学生科研

学生科研

外语学院巴别论坛之“学贯中西”研究生学术沙龙本周主题预告(2019年1月2日)

发布者:傅利琴   发布时间:2018-12-28

时间:201912日晚18:30

地点:东五201

 

Predicting Fluency with Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting

林雨萌


AbstractSimultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex bilingual verbal activity that poses great challenges for working memory (WM) and language proficiency. Fluency is one of the crucial indicators in evaluating SI quality, the violation of which is characterized by disfluency indicators such as interruptions, hesitations, repetitions, corrections, and blanks. To uncover factors underlying fluency in SI, 22 interpreting students performed a battery of tasks to test their language proficiency and WM. Two SI tasks, both from Chinese to English and from English to Chinese, were also conducted, and fluency was evaluated according to the five indicators. Two factors (language proficiency and WM) and the five objectively measured disfluency indicators were then used as input for a regression analysis in both directions to model factors underlying fluency in SI performance. The results reveal that, with fluency measured as a whole, WM and directionality yield a significant effect on fluency, and that WM is the only variable that predicts fluency in both directions, accounting for 50 and 51% of the variation in the occurrence of disfluencies in Chinese–English and English–Chinese interpreting, respectively. The findings clarify for the first time the role of language proficiency, WM, and directionality upon fluency in SI, indicating the critical role of WM capability as compared with language skills in fluent production. The research also supports the position that, for interpreting students, interpreting performance tends to be more fluent in the non-native to native language direction.

Keywords: Fluency; Working memory; Language Proficiency; Directionality; Simultaneous Interpreting

 

On Affectedness in the Chinese Indirect BEI Passive

冯嘉昕


AbstractThis paper provides a potentially unified analysis of the Mandarin Chinese indirect BEI passive. It is argued that indirect BEI passives contain an Applicative Phrase (Pylkkänen 2008), and that the core distinction between direct and indirect BEI passives is the need for an explicit affectee in indirect passives. Indirect BEI passives can be divided into two different types, the gapped indirect passive and the gapless passive. It is argued that the subject of gapped indirect passives represents a low applicative, while that of gapless passives represents a high applicative. Furthermore, if the main predicate of the sentence is Unspecified for affectedness (in the hierarchy of affectedness proposed by Beavers 2011), the gapped indirect passive involves a combination of both high and low applicatives. This paper introduces Beavers’ (2011) Affectedness Hierarchy to get a clear picture of the various judgements on affectedness in direct and indirect BEI passives. The paper further proposes that BEI has nothing to do with theta-role assignment (contra, e.g., Huang 1999). The main function of BEI is simply predication (Bruening & Tran 2015). Rather, it is the main predicate (except for predicates that are Unspecified for affectedness) or the high applicative (if the main predicate is Unspecified) that triggers the affectee interpretation of the surface subject in indirect BEI passives. This paper also clarifies that null operator movement (Feng 1995, Huang 1999) is indispensable in indirect BEI passives, using the adverb ‘again’ as a test for movement.

Keywords: Mandarin Chinese; Indirect BEI passive; Applicative Phrase; Affectedness

 

 

A Corpus-assisted Critical Discourse Analysis of News on Sexual Assault

in the Official Chinese English-language Newspaper

叶祥青


AbstractIn recent years, the issue of sexual assault has been given much attention by both the domestic and international press, following the rise of the “MeToo” movement that has originated from the social media “Twitter”. This study selects news reporting on sexual assault issued online from Sept. 2015 through Sept. 2018 by “China Daily”, an official Chinese English-language newspaper, and makes an analysis of the texts with methods from corpus linguistics (quantitative research) and ideas from the theory of critical discourse analysis (qualitative explanation). The findings include (1) with the impact of the “MeToo” movement, China Daily’s focus on this social issue has shifted, (2) the construction of the image of the domestic and foreign government differs in China Daily’s articles, whereas that of the public is quite similar, and (3) China Daily regards the “MeToo” movement as significant progress in preventing and managing the issue of sexual assault.

Keywords: News discourse; Discourse analysis; China Daily; Sexual Assault

 

识字能力对个体语言结构的影响

梁依睿

 

摘要:语言使用会影响语法结构,但一个人的识字能力是否影响其语法结构呢?更具体地说,如果直接引语在口头上比在书面交流中更常用,并且在没有书面形式的语言中更为突出,那么只使用语言进行口头交流的文盲对话者是否会使用更多的直接引语,即使他们说的是一种有书面形式的语言?基于对中国文盲与非文盲的口头语言使用比较分析,我们将系统地研究识字能力对个体语法的影响,重点是文盲与非文盲对话者使用直接引语的差异。本研究结合了开放性访谈,启发式和认知心理学行为研究的方法。我们将研究对话者使用直接引语与间接引语以及他们的识字能力之间的关系。

关键词:识字能力;语法结构

 

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外语学院研究生科

外语学院研究生会

201912


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