bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Free Indirect Discourse in the Translation into Finnish
Authors: Rouhiainen Tarja
Published: September 2007

Free indirect discourse (FID) is a narrative technique which purports to convey a character’s mental language while maintaining third-person reference and past tense. This paper deals with the problems the use of FID may create for Finnish translators of English literary narratives. A comparative analysis of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love and its translation into Finnish shows that the translator’s treatment of the pronouns he/she may shift the viewpoint from the character’s consciousness to the narrator’s discourse. The article concludes with the question of what stylistic norms could explain the translator’s avoidance of the spoken-language simulation typical of the source text.
Poor Relations and Black Sheep in Translation Studies
Authors: Stewart Dominic
Published: September 2007

The opposition of translation into the mother tongue (L1 translation) vs. translation into the foreign language (L2 translation), with its clear relationship of superiority/inferiority in translation circles, is just one of a series of binary oppositions prevalent in the literature with an apparently similar relationship. These include principally (i) target language vs. source language, and (ii) original texts vs. translated texts. This paper examines what implications such oppositions might have for the L1 translation vs. L2 translation issue, particularly within the developing field of corpus linguistics, subsequently taking a look at some L1 and L2 translations and reflecting upon their degree of acceptability or unacceptability in the light of the discussions proposed.
Politeness in Translation between English and Spanish
Authors: Hickey Leo
Published: September 2007

If we accept Brown and Levinson’s distinction between positive and negative politeness, it would seem justifiable to accept also that Britain tends to be a negative-politeness society whereas Spain tends towards positive politeness. The paper asks how positive-politeness readers (Spaniards) react to examples of negative (or English) politeness when translated literally. It reports on a smallscale experiment carried out to see how such readers reacted to translations from English of samples of negative politeness and poses the question whether translators (continue to) translate the locutionary dimension (the words) of such texts rather than attempt to convey the illocutionary force (the acts of politeness being performed).
The Concept of Text Type and Its Relevance to Translator Training1
Authors: García Izquierdo Isabel
Published: September 2007

The aim of this paper is to show the relevance that a correct interpretation of text types in the mother tongue has for the correct development of the translating activity by translator trainees. This paper briefly analyzes the results of a classroom activity in which students were asked to identify the text-type ascription of two texts. They were first-year students in the Translation and Interpreting program at the Jaume I University in Castellón (Spain). The results confirm, on the one hand, existing differences in the comprehension and interpretation of text types and, on the other hand, that the confusion that exists in practice between the concepts of text type and genre (Hatim and Mason 1990) may also be observed in the case of these students.
Evaluating translations of surrealist poetry
Authors: Low Graham. D.
Published: September 2007

Evaluating translations of poetry will always be difficult. The paper focuses on the problems posed by French surrealist poetry, where the reader was held to be as important as the writer in creating interpretations, and argues that evaluations involving these poems inevitably require reader-response data. The paper explores empirically, in the context of André Breton’s “L’Union libre”, whether a modification of Think-Aloud procedure, called Note-Down, applied both to the original text and to three English translations, can contribute useful information to a traditional close reading approach. The results suggest that comparative Note-Down protocols permit simple cost-benefit analyses and allow one to track phenomena, like the persistence of an effect through the text, which might be hard to obtain by other methods.
Translation and ‘similarity-creating metaphors’ in specialised languages
Authors: Fuertes Olivera Pedro A. , Sánchez Isabel Pizarro
Published: September 2007

This corpus-based research deals with the translation of metaphor in specialised texts. In these texts, metaphor is both a cognitive tool and aesthetic device. Some metaphors, particularly those which create a new similarity, seem to develop into technical terms, and this can cause translation problems. The study focuses on metaphors for ‘inflation’ in English economics texts, and their translation into Spanish. The translation strategies are analysed and their results assessed.
He said, she said
Authors: Bourne Julian
Published: September 2007

In this article it is suggested that the translation of speech-act report verbs may provide scope for achieving stylistic and pragmatic aims. Analysis of the translation of fictional dialogues from a contemporary English novel reveals considerable diversity in the choice of Spanish verbs used to render ‘said’ in the context of impositive directive speech acts. While the choice of a speech act with similar illocutionary force to “said” may fulfil only stylistic objectives, a pragmatic dimension is introduced by the selection of a speech-act verb with a different force. In the context of impositive directive speech acts such a choice may be viewed as an aspect of “pragmastylistics”, defined in Hickey et al. (1993) as “the area where pragmatic and stylistic considerations converge.”
The double conversion of Ben-Hur
Authors: Ben-Ari Nitsa
Published: September 2007

Ever since the 18th century revival of Hebrew literature, translation has been considered an efficient tool for ideological manipulation. Christianity has been a traditional candidate for such manipulation. Fear and hatred of the “younger” religion may have accounted for the subversive treatment of Christian elements in Hebrew texts. Strategies varied, depending on period and norm, mostly involving omission of undesirable material, but often converting the text into a more acceptable ideological type. Ben-Hur: A tale of the Christ (1880) by Lew Wallace is one of the novels most translated and most tampered with, and due to its predominantly Christian character, it can serve as an illuminating case study both for the subversion of Christian elements and for the more “creative” conversion into the “Few against Many” or “Jewish bravura against the Roman Empire” model.
Shared culture?
Authors: Koskinen Kaisa
Published: September 2007

Ever since the “cultural turn” in Translation Studies it has been commonplace to state that translation is an act ofculturalmediation. However, the concept of culture as such has remained elusive. A number of questions remain unanswered: How can we define a culture? What kind of empirical evidence is needed to prove the existence of a particular culture? Looking for answers, I start with a personal note, with my own previous attempt at conceptualizing translators’ work in the European Commission by defining the EU institutions as a (multilingual and institutional) culture of its own. Responses to this model convey varying views of the concept of culture. By analyzing and contextualizing these responses it is my aim to provide some answers to the question of what kind of a construction culture is. The results of the analysis are then used to reflect on recent developments in Translation Studies.
A nonlinear approach to translation
Authors: Longa Víctor M.
Published: September 2007

The main concern of this article is to approach translation from the view of nonlinear dynamics. Thus, it makes use of theories related to such a type of dynamics (chaos theory and complexity science). This concern develops on two levels: firstly, the article argues that the abandonment of the traditional conception of translation and the raising of the current one actually agree with the evolution perceived in a great number of domains, such an evolution pointing to the rejection of deterministic positions. Secondly, it also defends the view that the translation process is entirely typical of the processes of nonlinear dynamics. Accordingly, key notions from nonlinear dynamics (such as sensitivity to initial conditions, phase transition, attractor or edge of chaos) are shown to apply to the nature of translation.
Repetition and signification
Authors: Zhu Chunshen
Published: September 2007

The paper begins with an overview of the relevance of functional/text linguistics, skopos theory, and the cultural-studies approach to the study of (literary) translation. It then examines the textual significance of leitmotifs as ‘vertical translation units’, since both are found to be related to repetitions of a rank-free text element in formulating a network of signification. In leitmotif-conscious translating, it argues, the accountability between the source and target texts can be observed at this level of textual network, while the translation, as a literary text, may induce different perlocutionary effects when functioning in a different cultural milieu.
‘To translate’ means ‘to exchange’?
Authors: Cheung Martha P.Y.
Published: September 2007

This paper analyzes several terms used in ancient China to refer to the activity/activities now called ‘fanyi’ in Chinese, or ‘translation’ in English. By tracing the pattern behind the semantic and ideological jogging amongst these terms, the paper offers a new interpretation of the earliest Chinese attempts to define translation (‘fanyi’). The purpose is to highlight the constructed nature of the prevailing notion of ‘fanyi’ and unsettle its established meaning, the better to provoke theoretical discussions on and about ‘fanyi’. The final purpose is to provide a response to the recent call for a non-Eurocentric, international Translation Studies by advocating for a concerted effort to study the conceptualisations of ‘translation’ as they evolved in different cultures, with the view to eventually developing a general theory of translation that truly has general relevance.
Segmentation in translation
Authors: Dragsted Barbara
Published: September 2007

The subject of this article is cognitive segmentation in translation. Based on experiments carried out inTranslog, a keyboard logging program, significant differences, and also certain similarities, were observed of cognitive segmentation when data from two different subject groups and text types were compared. In the translation of a relatively easy text, novice and professional translators were found to behave fundamentally differently with respect to the size and nature of cognitive units and the speed with which they were produced. When faced with a difficult text, the behaviour in both groups was clearly affected, but some of the differences observed between novice and professional translators in the translation of the easy text were neutralized in that the professionals took over many of the features characteristic of the novices.
Two models for metaphor translation
Authors: Dickins James
Published: September 2007

This paper establishes both full and simplified models for the textual analysis of metaphor in a translation context (Section 1). I present the comparison theory of metaphor (Section 2), show how this can be integrated with the notions of lexicalization and non-lexicalization (Section 3) and consider the semantic purposes of metaphor (Section 4).

The remainder of the paper focuses on the translation of metaphor, starting with more abstract langue-oriented notions. I offer a critique and revision of Newmark’s (1988) metaphor typology (Section 5), and demonstrate how the revised typology can be integrated with the notions of lexicalization and non-lexicalization (Section 6). I then consider Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) model of metaphorical ‘schemata’, and propose ways in which this can also be integrated into an overall model (Section 7). I discuss the practical application of this model to Arabic–English translation (Section 8).

In addition to langue-oriented notions, I suggest that a full account of metaphor for translation needs to take into account the more parole-oriented notion of the interaction of metaphors in texts. I consider the notions of metaphorical congruence (Section 9), and metaphorical exuberance and density. Illustrating my arguments with Arabic–English translation data, I suggest that in given registers, different languages may tolerate more or less metaphorical density and exuberance as well as different degrees of metaphorical mixing (Section 10). The paper concludes with a consideration of the kind of ‘Full Model’ one might build up for a detailed academic study of metaphor translation (Section 11).
Write to speak
Authors: Ladouceur Louise
Published: September 2007

Les deux langues offcielles du Canada sont prises dans un rapport de force marqué par l’inégalité. Travaillés par cette inégalité, les textes de théâtre ont recours à des procédés verbaux dont les fonctions varient selon la langue dans laquelle ils sont écrits et la communauté à laquelle ils s’adressent. Ainsi, la dramaturgie franco-canadienne fait appel à une alternance de codes qui reflète la réalité minoritaire du français nord-américain exposé à l’influence dominante de l’anglais et est, par conséquent, diffcilement traduisible en anglais. L’accent affché sur scène par les personnages est aussi une manifestation d’hétérolinguisme qui s’inscrit dans une dynamique identitaire fort complexe propre au texte oral. Cette étude porte sur les accents et les alternances de codes dans des œuvres dramatiques de Michel Tremblay, Jean Marc Dalpé et Robert Lepage pour en dégager les fonctions et observer les représentations auxquelles elles donnent lieu en traduction anglaise.
Traduire l’hybridité littéraire
Authors: Buzelin Hélène
Published: September 2007

Si l’hétérolinguisme littéraire est aujourd’hui une chose reconnue et un phénomène amplement étudié par les critiques, les défis qu’implique la traduction, au sens le plus concret, de cette esthétique ont été encore peu abordés. Cet article tente d’apporter une contribution dans ce sens. Fondé sur un cas particulier, ma tentative de traduire en français The lonely Londoners, roman de l’écrivain indo-trinidadien Samuel Selvon, il interroge les enjeux esthétiques et éthiques de la pratique de la traduction littéraire dans un contexte minoritaire et un paradigme interprétatif fondé sur la valorisation de l’hybridité linguistique et culturelle des œuvres. Cette étude débouche sur une critique des positions défendues par Antoine Berman et Lawrence Venuti. Elle vise plus particulièrement à souligner que la traduction de l’hybridité linguistique dans le littéraire soulève des questions et exige des prises de position allant bien au-delà du choix entre le travail sur la lettre/foreignizing ou la traduction ethnocentrique/domesticating. Pour les traductologues, l’étude de ces phénomènes littéraires invite à concevoir le processus de traduction selon une perspective moins binaire et à repluser de la notion même de sujet traduisant.
Revealing the invisible
Authors: St. André James
Published: September 2007

Despite official disapproval, playwrights and their translators in Singapore use heterolingualism to establish a Singaporean identity. Kuo Pao Kun’s work shows us the “little man” and demonstrates that English is the language of power. Quah Sy Ren’s work explores the plight of the local Chinese-speaker, suggesting that Chinese-Singaporeans are more firmly anchored in their cultural identity. In Alfian Sa’at’s work the single heterolingual speaker is splintered into a variety of roles shaped by age, ethnicity, and gender, with heterolingualism being a mark of intergenerational and interracial tension. These three plays offer three solutions to the problem of forging a Singaporean identity: one based on Singlish, one based on Chinese, and one based on multilingualism and translation. They destabilize the notion of independent and self-sufficient languages, thereby challenging the notion of equivalence in translation.
Translation channels
Authors: Popa Ioana
Published: September 2007

Focusing on a comparative analysis of the translations in French of literary works from four Eastern European countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania) during the communist period, this article examines the political stakes of the international circulation of literary texts. More precisely, it proposes a model for describing the different modalities of international circulation—referred to here as translation channels—based on the statistical analysis of a relevant set of variables. These channels allow us to present a gradation of the degree of politicization and institutionalization of the literary transfer, and to go well beyond an analysis in terms of the undifferentiated flow of imported books or the simple opposition of authorized vs. unauthorized translations or submissive vs. dissenting writers.
Language(s) in the global news
Authors: Holland Robert
Published: September 2007

In September 1999 B.J. Habibie, then President of Indonesia, made a public statement concerning the proposed deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to East Timor. Habibie made ‘the statement’ twice, once in Indonesian, then again in English, and differences between the two resulting texts cannot straightforwardly be explained in terms of the different languages employed. This paper examines the two original versions, along with various representations of these that appeared in British and US news media. Processes of text production and dissemination are discussed, and linguistic and translational choices analysed in relation to context and audience, along with the possible reasons underlying those choices and some of their potential effects upon interpretation. In this case, it is argued, different news audiences may have received significantly different impressions of the content and tone of the original speech—depending, for example, upon the particular media through which they accessed the text.
Orientations de la recherche en traduction audiovisuelle
Authors: Gambier Yves
Published: September 2007

En une décennie, les transferts linguistiques à la télévision, au cinéma, pour les vidéos ont fait l’objet de réflexions nombreuses, ponctuelles souvent. Il y a encore peu d’études systématiques touchant leur production et leur réception, touchant leurs effets culturels et langagiers. Le transfert est encore fréquemment perçu comme exclusivement “pratique”, sinon mécanique. Par ailleurs, et de manière paradoxale, on doit noter une prédominance de la perspective linguistique, alors même que l’objet est multisémiotique, combinant images, sons, langage (oral et écrit), couleurs, proxémique, gestuel, etc, intégrés aux codes de l’audiovisuel (mise en scène, suite de séquences et de plans, jeu des voix et des lumières, scénographie, conventions narratives, etc.). Deux facteurs expliquent sans doute ce paradoxe et cette limitation : d’une part, la formation de la plupart des chercheurs, marquée par les langues et la littérature, d’autre part les contraintes de publication (imprimée) à deux dimensions. L’extension des modes de transfert et les possibilités offertes par les cédéroms, le DVD...qui permettent l’accès aux images et à la bande sonore devraient peu à peu modifier les orientations actuelles, encore dominées par le sous-titrage et l’analyse du verbal. Après avoir circonscrit le domaine (Section 1 et 2), nous aborderons successivement le sous-titrage (Section 3), les autres modes de transfert (Section 4) et leurs implications théoriques et socio-culturelles (Section 5). L’ensemble qui suit est marqué d’une conviction : la traduction audiovisuelle (TAV) n’est pas toujours un problème ou une constellation de problèmes mais une solution et un atout dans les échanges culturels internationaux multilingues.
Termes adjectivaux en corpus médical coréen
Authors: Bae Hee Sook
Published: September 2007

In terminology, the predominance of nouns is an incontestable phenomenon. In Korean terminologies, this predominance of nouns is even more notable because the meaning and function associated with adjectives in Indo-European languages are often realized in noun form. However, the rarer adjectival terms are, the more they are used in restrictive, repetitive ways in specialized domains. Thus, it is important to distinguish the different senses of these terms. In this work, focusing on semantic characterization in terminology, we distinguish the different senses of adjectival medical terms by applying lexico-semantic criteria (L’Homme 2004a) and by classifying the arguments of the adjective into semantic categories (Bae et al. 2002). With this work, we aim to enrich terminological descriptions found in Korean medical dictionnaries by demonstrating empirically a method for distinguishing the different senses of adjectival medical terms. To achieve our goal, we used the KAIST corpus, composed of medical texts (1,500,000 eojeols), and a group of texts on various subjects (40,000,000 eojeols).
Variation in the organization of medical terms
Authors: Bowker Lynne , Hawkins Shane
Published: September 2007

The prescriptive school of thought in terminology holds that terms should be fixed items and should not be prone to variation. More recently, however, descriptive studies have begun to reveal that many terms do in fact have variants. This poses a challenge for language professionals such as translators and terminologists, who need to decide which form of a term to use in a given context. This article explores one specific type of variant that occurs frequently in medical language — variants that can be formed by combining elements of a term in a different order (e.g. cardiovascular vs. vasculo­cardiac). By studying such variants in corpora, we have identified some regular patterns that appear to reveal conceptual, linguistic and social motivations behind term choice. An understanding of these factors may help translators and terminologists to choose the most appropriate term.
Subject-field components as integrated parts of LSP dictionaries
Authors: Bergenholtz Henning , Nielsen Sandro
Published: September 2007

The dividing line between specialised lexicography and terminography is non-existent. The focus of preparing dictionaries for a particular subject-field should be the needs of its user group in specific situations. This is catered for by the modern theory of dictionary functions and includes the introduction of subject-field components in dictionaries. Dictionary functions are communication-orientated or cognition-orientated, and the lexicographers must identify the relevant functions and select and present the data so that the dictionary satisfies the needs of the users. The optimal dictionary contains aided fully integrated subject-field components that supplement and complement the data included in the articles.
The relation of vowel letters to phonological syllables in English and German
Authors: Neef Martin
Published: September 2007

Assuming that a writing system is inevitably dependent on a language system, the main function of written representations is to give access to the basic representations of the language system. In this paper, I want to deal with graphematic phenomena, i.e. the relations of written representations to corresponding phonological representations. In particular, I will delve into the relation of written representations to the phonological factor of the number of syllables, based on data from English and German. Though in these languages, there is neither a specific written element relating to the syllable number nor an isomorphic relation between vowel letters and the number of syllables, two questions are worth examining: Can a word have more syllables than vowel letters? Can a word have less syllables than uninterrupted sequences of vowel letters? The first question will be answered positively for both languages although there are some severe differences to be stated; the second question will be answered positively only for English. I will show that these results are side-effects of more basic regularities of the writing systems under consideration.
Do symmetrical letter pairs affect readability?
Authors: Wiebelt Alexandra
Published: September 2007

Our everyday experience shows that we have problems in recognizing objects which only differ in their symmetry properties (street signs with two arrows in different directions or mathematical signs such as 〈 and 〉). Perception is closely correlated with an inner comparison: the perceived object with its surrounding, the perceived object with former experience and so on. The brain has evolved different constancy abilities (e.g. colour constancy) and one of them is object constancy. This object constancy makes it possible to perceive an object regardless of its orientation in space. Symmetric letter pairs with different sound representations (such as 〈b〉 and 〈d〉) are, due to object constancy, typically identified as one object. This deficiency of distinctiveness should affect their readability.

The above hypothesis was examined in many scripts. The result was that mature scripts (which usually developed for a long time) avoid these symmetric letter pairs (called extrinsic symmetry) by adding distinctive features such as serifs or different stroke thickness. On the other hand, if a writer is allowed to invent letter shapes freely, he makes use of extrinsic symmetrical letter pairs. This is supposed to have aesthetic reasons — letters are often perceived as a standing object or even as a “body” on a plane. It is therefore possible to statistically separate mature scripts which show up no extrinsic symmetry from invented scripts full of extrinsic symmetry.

The runes are a writing system which does not quite fit in this widely proved distinction. They have developed from the Latin writing system (or a close relative of it) and have therefore inherited the avoidance of extrinsic symmetry. The reduction of the character set from 24 signs in the Old Futhark to 16 characters in the Younger Futhark is accompanied by a simplification of runic signs. During this period the runes develop a high degree of extrinsic symmetry. Moreover, the letter shapes are often related to different sound representations. These irregularities in usage may be caused by interference from the Latin writing system. The resulting lesser readability could have been one reason for the decline of the runes.

This paper shows in many figures and graphs how symmetry emerges and under what circumstances it is used to create new letter shapes.
Subsyllabic units in written word production
Authors: Weingarten Rüdiger
Published: September 2007

In previous studies we have found that the writing of words (typing) is made up of a highly structured time course. Words are written using a course of accelerations and decelerations at certain points within the words. These points correlate highly with the syllabic word structure and also with the morphological structure. At the beginning of these subword units we find significantly higher latencies than within units. We therefore assume that written word production starts with a frame of the whole word, certain subword frames (according to the syllabic and morphological structure) and subsequent filling of the frames with segmental information. So the segmental information is not completely available at the beginning of a word or syllable but is delivered during motor execution. In the present study we try to find out if there are also subsyllabic units that are produced in a frame and content mode. As a candidate for such a unit we choose polygraphemes (e.g. in engl.in “think”, in germanin “schon”). If they are produced in this way we expect an increased delay at their onset and an accelaration within the unit. The results suggest that because of their grapho-phonological structure some types of complex graphemes are produced in a frame and content mode.
Bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism
Authors: Shwartz Mila , Leikin Mark , Share David L.
Published: September 2007

The present study compared the early Hebrew (L2) literacy development of three groups; two groups of bilinguals — bi-literate and mono-literate Russian-Hebrew speakers, and a third group of monolingual Hebrew-speakers. We predicted that bi-literacy rather than bilingualism is the key variable as regards L2 literacy learning. In a longitudinal design, a variety of linguistic, meta-linguistic and cognitive tasks were administered at the commencement of first grade, with Hebrew reading and spelling assessed at the end of the year. Results demonstrated that bi-literate bilinguals were far in advance of both mono-literate (Russian-Hebrew) bilinguals and mono-lingual Hebrew-speakers on all reading fluency measures at the end of Grade 1. Bi-literate bilinguals also showed a clear advantage over mono-literate bilingual and mono-lingual peers on all phonological awareness tasks. The mono-literate bilinguals also demonstrated some modest gains over their monolingual peers in Grade 1 reading accuracy. All three groups performed similarly on L2 linguistic tasks. These findings confirm Bialystok’s (2002) assertion that bilingualism per se may not be the most influential factor in L2 reading acquisition. Early (L1) literacy acquisition, however, can greatly enhance L2 literacy development. The present findings also suggest that the actual mechanism of cross-linguistic transfer is the insight gained into the alphabetic principle common to all alphabetic writing systems and not merely the knowledge of a specific letter-sound code such as the Roman orthography.
Spelling space
Authors: van den Bosch Antal
Published: September 2007

The Dutch spelling system, like other European spelling systems, represents a certain balance between preserving the spelling of morphemes (the morphological principle) and obeying letter-to-sound regularities (the phonological principle). We present experimental results with artificial learners that show a competition effect between the two principles: adhering more to one principle leads to more violations of the other. The artificial learners, memory-based learning algorithms, are trained (1) to convert written words to their phonemic counterparts and (2) to analyze written words on their morphological composition, based on data extracted from the CELEX lexical database. As an exception to the competition effect we show that introducing the schwa as a letter in the spelling system causes both morphology and phonology to be learnt better by the artificial learners. In general we argue that artificial learning studies are a tool in obtaining objective measurements on a spelling system that may be of help in spelling reform processes.
Orthographic input and phonological representations in learners of Chinese as a foreign language
Authors: Bassetti Benedetta
Published: September 2007

This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental representations of L2 phonology in instructed beginner L2 learners. Previous research has shown that orthographic representations affect monolinguals’ performance in phonological awareness tasks; in instructed L2 learners such representations could also affect pronunciation. This study looked at the phonological representations of Chinese rimes in beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language, using a phoneme counting task and a phoneme segmentation task. Results show that learners do not count or segment the main vowel in those syllables where it is not represented in the pinyin (romanisation) orthographic representations. It appears that the pinyin orthographic input is reinterpreted according to L1 phonology–orthography correspondences, and interacts with the phonological input in shaping the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in beginner learners. This explains previous findings that learners of Chinese do not pronounce the main vowel in these syllables.
Linguistic units in word typing
Authors: Will Udo , Nottbusch Guido , Weingarten Rüdiger
Published: September 2007

This study reports on two experiments in which German participants had to type words presented to them in various modes. Experiment 1 compares typing following visual and oral word presentation with typing following picture presentation. In the second experiment typing responses following oral and visual word presentation were delayed by an extended preparatory period. Both experiments demonstrate significantly increased inter-keystroke intervals (IKIs) at exclusive syllable (S) boundaries and combined syllable and morpheme (SM) boundaries in comparison to within-syllable (L) boundaries. SM-IKIs are significantly larger than S-IKIs and influenced by word frequencies, indicating lexical dependencies. SM-IKIs were found to be significantly longer for oral than for visual word presentation. This is taken as an indication that additional processes are involved in the accessing of graphemic word forms when words are presented orally. Two effects of the typing delay were identified: a decrease of word initial latencies and the disappearance of size differences between SM-IKIs following visual and oral word presentation. On the other hand, the persistence of augmented SM- and S-IKIs in the delayed typing task indicates that input into the motor system is constituted by sub-word units instead by fully specified words. As SM- and S-IKIs reflect influences of different hierarchical levels of language processing, these findings suggest a processing architecture in which the peripheral motor system essentially connects at several hierarchical levels with central processing units.
Presynaptic establishment of the synaptic cleft extracellular matrix is required for post-synaptic differentiation
Authors: Rohrbough Jeffrey , Rushton Emma , Woodruff Elvin , Fergestad Tim , Vigneswaran Krishanthan , Broadie Kendal
Published: September 2007

Formation and regulation of excitatory glutamatergic synapses is essential for shaping neural circuits throughout development. In a Drosophila genetic screen for synaptogenesis mutants, we identified mind the gap (mtg), which encodes a secreted, extracellular N-glycosaminoglycan-binding protein. MTG is expressed neuronally and detected in the synaptic cleft, and is required to form the specialized transsynaptic matrix that links the presynaptic active zone with the post-synaptic glutamate receptor (GluR) domain. Null mtg embryonic mutant synapses exhibit greatly reduced GluR function, and a corresponding loss of localized GluR domains. All known post-synaptic signaling/scaffold proteins functioning upstream of GluR localization are also grossly reduced or mislocalized in mtg mutants, including the dPix–dPak–Dock cascade and the Dlg/PSD-95 scaffold. Ubiquitous or neuronally targeted mtg RNA interference (RNAi) similarly reduce post-synaptic assembly, whereas post-synaptically targeted RNAi has no effect, indicating that presynaptic MTG induces and maintains the post-synaptic pathways driving GluR domain formation. These findings suggest that MTG is secreted from the presynaptic terminal to shape the extracellular synaptic cleft domain, and that the cleft domain functions to mediate transsynaptic signals required for post-synaptic development.
Target-specific requirements for enhancers of decapping in miRNA-mediated gene silencing
Authors: Eulalio Ana , Rehwinkel Jan , Stricker Mona , Huntzinger Eric , Yang Schu-Fee , Doerks Tobias , Dorner Silke , Bork Peer , Boutros Michael , Izaurralde Elisa
Published: September 2007

microRNAs (miRNAs) silence gene expression by suppressing protein production and/or by promoting mRNA decay. To elucidate how silencing is accomplished, we screened an RNA interference library for suppressors of miRNA-mediated regulation in Drosophila melanogaster cells. In addition to proteins known to be required for miRNA biogenesis and function (i.e., Drosha, Pasha, Dicer-1, AGO1, and GW182), the screen identified the decapping activator Ge-1 as being required for silencing by miRNAs. Depleting Ge-1 alone and/or in combination with other decapping activators (e.g., DCP1, EDC3, HPat, or Me31B) suppresses silencing of several miRNA targets, indicating that miRNAs elicit mRNA decapping. A comparison of gene expression profiles in cells depleted of AGO1 or of individual decapping activators shows that ∼15% of AGO1-targets are also regulated by Ge-1, DCP1, and HPat, whereas 5% are dependent on EDC3 and LSm1–7. These percentages are underestimated because decapping activators are partially redundant. Furthermore, in the absence of active translation, some miRNA targets are stabilized, whereas others continue to be degraded in a miRNA-dependent manner. These findings suggest that miRNAs mediate post-transcriptional gene silencing by more than one mechanism.
The Stranger God: [Death in Venice.]
Authors: DYSON A. E.
Published: September 2007

[I stand between two worlds. I am at home in neither, and I suffer in consequence].—Tonio Kroger.
From between the Dragon's Teeth
Authors: HOLLOWAY JOHN
Published: September 2007

‘You are getting this from the horse's mouth—or from between the dragon's teeth if you like that better!’Plain Home‐Builder, Where is your Vorticist?—1934.
Towards a modern trivium — English studies today
Authors: MacCABE COLIN
Published: September 2007

Articulation is the tongue‐tied's fighting.

In the silence round all poetry we quote

Tidd the Cato Street conspirator who wrote:

Sir, I Ham a very Bad Hand at Righting.

Tony Harrison
Apes with language
Authors: SAVAGE‐RUMBAUGH SUE , SHANKER STUART , TAYLOR TALBOT J.
Published: September 2007

When Aristotle argued that ‘Man is by nature a political animal’, or Seneca that ‘Man is a reasoning animal’, the emphasis was very much on the idea that man is a part of the natural order ‐ an animal, but an animal which is political and which reasons. These moral and cognitive capacities allow man to rise above the other animals. But given his innately bestial nature, man was seen as subject to the same sorts of instincts and drives as all the other species, and thus always in danger of relapsing to the level of the brutes.
THE PELGER‐HUET ANOMALY: INVESTIGATION OF FAMILY ‘A’
Authors: DAVIDSON WILLIAM M. , LAWLER SYLVIA D. , ACKERLEY A. G.
Published: September 2007

A family showing the Pelger‐Huët anomaly of the neutrophil polymorphonuclear leucocytes is described, the first to be reported in England. Thirty‐four affected individuals have been examined; thirty‐one of these and thirty‐eight unaffected people, either parents or sibs of affected members, have been grouped for the ABO, MNS, Eh, P, Lewis, Kell, Lutheran and Duffy blood‐group systems. No linkage was demonstrated.

We are indebted to Dr A. E. Mourant for most of the anti‐sera used in this investigation and to Drs D. Lehane and P. L. Mollison for supplies of anti‐Fya. We are grateful to the members of the family described here for their co‐operation. We would like to thank Mr W. Rivers, Senior Technician, King's College Hospital, for preparing the pedigree chart and Mr W. Smith, Medical Photographer, King's College Hospital, for the photomicrographs.
ESTIMATION OF THE AMOUNT OF PIGMENT PRESENT IN HUMAN HAIR
Authors: LEA A. J.
Published: September 2007

A method of classifying human hair colour by determining the optical density of a hair‐urea solution is described. The reactions which occur are not understood, but it is thought that the method can be applied to large‐scale investigations without this knowledge, possibly using albino hair as a blank.
ON THE INHERITANCE OF MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY
Authors: WALTON JOHN N.
Published: September 2007

The results are reported of a survey of the mode of inheritance of muscular dystrophy, as determined from a series of 102 cases, of which 84 were examined personally. It is believed that this series approaches complete ascertainment of all cases at present recognized in the two counties of Northumberland and Durham. Available sibs and parents of affected individuals were examined whenever possible. It is agreed that rare ocular and distal forms of muscular dystrophy may be distinguished, but evidence is presented for suggesting that the commonly occurring cases can be classified into three types which are separate entities, both clinically and genetically. These maybe referred to as the Duchenne, facioscapulohumeral and limb‐girdle forms.

A study of the mode of inheritance of the Duchenne type, in thirty‐four families containing fifty‐six cases, has indicated that the gene responsible for this disease is transmitted as a sexlinked recessive character with a high mutation rate. An estimation of the mutation rate in the present series gave a result of 4.3 × 10‐5. It is believed that the occasional occurrence of this form of the disease in females is not entirely incompatible with the suggested mode of inheritance; furthermore, the classification of such cases within this group is essential in view of their clinical similarity to the affected boys.

In four families of the facioscapulohumeral type, containing twenty‐two cases, an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance was clearly indicated, although there was a possibility of sex limitation in one family and of incomplete manifestation in another.

Eighteen families of the limb‐girdle form were examined and yielded twenty‐one cases. Except for one family, in which an autosomal dominant gene may have transmitted the disease, the pattern of inheritance was compatible with an autosomal recessive mechanism.

The information available concerning one case of ocular myopathy and two of distal myopathy was insufficient to establish the mode of inheritance.

Detailed blood grouping of blood samples was carried out in affected individuals, and in their sibs and parents, in nine families of the Duchenne type, and three of the facioscapulohumeral. No linkage between the gene for any type of myopathy and that for any blood group was discovered.

Colour vision was tested in all families of the Duchenne type. Red‐green colour blindness was discovered in one family only (D6), but the information was insufficient to decide whether the gene responsible for this defect was closely linked to that responsible for the muscular dystrophy.
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF BIRTH WEIGHT BASED ON AN ITALIAN SAMPLE
Authors: FRACCARO By M.
Published: September 2007

Birth weight in relation to gestation time, maternal age, parity and survival has been studied in an Italian sample of 5486 single births. The results are compared with similar data on English births (Karn & Penrose, 1951). Italian babies are lighter at birth and have shorter gestation time (the correlation between birth weight and gestation time is 0·4), older maternal age and higher parity. The overall mortality is higher in the Italian sample (6·5%) than in the English (4·5%).

Parabolas fitted to the logarithms of odds on survival for given birth weight and gestation time give maxima above the means. An alternative way of estimating birth weight and gestation time, associated with the lowest mortality, is given by the Z value (Penrose, 1955).

The selective effect of the differential mortality with regard to birth weight and the problem of the measurement of natural selection in this case are discussed and a new formula is given for this measurement. Factors related to the rate of growth of the foetus are analysed and an attempt is made to give a better definition of ‘prematurity’ and of ‘postmaturity’.

I wish to thank Prof. L. S. Penrose for his kind help and advice in the preparation of this paper. Thanks are also due to Miss Mary N. Karn for helping me in many ways and for drawing the graphs and diagrams.
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HEREDITY OF THE P.T.C. TASTE CHARACTER BASED ON A STUDY OF 845 SIB‐PAIRS
Authors: DAS By S. R.
Published: September 2007

1. 128 sibships comprising 489 sibs and 845 sib‐pairs belonging to the Rárhi Bráhmin community of West Bengal have been studied for p.t.c. taste thresholds by the serial dilution method with a final sorting test.

2. Expectations on the basis of (A) the hypothesis of recessive inheritance of the ‘non‐taster’ phenotype and (B) the hypothesis of chance combination of pairs without any influence of heredity have been compared with the observed data of sib‐pairs.

3. Neither of the two hypotheses shows a satisfactory agreement (by the x2 test) with the entire mass of observed data. The hypothesis (A), however, appears to be a much closer approach (x2= 17·5 and 20·55, 2 d.f.) to the facts than the hypothesis (B) which yields much higher x2 values (x2= 87·11 and 86·93, 2 d.f.).

4. The extreme ‘tasters’ and ‘non‐tasters’ when separated from the intermediate phenotypes show a very good agreement (x2= 4·340, 3 d.f.) with the hypothesis (A), but a wide divergence (x2= 75·892, 3 d.f.) from the hypothesis (B).

5. The intermediate ‘tasters’ and ‘non‐tasters’, however, indicate merely a slightly nearer approach (x2= 18·45, 3 d.f.) to hypothesis (B) than to hypothesis (A) (x2= 26·69, 3 d.f.)

The author records his thanks to Dr N. Datta‐Majumder, the Director, Department of Anthropology for providing the facilities for the work and to Dr E. C. Biichi, the Superintending Anthropologist for useful discussions. Thanks are also due to Sm. Lalita Ghosh for her sincere assistance.
NAIL‐PATELLA SYNDROME: CLINICAL AND LINKAGE DATA ON FAMILY G
Authors: JAMESON By R. J. , LAWLER SYLVIA D. , RENWICK J. H.
Published: September 2007

Evidence for linkage between the ABO and nail‐patella loci has again been found in a large family and the recombination value of 10% is in agreement with the previous estimate. Clinical data are presented and a study has been made of the proteinuria which occurs in a few members of the family. The radiological data include evidence that in the elbow deformity, the increaeed length of the radius when present is the result rather than the cause of the hypoplasia of the capitellum.

We are grateful to Dr J. A. Fraeer Roberts for the introductions which made this paper poeeible and to Dr A. C. P. D. Thomson who kindly undertook the radiological work. We are indebted to Dr A. E. Mourant for most of the anti‐sera used, and to Drs D. Lehane and P. L. Mollison for supplies of anti‐FyαPya serum. Drs G. K. McGowan and J. E. Cates very kindly investigated the renal function of one of our patients, and it is also a pleasure to express our appreciation of the work of Miss Margaret Welch whose mistance was indispensable. Finally, not a single member of the family failed to respond to our requests.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF DISCRETE VARIABLES
Authors: DAVID F. N.
Published: September 2007

In all data in which the response is all or none the application of tests of significance should take account of inevitable discontinuities and of possible divergencies from the normal model. The present paper discusses the application of the probability integral transform to discontinuous data in order that tests of significance based on assumptions of continuity can be carried out.