Browsing Ph.D. theses (IBC) by Title
Now showing items 1-6 of 6
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Cross-lingual concept mapping based on the information receiver’s prior-knowledgeGlückstad, Fumiko Kano (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: A Japanese acquaintance who has been living in Denmark for more than 40 years formulated his difficult mission of undertaking translation tasks in the following way: “Once I deeply understood the two cultures [Denmark and Japan] and the cultural differences/nuances of conceptual meanings existing in the two countries, it became impossible for me to translate culturally-specific terms into the other language. Existing language resources [dictionaries etc.] are in this context useless”. What he was frustratingly expressing is that it becomes virtually an impossible task to precisely translate or convey the meaning of a Culturally-Specific Concept (CSC) if no exact equivalent concept exists in the Target Language (TL) culture. Despite this inherent frustration, communicators or translators are still required to convey such CSCs into a TL in an optimal manner such that a TL reader can instantly infer the original meaning of a given Source Language (SL) concept. In short, the key issue is whether there can be found a way to solve this inherently frustrating situation which even skilled human translators cannot easily cope with ? The challenge of translating CSCs from an SL is not only caused by the absence of equivalent concepts in a TL culture, but also due to differences of the background knowledge possessed by the two parties involved in a cross-cultural communication scenario. Sperber & Wilson (1986) emphasize that, although all humans live in the physical world, mental representations are constructed differently due to differences in our close environment and our different cognitive abilities. Because people use different languages and have mastered different concepts, the way they construct representations and make inference is also dissimilar. Since an individual possesses a total cognitive environment that is the set of facts based on his/her perceptual ability, inferential ability, actual awareness of facts, knowledge he/she has acquired and so on, it is much easier to achieve a so-called “asymmetric” coordination between communicator and audience (Sperber & Wilson, 1986).... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8546 Files in this item: 1
Fumiko_Kano_Gluckstad.pdf (11.35Mb) -
Insights into Language Choice from a Case Study of Danish and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs)Bellak, Nina (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: International businesses like multinational corporations (MNCs) operate across national, cultural and linguistic borders both internally and externally, and thus are under pressure to make language choices. Despite the increasing tendency towards ‘English only’, little is known about whether language can be managed. In addressing this research gap, the present thesis explores language choice in four MNCs. A deeper understanding of language choice in its social context enables us to learn more about the manageability of language in such international business contexts. The theoretical framework draws on primarily sociolinguistic theories, combined with concepts from applied linguistics, language policy and planning/management, linguistic anthropology, translation studies, social psychology, and international business and management. The analyses in this qualitative case study are based on different empirical data, though with a focus on interview data, collected from two Danish and two Austrian headquarters and selected subsidiaries. The findings suggest that language choice is a social, contextually-bound and multilingual phenomenon. More specifically, the MNCs operate as multilingual speech communities where headquarters and subsidiaries choose their own language and English as a lingua franca only if necessary. The notions of corporate language and language policy are partly negatively connotated and point towards non-management. Furthermore, participants’ language choices are informed by (1) their language proficiency (first language and possible foreign languages), (2) their roles, role relationships within the employment domain, and politeness strategies, all shaped by relative status and power, (3) their attitudes to language and motivations, and (4) social forces external to the MNC community. At a more abstract level, social context is defined by (1) social-linguistic, (2) social-relational, (3) social-psychological and (4) social-regulatory contextual dimensions that inform or impose the choices of HQ languages, local/customer languages and English (as a lingua franca). The language choices can involve code-switching/-mixing, passive multilingualism, translation and interpretation, language learning and acquisition, human resource management (selective recruitment and staff relocation). Most of the choices are in fact made at both the individual and corporate levels, which are hard to separate from one another. The corporate level is fragmented into individual executives who make language choices in their own right which are far from harmonized. An additional level is external forces (e.g. authorities, laws) that impose the use of multiple languages on the MNCs. Finally, language choices vary across the MNCs’ organizational units, internal and external communications and communicative situations. It can be concluded that language choice is a social, complex, context-dependent and multilingual phenomenon which makes it hard to control or regulate. In conclusion, my research indicates that language management in international business contexts undertaken by MNCs can hardly be centralized or monolingual. Under the influence of external forces, it is even beyond their control. This suggests that language management needs to be localized, multilingual and sensitive to social context. Ultimately, one could question whether language needs to be managed at all or should be better left to individual choice. This knowledge can contribute to both research and business practice. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8973 Files in this item: 1
Nina_Bellak.pdf (2.797Mb) -
An eye-tracking and key-logging studySjørup, Annette Camilla (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis, titled Cognitive effort in metaphor translation – an eye-tracking and key-logging study, is an empirical investigation of professional translators’ cognitive effort during metaphor translation. Metaphors are defined as expressions in which one concept is used to characterise another concept, such as Peter is a wolf in which the characteristics of the wolf are used to define Peter. As a point of departure, the thesis adopts the direct access view of metaphors in which metaphors are regarded as unambiguous expressions which are interpreted as metaphors directly. Metaphors have primarily been researched in monolingual studies such as Glucksberg (2001) and Inhoff et al. (1984), who investigated how metaphors are processed and the cognitive effort required for this processing compared with literal expressions. The conclusion to their studies was that metaphors were not more cognitively effortful to process than literal expressions and that they were not necessarily more ambiguous either. Dagut (1987) and Newmark (1985, 1988) discussed metaphors from a translation perspective in which they regarded metaphors as a particular translation problem. Trim (2007) argued that the translatability of metaphors was related to their language-specific saliency. Neither Dagut, Newmark or Trim was empirical in his methodology, and the purpose of this thesis was to bridge the gap between the empirical methodology used in metaphor comprehension research and the more qualitative methodology used in metaphor translation research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8698 Files in this item: 1
Annette_Camilla_Sjørup.pdf (2.263Mb) -
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Abstract: This thesis provides a framework for information retrieval based on a set of models which together illustrate how users of search engines come to express their needs in a particular way. With such insights, we may be able to improve systems’ capabilities of understanding users’ requests and through that eventually the ability to satisfy their needs. Developing the framework necessitates discussion of context, relevance, need development, and the cybernetics of search, all of which are controversial topics. Transaction log data from two enterprise search engines are analysed using a specially developed method which classifies queries according to what aspect of the need they refer to. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8720 Files in this item: 1
Esben_Alfort.pdf (5.804Mb) -
Schachtenhaufen, Ruben (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Med udgangspunkt i det danske talesprogskorpus DanPASS undersøges tilbøjeligheden til fonetisk reduktion i dansk talesprog i forhold til en række intralingvistiske faktorer. I undersøgelsen udføres en kortlægning mellem 300.000 fonemer og foner. På baggrund af denne kortlægning er det muligt at danne et meget detaljeret billede af både hvor i sproget den fonetiske realisering afviger fra den fonologisk forudsagte form, og naturen af denne afvigelse. I afhandlingen fokuseres der på den type afvigelser der kan karakteriseres som reduktioner, dvs. svækkelse og bortfald af de enkelte lydsegmenter. De reducerede forekomster sammenlignes med de øvrige annoterede lag i korpusset, herunder grammatiske, informationsstrukturelle og prosodiske forhold. Det demonstreres at tilbøjeligheden til reduktion, såvel som reduktionernes fonetisk resultat, i høj grad er knyttet til lingvistisk faktorer, såsom ordklasse, grammatisk funktion, ny vs. kendt information, fokus, emfase mm. foruden en række fonologiske faktorer. Reduktioner bliver ofte betragtet som sprogligt ukrudt, men på baggrund af den systematiske sammenhæng med informationsbærende elementer i sproget, virker det rimeligt at betragte reduktioner som funktionelle elementer, der er understøttende for kommunikationen snarere end forstyrrende. I afhandlingen udforskes og dokumenteres en række tilbøjeligheder som ikke tidligere er undersøgt i dansk, og kun sparsomt i internationale sammenhænge. Herigennem opnås et dybere indblik i dansk lydstruktur og de mønstre som reduktioner generelt ser ud til at følge. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8676 Files in this item: 1
Ruben_Schachtenhaufen.pdf (2.520Mb) -
A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic StudyGylling, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Effective communication requires texts to be organised into a coherent discourse structure. But languages vary considerably in how they do this, posing a challenge for effective intercultural communication. Instead of relying on our own preferred persuasion style to be the most effective, we need to take into consideration that people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds do not necessarily employ the same linguistic means in similar communication situations. This is of particular importance in a business context, and a profound understanding of cross-linguistic differences in the organisation of argumentative texts is needed. In order to address this challenge, this thesis presents a study of structural characteristics in argumentative texts across three different languages. The aim of the study is to examine some of the linguistic means that writers of different languages employ when creating persuasive discourses. The study is based on 150 Danish, English and Italian speeches held by Members of the European Parliament in their native language. The linguistic means under investigation are conceptualised as belonging to three different structural domains which account for different ways of linking discourse units in a text: a syntactically organised text structure, a rhetorically organised discourse structure and an information packaging organised information structure. The structural domains are defined from a cognitive-functional perspective and juxtaposed into a single analytical framework. The analyses show that writers across the three languages generally use the same rhetorical relations to build up persuasive discourses. But the analyses also reveal that the Danish, English and Italian writers textualise relations differently. The Danish writers use almost exclusively finite verb forms in coordinate and subordinate structures. The English writers tend to avoid explicating the rhetorical relations between discourse units, and the Italian writers tend to include more units inside the same sentence than the Danish and English writers. The analyses also suggest that the cross-linguistic differences in textualisation can be correlated with certain persuasive strategies. The Danish writers tend to persuade by analogy, making use of typical features from narratives. The English writers make use of presentational persuasion style, involving themselves in a more personal way than the Danish and Italian writers. And lastly, the Italian writers make use of typical features from quasilogical persuasion style, adopting a formal register and argumentation. This thesis formulates an analytical framework for a systematic investigation of the structure of discourse across languages, pairing theories and methods from the two parallel disciplines of linguistics and rhetoric in order to gain more insights into effective intercultural communication. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8794 Files in this item: 1
Morten_Gylling.pdf (2.451Mb)
Now showing items 1-6 of 6