Norms, affect and evaluation in the reception of literary translations in multilingual online reading communities

This article uses the Digital Opinions on Translated Literature (dioptra-l) corpus to study readers’ perceptions of and responses to translation in a naturalistic setting, focusing on the normative constructs or cognitive-evaluative templates they use to conceptualise, evaluate and respond to translations. We answer two main questions: (1) How visible, or salient, is the fact of translation to readers reading a translated literary text, and are there differences in the degree and nature of this visibility for different languages and translation directions? (2) What are the main concepts, and emotional and evaluative parameters that readers use to describe translated literary texts, and are there differences in these concepts and parameters when considered by different translation directionalities and genres? We make use of computational methods, including collocational network analysis, keyword analysis, and sentiment analysis to extract information about the salience of translation, and the networks of emotive and evaluative language that are used around the concept of translation. This forms the basis of our proposals for particular cognitive-evaluative templates.

Saying ‘No’ to Immigration Quota: An Analysis of Evaluative Language in Hungarian and Romanian Political Discourse

One of the most controversial issues during the 2015 migrant crisis and the subsequent process of reformulating immigration policies by the European Union was that of the mandatory resettlement quota. Hungary and Romania formulated very different positions related to migration, but both were critical regarding the mandatory quota. This study analyses parts of declarations and speeches of two heads of state, Viktor Orbán for Hungary and Klaus Iohannis for Romania, concerning the quota issue, by employing the framework of evaluative language, which focuses on the dialogic, interpersonal aspects of utterances. Beyond the fact of rejecting the quota, Martin and White’s (2005) taxonomy brings to the forefront the linguistic means through which the two speakers evaluate the subject (a problem of logistics that needs a pragmatic approach or a matter of cultural and national identity) and establish (dis)alignment as representatives of their countries (“official voices” of Hungary and Romania) with regard to the EU position.

Ethnolinguocultural Specifics of the Russian Concept "Court": Based on Proverbs

The article considers the value component of the concept "court" in the Russian everyday linguistic consciousness based on the corpus of proverbs of judicial subjects. The ambiguity of the perception of the concept of "court" by ordinary legal consciousness is revealed. The linguistic means of positive and negative evaluation of the court are recorded. Evaluative language means express oppositions of ethno-cultural moral and ethical concepts: "(not)truth" / "lie", "(not)justice", "offense", "(not) righteousness", "good" / "evil". In everyday linguistic consciousness, the standard of justice is represented as a right, direct (objective, fair, lawful) court, carried out by a kind, righteous (honest, fair, conscientious, decent, law-abiding) judge, subject to the operation of the law (saint, peacemaker). The provision on the unconditional opposition of the ethical and legal aspects of the Russian linguistic consciousness is corrected: the conceptual syncretism "truth – justice – legality" is revealed. V. Popova. Ethnolinguocultural Specifics of the Russian Concept "Court": Based on Proverbs The article considers the value component of the concept "court" in the Russian everyday linguistic consciousness based on the corpus of proverbs of judicial subjects. The ambiguity of the perception of the concept of "court" by ordinary legal consciousness is revealed. The linguistic means of positive and negative evaluation of the court are recorded. Evaluative language means express oppositions of ethno-cultural moral and ethical concepts: "(not)truth" / "lie", "(not)justice", "offense", "(not) righteousness", "good" / "evil". In everyday linguistic consciousness, the standard of justice is represented as a right, direct (objective, fair, lawful) court, carried out by a kind, righteous (honest, fair, conscientious, decent, law-abiding) judge, subject to the operation of the law (saint, peacemaker). The provision on the unconditional opposition of the ethical and legal aspects of the Russian linguistic consciousness is corrected: the conceptual syncretism "truth – justice – legality" is revealed.

Subjektive und objektive Daten in der Sprachwandelforschung.

Language change is generally regarded as change of linguistic items or of the language system. In this sense it might be described and explained by the observation of varying use and evaluation of language. Developments concerning the conditions of use and the characteristics of evaluation are rarely regarded as cases of language change itself. Recently, however, there seems to be a shift towards a wider understanding of language change, distinguishing change of structure, use and evaluation. This shift is accompanied by the distinction of subjective and objective language data. Studies that combine objective and subjective data enable a comprehensive view of the characteristics and causes of language change. The present paper uses data from speakers of two different age groups from the Grafschaft Bentheim district on the German-Dutch border to illustrate the mutual dependency of structural and evaluative language change. The investigation will be carried out in an apparent-time-analysis based on a translation tasks (as a type of objective data) and semantic differentials (subjective data). Although the attested differences between the age groups turned out to be comparatively small, there are correlations between the results regarding subjective and objective data to be stated.

Corpus Linguistics in Legal Discourse

There are many different ways in which modern Corpus Linguistics can be used to enrich and broaden our understanding of legal discourse. Based on the central principle of co-occurrence and co-selection in language construction, this paper reviews current applications of Corpus Linguistics in the area of legal discourse focusing on issues ranging from phraseology, variation in legal discourse, legal translation, register and genre perspectives on legal discourse, legal discourse in forensic contexts to evaluative language in judicial settings. It revisits the notion of ‘corpus’ and it highlights the relevance of various types of legal corpora and computer tools in legal linguistic research.

Taking an authorial stance in English and Arabic research article discussions

Taking an authorial stance is essential in academic writing but remains a challenge for novice researchers, especially EFL/ESL writers. This study explores how authors of English and Arabic research article discussions employ evaluative language resources while commenting on their results. To this end, the study investigated the employment of Engagement resources within Appraisal Theory (Martin & White 2005). The findings exhibited a great divergence between the two language groups as Arabic discussions relied more on Contracting strategies, which indicate the tendency to close down the space for dialogic alternatives, while their English counterparts preferred Expanding resources, which open up the dialogic space for alternative voices. The study, therefore, bears some pedagogical implications for L2 learners.

Positive evaluation in the language of human resources: textbooks versus reality

The aim of the present paper is to focus on the language of Human Resources (HR) as one of the subfields of English for business purposes in respect of positive evaluation and stancetaking and to identify to what extent evaluative language common in real-life situations is reflected in currently available textbooks of English for HR (EHR). Authentic language is taken from blogs and interviews with prominent HR managers on www.thehrdirector.com, which is a global online magazine dedicated to HR professionals. The corpus created from these texts is analysed from the point of view of evaluative language and the data ascertained are put into contrast with the language presented in three commonly available HR English textbooks. The analysis focusses on the lexical level of language and is based on the Appraisal framework (and the system of Attitude) of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Even though the present study is intended as qualitative rather than quantitative, the findings are quantified in order to shed some light on the commonality and frequency of some of the phenomena ascertained and their reflection in the textbooks. The outcomes of the analysis might serve as food for thought and inspiration for tertiary-level teachers of general business English courses as well as highly specialised courses focusing on the language of human resources.