171 research outputs found
REMARKS ON GENDER – EXPRESSING GENDER IN ENGLISH, AND SOME OF THE MAIN ISSUES THAT LEARNERS (AND TEACHERS) HAVE TO COPE WITH
No full textThe present paper focuses on a number of specific issues (most of which are in
fact challenges, misconceptions and rough ideas) that are subject to what is generally called the
feminist approach to linguistics. It presents some (strictly marginal) contrastive notes on expressing
gender in English and Romanian, among which: genderization and gender neutrality, the problems
posed by the usual definitions of gender (cf. sex, etc.), the existence of the epicenes in English, the
idea of neutralization of grammatical oppositions (cf. also the idea of “language economy”), the
possible existence of the “0 gender” (cf. the 0 / ø article) in English. Illustrative examples are given
with respect to the alleged “sexist tradition” – as perceived by feminist lingustics –, followed by a set
of prominent counterexamples (amply provided mainly by lexicography), fallacies and
inconsistencies. The actual existence of gender-oriented languages (vs. “gender-neutral” languages)
is then addressed, as well as a group of issues relating to usage and language didactics, mainly
idiosyncrasies, grammatical and miscellaneous problems
A LEXICOGRAPHER’S REMARKS ON SOME OF THE VOCABULARY DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES THAT LEARNERS OF ENGLISH HAVE TO COPE WITH – AND A FEW SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING A SERIES OF COMPLEX DICTIONARIES
No full textThe present paper aims at stressing the need for applied linguistics in dealing
with didactic and lexicographical instruments, not only in the traditional manner, but also – or
mainly – in the novel modalities suggested and allowed by the new information and communication
technologies, concepts and devices. Proceeding from the contrastive and didactic view of the lexicon
and the lexicographer’s task, and also taking advantage of the various models that good learner’s
dictionaries in use have already set, the author presents the main aspects involved by compiling a
complex, grammaticized Romanian-English dictionary – in fact, one of a larger series projected. In
such a complex / grammaticized Romanian-English dictionary, meant as a polyfunctional, flexible,
ready-to-use tool of learning, based on an interconnective approach blending the semantic
description proper and the grammatical regimen, every relevant item is explained in terms of
grammatical usage, and relevant diverging data about morphological markers and irregularities,
collocation and syntactic rules, pronunciation, spelling are provided, as well as a number of frequent
Romanian proper names with their English equivalents. To do that, an accessible code-system was
used. The material that was used as illustrations in the present approach was provided by the
author’s experience as a lexicographer and teacher. Similarly, the development is proposed of
interactive, software implements usable by advanced students, and also by translators and teachers of
ESL; such devices can be a valuable help, a kind of learn-while-working instruments, combining the
classical dictionary and the grammar manual, plus the efficiency and rapidity of modern ICT. After
mentioning and illustrating the main problems related to the lexicon within the field of TEFL (viz.
contrastive semantics, collocation, anomalous grammatical forms, divergent spelling and
pronunciation, divergent phraseological and syntactic structures, idiom, proper nouns, lexical and
semantic fields, synonymy and related terms), the author goes on to present the main priorities
implied by the complex dictionary mentioned above (which is ready for print), and then a synopsis of
the experience represented by the compilation of a pair of pocket-size bilingual dictionaries, and the
main aspects of the activity in the field of applied linguistics that is involved by the lexicographer’s
efforts. To this were added similar illustrations, the fruits of the author’s personal experience and
reflective writing, meant to provide part of the database usable for furthering this didactic endeavour
FURTHER NOTES FOR A CONTRASTIVE AND DIDACTIC APPROACH TO THE USE OF THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE VS. THE PAST TENSE
No full textThe Present Perfect Tense is a notable instance of the many quirks, “pitfalls” and inherent intricacies that can make the acquisition of English grammar quite a challenge, even with advanced students. Its dissimilarity from its possible counterparts in most European languages (including Romanian) is patent. The present contribution continues the author’s preoccupation with such “False Friends” that teaching is called upon to overcome (at least, to an acceptable degree). Since the Present Perfect Tense
closely incorporates tense and aspect information, while also being highly context-, and attitude-dependent, it requires conscious communicative adjustment on the part of the nonnative
speaker, including the students of EFL. The grammatical category of Aspect often
emerges as a linguistic “trap” for foreign learners of English, since, in Romanian, it is
rendered unsystematically, mainly through specialized words, phrases, or derivational
morphemes, being, in most cases, rather lexicalized (and comparatively syntax-dependent);
in English aspect is a grammatical category mainly – and essentially – subordinated to the
category of tense, and is usually taught as such. In this presentation, very much as in the
previous one dealing with the Present Perfect and Past Tense, we considered that the most
serious grammatical “trap” with respect to the use and definition of the two tenses under
consideration is laid by the notion of perfectivity. The contribution presents the main tenses
involved in the broader picture of the English tenses and verbal structures related, in a way or other, to the past – viz. the Past Tense Simple, the Past Tense Progressive, the Present Perfect Simple Tense, and the Present Perfect Progressive Tense –, as well as the main differences (in meaning, grammatical collocation and communicative implications) between the Present Perfect Tense and the Past Tense. The author’s remarks could hopefully contribute to facilitate teacher handling of the tense system of English. The Present Perfect Tense can be taught, we hope, in a more suitable manner if adequate activities are used communicatively in the EFL classes
Guide to Good Practice in using Open Source Compilers with the AGCC Lexical Analyzer
No full textQuality software always demands a compromise between users' needs and hardware resources. To be faster means expensive devices like powerful processors and virtually unlimited amounts of RAM memory. Or you just need reengineering of the code in terms of adapting that piece of software to the client's hardware architecture. This is the purpose of optimizing code in order to get the utmost software performance from a program in certain given conditions. There are tools for designing and writing the code but the ultimate tool for optimizing remains the modest compiler, this often neglected software jewel the result of hundreds working hours by the best specialists in the world. Even though, only two compilers fulfill the needs of professional developers, a proprietary solution from a giant in the IT industry, and the Open source GNU compiler, for which we develop the AGCC lexical analyzer that helps producing even more efficient software applications. It relies on the most popular hacks and tricks used by professionals and discovered by the author who are proud to present them further below.registers, dynamic linkage, cache, null pointers, tweaking
Unusual Subduction Processes
No full textThis eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac
Localisable Monads
No full textMonads govern computational side-effects in programming semantics. They can be combined in a ''bottom-up'' way to handle several instances of such effects. Indexed monads and graded monads do this in a modular way. Here, instead, we equip monads with fine-grained structure in a ''top-down'' way, using techniques from tensor topology. This provides an intrinsic theory of local computational effects without needing to know how constituent effects interact beforehand. Specifically, any monoidal category decomposes as a sheaf of local categories over a base space. We identify a notion of localisable monads which characterises when a monad decomposes as a sheaf of monads. Equivalently, localisable monads are formal monads in an appropriate presheaf 2-category, whose algebras we characterise. Three extended examples demonstrate how localisable monads can interpret the base space as locations in a computer memory, as sites in a network of interacting agents acting concurrently, and as time in stochastic processes
Norman Manea: The condition of the éxilé
No full textAfter reading Norman Manea’s writings, one can notice that their major theme, that is, the main obsession of the author is the exile, as he has always considered himself an éxilé (exiled man), no matter where he happened to live. Both his fiction and his essays are autobiographical, speaking of the author’s traumatizing existential experiences: as a child, he faced the anti-Semitic laws culminating in the deportation in Transnistria, then the impossibility of re-integration in a still hostile society; as an adult, he suffered the trauma of yet another totalitarian regime (the communist dictatorship); and as an old man, that of the impossibility to adapt to the consumerist society that offered him refuge.La lectura de la obra de Norman Manea permite establecer que el tema fundamental de la misma, la obsesión principal del autor, es el exilio; que siempre se ha considerado a sí mismo un exiliado (éxilé), sin importar el lugar en el que haya tenido que vivir. Tanto sus escritos de ficción como los ensayísticos son autobiográficos, aludiendo a las experiencias traumáticas de su existencia: durante la infancia, ha de hacer frente a las leyes antisemitas que culminan con la deportación a Transnistria, y a partir de ahí la imposibilidad de reintegrarse en una sociedad aún hostil; como adulto, sufre el trauma de otro régimen totalitario (la dictadura comunista); en la senectud, la incapacidad de adaptarse a la sociedad consumista que le ha ofrecido refugio
The Constitutional History of Romania
No full textIn Romania’s constitutional history we can find seven main laws adopted at different periods of time. The beginning of the first Romanian Constitution can be found in the year 1866, even if there existed other normative settlements, having general character, previous to this year, the entering in force of the first supreme law is reported in the second half of the 19 th century. The first two constitutions had a mainly democratic character, containing liberties, that couldn’t be found even in the similar documents of that period, at European level. The third one created an authoritarian regime of monarchy, a short time before the last world War, the following three have been characteristic to the communist period. The main supreme law is positioned on the line of the first constitutions, and was submitted to some variations, at 12 years from the moment it entered in force.constitution, historic, effects, main
CLIMATE CHANGES – ESSENTIAL CHALLENGE FOR THE ECONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE Emilian M. Dobrescu, Romanian Academy Diana-Mihaela Pociovalisteanu , “Constantin Brancusi†University of Targu Jiu Gabriel Popescu , The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies
No full textThe European Union proposed a new model of economy, at this beginningof century and millennium: the economy of knowledge, simultaneous with the emergenceof a new existential reality for us people, after Christ was born; this new, existentialreality are the climatic changes.In spite of the warning signals drawn by specialists, the more profound conquests ofscience, only a new educational model can save the humankind of a galloping fall inpromiscuity but also in eternity.economy of knowledge, educational model, cohesion policy, changes
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