Contacts And Contrasts In Cultures And Languages

This volume provides descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena as well as processes that emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in the context of contrastive and contact linguistics and media discourse. Different contexts are explored with rich empirical findings and authentic exemplifying materials. The book includes fifteen papers, divided into three parts. Part 1 addresses conceptual reflection on languages and cultures in contact and contrast, while Part 2 focuses on contact linguistics and borrowing. Part 3 discusses cultural and linguistic aspects of media discourses.

This volume provides descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena as well as processes that emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in the context of contrastive and contact linguistics and media discourse. Different contexts are explored with rich empirical findings and authentic exemplifying materials. The book includes fifteen papers, divided into three parts. Part 1 addresses conceptual reflection on languages and cultures in contact and contrast, while Part 2 focuses on contact linguistics and borrowing. Part 3 discusses cultural and linguistic aspects of media discourses.

This volume covers descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena and processes which emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in educational and translation contexts. It contains eleven papers, divided into two parts, which focus respectively on the issues of language and culture acquisition and a variety of translation practices (general language, literature, music translation) from socio-cultural and cognitive perspectives.

This volume covers descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena and processes which emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in educational and translation contexts. It contains eleven papers, divided into two parts, which focus respectively on the issues of language and culture acquisition and a variety of translation practices (general language, literature, music translation) from socio-cultural and cognitive perspectives.

The papers in this collection throw fresh light on the relation between language contact and contrastive linguistics. The book focuses equally on the mutual influence of linguistic systems in contact and on the language contrasts that govern the linguistic behaviour of the bilingual speaker.

This volume explores various hitherto under-researched relationships between languages and their discourse-cultural settings. The first two sections analyze the complex interplay between lexico-grammatical organization and communicative contexts. Part I focuses on structural options in syntax, deepening the analysis of information-packaging strategies. Part II turns to lexical studies, covering such matters as human perception and emotion, the psychological understanding of 'home' and 'abroad', the development of children's emotional life and the relation between lexical choice and sexual orientation. The final chapters consider how new techniques of contrastive linguistics and pragmatics are contributing to the primary field of application for contrastive analysis, language teaching and learning. The book will be of special interest to scholars and students of linguistics, discourse analysis and cultural studies and to those entrusted with teaching European languages and cultures. The major languages covered are Akan, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

The book constitutes a selection of 18 papers on foreign language pedagogy (11 papers) and translation studies (9 papers). The first part of the book is devoted to foreign language pedagogy. The articles in this part focus on issues such as English as lingua franca, foreign language teacher training, the role of individual learner differences in language learning and teaching especially with respect to strategies of language learning as well as psychological and socioaffective factors. The part focusing on translation studies comprises articles devoted to a variety of topics. It places a wide range of readings within the context of varying translation domains such as translation competence, literary translation, translation strategies, translation teaching (including strategies of dictionary use) and translator training. The combination of the above aspects intends to underline the truly interdisciplinary nature of translation.

This volume offers a cross-disciplinary insight into language contact research, bringing together fresh empirical and theoretical studies from various fields concerning different dimensions of language contact and variation, second language acquisition and translation. In the present-day world of globalization, population mobility and information technology, the themes of multilingualism and contact-induced language change are as topical as ever, and research on language contacts and cross-linguistic influence has expanded rapidly during the last few decades. Along with the increasing specialization of related disciplines, their research perspectives, methods and terminology have become dispersed, although language contact phenomena themselves can rarely be confined within the scope of a single discipline. This collection of articles creates dialogue between researchers from different scientific backgrounds, thus viewing language contact phenomena from a broader perspective. When language contact is re-defined to include the mental or cognitive level of contact between different languages and varieties in the minds of language learners or translators, salient links are created between the different disciplines dealing with this subject matter.

The twenty-two essays in this collection examine a wide scope of past and present cultural interrelations and interdependences in the Americas. Exploring mutual gazes, separations, and linkages, this volume highlights regional, national, and transnational contacts in the New World; it raises awareness of the contrasts that separate American cultures; and it examines the confluences of New World issues, traditions, and practices. Contributing to the emerging field of Inter-American Studies, this collection increases our theoretical understanding of cultural hybridity and demonstrates that cultural hybridity is by no means a recent phenomenon in the Americas.