Order of adjectives and adverbs in L2 English: Evidence from L1 Acholi speakers of Ugandan English

L2 Englishes are quintessentially characterized by cross-linguistic influence at all levels of linguistic analysis as a result of contact phenomena. This study examines the contribution of the syntax of a Ugandan indigenous language (Acholi) to how its L1 speakers speak English and the extent of variability observed among them, taking into account two grammatical aspects, i.e. how multiple attributive adjectives are sequenced in a noun phrase and the placement of adverbs in a sentence. The findings of the study show notable differences from L1 English (e.g. Standard British English), as L1 Acholi speakers of English do not necessarily pay attention to the prescribed L1 English order of adjectives. At the same time, the position of adverbs in a sentence also seems to be modeled, to some extent, on what takes place in Acholi syntax insofar as some legitimate L1 English structures are rejected by L1 Acholi speakers of English (as L2). Crucially, the study also reveals interspeaker variability among L1 Acholi speakers of English in Uganda based on occupation, with students being the closest to L1 English norms (as opposed to teachers and the business community), most likely due to exonormative orientation imposed on students in Ugandan schools.

Machine translation post-editing – Current situation and the future of translator training in Bulgaria

The current paper is an attempt to analyse the situation on the market for specialised translation services, and more precisely for Machine Translation in Bulgaria. It provides an overview of some of the generic MT systems and analyses the results coming from the translation of two types of text. The aim of the paper is to raise awareness about the results of Neural Machine Translation and to reveal the need for MT post-editing courses.

Dickens’s Consumptive Urbanity: Consumption (Tuberculosis) through the Prism of Victorian Sensibility

This article examines the correlation between consumption and tuberculosis in Dickens’s city, tracing the evolution of its representations in his novels. It compares these representations to the coverage of the disease in Victorian newspapers against criticism on tuberculosis and literature. In so doing, the article establishes Dickens as a writer divided by his scientific approach as a city life chronicler and his Victorian imagination. Since consumption and consumerism as a phenomenon appeared in the mid-19th century, the text also aims to determine the dimensions of the interaction between consuming the city and being consumed by it and how this is related to tuberculosis. The researched material includes early to mid-Dickens’s works since tubercular presence is the strongest felt and the most significant there; thus, consumption (tuberculosis) in Dickens can be considered the Janus face of early consumerism, resulting from insufficient consumption of food and proper care.

Americans’ cultural attitudes to group work: Insights from the proverbs

The role of culture, especially the American culture, in group work is relatively understudied because it is often presumed to be no different from the colonialist West, or is alternatively stereotyped as individualistic and competitive. Thus, this paper studies English-language proverbs used in America, as culturally rich symbols, at three levels of discourse, conceptual metaphor, and content to discern what attitude American culture, as represented in the proverbs, has to group work, and what world views and psychosocial factors can inform such attitudes. The findings suggest that American culture is marginally cooperation friendly, with a considerable penchant for individualism and competition. This ambivalence was not simply a proverbial phenomenon, rather a cultural reality because it was observed to be the result of the interplay between heterogeneous conceptual metaphors, representing different world views. Psychosocially, many factors were observed to have molded the American culture’s attitude to group work, noticeably, egoism, distrust, altruism, and socially shared cognition.

Coining Nonce Words: Contrastive Research Based On A Novel

Nonce words or occasionalisms are coined for a particular occasion and usually they are used just once. It is especially difficult when such newly created words have to be translated to another language. This article studies John Harding’s novel Florence & Giles and its Bulgarian translation (by Vladimir Molev). It is a sinister Gothic story told by the 12-year-old Florence living in an isolated New England mansion in 1891. She distorts words by transforming them into other parts of speech, e.g. nouns and adjectives are turned into verbs, nouns into adjectives, adverbs and prepositions into verbs, etc. At first, it could be annoying to the reader, however, once you get used to her narration, it is both fanciful and charming. This research studies the intensely concentrated nonce words in the text and their equivalents in Bulgarian from the point of view of their grammatical, word-formative and semantic characteristics. The contrastive method when applied to the parallel corpus shows some similarities and a lot of differences in the particular characteristics of nonce words due to the specifics of the two languages under discussion.

A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Complementation Patterns Of The Adjective “Ashamed”

The paper presents a corpus-based analysis of the predicative use of the adjective “ashamed” giving a full description of its complementation patterns with the help of the Valency Theory (VT – Herbst et al., 2004). The findings are based on a reference corpus extracted from the British National Corpus (BNC) by using the SkE software. The analysis reveals the advantages of the approach used for learners at levels B1 and B2 while, on the other hand, it shows the insufficiency of information found in the main English dictionaries (OALD, LDCE, etc.). It also demonstrates how both language learning and teaching, and materials production could be optimized using the corpus-based analysis.

The Language Of Viticulture In ESP. Vocabulary Teaching Techniques For Horticulture Students

English is a useful and necessary tool for any ESP student and so too horticulture students will need English in their future careers. Therefore, being able to communicate effectively and use the language in their field appropriately will help their business and increase their level of professionalism. This article will explore various techniques for the teaching of specialized horticultural vocabulary, in particular the terminological aspects of viticulture and viniculture which together form an important and widespread branch of horticulture with high degree of internationalization, given the rising popularity of wine and grape growing around the world. While each branch of ESP deals with its own unique features, so too English for horticulture and its subdivision, viticulture, has its own challenges in terms of vocabulary, of the equivalence between L1 and English and of usage. This article will analyze such particularities and explore ways in which various levels of specialized vocabulary can be taught to students in an engaging and effective manner.

Online EFL Teaching During The Covid-19 Crisis: Changes In Trainee-Teachers’ Planning And Teaching Approaches

The article deals with the changes in planning and conducting EFL lessons which resulted from the transition to online teaching due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The data on which the present discussion is based were obtained from three sources: lesson plans prepared by trainee-teachers’ (both novice and already practicing) enrolled in an MA course in a Bulgarian state university, oral discussions of the same lesson plans between the trainees and the university supervisor, and video clips of lessons recorded by trainees who at the time of the study worked as teachers in schools. The analysis showed that there were a number of changes in planning for online teaching, and these changes were duly reflected in the teaching the lessons, the evidence of which can be found in the videos submitted together with the plans. The changes in the teaching approach, classroom management and the use of teaching materials were made by the trainees in an attempt to adjust their approach to the modifications of the online learning environment. The analysis helped us identify some features of online teaching which shed light on the processes of adjustment the trainees went through, and the way this transition affected the nature of their teaching. Some of the most symptomatic changes involved increased teacher-centredness in both planning and teaching, and preference for deductive approaches in presenting grammar and vocabulary, which resulted in fewer opportunities for students’ active involvement and participation in the lesson.