Volume Six, Number One
ABSTRACTS
Political myths of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in Russian public discourse
Ludmilla A'Beckett
In this paper I investigate language choices (Verschueren 1999, Blommaert & Verschueren 1998) made by the Russian mass media for commenting on the Ukrainian Orange Revolution. I focus on means of evaluation in particular. Newspapers used various language tools to create myths (Charteris- Black 2005) for deligitimising the political power of the leaders of the Orange Revolution and to denigrate its supporters. Events were often presented in an ironic light and denigratory details were brought to the foreground, while cognitive metaphors such as ‘family’ and ‘disease’, and allusions were employed to reinforce the cultural prejudice that Ukrainians were inferior. Cold War stereotypes (the ‘good’ East versus the ‘bad’ West) were activated. The appraisal tools used can be assembled under the notion of the ‘velvet glove’ (Burrridge 2004). The negative attitude toward the Orange Revolution reflected not only Russian government policy—it was also supported by ethnic bias and cultural stereotypes (scripts).
Key words: Ukraine, Russian public discourse, political myth, manipulation, figurative language
Two experts and one patient: Managing medical practices and religious beliefs
Marisa Cordella
There is a growing body of literature that shows the advantages that a shared approach of decision-making brings to the medical consultation. In some delicate visits negotiation and a reach of consensus is almost a mandatory act as the religion of patients may influence medical practices and put a strain on doctors who are practicing medicine in an uncommon territory. This is the case of a Jehovah’s Witness cancer (acute myeloid leukaemia) patient whose religious beliefs rule out receiving blood transfusions and the Catholic hospital where he is being treated maintains life preservation as one of its main priorities.
Negotiations may become an even more complex event when the doctor does not deal directly with the patient involved but with third parties who decide for him the alternative treatments that he will undergo. This manuscript explores the discourse that unfolds between an oncologist and a Jehovah’s Witness’s representative in a cancer clinic in Santiago, Chile. Interactional sociolinguistics and Goffman’s forms of talk provide the framework for this research identifying how both experts (the oncologist and the Jehovah’s Witness’s representative) resolve the conflict of blood transfusion and preservation of life. Results show a continuous change of footing (Goffman) in the exchange by moving to and from institutional, professional and personal discourses. These shifts are marked at the discourse level by the use of impersonal structures, statements, warnings and the use of personal pronouns reflect upon the micro and macro reality of the exchange.
Key words: discourse analysis, negotiating cancer treatment, doctor-patient Communication
Politeness and gender in interpreted police interviews
Ikuko Nakane
This paper discusses the role of gender and linguistic politeness in police interviews mediated by English-Japanese interpreters in Australia. While the role of the interpreter is often assumed to be that of a neutral ‘conduit’, such expectations have increasingly been found incongruous to the reality of interpreting as dynamic interaction. In the study reported here, police interviews involving seven English-Japanese interpreters, four female and three male, were analysed. Drawing on Wadesjö’s (1998) framework of interpreter roles, the study illustrates how various aspects of interpreters’ social identity, in particular gender, and to some degree sociocultural background, play out in the rendering of the police officer’s utterances into Japanese for the Japanese suspect. Although the female interpreters were found to use honorific expressions to a larger extent than male interpreters, instead of drawing any simplistic conclusions relating the linguistic realization of politeness to the gender variable, the paper explores the complexity of relationships among politeness markers, gender and the interpreter’s role in the context of police interview. Furthermore, the paper aims to contribute to the improvement of legal interpreting practice by identifying the impact of politeness shifts through interpreting on the efficiency and fairness of the legal process.
Key words: Japanese-English interpreting, police interpreting, politeness, gender
Paratextual mediation in translation: Translating the titles of Australian children’s fiction into German, 1945–the present
Leah Gerber
Post 1945, Australian writers have produced a significant body of work from which an equally impressive number of translations have now been published. In the period 1945-2007, around eighty different authors have contributed to over 270 German-language translations of Australian children’s fiction. Many authors have written and published consistently over two or more decades and, in such cases, the author’s entire (or close to) body of work has been translated into German. Drawing from a corpus of Australian children’s novels translated into German in the period from 1945 to the present, this paper investigates the way in which titles are translated. It addresses how choices made by paratextual mediators affect the way the translation is marketed in the target culture: specifically, whether any specifically Australian cultural signifiers are employed in the titles. In a broader sense, the paper also analyses how the different cultural norms of the target culture may impact upon the translation of titles, thus assisting in the growing understanding of the role of paratextual mediation in translation.
Key words: translation, translation of children’s literature, Australian children’s literature, translating paratexts, translation of titles
Taming the other: A critique of Boltz’s theory of the evolution of the Chinese writing system
Zhiqun Chen
Boltz’s three-stage theory aims to prove that the Chinese writing system is phonetic in nature, with every compound character invented to represent the pronunciation of a word. In this paper, the author will demonstrate that Boltz’s theory is self-contradictory in that in spite of his categorical statement that writing should be defined as the ‘graphic representation of speech’, meaning representation is an indispensable factor in each of his developmental stages. Furthermore, the research data he makes use of in his illustration, to some extent, has been tailored to suit his own purpose. In a word, Boltz’s theory fails to produce a realistic picture of the evolution the Chinese writing system in its formative stage.
Key words: Chinese writing system, zodiographs, paronomastics, parasemantics, Boltzian theory, Oracle bone inscriptions
Why we swear: The functions of offensive language
Melanie C. Burns
The controversial nature of offensive language produces strong reactions, with many people taking a negative stance towards swearing behaviour. This may explain the lack of extensive research into the reasons why swearing is so common, yet (apparently) so objectionable. This paper provides an overview of the research into offensive language from the fields of linguistics, sociology, psychology, and neurolinguistics. Offensive language is explored from two main perspectives: as a physiological release of energy and as a sociolinguistic marker. It is suggested that swearing provides a socially-sanctioned outlet for aggression and that through this it supports the maintenance of group relationships. The study of offensive language from various perspectives enables provides an argument that this type of linguistic behaviour reflects and supports both the successful functioning of societies and individuals.
Key words: swearing, offensive language, euphemism, taboo, social norms