highlight them through another context. This brought my attention to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale where religious symbols are commonly used through the book at the same time as women’s rights are neglected. I wanted to know how these religious symbols are connected to this kind of structures, how they are motivating them. To answer that question I used a text analysis with the focus to find the underlying factors to this kind of use of religious symbols and how the gender roles are built up. I used two kinds of theories, one is Stig Hjarvard’s mediatization theory with the focus on banal religion, and the other is Yvonne Hirdman’s gender theory that are focusing on the view of women through the history. What I found was that Atwood is using religion as a theme to criticize the patriarchal structures in her time and to comment on the use of religious symbols uncontextualized to debate on questions that affects a majority of people, like questions about sexuality, abortion and sexual abuse.

Reconhecendo que o discurso é um dos meios pelos quais a política se materializa, essa tese tem o objetivo de responder a seguinte questão: há indícios suficientes para afirmar que a comunicação parlamentar no âmbito da Câmara dos Deputados é governada pela relação governo-oposição, assim como constatado em sua atuação no processo decisório? Para respondê-la, foi feito o uso de técnicas computacionais e modelos estatísticos com a aplicação do expressed agenda model para análise do conteúdo de mais de 127 mil pronunciamentos realizados por mais de 2 mil oradores diferentes ao longo de mais de 15 anos de atividade parlamentar na Câmara dos Deputados. Com a apresentação de evidências robustas sobre a frequência dos discursos proferidos no Pequeno Expediente, a estratégia de concentração temática dos Deputados Federais e a ênfase por eles atribuída às agendas econômica e social, a resposta é que não. Há, na atividade parlamentar, muito mais do que a tarefa de produzir e aprovar leis. As conclusões apresentadas aprimoram o conhecimento a respeito do comportamento parlamentar no âmbito da Câmara dos Deputados e indicam a influência de outras variáveis sobre sua atuação como, por exemplo: a ideologia, o gênero, senioridade e a sua popularidade. / Recognizing that parliamentary speeches are one way in which politics is realized, this thesis aims to answer the following question: is there sufficient evidence to say that the parliamentary communication within the Chamber of Deputies is governed by the government-opposition relation, following conclusions about the decision-making process? To answer this question, I apply the expressed agenda model, computational techniques and statistical models over 127,000 speeches made by more than 2,000 different speakers in more than 15 years of parlamentary activity in the Chamber of Deputies. With robust evidence on the frequency of the speeches, thematic concentration and the expressed priorities between the emphasis attributed to economic and social agendas, the answer is no. The findings presented improve the knowledge about Brazilian parliamentary behavior and indicate the influence of other variables on its activities, for example: ideology, gender, seniority and popularity.

The purpose of this study is to see how death and the grief process is explained in three children's books with death as a motif. I will also describe how to look at children's literature as a teaching material when dealing with existential questions with the youngest children in school. The information I gathered from these books shows that death is often mentioned in a connection to an older person who dies from ageing or a parent who dies in the event of a fatal disease. In some of these books is life after death described with a religious belief, most from Christianity. They all mediates hope and a view of death as a continuation, meaning that something else is happening after your life as a human. I also come to the fact that the pictures mediate important messages and play a decisive part in the perception of the story. I concluded that all three books are useful when you are teaching children about death and grief. But they should be used for different purposes and in different contexts in the classroom. / Syftet med denna studie är att se hur döden och sorgearbetet framställs i tre skönlitterära barnböcker med döden som tema. Jag kommer även att ta upp hur man kan se på barnlitteratur som ett undervisningsmaterial när man arbetar med livsfrågor med de yngsta barnen i skolan. Resultatet visar att döden beskrivs i form av att det är en äldre person som dör av ålder eller i samband med att en förälder dör av en sjukdom. I böckerna kan man även se kopplingar till religion och främst till kristendomen. Böckerna kan tänkas förmedla hopp om att döden är en fortsättning och att det sker något mer efter ditt liv som människa. Jag kommer även fram till att bilderna förmedlar viktiga budskap och har avgörande roll för hur man uppfattar berättelsen. Jag kommer fram till att samtliga böcker är användbara när man arbetar med döden och sorg med små barn, men att man bör använda böcker på olika sätt och i olika syften i undervisningen.

The goal of this study is to analyze a number of IEP: s in order to determine how these are constructed for students with read and write difficulties. In order to do so, I am going to analyze some action programs to determine which special educational theory that is the most common, based on the theories of Claes Nilholm. My questions are as follows: How the needs of the students receiving support are described, from a certain theoretical perspective and finally, is there an overall view that can be derived from this. For this study, I used qualitative content analysis when analyzing the IEP: s. The research showed that the most common theory used, describing both different actions and different needs, was the Categorical Perspective. A Perspective which puts the problem within the pupil itself and not as an environmental or social issue. Overall, the Categorical Perspective was also the most common perspective that could be seen throughout the action programs. Does this mean that the Categorical Perspective is generally used within schools? The study shows that there seems to be a semantic mix-up where the authors of action programs sometimes describe special adaptations, not actions, within the action programs, using a Categorical Perspective. Furthermore, there is The Dilemma Perspective that describes when there is a conflict between The Categorical and it´s counterpart, The Critical Perspective. Although this Dilemma Perspective does not show as much in the analysis, One can argue that there is always a dilemma when conflicts over resources arise.

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare two textbooks used in social studies teaching when it comes to the use of subject concepts. The questions to be answered are: • What subject concepts can be found in each learning material? How many different subject concepts are present and how often are they used? • What is done to explain these subject concepts for the reader? How many of the total amount of subject concepts are explained? The methods used to answer these questions where both quantitative content analysis and qualitative text analysis. The results showed that the two textbooks had some subject concepts in common and other subject concepts that separated the textbooks. Textbook 1 contained a few more subject concepts than textbook 2 but used less times than textbook 2. To explain the subject concepts the textbooks used different methods which in this study have been divided into five categories. The result also showed that both textbooks contained equal amounts of subject concepts that were not explained to the reader.

A partir da teoria do escopo formulada por Katharina Reiß e Hans Vermeer em Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie (1984) e de uma expansão do modelo de análise textual de relevância tradutória apresentado por Christiane Nord em Textanalyse und Übersetzen (1988), a presente tese de doutorado apresenta um novo modelo teórico para a execução da TRADUÇÃO RETROSPECTIVA, definida como a tradução a posteriori de um TP (texto precursor) ainda inédito na cultura-alvo que mantenha uma relação de influência e/ou precedência cronológica com um TS (texto sucessor) já traduzido anteriormente para a cultura-alvo, de maneira que a tradução de TP cause a impressão de ser anterior e/ou de ter influenciado a tradução de TS. A tradução retrospectiva tem por objetivo simular, na culturaalvo, a relação existente entre o original de TP e o original de TS na cultura-fonte através de uma inversão das relações de influência literária segundo os moldes propostos por Jorge Luis Borges no ensaio “Kafka y sus precursores”. Uma vez exposto o modelo teórico, o trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso sobre o volume O grande deus Pã, totalmente concebido em função de uma tradução retrospectiva do TP The Great God Pan, de Arthur Machen, feita com uma visada sobre o TS “The Dunwich Horror”, de Howard Phillips Lovecraft, traduzido anteriormente por mim. / By building on the Skopos theory proposed by Katharina Reiß and Hans Vermeer in Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie (1984) and on an expansion of the model for text analysis in translation presented by Christiane Nord in Textanalyse und Übersetzen (1988), this doctoral dissertation introduces a new theoretical model for RETROSPECTIVE TRANSLATION, defined as an a posteriori translation of a PT (precursor text) still unpublished in the target culture which in turn maintains a relationship of influence and/or chronological precedence with an ST (successor text) previously translated in the target culture, so that the translation of PT may seem to have anticipated and/or influenced the translation of ST. The objective of a retrospective translation is to simulate, in the target culture, the existing relation between the original of PT and the original of ST in the source culture by promoting an inversion of traditional literary influence relations inspired by Jorge Luis Borges's essay “Kafka and his precursors”. Once the theoretical model is laid out, there follows a case study of the volume O grande deus Pã, entirely conceived around a retrospective translation of the PT The Great God Pan, by Arthur Machen, done with a backward glance toward the ST “The Dunwich Horror”, by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, previously translated by me.

The thesis presents the results of a study on the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards on the analysts information environment. The analysis is concentrated on the role of specific IFRSs and corporate disclosure. The effect of IFRS adoption on the information asymmetry between firms and outsiders is examined through properties of analysts earnings forecasts. A contribution to the existing academic literature is made by examining the role of goodwill, intangible assets and acquisitions before and after IFRS adoption in Europe. The results show that the IFRSs for goodwill, acquisitions and intangible assets are related to improvements in the analysts information environment. Another contribution to knowledge is made by investigating the effect of corporate disclosure quantity on the analysts information environment before and after IFRS adoption. For this purpose, a new approach and text analysis technique to assess the impact of corporate disclosure quantity is developed. This involves the creation of a new custom dictionary and the collection of an extensive set of qualitative data. The results show that corporate disclosure quantity under IFRS, is related to improvements in the analysts information environment but that there are differences in this effect across European countries. The results also demonstrate that the improvements in the accuracy of analysts earnings forecasts are related particularly to disclosure concerning financial instruments and operating segments. Overall, the findings of the thesis suggest that the adoption of IFRS resulted in an increase in the quality of reported earnings, which is likely to derive from higher comparability of financial statements, enhanced transparency and an improved analysts information environment. It is also established that fundamental differences across countries remain after IFRS adoption and that the development and harmonisation of financial reporting standards alone are not sufficient to increase the quality of financial information and decrease information asymmetry between market participants.