Linguistic Adequacy Research Articles

When Yiddish Was Written in Latin Letters

Abstract Although Yiddish was traditionally written in Hebrew letters, texts in this language were also recorded using Latin characters in various circumstances, times, and places. These texts offer valuable information regarding pronunciation traditions and shed light on the processes of cultural history and sociolinguistics that acted as catalysts to their preparation. Various studies have discussed this phenomenon, yet they usually focus on one specific reason for using the Latin alphabet, such as ideological Romanization or linguistic adequacy. The following article offers for the first time a descriptive survey of the entire corpus, from the Early Modern Era to the present day. Paying close attention to the orthography used and the variety recorded, this article discerns within the studied corpus distinct categories reflecting the religious, linguistic, and ideological backgrounds of the texts’ authors and intended readers as well as technical factors pertaining to print. It also highlights the crucial role of the Hebrew alphabet in Yiddish culture.

Cross-cultural adaptation and inter-rater reliability of the Schizophrenia proneness instrument adult version (SPI-A) in the Indonesian context

This study aims to adapt the Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Adult Version (SPI-A) for the assessment of basic symptoms to the Indonesian context (culturally and linguistically) and analyze the inter-rater reliability of the translated version. Following a specific methodology for cultural adaptation, direct and back-translations were conducted together with cognitive interviews to analyze the comprehensibility of the translated version. A linguistic expert analyzes the resulting version to determine its grammatical and linguistic adequacy. Finally, the interclass correlation (ICC) of the three expert ratings of the samples (N = 9) was analyzed. The direct and back-translation phases showed good conceptual equivalence to the original version. The cognitive interviews revealed items that were challenging to understand and required revision. The final version also considered the judgments of a linguistic expert for grammatical and conceptual improvements. Inter-rater reliability analysis showed an excellent degree of agreement (ICC value: 0.984; 95% CI: 0.950–0.996). The translated SPI-A fits the Indonesian context and can be used in clinical settings to assess basic symptoms in help-seeking individuals in Indonesia.

Hindi Translation, Validation and Testretest Reliability of The Fugl Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity Scale: A Cross-sectional Study Protocol

Introduction: Stroke, a global health concern, causes substantial mortality and disability. The Fugl Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) scale evaluates sensorimotor impairment in stroke patients. Despite Hindi’s widespread use, with over 609 million speakers worldwide, the scale lacks a Hindi version. Bridging this gap could significantly enhance stroke rehabilitation outcomes. Aim: This study aims to translate the FMA-UE scale into Hindi, validate the translated version, and determine its test-retest reliability in Hindispeaking stroke patients. Materials and Methods: Permission from the author is required before meticulously translating the FMA-UE scale into Hindi by bilingual experts. This process will involve, combining perspectives from a medical expert and a linguistic specialist. Merged translations will be back-translated into English for accuracy. Content validation via the Delphi method by an expert panel will ensure linguistic equivalence. Pretesting will gauge comprehensibility and appropriateness. Test-retest reliability will be determined through correlation coefficient calculations on patients, assessed twice with an interval. Results: Study anticipates successful translation of FMA-UE scale into Hindi with robust linguistic translation. Delphi method will be used for item assessment, calculating Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI). Scale-level Content Validity Index Average (S-CVI/Ave) ensures unanimity. Test-retest reliability evaluated through ICCs and Bland-Altman plots, illustrating mean scores and standard deviations across sessions, with ICC values indicating reliability and Bland-Altman plots confirming score agreement visually. Conclusion: The Hindi FMA-UE scale will aid assessment in Hindispeaking stroke populations. This protocol ensures linguistic adequacy, enhancing clinical assessment and rehabilitation strategies.

REPRESENTATION OF IRONY IN WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT

This article explores the representation of irony in WhatsApp Group chats, aiming to identify the types of irony and narrate the meaning of the irony used. A case study was geared under Perrine's (1966) and Leech's (1981) analysis of the type of irony. Moreover, the result disclosed that touches of sarcasm were the favorable choice of irony to express the participants’ feelings. Sarcasm was detected by using uppercase characters, exclamation marks, and teasing words. Hyperbole and understatement were the second participants’ favorite to use to exaggerate reality and make a dramatic situation. Furthermore, implementing irony in daily conversation with decent knowledge is significant to flourish and enrich their linguistic adequacy to avoid misunderstanding and know the appropriate situation manual students' exploitations of irony will.

Exploring the Efficacy of Plain English to Measure Legal Aspirants’ Comprehension of Judicial Judgments

This study attempts to measure the linguistic adequacy of law students with reference to comprehension of judicial judgments and consumption of time. Data is collected in the form of test from the law students. Two tests are constructed comprising of five statements concerned with civil judicial judgments. Test 1 was carrying the original chunks of civil judicial judgments and test 2 was carrying the same test in plain version. Starting and ending of Timings were also essential to mention on the test. Tests were given to the 250 law students of five prestigious universities of Pakistan. The findings of the study revealed that the law students take less time while reading the plain legal language and raised the comprehensibility of judicial judgments.

Distance Learning for Social Distancing through LMOOCs: From Local to Massive and Back

This chapter discusses the first step of the adaptation of a Language Massive Open Online Course (LMOOC) offered on EdX4 to be used in higher education contexts as a result of social distancing measures imposed by the COVID19 outbreak and the sudden pivot to online learning. The LMOOC contents recently underwent a process of redesign and conversion from small-scale to massive and now the opposite move is necessary: the LMOOC is to go local by becoming embedded in English classes in higher education contexts. Participants’ feedback was analyzed and compared with the criteria from a MOOC analysis matrix in terms of content variety, quality of contents and instructors, linguistic level and adequacy, level of usefulness, and user-friendliness. The paper contributes to material/course design and teacher education insomuch as the process of repurposing this English LMOOC affords insights for course/material design, addressing the pressing need for online materials which many (often underfunded) public universities are currently experiencing.

Spanish Cultural Adaptation and Inter-Rater Reliability of the Test of Playfulness

Aim To adapt the Test of Playfulness (ToP) to the Spanish context (culturally and linguistically) and analyze the inter-rater reliability of the translated version. Methods Following a specific methodology for cultural adaptation, direct and back translations were carried out, together with cognitive interviews with pediatric occupational therapists, to analyze the comprehensibility of the translated version. The resulting version was analyzed by a linguistic expert to determine its grammatical and linguistic adequacy. Finally, inter-rater reliability was analyzed in a sample of typically developing children aged between 4 years old and 6 years and 11 months (n = 12). Results Direct and back translation phases showed a good conceptual equivalence with the original version. The cognitive interviews enabled the identification of difficulties surrounding the understanding and the terminology used in several items. The linguistic expert and the research team revision ensured that final grammatical and conceptual improvements were made. Inter-rater reliability analysis showed an almost perfect degree of agreement (0.82 ≤ κ ≤ 1.00; p < 0.001), as well as stability and a strong positive linear correlation (0.81; p < 0.001). Conclusions The translated version of the ToP fits the Spanish context and can be used in the clinical setting of pediatric occupational therapy in Spain.

Measuring Forgiveness: Psychometric Properties of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale in the Spanish Population.

Given the scarcity of instruments in Spanish to measure forgiveness, two studies were conducted in this population to obtain validity evidence of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), an instrument that measures dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. In the first study, 203 students (65% women) participated. After ensuring the linguistic adequacy and clarity of the wording of the items, a lack of congruence was found between the factors obtained in the exploratory factor analysis and the original theoretical structure of the HFS. A sample of 512 participants (63.9% women) attended the second study. This study aimed to analyze the construct validity of the HFS using confirmatory factor analysis through structural equation modelling and to explore convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity. Of the different factorial configurations tested (including the original), only a scale reduction to eight items, grouped into three factors, showed an appropriate fit. The HFS eight-item version also showed acceptable internal consistency, adequate convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion validity with respect to related variables. These findings suggest that the eight-item version of the HFS may be a valid and reliable tool for assessing forgiveness for self, others, and situations in Spanish adults.

Антропологічний поворот як феномен рефлексії у моді ХХ–ХХІ століть

The purpose of the article is to determine the socio-cultural determinants of the systemsbuilding of fashion activity interpretation as a factor of harmonization of global problems of thetimes. The research methodology has used comparative and systematic approaches to helpto define fashion as a system of changes and innovations in the context of anthropologicalissues. Philosophical methods such as the transcendental help to clarify how changes infashion innovation in the age of globalization are possible; how the changes themselves (thephenomenological method) become obvious; as one cycle of fashion innovation transforms intoanother. The method of cultural and historical reconstruction helps to identify fashion artefactsas a phenomenon of modern culture. Scientific novelty. The anthropological turn focuses onthe anthropic dimension of fashion, which testifies to the anthropological dependence of motivetheocentricism and zoomorphism. Conclusions. It is proved that in the theory of modern aestheticthought, art, cultural studies determine three turns: anthropological, semiotic and visual. As ithappens, these turns are bred in time and it is believed that the anthropological come beforethe semiotic. The issues of discourse, text, sign transform the man’s problem, which wassharply marked at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, into the plane of linguistic adequacy. Theanthropological turn reflects the present situation, which presents the excessive, more, extremelyextravagant reality of the visualization of the world, a new optics, a panoptic universe that enablesthe media, advertising, virtual reality to show, present, expand the world of information so muchso man is in the multivariate space of the multidimensional screen world. The screen becomesso active and active that it actually eliminates physical and identity problems as an ontologicalpredicate. The ontological transformations in the fashion of the twentieth century are defined inthe context of this article through the prism of cultural practices of the present day.

Individuation Test for Emerging Adults (ITEA): Adaptação para a população portuguesa

O presente estudo procura adaptar para a população portuguesa o Individuation Test for Emerging Adults (ITEA) e analisar as suas características psicométricas. A amostra em estudo foi constituída por 432 adultos emergentes portugueses com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 30 anos. A análise fatorial confirmatória revelou índices de ajustamento adequados confirmando o modelo conceptual original do ITEA. Os resultados alcançados revelam propriedades psicométricas que confirmam a adequação linguística e cultural do ITEA na população portuguesa. O ITEA revelou-se capaz de identificar diferenças no processo de distanciamento psicológico aos pais, por parte dos adultos emergentes, em função da idade e género dos participantes. A confiabilidade foi avaliada através do alpha de Cronbach, que revelou índices de .80 /.82 para a totalidade do instrumento na sua versão da mãe e do pai. Para além disto, foi encontrada a invariância de medição entre os papéis parentais e o género do participante.

Consultoria colaborativa no Ensino Superior, tendo por foco um estudante com TEA

The area of special education has transverse nature; thus, it extrapolates the student as the only target. Its actions should include the teacher as recipient of specific training, which must be continuing, flexible and fully developed in the daily practice of the classroom. The present case report aims to describe collaborative consulting procedures performed by a professional expert in partnership with University managers, with the Faculty of Mathematics members, and focuses on a student with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Adjustments were applied in the evaluation strategies, including linguistic adequacy and the acceptance of oral responses with the support of resolutions on paper or on the blackboard. The evaluation process was registered through notes, photographs, as well as audio and video recordings. In the end, bearing in mind the failure in previous opportunities, the teachers reported the use of the strategies to assess the student learning as decisive.

Nursing English in Pakistan: Instructors’ Perceptions of Language Curriculum

Nursing English in Pakistan is an important domain that comes under the ambit of ESP ‘English for Specific Purposes’. English cogitates as a lingua franca and a cornerstone for success in any field. However, in ESL/ELT it is imperative to design a course that caters to the needs of the learners. Thereby this study attempts to evaluate the existing English for Nursing Purposes curriculum of BScN Programme prescribed by HEC/PNC to corroborate its relevancy and adequacy in preparing the musing professionals for their professional English language requirements using Stufflebeam’s curriculum evaluation framework. This investigative study measures the level of existing linguistic (in)adequacy of the professional nurses pertaining to the specific roles they are required to perform so that their problematical areas could be identified systematically and subsequently reported with recommendations. A qualitative research approach has been used to measure the needs of the nurses. Tools like open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews have been used to collect data from the sample sizes nursing heads and language instructors consecutively. The findings of the study divulge that the course is inadequate and yet relevant. It is recommended to review the English language curriculum considering the needs of the nurses for their work place that may improve the standards of nursing English in Pakistan.Journal of NELTA, Vol 21 No. 1-2, December 2016, page: 1-10

GRAMÁTICA(S), ENSINO DE PORTUGUÊS E “ADEQUAÇÃO LINGUÍSTICA”

This article discusses some concepts of grammar, in an attempt to show that there are only two meanings and that they are not in complementary distribution as some linguistic publications addressed to students usually suggest. Once reviewed the meaning of grammar as the knowledge every speaker has of his language, we will turn our attention to what has been called “linguistic adequacy”, showing the misunderstanding that underlies this concept, which leads to the opposition “informality” / “formality”. As we will see, such opposition is related to rules that belong to different grammars and only speakers with longer exposure to the “grammar of school” can “change their grammar”, particularly in writing. A brief analysis of Portuguese and Brazilian raps and funks, very popular musical genders, will bring empirical evidence to our statements, showing what is “informality” and what is “grammar”. Our final remarks will concentrate on the importance of teaching the “grammar of writing” based on contemporary descriptions, without ignoring this will mean a big step for students and they must be aware of that. Recent proposals of “pedagogical intervention” with the purpose to teach new rules which are not part of the students’ performance seem fair and necessary, but it is important to value the students’ grammar in order not to deepen linguistic prejudice.

Los estereotipos sociales a través del filtro de la traducción

Cultural referents not only designate specific realities of a given culture which do not always exist in another but they are also semantic elements which trigger social representations. By conveying values and points of view about different social groups, cultural referents become linguistic instruments to build stereotypes. These thought patterns are shared by the members of a social or cultural community and act as a filter of reality. The aim of this paper is to study the role of cultural referents in the construction of social stereotypes, focusing on the socio-cognitive universe they evoke. To this end, we have analyzed the translations techniques applied in the Spanish, Catalan and English versions of a novel which has been very successful on the French literary scene: Muriel Barbery’sL’Élégance du hérisson(2006). As show the results of this textual comparison, the explanations, descriptions and additional information observed in target texts do not trigger the same associations as cultural referents do in the source text. Translational approaches are too limited when it comes to achieve linguistic adequacy to different world visions. Therefore, translation must be conceived as an encounter between two cultural systems, in which the translator must build bridges, not so much between two linguistic systems as between the social perceptions and values of two different cultural communities.

Micro-function combination patterns and linguistic adequacy in specialised texts

This paper presents a corpus-based study about differences in micro-function combination patterns in German and Spanish warranties for household appliances. Firstly the micro-functional text analysis approach is described. This methodology makes feasible an empirically motivated stylistic description of specialised texts. The first large-scale micro-functional text-type analysis was carried out in the stylistic description of German and Spanish employment contracts. The second part of the paper analyses the micro-functional composition of German and Spanish warranties and some text specific combination patterns as well as their language specific differences. It will be shown that in contrast to German warranties, in Spanish warranties obligations tend to be expressed as dependent clauses which are subordinate to independent clauses that reaffirm the validity of the warranty. Moreover it becomes clear that most of these obligations are formulated in an indirect way. Finally possible reasons for the findings are explained by means of the politeness theory and language typology with the results claiming that Spanish texts are more prone to avoid face-threatening acts than German ones and that they are also more explicit in expression. The paper ends with the implications these findings hold for the linguistic adequacy of translations.

New proposed standard Serbian nomenclature of bats (Chiroptera) covered by the Agreement EUROBATS

In this paper a new proposal of standard Serbian nomenclature of bats is presented. It is based on previous proposals of Yugoslav and Serbian standard nomenclature of bats and on three main principles - biological adequacy and comprehensiveness, linguistic adequacy and linguistic practice. This proposal includes names of 54 bat species mostly covered by EUROBATS Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats. Besides the species' names, the proposal also contains names of 21 higher taxons - 1 order, 6 families and 14 genera. Every proposed name is justified on the basis of state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and elaborated in details. We hope that new proposal of standard Serbian nomenclature of bats will be broadly accepted and used in future expert, scientific and popular literature in Serbian language as well as by general public and media, contributing to a better knowledge on bats and thus their conservation.

A Pragmatic-Cognitive Approach to Brand Names: A Case Study of Rioja Wine Brands

AbstractThis paper analyzes a collection of Rioja wine names, looking into the pragmatic and conceptual mechanisms underlying their semantic configuration. It provides some insights into their linguistic adequacy and effectiveness, and offers a preliminary assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of Rioja wine trademarks. The branding of Rioja wines has traditionally been carried out by wine producers themselves. This trend, however, seems to be changing as wine companies increasingly turn to professional branding services. A systematic application of the pragmatic and conceptual strategies isolated in this study results in a rich pool of lexical extensions. It is argued that a careful choice of the initial inventory of key notions as well as of the source concepts used in metonymic and metaphoric extensions would help to minimize the generation of negative connotations. To the same end, branding experts should also take into consideration a number of pragmatic maxims and cultural models.

GRAMMAR IN TEFL: A CRITIQUE OF INDONESIAN HIGH SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS

The aim of this paper is to critically assess the presentation of English grammar in textbooks used in secondary schools in Indonesia. The influence of the Communicative Approach is in evidence in the books examined, and yet the importance of explicit grammar instruction is not ignored, reflecting the view of many today that grammatical forms cannot be successfully learnt merely on the basis of comprehensible input. Despite recognition of its central role, the grammar instruction presented in the textbooks invites questions as to its linguistic adequacy and accuracy. Writers often seem unwilling to take on board the insights recorded in the influential and authoritative descriptive grammars of recent years, continuing to accept tacitly the principles exposed in Traditional Grammar.

The Native Language Factor in Simultaneous Interpretation in an Arabic/English Context

The present research sought evidence to either support or refute the claim that simultaneous interpreters are more efficient when decoding/interpreting oral discourse from a foreign language into their mother tongue. The data for the study were collected by means of (1) a questionnaire which elicited the responses of a number of professional interpreters who participated in national, regional, and international conferences, and (2) an analysis of the actual performance of some professional interpreters in actual interpretation tasks conducted in both languages. Their performance was analyzed according to some major criteria of linguistic adequacy, strategic competence, and communication strategies. A theoretical framework based on the variability model (Labov 1969) was employed to validate the data.

Evaluation of quantified propositions in generalized models of fuzzy quantification

The quantifiers found in natural language (NL) are not restricted to the absolute and proportional types usually considered in fuzzy set theory. In order to handle the wealth of NL quantifiers including quantifiers of exception (“all except about ten”), cardinal comparatives (“many more than”) and others, it is necessary to consider generalized models of fuzzy quantification. Starting from an analysis in terms of semi-fuzzy quantifiers (specifications) and fuzzification mechanisms (prototypical models), the sequel develops a precise notion of generalized models which rests on a formalization of linguistic adequacy criteria. It also presents concrete examples of such models which generalize the FG-count and OWA approaches to fuzzy quantification. In order to let applications profit from the improved coverage and coherence of interpretations, the sequel is especially concerned with the issue of practical implementation. It presents efficient methods for implementing the main types of quantifying propositions which demonstrate the computational feasibility of the proposed models.