Japanese contains many words borrowed from English, which differ from the source word both phonologically and/or semantically. This study examined how short classroom interventions can facilitate recognizing (i) the spoken forms of these words in English, and (ii) semantic differences between loanwords and their English counterparts. Thirty participants were divided into 3 groups: an English-only treatment group, a Japanese English treatment group, and a control group. Each group completed a pretest requiring them to (i) identify loan words pronounced in English, and (ii) provide the meanings of these words. Thereafter the first group was given the correct English pronunciation and meanings of these words without reference to their Japanese counterparts. The second group was explicitly taught the difference between the English and Japanese versions. To assess the efficacy of the 2 treatments, the groups were given a posttest. Results confirmed that the contrastive method is the most effective.

Japanese contains many words borrowed from English, which differ from the source word both phonologically and/or semantically. This study examined how short classroom interventions can facilitate recognizing (i) the spoken forms of these words in English, and (ii) semantic differences between loanwords and their English counterparts. Thirty participants were divided into 3 groups: an English-only treatment group, a Japanese English treatment group, and a control group. Each group completed a pretest requiring them to (i) identify loan words pronounced in English, and (ii) provide the meanings of these words. Thereafter the first group was given the correct English pronunciation and meanings of these words without reference to their Japanese counterparts. The second group was explicitly taught the difference between the English and Japanese versions. To assess the efficacy of the 2 treatments, the groups were given a posttest. Results confirmed that the contrastive method is the most effective.

In Poetics, Aristotle defines lexis as being the “language” of tragedy, and this language is one of the elements of tragedy that creates the mimetic representation. As Aristotle literally describes of the words of tragic composition as “doing” something, I consider lexis as an equivalent to J.L. Austin’s locutionary function of language, and the creation of the mimetic representation as the illocutionary. Aristotle’s conception of tragic composition requires a rigid understanding of the tragic form and its proper deployment as he leaves no room for perlocution, and so I also employ Jan Mukařovský’s theory of intentionality/unintentionality in art to explain how a play such as Euripides’s Electra may be understood as a product of the literary culture in which it arose. I then review historical trends of translating Greek tragedy into English to establish how modern translation is moving further away from reverence to the lexis of tragedy. Finally I address the various sections of Electra, a play with an almost non-existent performance record in English, to establish how I may respect the original lexis in my own translation, thereby imparting a (hopefully) similar effect on a modern audience.

L'analyse démographique se déroule principalement dans un cadre de référence défini par des variables temporelles ; ce faisant, elle débouche sur des résultats mettant en évidence des régularités remarquables. Cette constatation pourrait laisser croire automatiquement à une valeur explicative substantielle des variables en cause. En fait, généralement, l'âge, la date ou le moment de naissance, par exemple, n'ont en eux-mêmes aucune vertu explicative, si ce n'est à travers des phénomènes physiologiques ou sociologiques, par exemple. En prenant le cas de la mortalité des personnes âgées, l'âge peut être, au moins en partie, considéré comme un proxy du processus physiologique du vieillissement. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de voir si les méthodes des démographes pourraient se transposer en optant pour un cadre de référence non temporel qui serait régi par une variable éventuellement plus proche de causes en rapport avec un phénomène étudié. La réponse à cette question est affirmative. Sur un plan purement mathématique, tout cadre de référence composé de trois variables formant une combinaison linéaire et dont une est invariable individu par individu peut remplacer le cadre de référence temporel le plus classique où l'âge correspond au temps moins le moment de naissance et où le moment de naissance est invariant tout au long de la vie d'un individu. Ainsi, en va-t-il, par exemple, de la taille (ou du poids) des nourrissons, de leur taille (ou poids) à la naissance et de leur gain de taille (ou de poids) depuis la naissance. Des diagrammes de Lexis ont été construits en remplaçant le temps par la taille (ou le poids) des nourrissons ; le moment de naissance, par leur taille (ou leur poids) à la naissance et l'âge, par la variation de leur taille (ou de leur poids) depuis la naissance. Les cohortes se définissent non plus par rapport au moment de naissance, mais par rapport à la taille (ou au poids) de naissance. Ces diagrammes ont montré qu'il existe une relation négative entre le gain de taille durant la première année de vie et la taille à la naissance, mais qu'aucune relation de ce type n'était pas présente dans le cas du poids. L'équivalent d'une table d'extinction classique a été élaboré en remplaçant l'âge par le gain de taille (ou de poids). Par ailleurs, toujours en remplaçant l'âge par le gain de taille (ou de poids), des régressions logistiques ont permis d'identifier des variables ayant un effet significatif sur la croissance en taille ou en poids durant la première année de vie. Ces régressions ont notamment confirmé l'influence de la taille à la naissance sur le gain de taille et la non-influence du poids de naissance sur le gain de poids. Il est à noter que pour employer ces méthodes de la table ou de la régression, il faut en plus remplir certaines conditions ; si ce n'est pas le cas, il faut soit procéder à des adaptations, soit adopter des hypothèses supplémentaires, soit carrément renoncer à l'emploi de ces méthodes. La réflexion menée dans ce travail a suggéré d'enrichir la panoplie des méthodes de l'analyse démographique : à l'analyse transversale classique se concentrant sur une période et donc sur un couloir vertical du diagramme de Lexis, on peut adjoindre un autre type d'analyse transversale portant cette fois sur un couloir horizontal. Si cette nouvelle perspective d'analyse est sans intérêt pratique avec le cadre de référence classique en temps, elle pourrait donner lieu à l'établissement de résultats dignes d'intérêt en cas de cadre de référence autre. Par ailleurs, ce travail aura aussi montré en quoi, dans certaines circonstances, la corrélation et la régression pourraient avoir intérêt à intégrer la notion de cohorte. Si ce travail montre que le cadre de référence temporel n'est pas le seul envisageable, il ne débouche nullement sur la conclusion que ce cadre classique est à abandonner définitivement au profit d'autres. En effet, les variables temporelles présentent des spécificités qui les rendent particulièrement efficaces pour organiser une analyse.

The work selected for this portfolio comprises two language-specific case studies (‘Russian and Soviet loanwords and calques in the Czech lexicon since the beginning of the twentieth century’ and ‘Češi a slovenština’ [The Czechs and the Slovak language]), two publications on the critical reception of foreign vocabulary in Czech (‘The legacy and limitations of Czech purism’ and Attitudes to lexical borrowing in the Czech Republic), and a detailed article on the implications of naming practices for perceptions of the self and others (‘The Czech-speaking lands, their peoples and contact communities: titles, names and ethnonyms’). Extensive use is made of original material, including two nationwide quantitative surveys conducted on my behalf by the Public Opinion Research Centre of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CVVM), and two small-scale questionnaires carried out for me by Dr Miroslav Růžička of the Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague), as well as a range of other empirical data, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, electronic corpora, and additional sources of lexical and historical information. My commentary employs a thematic approach, which aims both to acquaint the reader with the main findings of each of my publications, and to indicate the broad direction of my output. Supplementary information is provided in the commentary, where required, to contextualize and synthesize my arguments, to shed light on recent scholarship in cognate fields, and to ensure narrative continuity. The ‘new’ knowledge thus complements and frames the discussion of my selected publications, thereby helping to guide the reader through the exposition of my writings. The principal unifying themes of the chosen pieces are their emphasis on (1) the role of language in the national consciousness and self-perception, (2) the influence of external forces on the shaping of the Czech lexicon, and people’s reactions to those forces, (3) public perceptions of lexical borrowing, and (4) changing attitudes to the notion of ‘foreign’, as reflected in the national idiom. The commentary is divided into eight chapters, as listed in the Table of Contents. My study begins with a general introduction to my academic background, and to the content and themes of this thesis, as summarized above. Chapter 2 is based principally on my article ‘The legacy and limitations of Czech purism’, and provides a combination of historical setting and statistical analysis. The next chapter presents a résumé of the overall impact of foreign languages and cultures on the historical development of Czech, with the aim of contextualizing the findings of subsequent chapters. Chapter 4, which draws mainly on ‘Russian and Soviet loanwords and calques in the Czech lexicon since the beginning of the twentieth century’, reevaluates the impact of Russian and ‘Soviet speak’ on the Czech lexicon. In chapter 5, I consider in detail the asymmetrical nature of Czech–Slovak language relations, with reference to the views of over 1,400 informants interviewed for ‘Češi a slovenština’ and Attitudes to lexical borrowing in the Czech Republic. Chapter 6 compares the results of my survey for the latter publication, referred to as ‘Perceptions’, with a series of other questionnaires, including Tejnor’s groundbreaking 1970 study of foreign words. ‘The Czech-speaking lands, their peoples and contact communities: titles, names and ethnonyms’ provides the substance of much of chapter 7, which focuses on the Czechs’ tendency to see themselves in terms of opposition to outsiders, and on the depiction of ‘foreignness’ in the Czech lexicon. The commentary concludes with a summary of my principal observations relating to aspects of language contact and lexical borrowing in Czech, and to their implications for the self and others. Taken collectively, the eight chapters provide a framework for the discussion of my published work and for the thematic and conceptual links that validate their consideration as a corpus of cognate research activity.

<p>U radu se razmatra status aktuelnih pozajmljenica u<br />srpskom jeziku iz perspektive leksikologije i<br />leksikografije. Za potrebe ovog razmatranja prikupljen je<br />korpus od 1000 pozajmljenica ekscerpiranih iz<br />relevantnih &scaron;tampanih medija. Prvi dio rada, nakon<br />osnovnih, uvodnih napomena o predmetu i cilju<br />istraživanja, bavi se teorijskim postavkama koje se ticu<br />pozajmljenica u leksikolo&scaron;koj i leksikografskoj literaturi.<br />U narednom segmentu rada obja&scaron;njava se metodologija<br />primijenjena u radu, te se opisuju izvori za ekscerpciju<br />leksike. Zatim slijedi analiticki dio u kome se analizira<br />ekscerpirana leksika na fonolo&scaron;kom, morfolo&scaron;kom,<br />tvorbenom, leksikolo&scaron;kom, semantickom i pravopisnom<br />nivou. Time se pokazuje adaptiranost pozajmljenica na<br />razlicitim jezickim nivoima, i odnos savremene srpske<br />leksikografije prema ovom znacajnom segmentu aktuelne<br />leksike srpskog jezika. Posebni dijelovi rada izdvojeni su<br />za osvrt na problem vi&scaron;eclanih leksema, i zatim za<br />strukturu rjecnika. Razmatranje se zavr&scaron;ava zakljucnim<br />napomenama, u kojima se daje pregled cjelokupnog rada,<br />i skrece se pažnja na otvorena pitanja. Najobimniji dio<br />rada je rjecnik aktuelnih pozajmljenica u srpskom jeziku.<br />U ovom istraživanju se pokazalo da relevantna<br />leksikolo&scaron;ka i leksikografska literatura, kao ni<br />leksikografska praksa ne obuhvataju u dovoljnoj mjeri<br />vrlo slojevit i kompleksan nanos strane leksike u<br />savremenom srpskom jeziku.</p> / <p>The thesis discusses the position of the current<br />loanwords in the Serbian language from the lexicological<br />and lexicographical point of view. The corpus of 1,000<br />loanwords excerpted from the relevant press has been<br />collected for this study. After some basic and introductory<br />comments on the subject and the goal of the research, the<br />first part of the thesis deals with theoretical statements<br />concerning loanwords in lexicological and<br />lexicographical literature. The following segment of the<br />study explains the methodology applied in practice and<br />describes the sources of the excerpted lexis. The next is<br />the analytical part where the excerpted lexis is analysed<br />on the levels of phonology, morphology, word formation,<br />lexicology, semantics and ortography. It is used to show<br />the adaptibility of loanwords to different linguistic levels<br />and approach of the contemporary Serbian lexicography<br />towards this significant segment of the current lexis in the<br />Serbian language. Some specific parts of the thesis have<br />been selected as the review of the issue of composite<br />lexemes, as well as the structure of the lexicon. The study<br />is ended with the concluding notes where the overview of<br />the complete thesis is given and the attention is drawn to<br />the open questions. The most extensive part is the lexicon<br />of the current loanwords in the Serbian language. This<br />research has shown that relevant lexicological and<br />lexicographical practice do not adequately comprise quite<br />layered and complex accumulation of foreign lexis in the<br />contemporary Serbian language.</p>

(in English): The topic of the present thesis is the lexical aspects of Cuban Spanish, primarily the influence of other languages on its vocabulary. The theoretical part is dedicated to the historical and cultural circumstances of the history of the Cuban variant of Spanish, it briefly outlines the evolution of the Cuban lexicography and, most importantly, it pays attention to the impact of other languages: Spanish of the conquerors, Indian languages, African languages, French, English, Chinese and Russian on Cuban lexis. In addition, a short part of the thesis is dedicated to the sociolinguistic situation in Cuba. The theoretical background serves as the basis for the practical part of the thesis, in which the occurrence of selected lexical items in the linguistics corpora CREA, CORPES XXI and Araneum Hispanicum Maius is examined.

Le tragique et la tragédie ont souvent été considérés, à la suite de la condamnation platonicienne, comme l’expression de l’émotion et de l’irrationnel. Le concept de rationalité tragique vise à approcher le tragique comme une forme de pensée pleinement rationnelle, quoique relevant d’une autre raison que la raison philosophique. Elle englobe des conceptions « littéraires », éthiques, politiques, théologiques voire ontologiques diverses mais relevant d’un même cadre de pensée, moins englobant que la mentalité et moins rigide que la doctrine, auquel se rapportent différents penseurs. L’enquête s’oriente à travers la critique de la tragédie et du tragique par Platon pour tenter de déterminer les caractères essentiels de cette forme de pensée à partir de l’opposition de Platon. Trois principes caractéristiques se dégagent : la Guerre, le Flux, et le Multiple. Dès lors la carte des présocratiques peut être redessinée. Non seulement on identifie une nouvelle tradition, celle de la pensée tragique, dont Héraclite est un représentant majeur, mais dont on trouve des traits aussi chez Empédocle ou Protagoras, mais cette tradition ne se limite pas aux penseurs qu’on classe comme philosophes. En plus des poètes tragiques, on peut y faire figurer un écrivain comme Thucydide. L’étude détaillée de la rationalité tragique dans son œuvre nous permet à la fois d’identifier comme des produits tragiques ses grandes réalisations que constituent sa forme littéraire originale, sa conception de la nature humaine et son réalisme politique, mais aussi de vérifier sur un exemple non tributaire de Platon la pertinence des concepts qui définissent le tragique comme rationalité / Tragic and tragedy has often been regarded, as a result of Plato's condemnation, as being the expression of emotion and irrationality. The concept of tragic rationality aims to approach tragic as a fully rational form of thought, although belonging to another type of reason than the philosophical one. It includes various «literary», ethical, political, theological or even ontological conceptions belonging to the same frame of thought that many thinkers relate to, less encompassing than mentality and less inflexible than doctrine.The inquiry makes its way through Plato's criticism of tragic and tragedy in order to determine this form of thought's essential characteristics, drawing from Plato's opposition. Three characteristic principles emerge : the War, the Flow, the Multiple.From then on, a new presocratic map can be drawn. Not only do we identify a new tradition, that of tragic thought, of which Heraclitus is a major representative and which is featured in Empedocles and Protagoras' works, but we discover that this tradition spreads beyond the group of thinkers classified as philosophers. Besides tragic poets, we can also include a writer like Thucydides. A detailled study of tragic rationality in his work enables us both to identify as tragic products the great achievements that are his original literary form, his conception of human nature and his political realism, and to verify the relevance of the concepts defining tragic as a form of rationality, using an example independant from Plato

The present study is one of the first attempts undertaken to study English and Vietnamese news discourse on a contrastive basis. More specifically, it investigates the structure, the lexical and syntactic features of English and Vietnamese political news discourse. It is hoped that the results of the study may help the Vietnamese teacher and student to make better use of newspapers in the process of English language teaching and learning. In addition, it is hoped that the study may benefit the journalist, to some extent, because it is generally assumed that if the knowledge of news discourse structure, the linguistic features and the factors involved are professionally known and shared, this will facilitate news discourse production and comprehension. The study reveals two different strategies used by English and Vietnamese political news writers. English news writers predominantly employ the IP structure pattern whereas Vietnamese news writers employ BTN (Background-to-News). Lexically, English newspapers use more lively, vigorous language, metaphors, puns and hyperbole. In contrast, the occurrence of serious, formal language is a very pronounced feature of Vietnamese newspapers. This is the area where Vietnamese students of English often have difficulty, as is indicated by the survey. The greatest syntactic difference is sentence order, namely, English news stories often use S + V + (O) + (A) while their Vietnamese counterparts use A + S + V + (O) +. The other difference is that English news paragraphs are mostly single sentence paragraphs as disctinct from their multi-sentence Vietnamese ones. Chapter One is an introduction explaining the rationale, the methods, and the data for analysis, of the present study. Chapter Two is concerned with the theoretical background to the study. It deals with such concepts as cohesion, coherence, structure, relevance, text and discourse. Chapter Three provides a contrastive overview of English and Vietnamese newspapers, essentially in terms of ownership and the approach to news. Chapter Four examines the different structure patterns used by English and Vietnamese reporters and journalists. Chapter Five and Six study the different lexical and syntactic features of English and Vietnamese political news discourse, respectively. In chapter Seven, a comparison of English and Vietnamese political news discourse is given, which is based on the analyses presented in chapters Four, Five and Six. In addition, it presents the results of a survey of comprehension difficulty encountered by Vietnamese students studying English now at the University of Canberra, and looks at some discourse strategies involved in news discourse production and comprehension. The last chapter offers some implications for TEFL in Vietnam, which are based on the author's own experience and results of a survey. The author hopes that these implications may be of some help to the practising teacher as well as the student.

This study aims to discuss equivalence and non-equivalence in some selected areas of English and Chinese lexis and their impact upon teaching, learning and translating. Attempts have been made to state the causes of lexical equivalence and non-equivalence and raise and solve some difficulties and problems arising particularly from nonequivalent lexemes between English and Chinese. As a subdiscipline of linguistics, contrastive linguistics is concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine the differences and similarities between them. Based on a practical aim this study tries to provide a model for the comparison and determine how and which lexemes are comparable so as to explore the notion of equivalence and non-equivalence. It is hoped to provide as much information as is possible in a limited study of this kind on lexical comparison between the two languages. It compares differences with examples, analyses some of the problems arising from the errors made by the Chinese students, and analyses their causes in the areas of noun, verb, preposition, compound lexemes, reduplicative words and phrases, negation, polysemy, idiomatic expressions and lexemes derived directly from the cultural background. Finally some suggestions and considerations are made for those who might have responsibility for designing courses to train interpreters, translators or teachers.