Textuality in Academic Course Descriptions on the Romanian University Websites

Author(s): Ioana-Carmen Pastinaru / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4/2017

This paper aims at illustrating how the writing and communication of course descriptions–texts belonging to the institutional academic language–are controlled, in turn, by the seven standards of textuality. The research carried out on this account intends to revise the definitions of text within the theoretical framework of text linguistics, offer detailed analysis of the textual features of course descriptions which investigate the extent to which they fulfil their intended function, and raise awareness of the functional value of these academic texts so that their providers in Romanian universities take into consideration the key factors of text receiver and text purpose in the writing process. For the explanation of these theoretical concepts text samples extracted from course descriptions available on Romanian university websites have been used. The findings of the research show that course descriptions may achieve their communicative function provided that all the textual standards are met.

De la aspecte generale ale transliterării cu caractere latine a alfabetului grecesc la problematica greeklish

Author(s): Diana Cărburean / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 64/2015

This article aims to investigate the issues raised by the transliteration of the Greek alphabet with Latin characters and to provide a distinction inside the phenomenon known as Greeklish, as generated by the needs occurred in human communication through social media and dictated by technical constraints. If in Ancient times the transliteration of the Greek alphabet was initiated by Romans (from outside) eager to understand Greek Rhetoric and Philosophy, nowadays the attempts to transliterate this alphabet belonged to the native speakers of this language (from inside), who used digital means not provided with these special characters. As technology has developed, these means are now equipped with Greek letters and the use of the Latin characters is no longer recommended and also blamed by the language purists.

ŚREDNIK W POLSKICH TEKSTACH PRASOWYCH W OSTATNICH 120 LATACH

Author(s): Edward Łuczyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 06/2022

The semicolon was introduced to the system of punctuation marks in the late 15th-century Italy. It has been used in written Polish since the 17th century. The mark was common until the end of the 19th century, but is very rarely used at present. This paper traces the history of the semicolon based on Polish press publications from the end of the 19th century until 2021. The analysis shows that the title mark began to lose its significance in the first half of the 20th century and its frequency has been gradually decreasing since then. At the same time, an increased frequency of using the dash has been noticeable.

Die Entwicklung der linguistischen Terminologie zwischen Standardisierung und Variation am Beispiel des digitalen historischen Wörterbuchs der grammatischen Termini

Author(s): Anna Just / Language(s): German Issue: 9/2020

The aim of this paper is to present the online dictionary “Słownik historyczny terminów gramatycznych” that is currently being compiled by scholars from the University of Warsaw as well as to describe the research opportunities given by this dictionary. The source material for this dictionary consists of orthography books, grammar books and textbooks for learning Polish written in Polish and in other languages between the 1400s and the 1900s. Thanks to such a long time span considered not only can one observe a more than 500-year tradition of grammar writing but also the historical development of grammar terminology in the national languages. This paper describes this process on the example of the terms ortografia (orthography), etymologia (etymology), syntaxis (syntax), prozodia (prosody), frazeologia (phraseology).

Grammatikalisierung als Glied in der Kette der Sprachwandelprozesse anhand von ausgewählten Beispielen aus der ostdeutschen „Apostelgeschichte“ aus dem 14. Jahrhundert

Author(s): Piotr A. Owsiński / Language(s): German Issue: 9/2020

The article hereunder presents the language analysis of the “Acts of the Apostles” from 14th century published by Walther Ziesemer in 1927. The text of an unknown scribe was written in Early New High German in the Silesian dialect. The aim of the paper is to analyze the grammaticalization’s grade of chosen morphological and syntactic language features. In the investigation there is scrutinized the using of the mandatory subject pronouns and of the articles, which can be seen as a result of the weakening of vowel articulation and the subsequent development of the vowels in the unstressed syllables. The third part of the paper concerns the forming of the German future tense (Futur I) and its absolute presence in the analyzed text from the middle of the 14th century without other forms with the modal or motion verbs. The author introduces the results of his analysis showing the stage of the development of the chosen morphological and syntactic phenomena with the appropriate examples.

Zum Gebrauch der Modalverben „sollte“ im fachinternen medizinischen Diskurs

Author(s): Bogusława Rolek / Language(s): German Issue: 8/2019

Modal verbs are characterised by functional flexibility. They are language phenomena that have been in the centre of linguistic attention for years. Yet research on the use of modal verbs in specialised discourse is scarce. The present paper provides the results of the analysis which was devoted to the use of the forms „sollte“ in medical specialised discourse.

Kurztexte im öffentlichen Raum in Frankreich – Diskurse zu Sauberkeit, Sicherheit und zur (kulturellen) Partizipation

Author(s): Nadine Rentel / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2022

Short texts, either of formal or of informal nature concerning the text producers, are ubiquitous in the public sphere. Concerning the text functions as well as the form of the texts, researchers are confronted with a large variety of illocutionary goals and formal strategies. The description of written and, often, multimodal texts in the public sphere is anchored in the discipline of Linguistic Landscapes. In oder to investigate the principles of the discourse realized by short texts in the public sphere, the present article analyzes official, multimodal short texts that have been published in fall 2019 in public transport, near train stations and in universities in Paris, France. The analysis of the texts who can be mainly considered as part of a discourse of cleanliness focusses on the interconnection of different semiotic ressources and on the specific communicative functions of the texts. After the conceptual definition of the study’s underlying concepts of “public space” and “dispositives” as well as a closer look at the specific reception conditions of short texts in the public space follows the discussion of characteristics of short texts with regard to the corpus. Afterwards, we will present selected examples and discuss their formal design as well as their communicative functions. The analysis shows a wide range in terms of the functional orientation of the short texts examined. It becomes clear that different illocutions are realized in the public space; the corpus contains calls to action, prohibitions and offers for orientation, but also texts aiming at motivation the addressees to participate actively on the cultural level or for generating cognitive pleasure during the process of decoding through cultural references and/or puns. The degree of interaction with the potential recipients also varies. The corpus analysis shows that the combination of the semiotic resources in the conception of the overall message in the documents can be designed in completely different ways. As a consequence, we observe a different degree of multimodal linking on a formal and functional level as well as variances in the connection patterns. All examples make clear that an adequate decoding of the short texts would not be possible without considering the integration of the texts in a specific local context, containing as well objects in the vicinity of the texts.

Deprecatory Ethnonyms: The Case of Bozgor

Author(s): Imola Katalin Nagy / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2023

In this study, we wish to debate upon some aspects regarding the lexical and semantic implications of ethnonyms. We aim to analyse the origin and semantics of one of two lexemes used by Romanians to refer to Hungarians: bozgor. Besides a meta-analysis of the term (its emergence, meaning), we also refer to archaic usages and meanings (buzguroi, bozga, bozga, bâzga, etc.). We discard previous theories regarding the meaning and origin of the lexeme. Bozgor is a word that is considered an instance of verbal abuse, mockery, or insult, which displays a significant amount of collectively formed, pejorative connotation. Our hypothesis is that it comes from the Hungarian bodza, in its archaic form and meaning (‘border forest’). Bozgor in its earlier versions came to designate, through semantic extension, ‘inhabitant of the border forest’, ‘Hungarian’. The associative meanings which led to the emergence of its present pejorative status (as an ethnic slur) appeared later. The roots we analyse in the article all share a common denominator of meaning and all have led to a large number of words related to the semantic field of forest both in Romanian and in Hungarian.

The Lexicon of the Hungarian Culture in Transylvania

Author(s): Borbála Zsemlyei / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2023

CONTRIBUTOS PARA A DESCRIÇÃO E TRADUÇÃO DO MARCADOR AINDA POR CIMA NO PORTUGUÊS EUROPEU CONTEMPORÂNEO

Author(s): Conceição Carapinha,Cornelia Plag,Sara Sousa / Language(s): Portuguese Issue: 4/2023

Contributions for the description and translation of the discourse marker ainda por cima in contemporary European Portuguese. Based on a cognitive-functional framework, this paper analyses the different uses of the discourse marker ainda por cima in contemporary European Portuguese and, in a second step, its translation into Spanish, French, English, and German. This analysis is based on data collected in two corpora, CETEMPúblico, which allowed the identification of the functions of the marker in European Portuguese, and Europarl, for the listing of its translations. The research carried out in the source language reveals that the marker has an elaborative value, and more specifically an additive value, always associated with an element of unexpectedness, prefacing a new argument that reinforces the conclusion to be reached, which may (or may not) be the strongest argument in an argumentative scale. The contrastive analysis, in turn, shows the great variety of translational solutions adopted and a value not mentioned in any of the monolingual analyses: the counter-argumentative. The text concludes that (i) the different meanings of the marker in Portuguese are quite close and present themselves in a continuum, linked by family resemblances; (ii) there are important challenges in translating DM; (iii) the analysis of translations may require a reinterpretation of the DM in the source text.

PTG. ENTÃO E ROM. ATUNCI: CONTRIBUTO PARA UMA ANÁLISE CONTRASTIVA

Author(s): Adriana Ciama / Language(s): Portuguese Issue: 4/2023

Ptg. então and Rom. atunci: contribution to a contrastive analysis. Our study aims to present a comparative analysis of the discourse markers Ptg. então and Rom. atunci, based on a literary corpus constituted by the novel Blindness by José Saramago and its translation into Romanian. We discuss the values that the two discourse markers have developed over time, from temporal values to argumentative, pragmatic and discursive ones. The comparative analysis highlights convergences and divergences of the two discourse markers, especially in terms of temporal values (more frequent in Romanian) and pragmatic ones (more developed in Portuguese). In fact, translating discourse markers – which are characterized by polysemy, polyfunctionality, ambiguity and context dependence – is a real challenge for any translator.

O PRINCÍPIO DA MARCAÇÃO NOS MARCADORES DISCURSIVOS DE BASE VERBAL VIU? E ENTENDEU? DO PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO

Author(s): Sérgio Duarte Julião Da Silva / Language(s): Portuguese Issue: 4/2023

The markedness principle in Brazilian Portuguese verb-based discourse markers viu? and entendeu?. A productive, vigorous debate on grammar issues took place as the new millennium approached. A significant amount of work was published in that field as we witnessed a grammatical boom between 1991 and 2014 in Brazil (Faraco and Vieira 2016). Along with a resulting new range of descriptive perspectives and propositions, the debate over discourse markers (DMs) relevance has increased sharply among language curriculum professionals. Although they have played an important role in functionalist grammars where interaction is a key component, DMs are still regarded as a peripheral category in natural language normative grammars. Also, DMs are typically associated with language users’ social status. Based on cognitive-functionalist grammar studies, my research has placed DMs on the common ground between a functionalist framework (by investigating the relationship between form and content) and cognitive linguistics theory (categorization, prototypicality, conceptual metaphors). This paper explores some of my research findings on the markedness principle as applied to Brazilian Portuguese DMs viu? and entendeu? in the light of cognitive-functionalist theories. Some contrast between these DMs and their English equivalent is also explored. In doing so, I hope to bring forward new resources to explore verb-based DMs in teaching Portuguese to speakers of other languages.

O CLARO É CERTO? OS MARCADORES DISCURSIVOS CLARO (PT) E CERTO (ITA): ESTUDO CONTRASTIVO

Author(s): Ana Paula Loureiro,Silvia Brambilla / Language(s): Portuguese Issue: 4/2023

O claro é certo? Discourse markers claro (PT) and certo (ITA): a contrastive study. The present study aims to compare the dialogical uses of two discourse markers (DM), namely the European Portuguese claro and the Italian certo, by analysing the data extracted from two corpora of spoken language (the Corpus de Referência do Português Contemporâneo and the KIParla corpus). Both claro and certo are part of the group of conversational markers of epistemic modality, which includes a vast set of linguistic expressions revolving around the semantics of "right", "clear", and "obvious". This study shows that in European Portuguese, claro is the most frequent and polysemic DM (the “pivot form”), playing different functions in the construction of interpersonal cooperation and negotiation of meaning: in dialogical contexts, claro can mark cooperative attention, emphatic response, or agreement. To mark such functions, claro can occur within different syntactic and functional patterns, such as repetitions and co-occurrence with other DMs. In the comparison with Italian, data show that certo functions similarly in a great extent of communicative situations, thus concluding that semantic and functional parallelism can be drawn between the two DMs. However, a noteworthy difference in use relies on the speakers’ choice of DM during their communicative exchanges: in European Portuguese, speakers seem to utter different epistemic DMs in a sequence of dialogical turns to signal the same functions, while it does not appear as natural in Italian. On the contrary, Italian speakers appear to use one epistemic DM at a time. This difference, although subtle, may constitute a critical area for translation.

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY OF DISCOURSE MARKER PORTANTO IN BRAGA’S SPEECH

Author(s): Maria Aldina Marques,Micaela Aguiar / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2023

Multifunctionality of discourse marker portanto in Braga’s Speech. This paper explores the multifunctionality and usage patterns of the discourse marker portanto in Braga’s speech. Our main goal is to propose a revised description of portanto, while acknowledging the validity of previous research on the topic. The investigation focused on the co-occurrence of functions associated with portanto, emphasizing its pivotal role in speech construction. The frequency distribution of portanto usage was found to be consistent with earlier studies, affirming its most prevalent application as a filler (marker). Our study also highlighted that an excessive use of discourse markers can create the illusion of coherence, rather than genuinely ensuring it, especially in contexts characterized by frequent pauses, verbal hesitations, and syntactic interruptions. Furthermore, this research examined the influence of discourse genre on portanto’s usage patterns. Notably, the two predominant uses observed in Braga’s speech were linked to specific aspects of sociolinguistic interviews, particularly the recollection of life stories and features of spontaneous speech. The findings enrich our understanding of this discourse marker's multifaceted role in facilitating coherent communication and its significance in various speech contexts.

POIS: PROPRIETÀ DISCORSIVE E INTERAZIONALI DI UN MARCATORE DISCORSIVO PORTOGHESE TRADOTTO IN ITALIANO

Author(s): Francesco Morleo / Language(s): Italian Issue: 4/2023

Pois: discursive and interactional properties of a Portuguese discourse marker translated into Italian. In this paper we intend to present the study of the Portuguese discursive marker pois to emphasise the various discursive and interactional possibilities. This discursive connector is included by Lopes e Carrilho (2020) among the explanatory discursive markers: the lexical element takes the form of an operator with anaphoric value that proposes the part of discourse that follows it as an explanation of the part of discourse that precedes it. Part of this semantic value is also found in the pois with an interactional function of response. This phenomenon could be explained by considering the process of semantic drift that sees the expansion of the discursive space of use of a lexical element. To present the various areas of use of the discursive marker pois, written and oral language data will be examined. In addition, a contrastive analysis with Italian will be proposed based on the possible translations that this discourse marker can have in this language in order to broaden the contrastive studies between the two Romance languages.

CONSTRUÇÕES MARCADORAS DISCURSIVAS FORMADAS POR OLHAR, NO PORTUGUÊS, E GUARDARE, NO ITALIANO: UMA ANÁLISE CONSTRASTIVO-FUNCIONAL

Author(s): Mariangela Rios de Oliveira / Language(s): Portuguese Issue: 4/2023

Discourse markers formed by olhar in Portuguese and guardare in Italian: a contrastive-functional analysis. Discourse markers (DM) make up a hybrid category and little distinct from the others. As elements outside grammar, these constituents are difficult to delimit and, therefore, difficult to analyze. Based on this consideration, adopting a functionalist theoretical framework combined with the constructional approach to grammar, in the terms of Traugott and Trousdale (2013), Hilpert (2014) and Traugott (2021, 2022), among others, we proceeded to an analysis of a qualitative and contrastive nature of MD formed by the verbs of visual perception (Scheibman 2000) olhar, in Portuguese, and guardare, in Italian, in the detection of their correspondences and distinctions. We assume such MDs as specific pairs of form and meaning in contemporary uses of Portuguese and Italian, as procedural constructions, such as [olha só] and [guarda un po'], respectively. We found that these MDs act in calling attention, in monitoring interaction via manipulation of the virtually idealized attentional space, due to communicative purposes, as defended by Sambrana (2021, 2023), for Portuguese, and Oliveira and Lazzarotto (2022), for Italian. We found that they contribute to this functionality of the MDs researched cognitive processes of general domain, according to Bybee (2010), such as chunking and analogization, and also social cognition, according to Diessel (2017).

EL OPERADOR DISCURSIVO ESO SÍ EN ESPAÑOL Y SUS CORRESPONDENCIAS EN PORTUGUÉS

Author(s): Rogelio Ponce de León,Isabel Margarida Duarte / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 4/2023

The discourse marker eso sí in Spanish and its correspondences in Portuguese. This paper analyzes the correspondences of eso sí in Portuguese. In the first part, the predominant values of this discursive marker in Spanish are studied and its evolution from the 16th century to the present is determined. Then, the most common values as a discourse marker of isso sim are analyzed (the literal correspondence of eso sí) in current Portuguese, also establishing its evolution in the history of Portuguese until its grammaticalization as a discourse marker in the 19th century. In the second part of the paper, a contrastive analysis is carried out between these two discourse markers, establishing the convergences and divergences, according to three parameters: i) the values; ii) the position in the statement; iii) the explicitation of the negation in the sentence before the one in which the discourse marker is integrated. In the final part of the article, the correspondences of eso sí in fourteen Portuguese translations of narrative works in Spanish are presented, and their acceptability is analyzed according to the predominant value of eso sí.

A COMPARATIVE CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE DISCOURSE MARKERS BOM AND BEM AND FRENCH BON AND BIEN

Author(s): Fátima Silva,Fátima Oliveira,Françoise Bacquelaine / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2023

A comparative corpus-based study of European Portuguese discourse markers bom and bem and French bon and bien. According to many authors, Discourse Markers (DM) serve as signals or triggers guiding the process of interpretation (Fraser 2006, Aijmer 2013, Maschler and Schiffrin 2015, among many others), thus having a more procedural than conceptual meaning. This study aims to investigate and specify the structural positions and the semantic-discursive functions of the DMs ‘bem’ and ‘bom’ in European Portuguese and of ‘bon’ and ‘bien’ in French, then to compare these positions and functions. The study relies on two European oral corpora for each language. The methodology is quantitative and qualitative. The analysis focuses primarily on the structural and modal levels, following mainly Oliveira and Silva’s (2020) proposal for the study of ‘bem’ and ‘bom’ and the proposal of Peltier and Ranson (2020) for ‘bon’. Results show that isolated DM ‘bom’ and ‘bem’ are equally frequent in the C-ORAL-ROM and that ‘bem’ is much more frequent than ‘bom’ in the local corpus Fala Bracarense. They also show that ‘bien’ is very rare as an isolated DM in both French corpora, while ‘bon’ is much more frequent than ‘bom’, ‘bem’ and ‘bien’. Regarding structural positions, these DMs occur mainly as turn medial, while structural and modal functions are more differentiated depending on the DM, the corpus and the language. Thus, the study shows that although these European French and Portuguese DMs share the same etymology, they differ in usage.

A STORM IN PANDEMIC TIMES. THE TERMINOLOGICAL SYNTAGM ‘CYTOKINE STORM’ IN THE SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE OF POPULARISATION IN ROMANIAN

Author(s): Andreea-Victoria Grigore / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

A Storm in Pandemic Times. The Terminological Syntagm ‘Cytokine Storm’ in the Scientific Discourse of Popularisation in Romanian. The object of this contribution is the occurrence of the terminological syntagm cytokine storm (Rom. furtună de citokine) in various excerpts of Romanian scientific discourse of popularisation with reference to the Covid-19 pandemic and/or the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The terminological analysis of the syntagm cytokine storm is limited to a selection of four fragments which have appeared in recent Romanian mass-media discourse. In these fragments, both physicians and journalists specialised in medical science have been asked to explain the cytokine storm anti-inflammatory reaction, which seems to have caused the death of many people during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fragments of popularisation discourse have been selected from interviews broadcast at TV stations or from articles posted on medical websites or in health sections in the online press. As a result of the phenomenon known as the scientific vulgarisation, the corresponding discourse is closely linked to the democratisation of knowledge, in which both mass-media and education play an important part. Moreover, the discourse of popularisation takes into account not only the addresser, but also the addressee of a certain message. In order to make the layman addressee correctly decode the scientific (and terminological) notions, the specialist needs to render the specialised message in a more simplified and easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, the paper aims to highlight the different linguistic means which have been used by various addressers to deliver the necessary explanations for the cytokine storm reaction, so that the non-specialised addressees could understand what the syntagm itself exactly denotes.

The Ves′ in historical and linguistic perspective: Documentary evidence and linguistic analysis

Author(s): Nicolas M. Jansens,Soňa Wojnarová,Viktorie Janovská,Martin Janovský / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

This paper addresses the historical Ves′ (Весь), as represented in the Old East Slavic chronicles, with the goal of establishing the relevant linguistic facts pertaining to this people so that they may then serve as a foundation for future etymological and inter¬disciplinary research. We first present the documentary evidence and analyze it for its informational content. This is followed by linguistic comments on the name Весь in the context of the Old East Slavic language system and a discussion of the class of ethnonyms to which it belongs. Here, we consider a recent suggestion (Dzibel′, 2021) that the early Slavic suffix */-j-/ was involved in the formation of such names, but are unable to garner historical linguistic support for it. The traditional view with its own implications for etymological solutions is therefore elaborated and supported by linguistic arguments.