Professional translation is an excellent example of complex problemsolving processes. Current teaching theory in tertiary education in general and translation teaching in particular has established a systematic competence approach that allows teachers and trainers to apply new methodologies and strategies in translator training. The effectiveness of a competence-based approach has been shown in a number of graduate development statistics. But how can competence- oriented teaching approaches be developed and tested for the real classroom setting as embedded in a specific teaching context (consisting of educational system and institutions, university programme, exam regulations, curriculum and course system, target group and personalities, etc.)? This paper presents the results of an experiment testing such an adapted subcompetence- oriented teaching approach in the BA Translation programme at IALT (University of Leipzig). It compares two groups of students in an introductory course on LSP translation; one group is taught according to an established methodology and one group is taught using a sub-competence-oriented methodology. The paper presents observations on teaching methods, student motivation and activity, and analyses their test results at the end of the semester. The competence-oriented group showed slightly better results, validating the teaching method in principle. However, the experiment has certain limitations and the results will have to be re-obtained to clarify these. The experiment can be used as a basis for developing further methods for testing the applicability of the competence approach and for exploring different approaches for different educational settings.

No description available.

Many researchers seem to think that Construction Grammar posits the existence of only wholly idiosyncratic constructions. However, this misconception betrays a deep misunderstanding of the approach because it glosses over the fact that constructions rarely if ever emerge sui generis. Rather, Construction Grammar aims to balance the fact that some linguistic uses cannot be fully predicted from other well-established uses with the fact that extensions of a construction, while not predictable, are motivated by other senses in the constructional network. This paper illustrates this idea by providing an analysis of the Spanish completive reflexive marker se.

In a number of studies of analogical levelling, it has been found that the conservation of irregular formation patterns is typically correlated with the token frequency of the members of a changing class. Interestingly, although it was suggested decades ago that this “conserving effect” of high token frequency may also affect ongoing analogical change, only one case of a change-in-progress in morphology has been investigated so far. Moreover, instead of scrutinizing the concept of frequency, previous research has largely taken the importance of lemma token frequency for granted. The present contribution analyses a case of ongoing analogical levelling in the formation of the imperative singular of German strong verbs with e/i-gradation. A corpus-based study is used to test whether the phenomenon is rightly classified as ongoing change and whether and which frequency variables can explain the trajectory of this change. Evidence is presented that justifies the assumption of a conserving effect of token frequency in ongoing morphological change; however, the study stresses the importance of reconsidering the concept of frequency for different languages and different phenomena of change because even measures like lemma token frequency are not as indisputable as they seem.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The article deals with toponyms in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland with regard to language contact. Since the emergence of the Romance language in late antiquity (3rd-6th century AD) and until the Germanisation in the early Middle Ages (ca. from the 9th century until ca. the 14th century) St. Gallen has functioned in an interaction of two languages: Old Romansh and Old High German. This sequence can still be identified in a considerable number of toponyms. Here we want, first, to show how Romansh toponyms were transferred to Swiss German and, second, to discuss the methodological challenges facing toponymists when dealing with names in contact areas. Based on the categorization of Nicolaisen (1996) various types of adaptational processes such as translations, analogical re-formation and re-interpretation are illustrated and discussed using names and historical name data from the database «Flurnamen des Kantons St. Gallen». Two important categories in this regard are phonological adaptation and morphological translation. Finally, the study offers an insight into how toponomastics in an ancient contact area can help to reconstruct an extinct language, i.e. Old Romansh.]

The article is concerned with the etymologies of northeast Bavarian, i.e. Upper Franconian, settlement names Würgau, Gleußen, Feuln, Marktzeuln and Wirbenz and the microtoponyms Külmnitz, Külmitz and Leubnitz. While tradition had it that the settlement names are of Slavic origin, a PhD thesis published in 2016 claimed them to be of West Germanic origin. In the case of the microtoponyms Külmnitz and Külmitz only a West Germanic etymology had hitherto been presented, while in the case of the microtoponym Leubnitz both a Germanic and a Slavic one had been proposed, with no final conclusion reached. The article compares the Slavic etymologies with the West Germanic ones and reaches the conclusion that neither of the West Germanic etymologies proposed is more convincing than any of the Slavic ones. In the case of the settlement names Feuln and Marktzeuln, however, each proposed etymology is roughly as convincing as the other (though the author ultimately still sides with the Slavic etymologies). In the case of the other names, the Slavic etymologies are (clearly) more convincing than the West Germanic ones.

School student Michael Berg (15) becomes involved in an erotic relationship with Hanna Schmitz (36), to whom he reads from works of literature during their lovers’ trysts. Hanna constantly calls Michael mein Jungchen (‚my young laddie‘), while the latter addresses her not just as Hanna but also using pet names such as Boukeffelchen (Alexander the Great’s tempestuous war horse was called Boukephalos). Years later Michael recognizes Hanna among the accused in a concentration camp trial. When she falsely assumes responsibility for the authorship of a report on the death of a group of concentration camp prisoners, Michael realizes that Hanna would rather accept a long prison sentence than admit to her illiteracy. The name Michael Berg reminds us of locations around Heidelberg (e.g. Michelsberg); Berg also alludes to the hill as a location of insights and to Michael’s complicated Schicksalsgemeinschaft with a concentration camp guard. While the simplified name Hanna evokes childishness and motherliness, Schmitz recalls the hissing of the horsewhip used by many concentration camp supervisors. Hanna also readily evokes the name Hannah Arendt, while Schmitz is a common, everyday surname whose occurrence is reminiscent of A Report on the Banality of Evil, the subtitle of Hannah Arendt’s book Eichmann in Jerusalem.