The functions of Japanese Sound Symbolic Words in Different Types of Texts and Their Translation

Though sound symbolic words (onomatopoeia and mimetic words, or giongo and gitaigo in Japanese) exist in other languages, it would not be so easy to compare them to those in Japanese. This is because unlike in Japanese, in many other languages (here we see English and Spanish) sound symbolic words do not have distinctive forms that separate them immediately from the rest of categories of words. In Japanese, a sound symbolic word has a radical (that is based on the elaborated Japanese sound symbolic system), and often a suffix that shows subtle nuance. Together they give the word a distinctive form that differentiates it from other categories of words, though its grammatical functions could vary, especially in the case of mimetic words (gitaigo). Without such an obvious feature, in other languages, it would not be always easy to separate sound symbolic words from the rest. These expressions are extremely common and used in almost all types of text in Japanese, but their elaborated sound symbolic system and possibly their various grammatical functions are making giongo and gitaigo one of the most difficult challenges for the foreign students and translators. Studying the translation of these expressions into other languages might give some indication related to the comparison of Japanese sound symbolic words and those in other languages. Though sound symbolic words are present in many types of texts in Japanese, their functions in traditional forms of text (letters only) and manga (Japanese comics)are different and they should be treated separately. For example, in traditional types of text such as novels, the vast majority of the sound symbolic words used are mimetic words (gitaigo) and most of them are used as adverbs, whereas in manga, the majority of the sound symbolic words used (excluding those appear within the speech bubbles) are onomatopoeias (giongo) and often used on their own (i.e. not as a part of a sentence). Naturally, the techniques used to translate these expressions in the above two types of documents differ greatly. The presentation will focus on i) grammatical functions of Japanese sound symbolic words in traditional types of texts (novels/poems) and in manga works, and ii) whether their features and functions are maintained (i.e. whether they are translated as sound symbolic words) when translated into other languages (English and Spanish). The latter point should be related to a comparison of sound symbolic words in Japanese and other languages, which will be also discussed.

En vältränad och hälsosam kropp - eller bara en täckmantel för vad det egentligen handlar om? : En innehållsanalys av träningstidningarna Body och Fitness

The aim with this Essay is to examine the two most read magazines in Sweden covering the areas of exercising, fitness, bodybuilding, diets and “wellness” –Fitness and Body. Fitness’s target group is predominantly woman, while Body is almost exclusively read by men. The analysis is first done quantitatively, by systematically categorising the contents of the magazines. Then a qualitative analysis is made. Using two different theories, Anja Hirdman’s gender concept along with her constructivistic media perspective and the theory of Symbolic Interactionism, i try to answer the following questions; Does the two magazines term of address and language differ from one and other? And if that is the case, in what way? With point of departure from contents and subject areas, how are the two magazines compounded? How can the underlying message in the different articles be interpreted?The analysis shows that both magazines followed their purpose of writing about exercising in general, diet, fitness and bodybuilding. However, the magazine Fitness writes more often then Body about matters not following the given purpose, and the language in Body is more informative and general in comparison with the language used in Fitness. Still, the messages sent out by the different articles are in majority of the respects similar. Both magazines are portraying body ideals who can be understand as extreme. In Body the message feels fairly straight, “Build bigger muscles and burn more fat”, whereas Fitness willingly use the concept of “wellness” as a cover for what the message really is, namely “get your self a rock hard body through dieting and hard training”!

Med perspektiv på gymnasievalet : en kvalitativ undersökning av motiv, värderingar och attityder som väglett några ungdomar inför deras gymnasieval

Vid femton års ålder ställs skolungdomar i vårt land inför ett beslut som sannolikt kommer att få konsekvenser för dem under lång tid. De ska då välja vilket gymnasieprogram de ska gå under de närmast följande tre åren, en tid under vilken de i hög grad formar sin identitet och skapar nya nätverk. Gymnasieutbildningen ger dessutom en första inriktning inför deras studie- och yrkeskarriär och valet kan därför ses som en manifestation av vad den unga människan har tänkt med sitt liv.Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka motiv, värderingar och attityder som väglett några ungdomar vid deras val av gymnasieprogram. Min utgångspunkt är att det kan finnas en rad olika faktorer som spelar in och mina frågeställningar är därför:•Vilken roll har viktiga personer i den närmaste omgivningen, som föräldrar, syskon och kompisar spelat?•Vilken betydelse har individens egna biografiska erfarenheter av skola och arbete haft?•Hur kan valet av program relateras till deras nuvarande självbild eller identitet?•Kan individens mer kulturellt grundade attityder till arbete och karriär ha påverkat beslutet?•Finns det uttalade eller outtalade framtidsplaner eller livsprojekt i bakgrunden?•Vilken betydelse har individens förhållande till samhällets strukturella mönster vad gäller klass och kön i dessa fall?Undersökningen har genomförts i form av en fokusgrupp och kvalitativa intervjuer där fem gymnasieelever deltagit. De gick första året och hade därmed redan gjort sina val och dessutom påbörjat sin utbildning. Perspektivet för dem är retrospektivt.De teoretiska perspektiv jag har tillämpat på intervjumaterialet är tre: Med symbolisk interaktionism har jag försökt lägga ett aktörsperspektiv. Med Bourdieus begrepp habitus och kapital anlade jag ett strukturellt perspektiv. Slutligen har jag, med begreppet livsprojekt, velat koppla samman de intervjuades värderingsmönster med deras gymnasieval.De slutsatser som kan dras är att alla dessa perspektiv har sin tillämpning, ibland på en och samma individ. Men det har varit lättare att påvisa aktörskapet än de strukturella faktorerna. Vad gäller värderingsmönstren har undersökningen gett en mångtydig bild.

Broschyr om avändarprofiler

The project group is participating in a measuring project that is a cooperation between CIT EnergyManagement AB, the Measuring unit of Chalmers and College of Dalarna.The results from the measurementswill be put together and presented in a brochure.When designing the brochure a great deal of planning has been made how to attract the targetgroup.To make the contents of the brochure more attractive, which mainly will contain text, a lot of imageswith a symbolic substance have been used. To keep the brochure together it has been divided into fivechapters that each has been given one specific colour. The colours are consistent on initials, headlinesand images.At the moment the results of the measurements are not yet ready and the text for the brochure is notpossible to complete now. This project is expected to finish in the fall when all the measurements havebeen compiled.

Populärmusik i TV-reklam : En kvalitativ undersökning av musiken som betydelsebärande teckensystem

This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction”. The results showed that the music was associated with values as genuine, honest, responsibility, purity, independence and innovation. The music's symbolic values helped to position the brand in a lifestyle context. The music also helped to express the target group’s identity and attitudes by being innovative and independent. It also enhanced the perception of the visual colour rendition in the film. In general the television advertisement perceived more positive and entertaining when the music was present. In other words the music's social and cultural position contributed to raise the film's credibility. A deeper social and cultural value was created in the movie through resonance between symbolic values of the music and symbolic values of the film.

Creating Prestige and Global Networks through Conference Rituals

An international conference is a secular ritual which serves to create, recreate and shape global-wide translocal cultural sharings. Social anthropological theories and methods are used to show that, besides being an information flow junction, the international conference is a network crossroad and a way of socialising new members into aninternational research community. It is also capable of creating prestige and honour for the individual researcher,for the arranging research team, university and city. Rituals do not merely reflect the social relations or cosmology of a society, but are events that in themselves do important things through ritual forms and symbolic statements.

Perspektiv på ålder i vardagslivets interaktioner

Perspective on age in everyday interactions The aim of the article is to discuss how ethnomethodology and (symbolic) interactionism may contribute to sociological studies on age in everyday interactions. A theoretical framework on age, ‘age-as-accomplished’, inspired by ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionist approach has been proposed by Laz (1998; 2003). Our comparison of these approaches show, that the perspectives are incompatible, for example with regard to the definitions of culture, interaction and meaning. As such issues are not discussed by Laz, the theoretical framework is lacking in transparency and clarity. Ultimately the definition of ‘age as accomplished’ is not congruent with the notions of meaning and interpretation as used by Laz. In some respects the perspectives may though be complementary and valuable in age studies, for example the detailed study of situated norms in ethnomethodology, as well as some new developments within (symbolic) interactionist perspectives focusing on social status, and issues of subordination and superordination as relational processes.

En sociologisk förståelse av förlåtelse och försoning

Forgiveness and reconciliation in a sociological context Are forgiveness and reconciliation left to the theologians to define or can these concepts also be genuine concepts in sociology? In spite of the fact that sociology and social psychology have a lot of research about relationship, interaction and groups, there is not much research about forgiveness and reconciliation. This article presents the understanding of how relations can be revived, if once broken, if using these conceptions. The discussion also includes the concepts of shame and guilt and even confidence, particularly in relations where you find victim and perpetrator. The discussion is developed in a perspective of symbolic interactionism with examples from sociological research about men´s violence against women and adults, especially fathers, abuse to their daughters. In this article the perpetrator feels guilt and the victim shame and the feeling of guilt makes the perpetrator to ask for forgiveness. When hate and hard feelings have come to an end, the reconciliation can occur as a consequence of the forgiveness.

Publikdragande namn eller aktivistermed drag i? : Om symboliskt kapital som maktresurs i den globala rättviserörelsens lokala organiseringsarbete

Crowd-pulling names or energetic activists? On symbolic capital as a power resource in the local organizational work within the global justice movement The article explores the global emergence of local Social Forums by means of an ethnographic study of the organization of the Stockholm Social Forum. In international academic debate, the forums are often discussed as a “globalization from below” and a new deliberative democratic process. However, empirical research on the organizational process, and its power relations, has been very limited. The theoretical concept symbolic capital (Bourdieu) and concepts from conversation analysis (CA) are used to analyze how power in terms of priority of interpretation is constructed in conversations between activists with differing political backgrounds. A detailed empirical analysis is based on the case of an internal discussion about inviting keynote speakers to the local forum. The results show how transnational networks and specific knowledge about the global social forum process became symbolic capital in the organizational process. Holders of this specific form of symbolic capital gained priority of interpretation in the internal discussions. This had an impact on the practical outcome of the organizational process in terms of the symbolic framing of the Social Forum. It is argued that the social forum process produces specific forms of cultural distinctions, social hierarchies and patterns of exclusion.

Vilhelm Ekelund och det litterära fältet 1897-1949

Vilhelm Ekelunds och det litterära fältet 1897-1949 [Vilhelm Ekelund and the literary field 1897-1949] The theoretical background of this study is Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological approach to literature. I use his theory concerning the importance of cultural (and other forms of symbolic) capital for the individual artist – and his description of the literary field as a place characterized by continuous conflict between different categories of participants. In the article, I argue that as a young poet, Ekelund held a position in the field that was with the intellectual group as opposed to the group of commercial authors – and among the young avant-garde as opposed to among the consecrated and well-established writers. However, this position changed somewhat during the years Ekelund spent in exile (1908-1921), and it continued to change after his return to Sweden. His reputation as a thoroughly intellectual writer was accentuated and, as time passed, he himself became a consecrated artist with certain privileges – e.g. grants and awards – to defend.

Projekt Norrliden : Om småstadspressens etnifiering och genderisering av en förort

The Norrliden project. Genderisation and ethnification of a low status residential area in the local press Media often contributes to segregation by constructing low status residential areas as “different” from what is “normal” and “Swedish”. Research into media representations of these residential areas often focuses big city contexts. Furthermore, research tends to be preoccupied with the construction of ethnic differences, paying little attention to the relationship between construction processes of gender and ethnicity. This article is a critical analysis of how the local daily newspapers in a medium sized town, Kalmar, construct stereotypes of immigrants and gendered identities in the low status residential area Norrliden. Two newspapers were studied in search for articles related to the area, published during the year 2005. Despite the newspapers’ claim that they want to contribute to a more nuanced and less stereotyped image of the residential area the consequences of their work seem to be the opposite. The representation sof the area are coded with stereotypes suggesting that the area is unsafe and dangerous and that the people who live there are motivated by affect and emotions rather than by successful socialisation. These representations are also characterised by notions of ethnicity and gender, as well as class. Norrliden is described as an area in need of change and improvement, as an unfinished project dependent upon aid from the outside. A reading of the 2005 media representations of Norrliden exposes an example of “symbolic violence” in that texts and photographs repeatedly degrade the area and its inhabitants.

"Ungerska för rötternas skull" : Språkval och identitet bland andragenerationens ungrare i Sverige och Finland

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

Mémoire de licence Quand un paysage naît, un autre meurt : – Une analyse écocritique du roman Naissance d'un pont

Ce mémoire est constitué par une analyse écocritique du roman Naissance d'un pont, écrit par Maylis de Kerangal. Le but général du mémoire est d'examiner comment ce roman décrit la relation entre l'homme et la nature. Nous examinons surtout les stratégies narratives employées par l'auteure pour transmettre l'image de cette relation et en plus, nous discutons le rôle joué par les différents paysages se retrouvant dans le récit. Finalement, l'analyse comprend aussi une brève réflexion sur la capacité éventuelle du roman d'influencer l'attitude du lecteur envers l'écologie. L'analyse des stratégies narratives se concentre sur le rôle du narrateur, ainsi que sur la présence et la fonction des perspectives éthiques, des noms symboliques et des figures de style. Ces stratégies contribuent à dépeindre une variété d'idées par rapport aux modes de vie de la société humaine, alors que les descriptions des paysages démontrent la relation complexe entre cette société et les paysages naturels et construits respectivement. Naissance d'un pont semble promouvoir une attitude à l'égard de la nature qui est plus humble que celle dominant dans la société moderne. Afin de pouvoir juger la capacité du roman de transmettre ces valeurs au lecteur, il serait pourtant raisonnable de tenir compte de plusieurs facteurs, tels que la complexité du langage et le niveau de crédibilité de l'histoire.