PELAJARAN 10

TUGAS-TUGAS

TEXT 1

Different among Language Learner

Learning as a second language can be influenced by any number of

factors. Some of the factors have to do with the social context where the learning

takes place: the classroom, interaction in the community with native or bilingual

persons, and cultural beliefs about learning and the status of the target language.

Other factors associated with the learning process itself'—universal learning

tendencies, such as use of overgeneralization, transfer, and simplification

strategies.

Learners are actively involved in the acquisition process and utilize various

strategies that can be classified as metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective.

In addition, students have preferred learning styles, reflected by the way they

perceive, interact, and respond to the teaching environment. It is important for

teachers to determine the ways their students learn in order to help them acquire

the language more effectively.

Learners create their own inter-language and use numerous

communication strategies to get their message across. Language attitudes and

motivation play a major role in the learning process and can affect in significant

ways the proficiency levels ultimately attained. Language anxiety is another

factor influencing student participation in classroom activities and test

performance. Paying special attention to the characteristics of learners should be

a key concern when designing learning in learning tasks.

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TEXT 2

Stimulating language acquisition

Teaching methods differ in their views of language, in the learning
process, the roles assigned to student and teachers, and the selection of specific
instructional techniques. Some confusion exists in the use of terms such as
method, approach, procedure, and curriculum models. Methods described as
grammar translation, direct, reading, structural, Audio-Lingual, situational, and
function-notional have different language learning goals and ways of structuring
classroom activities. More recent approaches with a communicative orientation
include the Dartmouth Intensive Model, Comprehension Approach, Total Physical
Response, Natural Approach, Silent Way, Community Language Learning, and
Suggestopedia. Some of these approaches incorporate insights from second
language acquisition research and address both cognitive and affective issues. In
general, the term approach is used to refer to the theoretical basis or set of
principles that determine the method for presenting and teaching the language.
Teaching techniques are the individual instructional strategies used to implement
a methodology. How different sets of teaching activities are used in the learning
sequence distinguishes more accurately the implementation of one method from
another.
The selection of particular teaching techniques is conditioned by such
issues as program goals, learner characteristics, teaching methodology, and
local resources A task-oriented perspective offers a framework for relating
teaching techniques or procedures to both learning objectives and language
content.
Grammar instruction needs to be addressed in terms of the uses of
language forms in listening, speaking, reading, and writing situations. The
teaching of grammatical forms should be guided by concerns about the type of
learner, the means for rule explication or presentation, the range of contexts for
practice, and the relationship to meaning-focused activities. The development of
pronunciation accuracy should be approached from both macro-level features
(intonation, stress, juncture, and rhythm) and micro-level, segmental elements
(individual consonant and vowel sounds). Pronunciation practice can occur as
speech rehearsal (repetition, guided practice, unplanned talk), listening-oriented
training (auditory perception and identification of segmental and Supra segmental
features), and spelling-oriented experience (orthographic information as cues to
syllable stress, word blending patterns, and intonation sequences). Learners play
an important role in the development of both grammatical and phonological
accuracy since both aspects of linguistic competence require a significant level
of personal involvement and commitment.
Error correction is critical issue that affects instructional practices. Some
teaching behavior, such as overt corrections, questions, repetitions, and
expansions, may not be effective unless most students are psycho-linguistically
ready for features, and learners can profit from such strategies as self-
monitoring, problem identification, and collaboration.

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TEXT 3

Concept of Language proficiency

Knowing a language and being able to use it as a native speaker does
encompasses many linguistic competencies, verbal skills, and system of
knowledge. For the language teacher, an understanding of the concept of
proficiency is an important consideration for establishing program goals,
designing learning tasks, and assessing student linguistic development.
The term communicative competence points to the dynamic nature of
language involving various linguistic components and skills: grammatical,
sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence. Different language tasks
(face to face communicative versus interaction with written tasks) require the use
of different language abilities. Conversation can take place with the aid of
gesture, facial expressions, and feedback. Writing a letter requires knowledge of
content and topics, language abilities, genre conversations, purpose, and
audience.
The ACTFL proficiency guidelines describe language abilities in terms of
four performance levels for each of the four language skill areas. Language
functions/global tasks, content/topics, accuracy and text types are the categories
used to characterize proficiency levels. The various performance levels
established for each of the four language skill areas involve extra-linguistic
knowledge, as in the case of social conventions, cultural patterns of behaviors,
and norms for appropriate language use in different situations. With reading
levels, for example, cognitive strategies such as scanning, decoding, classifying,
inferring, and hypothesizing are utilized to process different text types. The
ACTFL oral interview requires students to follow a particular conversational
sequence including a question-and-answer phase along with a structured role-
play situation.
The development of L2 proficiency is a relative process requiring time,
interaction opportunities, and collaboration among learners and the teacher. The
developmental patterns across the four language skill areas tend not to be
uniform. The development of different aspects of proficiency (oral communication
skills versus reading and writing abilities) require varying amounts of instruction
for mastery. The type of language program (e.g., language immersion versus
language as subject) influences the ultimate L2 attainment levels. At the same
time, because of their complexity (case endings in German, the Cyrillic alphabet
of Russian, the tone of Chinese, etc) some languages require longer periods of
training for attainment of proficiency levels comparable to those in other
languages.

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TEXT 4

Language and politics

In this chapter we will discuss how language can be used to achieve

political ends. We will discuss of what politics is, and how it is possible to see
many of our ordinary choices and decisions as having some politics
consequences. We will learn the implications to political language of the
arguments, which show how language both reflects and affects our perception of
the world. We will discuss the ways in which language can be used to create and
reinforce certain value of system, focusing on the role of discourse in shaping the
beliefs which affect people’s behavior, motivations, desires, and fears, and in
establishing certain ideologies as common sense.
We will also discuss the linguistic strategies people use to avoid making
direct and honest statements. Politicians have to find ways of making an impact
on the public, and they often exploit the rhetorical aspects of language to achieve
this. George Orwell claimed that in our age there is no keeping out of politics. All
issues are political issues. Politics is concerned with power: the power to make
decisions, to control resources, to control other people’s behavior and often to
control their values. Even the most everyday decisions can be seen in a political
light.
One of the goals of a politician must be to persuade their audience of the validity
of the politician’s basic claims. The use of implicature is one of means by which
this can achieved. Implicature allows the audience to make assumption about the
existence of information not made explicit in what is actually said.
There is a well-worm joke:
Question: How can you tell whether a politician’s lying?
Answer: You can see their lips move.

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TEXT 5

Language and Meaning

Referential meaning is also dependent on psychological meaning. This was

demonstrated earlier when appeal was made to a speaker’s mental
representations in order to achieve the disambiguation of the word park.
Whether the local pub or a green park constitutes the referent of park was seen
to be a matter of the representation that is associated with this word in the mind
of speaker.
Psychologistic meaning is also dependent on referential menaing. Even
when the word park has been disambiguated and there is a determine mental
representation associated with the sentence John is in the park, there is a very
clear sense in which we will still not know what this sentence means if some
referntial account of that mental representation that daesn’t refer to an external
world or that isn’t about such a world can tell us nothing about the meaning of
the sentence with it is associated. Indeed, is such a case, we are not giving an
account of the meaning of a sentence by associating it with a mental
representation, so much as we are simply replacing the problem of a sentence’s
meaning with the problem of a representation’s meaning.
Psychologistic meaning must also depend on social or pragmatis meaning.
In addition to representing the semantic meaning of a sentence, a mental
representation must also encode how the speaker of that sentence intends it to
be used on a particular occasion. Indeed, in the case of the sentence John is the
park, the use of this sentence to inform or to warm becomes the basis of distinct
mental representations of this sentence-semantic meaning of this sentence in
both of these uses remains constant. It is inconceivable that so fundamental a
part of a sentence’s meaning as how a speaker intends it to be used-and very
ofen, the only feature that distinguishes semanthically identical represntations-
should not be included somewhere in the mental representation of a sentence.
Finally, a social or pragmatic approach to meaning is dependent in turn on
referential menaing and on psychologistic meaning.

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TEXT 6

Language testing for the classroom

There are numerous formats and tasks teachers can use to construct test
items in the four language skill areas. Testing considerations need to take into
account the language focus and subjective and objective methods for assessing
different linguistic abilities and skills. Testing speaking skills represents a number
of challenges involving the choice of methods, appropriate language samples, and
scoring procedures. Magnan suggests the development of a multi-sequence
testing plan, and Omaggio offers a useful framework for preparing test items.
Specific tests in English, French, German, and Spanish illustrate the range of
techniques used by classroom teachers in assessing student achievement in
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Many of the test items emphasize the
assessment of language in context and the use of authentic materials.
Language testing in the context of the classroom should be seen in relation to the
particular curricular goals.
There are many different types of testing techniques teacher can use to
assess students' language learning and the extent to which instructional
objectives are being accomplished. Language test are typically classified
according to the measurement purpose: proficiency, diagnosis, and achievement.
Language abilities can be tested on the basis of discrete and/or integrative
methods, linguistic and/or communicative competence, language modalities, and
aspects of communicative competence. Communicative competence can be
characterized in term of various systems of knowledge and skills: grammatical,
sociolinguistic, discourse, strategic, textual, and pragmatic. Some of the
distinctions that are made with respect to communicative language testing point
to the necessity of emphasizing the actual uses of language in specific cultural
situations such as listening to a radio announcement, reading a newspaper to find
out more about local events, and writing a personal letter to a friend.

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TEXT 7

INTERFERENCY

Sociolinguistically, we know that Indonesian people are bilinguals in

general. It means that many of Indonesian people can speak more than one
languages. The Javanese people as one of the Indonesian ethnic groups are
also bilinguals. In daily life they use Javanese language and sometimes they
use Indonesian language and other foreign languages alternately. The
Javanese language as the regional language is influenced by foreign language
in their word they use. So, the interference happens if two or more
languages get into contact, such in the use of Javanese language which is
influenced by foreign language.
The contact between two or more laguages can result in the transfer
of the element of the first language (Javanese Language) into the element of
the second language (Foreign Language). Corder (1973:31) says that
pricipally to learn the second langugae is not a process to get new language,
however as additional learning of some new alternative to the laguage rules
which existed.
In fact, the process of the transfer almost appears in everyday life
either in oral and written language. As far as the element of one language
system is similar to the element of another language and the tendency to
transfer is an advantage if the different language have strong resemblance to
each other, the problem does not arise. It is usually called “Positive
transfer” or ”facilitation”.
On the contrary, if the elements of one language system is different
from the element of the second language and the elements of the first
language are used in the production of the second language, it can result
error therefore the problem will appear. It is problem is called "Negative
transfer"or "Interference".

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TEXT 8

LEONARD BLOOMFIELD

Leonard Bloomfield was born in 1887. Leonard studied under many

different colleges; he graduated from Harvard in 1906, and then went on to
graduate from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Then from there he went on
to further education and studied at the University of Chicago where he later
graduated. He spent most of his time dealing with comparing and contrasting
Germanic languages. At the University of Ohio, Bloomfield caught his first break
as an Assistant Professor of German. He spent seven years under that title, and
then moved on to the University of Chicago. There he was the head Professor of
German, and spent a lot of his time (1921-1928) teaching here.

After this Leonard became more interested in the description of languages,

and how they pertained to science. When Leonard got into this aspect of
language, it is when he wrote his masterpiece Language. It dealt with a standard
text, and had a tremendous influence on other linguists. Until very recently most
United States linguists considered themselves in some sense Bloomfield's
disciples, whether they actually studied under him or not, and a great deal of
American linguistic work has taken the form of working out questions raised and
methods suggested by Bloomfield.

Leonard had six main publications during his lifetime, and they too have had
their own little mark in the history of linguists. His first main book came in 1914,
when he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois. It was called
Introduction to the study of Language; this dealt with the overall aspect of
language and was just the beginning of Leonard's profound career. After this
Leonard went into the grammatical aspect of the Philippine language, he wrote
and published his next main book Tagalog Texts with Grammatical Analysis
(1917). The next book was called Menomini Texts (1928), one of Bloomfield's
least favorable publications. In the middle of his writing career came Language
(1933), which was the book he is renowned for. From here Leonard went deeper
into grammar, and wrote The Stressed Vowels of American English (1935). The
last main book of Leonard Bloomfield's career was when he went back into the
scientific research of language. It dealt with the overall aspect of language and
science, and didn't get as much publicity as Language. This book was called
Linguistic Aspects of Science (1939). At the end of Leonard's writing career, he
tried to write about other languages (Dutch and Russian) but couldn't really get
the true feeling out of this, like he did with his other books. In the end, Leonard
Bloomfield is not only considered one of the best Linguists of his time, he is
considered one of the best of all time.

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TEXT 9

THE SUMMARY OF TREASURE ISLAND

Tittle of the novel : Treasure Island

By: R.L. Stevenson
At the Admiral Benbow Inn Jim Hawkins began to write down all he know
about the Treasure Island without showing the exact position of the island. Jim is
an England sailorman whose had been to the island. Treasure island is the place
or location which every body wanted to go there to get a gold, money or other
important goods. Only the stronger who will able to get to the island. There were
no way how to get there except by voyage on the ship.
While preparing for the departure the mysterious visitors came. They were
Bill (the Captain) and Black Dog. Both of them were a good friend from the last
voyage but later on they fight to each other a lots. It even worse since they were
find the black spot the island. One day when one of them got hurt from the
fighting and went to docter, he met Mr. Blint (The docter). Mr. Blint was had
more then enough experience in sailing because he did it before. Now, the three
of them become close and become their partner.
The three of them seriously read the paper owned by the captain Flint. The
paper was about check book account and has the map where treasure island is
located. They are decided to be an adventure to do exploration in the treasure
island. In doing so, Mr. Flint went to London in doing recruitment for the crew
ship and find John Silver as the cook.
Jim become doubt and suspicious to john. John, just like what Black Dog
told to Jim earlier that he is furious and wicked. However they must continue the
voyage. On the voyage adventure and dangerous begin. Amount the crew attack
to each other and it cause dead for few of the crew. So many things they were
fighting for begin from food until the plan how to share the treasure itself.
However the voyage finally ashore and landed on the truth of the treasure island.

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 Nobody feeling unhappy after succeed arrived on the island. They all
exploring and collecting the gold and other different valuable goods from there.
Jim and his crew sail home after they got what they want, but some also stay
there permanently. Later on, so many others came and spent their life in this
treasure island.

TEXT 10

Language and Cuture

Guests are welcomed very warmly. It is polite to remove your shoes

before entering an Indonesian home or mosque. A visitor to an Indonesian home
should sit when invited but should rise when the host or hostess enters the room.
Hosts will almost always serve a drink, but one should not drink or eat until urged
several times. Finishing a drink implies desire for the glass to be refilled. Hosts
appreciate compliments on the food. Gifts should be accepted graciously; it is
impolite to refuse anything. And gifts should be given as often as possible--fruit is
always appreciated. Indonesians do not generally open gifts in the presence of the
giver.
Polite behavior is very important and very circumscribed in Indonesian
culture. Men and women usually shake hands and bow the head slightly when
introduced, while pronouncing their first name. A deeper bow is appropriate when
introduced to older people or people of higher status. Indonesian handshakes are
noticeably "limp"; don't give them a firm, hearty handshake--a slight touch of the
fingers will do. A person is usually referred to by his or her title, even if it is just
'ibu' or 'bapak'-'mother' or 'father'. Personal names, especially for older people,
are rarely used and are almost never used without being preceded by the title. Our
status is often hard for Indonesians to gauge, so people may ask you what you
prefer to be called--mother or father, older or younger sister or brother, or aunt or
uncle in the Dutch tradition...or they may just call you "boss". Don't take offense--
this is in good fun and is used among equals in Indonesia.
Waving ONE’S hand with the palm facing down signals another person to
come; this is only used to someone of lower status, like a child or a becak driver.
Approval is sometimes shown by a pat on the shoulder, the arm or the leg, but
touching the head of another is considered very disrespectful. The left hand should
not be used to shake hands, touch others, give or receive objects, point, or eat.
Standing with hands in pockets or on hips is interpreted as defiance, anger or
arrogance and should be avoided. Yawning should be avoided, but if one must
yawn a hand should be placed over the mouth. If you want to point at something,
do not use the index finger; use the thumb of the right hand.
Status is reflected in the relative heights at which people sit; higher
status demands a higher seat. So, if at all possible, never sit above anyone who is
older than yourself. A related custom is stooping when you have to walk in front of
anyone who is seated.
Eating while standing, lying down, or walking is inappropriate. Many
Indonesians eat with a spoon and a fork, but it is also polite to eat with the right
hand. Generally, the fork is used in the left hand and the spoon in the right. When
finished eating, the spoon and fork are crossed face down on the plate. If you use

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a toothpick, use the toothpick in your right hand and cover your right hand and
your mouth with your left hand.

TEXT 11
TRANSLATING LITERARY WORKS

Translating literary works is, perhaps, always more difficult than

translating other types of text because literary works have specific values called
the aesthetic and expressive values. The aesthetic function of the work shall
emphasize the beauty of the words (diction), figurative language, metaphors, etc.
While the expressive functions shall put forwards the writer's thought (or process
of thought), emotion, etc. And the translator should try, at his best, to transfer
these specific values into the target language (TL). As one genre of literature,
poetry has something special compared to the others. In a poem, the beauty is
not only achieved with the choice of words and figurative language like in novels
and short stories, but also with the creation of rhythm, rhyme, meter, and
specific expressions and structures that may not conform to the ones of the daily
language. In short, the translation of poetry needs 'something more' than
translating other genres of literature. This simple writing will present in brief
some considerations in translating poetry.

1. Linguistic Problems
In term of linguistic factors, according to the writer, at least there are two
points to consider: collocation and obscured (non-standard) syntactical
structures. The word "collocation' used here refers to words or word groups with
which a word or words may typically combine. The combination may by
syntagmatic or horizontal, like make a speech (not say a speech), run a meeting
(not do a meeting), etc. Something to remember is in different languages the
collocates tend to be different. The Indonesian phrase for run a meeting is not
melarikan rapat but mengadakan rapat.
The other class of collocation is pragmatic or vertical. This consists of words
belonging to the same semantic field or be semantic opposite. Different from the
first class, the collocates in this class may be the same for several languages.
Land, sea, air are exactly the same as tanah, laut, udara.
Whatever the reason is, where there is an accepted collocation in the SL, the
translator must find and use its equivalent in the TL if it exists. But a closer
attention should also be paid to the collocation with similar form in the SL and TL,
but different meaning.
The second point to consider in term of linguistic matters is obscured (non-
standard) syntactic structures. Such kinds of structures may be intentionally
written in a poem as a part of the expressive function of the text. Hence, such
structures should be rendered as closely as possible.

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 The first step to deal with this problem is to find the deep (underlying)
structure. According to Newmark (1981: 116), the useful procedure is to find the
logical subject first, and then the specific verb. If the two important elements are
discovered, the rest will fall into place. After that the translator can reconstruct
the structure in the TL as closely as possible to the original structure. Besides, the
structure of each phrase or clause should be examined clearly also.

TEXT 12
Literary or Aesthetic Problems

Aesthetic values or poetic truth in a poem are conveyed in word order and
sounds, as well as in cognitive sense (logic). And these aesthetic values have no
independent meaning, but they are correlative with the various types of meaning
in the text. Hence, if the translator destroys the word choice, word order, and the
sounds, he impairs and distorts the beauty of the original poem. Delicacy and
gentleness, for instance, will be ruined if the translator provides crude
alliterations for the original carefully-composed alliterations. So, the problems in
translating a poem is how to retain the aesthetic values in the TL text.
The aesthetic values, according to Newmark (1981: 65) are dependent on
the structure (or poetic structure), metaphor, and sound. Poetic structure
includes the plan of the original poem as a whole, the shape and the balance of
individual sentences in each line. Metaphor is related to visual images created
with combinations of words, which may also evoke sound, touch, smell, and
taste. While sound is anything connected with sound cultivation including rhyme,
rhythm, assonance, onomatopoeia, etc. A translator cannot ignore any of them
although he may order them depending on the nature of the poem translated.

Poetic Structure
The first factor is structure. It is important to note that structure meant
here is the plan of the poem as a whole, the shape and the balance of individual
sentence or of each line. So, it does not have to relate directly to the sentential
structures or grammar of a language, even in fact it is very much affected by the

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sentential structure. Thus, maintaining the original structure of the poem may
mean maintaining the original structure of each sentence.
The simple examples below show one stanza of Chairil Anwar's Senja di
Pelabuhan Kecil and its two translations: the first is done by Boen S. Oemarjati
and the last is by Burton Raffel. Try to compare which one is better? (Do not
consider the semantic aspect for this stage.)
The translations of the first line both are good in the sense that they put
the adverb, "this time" first, but the translation of the main clause in the second
translation is better for it tries to maintain the "poetic structure" of the line. The
further we read the lines, the better we can catch the importance of maintaining
the structure as an attempt to maintain the beauty of the poem. And finally we
may agree that the second translation is more successfully in maintaining the
poetic structure.

TEXT 13
Metaphorical Expressions
Metaphorical expressions, as the second factor, mean any constructions
evoking visual, sounds, touch, and taste images, the traditional metaphors, direct
comparisons without the words "like' and "as if", and all figurative languages.
Intentionally, the writer does not use the term metaphor in the sub-heading since
it has different meaning for some people. What is generally known as (traditional)
metaphor, for example, is not the same as metaphor meant by Newmark.
To understand the meaning of metaphor as proposed by Newmark, it is
advisable to understand the following terms: object, image, sense, metaphor,
and metonym. Object, called also topic, is the item which is described by the
metaphor. Image refers to the item in terms of which the object is described. It is
also called vehicle. The next term, sense, refers to the point of similarity between
aspects of the objects and the image. Metaphor here means the word(s) taken
from the image. And finally, metonym refers to one-word image which replace
the object, which is in many cases figurative but not metaphorical.
In the expression "rooting out the faults", for example, the object is 'faults',
the image is 'rooting out weeds', the sense is (a) eliminate, (b) with tremendous
effort, and the metaphor is 'rooting out'. The expression 'the seven seas' referring
'the whole world' is not metaphorical. It is figurative and a metonym.
Newmark (1981: 88-91) proposes seven procedures to translate metaphors
in general. The first procedure is reproducing the same image in the TL if the
image has comparable frequency and currency in the appropriate register. This

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procedure is usually used for one-word metaphor, e.g. ray of hope. Ray of hope
can be simply translated into sinar harap.
The second procedure is replacing images in the SL with a standard TL image
within the constraints of TL cultures. The English metaphor 'my life hangs on a
thread', with this procedure, can be translated into Indonesian 'hidupku di ujung
tanduk'.
The next is translating a metaphor by simile, retaining the image in the SL.
This procedure can be used to modify any type of metaphor. The 'my life hangs
on a thread', with this procedure, can be translated into 'hidupku bagai
tergantung pada sehelai benang'.
And the rest of the procedures, translating metaphor (or simile) into simile
plus sense, conversing metaphor into sense, deleting unimportant metaphor, and
translating metaphor with some metaphors combined with sense, are not
considered appropriate for poetry translation.

TEXT 14

Socio-cultural Problems

Words or expressions that contain culturally-bound word(s) create certain

problems. The socio-cultural problems exist in the phrases, clauses, or sentences
containing word(s) related to the four major cultural categories, namely: ideas,
behavior, product, and ecology (Said, 1994: 39). The "ideas" includes belief,
values, and institution; "behavior" includes customs or habits, "products" includes
art, music, and artifacts, and "ecology" includes flora, fauna, plains, winds, and
weather.
In translating culturally-bound expressions, like in other expressions, a
translator may apply one or some of the procedures: Literal translation,
transference, naturalization, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent, description
equivalent, classifier, componential analysis, deletion, couplets, note, addition,
glosses, reduction, and synonymy. In literal translation, a translator does unit-to-
unit translation. The translation unit may range from word to larger units such as
phrase or clause.
He applies 'transference procedure' if he converts the SL word directly into TL
word by adjusting the alphabets (writing system) only. The result is 'loan word'.
When he does not only adjust the alphabets, but also adjust it into the normal

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pronunciation of TL word, he applies naturalization. The current example is the
Indonesian word "mal" as the naturalization of the English word "mall".
In addition, the translator may find the cultural equivalent word of the SL or,
if he cannot find one, neutralize or generalize the SL word to result 'functional
equivalents'. When he modifies the SL word with description of form in the TL,
the result is description equivalent. Sometimes a translator provides a generic or
general or superordinate term for a TL word and the result in the TL is called
classifier. And when he just supplies the near TL equivalent for the SL word, he
uses synonymy.
In componential analysis procedure, the translator splits up a lexical unit into
its sense components, often one-to-two, one-to-three, or -more translation.
Moreover, a translator sometimes adds some information, whether he puts it in a
bracket or in other clause or even footnote, or even deletes unimportant SL
words in the translation to smooth the result for the reader.

TEXT 15

Translation skills for novice translators (1)

The present study suggests four main macro-skills for any translator who begins
his/her work in the field of translation. These are: reading comprehension,
researching, analytical, and composing skills. These macro-skills include many
sub- or micro-skills that need to be mastered.

Reading comprehension

While we are translating, we do not think of our activity as being broken down
into phases. After doing our first translations, many automatic mechanisms come
into play that allow us to translate more quickly; at the same time, we are less
and less conscious of our activity.

Osimo (2001) indicates that in order to think about the translation process and
to describe it, our essential task consists of analyzing its phases, even if we are
aware of the fact that they do not always coincide with perceptibly different or
distinguishable moments. If we want to describe a process that often is beyond
the translator's own consciousness, we are forced to divide the process into
different phases which, in the everyday practice of translation, can reveal the
inter-twining, almost entangling, of these phases. The first phase of the
translation process consists of reading the text. The reading act, first, falls under
the competence of psychology, because it concerns our perceptive system.
Reading, like translation, is, for the most part, an unconscious process. If it were
conscious, we would be forced to consume much more time in the act. Most
mental processes involved in the reading act are automatic and unconscious.
Owing to such a nature-common and little-known in the same time-in our opinion

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it is important to analyze the reading process as precisely as possible. The works
of some perception psychologists will be helpful to widen our knowledge of this
first phase of the translation process.

When a person reads, his brain deals with many tasks in such rapid sequences
that everything seems to be happening simultaneously. The eye examines (from
left to right as far as many Western languages are concerned, or from right to left
or from top to bottom in some other languages) a series of graphic signs
(graphemes) in succession, which give life to syllables, words, sentences,
paragraphs, sections, chapters, and texts.

Simply reading a text is, in itself, an act of translation. When we read, we do not
store the words we have read in our minds as happens with data entered using a
keyboard or scanner into a computer. After reading, we do not have the
photographic or auditory recording in our minds of the text read. We have a set
of impressions instead. We remember a few words or sentences precisely, while
all the remaining text is translated from the verbal language into a language
belonging to another sign system, which is still mostly unknown: the mental
language.

TEXT 16

Translation skills for novice translators (2)

The mental processing of the read verbal material is of a syntactical nature when
we try to reconstruct the possible structure of the sentence, i.e. the relations
among its elements. In contrast, it is of a semantic nature when we identify the
relevant areas within the semantic field of any single word or sentence; and it is
of a pragmatic nature when we deal with the logical match of the possible
meanings with the general context and the verbal co-text.

The difference between a reader and a critic is negligible: the reader trying to
understand has the same attitude as the critic, who is a systematic, methodical,
and self-aware reader. While reading, the individual reads, and perceives what he
reads, drawing interpretations and inferences about the possible intentions of the
author of the message.

Holmes (1988) suggested that the translation process is actually a multi-level

process; while we are translating sentences, we have a map of the original text in
our minds and, at the same time, a map of the kind of text we want to produce in
the target language. Even as we translate serially, we have this structural
concept so that each sentence in our translation is determined not only by the
original sentence, but also by the two maps—of the original text and of the
translated text—which we carry along as we translate.

The translation process should, therefore, be considered a complex system in

which understanding, processing, and projection of the translated text are
interdependent portions of one structure. We can therefore put forward, as does

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Hnig (1991), the existence of a sort of "central processing unit" supervising the
coordination of the different mental processes (those connected to reading,
interpretation, and writing) and at the same time projecting a map of the text to
be.

Novice translators as well as student translators are advised to master the

following basic reading comprehension skills.

 Read for gist and main ideas.

 Read for details.
 Identify the meaning of new words and expressions using one or more
components of the structural analysis clause; prefixes, suffixes, roots,
word order, punctuation, sentence pattern, etc.
 Identify the meaning of new words and expressions using one ore more of
the contextual analysis; synonyms, antonyms, examples, etc.
 Identify the writer's style: literary, scientific, technical, informative,
persuasive, argumentative, etc.
 Identify the language level used in the text: standard, slang, religious, etc.
 Identify cultural references in the choice of words in the text.

TEXT 17

Translation skills for novice translators (3)

Researching skills

Enani (2002b) notices that "the most commonly heard advice to translators is 'if
you don't know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.' It is the
commonest and the vaguest insofar as the definite article suggest that the
dictionary is known to both speaker and listener." He indicates that there are
different kinds of dictionaries that a translator should refer to; a bilingual
dictionary, a dictionary on a historical basis, dictionaries of current English,
dictionaries of idioms, specialized dictionaries (dictionaries of common errors,
dictionaries of idiomatic usage, slang dictionaries, technical dictionaries)
encyclopedic dictionaries, dictionaries of neologisms, and monolingual
dictionaries.

Despite this long list of different kinds of dictionaries, it is a single dictionary that
the translator is supposed to refer to each and every time s/he translates. The
choice of the best, or the most appropriate, dictionary depends on the style of the
protext (original text, text before translation) and on the different types of users
of the translation.

Calderaro (1998) indicates two major users of the meta text (text after
translation) who may use the translated version; the specialist user and the lay
user. Identifying the prospective users of the metatext is very important in the
process of researching, as this will determine which kind of dictionaries the
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translator will refer to, which level of information should be presented and to
"detect the exact moments when it is necessary to establish a balance between
the scientific level of the author and the knowledge the user supposedly has."

Novice translators, as well as student translators are encouraged to use the

following basic researching tips;

 Use bilingual dictionaries for looking up meanings of new words.

 Use monolingual dictionaries to check the usage of the new words in the
source language and in the target language.
 Use related encyclopedias and glossary lists for specialized terms;
 Use software dictionaries if necessary and available.
 Refer to specialized magazines and journals to help you familiarize
yourself with the text, particularily when it is a technical text.

TEXT 18

Translation skills for novice translators (4)

Analytical skills

The translation process is characterized by an analysis stage and a synthesis

stage. During analysis, the translator refers to the prototext in order to
understand it as fully as possible. The synthesis stage is the one in which the
prototext is projected onto the reader, or rather, onto the idea that the translator
forms of who will be the most likely reader of the metatext.

The text, according to Bell (1998) is analyzed in two ways: micro- and macro-
analysis of the actual text: monitoring for cohesion and coherence, and checking
for coherence between the actual text and the potential text-type of which it is a
token realization. Micro-analysis has the purpose of verifying text cohesion and
inner cohesion of the single units of text. Macro-analysis is aimed at checking for
coherence and cohesion between the created text and the model in the category
to which the text belongs. For example, if the text is an instruction booklet for a
household appliance, or a story for a newspaper, often there are models for such
types of text to which we frequently (consciously or unconsciously) adhere.

Such an analytic exam was necessary in order to identify the individual mental
processes involved in the above-mentioned activities; we know, however, that
such activities are actually carried out in very short time span. During this mental
work, there is a constant shift of focus between micro-analysis and macro-
analysis, between micro-expression and macro-expression, i.e. a constant
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comparison between the meaning of the single utterances and the meaning of the
text as a whole, or, on a larger scale, a constant comparison between the sense
of the specific text and the comprehensive sense of the corpus which forms the
"intertext," whether or not the translator is aware of this fact. In this context,
"intertext" should be understood as the intertextual universe in which a text is
located.

Translators are advised to use the following strategies in the analysis stage:

 Identify beginnings and endings of ideas in the text and the relationships
between these ideas.
 Identify the "best" meaning that fits into the context;
 Identify the structure in the Target Language that "best" represents the
original;
 Identify transitions between ideas and the "best" connectors in the target
language that represent the original.

TEXT 19
Translation skills for novice translators (5)

Composing skills

At this point, the mental construction resulting from interpretation seeks an outer
expression. Osimo (2002) suggests that, in this expression stage, there are two
substages. One is aimed at expression, the other at cohesion. The translator,
having finished his/her interpretative work, has two needs: first, to externalize
the set of impressions caused by the text and translate into speech elements the
impressions the mind produced by contact with the prototext; and second, to
make this product coherent within itself, i.e., transform the set of speech
elements into a text (the metatext). He describes the passage from mental
content to written text in these terms:

 pinpointing elements useful for discrimination of the content to be

expressed from similar contents;
 pinpointing redundant elements;
 choice of words (lexicalization) and attention to their cohesion (inner
links);
 choice of grammatical structure(s);
 linear order of words;
 parts of speech;
 sentence complexity;
 prepositions and other function words, and
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  final form.

As a novice translator, or a student translator, you are invited to make use of the
following basic strategies:

 Use correct word order as used in the target language.

 Use correct sentence structures as used in the target language.
 transmit the ideas of the text in clear sentences in the target language.
 Rephrase certain sentences to convey the overall meaning translated;
 Make changes to the text as a whole to give it a sense of the original
without distorting the original ideas.
 Try one or more of the following strategies when facing problems of
untranslateability.

a. Syntactic strategies:
o Shift word order.
o Change clause/sentence structure.
o Add or change cohesion.

b. Semantic strategies:
o Use superordinates.
o Alter the level of abstraction.
o Redistribute the information over more or fewer elements.

c. Pragmatic strategies:
o Naturalize or exoticize.
o Alter the level of explicitness.
o Add or omit information.

TEXT 20

Multicultural Children's Literature

It is important to know the characteristics of quality multicultural children's books and how
these characteristics can be used practically by teachers and librarians wishing to build a
collection of quality multicultural children's books. Educators, with little time to peruse the
literature that discusses characteristics of quality multicultural books, or to search bookstore
shelves, have a need for a list that can provide the information for them.

Quality multicultural books are difficult to find, even with time to search. The percentage of
books with multicultural themes is low, but there are ways to find them. For example, when
looking up a specific book, one Internet site provided other authors' names and book titles
similar to the current selection. With this information, authors' names and various subjects
could be cross-referenced to find additional selections. Aside from this search format, also
used by some public libraries, there was no other way to find books besides searching the
bookshelves of libraries and bookstores --a tedious process.

This project provides for educators a practical tool for evaluating and selecting multicultural
children's literature, and a list of books to help start a good book collection. Educators can
use the checklist with books they already have, or with books they find on bookshelves or in
catalogs in the future.

Literature Evaluation

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My main goal with this project has been to gain knowledge of and experience with the issues
surrounding multicultural children's literature so that when I begin to build my own collection
of classroom literature I will be prepared to evaluate and choose quality books. Another goal,
and an added benefit, has been to create a list of evaluation criteria for fellow educators
looking to do the same. Because this project has been so personal, there may be some books
missing from the list of quality literature for the very reason that I would not wish to use or
purchase the book at this time. Also, it cannot be a comprehensive list, if for no other reason
than because of time constraints. It is, however, a useful list for starting a collection of quality
multicultural books as I highly recommend each selection. The evaluation tool will serve to
assist anyone who wishes to find other books to add to their collection.

Following is a copy of the evaluation tool and an annotated list of the 35 multicultural books
focusing on the experiences, lifestyles and issues of Native American, African American,
Asian American, and Latino and Hispanic cultures. Books about both Latino and Hispanic
cultures are combined into one section. This Latino/Hispanic section is intended to identify
areas of the world where the cultures represented are from - that is, Mexico, Puerto Rico,
Cuba, and other Caribbean islands. It is not within the scope of this project to try and place
the specific cultural groups under the correct umbrella group. Doing so would be a difficult
and possibly unnecessary task. While the people of a specific ethnic group may identify
themselves under one such group, one person within a group may identify him or herself
otherwise. This is true for each of the four cultural groups represented in this list. Today,
many Black American tend to be identified as "African Americans" regardless of their actual
heritage, and Native Americans from different tribes traditionally hold separate beliefs and
have distinct customs based on history and heritage.

Therefore, within the four sections of the annotated list, each title is individually labeled with
the specific cultural group represented in the story. I hope you find this to be helpful, yet non-
intrusive on the individual needs and beliefs of the people being represented.

TEXT 21

Summary of Saussure's Structural Linguistics (1)

The French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure studied language from a formal

and theoretical point of view, i.e. as a system of signs which could be described
synchronically (as a static set of relationships independent of any changes that
take place over time) rather than diachronically (as a dynamic system which
changes over time).

According to Saussure, the basic unit of language is a sign. A sign is

composed of signifier (a sound-image, or its graphic equivalent) and a signified
(the concept or meaning). So, for example, a word composed of the letters p-e-a-
r functions as a signifier by producing in the mind of English-speakers the concept
(signified) of a certain kind of rosaceous fruit that grows on trees, viz., a pear.

According to Saussure, the relation between a signifier and a signified is

arbitrary in at least two ways. First, there is no absolute reason why these
particular graphic marks (p-e-a-r) should signify the concept pear. There is no
natural connection or resemblance between the signifier and the signified (as
there would be in what Saussure calls a symbol, i.e. an iconic representation
such as a descriptive drawing of a pear). After all, it's not as if the word "pear"
looks or sounds anything like a pear! In fact, a moment's reflection makes it clear
that the connection between the signifier and the signified is due to a contingent

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historical convention. It didn't have to happen the way it did. In principle, the
word "pare", "wint", or even "apple" would have worked just as well in
associating a word with the concept pear! But given that the word "pear" has
come to signify the concept pear in English, no one has the power to simply
change it at will. In other words, the relationship between a word and a concept
is arbitrary in one sense (in terms of its origin) but not in another sense (in
terms of its use).

Saussure makes a second point about the arbitrariness of the sign. He

points out that the relation between the sign itself (signifier/signified pair) and
what it refers to (what is called the referent, i.e. the actual piece of fruit-the
physical object) is also arbitrary. This claim is less plausible than the former. For
example, one might object that the concept in the mind of the speaker is
formed, either directly or indirectly, by actual pears. Ideally then we would expect
it to be the case that the properties of actual pears would be causally related
to our concept of a pear-that the characteristics of pears produce in one's mind
the concept of a pear either directly through experience with pears, or indirectly
through pictures of pears, descriptions, or some such thing. Thus, the concept
pear might be thought of as some basic information and set of beliefs about
actual pears, e.g. what they look like, how they feel and taste, what they're good
for, etc.

TEXT 22

Summary of Saussure's Structural Linguistics (2)

Saussure's way around this obvious objection is to say that his interest is
in the structure of language, not the use of language. As a scientist, Saussure
limited his investigation to the formal structure of language (langue), setting
aside or bracketing the way that language is employed in actual speech (parole).
Hence, the term structuralism. Saussure bracketed out of his investigation any
concern with the real, material objects (referents) to which signs are
presumably related. This bracketing of the referent is a move that enabled him to
study the way a thing (language and meaning) is experienced in the mind. In this
sense, his motivation was similar to Husserl's. And in the end, Saussure never
offered a method for investigating how language as a system hooks up to the
world of objects that lie outside language. As we shall see, this was to have far-
reaching effects.

Thus, according to Saussure's structural linguistics, each sign in the

system of signs which makes up a language gets its meaning only because of its
difference from every other sign. The word "pear" has no meaning in itself or in
the intention of the speaker, but only due to the fact that it differs from other
possible graphic images such as p-e-e-r, p-e-a-k, f-e-a-r, b-e-a-r, etc. In other

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words, it doesn't matter how the form of the signifier varies, as long as it is
different from all the other signifiers in the system (langue). To the structuralist,
meaning arises from the functional differences between the elements (signs)
within the system (langue). An economic analogy helps to illustrate Saussure's
theory of meaning. The signs of a linguistic system are like the coins of a
monetary system or currency. Thus, a system of signs (words of a language) is
analogous to a system of values. A quarter has a certain monetary value
determined by its exchange value. Quarters can be exchanged for other things
because they have a designated (but flexible) value. Quarters can be used to buy
goods or commodities. But they also have a fixed value in relation to other coins.
So, for example, a quarter is equal to two dimes and a nickel; it is more than a
penny; it is less than a dollar, etc., etc.

Linguistic signs also have values in relation to other signs. For example,
the word "bachelor" can be "exchanged" for the term "unmarried man". This is, in
many ways, an equal exchange. That's what it means for words to be
synonymous - they have the same meaning or linguistic value. They can be
substituted or exchanged for one another just as the quarter can be exchanged
for two dimes and a nickel.

TEXT 23

The Significance of Structuralist Theory

The first thing to notice is that, according to structuralist theory, meaning is not a
private experience, as Husserl thought, but the product of a shared system of
signification. A text is to be understood as a construct to be analyzed and
explained scientifically in terms of the deep-structure of the system itself. For
many structuralists, this "deep-structure" is universal and innate.

If we consider the application of structuralism to art and extend the monetary

analogy, we can think of paintings as comprised of many languages or sets of
conventions that play a role in the exchange of signs. For example, the language
of western academic painting can be contrasted with the language of African
sculpture or Japanese brush painting. Just as one word in the English language is
paired with a concept, so a visual image, icon, or symbol is paired with a concept
or idea that it is said to "express". Such a study of signs in the most general
sense, whether visual or verbal, is called semiotics. In the West, art schools are
the institutions that have the function of passing on these visual conventions.

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Second we should note that in structuralism, the individual is more a product of
the system than a producer of it. Language precedes us. It is the medium of
thought and human expression. Thus, it provides us with the structure that we
use to conceptualize our own experience.

And third, since language is arbitrary, there is no natural bond between words
and things, there can be no privileged connection between language and reality.
In this sense, reality is also produced by language. Thus, structuralism can be
understood as a form of idealism.

It should be clear from what we've just said that structuralism undermines the
claim of empiricism that what is real is what we experience. It can also be seen
as an affront to common sense, esp. to the notion that a text has a meaning
that is, for all intents and purposes, straightforward. This conflict with common
sense, however, can be favorably compared with other historical conflicts (e.g.
Copernicus' heliocentric system). In other words, things are not always what they
seem. Thus, the idealist claim of structuralism can be understood in the following
way: Reality and our conception of it are "discontinuous". This view has important
implications, as we shall see below.

According to structuralist theory, a text or utterance has a "meaning", but it's

meaning is determined not by the psychological state or "intention" of the
speaker, but by the deep-structure of the language system in which it occurs. In
this way, the subject (individual or "author") is effectively killed off and replaced
by language itself as an autonomous system of rules. Thus, structuralism has
been characterized as antihumanistic in it's claim that meaning is not identical
with the inner psychological experience of the speaker. It removes the human
subject from its central position in the production of meaning much as Copernicus
removed (de-centered) the Earth from its position at the center of the solar
system. And since language pre-exists us, it is not we who speak, as Heidegger
was to say, but "language speaks us".

TEXT 24

1.1 Introduction Language, Society and Power

This chapter provides a context for the topic discussed in the rest of the
book, by explaining our approach to the study of language, and positioning this
approach in relation to other ways of thinking about language. First the chapter
considers why language is a phenomenon worthy of study; using an example of
a letter to a newspaper, the ways in which language, society and power might be
related are considered. Second, the chapter considers the nature of language,
and how it forms (i.e. its manifestations as spoken or written words, or as signs
in sign language) and function (i.e. what people use language for) may be
described and categorised. The chapter then explores some of the variations
found in language system, and the social meanings which are attributed to

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different languages, dialects and accents. Fourth, the concept of power is
introduced, with a definition and discussion of where in society power is located.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of political, correctness, focusing as an
example on the debates on the terminology associated with disability.
1.2 Why study language?
People find the subject of language interesting and worth studying for
many different reasons. Language can, be used as a way of finding out more
about.
 how our brains work, from investigating how children learn language, or
how damage to our brains results in certain kind of language disorders
(psycholinguistics):
 how to learn and to teach different languages (applied linguistics);
 the relationship between meaning, language and perception (philosophy);
 the role of language in different cultural (anthropology);
 the styles of language used in literature (stylistics);
 the different varieties of language people use, and why there are
linguistics
differences between different groups (sociolinguistics);
 how to make computers more sophisticated (artificial intelligence).
Many of this areas overlap, and the topics discussed in this book employ ideas
and methods from more than one area listed above. Frequently, people who not
linguists are interested in language too. To test the truth of this statement, you
only have to look at the letters pages of the newspapers and count the number of
letters printed per week which are on language related issues.

TEXT 25
Structuralism and Semiotics

Structuralism
Structuralism is a way of thinking about the world which is predominantly
concerned with the perceptions and description of structures. At its simplest,
structuralism claims that the nature of every element in any given situation has
no significance by itself, and in fact is determined by all the other elements
involved in that situation. The full significance of any entity cannot be perceived
unless and until it is integrated into the structure of which it forms a part.
Structuralists believe that all human activity is constructed, not natural or
"essential." Consequently, it is the systems of organization that are important
(what we do is always a matter of selection within a given construct). By this
formulation, "any activity, from the actions of a narrative to not eating one's peas
with a knife, takes place within a system of differences and has meaning only in
its relation to other possible activities within that system, not to some meaning
that emanates from nature or the divine. Major figures include Claude Lévi-
Strauss (LAY-vee-strows), A. J. Greimas (GREE-mahs), Jonathan Culler, Roland

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Barthes (bart), Ferdinand de Saussure (soh-SURR or soh-ZHOR), Roman
Jakobson (YAH-keb-sen), Vladimir Propp, and Terence Hawkes.

Semiology
Semiotics, simply put, is the science of signs. Semiology proposes that a great
diversity of our human action and productions--our bodily postures and gestures,
the the social rituals we perform, the clothes we wear, the meals we serve, the
buildings we inhabit--all convey "shared" meanings to members of a particular
culture, and so can be analyzed as signs which function in diverse kinds of
signifying systems. Linguistics (the study of verbal signs and structures) is only
one branch of semiotics but supplies the basic methods and terms which are used
in the study of all other social sign systems (Abrams). Major figures include
Charles Peirce, Ferdinand de Saussure, Michel Foucault (fou-KOH), Umberto Eco,
Gérard Genette, and Roland Barthes (bart).

Sign vs. Symbol - According to Saussure, "words are not symbols which
correspond to referents, but rather are 'signs' which are made up of two parts
(like two sides of a sheet of paper): a mark,either written or spoken, called a
'signifier,' and a concept (what is 'thought' when the mark is made), called a
'signified'" (Selden and Widdowson ). The distinction is important because
Saussure contended that the relationship between signifier and signified is
arbitrary; the only way we can distinguish meaning is by difference (one sign or
word differs from another).

The relational nature of language implied by Saussure's system rejects the

concept that a word/symbol corresponds to an outside object/referent. Instead,
meaning--the interpretation of a sign--can exist only in relationship with other
signs. Selden and Widdowson use the sign system of traffic lights as an example.
The color red, in that system, signifies "stop," even though "there is no natural
bond between red and stop". Meaning is derived entirely through difference, "a
system of opposites and contrasts," e.g., referring back to the traffic lights'
example, red's meaning depends on the fact that it is not green and not amber.

TEXT 26

Interpreting Discourse

When we concentrate on the description of a particular language, we are

normally concerned with the accurate representation of the forms and structures
used in that language. However, as language-users, we are capable of more than
simply recognizing correct versus incorrect forms and structures. We can cope
with fragments in newspaper headlines such as Trains collide, two die, and know
happened in the first part was the cause of what happened in the second part. We
can also make sense of notices like No shoes, no service, on shop windows in
summer, understanding that a conditional relation exists between the

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two parts (‘If you are wearing no shoes, you will receive no service’).
We can even cope with texts, written in English, which appear to break a
lot of the rules of the English language. The following example, provided by Eric
Nelson, is from an essay by a student learning English and contains all kinds of
errors, yet it can be understood.

My Town
My natal was in a small town, very close to Riyadh capital of Saudi Arabia.
The distant between my town and Riyadh 7 miles exactly. The name of this
Almasani that means in English Factories. It takes this name from the people’s
carrier. In my childhood I remember the people live. It was very simple. Most
the people was farmer.

This example may serve to illustrate a simple point about the way we
react to language that contains ungrammatical forms. Rather than simply reject
the text as ungrammatical, we try to make sense of it. That is, we attempt to
arrive at a reasonable interpretation of what the writer intended to convey. (Most
people say they understand the ‘My Town’ text quite easily.) It is this effort to
interpret (or to be interpreted), and how we accomplish it, that are the key
elements investigated in the study of discourse. To arrive at an interpretation,
and to make our messages interpretable, we certainly rely on what we know
about linguistic form and structure. But, as language-users, we have more
knowledge than that.

TEXT 27
Foreign Influences on Old English
The Contact of English with Other Languages.
The language that was described in the preceding chapter was not merely
the product of the dialects brought to England by the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles.
These formed its basis, the sole basis of its grammar and the source of by far the
largest part of its vocabulary. But other elements entered into it. In the course of
the first 700 years of its existence in England it was brought into contact with at
least three other languages, the languages of the Celts, the Romans, and the
Scandinavians. From each of these contacts it shows certain effects, especially

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additions to its vocabulary. The nature of these contacts and the changes that
were effected by them will form the subject of this chapter.

The Celtic Influence.

Nothing would seem more reasonable than to expect that the conquest of
the Celtic population of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons and the subsequent mixture
of the two peoples should have resulted in a corresponding mixture of their
languages; that consequently we should find in the Old English vocabulary
numerous instances of words that the Anglo-Saxons heard in the speech of the
native population and adopted. For it is apparent that the Celts were by no means
exterminated except in certain areas, and that in most of England large numbers
of them were gradually assimilated into the new culture. The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle reports that at Andredesceaster or Pevensey a deadly struggle
occurred between the native population and the newcomers and that not a single
Briton was left alive. The evidence of the place-names in this region lends support
to the statement. But this was probably an exceptional case. In the east and
southeast, where the Germanic conquest was fully accomplished at a fairly early
date, it is probable that there were fewer survivals of a Celtic populationthan
elsewhere. Large numbers of the defeated fled to the west. Here it is apparent
that a considerable Celtic-speaking population survived until fairly late times.
Some such situation is suggested by a whole cluster of Celtic place-names in the
northeastern corner of Dorsetshire.

TEXT 28
TYPE OF COMMUNICATION
Human communication, like that of honey bees or vervet monkeys, relies
on the use of a code. Interpretation of signs produced by the communicating
individual is impossible for any other individual who does not know the meaning
of them. There is, however, a fundamental divergence between the code used by
bees and the type of code we use when we speak. In the dancing of bees there is
a feature that semioticians describe as ‘iconic’: just as an image resembles the
concrete situation which it represents, so there is a likeness between the pattern
of the bee’s movements and the behaviour it produces in the hivemates. From a
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technical point of view, one can say that the iconic aspect of the dance lies in the
continuous relationship between the set of patterns and the area containing the
locations of the food sources.
Systems which maintain such a relation based on likeness are called
‘analogue’ systems. There are several analogue aspects in human language.
Stress, for instance, is governed in part by strict rules, notably as concerns its
position in an utterance; but it can have varying degrees of intensity which mark
shades of importance. For example, in recounting some event, to give an
indication of how improbable it may be, in English one can vary the stress and
the length of the third syllable of the word unbelievable in the statement ‘It was
absolutely unbelie vable’; and in the equivalent French statement one can do
something similar with the syllable in- in C’e ´tait absolument incroyable.
Another analogue aspect of our communication behaviour is seen in the
gestures and movements we make: we make systematic use of our hands,
sometimes of our whole bodies (though the role of such movements in our
communication is not yet clearly understood). When these gestures designate
locations or indicate move- ment away, whether concrete or abstract, they
usually do so in an iconic way. The most obvious of these is the demonstrative
gesture whereby we indicate a location by pointing towards it. It is interesting to
note that chimpanzees are able to interpret such demonstrative gestures.
A demonstrative gesture is not arbitrary; there is an analogue relation between
the gesture and its meaning which can be modeled via a continuous
mathematical function.

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