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This contribution adds to ever-growing research on ‘pedagogical stylistics’, (e.g., Burke et al. 2012). We present a case study describing a register approach to teaching literature, or verbal art (Hasan 1985/1989), to undergraduate EFL students in a Systemic Functional Grammar (FG)-based perspective (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004). Our research is guided by two main goals: enhancing the students’ sensitivity to the peculiar functions of language in literature, as part of a wider curriculum on teaching register awareness, and setting up good practices to monitor and assess the effectiveness of our approach. Thus, we present a set of activities based on Hasan’s (1985/1989, 2007) framework for the analysis of verbal art as a ‘special’ register, which is rooted in FG. We then discuss quantitative and qualitative data related to student perceptions of our pedagogical approach, gathered through specifically designed questionnaires, which were followed by semi-structured interviews when possible. The data illustrate the largely positive impact of the approach on students’ engagement, though not unequivocally: problematic issues and implications for future research are also discussed.

original project In particular with interested non-experts in SFL in mind, the first section of the chapter will be dedicated to systematically but accessibly defining/describing what the SFL take on literature and the analysis of the language in literature consists in. Hasan’s expression ‘verbal art’ will be adopted and the definition provided will be hers, as will be the double-articulation descriptive and analytical model of verbal art also presented in the section (1985/1989; 2007). It will also immediately be emphasized that, in contrast to mainstream theoretical-methodological approaches to stylistics, the verbal art framework derives from the conviction that literature is a ‘special’ text type: “[…] language for its own sake: the only use of language, perhaps, where the aim is to use language.” (Halliday 1964: 245), and that, as a result, the framework for its analysis must be ‘special’ too. To ensure that readers are briefed in the ostensible strengths and relative weaknesses of diverse approaches, the framework and its rationale will be juxtaposed with Simpson (2014) as representative of those mainstream approaches to stylistics mentioned above. Section 2 will attempt to map out the central inspirations of the model. The Social Semiotic Stylistics perspective, as Hasan also calls it, is not ‘new’: “[…] it actually predates the 1960s’ structural stylistics” (Hasan 2007: 21). The initial approach to the perspective was made by the Russian Neo-Formalists and Prague Circle scholars, especially Mukařovský in his 1928 discussion of ‘foregrounding’ (1977, 1978). There will be no space for tracing a comprehensive history of the discipline of stylistics and its various ‘stages’ (but see, e.g., Introduction to Miller and Turci 2007), yet, while what is often dubbed ‘British’ stylistics was emerging and defining itself in these early years, Hasan – and also Halliday – were actively contributing to that definition. This section would reveal how. Attention will be drawn here to Halliday’s complementary role in the ‘history’ of the framework of verbal art with his like-minded theoretical and methodological stances on the linguistic study of literature and in well-known applications of these in analyses of various literary texts (cf. Lukin 2014). Section 3 will give a brief sample illustration of verbal art analysis in action, exemplifying the basic analytical steps by means of my own unpublished analysis of D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Lonely, Lonesome, Loney – O!’, a poem replete with linguistic mechanisms that can be shown to ‘mean’ in the ways the model foresees. Section 4 will take brief note of recent research within the framework, as well as to indicate possible directions for future work. The studies of many scholars would by rights be mentioned here: foremost among these being Butt, Lukin, Webster in particular on the Australian scene and, in Italy, Taylor Torsello and myself, but also Turci and Luporini. Special mention should also go to Manfredi and Pagano and Lukin for their work on the translation of verbal art. A brief pitch for slotting Jakobson into model, to which much of my recent work has been dedicated (e.g., Miller 2012, in press) will also be made, along with some considerations on the space that a CL approach to the analysis of verbal art can be seen to have – and not have (e.g., Miller and Luporini, in press). The final section will offer some parting thoughts. Select References (cited in abstract only) Halliday M.A.K, MacIntosh A., Strevens P. 1964. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. London: Longman. Hasan R. (1985 [1989]) Linguistics, Language and Verbal Art. Geelong, Vic., Australia: Deakin University Press; Oxford: OUP. Hasan R. 2007. ‘Private pleasure, public discourse: reflections on engaging with literature’, in D.R. Miller and M. Turci (eds), pp. 41-67. Lukin A. 2014. ‘A linguistics of style: Halliday on literature’, in J.J. Webster (ed.), The Bloomsbury Companion to M.A.K. Halliday. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Miller D.R. 2012. ‘Slotting Jakobson into the social semiotic approach to “verbal art”: A modest proposal’, in F. Dalziel, S. Gesuato, M.T. Musacchio (eds.), A Lifetime of English Studies: Essays in Honour of Carol Taylor Torsello. Padua: Il Poligrafo, pp. 215-26. Miller D.R. in press. ‘Jakobson’s place in Hasan’s Social Semiotic Stylistics: “pervasive parallelism” as symbolic articulation of theme’, in W. Boucher and J. Liang (eds), Society in Language, Language in Society: Essays in Honour of Ruqaiya Hasan. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Miller D.R. and Turci M. (eds.) (2007) Language and Verbal Art Revisited: Linguistic Approaches to the Study of Literature, London: Equinox. Miller D.R and Luporini A. in press. ‘Social Semiotic Stylistics and the corpus: How do-able is an automated analysis of verbal art?’, in A. Duguid, A. Marchi, A. Partington & C. Taylor (eds.), Gentle Obsessions: Literature, Linguistics and Learning: In Honour of John Morley (in Alto 2, University of Siena), Roma: Artemide Edizioni. Mukařovský J. 1964. ‘Standard language and poetic language’, in P.L. Garvin (ed. and trans.), The Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure and Style. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Institute of Languages and Linguistics, pp. 17-30. Mukařovský J. 1977. The Word and Verbal Art: Selected Essays by Jan Mukarovsky. J. Burbank and P. Steiner (eds. and trans.). London: Yale University Press. Mukařovský J. 1978. Structure, Sign and Function: Selected Essays by Jan Mukarovsky, J. Burbank and P. Steiner (eds. and trans.). London: Yale University Press. Simpson P. 2014. Stylistics, 3rd edition. London: Routledge.

According to Umberto Eco, translating means “to understand the internal system of a language and the structure of a text in that language, and to build a double of the textual system that, under certain conditions, may produce analogous effects on the reader” (2003: 16). The translator’s task becomes particularly complicated in the presence of figurative language and especially of wordplay (calembour, igra slov), which, according to Bubnov (2002a), is collocated in the wider context of figurative language. Bice Mortara Garavelli (2003: 130) considers these “metagraphs” as “manifestations of figurative poetry”. The problem of the translation of wordplay is particularly acute if considering avant-garde experiments and post-modern texts. Indeed, these works are characterized by a markedly playful attitude towards words, as several critics have outlined. From this starting point, the present analysis focuses on a series of case studies drawn from Russian-Soviet, “modern” and “post-modern” texts. Its aim is to verify their “translatability” into various languages. More specifically, examples of anagram and palindrome will be examined. These devices not only allow an original elaboration of the signifier, but also a rich (and consequent) accumulation of signifieds, a process which is essential for the creation of figurative language. The central part of the paper is dedicated to a comparison between Futurist poets (with detailed reference to Velimir Khlebnikov), modern and post-modern authors (such as Vladimir V. Nabokov and Sasha Sokolov). Finally, the paper discusses the problem of the translation of wordplay both from a theoretical point of view and with regard to the Russian-Soviet cultural context.

Indagine sul ruolo della figura della ripetizione nel romanzo NOI di Evgenij Zamjatin e sulla sua resa in sede di traduzione.

Gli studi pubblicati sulla ricezione del libro The Origin of Species (1859) di Charles Darwin hanno dimostrato che le strategie retoriche adottate dall’autore per elaborare la teoria della selezione naturale sono elementi di forza della teoria stessa. Tuttavia, il ruolo preponderante delle figure, in particolare dell’analogia e della personificazione, spiegherebbe in parte alcune delle critiche mosse al modello, fondato per molti scienziati dell’epoca più sulla persuasione che su prove scientifiche. Sebbene esista un numero crescente di analisi sulle metafore presenti nel testo e sulle controversie legate alla sua ricezione in Europa, mancano studi sistematici sulla traduzione delle figure contenute in quest’opera complessa. Sulla base dei principali studi sulle figure nella scienza e sulla traduzione della metafora, in questo articolo esploriamo i meccanismi di analogia e di personificazione dei concetti di selezione naturale e di natura nelle prime traduzioni italiana e spagnola dell’Origin.

Tra quelle che sono state evidenziate come caratteristiche tipiche dello stile di Boris Vian (1920-1959), spicca ciò che Jacques Bens (1963) ha definito “langage-univers”. Con questo termine, Bens indica la capacità vianesca di creare mondi e situazioni con e attraverso il linguaggio, in particolare attraverso la presa alla lettera di locuzioni ed espressioni idiomatiche ormai non più percepite nel loro significato composizionale. Tale uso rimette prepotentemente in discussione l’illusione di una corrispondenza tra realtà e linguaggio, riportando quest’ultimo e, attraverso di esso, la materialità del testo costantemente in primo piano. Tale stile è, per di più, fortemente radicato nella lingua di partenza e nei suoi idiomatismi, un fatto che rende la sua traduzione alquanto problematica. L’articolo analizza le strategie di traduzione del “langage-univers” in due traduzioni italiane del più celebre romanzo vianesco, L’Écume des jours (1947). Di particolare interesse risulta la distanza cronologica tra i due testi, uno (A. Donaudy) realizzato a metà degli anni sessanta e mai più ristampato, l’altro (G. Turchetta) pubblicato a quasi trent’anni di distanza, nel 1992, e costantemente riproposto dall’editore. Una breve introduzione al testo di Vian e al suo linguaggio verrà seguita dalla presentazione delle due traduzioni italiane e dalla loro rispettiva collocazione nel panorama editoriale; si passerà poi all’analisi vera e propria della resa del “langage-univers” nei due testi, per cercare di capire se e come la presa alla lettera del linguaggio figurato sia stata colta e riprodotta.

il processo migratorio è complesso e comporta un impatto significativo non solo sui gruppi ma anche sugli individui che lo intraprendono. una delle prospettive possibili per la comprensione del processo di emigrazione e di immigrazione piò essere quella dell'identità. l'identità è una caratterisitca degli individui che risente sia delle loro appartenenze che dei riconosciemti da parte degli altri. in questa ottica il migrante deve affrontare processi di disindentificazione con i gruppi originari di appartenenza ed identificarsi con le possibili nuove appartenenze; questo processo può essere facilitato sia dalle capacità e strumenti disponibili ma anche dalle interazioni con gli altri gruppi in particolare con quelli della comunità ospitante. Il confronto tra ospitante e ospite può dare esito a processi di assimilazione, di rifiuto, di integrazione oppure di devianza.

Le dictionnaire bilingue, en tant qu’instrument qui met en contact deux langues dans le but de permettre ou du moins de faciliter le passage de l’une à l’autre, est par définition un objet de médiation linguistique et culturelle. Il relève du schéma classique de la communication avec un émetteur, le lexicographe, un récepteur, l’utilisateur, et le message, l’article de dictionnaire (Fourment-Berni Canani 2003: 72), qui fait fonction de médiateur entre deux langues-cultures. Les particularités d’une culture, tant sur le plan matériel que sur le plan abstrait, sont en fait incarnées par des signes lexicaux différents (mots, syntagmes, locutions, etc.). Ces signes peuvent s’organiser inégalement au sein de la même langue selon l’extension de son lexique. L’article du dictionnaire bilingue opère d’abord une médiation lexicale parce qu’il sélectionne la part de lexique utile qu’il faudra présenter comme mot-entrée de la nomenclature, en fonction des multiples besoins des utilisateurs (apprentissage, décodage ou encodage, traduction générale, spécialisée). En outre, à chaque concept, à chaque classe de référents ne peut pas toujours correspondre dans une autre langue un signe lexical adéquat. Chaque langue découpe d’une certaine façon ses réseaux sémantiques. Aux différentes acceptions d’un mot de la langue source ne coïncidera pas toujours un seul équivalent traductionnel dans la langue cible. L’article bilingue, par le biais d’un métalangage spécifique, devient le lieu où s’opère aussi une médiation sémantique, pour que les différents sens du mot-entrée soient associés correctement à leur correspondant dénotatif et, si possible, connotatif. En plus de leurs propriétés sémantiques, les signes lexicaux possèdent aussi des propriétés syntaxiques et pragmatiques, qui, elles aussi, varient dans chaque système linguistique. La forme du dictionnaire bilingue est en contradiction complète avec la conception de ce que la traduction devrait être: “non pas une transposition mot à mot mais une équivalence au niveau de l’énoncé, à savoir du texte” (Fourment-Berni Canani 2003: 73). Cependant, l’évolution de la lexicographie permet de plus en plus de résoudre ce paradoxe: grâce à l’introduction de nouveaux éléments microstructurels, l’article bilingue réussit à tenir compte de l’usage pour la quasi-totalité du vocabulaire en cause et à opérer aussi de la sorte, dans le passage d’une langue à l’autre, une médiation pragmatique. Les signes linguistiques sont si étroitement liés à leur culture d’appartenance que l’anisomorphisme des structures linguistiques (lexicales, sémantiques, syntaxiques) de deux langues correspond aussi à un manque d’isomorphie entre deux systèmes culturels. Pour que les étrangers puissent comprendre en profondeur les natifs, aller au-delà des apparences et communiquer vraiment, le dictionnaire bilingue donne aujourd’hui la possibilité d’accéder, en dernière instance, à la culture véhiculée par une langue. La médiation linguistique devient ainsi en même temps une médiation culturelle. Nous parcourrons les différents éléments constitutifs de l’article du dictionnaire bilingue, sa microstructure (voir Figure 1), pour montrer comment chaque élément de l’article (mot-entrée, traduisant, indicateur sémantique, collocation, exemple, etc.) contribue à la réalisation de cette médiation interlinguistique et interculturelle.

Nel presente saggio, Ana Pano propone un modello basato nel dialogo protitipico e i suoi componenti principali quali l’interattività e l’intenzionalità, per capire il complesso fenomeno della comunicazione mediata dal computer (CMC) ed indagare come la lingua spagnola si trasforma in contesti quali i canali di chat, i forum, la posta elettronica e i blog. Lo studio prende in considerazione i principali modelli teorici ed esplicativi sulla CMC per ampliarli in una nuova prospettiva. Estendendo dunque alcune questioni sul carattere scritto-orale dei messaggi, la sincronia-asincronia delle interazioni e la formazione e la trasformazione dell’identità e della comunità in questi contesti, il modello dialogico permette di spiegare perché nella Rete si assiste a uno scambio conversazionale costante in cui, tra le altre cose, si richiede certa organizzazione nell’alternanza dei turni, è fondamentale l’elezione dell’interlocutore, si scrive nella direzione della voce ed imitando il movimento del pensiero, si rimanda constantemente al contesto, si richiede una risposta immediata. Il canale permanentemente aperto e la riduzione dei tempi di invio-risposta fanno sì che l’interazione si percepisca come se fosse in praesentia e non più mediata dal computer. La prossimità comunicativa segna allora un intercambio in cui la lingua, spagnola in questo caso, presenta i tratti tipici del linguaggio colloquiale.

In qualità di incipit, l'articolo approfondisce i propositi e principi teorico-metodologici che hanno mosso il centro di ricerca CeSLiC nel proporre la ricerca all'origine del volume, la cui struttura si scompone in tre sezioni: una dedicata ai contributi di carattere in prevalenza teorico; una che racchiude ‘applicazioni’ teoriche all’analisi di diverse varietà testuali, nonché alle professioni, e una che verte sull’indubbio valore dell’approccio mediatore nella didattica delle lingue e delle culture straniere. Si elabora il trattamento ampio e variegato che il volume offre di questo tema della mediazione linguistico-culturale – tema sul quale il CeSLiC intende continuare ad indagare – e riflette sulla necessità di problematizzare, e pertanto arricchire e rinnovare, la teoria e prassi scientifiche adottate nei suoi confronti.

La velocidad con que se generan y desarrollan actualmente nuevos conceptos, dispositivos, programas en los campos de la informática y de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación (TIC) plantea no pocas dificultades, en el buen uso de los nuevos términos, a traductores, profesionales de la informática, profesores de lengua, y, en general, a los usuarios de estas tecnologías. Hoy en día, los glosarios accesibles gratuitamente en línea y actualizados regularmente permiten resolver importantes dudas relativas a la terminología informática y de las TIC en lengua española. Asimismo, diversos foros de discusión en Internet como el Foro TIC del Instituto Cervantes ofrecen numerosas respuestas por medio de la inclusión en los debates de equivalencias léxicas y de opiniones de hispanohablantes de diversos países para enriquecer las propuestas. A través de un análisis del papel que juega el inglés en la formación de los recursos discursivos de la informática y tras explorar algunos recursos y espacios de discusión e intercambio de propuestas terminológicas en este campo2, esbozaremos un cuadro de las metodologías adoptadas y veremos cómo la colaboración entre profesionales de la informática, traductores y lingüistas así como el enfoque dinámico y contextualizado, en la resolución de dudas lingüísticas y la elaboración de recursos, se revelan hoy fundamentales para afrontar los desafíos que se plantean a este lenguaje de especialidad.

Even from this brief excursus into the meta-textual musings of the poets that start publishing in the 50s in Spain, the paramount importance they give to the linguistic aspects of the lyrical process should be evident. It actually seems that their poetry can only come about after they’ve succeeded in pin-pointing the connection between a theory of language and their own creative impulses. Yet it’s equally important to keep in mind that these poets’ thoughts were rooted in a philosophical tradition, rather than in a concrete linguistics, but also that some of the arguments put forth in the knowledge-communication debate could be said to be less than firmly rooted ontologically. Witness the concern with whether or not it’s possible to obtain a knowledge of ‘reality’ by means of the creative process and whether or not it’s possible for poetic discourse to ever really represent existential experience. In spite of all this, however, the attraction the concrete moment of the creation of verbal art had for the Generación del 50, as well as their fascination with questions such as poetic reception and social function, and thus also with the reader, makes them essential for any understanding of the evolution of Spanish literary language. As I’ve already intimated, these poets were far from having any desire to substitute the linguists at their job, but their meta-poetic reflections and their Poetics contained, and in part I think still do, an implicit admonishment of the various schools of linguistics. What they ask is that the linguists give, or at least attempt to give, some answers, theoretical to the degree they want but systematic, to the many questions posed by poetic creation, the raw material of which is always, after all, language.

Inspired by Ruqaiya Hasan's conviction that "in verbal art the role of language is central. Here language is not clothing to the body; it is the body", the papers are on a variety of aspects of the language-literature connection, and approach it from diverse perspectives and methodological frameworks, including Systemic Functional Linguistics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, ethnolinguistics, cultural and translation studies. A range of literary genres and world literatures are analysed, including Shakespeare's plays; modern Austrian authors writing in German (e.g., Thomas Bernhard); Perrault's Histoires et contes du temps passé and their translations by angela Carter; the Spanish poets of the Generacion del '50; Malaysian-Singaporean poets in English; Anglo-American Modernist poets (Frost, Stevens, Pound and Lawrence) and novelists (Woolf and Conrad); a short story by Marina Warner and Turkish-German narrative by Feridun Zamoglu; The Gospel of St.John and Harry Potter. My article provides a linguistic analysis of the novels of German-Turkish writer Feridun Zaimoglu. His fictional writings challenge the traditional boundaries between documentary and fictional genres and are the result of several years of research on multiethnic migrants’ communities. The critical approach to Zaimoglu’s novels is firmly grounded in a socio-linguistic perspective. According to such critical perspectives, the linguistic behavior of young migrants is closely connected with questions of identity in a social dimension, and has the function of representing a particular social situation. It focuses on an illustration of the linguistic features of the Kanake language (kanak sprak) as it is enacted in Zaimoglu’s works, paying particular attention to this language’s phonetic and prosodic elements, graphostylistic aspects, features of orality and phenomena of code-mixing and code-switching from the German language. Besides describing this new variety of German, this detailed analysis serves to explain the way in which the Kanaken articulate their social and political condition. For exmaple, I point out, from the lexical point of view, the kanak sprach is rich in neologistic compound nouns and phenomena of re-lexicalisation which can be interpreted as the expression of a self-conscious social-cultural identity that strives to distance itself from that of a standard German, as well as from those of other communities of migrants. It is something new, and ‘other’. The article confronts intricate and highly contemporary matters which link plurilinguistic concerns with the social conditions of the immigrant and his/her identity, as well as cultural diversity and intercultural relations.

L'article offre une première application pratique au champ traductif d'une hypothèse conceptuelle qui, jusqu'à présent, a été mise à l'épreuve uniquement en dehors de la traductologie: il s'agit de la mémétique, un corpus théorique encore instable qui individue une analogie entre l'évolution biologique (dirigée par les gènes) et l'évolution culturelle (définie par l'interaction et la réplication différentielle d'"unités culturelles" de dimensions variables, appelées "mèmes"). En traductologie, la réflexion théorique à ce sujet est assez limitée; elle est représentée presque uniquement par le travail de deux chercheurs (Andrew Chesterman et Hans Vermeer). C'est pourquoi l'article s'attache avant tout à une définition de son objet d'étude, le mème justement. La deuxième partie du texte essaie de mettre en évidence le rôle de la traduction dans le processus de diffusion et de réplication des mèmes, et analyse ensuite, selon un point de vue mémétique, les raisons de quelques pratiques traductives codifiées, telles que l'auto-traduction, la re-traduction ou encore l'opposition ciblistes-sourciers (Ladmiral).