Emphatic italics and the information structure of a prose text

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-415
Author(s):  
Jiří Lukl
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Functional Sentence Perspective

Abstract The emphatic function of italics has largely been ignored by linguists despite the value its understanding clearly has for written discourse studies. This paper aims to fill this gap. It is inspired by the types of relationship between the degrees of communicative dynamism and the degrees of prosodic prominence which the theory of functional sentence perspective has established for spoken language and applies them to written communication. At the same time, it maintains the distinction between the two modes of communication and suggests that it is only through covert prosody that any real parallels may be sought. The study uses two versions of a small corpus of written fiction. In the first version the original emphatic italics are preserved. In this instance the author’s intended covert prosody is partially accessible to the reader. The second version is one from which emphatic italics were removed. In this case the reader can only rely on their own covert prosody for interpretation. The versions were analyzed separately, and the analyses were then compared. Three relational types between the plain and italicized versions are identified: typographically amplifying, typographically revaluating, and typographically disambiguating. The paper concludes by suggesting some further avenues of research.

scholarly journals THE PROSODIC EMPHASIS OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN LECTURES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(78)) ◽  
pp. 111-114
Author(s):  
Nataliia Koval
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Rhythmic Pattern ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Logical Organization ◽  
Sociocultural Characteristics

The focus of the study is prosodic emphasis and its correlation with the sociocultural characteristics of native speakers who have shown them during lectures. Thus, the accentuation of the informational structure of lectures is regarded as an indicator of the speaker’s language culture. This research was conducted within the framework of academic style. The relevance of this article is because currently the issues of the culture of the studied foreign language, including the culture of the spoken language, are of particular importance in the context of globalization, when English became the language of international communication, which operates on the territories of countries with different cultural traditions. The identification of the British norm of linguistic culture is presented in this article on the example of the prosody of the information structure of lectures. So, the conducted audit analysis of quasi-spoken speech of texts of academic style in British and American lecturers’ implementation allowed the author to draw the following conclusions: 1) the sociocultural characteristics of the speaker largely determine the culture of his/her speech behavior; 2) accentuation, being a particular manifestation of the category of emphasis and performing the function of the logical organization of the utterance, can serve as an indicator of the complexity of thinking; 3) the rhythmic pattern of the experimental sounding material corresponds to generally accepted data – 1:2 for the British version and 1:1.3 for the American one; 4) the most frequent are emphatic patterns having the ratio of stressed syllables to unstressed equal to 1: 1; 1: 1.3; 1: 2.

scholarly journals Syntax, Prosody, Discourse and Information Structure: The case for Unipartite clauses — A View from Spoken Israeli Hebrew / Sintaxe, prosódia, discurso e estrutura informacional: o caso das orações unipartidas. Uma visão do hebraico falado em Israel

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1675
Author(s):  
Shlomo Izre'el
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
History Of Linguistics ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries ◽  
History Of ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient

Abstract: The canonical view of clause requires that it include predication. Utterances that do not fit into this view because they lack a subject are usually regarded as elliptical or as non-sentential utterances. Adopting an integrative approach to the analysis of spoken language that includes syntax, prosody, discourse structure, and information structure, it is suggested that the only necessary and sufficient component constituting a clause is a predicate domain, carrying the informational load of the clause within the discourse context, including a “new” element in the discourse, carrying modality, and focused. Utterances that have not been hitherto analyzed as consisting of full clauses or sentences will be reevaluated. The utterance, being a discourse unit defined by prosodic boundaries, can thus be viewed as the default domain of a clause or a sentence, when the latter are determined according to the suggested integrative approach.Keywords: syntax; clause structure; information structure; discourse; context; prosody; utterance; history of linguistics; spoken Israeli Hebrew.Resumo: A posição canônica sobre as orações requer que elas contenham uma predição. Enunciados que não se encaixem nessa visão porque não possuem um sujeito são usualmente considerados elípticos ou como enunciados não-oracionais. Adotando uma visão integrativa para a análise da língua falada, que inclui a sintaxe, a prosódia, a estrutura discursiva e a estrutura informacional, sugere-se que o único componente constituinte necessário e suficiente para uma oração é um domínio predicativo, o qual carregue a carga informacional da oração no contexto do discurso, incluindo-se um “novo” elemento no discurso, que carregue modalidade e foco. Enunciados que até então foram classificados como não sendo orações ou sentenças completas serão reavaliados. O enunciado, sendo uma unidade discursiva definida por fronteiras prosódicas, pode assim ser visto como o domínio de uma oração ou sentença por excelência, quando estas são determinadas através da abordagem integrativa sugerida.Palavras-chave: sintaxe; estrutura oracional; estrutura informacional; discurso; contexto; prosódia; enunciado; história da Linguística; hebraico israelense falado.

scholarly journals The Dramatic Arc of the Theory of FSP: A Tentative Diachronic Excursion

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Martin Adam
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Functional Sentence Perspective

Abstract The theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP) and its research methods have been considered one of the prominent tools of discourse analysis and information processing. It is widely known that, combining the approaches adopted both by formalists and functionalists, the theory of FSP draws on the findings presented by the scholars of the Prague Circle. The father of FSP himself - Jan Firbas - drew on the findings of his predecessor, Vilem Mathesius, who formulated the basic principles of what was to be labelled FSP only later. Apart from the principal FSP representatives and more recent followers (as a rule associated with Prague or Brno universities), this homage paper overviews somewhat less familiar - yet significant - pioneers in the field of theories of information structure, viz. Henri Weil, Samuel Brassai, Georg von der Gabelentz and Anton Marty. It will discuss some of their writings and achievements that were forming (and inspiring) the theory of FSP.

scholarly journals Emphatic Italics in English Translations: Stylistic Failure or Motivated Stylistic Resources?

2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 424-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Saldanha
Keyword(s):  
Characteristic Feature ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Common Features ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Consistent Feature ◽  
Stylistic Function ◽  
Information Focus

This article argues that emphatic italics, a typographic feature regularly ignored by linguists and associated with poor style, have an important stylistic function in English, often working in implicit association with prosodic patterns in spoken language to signal marked information focus, thus fulfilling an important role in information structure and adding a conversational and involved tone to written texts. Emphatic italics are more common in English than in other languages because tonic prominence is the preferred means of marking information focus in English, while other languages use purely linguistic devices, such as word order. Thus arises the question of what happens in English translations from and into other languages. The study presented here looks at results obtained from a bidirectional English-Portuguese corpus (COMPARA) which suggest that italics may be less common in English translations from Portuguese than in non-translated English texts. This trend could potentially be explained by the use of common features of translated language, in particular explicitation and conservatism (also known as normalization). However, a closer look at the work of particular translators shows that the avoidance or use of italics is not a consistent feature of translations and may be a characteristic feature of the stylistic profile of certain translators.

scholarly journals Information Structure and Reference Systems: Toward a Non-Aprioristic Typology

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Reference System ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Reference Systems

The present article proposes a non-aprioristic approach to analyzing the domains of information structure and reference systems. The article is inspired by the papers in Information structuring of spoken language from a cross-linguistic perspective (Fernandez-Vest and Van Valin (eds.), 2016), and from my own research on languages for which only spoken data exist. As an outcome of this study it may turn out that ‘information structure’ and ‘reference system’ each constitute a distinct functional domain in some languages. The study addresses some of the most interesting findings in languages discussed in the volume, supplemented by my own findings on a variety of languages.

Interpreting omissions

Interpreting ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jemina Napier
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Perspective

This paper discusses findings of a study conducted on Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/English interpreters in a university lecture, with consideration given to factors that influenced the interpreters’ omissions. The hypothesis of the study was that interpreters would make recourse to omissions both consciously and unconsciously, depending on their familiarity with the discourse environment and the subject matter. Through exploration of theoretical perspectives of interpreting and discourse studies, it is argued that interpreters use omissions as linguistic strategies for coping with the discourse environment. The findings of the study present interpreters with a new perspective on omissions in interpreting, which can be applied to both signed- and spoken-language interpreting.

scholarly journals “Giler” Atau “Gile”: Slanga Kata Penguat

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Fatimah Subet ◽  
Muhammad Zaid Daud
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Linguistics

Abstrak Makalah ini bertujuan meninjau pemilihan ejaan “giler” ataupun “gile” yang kerap digunakan dalam slanga yang dijadikan sebagai kata penguat. Tinjauan dibuat untuk menentukan sama ada perkataan ini mendahului atau mengikuti kata adjektif dan berfungsi menguatkan maksud yang terkandung dalam kata atau frasa adjektif berkenaan. Data dikutip melalui temu bual secara rawak dan pengisian borang soal selidik oleh 360 orang responden secara dalam talian dengan aplikasi Google Forms. Kajian mendapati dua perkataan ini telah berfungsi sebagai slanga kata penguat yang sering digunakan, dan menjadi bahasa kebiasaan dalam pertuturan mahupun dalam penulisan tidak formal dalam kalangan masyarakat tanpa mengira umur, jantina, taraf pendidikan, pekerjaan mahupun etnik. Kata kunci: kata penguat, slanga, bahasa dan linguistik, variasi bahasa Abstracts This article focuses on the use of the slang word “giler” or “gile” (lit.: mad, crazy) which has become common usage as an intensifier. The occurrence of this word, whether before or after adjectives, and its intensifying function in adjectival phrases, is examined. Data was collected through random interviews and online questionnaires. Thestudy reveals that these slang words are often used as intensifiers, and are commonly used both in spoken language and informal written communication by the public, regardless of age, gender, educational background, profession or ethnicity. Keywords: intensifiers, slang, language and linguistics, language variation

scholarly journals Style-shifting in Usage Instructions of Food, Beverage, and Pharmaceutical Products in Japanese Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-112
Author(s):  
Mulyadi Mulyadi ◽  
Suhandano Suhandano ◽  
Aris Munandar
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Pharmaceutical Product ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Japanese Study ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The Status ◽  
Style Shifting

The present article attempts to describe the shifting use of formal and informal styles in usage instruction discourse of food, beverage, and pharmaceutical products in Japanese. The aim is to explain the background of style-shifting from a formal style, indicated by -desu in adjectives and nouns and -masu in verbs, into an informal style without any -desu or –masu forms in place. The background is reviewed through the perspectives of both sociolinguistics and pragmatics. The data were collected from various food, beverage, and pharmaceutical product packages containing usage instructions in Japanese. Study results indicate that style-shifting does not only occur through spoken language (orally) but via written discourse, which maintains unchanging external factors or definite contexts. Style-shifting is not only affected by the status of the speech partner but also more likely affected by the content of the information delivered to the consumers. Aside from occurring within a single discourse, style-shifting is also observed at a narrower level, namely within one element of discourse conveying a relatively homogenous information.

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