scholarly journals Language choice, language alternation and code-switching in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Aleksi Mäkilähde

The atlas of Gerardus Mercator (Gerard de Cremer), or the Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura, is one of first modern atlases and one of the most famous of those compiled in the Netherlands. The first (unfinished) edition was published in 1595, but the copperplates were later acquired by Jodocus Hondius (Joost de Hondt) and his business associates. The revised Mercator-Hondius Atlas was published for the first time in 1606 with added maps and texts. The texts printed on verso of the maps were written by Petrus Montanus (Pieter van den Berg), who was a brother-in-law of Hondius and a Latin teacher. Many subsequent editions of the atlas were produced in the years that followed. The first editions were in Latin, but versions in European vernaculars such as French, German and Italian were produced later as well. The present article focuses on the multilingual nature of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas (1613, editio quarta) by discussing language choice, language alternation and code-switching patterns in different parts of the atlas. The dominant language of the descriptive texts is Latin, but there are also switches into many other languages, including Greek (written in Greek script) and several vernaculars. Furthermore, the map pages tend to indicate the names of different types of area (e.g. cities, seas, and oceans) in different languages. The aim of the present article is to provide a preliminary exploration of the possibilities of approaching the atlas with the aid of concepts and ideas derived from modern code-switching studies. I demonstrate how these concepts can be used to describe the language choice patterns in the text and discuss some of the challenges the data poses for a linguistic approach.

Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. It describes the language choice practice of translinguistic apposition as observed in written texts in Rwanda. In Rwanda, authors often construct appositive structures in two languages. In turn, this possibility raises a theoretical as well as a practical issue. At the theoretical level language alternation is observed in “highly regulated texts” and, at the practical level, readers are assumed to be competent in all the languages involved. The chapter argues that the first issue does not actually arise as language alternation is oriented to as deviance and the second is resolved by reference to notion of ascribed linguistic competence in context.


Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. The chapter describes the interactional practice of conversational repair in bilingual interaction. Two research questions are raised: (a) where in the repair sequence can language alternation occur and (b) what does language alternation do when it occurs in repair sequences. It is shown that language alternation interacts with repair organisation in two ways. Either language alternation is the focus of conversational repair or it is an additional resource for the organisation of conversational repair.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amina Khatun ◽  
Mahmudur Rahman ◽  
Tania Haque ◽  
Md. Mahfizur Rahman ◽  
Mahfuja Akter ◽  
...  

Various forms of cancer are rising all over the world, requiring newer therapy. The quest of anticancer drugs both from natural and synthetic sources is the demand of time. In this study, fourteen extracts of different parts of eleven Bangladeshi medicinal plants which have been traditionally used for the treatment of different types of carcinoma, tumor, leprosy, and diseases associated with cancer were evaluated for their cytotoxicity for the first time. Extraction was conceded using methanol. Phytochemical groups like reducing sugars, tannins, saponins, steroids, gums, flavonoids, and alkaloids were tested using standard chromogenic reagents. Plants were evaluated for cytotoxicity by brine shrimp lethality bioassay usingArtemia salinacomparing with standard anticancer drug vincristine sulphate. All the extracts showed potent to moderate cytotoxicity ranging from LC502 to 115 µg/mL. The highest toxicity was shown byHygrophila spinosaseeds (LC50=2.93 µg/mL) and the lowest byLitsea glutinosaleaves (LC50=114.71 µg/mL) in comparison with standard vincristine sulphate (LC50=2.04 µg/mL). Among the plants, the plants traditionally used in different cancer and microbial treatments showed highest cytotoxicity. The results support their ethnomedicinal uses and require advanced investigation to elucidate responsible compounds as well as their mode of action.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margreet Dorleijn

This paper discusses the extent to which two characteristics of digital data make such data suitable for detecting preference patterns in code switching: an absence of paralinguistic disambiguation- cues and its extra-linguistic ‘context-freeness’. This paper reports on the exploration of a 219,536 word Dutch-Turkish digital data corpus compiled from bilingual internet fora. It describes both macro-sociolinguistic patterns of language choice as well as micro-linguistic contact features in bilingual data, comparing both macro and micro results with what is known from the sociolinguistic literature in general, and Turkish-Dutch code switching and contact linguistic literature in particular. The data are analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Focus is on the analysis of densely bilingual data of the type that has been called in the literature ‘mixed language’ (Auer, 1999), ‘intimate switching’ (Poplack, 1980), or ‘unmarked switching’ (Myers-Scotton, 1983; 1993b). It is argued that data of this type of intensive language mixing should display a certain degree of predictability since it is generally perceived of as the most effortless way of speaking by its users. It is demonstrated that recurring patterns can be found in the data, both on the macro-level of language choice and the micro-level of lexical choice, as well as in code switching patterns, and lexico-semantic choices, and it is argued that in these patterns principles of transparency and frequency of exposure may be an explanatory factor.


Author(s):  
Dalia E. Hammoud

AbstractIn diasporic communities, switching among languages is a common practice and London is no exception. This paper examines the use of code-switching in Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane from three different perspectives. It argues that Ali uses code switching (CS) as a sign of hybrid identity. Meanwhile, it contends that the main characters employ CS both as social power and as a tool of ‘emotional expression’. To achieve this aim, a new integrated approach is proposed drawing upon the concepts of ‘orders of indexicality’ and ‘polycentricity’, being sociolinguistic techniques designed to monitor different types of linguistic and cultural manifestations that signify diasporic ways of life. This approach complements an established taxonomy. The findings show that Ali makes significant use of code-switching strategies by balancing the two different cultures, thus reflecting her desire not to lose her hybrid identity. When it concerns her characters, the shifts in codes and/or varieties trigger shifts in the kind of relationships among them and their own identities. Finally, the findings reveal that ‘emotionality’ is a factor that influences code-switching and language choice.


Multilingua ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Skaffari

AbstractIn the multilingual history of England, the period following the Norman Conquest in 1066 is a particularly intriguing phase, but its code-switching patterns have so far received little attention. The present article describes and analyses the multilingual practices evinced in London, British Library, MS Stowe 34, containing one instructional prose text from c. 1200,


Pragmatics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-499
Author(s):  
Gerald Stell

This article aims to compare three distinct grammatical and conversational patterns of code-switching, which it tentatively links to three different South African ethnoracial labels: White, Coloured and Black. It forms a continuation of a previous article in which correlations were established between Afrikaans-English code-switching patterns and White and Coloured ethnicities. The typological framework used is derived from Muysken, and the hypotheses are based on his predictions as to which type of grammatical CS (i.e. insertional, alternational, congruent lexicalisation) will dominate in which linguistic and sociolinguistic settings. Apart from strengthening the idea of a correlation between patterns of language variation and ethnicity in general, the article explores the theoretical possibility of specific social factors overriding linguistic constraints in determining the grammatical form of CS patterns. In this regard, it will be shown that – on account of specific social factors underlying ethnicity – CS between two typologically unrelated languages, namely Sesotho and English, can exhibit more marks of congruent lexicalization than CS between two typologically related languages, namely Afrikaans and English, while – from the point of view of linguistic constraints – insertional/alternational CS would be expected in the former language pair and congruent lexicalization in the latter. That finding will be placed against the background of different pragmatic norms regulating the conversational use of CS within the Black Sesotho-speaking community (which we will describe as ‘language mixing’ in Auer’s sense) and within the Afrikaans speech community (which in the case of Whites we will describe as tending more towards ‘language alternation’ in Auer’s sense, and in the case of Coloureds as occupying an intermediate position between language alternation and language mixing). The summary of findings on grammatical and conversational CS patterns across ethnic samples will finally be placed against the background of ethnicity and its specific definition in the South African context.


Author(s):  
Vladimir A. Lapin ◽  
Erken S. Aldakhov ◽  
S. D. Aldakhov ◽  
A. B. Ali

For the first time in Almaty full passport of apartment stock of multiapartment building was carried out. The structure of the housing stock was revealed with the allocation of groups of buildings according to structural solutions and assessment of their seismic resistance. Based on the results of certification, quantitative estimates of failure probability values for different types of buildings were obtained. Formulas for estimation of quantitative value of seismic risk are obtained. The number of deaths in the estimated zem-shakes was estimated. The results of the assessments will be used for practical recommendations to reduce risk and expected losses in possible earthquakes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. Shah ◽  
D.N. Mehta ◽  
R.V. Gujar

Bryophytes are the second largest group of land plants and are also known as the amphibians of the plant kingdom. 67 species of bryophytes have been reported from select locations across the state of Gujrat. The status of family fissidentaceae which is a large moss family is being presented in this paper. Globally the family consists of 10 genera but only one genus, Fissidens Hedw. has been collected from Gujarat. Fissidens is characterized by a unique leaf structure and shows the presence of three distinct lamina, the dorsal, the ventral and the vaginant lamina. A total of 8 species of Fissidens have been reported from the state based on vegetative characters as no sporophyte stages were collected earlier. Species reported from the neighboring states also showed the absence of sporophytes. The identification of different species was difficult due to substantial overlap in vegetative characters. Hence a detailed study on the diversity of members of Fissidentaceae in Gujarat was carried out between November 2013 and February 2015. In present study 8 distinct species of Fissidens have been collected from different parts of the state. Three species Fissidens splachnobryoides Broth., Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens curvato-involutus Dixon. have been identified while the other five are still to be identified. Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens xiphoides M. Fleisch., which have been reported as distinct species are actually synonyms according to TROPICOS database. The presence of sexual reproductive structures and sporophytes for several Fissidens species are also being reported for the first time from the state.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document