Metamorphosis in Fairy Tale Translation: Lingucognitive Perspective

The present article is an attempt to study and reveal linguocognitive properties of metamorphosis in line with its translation. The data analysis of this research is carried out on the fairy tale “At the Back of the North Wind” by Scottish fairy tale writer George MacDonald. Theoretical framework keenly touches upon Local translation strategies suggested by Chesterman and model of metamorphosis by Moskvichova. The article meticulously outlines the stylistic and cognitive nature of metamorphosis through which conversion of the transformative into the transformed along with compelling explication of the reasons for the change- its cause- and verb markers/predicates sum up the concept of conversion and transformation.

Blowing in the wind: Using ‘North Wind and the Sun’ texts to sample phoneme inventories

Language documentation faces a persistent and pervasive problem: How much material is enough to represent a language fully? How much text would we need to sample the full phoneme inventory of a language? In the phonetic/phonemic domain, what proportion of the phoneme inventory can we expect to sample in a text of a given length? Answering these questions in a quantifiable way is tricky, but asking them is necessary. The cumulative collection of Illustrative Texts published in the Illustration series in this journal over more than four decades (mostly renditions of the ‘North Wind and the Sun’) gives us an ideal dataset for pursuing these questions. Here we investigate a tractable subset of the above questions, namely: What proportion of a language’s phoneme inventory do these texts enable us to recover, in the minimal sense of having at least one allophone of each phoneme? We find that, even with this low bar, only three languages (Modern Greek, Shipibo and the Treger dialect of Breton) attest all phonemes in these texts. Unsurprisingly, these languages sit at the low end of phoneme inventory sizes (respectively 23, 24 and 36 phonemes). We then estimate the rate at which phonemes are sampled in the Illustrative Texts and extrapolate to see how much text it might take to display a language’s full inventory. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for linguistics in its quest to represent the world’s phonetic diversity, and for JIPA in its design requirements for Illustrations and in particular whether supplementary panphonic texts should be included.

Exploring the speech rhythm continuum

In current speech rhythm research, the traditional search for isochrony and speech rhythm classes has been replaced with a focus on uncovering the acoustic correlates of rhythm in the speech signal (Ramus, Nespor, and Mehler 1999, Grabe and Low 2002, Cummins 2002). In this paper, I present findings from a study in which I describe speech rhythm in a language whose rhythm had not been previously studied—Ashanti Twi (Niger-Congo, Kwa). Additionally, I test the validity of claims made about the utility of various rhythm metrics. Two native speakers of Ashanti Twi participated in the study. Each speaker was recorded while reading a translation of “The North Wind and the Sun”. Vocalic and consonantal intervals were measured in Praat using auditory and visual cues. Various rhythm metrics (interval measurements and Pairwise Variability Indices) were then computed and compared to results from prior studies. Results show that Ashanti Twi is rhythmically more similar to languages that have been traditionally described as syllable-timed, such as French and Spanish. However, it does not fall clearly into the traditional stressor syllable-timed categories, supporting the claim that speech rhythm should be studied as a continuum rather than a categorical distinction.

HORACE'S MONUMENT

Exegi monumentum aere perennius regalique situ pyramidum altius, quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens possit diruere aut innumerabilis annorum series et fuga temporum. Horace, Odes 3.30.1–5 I have finished a monument more durable than bronze and higher than the royal situs of the pyramids, the kind which neither biting rain nor the uncontrolled North Wind can destroy, or the procession of unnumbered years or flying time. The paper argues that altius in line 2 is variously inappropriate; a clue to the true reading is to be found in the passage of Pindar to which Horace is alluding.

'Y Gogleddwynt a'r Haul': early transcriptions of Welsh in Le Maître Phonétique

A traditional fable 'The North Wind and the Sun' was used for many years in the journal Le Maître Phonétique as a short sample text to illustrate the phonetic characteristics of a range of different languages, and as part of this activity several different Welsh versions of the fable were published. One, which reflects a speaker with a northern accent speaking in a formal register, appeared as early as 1911 and then again, slightly modified, in 1912 and 1949. Two further versions, reflecting informal, dialect usage in the Bala district and in Aber- porth in Cardiganshire, appeared in 1926. This paper explores what light these transcriptions shed on the spoken language, and asks how the phoneticians who made them came to be involved.