Specific Features of Linguistic Coding of Elements of a Godonym Space

The article analyses linguistic constituency of the godonym space of three cities in the Volgograd region – Volgograd, Kamyshin and Petrov Val. The godonym space is a set of geographic names officially assigned to linear topo objects located within settlements. Having taken into account the definitions of the term "linguistic code" in linguistics, the authors offer their interpretation of the phenomenon under study. The research revealed the most important features of the linguistic code: consistency, structural unity, relevant-to-users information, as well as conventionality and symbolism, which convey positive assessments. The linguistic codes that understate intracity linear topo objects nominations are distinguished and specified as memorial, locative, topographic, anthropogenic, symbolic, naturalistic, relatively-abstract, orderly types. Both the general features of motivations in the code actualization for naming linear topographic objects, and the specific set of odonyms that nominates locations in the godonym space of every of the three cities have been established. It was noted that, being the largest, Volgograd godonym space demonstrates variety of linguistic codes, whereas Kamyshin and Petrov Val codes are specified by memorial, local, topographis, anthropogenic and symbolic types. The article offers for observation the historically defined set of geographical names of linear topographic objects in the three cities of the Volgograd region, which reflects multiple ethnic contacts of it, and renaming of road names due to the local authorities "interference" in the godonym space.

Translating authorial presence

Of increasing interest in cross-linguistic variation in academic discourse is the way in which writers use first-person pronouns (FPPs) to promote their agency. While research has shown that language specific socio-cultural, rhetorical and lexico-grammatical factors impact levels of self-concealment vs. self-promotion, less attention has been paid to the ways in which translated texts are sensitive to these discoursal traditions. We address this gap by analyzing frequency, rhetorical use, and grammatical form of FPPs in a corpus of research article (RA) abstracts in biology written by Russian and international researchers in two peer-reviewed bilingual journals. Three subcorpora were analyzed: (i) L1 Russian abstracts; (ii) the same abstracts translated into English; (iii) abstracts by international biologists in English from the same journals. The FPP tokens were identified and their frequency, rhetorical use, and forms were compared. The results show significant differences between the corpora which supports previous findings on cross-cultural variation in authorial presence in research genres. The results also suggest that the translation not only transfers L1 linguistic code but also adds a stronger emphasis on author agency. Implications for translating RAs into English as an exercise in linguistic, cognitive, and pragmatic equivalence as well as for accommodating discourse conventions of English as a lingua franca of science are explored.

Różewicz vs. Różewicz, czyli o noweli „Piwo” Tadeusza Różewicza i jej ekranizacji w reżyserii Stanisława Różewicza

The author of this article makes a comparative interpretation of Tadeusz Różewicz’s novella Piwo [Beer] and its film adaptation directed by Stanisław Różewicz. Among other things, the researcher asks the question: to what extent do the differences between the film material and the text material – in this particular case – stem from the specificity of the film language and its autonomy in relation to literature? He believes that this can be explained by the fact that the action of the film takes place only in the station’s waiting room; the movement between the inn and the station, undoubtedly justified in the case of the original text, would be for the viewer something illegible and disturbing to the sequence of events. The multilevel linguistic code forcing symbolic readings, so important in Różewicz’s prose, seems, however, not to be translatable (at least not in its entirety) into the language of the image, which enforces a number of other artistic solutions. It seems that the film work here speaks the language of symbols on a different level.

Gramática lúdica y creativa. Una experiencia para hacer más accesibles los contenidos gramaticales en Educación Primaria

La enseñanza de la lengua y la literatura ha de ser una experiencia lúdica y sensorial para el alumnado, sobre todo a la hora de desarrollar contenidos curriculares referidos a la reflexión sobre la propia lengua y la gramática. Este trabajo expone una investigación empírica llevada a cabo mediante el trabajo de campo y la realización de actividades lúdicas en torno a los usos del lenguaje, desarrollada primero con 18 alumnos del Grado de Maestro de la Facultad de Educación de Soria (Universidad de Valladolid) y, después, con 274 escolares de seis centros de Educación Primaria de la ciudad donde desarrollan sus prácticas curriculares. La experiencia consistió en la realización, bajo la supervisión de sus tutores, de actividades a modo de juegos creativos en tres niveles lingüísticos: letras, palabras y textos. Los objetivos planteados fueron: despertar la curiosidad y el sentido critico del alumnado participante en la experiencia, tanto universitario como de la etapa de Educación Primaria; propiciar la reflexión sobre el código lingüístico para mejorar la expresión oral y escrita de los escolares; y facilitar la asimilación de diversos contenidos curriculares de forma libre, autónoma y cooperativa. Al presentarse como juegos, pudieron aplicarse con igual rendimiento en estas dos etapas educativas (Primaria y Universidad). En su realización, los errores se contemplaron como una oportunidad creativa. Los resultados obtenidos confirman el valor de la enseñanza de la gramática de forma lúdica y creativa. La mayoría de los escolares de Educación Primaria mejoró los resultados en cuanto a esfuerzo, corrección lingüística o lectura en voz alta; por su parte el alumnado universitario apreció la importancia de incluir recursos lúdicos en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, al repercutir sobre una mejor actitud afectiva del alumnado, reforzando la importancia de la sugestopedia como metodología en la enseñanza lingüística. Este trabajo expone una experiencia basada en actividades lúdicas que han sido desarrollada primero con 18 alumnos del Grado de Maestro de la Facultad de Educación de Soria (Universidad de Valladolid) y, después, con 274 escolares de seis centros de Educación Primaria de la ciudad donde desarrollan sus prácticas curriculares. La experiencia consistió en la realización, bajo la supervisión de sus tutores, de actividades a modo de juegos creativos en tres niveles lingüísticos: letras, palabras y textos, con el objetivo de despertar la curiosidad y el sentido crítico, propiciar la reflexión sobre el código y mejorar la expresión oral y escrita de los escolares, al tiempo que se asimilaban de forma libre, autónoma y cooperativa diversos contenidos gramaticales. Al presentarse como juegos, pudieron aplicarse con igual rendimiento en diversas etapas educativas. En su realización se contempló el error como una oportunidad creativa (Rodari, 2008). Los resultados obtenidos confirman el valor de esta metodología, al tiempo que se destaca la ayuda que pueden ofrecer al profesorado para el tratamiento de contenidos académicos que, con enfoques más tradicionales, presentan más dificultades de asimilación entre el alumnado, debido a su escasa capacidad para motivarle y para despertar su interés, pero necesarios para desarrollar la competencia lingüística y comunicativa. Teaching language and literature should be a ludic and sensorial experience for students, especially when it comes to developing curricular content targeting students’ own reflection about their language and grammar. Data were obtained through the completion of creative and playful activities about language, developed first with 18 students of Education Degree in Soria (University of Valladolid) and, later, with 274 students from six Primary schools where university students developed their curricular practices. The experience consisted of the design and conduction, under school tutors’ supervision, of creative games which targeted three linguistic levels: letters, words and texts. More specifically, the objectives included: to awake learners’ curiosity and critical thinking; to promote reflection on the linguistic code for improving oral and written expression; and to facilitate the assimilation of several grammatical contents freely, autonomously and cooperatively. Since these activities were presented as games, they were applied with the same performance levels at university and at primary school settings. Mistakes were considered opportunities for creativity. The results obtained confirm the value of teaching grammar in a playful and creative way. Most of the Primary students improved their results in terms of effort, linguistic correction and reading aloud. University students highlighted the importance of including recreational resources in teaching and learning processes as this had a positive effect on primary school learners’ affective attitude. The results obtained reinforce the importance of suggestion-pedagogy as a method in language teaching. This work exposed an experience with 18 university students from Education Degree in Soria (University of Valladolid) who have been involved as part of their own university training and later they have applied this experience to 274 students from six schools of the city, during its curricular practices. This experience consisted, under the supervision of their tutors in Schools, in several activities applied as creative games with three linguistic levels: letters, words and texts, with the aim of awakening curiosity and critical sense, promoting reflection on the linguistic code and improve oral and written expression, while assimilating various grammatical contents freely, autonomously and cooperatively. When activities are presented as games, they could be applied with equal performance in various educational stages. In its realization, error was seen as a creative opportunity (Rodari, 2008). The results confirm the value of this methodology, while highlighting the help it can offer to teachers for the treatment of academic content that, with more traditional approaches, presents more assimilation difficulties among students, due to its limited ability to motivate him and arouse his interest, but necessary to develop linguistic and communicative competence.

ENGLISH – TRIGEDASLENG CODE-SWITCHING IN THE CW SERIES “THE 100”

The present article deals with the issue of establishing the characters' reasons or motivations for code-switching between English and the constructed language, Trigedasleng, in the American TV series “The 100”. To accomplish this objective, a sample of six episodes issued from seasons 2 and 3 of the series, have been analyzed using an observational approach. The qualitative analysis has considered the different situations, contexts. and functions where each linguistic code is used. The results revealed that the major causes for such alternation include affective and strategic functions in situational and conversational environments, where English and Trigedasleng are assigned a specific place. It has also been observed, however, that the screenplay allowed the characters, bilingual or not, to use both languages indistinctly to evidence the speakers' linguistic resourcefulness as well as to provoke different reactions in the TV audience as has been determined by the developer and screenwriters of the series.

Misunderstandings about developmental dyslexia: a historical overview

History of the reading disorder not due to an intellectual disability, inadequate teaching systems or poor motivation to study, referred to as developmental dyslexia, has very remote origins. The first attempts explain the disorder as a primary ‘visual defect’. Since then, several models have been developed until autopsy and histo-pathological studies on the brains of developmental dyslexics provided neuroanatomical evidence on the structural and morphologic differences between normal and dyslexic brains. In addition, the new neuroimaging technologies have allowed to understand the neural systems of reading and dyslexia. According to recent studies, developmental dyslexia appears as a neurodevelopmental multicomponent language-related disorder with a deficit in phonological decoding and in visuospatial organization of linguistic code. As a result, rehabilitation must be focused on the recovery of language and visuo-spatial and attentional processes underlying the complex and multi-component developmental dyslexia. This brief overview should be a valid tool for a deeper understanding of the dyslexic disorder. Literature searches in Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science identified one hundred articles focusing attention on how this disorder has been considered over the years.

AL-QUR’AN DAN SASTRA: ANTARA ETIKA, ESTETIKA, DAN PROFETIKA

This paper aims to explore the meaning of a verse in the Al-Qur'an which is actually a message, bringing memories to reality, namely that although it is integrated into the Arabic linguistic system, the text of the Al-Qur'an has its own characteristics. The Qur'an, a unique text, makes use of a certain lively and dynamic 'linguistic code' to transfer its distinctive 'treatise'. This peculiarity was later recognized by the Arabs, and even made the people who attacked the treatise admire. Starting from the various uniqueness possessed by the Al-Qur'an, and moreover, there arose a challenge from the Qur'an itself to the Arabs to replicate, duplicate, and create something new on a number of texts such as the Qur'an, for example the letter -a letter in short, gave birth to the idea of ​​the absolute 'incommensurability (i'jaz)' of the Qur'an. A study of solving social complexity that can create harmony amidst the variability of society.

Zimbabwean prison argot:

The prison is a unique discourse community, often characterised by the use of a peculiar commonly shared communicative code. In a country such as Zimbabwe in which inmates generally come from different and diverse ethnolinguistic and sociolinguistic backgrounds, the need for a common communicative code amongst inmates cannot be overstated. Communication amongst inmates is often through ‘cant’, ‘argot’ or slang and these are usually prison specific since they are formulated within. The formulation of prison ‘cant’ is also oftentimes necessitated by inmates’ need to create and own an alternative ‘safe’ interactive linguistic space that ‘evades’ prison authorities due to the ‘cat and mouse’ nature of prison life. Prison is thus here envisioned as a cultural and linguistic space and the linguistic codes used within prison walls can be considered as sociolects or language varieties – more precisely to be conceived of as slang/tsotsitaal. Prison life, thus, has its own value systems and norms which are strengthened through such a linguistic code. Once one gets in prison, he or she adapts to a new culture and language which is spoken by other fellow inmates. Herein, we examine sociolinguistically the etymology of the vocabulary of the discourse of inmates at Whawha Medium Offenders Prison in Gweru, Zimbabwe.