A comparative and diachronic analysis of film title translations and appellative effect transfer into Croatian and German

Studies of film title translations remain scant to this day. The existing studies mainly focus on investigating the sources of difficulties during the translation process. Although the studies employ different analytical approaches, the conclusion in almost all investigations is that the decisive objective during the translation process is the transfer or production of the appellative effect. This study investigates which strategies are employed during translation into Croatian and German and why, as well as possible diachronic changes in the choice of translation strategies. We created a corpus of 935 film titles from 1923 to 2017 and their translations into Croatian and German, which we first classified as either direct translations, free translations, transcreations or transcriptions, and finally we quantitatively and qualitatively analysed the data. Our results show significant differences between the two subcorpora in the choice of translation strategies and motivation, as well as in the patterns of diachronic change. Furthermore, correlations with specific cultural-historical processes are observed.

The syntax of metaphor

This paper analyses diachronic changes which result from metaphorical extension. Its aim is to assess whether such semantic shifts may lead to further semantic and syntactic differentiation between the verb senses and whether they can be described as shifts away or towards prototypical transitivity (cf. Hopper & Thompson 1980). It focusses on changes the verb derail underwent in the 19th and 20th centuries. In a corpus-based analysis, it utilises CART trees and a random forest to determine which syntactic and semantic properties differentiate literal and metaphorical uses of derail. Results reveal a syntactic shift from transitive to intransitive in the older literal construction which hardly affects the younger metaphorical one. This indicates that differentiation can be an epiphenomenon of semantic shifts.

Diachronic Changes of Frequencies in Discourse Connectives in English: Evidence from COHA

Recent studies have claimed that the amount of discourse connectives or discourse markers has risen in multiple languages. However, the thesis has seldom been evaluated using comprehensive empirical data evidence. This study investigates the historical changes of frequencies in discourse connectives in the English language over the last two hundred years. We find that the frequencies of the majority of discourse connectives showed a marked decrease. An opposing trend can be seen with respect to only a few types of discourse connectives. These research results show that the frequencies of discourse markers in English have not in fact increased over the last two centuries. We analyze the possible reasons for this decline. And this result suggests that English language users tend to use explicit discourse connectives less frequently, which finding may challenge recent claims concerning the rise of discourse connectives (markers).

Cross-lexicographic analysis of the concepts of sociopolitical discourse of the Chinese language

The object of this research is the concepts of sociopolitical discourse of the Chinese language, selected by the continuous sampling method. The subject of this research is the cross-lexicographic coefficient, which is derived mathematically within the framework of the cross-lexicographic analysis of these concepts. The goal is set to determine the diachronic changes in the meanings of lexemes of sociopolitical discourse via cross-lexicographic analysis based on dictionary materials compiled by the prominent Russian and foreign sinologists over the period from 1888 to 2002. Attention is drawn to such theoretical concepts as semantics, pragmatics and discourse. Description is given to the key characteristics of sociopolitical discourse, as well as the methodology of formation of the corresponding conceptual apparatus. The research leans on the method of continuous sampling from lexicographic sources. The scientific novelty lies in the development of innovative methods of statistical analysis of the conceptual apparatus of sociopolitical discourse of the modern Chinese language. Among the acquired results, the author notes the transformation of meanings of the selected lexemes through the analysis of metalanguage of the dictionaries. The uniqueness of this article consists in the analysis of the vast range of the previously unpublished archival lexicographic sources of the Chinese language. The author also reveals the dynamics of changes in the selected lexical means by means of the derived cross-lexicographic coefficient, as well as determines the key vectors of their discursive transformations and evolution of linguopragmatic functions.

The Appropriate Dose of Remimazolam Combined with Remifentanil in Anesthesia for Gastroscopy

Background: The appropriate doses of remimazolam combined with remifentanil were investigated in anesthesia gastroscopy by observing the effect of two methods of administration in fixed doses and dosed by ideal weight on success rate and recover effect in painless gastroscopy. Methods: A total of 400 patients underwent the anesthesia of gastroscopy were randomized to divide into five groups (W1, W2, F1, F2 and C Group) in endoscopy center, with 80 cases in each group. All patients were given 0.25ug/kg of remifentanil before gastroscopy. The success rate, the quality of anesthesia resuscitation, heart rate, blood pressure, Pulse oxygen saturation, perioperative adverse events and Modified observer’ s assessment of alert/sedation (MOAA/S) diachronic changes were recorded. Results: In terms of anesthetic effects of the first dose of the drug(P<0.05), the patients in F1 group showed be lack of sedation obviously. The success rate of induction in F2 group was higher than that in F1 group. The success rate of sedation in W2 groups was highest (96%). The control group was second to W2 Group. Blood pressure in W2 Group was lower than W1 Group after first administration(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in next several minutes. There was no difference in blood pressure between W2 Group and C Group at T1(P>0.05). There was no difference in the changes of heart rate, recovery time and discharge time(P>0.05). The incidence of cough in F1 and W1 is high(P<0.05). Conclusions: Remimazolam combined with remifentanil used were safe, and 0.3mg/kg of remimazolam combined with 0.25ug/kg of remifentanil by ideal body weight is better in painless gastroscopy.Trial registration: The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov: ChiCTR2100041759, registered 4 January 2021.

How long is ‘a long term’ for sound change?

This paper investigates the adoption of ongoing community sound change by individuals by considering it as an instance of second-dialect acquisition. Four ongoing changes in Dutch, all involving the move from one-allophone to two-allophone systems, make this possible: these ongoing diachronic changes are simultaneously a source of synchronic variation between Netherlandic Dutch and Flemish Dutch. The paper investigates the adoption of these differences by sociolinguistic migrants: Flemish-Dutch speakers who migrated to the Netherlands to start their university studies. Participants were tracked over the course of nine months, using a rhyme-decision task and a word-list-reading task. Results show robust differences from Netherlandic-Dutch controls, which do not diminish over the nine months. While longer-term accommodation to these same changes has been found elsewhere, it appears that nine months is not enough time. The implications of these findings for various subfields of linguistics, particularly sound change and second-dialect acquisition, are discussed.

INTERPERSONALITY IN RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSTRACTS: A DIACHRONIC CASE STUDY

Research article (RA) abstracts are not mere shortened versions of the research article content but constitute a separate genre of academic discourse with its own specific features, one of them being its interactional nature. This paper explores interactional metadiscourse markers occurring in RA abstracts from the diachronic perspective. The main focus is therefore on variation and change in the use of these linguistic means since it may be expected that their distribution could evolve over time, even though scholars follow specifi c writing conventions when writing RA abstracts. Connected with this is the question whether growth in the mean length of RA abstracts has led to any rhetorical change. Providing an answer to this question is another aim of this paper. The study is based on a corpus of 96 RA abstracts from the fi eld of Applied Linguistics published in a prestigious linguistic journal entitled Journal of Pragmatics over the course of the last 35 years. The theoretical framework followed here is the taxonomy of metadiscourse proposed by Hyland (2005a), which is particularly convenient as it off ers a pragmatically-grounded method of analysing interactional metadiscourse markers in academic texts. As the results suggest, the distribution of interactional metadiscourse markers has undergone diachronic changes, e.g. in the use of hedging and boosting devices, confi rming the dynamic character of this often overlooked genre of academic discourse with regard to its interpersonal aspects.

A quantitative analysis of age-related differences in Hindi–English code-switching

Aims and objectives: Numerical indices developed by Guzman et al. that helped characterize code-switching (CS) patterns in Spanish–English bilingual corpora, were tested on a Hindi–English bilingual corpus. Two main research questions were addressed: first, how does Hindi–English compare with Spanish–English, and second, are there measurable differences in broad CS patterns between older and younger speakers? Methodology: Television interviews of Hindi movie (Bollywood) personalities were transcribed and coded for Hindi and English lexemes. Bespoke software in Python was used to calculate the required indices, which provided information on variables such as the level of language mixing, switching probability, and the distributions of single-language spans. Further indices, such as mean span length and an approximate ratio of insertions to alternations were also calculated. Data and analysis: The indices calculated for the Hindi–English corpus broadly match those calculated for Spanish–English. Statistically significant differences between the older and younger group were detected for some key indices, with older speakers generally using less English. High levels of intra-group variability may be responsible for some indices not showing statistically significant diachronic change. Conclusions: The Guzman et al. indices suggest that Hindi–English and Spanish–English CS resemble each other in certain ways. There have been broad changes in Hindi–English CS patterns over the last few decades, but there are indications that the CS behaviour of individual speakers might change in different ways. Originality: This is the first study to systematically and quantitatively investigate age-related differences in Hindi–English CS, using naturalistic speech in semi-controlled conditions. Implications: The quantitative indices investigated in this study can be used to compare CS behaviour in different language pairs, and can also help detect diachronic changes in CS patterns.