Volume 13, Issue 1

The paper focuses on the issue of creating equivalence links in the domain of bilingual computational lexicography. The existing interlingual links between plWordNet and Princeton WordNet synsets (sets of synonymous lexical units – lemma and sense pairs) are re-analysed from the perspective of equivalence types as defined in traditional lexicography and translation. Special attention is paid to cognitive and translational equivalents. A proposal of mapping lexical units is presented. Three types of links are defined: super-strong equivalence, strong equivalence and weak implied equivalence. The strong equivalences have a common set of formal, semantic and usage features, with some of their values slightly loosened for strong equivalence. These will be introduced manually by trained lexicographers. The sense-mapping will partly draw on the results of the existing synset mapping. The lexicographers will analyse lists of pairs of synsets linked by interlingual relations such as synonymy, partial synonymy, hyponymy and hypernymy. They will also consult bilingual dictionaries and check translation probabilities in a parallel corpus. The results of the proposed mapping have great application potential in the area of natural language processing, translation and language learning.

The present study sets out to investigate how terror and terrorism are mediated through narratives of translation by Greek online newspapers. Combining Critical Discourse Analysis (van Dijk 1997 inter alia; Wodak 2001; Wodak et al. 2009; Schäffner 2004) and Narrative Theory of translation (Baker 2006, 2007, 2010), this paper has a double objective: to measure in the first place each medium’s stancetaking toward terrorism mainly by considering headlines and frequency of some words designating the Other, and in the second place to put these results to the test of translational strategies observed in the data. As results show, media coverage of terrorism seems to vary from one medium to another: negative framing or positive framing is displayed both in the headlines chosen, the frequency of some words and in the narratives, being all the product of translation; translation in the present study is seen as being a socio-political activity, which is built on and builds and maintains social power, while playing a key role in constructing the Other. The analysis of the data reconfirms the key role of translation in the news production and concludes that it is indeed an ideology-based process and a means to accentuate western values, by promoting an orientalist conception of the Other, through selective appropriation, inaccurate translations, and amalgamation or generalization strategies, or less frequently as a means to foster intercultural dialogue and to attenuate a negative discursive construction of the Other.

The present article explores stance and stancetaking in two genres of scientific discourse, by analysing the discourse-pragmatic functions of epistemic modals and negation. The semantics and pragmatics of modals in specialised discourses has been the focus of attention in recent years (Hyland 1998, 2008; Tarantino 2011; Peackock 2014, 2015; Gotti 2014); however, the function of negation remains understudied so far. The present article proposes an approach to stance and modality which encompasses both modal and negative meanings as functions in discourse (Halliday 1994; Givón 1993; Halliday and Matthiesen 2004; Martin and White 2005). A quantitative method based on keyword analysis is applied as a point of departure for the identification of modal and negative stance markers; this is followed by a qualitative analysis of the discourse-pragmatic functions. The analysis shows that, although epistemic modals and negation are used more frequently in the semi-formal corpus, the use of epistemic modals and of negation may be interpreted as shaping conventionalised discourse-specific patterns of stancetaking in the biomedical sciences. Results also show that although negation is less frequent in the formal corpus, the range and variety of functions is greater and more complex than in the semi-formal corpus, thus suggesting the important role played by negation in biomedical discourse, in particular, in the communication of new ideas and new findings.

The present article offers a contrastive analysis of articles published online by two media outlets of two different countries (Portugal and the USA) dealing with science, technology and interrelated topics. In so doing, the goal is to explore the role played by gender dynamics in the pragmatic strategies which underlie the communication of scientific knowledge to the wider audiences by the mainstream media. The multi-layered interpretative approach centred on corpus-based (critical) discourse analysis and visual semiotics adopted in this paper, it is argued, allows for a more holistic understanding of the role played by the media in the perpetuation of power imbalance and gender stereotypes among their readership(s), better understood here as discursive communities, and their everyday communicative practices. It is further suggested that an analysis of how knowledge is mediatized can offer ways into understanding wider cultural patterns and values.

Being a much-studied concept in the social and political sciences and cultural studies (Jenkins 2004; Chandra 2006; Phinney 2003; Phinney and Ong 2007, and others) (ethnic) identity has become an object of study of linguistics and intercultural communication (Besemeres and Wierzbicka 2007; Koller 2012; Leontovich 2017; Mole 2007; Regan and Chasaide 2010; Scollon and Scollon 2001; Sousa 2014; Spreckels and Kotthoff 2009; Kalyango and Kopytowska 2014; Larina and Ozyumenko 2016, to name but a few). This is not surprising, as language is one of the most pivotal building blocks of identity, ethnic or otherwise. In addition, as daily interaction – professional, public, mediated, or otherwise – in an ever more globalized world requires finely developed intercultural skills, pragmatic competence and cultural fluency, having a deeper insight into the intricate relationship between language, communication and (ethnic) identity is of critical importance. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to shed more light on the role that language, and particularly discourse, play in constituting (ethnic) identity and, conversely, how identities could possibly assume an active role in the construction of discourse. It focuses on some discursive characteristics of Anglo (Wierzbicka 2006) and Slavonic (more specifically Russian and Serbian) ethnic identities, especially their perception of Self and modes of interaction with others. The corpus-informed analysis of Russian and Serbian languages and discursive practices indicates that, despite considerable changes in the demographic profile of the respective societies over the last couple of decades, the we -orientation is still overwhelmingly predominant in their collective and individual identities. Conversely, the I -orientation seems to be a typical preference of the representatives of the Anglo culture. The paper also suggests a possible interpretation of the differences in these orientations and their apparent embeddedness in the very structure of the languages in question (lexico-phraseological, morpho-syntactic, stylistic, etc.), potentially shaping its discursive characteristics as well. The theoretical framework is based on Larina’s approach to culture-specific communicative ethno-styles (2008, 2009, 2015, etc.), as well as a number of approaches within identity, discourse and intercultural studies (Hofstede 1991; Jenkins 2004; Kalyango and Kopytowska 2014; Kurteš and Kopytowska 2015; Scollon and Scollon 2001; Wierzbicka 1991|/2003, 1997, 2002, 2006, etc.).