The translation of metaphors can cause problems for a translator since what is typical for a metaphor is that the intended meaning does not match its literal meaning, which can lead to misunderstandings. Apart from this, language differences and cultural differences can also cause problems. This essay deals with the translation of metaphors in a dog breed book from English to Swedish. The aim of the essay is to investigate which translation strategies that are used when translating metaphors and whether lexicalized and non-lexicalized source language metaphors require different translation strategies.  The source language metaphors were found by using the Metaphor Identification Procedure which in this study means determining the lexical units in the source text, deciding the meaning of each unit and then comparing with dictionaries to see whether the lexical unit has a more basic or contemporary meaning and if the meaning in this particular context can be understood based on the more basic or contemporary meaning. If so, the lexical unit was determined to be metaphorically used in this context. The source language metaphors were then classified according to whether they are lexicalized or non-lexicalized, based on Dickins (2005) classification. The study finds that the most common way of translating a source language metaphor is by paraphrasing it into a non-metaphorical expression followed by using the same or a similar target language metaphor. No clear indications of lexicalized and non-lexicalized metaphors requiring different translation strategies were found.

In this thesis, we implement a rule-based machine ranslation (MT) system for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Rule-based MT system has three modules in general: analysis, transfer and generation. Grammars used in our system are lexicalized tree automata-based grammar (LTA) and synchronous lexicalized tree adjoining grammar (SLTAG). LTA is used for analysis, and SLTAG is used for transfer and generation. We adjust developed parser to PDAs as a parser in the analysis module. The SLTAG parser in the transfer module would search possible source side of SLTAG in source parse tree. Then, growing target parse tree and scoring each hypothesis is based on language model and rule probability. To avoid too much estimation, generation step would prune some hypotheses under threshold. Compared with other rule-based MT systems, we can build rules automatically and design a flexible rule type. SLTAG parser is coded specially for the rule type. In experiments, Chinese-English BTEC is our training and test data. We can get 17% BLEU score for the test data.

Focusing on a source text of music journalism, this study sets out to investigate the role of metaphors in translation techniques from English to Swedish. The study turns to the conceptual metaphor, as presented by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980), and considers a range of translation strategies prescribed by scholars such as Christina Schäffner (2004, 2012) and Grace Crerar-Bromelow (2007). Drawing upon these sources, the aim is to quantify, categorize, and translate the metaphors of the source text, premised on Lakoff and Johnson’s three conceptual categories of structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors. Focusing on their frequency, overlaps, and role in the source and target texts, the study traces what bearing these conceptual categories have on the translation practice. The results show that Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphors have great merit in the translation of metaphors by helping the translator capture nuances, double meanings, and idiomatic properties in both source and target texts and contexts.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Helenice Serikaku.pdf: 3162432 bytes, checksum: 31458c5c6f756832a75971e51e2f6664 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-13 / Brazilian learners of Spanish as a foreign language frequently have difficulties with unstressed pronouns usage. Their usage settings are different in both languages ─ in Spanish it tends to be marked in speech, and, in Portuguese, it tends to be omitted. The difficulty not only concerns using these pronouns with their canonic function of direct and indirect object, but also la, las, lo, and le forms without the mentioned function ─ known as lexicalized unstressed pronouns (PAL). This research aims to identify patterns of PAL as well verbs that co-occur with PAL according to Corpus Linguistics framework and its methodological resources (BERBER SARDINHA, 2000, 2004), within a lexicographic tradition (SINCLAIR, 2004). A corpus representative of Spanish general language, esTenTen 11 (KILGARRIFF, 2004), which contains almost ten billions words and it embraces European and American Spanish variants, was considered. Through the reading of concordance lines, firstly, verbs that co-occur with PAL were extracted. Then patterns of use of these verbs co-occurring with PAL were identified. It was noted that la, las, lo, and le have various performances, which makes it hard for these particles to be classified functionally. These ones might allude to an absent reference concurring with patterns of verb with present reference; influence verb meaning; provide verb with a pragmatic and expressive sense and it tends to appear naturally with the verb within the Idiomatic Principle / O aluno brasileiro aprendiz de Espanhol como Língua Estrangeira frequentemente enfrenta dificuldades com o uso dos pronomes átonos em espanhol já que, entre os dois idiomas, a configuração de uso desse grupo de partículas é distinta ─ enquanto no espanhol a tendência é seu uso marcado, prevalece a sua omissão no português do Brasil. Essa dificuldade não só concerne à utilização dessas formas dentro de suas funções canônicas de pronome objeto / complemento direto e indireto, mas também ao uso das formas la, las, lo e le sem essas funções ─ caso dos pronomes átonos lexicalizados (PAL), objeto desta pesquisa. O objetivo é identificar os padrões de uso dos PAL la, las, lo e le, assim como os principais verbos com os quais esses PAL coocorrem, segundo os princípios teóricos e recursos metodológicos adotados pela Linguística de Corpus (BERBER SARDINHA, 2000, 2004), notadamente pela sua tradição lexicográfica (SINCLAIR, 2004). Um corpus de estudo representativo da língua geral foi utilizado, o esTenTen 11 (KILGARRIFF, 2004). Ele abrange as variantes europeia e americanas do espanhol e possui quase 10 bilhões de palavras, etiquetadas morfossintaticamente. Através da leitura de linhas de concordância obtidas no corpus, tendo como foco as formas não canônicas dos pronomes átonos, foram extraídos os verbos que coocorrem com os PAL. A seguir, mais pesquisas foram realizadas sobre as linhas de concordância para identificar os principais padrões de uso dos PAL. Pode-se perceber que os PAL la, las, lo e le têm comportamentos variados, o que torna difícil fazer uma classificação funcional para cada uma dessas partículas. Estas podem aludir a um referente ausente, concorrendo com padrões de verbos com referente presente; influenciar na significação do verbo; dotar o verbo de um sentido pragmático-expressivo; e tender a aparecer junto do verbo por princípio idiomático do espanhol. Esta pesquisa pretendeu contribuir para uma área escassa de estudos, cuja importância é clara em face das necessidades pedagógicas do brasileiro aprendiz de ELE

The goal of my diploma thesis is the detail analysis of the usage of diminutives in the Spanish literature, including the characteristics of their meaning and function. The theoretical part of my thesis is consisted of the basic information concerning this morphological phenomenon and its creation, function and interpretation in the text. It also includes definition of the children´s literature and various views on this subcategory of literature. There is mentioned the history of the children´s literature too, together with its evolution and literary performance. I pay special attention to linguistic features which appear in the children´s literature. The practical part is consisted of the qualitative and quantitative analysis of three books for children: Manolito on the Road, El príncipe que todo lo aprendió en los libros and El Conde Lucanor.The goal of this part of my thesis is the comparison of several linguistic approaches towards this morphological phenomenon. I also aim to determine eventual difference in frequency of using of different types of diminutive suffix, both from the diachronical and differential point of view. Last but not least, there is a qualitative analysis which elaborates individual contextual functions of diminutive suffix.

This paper investigates the usage of topic in spoken Brasilian Portuguese, considering it as the constituent on the left of the sentence. To carry out the analysis, we chose the proposal of Callou et alii (1993), which considers the topic lato sensu constructions. The aim of our project is to verify how this phenomenon is used, and to observe if the presence of topic either favors or not the occurrence of lexicalized subject in the sentence. In order to do so, an investigation of topic as well as subject structures was carried out, bearing in mind during the analysis, linguistic and extralinguistic factors such as social class and age group. The corpus used to develop the research consisted of 45 interviews carried out with adult speakers from the city of Uberlândia (MG), from both sexs. The analysis showed that in spite of the little presence in the language, all the informers, irrespective of the social class, age group, used the topic structure, confirming our main hypothesis. In regards to the constructions of the topic lato sensu it was noticed that the Dislocation for de left (DE) is more used than Topicalization (TOP). This fact doesn t confirm our hypothesis but confirms the tendency of Brasilian Portuguese to fill all the empty categories, as already mentioned by many researches. Furthermore, according to the theory of Labovian Sociolinguistics and Parametric Sociolinguistics, in which we based this paper, it was possible to conclude that presence x absence of topic lato sensu constructions, in the sentence, is a process of variation, not a process of linguistic change. / Este trabalho investiga o uso do tópico na língua oral do Português do Brasil, considerando como tal o constituinte à esquerda da sentença. Para realizar a análise, adotamos a proposta de Callou et alii (1993), na qual são consideradas construções de tópico lato sensu. O objetivo do nosso trabalho é verificar de que modo o fenômeno é usado e observar, principalmente, se a presença de tópico favorece ou não a ocorrência de sujeito lexicalizado na sentença. Para tanto, foi feita uma investigação de estruturas de tópico e estruturas de sujeito, levando em consideração, na análise, fatores lingüísticos e fatores extralingüísticos classe social e faixa etária. O corpus utilizado para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa constituiu-se de 45 entrevistas realizadas com falantes adultos da cidade de Uberlândia (MG), de ambos os sexos. A análise realizada evidenciou que, apesar da pouca incidência na língua, todos os informantes, independentemente da classe social e da faixa etária, que fizeram uso da estrutura de tópico, lexicalizaram o sujeito, corroborando, assim, nossa hipótese principal. Especificamente em relação às construções de tópico lato sensu, foi constatado que o Deslocamento à Esquerda (DE) é mais usado do que a Topicialização (TOP). Essa constatação refutou nossa hipótese, mas confirma a tendência do Português do Brasil de preencher categorias vazias, como já foi atestado por vários estudiosos. Além disso, seguindo os pressupostos teóricos da Sociolingüística Laboviana e da Sociolingüística Paramétrica, nos quais fundamentamos nosso trabalho, foi possível concluir que presença x ausência de construções de tópico lato sensu , na sentença, constitui um processo de variação e não de mudança lingüística. / Mestre em Lingüística