Dialectal Speech in Literature and Translation : Bachelor Degree Thesis in English Linguistics

This essay studies how dialectal speech is reflected in written literature and how this phenomenon functions in translation. With this purpose in mind, Styron's Sophie's Choice and Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed using samples of non-standard orthography which have been applied in order to reflect the dialect, or accent, of certain characters. In the same way, Lundgren's Swedish translation of Sophie's Choice and Ferres and Rolfe's Spanish version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed. The method consists of linguistically analysing a few text samples from each novel, establishing how dialect is represented through non-standard orthography, and thereafter, comparing the same samples with their translation into another language in order to establish whether dialectal features are visible also in the translated novels. It is concluded that non-standard orthography is applied in the novels in order to represent each possible linguistic level, including pronunciation, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Furthermore, it is concluded that while Lundgren's translation intends to orthographically represent dialectal speech on most occasions where the original does so, Ferres and Rolfe's translation pays no attention to dialectology. The discussion following the data analysis establishes some possible reasons for the exclusion of dialectal features in the Spanish translation considered here. Finally, the reason for which this study contributes to the study of dialectology is declared.

Listening to music in the first, but not the last 1.5 km of a 5-km running trial alters pacing strategy and improves performance

We examined the effects of listening to music on attentional focus, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), pacing strategy and performance during a simulated 5-km running race. 15 participants performed 2 controlled trials to establish their best baseline time, followed by 2 counterbalanced experimental trials during which they listened to music during the first (M-start) or the last (M-finish) 1.5 km. The mean running velocity during the first 1.5 km was significantly higher in M-start than in the fastest control condition (p < 0.05), but there was no difference in velocity between conditions during the last 1.5 km (p > 0.05). The faster first 1.5 m in M-start was accompanied by a reduction in associative thoughts compared with the fastest control condition. There were no significant differences in RPE between conditions (p > 0.05). These results suggest that listening to music at the beginning of a trial may draw the attentional focus away from internal sensations of fatigue to thoughts about the external environment. However, along with the reduction in associative thoughts and the increase in running velocity while listening to music, the RPE increased linearly and similarly under all conditions, suggesting that the change in velocity throughout the race may be to maintain the same rate of RPE increase.

Recognition of familiar and unfamiliar music in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

We tested normal young and elderly adults and elderly Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients on recognition memory for tunes. In Experiment 1, AD patients and age-matched controls received a study list and an old/new recognition test of highly familiar, traditional tunes, followed by a study list and test of novel tunes. The controls performed better than did the AD patients. The controls showed the “mirror effect” of increased hits and reduced false alarms for traditional versus novel tunes, whereas the patients false-alarmed as often to traditional tunes as to novel tunes. Experiment 2 compared young adults and healthy elderly persons using a similar design. Performance was lower in the elderly group, but both younger and older subjects showed the mirror effect. Experiment 3 produced confusion between preexperimental familiarity and intraexperimental familiarity by mixing traditional and novel tunes in the study lists and tests. Here, the subjects in both age groups resembled the patients of Experiment 1 in failing to show the mirror effect. Older subjects again performed more poorly, and they differed qualitatively from younger subjects in setting stricter criteria for more nameable tunes. Distinguishing different sources of global familiarity is a factor in tune recognition, and the data suggest that this type of source monitoring is impaired in AD and involves different strategies in younger and older adults.

Implicit Memory for Music in Alzheimer's Disease

Short, unfamiliar melodies were presented to young and older adults and to Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in an implicit and an explicit memory task. The explicit task was yes–no recognition, and the implicit task was pleasantness ratings, in which memory was shown by higher ratings for old versus new melodies (the mere exposure effect). Young adults showed retention of the melodies in both tasks. Older adults showed little explicit memory but did show the mere exposure effect. The AD patients showed neither. The authors considered and rejected several artifactual reasons for this null effect in the context of the many studies that have shown implicit memory among AD patients. As the previous studies have almost always used the visual modality for presentation, they speculate that auditory presentation, especially of nonverbal material, may be compromised in AD because of neural degeneration in auditory areas in the temporal lobes.

Folk Music in the Baltics at the Age of Digital Globalization

Shaped by factors like global outreach and immediacy, particularly the internet represents the multi-layered nature of contemporary globalization (cf Held et al. 2002). How have digital newspapers, social media and other internet platforms altered the situation of smaller music microcultues, especially in regions that have been on the fringes of global networks? This paper analyses the situation of the Latvian postfolklore band Ilgi between 2001 and 2008. Focusing on the group’s label UPE, the paper highlights how the internet became a significant means of existence during this specific period. Having established a local niche with a sound studio and CD shops, UPE combined this physical basis with outreach strategies, such as marketing and direct internet sales, which guaranteed the survival of the independent label. This strategy was also taken up by the band itself who started to develop a strong presence on social media like MySpace. At the same time, Ilgi has been using the internet as a central means of communicating with diasporic communities in the U.S. and Canada – hereby creating structures that were described as « intercultures » by Slobin (1993). This indicates that the local-global dichotomy can no longer be sufficiently addressed by a horizontal or vertical two-dimensional perception. Falling also back on the fieldwork experiences gained in Latvia, the paper finally addresses the question of how internet representation relates to the actual local situation – and how this has been altering the fieldwork perception. With regard to this situation – how useful are the approaches that have been developed within the context of « Media Anthropology » that investigates mass media items as multi-layered, densified symbolic objects?

Jewish music in its historical development

by A. Z. Idelsohn