ANTIKINIŲ VARDŲ LIETUVINIMAS:TARP TRADICIJOS IR NAUJOVIŲ

Author(s): Audronė Kučinskienė,Audorne Kairienė,Dalia Staškevičienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 3/2015

The problem of Lithuanization of Ancient names was and still is relevant and not fully resolved. It is manifested by varied spelling of names as well as by ongoing discussions and considerations of this matter in the media. Translated books are often subject to criticism: the translators and editors do not have the competences necessary to understand the patterns of ancient languages so that they could Lithuanize the names properly themselves, nor have they a unified reference. Development of the Digital Database of Ancient Names may be a solution to the problem. The tradition of spelling Latin and Greek ancient names is not stable or prevalent in Lithuanian writings. It is obvious from various cases of use in Lithuanian writings, collected in the Digital Database of Ancient Names.In fact, there are no grounds for speaking about traditions of Lithuanization, because such tradition was not formed or established. This is particularly true for transcription of proper names of Greek origin. We can only note certain tendencies and influences of other languages in different periods.

Application of New Information and Computer Technologies in the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Author(s): Irena Miculevičienė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

The paper describes the up-to-date methods of teaching or learning foreign languages, which are conditioned by the integration of information technologies in the teaching process. Internet gives a perfect opportunity to enliven the lectures of foreign languages, to improve their quality and effectiveness. The main advantage of internet is its authentic material in an authentic context. The examples of such authentic material can be Web 2.0 (website of second generation), Wiki, blogs and podcasts. The second advantage of internet is that it helps the learners to cooperate together. The teachers can lead the learners more effectively, consult each learner individually. It diversifies the teaching process, encourages the activity of students, who have learning difficulties.

APPROCCI COMPUTERIZZATI PER L’INSEGNAMENTO DELLA TRADUZIONE DI LINGUAGGI SPECIALISTICI

Author(s): Neva Čebron,Jadranka Cergol / Language(s): Serbian,Italian Issue: 30/2020

L’articolo propone la discussione di un corso sperimentale e innovativo per gli studenti di secondo livello in italianistica insegnando nuovi approcci alla traduzione di testi specialistici. Prendendo in considerazione i principi, i processi e gli approcci proposti da numerosi linguisti (ad es. Wills; Hause; Erdman et al.), il corso ha inizialmente introdotto gli studenti all’analisi testuale prima della traduzione proseguendo con l’esplorazione delle possibilità offerte dalle nuove tecnologie come l’utilizzo dei corpora e degli strumenti di traduzione assistita (CAT), proposti da un certo numero di linguisti dei corpora (ad es. Laviosa; Gavioli; Boulton; Zanettin e Fantinuoli). Gli studenti sono stati introdotti all’uso degli strumenti CAT con il compito di tradurre un documento ufficiale dallo sloveno all’italiano e sono stati in seguito guidati attraverso tutte le fasi di preparazione ed esecuzione della traduzione. I partecipanti dovevano infatti inizialmente analizzare il testo in considerazione sull’acquisizione dei titoli accademici, dopodiché sono state presentate le varie opzioni fornite da dispositivi IT come dizionari online, glossari, database terminologici e corpora linguistici che possono aiutare a esplorare le principali risorse lessicali e problemi di collocazione. Al fine di raffinare ulteriormente le scelte lessicali ed esaminare la principale terminologia specialistica, sono stati introdotti i principi di compilazione di corpora comparativi su piccola scala insieme agli strumenti software per l’esplorazione dei corpora di tale dimensione. I risultati di tale ricerca scientifica sono stati confrontati con le soluzioni di traduzione proposte dai dispositivi di traduzione automatica, nonché con le traduzioni proposte da traduttori professionisti e madrelingua italiani. Le conclusioni tratte dal corso sperimentale hanno implicazioni per le pratiche di insegnamento e soluzioni di traduzione.

Aproksimacija verovatnoća i optimalna veličina jezičkog uzorka

Author(s): Aleksandar Kostić,Svetlana Ilić,Petar Milin / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2008

Reliable language corpus implies a text sample of size n that provides stable probability distributions of linguistic phenomena. The question is what is the minimal (i.e. the optimal) text size at which probabilities of linguistic phenomena become stable. Specifically, we were interested in probabilities of grammatical forms. We started with an a priori assumption that text size of 1.000.000 words is sufficient to provide stable probability distributions. Text of this size we treated as a "quasi-population". Probability distribution derived from the "quasi-population" was then correlated with probability distribution obtained on a minimal sample size (32 items) for a given linguistic category (e.g. nouns). Correlation coefficient was treated as a measure of similarity between the two probability distributions. The minimal sample was increased by geometrical progression, up to the size where correlation between distribution derived from the quasi-population and the one derived from an increased sample reached its maximum (r=1). Optimal sample size was established for grammatical forms of nouns, adjectives and verbs. General formalism is proposed that allows estimate of an optimal sample size from minimal sample (i.e. 32 items).

Are online forums a useful resource for the study of health needs and related information behaviour? Linguistic analysis of two online forums for people with mental disorders

Author(s): Barbara Niedźwiedzka,Paloma Korycińska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

Knowledge of people’s health information needs and information behaviour can be used in planning health interventions in a way that they would meet people’s needs as accurately as possible and reflect how health information is acquired and processed. Aim. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to analyze the usefulness of online forums as a source of scientific knowledge about people’s health needs and information behaviour, which could then be actively used in the area of public health. Method. The content, a total of 1,575 entries, derived from two open forums devoted to depression in the years 2012–2015 was analysed using a set of mixed methods, including: a formal (quantitative) analysis of the material using the tools of computational linguistics (QDAMiner Simsat), inductive theme analysis EMIC, in the so-called hard variety, reinforced by elements of Awdiejew’s conversational grammar, and comparative method. Results. Both health information needs and behaviour can be identified on Internet forums dedicated to health problems. Linguistic analysis of online forums can give very interesting results and clues that cannot be obtained using questionnaires or personal interviews. It seems, however, that it should never be the only method used in investigating this matter. Since there are several intervening factors that may distort reliability of findings, determining whether we are dealing with real or created needs or behaviour requires confirming the results of the linguistic analysis of the forums using other methods.

Arvutiparalingvistika väljakutsed ja eesti hääle meeldivus

Author(s): Hille Pajupuu,Jaan Pajupuu,Rene Altrov / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 68/2017

This article looks into tendencies of the last decade in computational paralinguistics: ascertaining of speaker traits and states in voice, and the requirements set for the related speech corpora. It introduces the Estonian voice corpus and the ability to acoustically characterize voice likability and identify it automatically, using the expanded Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (eGeMAPS) for voice research and affective computing.

Attitudes of Bulgarian Language Teachers to Digital Competence

Author(s): Tatyana Angelova / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2019

Significance of the research problem: In their communication outside school, students often come across multimodal texts in forums, sites, blogs or texts integrating visual, sound, and animation components. The ever-increasing interest in communication, not only through language but also through multimodal texts, raises the question about studying the second type of texts in first language teaching and about their influence on the first key competence under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In order to find an answer we seek the productive link between multimodal texts and digital competence. For this purpose we examine the attitudes of Bulgarian language teachers from secondary school to digital competence and its relation to Bulgarian language education. Theoretical Ideas: They are based on the Framework for Developing and Understanding Digital Competence in Europe.Research question: What is the attitude of Bulgarian language specialists to the digital literacy of secondary school students?Participants in the Survey: Bulgarian language teachers, linguists, BA, MA and PhD students, teaching Bulgarian language trainers.Procedures: We make an expert assessment of criteria and indicators for digital literacy through Google forms assigning values ​​related to Bulgarian language teaching by the following scale: very important (2), important (1), minor (0) ), insignificant (-1).Working hypothesis: There exist criteria and indicators for digital literacy in direct relation with Bulgarian language teaching and the first key competence that can be explicitly explained. Zero hypothesis - there are no criteria and indicators for digital literacy in direct relation with Bulgarian language teaching.

Automatic Identification of Domain Terms: An Approach for Italian

Author(s): Maria Teresa Artese,Isabella Gagliardi / Language(s): English Issue: X/2020

The problem of creating a fully automated specific-domain thesaurus is very topical. The paper presents a novel method to address this problem in the Italian language. The main feature of this approach is the integration of different methods: machine learning classification methods working on the semantic representation of candidate terms, word embed-dings models, able to capture the semantics of words, and a computation of the degree of specialization of a term. The work is in progress and results obtained so far are promising.

Automatinis švietimo ir mokslo terminų nustatymas lingvistiniais metodais

Author(s): Erika Rimkutė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 19/2012

The paper deals with possibilities and problems of automatic Lithuanian term extraction. Specifically, linguistic methods are discussed in the domain of Education and Science. Other researchers have shown that it is almost impossible to have language-independent term extraction tools; this is especially true for tools which are based on linguistic rules. Therefore a linguistic term extraction tool should incorporate methods that would deal with a language’s grammatical system. This paper presents a tool developed at the Centre of Computational Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University that employs linguistic rules for extracting domain-specific terminology. In order to extract domain-specific terms automatically, some preparatory work should be completed: compilation of domain-specific corpus (a corpus of four million words has been compiled for this research), morphological annotation of the corpus, formulation of appropriate linguistic rules, and creation of methodology for filtering out irrelevant word combinations. The paper presents the linguistic rules that have been used for the extraction of Education and Science terms and the results of the extraction procedure. The identified terms are contrasted with approved terms in the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania.

Automatizuotas arbitraliųjų kolokacijų atpažinimas: būdvardžių ir daiktavardžių kolokacijos

Author(s): Jolanta Kovalevskaitė,Erika Rimkutė,Jurgita Vaičenonienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 39/2021

This article focuses on arbitrary collocations – a particular type of collocations which are characterized by unmotivated relations between the constituents (differently from trivial or motivated collocations as, for example, a beautiful day, new research). Typically, arbitrary collocations have a certain degree of lexical restrictedness, i.e., although there may be several close synonyms, a particular one is preferred in a certain word combination, for example, broad/wide outlook vs. big outlook; strong health vs. powerful health. As a result of the analysis of 5000 adjective-noun collocations retrieved from the “Database of Lithuanian Multiword Expressions”, approximately 650 arbitrary collocations were identified using the synonym substitution test: if the adjectival component of the collocation (adjective or participle) could not be replaced by a close synonym, the collocation was considered arbitrary. The methods of computational linguistics, or Word Embedding Approach in particular, were used to automatically retrieve close synonyms of adjectives in adjective-noun collocations. Nouns and participles were automatically grouped into approximately 800 vector strings. The article describes in detail the steps in data processing and analysis as well as arbitrary collocation identification criteria and methods by using the Global Vector (GloVe) model.

Automatska ekstrakcija ključnih riječi iz teksta standardnim računalnim postupcima

Author(s): Slobodan Beliga / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2020

Automatic keyword extraction takes a great interest as a research issue in the field of natural language processing and information retrieval. Although numerous methods for keyword extraction task have been developed, their effectiveness depends on many factors such as the approach used in method development, the domain to which they are adapted, the type of language or tasks for which they are constructed, etc., and still, there is a room for progress and improvements. In this paper, two existing methods are explained and reconstructed - RAKE and MAUI, which are the standard representatives of the unsupervised and supervised group of keyword extraction methods. It was experimentally tested whether the methods could successfully extract keywords from texts written in Italian, which had not been tested so far. For the experimental purposes, Italian texts were collected and annotated with keywords. The effectiveness of the MAUI method proved to be more promising than the RAKE method, which was confirmed earlier in the keyword extraction experiment from texts written in English.

Avalduste tekstistrateegiad

Author(s): Riina Reinsalu / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 62/2016

Professional and administrative communication requires the creation of different types of texts. While some of them merely serve the purpose of preserving information, others are intended to influence people’s actions. In this article, I will explore applications as a textual genre based on 19 applications presented to Sauga Municipality. My goal is to find out what kind of generic structure these applications have and by what linguistic means the applicants aim to direct the actions of those who receive them. Since the applicants are citizens and the receiver is a state authority, the analysis of textual strategies also sheds light on practices between citizens and local authorities as well as on possible power relations between them. The structural analysis of the applications reveals that they have a somewhat rigid generic structure stemming from the tradition of the genre, the particular communicative situation, and the relations between the applicants and the receiver. Applications, in general, are based on two obligatory moves (presenting background information and naming the desired action) and an optional move (expressing one’s point of view). In addition, in presenting the background information, we can distinguish between three steps: one can elaborate when and where the problem occurred, how the applicant is related to the problem, and what in fact is the problem. While the general structure of the analyzed applications is fairly standardized, some differences can be detected in the particular order of moves and steps. The choices of strategies in applications appear in certain textual patterns. The content of an application is usually either a request or wish and expressed as I request, I wish, and wish. In some rare cases, citizens also use propositions or orders in communicating with their local government. Since the application is in the applicant’s own best interest, a direct obligating or coercive approach is usually found inappropriate. The citizen’s demand or order would come across as harsh and as violating the traditions of the genre, and in doing so would create unnecessary opposition from state authorities and thereby undermine the communicative purpose of the application: influencing the receiver to perform the act desired by the applicant.

Bare Quantifier Fronting as Contrastive Topicalization

Author(s): Ion Giurgea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

I argue that indefinite (in particular bare quantifiers such as ‘something’, ‘somebody’, etc.) which are neither existentially presupposed nor in the restriction of a quantifier over situations, can undergo topicalization in a number of Romance languages (Catalan, Italian, Romanian, Spanish), but only if the sentence contains “verum” focus, i.e. focus on a high degree of certainty of the sentence. I analyze these indefinite as contrastive topics, using Büring’s (1999) theory (where the term ‘S-topic’ is used for what I call ‘contrastive topic’). I propose that the topic is evaluated in relation to a scalar set including generalized quantifiers such as {P x P(x), P MANYx P(x), P MOSTx P(x), P xP(x)} or {P xP(x), P P(a), P P(b) ...}, and that the contrastive topic is the weakest generalized quantifier in this set. The verum focus, which is part of the “comment” that co-occurs with the “Topic”, introduces a set of alternatives including degrees of certainty of the assertion. The speaker asserts that his claim is certainly true or highly probable, contrasting it with stronger claims for which the degree of probability is unknown. This explains the observation that in downward entailing contexts, the fronted quantified DPs are headed by ‘all’ or ‘many’, whereas ‘some’, small numbers or ‘at least n’ appear in upward entailing contexts. Unlike other cases of non-specific topics, which are property topics, these are quantifier topics: the topic part is a generalized quantifier, the comment is a property of generalized quantifiers. This explains the narrow scope of the fronted quantified DP.

Bērtin bēru valodiņu: par kādu latviešu valodas verbālu konstrukciju korpuslingvistikas skatījumā

Author(s): Michal Škrabal,Aiga Veckalne / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 10/2019

In our paper we describe a specific, Latvian two-word construction consisting of a verb preceded by an adverb derived from the same verb by the suffix -in-/-tin- (e.g. bērtin bērt). We are interested in how a given language element, apparently archaic and typical of Latvian folk songs (dainas), is used in today’s language. Some research questions are articulated, including one that goes beyond the specific realm of the Latvian language (how can these constructions be translated into other languages?). We search for the construction in the available Latvian corpora (LVK2018, lvTenTen14, InterCorp lv v11, Rainis and SENIE) and compare the resulting occurrences with a description in the current Latvian linguistic sources: both grammars and dictionaries. Deviations from the norm are treated descriptively in this article, as the speakers’ aim is to achieve a communication goal rather than their mistakes, as well as the creative development of this construction up to the present. The article is supplemented with an appendix: alphabetic lists of analysed lemmas along with their frequency.

Beyond lexical and semantic resources: Linking WordNet with FrameNet and enhancing synsets with conceptual frames

Author(s): Svetlozara Leseva,Ivelina Stoyanova / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper sums up the research and findings made towards the linking of two large lexical semantic resources – WordNet and FrameNet (their verb inventory in particular) – by combining the rich conceptual description provided in FrameNet with the vast lexical coverage and structured relational representation in WordNet. The underlying idea is not just to map the two resources to the extent that their overlap allows, but to expand the mapping in such a way as to assign a FrameNet frame to as many synsets as possible, going far beyond the lexical correspondence in the two resources. We suggest that as a first approximation this mapping be implemented by using the relation of inheritance from a hypernym to a hyponym in WordNet to transfer the frame assigned to the parent synset from the parent to the child synset (inheritance­ based mapping), and then refine the obtained mapping through a number of procedures. The paper is divided in two large parts. In the first part we explore the relation of inheritance and other semantic relations as represented in WordNet and FrameNet and how they correspond to each other when the resources are aligned from a theoretical perspective. In addition, we provide a discussion of the implications of these observations with respect to the enhancement of the two resources through the definition of new relations and the detailisation of conceptual frames. The second part of the paper outlines the procedures defined for the validation of the consistency of the inheritance-based mapping of frames and the extension of its coverage which exploit the lexical information in WordNet (synset literals, synset glosses, etc.) and FrameNet (language units and their definitions, the names of the frames, etc.), the structure of the two resources and the systematic relations between synsets in WordNet and between frames in FrameNet. We present a case study on causativity, a relation which provides enhancement complementary to the one using hierarchical relations, by means of linking in a systematic way large parts of the lexicon. We show how consistency checks and denser relations may be implemented on the basis of this relation. In addition, we propose new frames based on causative–inchoative correspondences and in conclusion touch on the possibilities for defining new frames based on the types of specialisation that take place from parent to child synset.

Bilingual dictionaries on Hippolytus’ De Christo et Antichristo – problems, approaches and solutions

Author(s): Ivan I. Iliev / Language(s): English Issue: 21/2021

The text transmission of the Slavonic translation of Hippolytus’ De Christo et Antichristo presents a stable and well-testified tradition. It gives a base for possible reconstruction of the Greek original from which this translation was made. The article demonstrates some omissions, additions, and reconstructions on the Greek text compared to the Slavonic one. Also, the paper addresses significant problems that occur in the scholars’ work on bilingual dictionaries discussing possible approaches and solutions. Still, some questions remain, and it is not easy to suggest a definite answer to them. The author underlines the importance of the fragmentary copy of the Greek text, presented in the manuscript of Meteora 573, bearing in mind its significant correspondence to the Slavonic tradition. Unfortunately, this manuscript preserves only trifling fragments of the whole work by Hippolytus of Rome.

Book review

Ritchie, Graeme (2018). Comprehension of Jokes: A Cognitive Science Framework. London and New York: Routledge.

Author(s): Anastasiya Astapova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Book review

Book review

Chen, Li Chi Lee (2017). Taiwanese and Polish Humour: A Socio Pragmatic Analysis . Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars

Author(s): Konrad MAGDZIARZ / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Booking.com: A Comparative Study From A Website Localization Perspective

Author(s): Cristian Lako / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2014

The paper analyzes the level of localization of two booking.com hotel pages. The study focuses on applying website localization theories from a theoretical perspective. The languages/cultures considered are American English, British English and Romanian.

Building a LVCSR System for Romanian: Methods and Challenges

Author(s): Paula Georgiana Zălhan / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2016

The aim of this paper is to present a brief survey in the field of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and major advances made in the last decades of research in order to highlight the fundamental progress that has been made so far. After years of development, the accuracy of Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR) systems remains the most important research challenge due to several degrading factors such as variations of the context, speakers, and environment. Various methods adopted by research workers when building Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition systems are presented based on the architectural components of such systems. Challenges existing in LVCSR for Romanian language and various techniques to deal these challenges have been presented in chronological order.