Manumission is the release from slavery, and therefore, a transition from the most extreme form of subjugation into another position and status in society. Some historians have defined manumission... Show moreManumission is the release from slavery, and therefore, a transition from the most extreme form of subjugation into another position and status in society. Some historians have defined manumission as a formal act, often understood as a gift that severed the bond between slave and master. More recently researchers have emphasized that it was a lengthy process that involved pre-existing dependencies and resulted in new hierarchies. This article takes a fresh look at the process and tries to gain a fuller understanding of manumission by examining it from the position of the manumitted and their social relations. Taking into consideration a wide range of documentary sources from colonial, notarial and Dutch governmental archives, we reconstruct the dependencies that were created in the process of manumission. The dependencies that evolved during manumission processes were related to family and other kinship ties, but also had an urban, communal, religious, economic and institutional logic. Manumission was not only an act at a specific moment, but also a process, and it was not a bilateral, but a multilateral one. With the instrument of manumission and within the limits set by economic reality and the colonial government, the manumittees tried to make meaningful life choices that transformed slave society profoundly. We find that they created complex dependencies across boundaries of status and racial categorization. Show less
Fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness are considered importantparameters of interpreting quality but have rarely been studiedsystematically in training programs of interpreting. Therefore,... Show moreFluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness are considered importantparameters of interpreting quality but have rarely been studiedsystematically in training programs of interpreting. Therefore, the presentstudy was set up to investigate the effect of fluency training on speechfluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness of interpreter trainees. Twogroups of interpreter trainees at a university in Iran took part in the study,receiving the same amount of instruction and practice (12 hours over 4weeks). The experimental group (N=30) spent 33% of the time (i.e., 4 of the12 hours in the training program) on dedicated fluency strategy training,encouraging the memorization, repetition, and retelling of audio and videomaterials. The remaining 67% was spent on training general speaking skills.The control group (N=30) were only taught general speaking skills in thetraining program but received no dedicated fluency training. Systematicinterviews were run to assess the interpreter trainees’ speech fluency,comprehensibility and accentedness, which were judged independently bythree expert raters at three moments of testing, i.e., pretest, immediateposttest, and delayed posttest (one month later). The findings revealed thatthe fluency training significantly enhanced the interpreter trainees’ fluency,and to a lesser extent the students’ comprehensibility but had only amarginal effect on accentedness. The pedagogical implication would be thatawareness training on speech fluency Show less
Since the invention of the Indian writing system around the third century BC, Sanskrit literature was no longer exclusively oral. However, not all genres immediately adopted the new possibilities.... Show moreSince the invention of the Indian writing system around the third century BC, Sanskrit literature was no longer exclusively oral. However, not all genres immediately adopted the new possibilities. In order to fully understand the orality and writing of Sanskrit literature, I will first define a threefold division of what I call ‘the compositional complex’, the totality of processes involved in the creation of texts and their subsequent usages. The first stage is the composition of the text, the second is its preservation for the sake of future generations, and the third is its transmission to the audience. Each stage can be oral or written. After a brief discussion of secondary literature on the compositional complex of the Vedas, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas, I look for textinternal evidence for the compositional complex of Purāṇas in the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, ‘the Purāṇa of the future’. On the basis of this single Purāṇa, it is possible to make a reconstruction of the composition, preservation, and transmission of Purāṇas, where orality and writing intertwine. Show less
The present study investigated the use of the iBrainstorm app in a collaborative argumentation-based learning context for developing listening comprehension skills by EFL learners. Two groups of... Show moreThe present study investigated the use of the iBrainstorm app in a collaborative argumentation-based learning context for developing listening comprehension skills by EFL learners. Two groups of students were formed. All of them studied English as a foreign language at the BA level at Bu-Ali Sina University, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random. Participants took a pre-test of listening comprehension skills before starting the programme. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies, discussed issues in the movies in pairs in the classroom. The experimental group spent part of the time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, argumentation-based learning by the iBrainstorm application. The total instruction time was the same for two groups, i.e., 32 hours. Students then took a post-test and, a month later, a delayed post-test in listening comprehension skills. The results show that the use of the iBrainstorm app significantly improved the students’ listening comprehension skills, and significantly more so than those of the control group. These results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, material producers, and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy Show less
Zworykin, D.; Müller, J.M.; Grundmeijer, H.; Pavlov, E. 2024
This article studies a number of questions in the reconstruction of the Berber deictic system. Based on a comparative analysis informed by historical phonology, it is shown (1) that the variation... Show moreThis article studies a number of questions in the reconstruction of the Berber deictic system. Based on a comparative analysis informed by historical phonology, it is shown (1) that the variation of the form of the singular proximal deictics can be understood from a basic form a, which could be expanded by a complementary element d, and, possibly, also by an element Ɂ; (2) that the proximal system of deictics originally had a number difference, even among adnominal deictics; (3) that the Ghadames (Libya) Anaphoric series sg -e, pl -id has clear parallels in other varieties, especially in Kabyle (Algeria), and that, as a consequence, it can be reconstructed for proto-Berber. Show less
This study examines the effect of native vs. non-native prosody instruction on developing interpreter trainees’ speech comprehensibility in English as a foreign language (EFL) using a pretest... Show moreThis study examines the effect of native vs. non-native prosody instruction on developing interpreter trainees’ speech comprehensibility in English as a foreign language (EFL) using a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design. Twenty-three groups of 28 interpreter trainees at a University in Iran (six different branches) took part in the study, all groups receiving the same amount of instruction (9 hours over 3 weeks). Three control groups listened to/viewed authentic audio recordings and movies in English, discussed their contents, and completed a variety of speaking tasks but received no specific prosody instruction. Twenty experimental groups spent part of the instruction time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, English prosody by thirteen nonnative instructors, and seven native instructors. Three experts evaluated the comprehensibility of the trainees in elicited speech samples collected during the pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest, and subsequently presented in random order. The findings revealed that the experimental groups gained between 1 and 2 points on the 0 to 10 comprehensibility scale, and lost little in the delayed posttest; however, hardly any changes were observed in the control groups. We conclude that native and non-native English instructors’ prosody teaching were equally effective in enhancing EFL students’ speech comprehensibility. Show less
There are two French versions of Ancrene Wisse. One of these, which is preserved in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius F. vii, has been examined in some depth. The other, known as the Vie de...Show moreThere are two French versions of Ancrene Wisse. One of these, which is preserved in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius F. vii, has been examined in some depth. The other, known as the Vie de gent de religion, has been examined far less, and its place on the stemma of Ancrene Wisse has not been firmly established. This article seeks to establish its place on this stemma by using the two methods that scholars traditionally use to establish more “original” readings: source analysis and the common error method. Although it may come as a surprise to those familiar with Ancrene Wisse, both of these methods suggest that this French version preserves “original” readings that are missing in the English versions. The second part of this article, which explores the implications of this evidence and the key question of the Vie’s language of composition, shows that large sections of the Vie preserve rhyme, which calls into question the traditional argument that poetic elements in the English version of Ancrene Wisse suggest that it precedes the French. These and other findings presented here suggest that while the relationship between Ancrene Wisse and the Vie is often treated as a closed question, the issue is far more complex than has previously been acknowledged. Show less
Abstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a... Show moreAbstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a direction to a form of life and freedom in the midst of a landscape of devastation, a landscape that also returns in Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (Extintos. Butterflies Don’t Fly Here) (2018), while in La puta y el hurón (The Whore and the Ferret) (2020) the mosquitoes serve as a formulation of resistance to a violent and patriarchal order. In this article I study the role of insects in the work of this young Cuban writer and performer and I affirm that, despite the scenarios of collapse and ruins, the writer also builds an idea of futurity and of community. Drawing on the work of Rosi Braidotti I argue that the abject, the liminal and a particular temporality are intertwined in the becoming-insect and the becoming-woman for an articulation of resilience. Through alliances between “infra-beings”, becoming molecule and becoming imperceptible, I maintain that the becoming-insect functions as a mode of resistance and dissent.Resumen || En el imaginario literario de Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (La Habana, 1991) aparecen insectos por varios lugares. En Días de hormigas el rastro de las hormigas indica una dirección de vida y libertad en medio de un paisaje de devastación, paisaje que vuelve también en Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (2018), mientras que en La puta y el hurón (2020) los mosquitos formulan una resistencia al orden violento y patriarcal. En este artículo estudiaré el papel de los insectos en la obra de esta joven escritora y performer cubana. Argumento que, a pesar de los escenarios de derrumbes y ruinas, construye también una idea de futuro y de comunidad. Con la ayuda de Rosi Braidotti, propongo que en el devenir insecto y en el devenir mujer se entrelazan lo abyecto, lo liminal y un estar fuera del tiempo que permite articular formas de resiliencia. Mediante las alianzas entre los «infraseres», en el volverse molécula y en el hacerse imperceptible, sostengo que el devenir insecto funciona como un modo de resistir y disentir.Keywords || Insects | Cuban literature | Posthuman feminism | Women writing | Latin America Show less
This article presents the results of an experiment with eleven students from two universities that translated and post-edited threeliterarytextsdistributed on the first and last days of their... Show moreThis article presents the results of an experiment with eleven students from two universities that translated and post-edited threeliterarytextsdistributed on the first and last days of their translation technology modules. The source texts were marked with units of creative potential to assess creativity in the target texts (before and after training). The texts were subsequently reviewed by an independentprofessional literary translator and translation trainer. The results show that there is no quantitative evidence to conclude that the training significantly affects students’ creativity. However, after the training, a change is observed both in the quantitative data and in the reflective essays, i.e. the students are more willing to try creative shifts and they feel more confident to tackle machine translation (MT)issues, while also showing a higher number of errors. Further, we observe that students havea higher degree of creativity in human translation (HT), but significantly fewer errors in post-editing (PE)overall, especially at the start of the training, than in HT. Show less
This article presents the results of an experiment with eleven students from two universities that translated and post-edited three literary texts distributed on the first and last days of their... Show moreThis article presents the results of an experiment with eleven students from two universities that translated and post-edited three literary texts distributed on the first and last days of their translation technology modules. The source texts were marked with units of creative potential to assess creativity in the target texts (before and after training). The texts were subsequently reviewed by an independent professional literary translator and translation trainer. The results show that there is no quantitative evidence to conclude that the training significantly affects students’ creativity. However, after the training, a change is observed both in the quantitative data and in the reflective essays, i.e. the students are more willing to try creative shifts and they feel more confident to tackle machine translation (MT) issues, while also showing a higher number of errors. Further, we observe that students have a higher degree of creativity in human translation (HT), but significantly fewer errors in post-editing (PE) overall, especially at the start of the training, than in HT. Show less
Yenkimaleki and van Heuven (2021) studied the effects of teaching either segmental or suprasegmental (prosodic) aspects of English, in combination with either perception or production-focused... Show moreYenkimaleki and van Heuven (2021) studied the effects of teaching either segmental or suprasegmental (prosodic) aspects of English, in combination with either perception or production-focused practice (four combinations in all) on the speech intelligibility and comprehensibility of Persian L1 learners of English as a foreign language. Generally, production-focused exercises were more effective but there was no overall effect of teaching segmentals versus prosody. However, the specific combination of emphasis on prosody and production-oriented exercises was most beneficial. We summarize the results of the study and present, more systematically and in more detail than in the original article, the materials and teaching methods used. Show less
