A metalinguistic approach to deconstructing the concepts of 'face' and 'politeness' in Chinese, English and Japanese

In this paper we investigate the concepts of 'face' and 'politeness'. We introduce a metalanguage which we believe is a framework for simplifying the analysis of 'face' and 'politeness'. This metalanguage is based on the observation that both 'face' and 'politeness' involve external evaluations of people. This common element is represented in the metalanguage as B what A shows A thinks of B and what B thinks A thinks of B. The implications of the metalanguage for the analysis of Chinese mian and lion ('face') and English face are then discussed. This is followed by an analysis of examples of politeness in English and teineisa ('politeness') in Japanese. We conclude that the metalanguage may be further developed for use in comparisons of 'face' and 'politeness' across cultures. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NAATI accreditation for translators in Australia: Theoretical underpinnings and practical implications

A mismatch exists in expectations about the requirements of translation between NAATI and those attempting the NAATI test, be they translation practitioners, graduates from translation training programs. This article will examine issues concerning NAATI accreditation for Translators at the professional level in terms of the relevant theoretical frameworks of translation, and assess translation practice in the real translation world, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the NAATI Translator test, its theoretical underpinnings and practical implications.

Evaluating Theobroma grandiflorum for comparative genomic studies with Theobroma cacao

The seeds of Theobroma cacao (cacao) are the source of cocoa, the raw material for the multi-billion dollar chocolate industry. Cacao`s two most important traits are its unique seed storage triglyceride (cocoa butter) and the flavor of its fermented beans (chocolate). The genome of T. cacao is being sequenced, and to expand the utility of the genome sequence to the improvement of cacao, we are evaluating Theobroma grandiflorum, the closest economically important species of Theobroma for its potential use in a comparative genomic study. T. grandiflorum differs from cacao in important agronomic traits such as flavor of the fermented beans, disease resistance to witches` broom and abscission of mature fruits. By comparing genomic sequences and analyzing viable inter-specific hybrids, we hope to identify the key genes that regulate cacao`s most important traits. We have investigated the utility in T. grandiflorum of three types of markers (microsatellite markers, single-strand conformational polymorphism markers and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers) developed in cacao. Through sequencing of amplicons of 12 diverse individuals of both cacao and T. grandiflorum, we have identified new intra- and inter-specific SNPs. Two markers which had no overlap of alleles between the species were used to genotype putative inter-specific hybrid seedlings. Sequence conservation was significant and species-specific differences numerous enough to suggest that comparative genomics of T. grandiflorum and T. cacao will be useful in elucidating the genetic differences that lead to a variety of important agronomic trait differences.

Schistosoma mansoni Sambon, 1907: comparative morphologica studies of some Brazilian strains

The morphology of Schistosoma mansoni adult male worms from three strains which have been maintained in albino mice for several generations, was compared to a strain that has been isolated from the natural host Nectomys squamipes (Rodentia: Muridae) captured in Sumidouro (Rio de Janeiro State) and have been maintained in the same sylvatic rodent under laboratory conditions. Total length of specimens, distance between suckers, the number of testes and extention of testes grouping were the taxonomic characters analysed. The worms recovered from N. squamipes showed expressive differences (p< 0.01) compared to the other strains regarding the considered morphological characters. The strains that were maintained in mice presented statistical differences (p< 0.01) in several characters. Some adult worms besides the normal position of the testes also showed an atypical arrangement of these glands. It can be concluded that the morphology of adult worms may be used to distinguish S. mansoni strains and that morphological changes in adult worms are not induced by successive inoculations of a strain in mice.

Comparative Meiotic Studies in Triatoma sordida (Stål) and T. guasayana Wygodzinsky & Abalos (Reduviidae, Heteroptera)

Triatoma sordida and T. guasayana are competent Trypanosoma cruzi vectors, with overlapping distribution areas in Argentina. Both species are morphologically similar, and their immature stages are hard to discriminate. Cytogenetic studies in the genus Triatoma reveal scarce karyotypic variations, being 2n= 20 + XY the most frequent diploid number in males. In the present work the meiotic behaviour of different Argentinian populations of T. sordida and T. guasayana has been analyzed; the meiotic karyotype of both species has also been compared. The species differ in total chromosome area and in the relative area of the sex chromosomes. These meiotic karyotypic differences constitute an additional tool for the taxonomic characterization of T. sordida and T. guasayana. The analysis of an interpopulation hybrid of T. sordida (Brazil x Argentina) reveals a regular meiotic behaviour, despite the presence of heteromorphic bivalents. Our observations support the hypothesis that karyotype variations through the gain or loss of heterochromatin can not be considered as a primary mechanism of reproductive isolation in Triatoma.

Comparative structural studies on Lys49-phospholipases A(2) from Bothrops genus reveal their myotoxic site

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)