The Illocutionary Act in Translating Chinese Legislative Texts

Babel ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-253
Author(s):  
Deborah Cao
Keyword(s):  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Illocutionary Act ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
High Level ◽  
Effective Translation

Abstract In this paper one of the prominent linguistic features of legal texts, the illocutionary force, is discussed through the examination of legal performatives found in Chinese legistation and their translation into English. This paper identifies some of the characteristics of illocutionary force in Chinese legislation. An analysis of Chinese legislation has identified five types of performative verbs: (a) verbs preceded by bixu/xu (must or shall); (b) verbs preceded by yingdang/yinggai/ying (should or ought to); (c) verbs in the present tense without any modal verbs: zero performative; (d) verbs preceded by keyi (may); and (e) verbs precede by bude (must not, or shall not). The article argues that illocutionary force is a paramount consideration for legal translators and that effective translation of legislative texts depends upon a high level of translational language competence including illocutionary competence. Résumé Dans cet article, l'un des éléments saillants des textes juridiques, la force illocutionaire, est discutée en examinant les verbes performatifs juridiques trouvés dans la législation chinoise et leur traduction en langue anglaise. L'article identifie quelques caractéristiques de la force illocutionaire dans la législation chinoise. L'analyse de la législation chinoise a permis de reconnaître cinq types de verbes performatifs: (a) les verbes précédés de bixu/xu, ce qui équivaut à l'auxiliaire (must or shall), c'est-à-dire deux formes du verbe 'devoir'; (b) les verbes précédés de yingdang/yinggai/ying (should or ought to), c'est-à-dire forme conditionnelle ou impérative du verbe; (c) les verbes à l'indicatif présent sans aucuns verbes de modalité; verbes performatifs (zéro); (d) les verbes précédés de keyi (may, soit verbe auxiliaire modale); et (e) les verbes précédés de bude (must not or shall not), c'est-à-dire auxiliaires impératifs négatifs. L'article soutient que la force illocutionaire forme un élément majeur pour les traducteurs de textes juridiques et que la traduction même de textes juridiques repose sur une compétence très élevée du langage traductionnel et, en ce comprise la compétence illocutionaire.

scholarly journals A Pragmatic Study of Image Restoration via Corporate Apology in Chinese Internet Corporations

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Zhanghong Xu ◽  
Alan Yan
Keyword(s):  
Image Restoration ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Corporate Image ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Damage Repair ◽  
Shed Light

With the booming of Chinese internet corporations, various wrongdoings have been frequently exposed to the public, which damages their corporate image. To face the challenge, these companies usually resort to apologies for image restoration. This study investigates how apology strategies are employed by Chinese internet corporations to restore image in the event of wrongdoings. Based on a self-built corpus and by means of textual analysis, we identified different apology strategies characterized by various linguistic features. The results show that “Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices (IFIDs)” and “damage repair” are two of the most frequently used move types which are normally marked by such key linguistic features as personal pronouns, modal verbs, performative verbs and intensifiers. It is also found that IFIDs, “giving account” and “admitting mistakes”, “offering repair” and “inviting further interaction” are often incorporated together to show the company’s sincere apologetic stance which contributes to the ultimate goal --- rebuilding corporate image and regaining the public’s trust. However, direct expressions of “asking for forgiveness” are seldom found in apologies crafted by Chinese internet corporations. This study on apologies in the domain of internet corporations is believed to shed light on research on corporate apology in particular and corporate image restoration in general.

scholarly journals THE USE OF MODAL VERBS IN ENGLISH LEGAL TEXTS AND THEIR SERBIAN EQUIVALENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 73-96
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Erić-Bukarica
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Occurrence Rate ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Source Text ◽  
English Version ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Modal Verb ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The aim of this paper is to examine and describe similarities and differences in the use and distribution of modal verbs by contrasting English and Serbian legal texts. The corpus consists of an English version of The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its official Serbian translation. We started from an assumption that modal verbs are more frequent in legal texts in English than in Serbian, where we expected to find examples of lexical items with modal meanings instead. In addition, we assumed that due to its specific use in legal texts of this kind, the English modal ‘shall’ will show the highest frequency of occurrence. A total of one hundred and twenty six (126) modal verbs and a semi-modal ‘need not’ were found in the source text. The results of the analysis support the initial presumption that ‘shall’ will stand out as the most frequent of all modal verbs (60% of all occurrences). Despite the high occurrence rate of the legalistic ‘shall’ in the source text, translation solutions in the target language only rarely take the form of the modal verb. Most often deontic notions of imperative directness and necessity in Serbian legislative writings are expressed by means of the present indicative. The analysis also indicates that translation solutions for the remaining English modal verbs most often take the form of a modal verb or a modal lexeme with a corresponding meaning in Serbian.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE OF THE CITIZENS OF POLAND AND CZECH REPUBLIC WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT ALL-EUROPEAN LINGUISTIC

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 512-523
Author(s):  
Yevhen Gromov ◽  
Alla Kolomiiets ◽  
Natalia Lazarenko ◽  
Olesia Zhovnych ◽  
Liliia Biretska
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
High Level ◽  
Economic Nature

The comparative analysis of the foreign language competence among the citizens of Poland and Czech Republic has been accomplished. The received findings were compared with current observations of all-European linguistic tendencies. Having analysed various statistics the authors succeeded in assembling the social portrait of an average multilingual European. The authors have also considered the fact that over the past years the official percentage of multilingual citizens, both in Poland and the Czech Republic, has significantly decreased due to intensive emigration processes. In the authors’ opinion, this problem is mostly of the socio-economic nature and demonstrates rather not the weakness of educational systems, but the ability of educational institutions of both countries to prepare competitive specialists who are able (due to the high level of foreign language competence) to find decent job in the labour-market of the United Europe. It has also been stated that since the foreign language competence has become a professional and cultural prerequisite for creation of the unified globalized Europe, and multilingualism has become a part of the European identity, the future specialists’ foreign language training in Ukraine should be conducted precisely taking into account the prospects of European integration.

Features of teaching a foreign language in the digital educational environment of the University

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Tat'yana Tancura
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Electronic Learning ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

The article examines the impact of the digitalization process on the creation and use of modern electronic tools and technologies for teaching a foreign language in higher education. The article presents the main electronic tools and technologies that are used in the Financial University during the educational process of teaching a foreign language. The author notes the effectiveness of the implementation of the personality-oriented approach, which is provided by individualization and differentiation of training using the Bank of test tasks created by university teachers, and the electronic educational platform Rosetta Stone Advanced. The use of electronic learning tools and digital technologies allows to develop self-organization of the student. Changing the role of the teacher to the role of the manager of educational activities contributes to the formation of the ability to constant self-studying the student throughout his professional and social life. The effectiveness of the electronic learning tools use is proved by the high level of students’ foreign language competence and their assessment of the foreign language teachers’ pedagogical activity with the results of the survey "Students’ view on teachers".

Learning to Communicate in the Classroom

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Illocutionary Act ◽  
Sociolinguistic Competence ◽  
Linguistic Repertoire ◽  
Esl Classroom

It is now generally accepted that second language (L2) acquisition can take place as a result of learning how to communicate in the L2. It is less clear, however, whether the kind of communication that occurs in a classroom is sufficient to ensure development of full target language competence. This article examines the extent to which the opportunities for communication in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom result in the acquisition of one particular illocutionary act—requests. A total of 410 requests produced by two child learners over 15–21 months were examined. The results suggest that although considerable development took place over this period, both learners failed to develop either the full range of request types or a broad linguistic repertoire for performing those types that they did acquire. The learners also failed to develop the sociolinguistic competence needed to vary their choice of request to take account of different addressees. One explanation for these results is that although the classroom context fostered interpersonal and expressive needs in the two learners, it did not provide the conditions for real sociolinguistic needs.

scholarly journals ЕЛЕКТРОННІ СЛОВНИКИ З УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ МОВИ ЯК ЗАСІБ ФОРМУВАННЯ ЛЕКСИКОГРАФІЧНОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ МАЙБУТНІХ УЧИТЕЛІВ ПОЧАТКОВОЇ ШКОЛИ

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Svitlana V. Pomyrcha ◽  
Ihor R. Puchkov
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Future Teacher ◽  
Primary School Teacher ◽  
Technical Literature ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Informational Technology ◽  
The Future ◽  
High Level

The article presents the problem of forming the lexicographical competence in the system of professional training of the future teacher at the lessons of the philological cycle. By way of studying and analyzing scientific and technical literature the author defines the main directions of native electronic linguodidactics in general and the development and implementation of electronic lexicographical works for educational purposes in particular. To form the lexicographical competence the authors offer to use the informational technology, in particular the system of exercises and tasks of work with electronic dictionaries. The formed lexicographical competence indicates the high level of the future specialists’ language competence, defines the proper level of the development of the students’ lexicographical culture. The relevance of the work is conditioned by the need of forming the lexicographic competence that defines the level of language culture of the future primary school teacher.

scholarly journals Features of the Use of Addressed Statements in Russian Orthodox Sermon

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
V. A. Burtsev
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Main Method ◽  
Illocutionary Act ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Subject

The features of the use of addressed utterances are considered from the point of view of the concept of asubjectivation, as opposed to the locuous activity of the subject of speech. Asubjectivation is defined as the presence in the semantics of the statement of the point of view of a non-assertive judgment subject, which is not perceived by the speaker’s sphere of consciousness and imposes restrictions on the meaning of the illocutionary act. The main method for identifying and describing asubjectivation in addressed utterances in a sermon is the identification of the scope and illocutionary force of the utterance. It has been proven that addressed utterances in a sermon, regardless of the speaker’s intentions, cover any communication participants, including those who turn out to be casual listeners. In addition, asubjectivation manifests itself as a requirement for the speaker to perform the illocutionary act “informative”, addressed to all participants in communication together, and at the same time — the speech act “message”, which regulates adequate interaction with the recipients of speech when using the language in the sermon. As a material, the authors considered statements built on the grammatical base of sentences with propositional (complex with additional clauses) and non-propositional meanings (impersonal with a due predicate). The relevance of the research is associated with the study of a new type of relationship in the semantic-syntactic structure of the sentence. The concept of asubjectivation allows us to formulate principles that regulate the features of referential relations in the structure of a sentence, taking into account the specifics of discourse.

scholarly journals Salienz und Pertinenz – Zur subjektiven Dialektalität remanenter Regionalismen des Mittelbairischen

2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Kiesewalter
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Subjective Data ◽  
Regional Language ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Pure Awareness ◽  
Theoretical Issues

As we know, speech perception and production are strongly influenced by sign-specific "socio-pragmatic indexicality" (cf. Purschke 2014), that is, by the mental conceptions (of meaning, style etc.) people associate with individual linguistic features. I assume that, in German-speaking areas, the "subjective (notion of the) dialectality" of a non-standard feature represents a basic form of socio-pragmatic indexicality and is closely connected to language variation and change, in that the more regionalisms are regarded as non-standard features, the more they vary synchronically and diachronically. Following Purschke (2014), I define the subjective dialectality of regionalisms as being based on their feature-specific "salience" and "pertinence", that is, on both the pure awareness and further evaluation of such features as non-standard variants. A discussion of theoretical issues is followed by the presentation of empirical data from a speech perception study (in the style of Herrgen/Schmidt 1985). Scale-based judgments by Northern, Central and Southern German listeners provide evidence about the subjective dialectality of 15 Bavarian regionalisms. They further reveal how subjective dialectality is related to listeners' origins and regional language competence. Comparing the subjective data with two Bavarian speakers' language use reveals the relation between subjective dialectality and synchronic variation in the analysed regionalisms.

scholarly journals POWER THROUGH LINGUISTIC MODALITIES IN INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Rosyida Ekawati
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Expert Power ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
The Social

Language plays a crucial role in political speech. The use of a particular language canreflect or be influenced by the speaker’s ideology, power, cultural/social background, region, or social status. This paper is concerned with the relationship between language and power, specifically as manifested in the language used by an Indonesian president in international forums. It aims to uncover the power relations that were projected through the linguistic features of the president’s speech texts, particularly the use of modal verbs. Data for this paper are the speeches on the topics of peace and climate change delivered by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in international forums during his first and second presidential terms. This paper’s analysis of linguistic modalities uses Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to answer its research questions. The results show that, in projecting his power, SBY used several linguistic modal verbs. From the context of the modality used it can be understood that the president conveyed his strategic desire to be himself as he tried to relate to the audience (as he assumed it to be) and construct an image of himself, of his audience, and of their relationship. The president produced discourse that embodied assumptions about the social relations between his leadership and the audience and asserted both his legitimate power as president and his expert power. Through the language used, SBY created, sustained, and replicated the fundamental inequalities and asymmetries in the forums he attended.

scholarly journals Formation of communicative competence of preschool teachers as a factor of creation of a bilingual educational environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Extra-C) ◽  
pp. 203-214
Author(s):  
Elena Borisovna Bystrai ◽  
Larisa Aleksandrovna Belova ◽  
Natalia Efimovna Kunina ◽  
Boris Alexandrovich Artemenko ◽  
Irina Viktorovna Kolosova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Behavioral Context ◽  
Interactive Teaching ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Language Class ◽  
High Level ◽  
Experimental Group

We conducted a pedagogical experiment among students of the Faculty of Preschool Education of the "South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University". After the experiment, it was dicovered how the students' motivation to learn a foreign language had changed. The percentage of motivated students in the experimental group increased by about 10%. According to the level of formation of the procedural component of interactive competence, the results in the experimental group changed as follows: the low level of formation of the procedural component of interactive competence changed from 31% to 15%, the number of students with an average level of formation of the procedural component of interactive competence increased from 54% to 70%, the percentage of students with a high level of formation of this component of interactive competence remained the same. We believe that the use of interactive teaching methods in a foreign language class contributes to the formation of interactive competence, the basis of which is the necessity to combine language competence, professional knowledge and skills, as well as the socio-behavioral context.  

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