Book Review 2: Spelling and writing words: Theoretical and methodological advances
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Authors:
Huili Wang¹ Zhenyu Sun² and Yang Fu¹ / Language and Cognitive Science / 2023,7(1): 94−112 / 2023-08-16
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The Influence of Flow on Interpeting Quality
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- Keywords: cognitive approach; flow; interpreting quality; student interpreter; discourse analysis
- Abstract: Flow refers to a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter, which is a concept in cognitive studies and interpreting, to some extent, could be seen as a flowactivity. This concept has been widely applied in the analysis of student performance and foreign language teaching. However, it has not been completely tested in translation and interpreting studies. Therefore, through discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews, this study explores the influenceof flowon interpreting quality by adopting a case study of a student interpreter. Presumptions are raised and verified:(1) If the interpreting materials are beyond the competence of the interpreter, anxiety may occur, resulting in a decrease in interpreting quality. (2) If the interpreting materials are under the competence of the interpreter, boredom may occur, resulting in a decrease in interpreting quality. (3) If the interpreting materials match the interpreter’s competence, the student interpreter enters the flowstate, and the interpreting quality reaches the maximum. Flow is of great significancein student interpreters’ interpreting quality, and only when a student interpreter’s competence matches with the challenge, flowis likely to occur. Suggestions and implications for further research are put forward.
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Comparative Analysis of News Discourse on Public Health Emergencies from a Proximization Theory Perspective
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- Keywords: China Daily; SARS; COVID-19; proximization strategies; metonymic words
- Abstract: This paper describes a study built on a small corpus based on China Daily’s coverage of SARS and COVID-19 and analyzes the proximization strategies and metonymic words used on the spatial, temporal, and axiological axes. The study findsthat the two public health emergencies’ coverage at differenttimes utilizes a large number of proximization strategies and metonymic words. The differenceis that the COVID-19 news draws upon significantlymore proximization strategies than the SARS news. The findingssuggest that from SARS to COVID-19, Chinese media have accumulated substantial experience in practice and have become increasingly professional in their reporting. Specifically, during the COVID-19 outbreak, they were more skillful at employing discursive strategies to guide the public to respond to the central government’s call for anti-epidemic actively and capitalizing on discursive strategies to establish a harmonious atmosphere for all individuals to combat the epidemic and enhance the determination and cohesion in the fight.
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重点基金项目
Unbalanced Trilinguals’ Cognate Processing in L2 in Isolation and in Sentence Context
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- Keywords: Chinese; English; German; word class; lexical processing
- Abstract: While studies on bilinguals’ cognate processing have commonly examined the cognate facilitative effectas well as its influencingfactors, research on trilinguals’ processing of cognates has been insufficientand the results of existing studies have been inconsistent. The study presented here aimed to investigate how L2–L3 cognates can influenceunbalanced trilinguals’ L2 word recognition both in isolation and in sentence context and examined how word classes could modulate the effect.In a lexical decision task, unbalanced Chinese–English–German trilinguals were required to read cognate and noncognate nouns and verbs in isolation. No cognate effectwas observed. In an eye-monitored sentence-reading task, participants were asked to read the target cognates and noncognates embedded in low-semantic-constraint sentence contexts. A cognate inhibition effectwas observed in nouns, but only in gaze duration, an early-stage measure. Moreover, an uncommon noun processing disadvantage over verbs was observed in both experiments. Results were discussed in relation to language-learning experiences, language-membership ambiguity, and the concreteness effect.
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重点基金项目
Syntactic Processing in Older Adults
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- Keywords: age; behavioral studies; neurocognitive studies; syntax; theoretical models
- Abstract: In the past 40 years, there has been a growing body of research using different methods investigating whether syntactic processing declines with age. To date, however, studies have provided conflicting results. Here we present a review of the relevant studies and theories, in chronological order, to illustrate the development of focus, methods, and models across the four decades. From this review, one can see that older adults’ syntactic processing involves a complex process which may be influenced by many factors, such as syntactic complexities, individual differences, and languages. And the interpretation of syntax is difficult to separate from other cognitive factors such as working memory. But similar neural changes found in imaging studies suggest that, with advanced technologies and better research designs, researchers do not have far to go to find out the nature of age-related syntactic processing. In addition, the recently devised comprehensive model, based on all previous studies about cognition, shows a systematic illustration of the change in cognition across age and provides suggestions for the prevention of cognitive decay. This model is enlightening for age-related syntactic processing, although it still needs the support of further evidence from syntactic studies.
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