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Clans, spirits, land and food: Kilmeri texts
No full textThis collection of Kilmeri texts provides insight into the language and culture of the Kilmeri people in northern Papua New Guinea. Six narrators tell stories about their clans, their land, and its food supply during the ‘golden age’ as well as today. Life in the bush is never easy, as evil spirits often hinder people's efforts to find food. Readers will be introduced to a variety of genres, including legendary deeds of Kilmeri heroes, old village life, contemporary village life, and other oral traditions. All texts are presented in a parallel text version (Kilmeri-English) and in an interlinearised version. Each text is preceded by an introduction that describes the anthropological background and context of the story
I always migrated by reindeer: Lamunkhin and Bystraja Even narratives about their traditional way of life
No full textEven is an endangered Northern Tungusic language spoken in numerous small settlements by formerly completely nomadic hunters and reindeer herders dispersed over northeastern Siberia, from the Lena-Yana watershed in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka in the east. This geographical spread has led to considerable dialectal fragmentation, with substantial differences between the peripheral dialects, not least due to differential contact influence.
This text collection contains a selection of monological narratives from two geographically distant and linguistically divergent Even dialects: Lamunkhin Even spoken in the village Sebjan-Küöl in the Kobjaj district of Central Yakutia, and Bystraja Even spoken in two villages of the Bystraja district of Central Kamchatka. Of these, the Lamunkhin dialect is still relatively viable, being spoken by some children and adolescents, while Bystraja Even is highly endangered, with no fluent speakers younger than 50 years.
The overall theme of the volume is the traditional Even way of life, namely reindeer herding and hunting and, in Kamchatka, fishing. Reindeer herding has always been a defining way of life of the Evens and other so-called Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the North; this is reflected in their language, culture, and identity. However, it is becoming increasingly endangered, making its documentation important for anthropologists and community members alike.
The collection comprises excerpts from 16 recordings made between 2007 and 2010 and amounting to nearly 8,000 words in total. Excerpts were chosen to be maximally informative with respect to the traditional way of life, but also to be interesting to read and to include linguistically interesting and important features of Even. In order to make the texts usable for the Even communities, a vernacular version of each text is included. This consists of the Cyrillic transcription used in the communities with a parallel Russian translation.
The preparation of the data for this text collection and further transformation into the CLDF format was supported by the DFG grant #517860213 “Open Text Collections”
Intensitätspartikeln im Deutschen: Zur Semantik von deskriptiver und expressiver Verstärkung
No full textDieses Buch befasst sich mit dem in der theoretischen linguistischen Literatur stark diskutierten Phänomen der lexikalischen Adjektiv-Intensivierung. Dabei wird ein graduierbares Adjektiv – z. B. schön – durch eine Intensitätspartikel modifiziert.
Der Strand ist ∅ schön. Positiv
Der Strand ist sehr schön. Deskriptiv
Der Strand ist mega schön. Expressiv
Durch die Modifikation erfährt das Adjektiv eine Bedeutungsverstärkung,die sich in einer gesteigerten Intensität und einer höheren Position auf einer zugehörigen mentalen Skala niederschlägt.
Im Fokus steht die experimentelle Untersuchung von deskriptiven und expressiven Intensitätspartikeln. Expressive Intensivierer (Gutzmann & Turgay 2012) wie mega und super treten vor allem in der Umgangssprache auf, meist in Gestalt von Adjektiven, und erfüllen eine ähnliche Funktion wie „deskriptive Intensivierer“ (ebd.), etwa die deutsche Standard-Intensitätspartikel sehr. In beiden Fällen wird im Vergleich zum Positiv ein höheres Ausmaß der bezeichneten Eigenschaft ausgedrückt; bei expressiven Intensivierern wird dieser Grad jedoch – so die in der Literatur vorherrschende Annahme – intuitiv als stärker empfunden. Zudem offenbaren expressive Partikeln aufgrund einer emotional-expressiven Zusatzkomponente mutmaßlich auch die persönliche Einstellung der sprechenden Person zum Sachverhalt, die nicht Teil der Proposition ist.
Obwohl die Erforschung von Expressivität in der formal orientierten Sprachwissenschaft in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten erheblich an Dynamik gewonnen hat, ist die Gültigkeit dieser grundlegenden Annahmen bislang nicht empirisch abgesichert. Die noch bestehende Lücke an experimentellen Untersuchungen zu schließen, ist eines der zentralen Ziele dieser Arbeit. Aufbauend auf der aktuellen Forschungslage unternimmt sie den ersten Versuch, durch eine breit angelegte Untersuchung neue Erkenntnisse über den semantischen Unterschied zwischen deskriptiven und expressiven Intensitätspartikeln zu gewinnen. Hierfür wird auf eine systematisch aufeinander aufbauende Kombination aus verschiedenen linguistischen Methoden wie Korpusanalyse (Empirieteil I) und Rating-Experimente (Empirieteil II) zurückgegriffen, mithilfe derer die aus der Literatur hergeleiteten Forschungshypothesen erstmals überprüft werden
Identity formation, language and migration dynamics: Minorities in the MENA region and the German diaspora
No full textThe volume examines migration from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to the German diaspora, offering a multifaceted perspective that combines historical and contemporary insights. It moves beyond viewing migration as a momentary event, instead situating it within a broader narrative that considers the impact of origin countries. By studying communities such as Georgians, Jews, Aramaic speakers, Kurds, Afghans and Berbers, the book explores how linguistic, social, and cultural factors shape their experiences both in their homelands and as migrants in Germany.A key focus is the interplay between spoken vernaculars (such as Judeo-Spanish, Kurmanji Kurdish, Pashto and Tarifit Berber) and prestigious written languages (such as Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian). It delves into how language choices, including scripts and writing systems, reflect deeper identity struggles within communities and across borders. In offering or restricting legal, pedagogical and communicative conditions for language acquisition, intercultural exchange and identity formation, Germany, like other European host societies, contributes significantly to these developments.The book also shifts the lens of migration studies to explore not just the challenges in host countries but also the conditions in the migrants’ places of origin, from linguistic diversity to social stratification and historical conflicts. It offers unique insights into how these factors shape the identities of minority groups and influence their lives as migrants.This book is a resource for anyone interested in the complex intersections of migration, identity, language, and culture. It sheds light on the experiences of often marginalised communities, offering valuable perspectives for scholars, policymakers, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the realities of migration and minority life
A grammar of Hewramî
No full textThis book is a comprehensive grammatical description of the Hewramî variety of Tekht, grounded in current linguistic methods. Hewramî is one of the most morphologically complex West Iranian languages. It is spoken by several thousand people in the high mountainous Hewraman region situated between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan.
This work is primarily based on a corpus of 46 narratives, collected during several trips to the Hewraman region between 2016 and 2023. This corpus was supplemented by elicitation tasks to provide a detailed account of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Hewramî. Additionally, the grammar touches on prosody and information structure. The analysis is grounded in linguistic theory, particularly informed by the functional-typological approach.
This grammar is complemented by a text collection
A grammar of Hewramî
No full textThis book is a comprehensive grammatical description of the Hewramî variety of Tekht, grounded in current linguistic methods. Hewramî is one of the most morphologically complex West Iranian languages. It is spoken by several thousand people in the high mountainous Hewraman region situated between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan.
This work is primarily based on a corpus of 46 narratives, collected during several trips to the Hewraman region between 2016 and 2023. This corpus was supplemented by elicitation tasks to provide a detailed account of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Hewramî. Additionally, the grammar touches on prosody and information structure. The analysis is grounded in linguistic theory, particularly informed by the functional-typological approach.
This grammar is complemented by a text collection
Teaching translation in the age of generative AI: New paradigm, new learning?
No full textSince the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has started reshaping what it means to work as a professional translator in an industry that is becoming increasingly automated. This prompts us to interrogate, once again, the role and agency of human translators in the translation process or, in other words, the intrinsically human value and values they add to it. A natural corollary is that GenAI forces us translator educators to (re-)interrogate what we do in our translation programmes. Whatever we may think or feel about GenAI, we owe it to our students to engage with it in our programmes. However, because GenAI is not just another tool in the translator’s toolkit, we must also to do so in a way that raises students’ awareness of some of the ethical and sustainability issues around it.
This is what Teaching Translation in the Age of Generative AI: New Paradigm, New Learning aims to do. Articulated around three main parts, Part 1 explores the new skills and competences translator educators need to help their students develop in the age of GenAI. In Part 2, the focus shifts to the new knowledge (such as data literacy and prompting) that students in translation programmes need to engage with in the age of GenAI. Finally, Part 3 puts some flesh on the bones, as it reviews some of the new teaching approaches adopted by colleagues since the advent of GenAI. It does so by introducing the reader to a series of vignettes taken from a variety of translation-related disciplines and contexts.
Throughout the entire edited volume, the ambition is to be as accessible as possible, so that this volume can be of help to as many of us in translation education as possible, as we all learn to negotiate the uncharted territory of GenAI
Half silver, half gold: Modole folk stories and a first sketch grammar
No full textThis collection contains ten folk stories in Modole, a Papuan language of the North Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. They were first published in 1916 by Dutch missionary G.J. Ellen and appear here re-edited, translated into English and with interlinear glossings.
In addition, the book offers the first grammatical description of Modole, as well as information on the Modole people and their culture and environment
The Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste: Unravelling their prehistory and classification
No full textFor 150 years there has been a question over how the Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste fit into the Austronesian world. The area is severely under-documented. There has been no consensus on the classification of these languages, and scholars admit to being perplexed. This is the first systematic attempt at subgrouping the whole region based on historical phonology, supplemented by morphosyntax and the lexicon. Insights from archaeology, DNA studies, and awareness of long-term contact with Papuan languages inform this study.
Nine Wallacean subgroups are identified, along with their internal structures. Light is shed on languages whose classification has been unclear. Discontinuities in the historical phonology suggest different groups speaking different Austronesian languages got off different boats at different places, probably at different times. No evidence is found supporting a monolithic Austronesian advance through the region, nor a common Austronesian parent language below PMP that links all Wallacean subgroups.
Speakers of SVO Austronesian languages with prepositions, preverbal negation, numbers before nouns, and post-posed possessors came into contact with speakers of languages of unrelated Papuan families, with postpositions, clause-final negation, numbers following nouns, preposed possessors, and other features of SOV languages. Austronesian languages adopted these features but not uniformly, such that features attributed to contact are uneven across the region. Some are not found in some subgroups or branches within subgroups. Distribution maps of phonological, grammatical, and lexical features show many features are not found in all subgroups, do not align with each other, and some are found outside the region. Austronesian languages in the region are a kind of uneven hybrid that make them typologically different from Austronesian languages to the west and north.
The study evaluates earlier proposals along with new possibilities to link subgroups in different ways, but finds no exclusively shared innovations inherited from a common parent. Scenarios are explored of how Austronesian-speaking peoples came into the region. The uneven distribution of various features is addressed. Implications are many, and warrant a revised picture of the Austronesian world.
Several factors enabled this more in-depth study than has been previously possible. Both authors have extensive experience in the region. Many Dutch-era sources have become accessible online. Recent publications and unpublished data have been shared by others. This enabled the authors to glean data from 517 Austronesian and Papuan languages from within the region as well as to the west and east of it, providing context. Within the region, data have been gleaned from 292 varieties (256 Austronesian, 36 Papuan), some of which are now extinct. The volume is data rich with 334 data tables, 78 figures (including 32 maps), and 195 numbered examples/lists of data.
The appendices in .txt format along with select figures and maps can be downloaded from: https://doi.org/10.18710/3CT9RO
I always migrated by reindeer: Lamunkhin and Bystraja Even narratives about their traditional way of life
No full textEven is an endangered Northern Tungusic language spoken in numerous small settlements by formerly completely nomadic hunters and reindeer herders dispersed over northeastern Siberia, from the Lena-Yana watershed in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka in the east. This geographical spread has led to considerable dialectal fragmentation, with substantial differences between the peripheral dialects, not least due to differential contact influence.
This text collection contains a selection of monological narratives from two geographically distant and linguistically divergent Even dialects: Lamunkhin Even spoken in the village Sebjan-Küöl in the Kobjaj district of Central Yakutia, and Bystraja Even spoken in two villages of the Bystraja district of Central Kamchatka. Of these, the Lamunkhin dialect is still relatively viable, being spoken by some children and adolescents, while Bystraja Even is highly endangered, with no fluent speakers younger than 50 years.
The overall theme of the volume is the traditional Even way of life, namely reindeer herding and hunting and, in Kamchatka, fishing. Reindeer herding has always been a defining way of life of the Evens and other so-called Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the North; this is reflected in their language, culture, and identity. However, it is becoming increasingly endangered, making its documentation important for anthropologists and community members alike.
The collection comprises excerpts from 16 recordings made between 2007 and 2010 and amounting to nearly 8,000 words in total. Excerpts were chosen to be maximally informative with respect to the traditional way of life, but also to be interesting to read and to include linguistically interesting and important features of Even. In order to make the texts usable for the Even communities, a vernacular version of each text is included. This consists of the Cyrillic transcription used in the communities with a parallel Russian translation.
The preparation of the data for this text collection and further transformation into the CLDF format was supported by the DFG grant #517860213 “Open Text Collections”