1,720,959 research outputs found
Funny business: Verbal humor in business negotiation and the English-as-a-second -language speaker
No full textThis dissertation aims to find primarily linguistic markers of business humor. As is argued in the thesis, it is often very difficult for even advanced learners of English to detect the humor in ambiguous messages. Thus, the study begins with a brief outline of the many challenges faced by English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) business students who are enrolled in a business program in the United States and who, upon graduation, seek to work in the U.S. American business sector and who, in order to become successful business negotiators, will have to utilize humor as it has since become a well-recognized, effective, even indispensable, managerial tool. It is further argued that these ESL business students need to be equipped with the necessary tools that will facilitate their comprehension of humor because, even though they are otherwise competent communicators in English, they might lack the very culture-specific and often short-lived world knowledge which would allow them to comprehend more sophisticated humor. Of primary importance to this dissertation is thus the definition of \u27competence\u27 as well as the question of whether \u27humor competence\u27 is a part of the ESL student\u27s overall linguistic competence or a fifth component of her communicative competence. The dissertation then provides a historical overview of humor in the United States of America asserting that humor is an omnipresent phenomenon in the U.S. culture and therefore also an integral part of the business context in which it assumes various forms and functions. The central part of this thesis focuses on the linguistic analysis of data from business negotiations, speeches, conversations, and training videos with the objective of identifying semantic, syntactic, and phonological cues of humor with each section being preceded by a discussion of applicable theories and approaches to data analysis. Also briefly outlined are non-verbal cues. The dissertation then concludes with a summary of the verbal and non-verbal cues of humor identified in the data as well as the pertinent literature and culminates in the proposal of The Humor Profile , a comprehensive framework for future data analysis
Tradução automática: uma análise crítica do desempenho da tradução automática estatística e baseada em regras
No full textThe essay provides a critical assessment of the performance of two distinct machine translation systems, Systran and Google Translate. First, a brief overview of both rule-based and statistical machine translation systems is provided followed by a discussion concerning the issues involved in the automatic and human evaluation of machine translation outputs. Finally, the German translations of Mark Twain’s The Awful German Language translated by Systran and Google Translate are being critically evaluated highlighting some of the linguistic challenges faced by each translation system.O ensaio fornece uma avaliação crítica do desempenho de dois sistemas distintos de tradução automática, Systran e Google Translate. Primeiro, é fornecida uma breve visão geral dos sistemas de tradução automática baseados em regras e estatísticas, seguida de uma discussão sobre os problemas envolvidos na avaliação automática e humana das outputs de tradução automática. Por fim, as traduções em alemão de Mark Twain, traduzidas por Systran e Google Translate, estão sendo avaliadas criticamente, destacando alguns dos desafios linguísticos enfrentados por cada sistema de tradução
Machine translation: a critical look at the performance of rule-based and statistical machine translation
No full textThe essay provides a critical assessment of the performance of two distinct machine translation systems, Systran and Google Translate. First, a brief overview of both rule-based and statistical machine translation systems is provided followed by a discussion concerning the issues involved in the automatic and human evaluation of machine translation outputs. Finally, the German translations of Mark Twain’s The Awful German Language translated by Systran and Google Translate are being critically evaluated highlighting some of the linguistic challenges faced by each translation system.O ensaio fornece uma avaliação crítica do desempenho de dois sistemas distintos de tradução automática, Systran e Google Translate. Primeiro, é fornecida uma breve visão geral dos sistemas de tradução automática baseados em regras e estatísticas, seguida de uma discussão sobre os problemas envolvidos na avaliação automática e humana das outputs de tradução automática. Por fim, as traduções em alemão de Mark Twain, traduzidas por Systran e Google Translate, estão sendo avaliadas criticamente, destacando alguns dos desafios linguísticos enfrentados por cada sistema de tradução
Dialeto como marcador de estilo: tradução do inglês verancular afro americano em "uma história verdadeira" de Mark Twain pra o Alemão
No full textThe study analyzes the role African American Vernacular English plays in Twain’s ‘A true story’ investigating how the source text’s dialect features were translated into German in order to find out whether the two German translations studied achieve functional equivalence with the source text. First, using Register and Genre Theory, the dialect features in Twain’s short story were analyzed determining their function. Next, the two German translations were studied. The analysis indicated that the original text’s dialect features were generally normalized in the earlier translation and dialectized in the second one. However, neither translation achieved functional equivalence because the non-standardness of language is lost in the first translation and the inconsistent use of invented ungrammatical features in the second translation actually causes an opposite stylistic effect in the target language reader. The study therefore concludes that dialect in literary texts is an important style marker that warrants careful consideration by the translator.El estudio analiza el papel que desempeña el inglés vernáculo afroamericano en "A True Story" de Twain, investigando cómo se tradujeron al alemán las características dialectales del texto original para averiguar si las dos traducciones alemanas estudiadas logran una equivalencia funcional con el texto original. En primer lugar, utilizando la Teoría del Registro y del Género, se analizaron las características dialectales del cuento de Twain, determinando su función. A continuación, se estudiaron las dos traducciones alemanas. El análisis indicó que las características dialectales del texto original estaban generalmente normalizadas en la traducción anterior y dialectadas en la segunda. Sin embargo, ninguna de las traducciones logró la equivalencia funcional porque la no estandarización del idioma se pierde en la primera traducción y el uso inconsistente de características no gramaticales inventadas en la segunda traducción en realidad causa un efecto estilístico opuesto en el lector del idioma de destino. El estudio concluye, por lo tanto, que el dialecto en los textos literarios es un marcador de estilo importante que merece una cuidadosa consideración por parte del traductor.O estudo analisa o papel que o inglês vernacular afro-americano desempenha em “A true story” de Twain, investigando como as características dialetais do texto original foram traduzidas para o alemão a fim de descobrir se as duas traduções alemãs estudadas alcançam equivalência funcional com o texto original. Primeiro, usando a Teoria do Registro e do Gênero, as características dialetais do conto de Twain foram analisadas, determinando sua função. Em seguida, as duas traduções alemãs foram estudadas. A análise indicou que as características dialetais do texto original foram geralmente normalizadas na tradução anterior e dialetadas na segunda. No entanto, nenhuma das traduções alcançou a equivalência funcional porque a não padronização da linguagem é perdida na primeira tradução e o uso inconsistente de características não gramaticais inventadas na segunda tradução, na verdade, causa um efeito estilístico oposto no leitor do idioma de destino. O estudo conclui, portanto, que o dialeto em textos literários é um marcador de estilo importante que merece consideração cuidadosa por parte do tradutor
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Fostering Learner Control in an Online Beginner German as a Foreign Language Course
No full textLearner control is vital in self-directed learning within technology-enhanced language learning. Yet, to date, there is little discussion about learner control in beginners' classes with technology-enhanced learning novices in online contexts. The present study investigates how an online beginners' German as a foreign language course fosters learner control. Two components of the class, synchronous live meetings, and an asynchronous online component were analyzed for specific aspects assumed to cultivate learner control. The study takes a case study approach and is based on Pilling-Cormick's self-regulated and directed technology-enhanced learning model. A survey and interviews were conducted to answer the research question: To what degree does the online course foster learner control, if at all? The results reveal that despite a general dislike of online learning and little to no technology-enhanced learning experience, learner control was fostered to a high degree
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Engaging foreign language students via hybrid learning
No full textOur article aims to encourage foreign language teachers at higher education institutions in Mexico to implement hybrid learning in their classrooms in order to increase learner engagement with the foreign language and to provide more opportunities to practice the target language outside the classroom. We begin by defining hybrid or blended learning and some of its advantages, distinguishing this mixed method from the flipped classroom. We then discuss and exemplify in greater detail which tools we have chosen to support the online component of our classes and how we have implemented them. We conclude our article with a brief discussion of three concrete challenges we faced during the implementation process and how we resolved them reaching our conclusion that the implementation of hybrid learning needs to be well planned if it is to support the language learning process of our students.Nuestro artículo pretende animar a los profesores de lengua extranjera en instituciones de educación superior en México a implementar el aprendizaje híbrido en sus aulas con el fin de envolver a los aprendices en la lengua extranjera y de ofrecerles más oportunidades para la práctica del idioma meta fuera del aula. Comenzamos con la definición del aprendizaje híbrido o mixto distinguiéndolo de la aula volteada. A continuación, discutimos y ejemplificamos con más detalle qué herramientas hemos elegido para apoyar al componente en línea y cómo las hemos implementado. Concluimos nuestro artículo con una breve discusión de tres desafíos concretos que enfrentamos durante el proceso de implementación y cómo los hemos resueltos, llegando así a la conclusión de que la implementación del aprendizaje híbrido debe ser bien planificada si se quiere apoyar al proceso de aprendizaje de idiomas de nuestros estudiantes
- …
