French English Research Articles

Effects of the French grammatical gender system on bilingual adults' perception of objects

Abstract This study extends the line of linguistic relativity research by assessing the effect of the French grammatical gender system on French speakers' and learners' perception of objects. Four groups of 140 adults (English monolinguals, French monolinguals, English–French bilinguals and French–English bilinguals; N = 35 each) rated 32 selected objects' gender by assigning them a masculine/feminine voice on a slider. We also assessed the participants' second-language (L2) proficiency. Multilevel modelling results revealed that French monolinguals and English–French bilinguals rated objects' gender in line with the French grammatical gender system. The effect of French on perception was not reduced by acquiring English, as French–English bilinguals performed on par with French monolinguals. Moreover, the effect was independent of L2 proficiency. These findings suggest that learning a gendered L2 affects the perception of objects – thus supporting the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

Translating le vrai americain: Multilingualism in Henry James’s The Ambassadors and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room

Drawing upon work from translation studies that posits the precariousness of living between languages, this article explores how the French–English bilingualism in Henry James’s The Ambassadors (1909) and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (1956) foregrounds the identity fissures that arise in their American protagonists when they arrive in Europe. In both novels, language plays a key role in mining the inner worlds of protagonists preoccupied with lives they fear they haven’t lived; these preoccupations intersect with race, nationality, sexuality, and class. Although other scholars have previously used these four identity markers as entry points into exploring these novels, this article includes multilingualism in the nexus to argue that language offers a visible and textual platform through which the mediation of identity can take place.

Loan verb accommodation: a comparison of Old Norse and French in Middle English

Loan verb accommodation: a comparison of Old Norse and French in Middle English

Academic achievement in English: Minority home language students in early French immersion

Aims and Objectives: Increasingly, students who speak a minority language at home (minority-L1) enroll in Early French Immersion in Canada. A frequent question is the extent to which they develop academic abilities in English. Accordingly, this study asks: (a) Do a similar percentage of minority-L1 students meet provincial standards for academic achievement when tested in English when they attend French immersion compared to English language of instruction? (b) What are the outcomes for minority-L1 students with relatively low English proficiency? and (c) What factors contribute to minority L1-students’ academic achievement when evaluated through English? Methods: We compared performance on province-wide assessments of English reading, writing, and mathematics for Grade 3, minority-L1 students enrolled in French immersion ( n = 196) and in English ( n = 169). Data and Analysis: Chi-square analyses compared the percentage of participants meeting the provincial standard in each academic domain in French immersion and English programs. Predictors of performance within two English proficiency groups ( low and not low) were investigated using binary logistic regression analyses. Findings and Conclusions: In each domain, a similar percentage of minority-L1 students in French immersion and in English met the provincial standard, illustrating that immersion programs are suitable for minority-L1 students. Logistic regression revealed some overlap in individual difference factors, but the constellation of significant predictors differed for students with low English proficiency and those with relatively higher levels of proficiency. Individual learner profiles need to be considered when determining how to support these students. Originality: This study specifically considered performance of minority-L1 students across programs and examined if predictors of achievement in English are comparable for students with different levels of English proficiency. Significance: As school boards work to improve inclusivity within their programs, this study offers much needed evidence concerning the performance of minority-L1 students in dual language programs.

MKELM based multi-classification model for foreign accent identification

The automatic identification of foreign accents can play a crucial role in various speech systems, including speaker identification, e-learning, telephone banking, and more. Additionally, it can greatly enhance the robustness of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. Non-native accents in speech signals are characterized by distinct pronunciations, prosody, and voice characteristics of the speaker. However, automatically identifying foreign accents poses significant challenges, particularly in the context of multi-class modeling. Multi-classification models face difficulties in achieving high performance and dealing with computational challenges when confronted with multi-dimensional and unbalanced datasets, such as those with more than two accents. Furthermore, the choice of features remains a bottleneck problem for Foreign Accent Identification (FAID), further hindering performance in these tasks. Consequently, the accuracy of current systems is typically low. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a framework based on the Multi-Kernel Extreme Learning Machine (MKELM) model for the multi-classification of FAID. The MKELM model utilizes a novel weighted scheme to classify various non-native English accents, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, French, and Spanish. The model first combines Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and prosodic features as input, trains pairwise binary classifiers independently, and subsequently employs a weighting scheme to distinguish between classes and identify accents. Through experiments, the proposed model achieves an accuracy rate of 84.72% using a paired weighting scheme. In contrast, the accuracy rate drops to 66.5% when employing the traditional non-weighted multi-classification scheme. A comparison with other models demonstrates the significant advantages of the proposed model in FAID multi-class classification, showcasing improved accuracy, reduced computational complexity (requiring fewer computations, faster learning rates, and shorter training time), and enhanced stability compared to state-of-the-art classification methods.

Evaluation of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome breeding test results in Finland from 2017 to 2022

BackgroundBrachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), observed in many flat-faced dog breeds, is one of the most urgent welfare problems in pedigree dogs. Various breeding schemes against BOAS have been implemented in many countries during recent years, but their impact on breed health remains unknown. The BOAS breeding test, used by the Finnish Kennel Club (FKC), includes an exercise component with a recovery assessment, BOAS grading by a veterinarian that evaluates upper respiratory signs before and after exercise, and a nostril stenosis assessment. The aim of our study was to evaluate BOAS breeding test results and estimate the heritability of the BOAS grade using parent–offspring regression from FKC data collected during 2017–2022.ResultsThe majority (80%) of dogs (n = 957) participating in FKC BOAS testing were English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, and Pugs. In 2022, 89–100% of the litters from these three breeds registered with the FKC had at least one parent tested for BOAS. The proportion of dogs failing the exercise test was highest in English Bulldogs (11%), followed by French Bulldogs (4%) and Pugs (3%). In these three breeds, moderate to severe BOAS signs were reported in 28%, 22% and 30% of dogs, respectively. The proportion of moderate to severe nostril stenosis was highest (71%) in Pugs, followed by French Bulldogs (55%), and English Bulldogs (40%). Estimates of heritability for BOAS grade were separately calculated for these three breeds and for all dogs, and the estimates were moderate to high, ranging from 0.39 to 0.58.ConclusionsThe exercise test alone did not sufficiently identify dogs with moderate to severe BOAS signs. To better consider the complex nature of BOAS and breed differences, exercise tolerance, the severity of upper respiratory signs (BOAS grade) and nostril stenosis should all be assessed together in breeding animals. The heritability estimates for veterinary-assessed BOAS grade indicated that BOAS grade could be used in selective breeding to obtain less-affected offspring.

The impact of online learning during the pandemic on language and reading performance in English–French bilingual children

BackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic created a unique learning experience, characterised by school closures and a shift to online learning. Research suggests that online learning during the pandemic negatively impacted the reading development of elementary school children. However, little is known about the challenges of learning a second language (L2) remotely. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of online learning during the pandemic on language and reading development among French immersion (FI) students who learn French as an L2.MethodsA total of 137 Grade 1 and Grade 2 students from two cohorts were included in the study. The in‐person cohort consisted of 72 students who attended school in person and were tested in person before the pandemic. The online cohort consisted of 65 students who received virtual instruction during the pandemic and were tested online. Measures of vocabulary, word reading accuracy and fluency, and phonological awareness were administered in English and French to both cohorts. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were carried out to assess the effects of cohort and grade on the measures, with guardian education as a covariate.ResultsStudents in the in‐person cohort performed significantly better on French vocabulary and English word reading accuracy than students online. The cohort effect was not significant for other French and English measures. Grade 2 students significantly outperformed Grade 1 students in both English and French vocabulary and word reading.ConclusionsThe current results suggest that online learning may have had a moderately negative effect on French vocabulary but no impact on French phonological awareness or word reading. FI students' English skills were also largely unaffected. Therefore, FI students made progress on their language and literacy skills through online learning during the pandemic. The findings point to the importance of enhancing L2 vocabulary input during online learning.

Mind your language! Lessons from the application of an English published version of a Japanese horse personality instrument to a French population

Replicability is a fundamental tenet of the scientific method and scientific reporting, but there is a preponderance to publish scientific research in English to increase international recognition, regardless of the country of origin of the research. Questionnaires are widely used to assess personality in animals. These psychometric instruments are mainly published in English but can be used all over the world in other languages. However, without safeguards relating to the translation process, the replicability of the quality of the instrument may change from its originally reported value. This study focuses on the particular issue of cross-cultural reliability of psychometric instruments used for assessing animals that have been translated from their original context. We examined the replicability of the structure of a personality scale originally used in Japanese (but reported in the English literature) on an English population (n=100), and then the reliability of the structure of a French translation of the English version with additional translational safeguards (e.g. back-translation and sense checking) on a French population (n = 159 horses). Horses were rated by 3 evaluators to also allow calculation of inter-rater reliability. We found that there was greater reliability and similarity of structure between the adapted English translation and French version of the Japanese scale, than with the originally published structure of the instrument used in Japan. These results highlight the importance of never assuming the reliability and thus validity of semantic instruments used to assess animal behaviour which have been published in a different language to that in which they were originally developed.

Dzieje kultury europejskiej i polskiej XVIII wieku w ujęciu polskich uczonych w XX stuleciu. Wybrane zagadnienia

The article discusses the dispute over the chronology of the Enlightenment in Poland and the views of Józef Gierowski and Jacek Staszewski regarding the assessment of the Saxon times and the origins of the Polish Enlightenment. The problem of the reception of Western cultures (French, English, Italian and German) in the times of the Enlightenment in Poland was also treated more broadly. After presenting various understandings of culture in Polish historiography, the positions of Polish researchers on the assessment of the Enlightenment in Europe (Emanuel Rostworowski) and then the culture of the Saxon times and the Enlightenment in Poland (Józef Andrzej Gierowski, Janusz Maciejewski, Jacek Staszewski) were discussed. The achievements of Polish historiography in the field of research on the reception in Poland of the works of the most eminent authors of the French Enlightenment (these were primarily Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu), English (including Locke), Italian (Genovesi, Beccaria) and German (including Wolff, Gottsched) were shown in greater detail. The reception of this work would not have been possible without the appearance in Poland of an intellectual elite, often speaking French, who were able to evaluate and appreciate the innovative views of Western writers and philosophers.

The Influence of Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Pressures on European Eel Abundances in French Estuaries

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of environmental characteristics and anthropogenic pressures on the abundance of estuarine European eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) during their continental growth phase. European eels were collected with fyke nets from spring to autumn in twenty-nine estuaries along the French English Channel and the Atlantic coast. Eel abundance (catch per unit effort, CPUE) was assessed for all eels and by size class for small (total length < 300 mm), intermediate (≥300 to <450 mm), and large (≥450 mm) eels. The environmental characteristics of the French estuaries were described by twelve descriptor variables, mainly related to hydro-morphological and sedimentary factors. Based on principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis, estuary size was identified as the main explanatory variable and used to compare eel abundance. Eel abundance differed significantly according to estuary size, with higher abundances observed in small estuaries (7.22 to 13.00 ind. fyke nets 24 h−1) compared to large estuaries (0.13 to 0.71 ind. fyke nets 24 h−1). Spatial variation in eel abundance was correlated with differences in estuary size for all eel size classes. The influence of anthropogenic pressures on eel abundance was assessed by nine anthropogenic estuarine pressure indicators. The results indicate that high values of the anthropogenic pressure indicators were correlated with low eel abundance. This study highlights that large French estuaries subject to stronger anthropogenic pressures were less favourable habitats than small estuaries with less anthropogenic pressure.

Processing manner under high cognitive pressure: Evidence from French–English and English–French simultaneous interpreting

Abstract The expression of manner has been extensively studied in the case of motion event descriptions, unveiling significant typological differences between satellite-framed and verb-framed languages and cognitive differences between speakers of these languages. However, far from being restricted to this semantic domain, the expression of manner extends to other types of event descriptions and across virtually all verb classes. In this paper, by considering all the means of expressing manner and grounding our research in a domain-independent definition of this component, we investigate the expression and the transfer of manner under high cognitive pressure as evidenced by corpus data from French–English (FE) and English–French (EF) simultaneous interpreting. Unexpectedly, both French and English displayed an overall cross-domain preference for the verbal-lexical coding of manner in event descriptions, while still differing in the degree to which it was favored. In addition, although our study does not allow a direct measure of cognitive load, the FE interpreters transfer more manner from the source to the target speeches than the EF interpreters do, despite high pressure on cognitive resources, supporting the claim that manner can be cognitively more salient and accessible for English than for French speakers, not only in the domain of motion but also at a more general level, potentially in any semantic domain.

Mock impoliteness in Spanish: evidence from the VALESCO.HUMOR corpus

Abstract Mock impoliteness is defined as a specific form of politeness, one in which participants in a conversation perceive acts such as jocular mockery, insults and banter as non-impolite (Haugh, Michael & Derek Bousfield. 2012. Mock impoliteness in interactions amongst Australian and British speakers of English. Journal of Pragmatics 44. 1099–1114). Following the model of the third wave of politeness and Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2019. Conversational humour and (im) politeness: A pragmatic analysis of social interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins), the aim of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon in colloquial conversation. Second, it illustrates this in a language other than English, specifically Peninsular Spanish, using data on informal interactions. The database is composed of 148 humorous sequences from the VALESCO.HUMOR corpus (http://www.observahumor.com/corpus_valesco). 25.67 % of these were identified and analyzed as mock impoliteness, using a tentative procedure for exploring humor negotiation in mock impoliteness through the assessment of a number of elements. These included the issue of which linguistic and paralinguistic elements are used by participants, and the interpretation of the initial aggressive style focused on the target, be it the recipient in a conversation or an absent third party (Béal, Christine & Kerry Mullan. 2017. The pragmatics of conversational humour in social visits: French and Australian English. Language & Communication 55. 24–40). Finally, we considered the question of whether or not the humor introduced by mock impoliteness was sustained throughout a sequence. When a target is oriented to a recipient in the exchange, the data shows a trend towards strengthening social bonds with the group and sustaining humor across the sequence. In other cases, however, the recipient might feel offended or insulted and hence respond in a serious mode, the main effect of the humor then being to create social distance within the participant group. When the target is oriented to an absent third party, humor tends to serve to reinforce cohesiveness between the group at the expense of others.

Multilingual glossing and translanguaging in John of Garland’s Dictionarius: The case of Bruges, Public Library, MS 536

Based on an edition of the multilingual glosses, this paper investigates a copy of John of Garland’s Dictionarius extant in Bruges, Public Library, MS 536. This copy, written around AD 1300, perhaps in the vicinity of Bruges, includes some 800 interlinear glosses in Latin, Middle French and Middle English. The glosses target the lexicon and also basic Latin grammar. The linguistic characteristics of the glosses indicate that at least some of the glossators were competent in French as well as in English. Many of the lexemes of the French glosses are attested as loanwords in early Middle English; moreover, there are at least 30 instances of double glosses with French and English. As such, we argue that the glossators used “translanguaging” as a didactic strategy, and that the manuscript may have been created, for instance, for English students planning to study in Paris.

Hedonist and Theologist Narratives in French Baroque Poetry and Spiritual Verses by the English Metaphysicals: Poetising Author’s Experience vs Sacralising Privy Feelings

In the poetic diversity of Western European Baroque, the worldview was dominated by the search for unity in the contradictions of existence, which almost always immersed the man in a theological context. This is especially evident in the works by the seventeenth-century English Metaphysicals, whose unique style is considered from the perspective of the European continental poetic tradition. At the same time, appealing to French Baroque poetry as a specific literary phenomenon compared to Donne’s school in England is determined by the historical and creative process that produces individual strategies of poetising an author`s experience vs sacralising privy feelings. The article discusses the originality of the means of poetic expression of worldview principles in French Baroque poetry and English metaphysical school, which are expressed in close connection with the author’s paradigms of hedonistic-religious vs spiritual vision of reality. These means are actualised at the image-plot and structural levels that determine the methodology based on conceptual approaches to comparative analysis with elements of hermeneutic, imagological, stylistic, and cultural-historical methods. The article emphasises that the profound considerations about the origins of the universe in love poems with hedonistic motives bring the works of the French authors (Théophile de Viau) closer to the verses of the English ones, who discuss serious issues of human existence, religion, world order, etc. (A. Marvell) even in love poems. The religious works of the French poets (d’Aubigné, de Sponde, La Ceppède) contrast with metaphysical ideas about the transcendent world (J. Donne, G. Herbert, F. Quarles, Н. Vaughan) precisely by interpreting the Baroque themes of the transience of earthly existence, imperfection of human being, that are represented defectively from the perspective of style. Metaphysical tension and emotional release of the most secret movements of the soul raise the spiritual verses to the level of contemplative poetry.

Band Together, Team Up, Pool Resources: Interplay Between a Thesaurus and Other Language Tools

ABSTRACT: This article gives insight into combining language resources in a digital medium, by focusing on synonyms within Antidote, a bilingual French–English software product composed of a text corrector, dictionaries, and writing guides. This thesaurus has applications beyond its use as an isolated dictionary; it offers mutual enrichment for related language resources in the software. The presentation of synonyms is made more robust by integrating labels and definitions from the main definitions dictionary, and an algorithm, devised using the product's dictionary of word combinations (i.e. collocations), orders the synonyms based on relevance. In turn, the synonyms enrich other elements of the software; synonyms appear as substitution suggestions in the text corrector, and they expand the translations offered in the bilingual English–French dictionary.

Another voice for another language?

Abstract This study examines crosslinguistic vocal register variations (pitch level and range) within speakers of L1 French-L2 English and L1 English-L2 French. Participants were recorded on three tasks: reading aloud, video retelling, and free speech, in both French and English. A separate analysis of the f 0 of voiced pauses in relation to vocal register is presented. The main hypothesis is that French is spoken on a higher vocal register than English, the difference being due to the divergent prosodic systems of the two languages, as opposed to an effect of the language status for the speaker (L1 or L2). The results partially confirm it, although the L1 and the task type influence the language effect. In addition, results indicate that pitch level and pitch range can vary independently; that the task has a significant effect on vocal register; and that the f 0 of voiced pauses is lower than the average speaking f 0, thus impacting its measure and raising methodological issues for the study of vocal register.

Eğitim Kurumlarında Örgütsel İletişimin Fonksiyon ve Yöntemlerinin Değerlendirilmesi

English French and the origin of the definition of communication in our language, corresponds to the meaning of the word communication in French and English. The origin of the word means to share, to make common, and one of the goals of communication is to consent. The only purpose of being able to reach a partnership is to share feelings, thoughts and information with each other. The definition of communication in a general sense is the process of Deciphering meanings between individuals who interact with each other. Information is shared spontaneously between individuals in institutions arising from the obligation to work Decently in business life. Organizational communication, on the other hand, covers the flow of legal and illegal data in an open and step-type system. Formal communication is the communication system that occurs in accordance with the organizational structure of the enterprise. The bond between the subordinate and superiors gains functionality depending on formal communication. Dec. The purpose of formal communication is to obtain the necessary information for the group, to create the desired attitude for employees to be satisfied with the job, and to transfer information to the relevant people when necessary. The formal communication system shows the channels that are connected with the hierarchical structure of the organization and transfer information with the environment. Non-formal communication; natural groups within the organization, friends, family, etc. it shows the organizational communication channels that work in the direction of satisfying their needs and are based on personal relationships. Communication related to form has the role of ensuring the connection and coordination between the different organs, elements and tasks of the organization, as well as ensuring organizational integrity, determining responsibilities and fulfilling tasks. Dec. Organizational communication is not maintained only through formal channels created within the framework of a hierarchical order determined by the organization. Apart from this formal structure, another of the channels that provide organizational communication is non-formal communication channels. It is impossible to block non-formal communication, it is really important that the manager manages to turn this communication channel in favor of business purposes. The good functioning of formal communication channels is not always sufficient for organizational communication. No matter how well these channels work, non-formal communication will definitely arise due to issues arising from the need to socialize, such as friendship, sharing interests in every environment where people are together Key Words: Educational Institutions, Organizational Communication, Communication Function, Communication Method

Towards a Combination of Metrics for Machine Translation

In this scholar, we compare three metrics for machine translation, from English toFrench and vice versa, and we give some combination formulas based on someschemes, algorithms, and machine learning tools. As an experimental dataset, weconsider 10 English and French theses abstracts published in the web with four free incharge machine translation systems. Five combinations, with the same implicit weights,are considered namely: (BLEU+NIST), (BLEU+ (1-WER)), (NIST+(1-WER)),(BLEU+NIST+(1-WER)), and (FR(BLEU)+FR(NIST)+FR(WER)). Thesecombinations are also considered differently through generating weights parameters onthe basis of regression. The results of 12 formulas are computed and compared then intotal. According to the obtained results, average regression combinations based onmachine learning step are the best, especially with the three basic metrics, followed byaverage WER metric in the case of English to French. For French to English,(FR(BLEU)+FR(NIST)+FR(WER)) combination is the best followed respectively bythe average regression combination with both first parameters (Reg(α,β)) and averageBLEU basic metric. Another performance criterion is considered here, in the secondposition, namely: the number of times, over the 10 abstracts, where the formula is thebest. Based on the obtained results, combination with regression based on the first andthe last parameters (Reg(α,γ)) outperforms the others, in the case of English to French,with 3 times followed by Reg(β,γ), Reg(α,β,γ), NIST+(1-WER), and the basic metrics(BLEU, NIST, and WER) with 2 times for each of them. For French to English, thebasic WER metric outperforms the others with three times followed by BLEU, (BLEU+(1-WER)), (FR(BLEU)+FR(NIST)+FR(WER)), and Reg(α,γ) with 2 times for each ofthem. To note that there is a room of improvement for the combinations with1.0914 inthe case of English to French and 1.01 in the case of French to English.

The Liminal Space of Métis Poetry: Between Centre and Periphery

This article explores the literary space of Canadian literature in world literature and the liminal space of Métis poetry, which is distinctive in being situated between the European and Indigenous aspects of Canadian literature. The paradox is that Métis poetry and literature in Canada, long marginalized, can now create another space for Canadian literature, or for poets born or living in Canada, in world literature and comparative literature, a small literature among large literatures. By examining Métis poetry in Canada and analyzing the poems by Louis Riel (1844–1885), Pauline Johnson (also known as Tekahionwake or Double Wampum, 1861–1913) and Naomi McIlwraith (contemporary), the article can provide a sense of distinctiveness and uniqueness, even if some of these qualities are also present in “Métis” poetry outside Canada. Riel and McIlwraith occupy a literary and cultural in-between space—Riel writing in French and McIlwraith in English and Cree—mixing major and minor centers and part of this “nation within a nation,” this threshold space where self, identity and other are all called into question.

Can L2-L3 cognates affect L3 vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension? – evidence from Chinese learners of L3 French

ABSTRACT Cognate awareness is the ability to recognise cognate relationships in languages, which requires activation of vocabulary knowledge in both languages. Different types of cognates may have various degrees of contributions to vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Few studies have explored the role of different cognate types in vocabulary knowledge and reading across languages, especially in the L3 learner population. To this end, the present study examined the role of different facets of cognate awareness in L3 vocabulary and reading acquisition. Chinese college students of L2 English and L3 French (N = 121) participated in the study, all of whom had learned L2 English for over nine years and L3 French for at least one semester in classrooms. They were required to complete a researcher-developed English-French cognate test, a French vocabulary test and a French reading test. The English-French cognate test contained three types of cognates (same, similar, and false types). The French vocabulary test consisted of a vocabulary size subtest and a Word Associates subtest to measure breadth and depth knowledge. Results of path analysis revealed indirect effects of two types of cognate awareness (similar and false types) on L3 French reading comprehension via the mediation of vocabulary knowledge.