Agnes Pisanski Peterlin

The impact of context on discourse marker use in two conversational genres

The relationships between text or talk and the context are among the basic fields of pragmatic research and an insight into their nature may contribute to a better understanding of language use. In this article, we use the results of an analysis of discourse marker use in two different conversational genres (telephone conversation and television interviews) in an attempt to examine the impact of context on the use of discourse markers, generalized for each analysed genre. In the first stage of the analysis, we observe important differences between the two genres: discourse markers are far more frequently used in telephone conversations than in television interviews. In the second stage of the analysis, we identify several contextual factors which contribute to the differences in the use of discourse markers. In this way, we obtain insight into this particular aspect of genre context-talk relationships, and identify some of the characteristics of the genres in question.

Attitudes towards English as an Academic Lingua Franca in Translation

AbstractWhile the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been extensively researched in applied linguistics, the issue has so far received relatively little attention in translation studies and translator training, although the translation of specialized texts often involves an encounter with ELF in a variety of contexts, ranging from business to academic settings. For pedagogical purposes, understanding how trainee translators perceive the role of ELF in academic settings can be particularly useful. This paper examines trainee translators’ attitudes towards academic ELF, comparing them with those of scholars from various disciplines who have extensive experience with reading and writing academic texts. Qualitative data on the attitudes of trainee translators and scholars were collected in a study involving 9 trainee translators and 9 scholars who participated in semi-structured interviews. Further quantitative data on trainee translators’ attitudes were obtained through questionnaires distributed to...Abstract While the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been extensively researched in applied linguistics, the issue has so far received relatively little attention in translation studies and translator training, although the translation of specialized texts often involves an encounter with ELF in a variety of contexts, ranging from business to academic settings. For pedagogical purposes, understanding how trainee translators perceive the role of ELF in academic settings can be particularly useful. This paper examines trainee translators’ attitudes towards academic ELF, comparing them with those of scholars from various disciplines who have extensive experience with reading and writing academic texts. Qualitative data on the attitudes of trainee translators and scholars were collected in a study involving 9 trainee translators and 9 scholars who participated in semi-structured interviews. Further quantitative data on trainee translators’ attitudes were obtained through questionnaires distributed to a group of 75 trainee translators. The results reveal that the views of trainee translators and scholars diverge on several issues, which provides a basis for identifying potential problem areas to be addressed in scientific translation courses.