Hypotheticality and Level of Construal

Construal level theory suggests that less likely, more distant counterfactual events and actions will be represented more abstractly. However, the effect of hypotheticality on level of construal has been studied less than the effect of other dimensions of psychological distance (time, space, social distance) and recently did not replicate in two experiments (Calderon et al. 2020). Two sets of pre-registered studies attempted to close this empirical gap. In the first set, participants described more and less likely events in their life. Participants rated the mental representations of the less likely, more distant counterfactual events as being less clear and detailed. Text analysis revealed also that the descriptions of those events were less concrete. In the second set of studies, participants completed the Behavioral Identification Form, in which they chose between abstract and concrete descriptions of actions. Participants preferred to describe actions that were only a hypothetical possibility by their abstract means and actions that were actually performed by their concrete means, whether hypotheticality was manipulated within- or between-participants. We discuss potential difficulties of manipulating hypotheticality and suggest how to overcome them. We address, more generally, the nature of hypotheticality and how it is both similar to and different from other psychological distances.

Moments and mechanisms of intervention along textual trajectories: Norm negotiations in English-medium research writing

Academic text production usually includes various people intervening in the text at different stages of the writing and evaluation process. By focusing on trajectories of English-medium research papers, this article explores the moments and mechanisms of intervention in the text production processes, as well as the associated norm negotiations. The study takes a dynamic approach to text analysis, with focus on tracing the text histories of the research papers from the perspective of how the writing is regulated by different actors and in different ways at various stages along the trajectories. The data include two detailed text histories, covering research interviews with authors and their colleagues, copies of several drafts of the texts, language revisions, written comments from different brokers (reviewers, editors and colleagues), and recordings of research group meetings around writing. The findings illustrate how various evaluation mechanisms and practices function to enable and restrict interventions by specific actors, and how these actors may evoke different evaluating authorities. It is concluded that the moments of intervention serve as sites for (re)negotiating norms and appropriateness criteria.

Faulty Traditional Practices in Infant Care

Proper advice regarding home-based care of normal infants is no less important than managing critical diseases. Otherwise parents tend to follow traditional practices running in the family which are often deleterious. Clinicians must also be aware of the faulty traditional practices so that they can actively enquire them in the child’s history. The author enlisted various such faulty traditional practices as experienced by him during his OPD practice in various public and corporate hospitals over a period of five years. Topics relating mainly to the infant age group have been chosen for this article. Relevant search was done on these topics in standard paediatric textbooks, journals, and websites (like WHO, NICE, AAP) to find the validity of these practices as well as the standard recommendations on these topics. It was found that the standard recommendations often differ from the traditional practices. Detailed text was included from various authentic sources regarding few dubious topics related to home-based infant care. Clinicians should be aware of the correct recommended methods regarding the day to day homebased infant care. They should counsel the parents accordingly so as to avoid any harm caused by faulty traditional practices and social beliefs.

ON SOME PARTICULAR CASES OF TRANSLATION AND SELF-TRANSLATION

e article briefly discusses some of the fundamental principles of the theory and practice of translation, specialized translation, machine translation, self-translation and English for specific purposes with the aim to present and analyze some particular cases of self-translated texts for specific purposes produced by SWU lecturers. Since the volume of an article does not allow a detailed text with numerous examples, I have selected and focused only on three samples from a larger investigation conducted among SWU lecturers who write their academic articles in Bulgarian first, and then, translate them in the English language. The investigation revealed that in the process of translation the authors tend to use machine translation and to restate the original Bulgarian text which led to the conclusion that these are examples of self-translation of scientific texts. This issue has been paid little attention by professionals in the field of translation and language studies and it seems that nowadays examples of self-translation will be observed more and more frequently due to the highly globalized world we live in and the dynamic need to communicate, receive and deliver scientific knowledge, discoveries, novelties, etc. It is an undisputable fact that generally this communication and exchange of information is held in English.

The Lyric and Its Reading – Paul de Man’s Theory of Lyric

The concept of lyric is a central component of Paul de Man’s theory of poetry. In several papers but first of all in his „Anthropomorphism and Trope in the Lyric” he developed a coherent understanding of the lyric as an act of modernism. Its epistemological character was given through Nietzsche’s often quoted statement on the metaphorical, anthropological and performative nature of subjective language and language use. The development of these ideas, however, took place through a detailed text-interpretation of two Baudelaire poems that served as metapoetical definitions of different poetical stances. It is possible that the idea of the lyric and reading lyric defined through anthropomorphism and phenomenality refers to, can be read like an elaborated epistemology of modern, subjective textuality too.

When ownership hurts: Remembering the in-group wrongdoings after a long lasting collective amnesia

This study explores the effects of two different kinds of text addressed to young Italian students, which convey past in-group war-crimes either in a detailed or in an evasive way. After completing a first questionnaire (and confirming the social amnesia on these crimes) a sample of Italian university students (number: 103; average age: 21.79) read two versions (factual vs. evasive) of a same historical text on Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–36). The results show that participants reading a detailed text feel react more emotionally and feel more involved. However, the more negative reactions linked to the detailed text were also associated to a stronger will to repair intergroup relations with the descendents of ancient victims of the in-group crimes. Positive consequences of negative emotions linked to detailed text that challenge a widespread collective amnesia of war crimes are discussed.

Assessing oral presentations at the B2 level: Quantitative and qualitative analysis

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) describes the B2 level as having limited operational proficiency, where speakers have an adequate response to situations normally encountered. In the spoken domain a B2 user is said to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity, to produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and to explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. Besides that, a B2 user should be able to spontaneously depart from the previously prepared presentation material and to interact with an audience to develop interesting parts of his/her presentation. This paper, accordingly, focuses on oral presentations of university students who were put at the B2 level of CEFR. The sample comprises students who study English as their major and students of other departments who take classes of English as a foreign language. The primary method of research is observation done by the teacher while students present previously chosen and prepared topics. The aim of the research is to determine whether the students from the sample, representative of their population, fit into the description and criteria of the B2 level.