Lack Of Words Research Articles

An Analysis Of Students Difficulties In Writing Recount Text On The Eleventh Grade At SMA Negeri 21 Medan

This thesis is about an analysis of students difficulties on writing recount text in the eleventh grade at SMA Negeri 21 Medan. The objectives of research are to analyze the student's difficulties on writing recount text in the eleventh grade at SMA Negeri 21 Medan And to identify the factors causing students difficulties in writing recount text. This research was conducting by applying Descriptive Qualitative research. The Researcher took 15 students of eleventh in getting the data. The instrument of the collecting data was the writing test and interview. The technique of collecting data was the researcher explained what the recount text, generic structure, language features and giving the example of recount text. The researcher asked the eleventh grade students wrote a recount text that chooses by themselves in 60 minutes and the researcher collected the paper, after that the researcher do the interview directly to all student. the result of the analysis of students difficulties showed that majority of the students at eleventh grade at SMA Negeri 21 Medan still low in writing recount text. it could be seen from the analysis the test from content of the results of the percentage is 15%, organization of the result on the percentage is 19%, language use of the percentage in the result is 26%, vocabulary of the percentage in the result is 24% and mechanic of the percentage in the result is 16%. Based on the result of analysis of student difficulties showed that majority of the students factors are difficulties of content such as the lack of experience to developing ideas. Difficulties of organization, students lack of structure to organize ideas and story elements in a clear and logical manner. Difficulties of vocabulary, the lack of word in English and limitation of vocabulary to translate the meanings of certain words. Difficulties of language use, lack of grammar such as use of sentence structure, the use of nouns, verbs, and aspects of grammar. And the last Difficulties of Mechanic, lack of knowledge about punctuation marks such as commas periods and each other formats. The analysis shows that students still make mistakes in all five aspects of the 15 students who were used as participants, none of them succeeded in writing recount correctly. so it can be concluded that students are still difficult in writing recount text.

A Study of Anxiety on English Speaking in Classroom of Year Four Students at The Faculty of Languages Souphanouvong University

The objective of this study was to study anxiety on English speaking in classroom of year 4 students and the main cause of students’ anxiety on English speaking at the Faculty of Languages, Souphanouvong University. It was a quantitative study and the participants were the 36 students in fourth year from department of Foreign Language, Faculty of Languages, Souphanouvong University. The instrument was a questionnaire, consisting of 22 items about anxiety on English speaking and the main cause of students’ anxiety on English speaking. The Mean and Standard Deviation used SPSS Program to analyze the data. The finding of the study: Students have problems in English speaking during class because they get nervous when speaking English as shown in the items of advice and self-report, answering their teachers’ questions and students feel very self-conscious about speaking English in front of others friends in class, students worry and make mistakes and are afraid that their classmates will laugh at them. The main cause of students’ anxiety on English speaking in classroom is that students are anxious to speak English in class, because they have lack of flexibility of words, concerns for their ideas. Also, students have lack of words and experience in pronunciation, with the Mean of3.86 and S.D of 0.961. Moreover, students are afraid of making mistakes in grammar and structure of sentence.

BODY LANGUAGE VOCABULARY IN ALBANIAN AS A PROOF OF AN ABUNDANT AND ANCIENT LANGUAGE!

The richness of language vocabulary is directly related to the personal culture of reading and educational background of the person belonging to a specific ethnic community, altogether with the tradition, customs and folklore, as factors of its historic cultural development. The historical development of an ethnicity plays a decisive role in the richness of words and the abundance of vocabulary for specific types and fields of cultures, such as the musical culture, the culture of fine arts, legal and institutional culture, culture of housing buildings, culture of healthy living, etc. The national conscience is related to the common language speaking and the cultivation of tradition, folklore and clothing by the people living in a common geographic territory. Their fights for survival and freedom, as well as the wars for defense of the territory has produced an abundant vocabulary up to details and stylistic varieties and a detailed description of the fighting tools and processes, such as struggle, fight, wars, call for freedom, on the other hand, but also is a lack of words and poorness of vocabulary related to the technical description of the manufactured products and merchandises coming from abroad. Depending on the cultural development of the institutions, the law enforcement and written rules regulating the rights and the responsibility for obeying the legal restrictions and prohibitions has produced a better legal and institutional culture in one country, rather than in an old fashioned organization of social life in countries of a specific stage of national development, where the legal institutions were perceived as strange and hostile originating by an occupying country or nation. These institutions were only accepted as temporary and people obeyed them only by coercion, unwillingly and due to the threat of use of force, in case of lack of obedience. The culture of reading newspapers and watching TV has influenced the richness of vocabulary by meeting new words of the literary, official and the international language, except for the vocabulary of the dialects in their native language.

Exploring communicative competence in autistic children who are minimally verbal: The Low Verbal Investigatory Survey for Autism (LVIS).

Approximately one in three autistic children is unable to communicate with language; this state is often described as minimally verbal. Despite the tremendous clinical implications, we cannot predict whether a minimally verbal child is simply delayed (but will eventually develop spoken language) or will continue to struggle with verbal language, and might therefore benefit from learning an alternative form of communication. This is important for clinicians to know, to be able to choose the most helpful interventions, such as alternative forms of communication. In addition, the field lacks a standard definition of "minimally verbal." Even when we do agree on what the term means (e.g. fewer than 20 words), describing a child based on their lack of words does not tell us whether that child is communicating in other ways or how they are using those 20 words. To address these concerns, we developed the Low Verbal Investigatory Survey (LVIS), a one-page parent-report measure designed to help us characterize how minimally verbal autistic children are communicating. Parents of 147 children (aged 1-8 years) completed the LVIS. Here, we ask (1) whether the survey measures what it was designed to measure, that is, communicative ability in children without much spoken language, and (2) how the LVIS relates to cognitive and language ability, and symptoms of autism. Results suggest that this survey, which takes only 5 min to complete, is a good estimate of the child's communication skills. Furthermore, LVIS survey scores are correlated with other measures of language and cognitive abilities as well as autism symptomatology. The LVIS has the potential to save time and money in both clinical and research efforts to assess communication skills in minimally verbal autistic children.

Book Review: A Vocabulary Proposal Aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages towards Turkish A1 and A2 Levels

This study aims to introduce Prof. Nihal Çalışkan’s study entitled A Vocabulary Proposal Aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages towards Turkish A1 and A2 Levels. The teaching of Turkish that has made a rapid improvement in recent years draws a great deal of attention as a foreign/ second language. Nonetheless, the lack of word/ vocabulary lists stands out in this field. This study that is based on corpus linguistics, Çalışkan’s field of study, and her own language learning experiences has been built on the idea that vocabulary is important in the acquisition of language skills, yet that a certain part of it should be taught as a priority in the face of the broad volume of the elements of vocabulary. In this study, which was meticulously carried out in line with the principle of transparency by examining current textbooks, the word was considered as an orthographic unit. This study was conducted in three phases and reached 1152 words at A1 level and 1653 words at A2 level. In the list prepared, the vocabulary elements were basically divided into two groups as “words” and “units that exceed the limits of word”. The units that exceed the limits of word was further subdivided into four categories: “morpheme units”, “lexical units”, “syntactic units” and “discourse units”. The words determined based on prevalence criteria was aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). All units are exemplified by sentences generated by the author herself.

Using Visual Media for Improving Writing Skills

Most teachers, including students, believe that teaching and learning writing skills are not easy because writing skills need attention for organizing ideas, choosing appropriate words, and constructing a paragraph with correct sentence mechanisms. Furthermore, it is more difficult for foreign language learners because they have to change ideas to an appropriate text. They need to transform the ideas with a foreign language. They face a lot of problems and challenges to write a well-organized paragraph such as lack of words, fear of making mistakes and writing anxiety. Additionally, the writing classes should be more enjoyable. There should be more activities and tasks to make the learners practice. Then the students need to be provided chances and opportunities to write more and more. In this way, the students can write quickly. They explore their talent and writing ability to express their thoughts, emotions, ideas, and opinions. Thus, the students should attend the class with their interest rather than obeying rules and program formalities. So, it is critical to find and apply different strategies to create an exciting and productive writing class to encourage the students to write more. The present study mainly focuses on empowering writing skills via implementing visual media in the class. A descriptive research design was implemented. The data was collected from previously conducted studies about visual media and writing skills. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze and discuss the data. In the end, it was found that visual media is highly virtual in enhancing writing skills.

READING TEACHING STRATEGIES IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

The scholar's capability to understand English the fact veritably low in Indonesia. Not only among newcomers similar as the basic or less high academy degree but the capability to understand introductory reading at the high academy position is inversely worrisome. This has led to a lack of further good mortal resources in recent times. For a long time, we've known that English is a foreign language and unexpectedly indeed introductory reading can not be learned at this position. Not to mention that the after generation of Z has made this language a language that's used every day on every occasion. Not only studying and looking for work, this language and the language used in chatting and it's heartbreaking if the scholars' understanding capability is still veritably low. Several factors greatly impact this disability. The first is the lack of words that they've in interpreting the textbook, the second is the lack of training of the textbook to be read either at home or the academy library and the third is the lack of attention of the subject preceptors in the proper wisdom of each scholar who practices at the academy. There is no revealing provocation to make scholars uncommunicative and assume that reading is boring conditioning. Let alone reading foreign readings, reading textbooks in Indonesian itself, indeed lazy to read because of a lack of mindfulness of the significance of reading conditioning. Reading this is to help scholars get the right understanding of important knowledge, and increase their love of reading, and most importantly how do preceptors realize the most applicable strategies in tutoring and literacy handed the schoolteacher knows the background of each scholar.

Hayvan ile İnsan Arasındaki "Başka"lık Açısından Bilge Karasu nun "Korkusuz Kirpiye Övgü" ve "Bizim Denizimiz" Öyküleri

Throughout the history of philosophical thinking, human centred thoughts are based on the approaches to nature and the living other than human. However, “human” could only express itself via the difference between animal and human. Over time, human centred approaches have been replaced by new studies about animal’s being the “other” with the concept of identity. “Being animal” has been a philosophical problem and it has attracted more attention in literary texts. In his studies on the question of animal, Derrida emphasises the concept of logocentrism and impression of animal’s lack of word and mind in a position of “the other.” Jakob von Uexkull’s idea of multiple worlds in which the perceptions of time, place and world are shaped in the senses of each living creature is grounded with the thoughts of Derrida, Heidegger and Agamben. In his works, Bilge Karasu has handled the visibility junctions between human and animal and the situation of being the “other” and made them parts of his poetics. Karasu, has questioned the identity of animal, its position as the “other/different” and answered many humanly questions via this otherness. He wishes to determine the ways of maintaining his approach to nature and animal in not a human centred way by clearing of every relation of domination. In this study, based on the two short stories of Karasu, the author’s approach to the criticism of logocentrism; and his demand of absolute equality among the living will be studied.

ANALISIS KEAKURATAN HASIL PENERJEMAHAN GOOGLE TRANSLATE DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE BACK TRANSLATION

This research analyses comparison between the original Arabic text and the translation back to Arabic by Google Translate on Arabic newspapers. To achieve test the accuracy of text according to translated theory. Then researchers use qualitative descriptive method of research with translation method back translations that is, a validation tool that is widely used in international research settings and original documents compared to translation results Back to see the inconsistencies, and if nothing of the translation is considered equivalent. Based on the results of the study the accuracy results of Google Translate is inaccurate, but understanding of the meaning text still understandable. As for inaccuracies of translations found such as linguistic studies such as syntactic, semantics, mistakes in writing numbers, lack of words, reduction.

Negative valence specific deficits in judgements of musical affective quality in alexithymia

ABSTRACT Alexithymia is characterised by a lack of words for emotional experiences and it has been implicated in deficits in emotion processing. Research in this area has typically focused on judgements of discrete emotions rather than of affect, which is a precursor to emotion construction. In the current study, higher alexithymia was predicted to be related to more neutral judgements of valence and arousal of music representing a range of emotions. Participants (N = 162) listened to ten 15-second musical pieces that represented five target emotions (happy, sad, tender, angry, and fearful) and rated the valence and arousal of each. Participants also listed emotion words they knew to be expressed in music. Analyses revealed that alexithymia was not related to the number of emotion words generated but was related to valence-specific affect judgements of music. Participants higher in alexithymia rated sad, angry, and fearful pieces as more neutral in valence and arousal. Alexithymia was not related to ratings of valence or arousal for happy and tender pieces. These findings suggest that perceptual deficits in alexithymia may be specific to negative emotions. Our results are consistent with the idea that alexithymia is related to the direction of attention away from negative stimuli.

The sound of silence: Blank spaces, fading narratives and fragile frames in comics

Abstract How does one translate silence onto a silent medium? Printed comic books and graphic novels are generally a non-auditory art form. This has caused them to be traditionally perceived as ‘silent’. This also means that comics artists have come up with some of the most innovative ways of translating sound to a primarily visual medium – bold letters, onomatopoeic words, fading images, etc. Nonetheless, these innovations have often in fact failed to address silence. As an art form where both the blank space and the printed word acquire their own unique visual signification, is comics rather a stubbornly un-silent medium? If so, then how does one depict silence in an un-silent medium? My article addresses these questions by first examining the works of Scott McCloud, Thierry Groensteen and Barbara Postema and their study of sound in comics. I then build on these theoretical frameworks to problematize the conventional correlation of visual signifiers with sound and silence, primarily examining the use of blank space or the lack of words as a default signifier of silence. Ultimately, I will argue that comic books provide a unique transmedial approach to re-analyse our conventional ideas for visual representations of sound.

Chants of olonkho in the records of the Viluy expedition of M. N. Zhirkov

В статье исследуются нотные записи напевов якутского героического эпоса олонхо, произведенные М. Н. Жирковым во время Вилюйской экспедиции 1943 г. Они хранятся в фондах М. Н. Жиркова в Национальной библиотеке РС (Я) им. А. С. Пушкина. Выявлено, что нотные записи напевов якутских сказаний М. Н. Жиркова являются одними из первых нотаций напевов олонхо. До него нотные записи якутских традиционных напевов произведены А. Ф. Миддендорфом и А. Л. Масловым. Впервые записал на ноты «Песню девушки» из олонхо В. Л. Серошевский. В изданных до М. Н. Жиркова нотных сборниках отсутствуют нотные записи напевов олонхо. Только во время Вилюйской экспедиции 1943 г. М. Н. Жирков впервые записал на ноты напевы якутских сказаний. В записях Вилюйской экспедиции М. Н. Жирковым приводятся 11 песен из олонхо. При этом отсутствуют указания принадлежности напевов к олонхо. Тем не менее, эти напевы принадлежат распространенным в олонхо персонажам. При анализе сделана попытка реконструкции принадлежности напевов олонхо к тому или иному якутскому эпосу, распространенному в вилюйской группе улусов. Все напевы принадлежат вилюйской стилистике пения этэн ыллыыр (поёт, выговаривая). Вместе с тем в них обнаруживаются две улусные традиции исполнения олонхо: верхневилюйская и нюрбинская, которые отличаются между собой и интонационно, и метроритмически. Изучены также методы собирания М. Н. Жирковым якутского музыкального фольклора в плане фрагментарной фиксации мелодий и их записи от пожилых носителей фольклора. Нотные записи М. Н. Жиркова отличаются краткостью, схематизмом и зачастую отсутствием слов. При ключе проставлены знаки альтерации, указывающие принадлежность напева к той или иной тональности, что характерно для начального этапа изучения якутской традиционной песенности, когда еще не были изучены ладозвукорядные закономерности якутской народной песни. Проставлен в нотных записях и размер, что говорит о принадлежности напевов к стилю якутского традиционного пения дэгэрэнг ырыа (подвижная, ритмичная, размеренная песня). Таким образом, нотные записи напевов олонхо М. Н. Жиркова, произведённые им во время Вилюйской экспедиции 1943 г., являются первыми нотными записями песенных фрагментов якутских героических сказаний в период активного бытования фольклора народа саха. The article examines musical notes of the Yakut heroic epic olonkho chants, produced by M. N. Zhirkov during the Viluy expedition in 1943. They are kept in the funds of M. N. Zhirkov in the National Library of RS (Y). It is revealed that the musical notes of the chants of the Yakut legends of M. N. Zhirkov are among the first notation of the olonkho chants. Before him, the musical notes of the Yakut traditional chants were produced by A. F. Middendorf and A. L. Maslov. For the first time, V. L. Seroshevsky recorded the notes of an Olonkho girl’s song. There are no musical notes of olonkho chants in musical compilations published before M. N. Zhirkov. It was only during the 1943 Viluy expedition that M. N. Zhirkov first recorded the chants of Yakut legends on notes. In the M. N. Zhirkov’s records of the Viluy expedition, there are 11 songs from olonkho. At the same time, there are no indications of belonging to the olonkho chants. Nevertheless, these chants belong to characters common in olonkho. In the analysis, an attempt was made to reconstruct the belonging of the olonkho chants to one or another Yakut epic, common in the Viluy group of districts. All chants belong to the Viluy style of singing eten yllyyr. At the same time, two other traditions of olonkho performance are found in them: Verkhnevilyuysk and Nyurba, which differ from each other in the intonation and metrrhythmically. The M. N. Zhirkov’s methods of collecting Yakut musical folklore were also studied in terms of fragmentary fixation of chants and their recording from elderly folklore bearers. The musical notes of M. N. Zhirkov are characterized by brevity, schematism, and often the lack of words. When the key is marked, the alteration signs indicate that the chant belongs to this or that key, which is typical of the initial stage of studying the Yakut traditional song, when the harmonic regularities of the Yakut folk song had not yet been studied. It is stamped in musical notations and size, which indicates that the chants belong to the Yakut traditional singing degereng yrya style. Thus, the musical notes of M. N. Zhirkov’s olonkho chants, made by him during the 1943 Viluy expedition, are the first musical records of song fragments of Yakut heroic legends during the period of active existence of the Sakha folklore.

No words, just pictures to tell the history of humanity: an art case in Bocejo

Wordless books are traditionally associated with illiterate children. However, many of them have fragmented and dense proposal, assuming skills and prior knowledge that a young reader would hardly have. Thus, in research whose focus is on books for children selected by the Brazilian – National Program of the School Library (PNBE), we chose to study Ilan Brenman and Renato Moriconi’s Bocejo. The book consists of apparent isolated scenes that, joined together, form a unique whole, dialoguing with stages that show the history of humanity – from bible’s Eve to the arrival of man on the moon or from the act of an individual reader to the interaction with the book. Lack of words that could guide the understanding of the reader, temporal gaps between scenes and the multiplicity of elements which compose each picture lead to structure and thematic fractures, that complicate the reception of the book by the beginning reader. The meanings of the story emerge by a picture and the articulation with the fact that the character represented is referring to. The proposal of the work prioritizes the emancipatory nature of the reader, however, in the case of young readers, mediation is necessary to help children in the process of comprehension, understanding the book and the art process involved in this humanity path.

电针配合康复训练治疗中风后失语症73例体会

失语症属是指由于大脑的特定区域发生器质性病变而导致的言语缺失，导致失语的病因很多，在我国急性脑血管病患者中约有1/3以上的患者存在不同程度的各种言语障碍。本研究选取中风后失语的患者为研究对象，并且结合头穴电针配合语言训练治疗中风后失语症，取得了较好的临床疗效，同时探讨了有关治疗机理及某些规律。我们的研究中发现，在给患者进行针刺的同时进行语言训练的治疗组，无论从语言理解方面还是在发音等方面均优于仅仅使用语言训练的对照组。我们认为失语症的治疗需要将针刺与语言康复治疗二者有机的结合起来，优势互补，这样才是提高临床疗效的关键。 Aphasia is that occurred due to the specific areas of the brain organic disease caused by a lack of words, a lot of cause lead to aphasia, acute cerebrovascular disease. In our country, there are about more than one third of patients with different degree of various speech impediments. This study selected patients with aphasia after stroke as the research object, and combined with head acupuncture point of language training and electric acupuncture for the treatment of aphasia after stroke, and has achieved good clinical effect, and discusses the relevant treatment mechanism and some regularity. Our study found that in patients with acupuncture of language training in the treatment group at the same time, no matter from the aspects of language comprehension and pronunciation, etc. were superior to control group using just one language training. We believe that the treatment of aphasia requires the combination of acupuncture and language rehabilitation to complement each other, which is the key to improve clinical efficacy.

Stimulating access to words in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Anomia is the second most common disorder after episodic memory loss in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Our objective was to develop a speech therapy protocol for patients with Alzheimer's disease (Mini-Mental State Examination or MMSE ≥ 15) and suffering from a lack of words, in order to improve access to words. We stimulated the three stages in the men: – stimulation of lexical selection involved working on the multiple meanings of a word, searching for the relevant and specific features of a word in order to make a guess, and bringing to mind a target word from specific features; – stimulation of morphological encoding involved extracting the meaning of a morpheme by comparing two words, one of which is derived from the other, and then identifying the meaning of an affix by slipping it into a sentence; – phonological encoding was stimulated by the isolation of the initial two-syllable words and merging them to form a third word. A speech therapist assessed lexical naming and MMS score before and after administration of the rehabilitation protocol to patients who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Fourteen patients were included and completed the 20 training sessions of 30 min each, held once or twice a week with their speech therapist. After the rehabilitation protocol, 12 out of the 14 patients were better at naming words after visual confrontation (pictures) and reproducing words after auditory confrontation. A decline was noted in every cognitive aspect in 9 patients. Eight out of these 9 patients maintained or improved their lexical access. Although there was a decline in cognitive abilities in our study population, systematic activation of the lexicon helped maintain or improve linguistic aspects of language. These aspects are essential to oral communication from an ecological and psychosocial standpoint.

Wehling, P., Viehöver, W. and Koenen, S. (eds) The Public Shaping of Medical Research: Patient Associations, Health Movements and Biomedicine. London: Routledge. 2015. 308pp £90 (hbk) ISBN 978‐0‐415‐85823‐6

Wehling, P., Viehöver, W. and Koenen, S. (eds) The Public Shaping of Medical Research: Patient Associations, Health Movements and Biomedicine. London: Routledge. 2015. 308pp £90 (hbk) ISBN 978‐0‐415‐85823‐6

Diagnosis of crossed aphasia, a case report

The purpose was to back up on all the arguments [1] , for to diagnose crossed aphasia (CA) our patient and improve rehabilitation. A man of 45 years, right-handed, presented a dysarthria accompanied by a loss of verbal fluency, lack of word and paraphasias, after a parietal-temporal hematoma in right hemisphere. The interrogatory did not find a familial history on a left handedness. Brain imaging confirmed the integrity of the left hemisphere in the initial MRI and CT scan. The speech therapist assessment showed the oral picture naming test alack of the word (61/80, decreased lexical background, non-response, breaks) and semantic paraphasias. The questionnaire of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination of the repetition of sentences showed an effect of length and omissions of words. Reading words and sentences aloud contained substitutions, additions and paralexies. Listening was average (11/15: order execution, 6/12: understanding sentences and texts). Reading comprehension was average, 6/10. The writing contained many errors (perseveration, paragraphies literal and neologisms). The copy was altered. Automatic series were not preserved (Transcript of the alphabet). Brain lateralization test found an ocular dominance right and right lower limb (20/20). Neuropsychological assessment found disorders of attention (Stroop and Trail Making Test [TMT] with 4.12 standard deviation [sd] and the corrected T score 1.9 and 2.4 sd) and mental flexibility (TMT: 3.41 sd). An impaired working memory (WAIS: span = 7 and to place = 3) and logical reasoning (WAIS-III: 5). A deficit in verbal episodic memory (learning the verbal list of BEM 144: 1.31 sd) affect the encoding and retrieval processes. We have thus confirmed the diagnosis of crossed aphasia by eliminating a left handedness and a lesion in the left hemisphere. The speech therapist and neuropsychological allowed to assert the diagnosis of aphasia associated with cognitive disorders [2] . Therefore we associated the language rehabilitation in a targeted program on cognitive function and gained better results.

Quod Non Est in Actis Non Est in Mundo: Legal Words, Unspeakability and the Same-Sex Marriage Issue

This article centres on the legal recognition of same-sex marriage with a view to exploring the issue of unspeakability; that is, the condition whereby some questions cannot be articulated because of a lack of words. More specifically, the article will explore what happens to those social practices that are not given legal speakability and thereby legal recognition/protection. To this end, I first focus on how words are produced in the sphere of everyday life and their dependence on the existence of a widespread normality. I then discuss how the law sees to the preservation and the reproduction of normality by providing a set of categories which are made available to law-abiders to settle disputes when they arise. In doing so, I elucidate the twofold role played by law as both a selective and a creative device. To cast some light on the particular way law operates, I discuss an important decision by the Italian Constitutional Court in 2010, which provides a telling example of how legal officials are able to seal off the set of legal categories and to leave some issues in the sphere of the unspeakable. I then unearth a paradox: while unspeakability reveals a condition of powerlessness, the acquisition of speakability could bring about even harsher exclusionary effects. I conclude by arguing that the entry into the sphere of official law is always a Janus-faced achievement, but can play as an effective instrument of critique.

Looking at a Wordless Picture Book: Quentin Blake’s Clown

In this study of Quentin Blake’s wordless picture book, Clown, which won the International Bologna Ragazzi Award in 1996, I examine the ways that the layout, color, line, perspective, directional bias and point of view act as subtexts which can influence the ‘reading’ of the pictorial narrative. Besides brief outlines of other wordless picture books and their creators there are references to those literary theorists who have informed my own work. I conclude that the lack of words in Clown is compensated for by the abundance of images, the clown’s expressive body language and the textual quality of the drawing style.

Tiempo para hablar y tiempo para callar: uso y función del silencio en un auto religioso de fines del XVI

En este artículo nos proponemos una primera aproximación a un auto religioso inédito de fines del siglo XVI titulado "Auto de la cena a lo divino", tomando como eje articulatorio del mismo la estrategia comunicativa que el anónimo dramaturgo lleva a cabo con la noción de silencio. En la primera parte analizaremos ampliamente el modo en que el autor se sirve de la ausencia de palabras para crear una atmósfera ritual y celebrativa que vincula esta pieza dramática con la liturgia. A continuación subrayaremos algunas fórmulas teatrales inherentes al lenguaje teatral relacionadas con el silencio que se descubren ineficaces en cuanto a su función primordial de generar tensión dramática, pero sí consiguen establecer cierta complicidad entre la acción y el virtual público de la representación.