British Counterparts Research Articles

The expansion of British steeplechasing in the Grand Duchy of Posen

ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, British culture and sport were held in high esteem abroad as models of progress and modernity. British-organised sports gained prestige in European societies, and their practice became a symbol of social class development and progress. In contrast to the Polish population living under Austrian and Russian rule, the Polish population of the Prussian-controlled Grand Duchy of Posen had the opportunity to practise, or at least passively enjoy, steeplechasing, which originated in the British Isles. This was made possible by the Society for the Improvement of Horse, Cattle and Sheep Breeding in the Grand Duchy of Posen. Unlike the British steeplechase, the Society's jump races were free of betting and focused more on utilitarian aspects by promoting the improvement of horse breeding and the benefits of horse ownership. Despite the socio-political differences, they were very similar to their British counterparts. This makes the steeplechase races in the western Polish territories annexed by Prussia significant events and, in some ways, pioneering contributions to the development of the sport in Continental Europe. With the establishment of English sporting fashions, the steeplechase became one of the components of a long-term process of introducing various British sports to Poland.

Arbitrators’ Fees: Securing Payment Through a Navigation Between Statutory Provisions and the Common Law in Nigeria

The arbitrator has a right of lien on the award at common law. The English Arbitration Act 1996 incorporates this right. Nigeria’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1988 (ACA) was, however, modelled after the UNCITRAL Model Arbitration Law. Thus, unlike its English counterpart it had no provision for an arbitrator’s exercise of lien on the award. A lien is, however, an effective and practical means of securing the arbitrator’s fees, especially as parties may be disincentivised from following through with the arbitration process on account of being required to provide advance funding adequate to settle the arbitrator’s entire fees. This article critically examines the ACA, considering the school of thought that its section 26(4) implicitly repealed the arbitrator’s common law right of lien on the award, alongside section 54 of Nigeria’s Arbitration and Mediation Act (AMA) 2023 now expressly providing for the arbitrator’s right to lien on the award. Based on a comparative analysis of statutory provisions and the common law, a core argument is that the arbitrator’s common law right to lien on the award as security for fees remains valid.

A typology of the Arabic system of mood

Abstract This article is about the interpersonal side of the clause in Arabic. It more specifically studies all the different speech functions inherent in the exchange of meanings: offer, command (viz. proposals), statement, and question (viz. propositions). The main question that this article seeks to answer is how Arabic realizes these different speech functions through variations in mood choices. The purpose of the article is to fill a gap in the literature. In fact, there have not been many major attempts to describe the Arabic system of mood in the reference grammars of Arabic. Although this article defines the delimitation of the system of mood in Arabic from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics, it also draws from the work of earlier Arab grammarians which has been either ignored or misinterpreted for centuries. For the purpose of this study, dialogic texts from various sources have been analysed including scenes from movies, plays, novels, and The Noble Quran. The findings show that the system of mood in Arabic is different from its English counterpart and from that of other languages.

Apprentice migration to London from Wales, 1600–1800

ABSTRACT This article uses digitised apprenticeship bindings from the Records of London’s Livery Companies Online (ROLLCO) to investigate the migration patterns of those moving from Wales to enrol in 10 of the London guilds in the period 1600–1800. Engaging with existing historiography on metropolitan apprenticeship and migration from the English regions to London, this article outlines the sorts of people who travelled from Wales to join the livery companies as well as analysing their motives in terms of push and pull factors. It also compares Welsh migration with the smaller numbers of Irish and Scots who enrolled. Evidence from ROLLCO demonstrates that Welsh migrants moved to London in significant numbers during the early seventeenth century using similar migration routes to many of their English counterparts, but that livery companies did little to integrate Ireland and Scotland into a wider British economy.

Financial technocrats as competitive regime creators: The founding and design of the Network for Greening the Financial System

AbstractWhy did a group of eight central bankers and financial supervisors from across the globe create a Network for Greening the Financial System in 2017? Why did they design this network as they did? The founders were an uncommon coalition, led by French financial authorities working closely with their Dutch, British, and Chinese counterparts, and backed by others from Germany, Mexico, Singapore, and Sweden. They were engaged in an unusual act of competitive regime creation at a moment when the United States was abandoning global leadership vis‐a‐vis climate change. This purpose led them to create a financial transgovernmental network that was distinctive in its roles, membership, and governance. Addressing these questions not only improves understanding of a body that has emerged as a leading voice in global discussions about the environmental aspects of financial policy. It also contributes to wider scholarship on financial transgovernmental networks and the greening of central banks.

Russian discourse word <i>net</i> ‘no’ in a contrastive perspective

The article examines the functioning of the Russian words net ‘no’ and partly da ‘yes’ in comparison to other languages. The study identifies important features of the semantics and pragmatics of these words. Special attention is paid to the discursive uses of Russian net and their correspondences in English and German. A classification of discursive uses of net is proposed, some of which have counterparts in English and German, while others are simply omitted in translation. The specific features of discursive uses are largely determined by the subtle semantics of the central readings of Russian da and net. The same holds for English yes and no, as well as for German ja and nein. Even in the most direct uses of da and net, a distinctive characteristic of Russian dialogue is revealed: it is more important for the speaker to align their position with the interlocutor’s position than with the actual state of affairs. This characteristic underlies the richness of discursive uses, primarily represented by the word net.

Midlife health in Britain and the United States: a comparison of two nationally representative cohorts.

Older adults in the USA have worse health and wider socioeconomic inequalities in health compared with those in Britain. Less is known about how health in the two countries compares in mid-life, a time of emerging health decline, including inequalities in health. We compare measures of current regular smoking status, obesity, self-rated health, cholesterol, blood pressure and glycated haemoglobin using population-weighted modified Poisson regression in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) in Britain (N = 9665) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) in the USA (N = 12 300), when cohort members were aged 34-46 and 33-43, respectively. We test whether associations vary by early- and mid-life socioeconomic position. US adults had higher levels of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Prevalence of poor self-rated health and current regular smoking was worse in Britain. We found smaller socioeconomic inequalities in mid-life health in Britain compared with the USA. For some outcomes (e.g. smoking), the most socioeconomically advantaged group in the USA was healthier than the equivalent group in Britain. For other outcomes (hypertension and cholesterol), the most advantaged US group fared equal to or worse than the most disadvantaged groups in Britain. US adults have worse cardiometabolic health than British counterparts, even in early mid-life. The smaller socioeconomic inequalities and better overall health in Britain may reflect differences in access to health care, welfare systems or other environmental risk factors.

Diversity gaps among practicing ophthalmologists in Canada: a landscape study

ObjectiveOutline geographic disparities in access to language-and gender-concordant ophthalmologic care in Canada. DesignCross-sectional. ParticipantsPracticing ophthalmologists in Canada (September 2023). MethodsData on ophthalmologists, including demographics, languages spoken, and practice locations, were collected from provincial regulatory body websites. Population data were extracted from the 2021 Statistics Canada Census. Ratio of ophthalmologists-to-potential patients and mean distances (absolute, population-weighted) to gender- and language-concordant care were calculated. The five most common languages spoken in the included provinces were analyzed. ResultsThere were 986 and 1338 ophthalmologists in the language and gender analysis, respectively. Few ophthalmologists spoke non-official languages in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. In a population-weighted analysis, the distance to a language-concordant ophthalmologist were 4.55 times greater for Spanish speakers compared to their English counterparts. Cantonese speakers had the shortest distances to language-concordant care but were still had 40% greater distance than English speakers in the same regions. Despite French-speaking ophthalmologists being the most prevalent per 100 000 speakers, francophones outside Quebec endured distances over double that of anglophones to access language-concordant care. Females in Newfoundland and Saskatchewan faced the longest distances to access gender-concordant care. In Ontario, females may face 3 times the distance to gender-concordant ophthalmologists compared to males. Quebec approaches gender parity with a male-to-female ratio of 55:45. ConclusionsThe results highlight the disparities in accessibility to non-English ophthalmologic care and the underrepresentation of female ophthalmologists across Canada. These disparities underscore the need for targeted strategies to ensure that the ophthalmologic workforce mirrors the demographic of the population it serves.

ThyPRO-IR: Translation and Linguistic Validation of the Persian Version of Thyroid-Specific Quality of Life (QoL) Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) Questionnaire for Benign Thyroid Disorders

Background: Considering the high prevalence of benign thyroid disorders, the availability of an instrument measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in this population is very important. Objectives: The current study aims to translate and validate the Persian version of the ThyPRO-39. Methods: In accordance with standard methodology, a double forward, reconciliation, and backward translation of the questionnaire was conducted. A field consultant identified discrepancies between the original questionnaire and the back translation. Discrepancies were addressed, revised, and retested before submitting it for developer review. Finally, five cognitive interviews were conducted among patients with benign thyroid problems to ensure alignment between their understanding of the Persian items and their original English counterparts. Results: Translation and linguistic validations of the Persian version of the ThyPRO-39 Questionnaire were developed according to the established rules. Two translators did the forward translation with no significant disagreement. Considering backward translation, the field consultant changed eight items, and the developer provided seven additional comments. After interviewing five patients, nine revisions were performed by the field consultant. Finally, an external consultant reviewed all changes and approved the questionnaire. Conclusions: We translated and linguistically validated the Persian version of the ThyPRO-39. Now, the ThyPRO-IR is ready for assessment of thyroid-specific QoL in Iranian patients with benign thyroid disorders.

Listenership always matters: active listening ability in L2 business English paired speaking tasks

Abstract Active listening, foundational for meaningful social interaction, plays a pivotal role in enhancing interactional competence (IC) during dialogues. Despite its importance, current second language (L2) assessments, such as the TOEFL iBT and the Business English Certificate (BEC) Preliminary, notably does not include active listening in their evaluation metrics. The research presented here contributes significantly to this discourse by foregrounding the imperative of listener responses (LRs) in L2 communication and the diverse interactional functions they serve across different cultures. Notably, variations emerge, with Chinese speakers exhibiting more restrained verbal feedback compared to the more vocally expressive English counterparts. This study stands apart by underscoring the necessity of updating current L2 assessment rubrics, which currently prioritize grammatical proficiency, pronunciation, and vocabulary. By weaving in active listening, assessments can become more holistic, capturing more comprehensively a learner’s L2 interactional ability. Through rigorous quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this investigation probes the influence of active listening on BEC speaking test outcomes. Its findings are poised to revolutionize assessment strategies, urging a more encompassing approach that factors in both verbal and non-verbal cues, thereby reflecting genuine linguistic and interactional competence.

Causes and Effects of Social Media Engagement in Luxury Fashion Marketing: A Comparative Study Over the COVID Pandemic

This paper examines cross-country heterogeneities and over-time changes of the role of social media marketing (SMM) in the luxury fashion industry. A comprehensive literature review is conducted on customer value, purchase intention, and engagement motivation to understand the causes and effects of SMM. Based on the survey data in China and the United Kingdom, probit and oprobit regressions are employed to estimate the models of SMM. Results show that affectional and cognitive motives are the two primary drivers of SMM engagement in both countries. Chinese customers are more susceptible to SMM than their British counterparts, suggesting significant potential benefits of developing SMM strategies in China. Over time, SMM has become an irreversible trend of luxury brand management after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Identified heterogeneities and changes call for differentiated international marketing strategies in different countries at different times.

A Syntactic and Discoursal Analysis of halaʔ ‘Now’ in Jordanian Arabic

This study investigates the syntactic behavior and the discoursal roles of halaʔ in Jordanian Arabic, which corresponds to the English ‘now’ and is frequently used as a discourse marker. Specifically, the syntactic distribution of this discourse marker in everyday conversations, its function in establishing coherence between discourse units, and its communicative and discoursal meanings are scrutinized. The data necessary for the study was obtained from almost a 15-hour corpus of naturally-occurring conversations recorded by the researchers through 30 interviews with 80 (40 males and 40 females) Jordanian students from Al-Balqa Applied University. The data analysis revealed that halaʔ can be used as an adverb conveying temporal meaning and as a discourse marker conveying coherence-related meanings. Semantically, it is a temporal adverb that has a semantic meaning parallel to that of its English adverbial counterpart ‘now’. However, it was found that halaʔ can also serve six pragmatic functions: Changing a topic, introducing a contrast or comparison, marking disagreement, initiating reasons, explanations or clarifications, listing, and marking shifts in participation framework (Marking a change in the speaker’s orientation and marking a change of footing). The study concludes with a suggested grammaticalization path for the development of this discourse marker from a lexical source.

Multidimensional Analysis of Differences in Lexico-Grammatical Patterns in Saudi and British Linguistics and English Language Teaching Research Articles

This study explores linguistic variation in research papers published by Saudi and British researchers in Linguistics and English language teaching (ELT). The main aim is to identify and compare interdisciplinary lexico-grammatical patterns between and within the sub-disciplines of these research articles, exploring the extent to which Saudi research articles align with or diverge from their British counterparts. Utilizing Biber’s (1988) multidimensional model, this research developed a specialized corpus of academic research articles, which was analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques to investigate linguistic variation. The corpus included tagging of 67 linguistic features, and factor analysis was employed to identify patterns of linguistic co-occurrence. Significant findings indicate that Saudi research papers distinctly differ from British papers in their preference for informational, explicit, non-argumentative, and abstract discourse. Notably, while most sections of the research papers showed variations in non-argumentative discourse, the ELT conclusion sections from both regions demonstrated a tendency towards mixed-purpose discourse. The significance of the study lies in its detailed analysis of how regional differences affect lexico-grammatical choices within academic writing, offering a deeper understanding of linguistic strategies in scholarly communication. The study concludes with recommendations for further research to explore underlying factors contributing to these differences and suggests the development of targeted academic writing aids to support researchers in achieving greater international coherence in their discourse. This could potentially enhance the clarity and impact of scholarly communication across diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

The equivalence between the Mandarin Chinese and English versions of soundscape attributes: A cross-cultural comparison

Soundscape attributes have become widely utilized across various languages for the assessment of acoustic environments in recent years. The objective of this study is to propose a new set of validated Chinese translations for soundscape attributes. To achieve this, translation and cross-cultural adaptation processes were conducted by soundscape experts and linguists without soundscape backgrounds, resulting in two distinct sets of Chinese soundscape attributes. Subsequently, 33 Chinese participants engaged in a listening experiment adhering to standardized materials and procedures, wherein they provided ratings for 12 translated versions of soundscape attributes across 27 audio stimuli. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used as a validation methodology for comparison of different translations. As seen from the Pearson’s correlation coefficients, r Chaotic (Cn1-Eng) = 0.952 (p < 0.01), the versions of the Chinese attributes translated by soundscape experts showed a higher degree of equivalence with their English counterparts than the versions translated by linguists who lacked a soundscape background. Statistical analysis of the collected data further indicated that the final translation of the 8 soundscape attributes predominantly aligns with their English counterparts. These findings suggest that the soundscape circumplex model, originally developed in English, manifests a comparable applicability within Chinese contexts.

Left out of the left behind? Ethnic minority support for Brexit

ABSTRACT The Brexit referendum was a seismic electoral event with far-reaching consequences, but ethnic minority voters’ decisions in the referendum remain under-researched. We examine what differentiates ethnic minority Remainers from Leavers in two large social surveys. Ethnic minority voters were divided along ethnocentric and generational lines, similarly to majority voters. Those who were born overseas were more likely to support Brexit; meanwhile, younger minorities and those born in the UK were more supportive of Remain, like their young white British counterparts. We show that anti-immigrant attitudes, including views on Turkey joining the EU, mattered for ethnic minority Leavers, as well as sovereignty concerns. Our results reveal that the factors that led minorities to vote to leave the EU were not altogether different from those identified for white British voters. We argue the concept of left behind can include minorities, and research must therefore consider what role whiteness plays in this concept.

Understanding the Sociocultural Challenges and Opportunities for Affordable Wearables to Support Poststroke Upper-Limb Rehabilitation: Qualitative Study.

People who survive a stroke in many cases require upper-limb rehabilitation (ULR), which plays a vital role in stroke recovery practices. However, rehabilitation services in the Global South are often not affordable or easily accessible. For example, in Bangladesh, the access to and use of rehabilitation services is limited and influenced by cultural factors and patients' everyday lives. In addition, while wearable devices have been used to enhance ULR exercises to support self-directed home-based rehabilitation, this has primarily been applied in developed regions and is not common in many Global South countries due to potential costs and limited access to technology. Our goal was to better understand physiotherapists', patients', and caregivers' experiences of rehabilitation in Bangladesh, existing rehabilitation practices, and how they differ from the rehabilitation approach in the United Kingdom. Understanding these differences and experiences would help to identify opportunities and requirements for developing affordable wearable devices that could support ULR in home settings. We conducted an exploratory study with 14 participants representing key stakeholder groups. We interviewed physiotherapists and patients in Bangladesh to understand their approaches, rehabilitation experiences and challenges, and technology use in this context. We also interviewed UK physiotherapists to explore the similarities and differences between the 2 countries and identify specific contextual and design requirements for low-cost wearables for ULR. Overall, we remotely interviewed 8 physiotherapists (4 in the United Kingdom, 4 in Bangladesh), 3 ULR patients in Bangladesh, and 3 caregivers in Bangladesh. Participants were recruited through formal communications and personal contacts. Each interview was conducted via videoconference, except for 2 interviews, and audio was recorded with consent. A total of 10 hours of discussions were transcribed. The results were analyzed using thematic analysis. We identified several sociocultural factors that affect ULR and should be taken into account when developing technologies for the home: the important role of family, who may influence the treatment based on social and cultural perceptions; the impact of gender norms and their influence on attitudes toward rehabilitation and physiotherapists; and differences in approach to rehabilitation between the United Kingdom and Bangladesh, with Bangladeshi physiotherapists focusing on individual movements that are necessary to build strength in the affected parts and their British counterparts favoring a more holistic approach. We propose practical considerations and design recommendations for developing ULR devices for low-resource settings. Our work shows that while it is possible to build a low-cost wearable device, the difficulty lies in addressing sociotechnical challenges. When developing new health technologies, it is imperative to not only understand how well they could fit into patients', caregivers', and physiotherapists' everyday lives, but also how they may influence any potential tensions concerning culture, religion, and the characteristics of the local health care system.

The origins and work of the Scottish Law Commission, and the problem of the codification of Scottish private law

The subject covered in the paper is the origins, structure and workings of the Scottish Law Commission created, along with its English counterpart, under the Law Commissions Act of 1965. The author of the article outlines the course of conceptual and legislative work to constitute the new commission, the extent of its relationship with and dependence on public authorities, as well as the key differences between the legal position of the two commissions, symbolically highlighted by the English commission’s gaining a stronger mandate under the 2009 Law Commission Act. The final part of the paper is devoted to an attempt to assess the achievements of the Commission to date, the reasons for the failure of the premise of the grand codification endeavour, and the successes that the Commission claim in terms of reforming specific institutions and branches of law.

The utility of ChatGPT as a generative medical translator.

Large language models continue to dramatically change the medical landscape. We aimed to explore the utility of ChatGPT in providing accurate, actionable, and understandable generative medical translations in English, Spanish, and Mandarin pertaining to Otolaryngology. Responses of GPT-4 to commonly asked patient questions listed on official otolaryngology clinical practice guidelines (CPG) were evaluated with the Patient Education materials Assessment Tool-printable (PEMAT-P.) Additional critical elements were identified a priori to evaluate ChatGPT's accuracy and thoroughness in its responses. Multiple fluent speakers of English, Mandarin, and Spanish evaluated each response generated by ChatGPT. Total PEMAT-P scores differed between English, Mandarin, and Spanish GPT-4 generated responses depicting a moderate effect size of language, Eta-Square 0.07 with scores ranging from 73 to 77 (P-value = 0.03). Overall understandability scores did not differ between English, Mandarin, and Spanish depicting a small effect size of language, Eta-Square 0.02 scores ranging from 76 to 79 (P-value = 0.17), nor did overall actionability scores Eta-Square 0 score ranging 66-73 (P-value = 0.44). Overall a priori procedure-specific responses similarly did not differ between English, Spanish, and Mandarin Eta-Square 0.02 scores ranging 61-78 (P-value = 0.22). GPT-4 produces accurate, understandable, and actionable outputs in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. Responses generated by GPT-4 in Spanish and Mandarin are comparable to English counterparts indicating a novel use for these models within Otolaryngology, and implications for bridging healthcare access and literacy gaps. IV.

Ukrainian historical terminology designating social and military status in Old Rus': Examining their counterparts in English

The article researches translators' challenges in rendering domain-specific terms which include culture-specific items. The study has been carried out using Old Rus' historical terminology employed to designate social and military status. It was selected en masse from academic texts, using monographs and academic articles in both languages. 82 language units representing culture-specific historical terms related to social, political and military organisation of the society of that period were chosen and described in terms of appropriate translation. Our hypothesis has been tested as to the unacceptability of approximation (analogous translation and generalisation) in rendering culture-related terms that designate highly specific concepts of the defined period in Ukrainian history. The research establishes that approximate translation fails to meet the requirements of strict definition and accuracy demanded by professional terminology. Our study underlines the importance of secondary term formation, descriptive translation, and the method called combined renomination (transcription and description combined). For a translation to be accurate, the shift in translation should follow the shift in concept. The specific term may have wider, more general semantics, and in each particular context it should be specified. The use of the description or combined renomination helps to make the meaning of the concept clearer. The study demonstrates that the most accurate and effective secondary term formation usually follows the pattern of term formation in the original language.

Prejudice towards regional accents of Philippine English

Abstract This study examines linguistic prejudice towards the accents of three regional varieties of Philippine English: Cebuano English, Ilocano English, and Tagalog English. Data were collected using a verbal-guise technique taken by 982 listener-judges, who were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Results showed an overall more favorable attitude towards Tagalog English. Cebuano English and Ilocano English speakers were judged as less socially attractive and less competent compared to their Tagalog English counterparts. In the multilingual Philippines, where languages in the periphery, i.e. languages other than English and Tagalog, face negative stereotypes, the results indicate potential linguistic prejudice towards accents that individuals view as deviating from the standard, i.e. the Tagalog English accent as ‘the’ standard of Philippine English. The findings are discussed in light of the ongoing observation of the development of Philippine English in the Schneiderian model of postcolonial Englishes.