Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas

Book review: Pontrandolfo, G. y Piccioni, S (2022) Comunicación especializada y divulgación en la red: aproximaciones basadas en corpus

Claudia Colantonio — 2023-07-26

Comunicación especializada y divulgación en la red: aproximaciones basadas en corpus is the appreciable result of the extensive research experience in the fields of corpus linguistics and of specialized discourse by Sara Piccioni (Università degli Studi "Gabriele D'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara) and Gianluca Pontrandolfo (Università di Trieste).

Book review: Álvarez-Gil, F. J. (2022). Stance devices in tourism-related research articles: A corpus-based study

Elena Domínguez-Morales — 2023-07-26

This volume in the prestigious Linguistic Insights book series (Peter Lang) fills an acknowledged lacuna in studies considering the tourism research article from a gender perspective. Indeed, the attention paid to the tourism research article (RA) has been, if anything, fragmentary, since, as noted in Lin and Evans (2012), no attempt has been made to fully outline the generic structure of the RA in tourism. This is precisely one of the focuses of interest of this monograph, which aims to provide genre scholars and language professionals with an outline of the genre pattern of the RA and the lexicogrammatical choices associated with each generic section, together with a detailed description of the specific stance-taking devices. This is really the main aim of this book, as its title expressly calls for. Much of the information presented in this monograph, as attributed therein, belongs to a major research project conducted over the years on the language of tourism in English and other languages (cf. Álvarez- Gil, Payet, & Sánchez Hernández, 2020).

Mapping the mental lexicon of EFL learners

Maria Pilar Agustín Llach — 2023-07-26

The present paper explores the lexical profiles of monolingual and bilingual learners acquiring English as a second and third language, respectively. Those profiles allow to get insights into learners’ lexical access and lexical organization in the new language. To shed more light in this issue, a lexical fluency task was used to gather data. Results showed lack of significant differences in all the measures taken, but some very interesting differences appear when graph theory metrics are applied. Thus, educational bilinguals show higher levels of lexical organization and stronger connections among the nodes. This can be indicative of a mental lexicon which is better organized, more compact, and more stable. Additionally, educational bilinguals’ networks display highest clustering coefficient and shortest path length. In semantic terms, this means that educational bilinguals can navigate their lexicon more efficiently and in a way that better resembles native lexical search. These findings open up new avenues for insightful studies concerning lexicon organization in different types of learners, with bilingualism being a relevant modulating factor.

Teaching interpreting in times of Covid: perspectives, experience and satisfaction

Cristina Castillo-Rodríguez — 2023-07-26

Technological tools have complemented face-to-face instructions at university from the beginning of the 21^st century. However, COVID-19 pandemic forced many faculty members to switch rapidly, and without any specific training, to an emergency remote teaching. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impressions of Spanish faculty members teaching interpreting in an online mode. A total of 65 faculty members answered a semi-structured online survey, covering the 80.8% of all the Spanish universities where interpreting subjects are taught. The results revealed some pitfalls derived mainly from the lack of physical issues (booth, body language evaluation), absence of human contact, lack of suitable technology, more teaching hours, cognitive load, lack of concentration, and students monitoring. However, the benefits detected were more self-practice, more attendance to sessions, and the preparation of students for a remote interpreting, taking into account that this will be the future of professional language interpreting practice.

A qualitative meta-analysis of intercultural research into audio-visual synchronous communication between language learners

Begoña Clavel-Arroitia — 2023-07-26

In this article we conduct a meta-analysis (Timulak, 2009) of qualitative studies into computer-mediated, synchronic, oral interactions between language learners from different countries focusing primarily on Intercultural Communicative Competences (ICCs) (Byram, 1997). To find studies that met our criteria, keyword searches were conducted in Google Scholar and in the main CMC journals. To filter the search results, we used AntConc 4.4, and close readings of the studies found. We ascertained that only three met our criteria (O’Dowd, 2006; Akiyama, 2017; Liaw, 2019). Our analysis shows that the ICCs identified in these articles are also found intraculturally. Moreover, when the language competence of the participants is similar, we argue that the communication between NS and NNS is practically indistinguishable from NS-to-NS communication. These results seem to call into question the validity of ICCs. We conclude therefore that language teaching should focus on improving communicative and pragmatic competence in the target language.

The lexical constructional model meets syntax: guidelines of the formalized lexical-constructional model (FL_CxG )

Francisco J. Cortés-Rodríguez — 2023-07-26

This paper offers the basic guidelines of a formalized version of the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM; Ruiz de Mendoza & Mairal Usón, 2008, 2011; Ruiz de Mendoza & Galera, 2014), the Formalized Lexical-Constructional Grammar (FL_CxG), which will pave the way for future computational developments, such as parsers or lexical databases. The FL_CxG deploys (i) the typologically oriented syntactic apparatus of Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin, 2005; Van Valin & LaPolla, 1997), (ii) the catalogue of constructional units arranged in a 4-layer typology, as proposed by the LCM, and (iii) some insights for semantic representations from the Generative Lexicon Theory (Pustejovsky, 1995; Pustejovsky & Batiukova, 2019), and Minimal English (Goddard, 2018). All the components of the FL_CxG (lexical units and construct(ion)s) are formally encoded as Typed Feature Structures in the format of Attribute Value Matrixes. These units are to be understood as constraints operating in the unification processes which underlie the generation/decoding of a given fragment of language.

Patrimonialization processes and the creation of national identity

Giovanni Garofalo — 2023-07-26

This paper analyzes the process of patrimonialization of the former El Born wholesale market, located in one of the oldest areas of Barcelona, in the Ciutat Vella district. Combining the quantitative and qualitative methodologies of mediated discourse analysis and of corpus-assisted discourse studies, patrimonialization is considered as an action mediated by material objects that are subject to the principles of indexicality, dialogue and selection, put forward by geosemiotics. The mediated action is explored as an intersection of social practices that generate a pro-independence Catalan identity based on selective collective memory, thus naturalizing a victimistic narrative produced by inaccuracies and distortions of history.

Regional variety preferences by teachers in USA

Angela George — 2023-07-26

Spanish teachers in the USA are responsible for showing students what Spanish looks and sounds like (Ballman, Liskin-Gasparro & Mandell, 2001) and therefore act as role-models for their students in terms of their attitudes towards different varieties of Spanish. They must choose which features from which varieties to teach their students (Burns, 2018). Spanish teachers in the UK found Caribbean Spanish difficult to comprehend (Bárkányi & Fuerte Gutiérrez, 2019) and Spanish teachers in the USA preferred Peninsular Spanish over other varieties (Martínez-Franco, 2019), similar to Spanish teachers in Australia (Ortiz-Jiménez, 2019). The current study investigates (dis)preferences towards different regional varieties of Spanish by 63 primary, secondary and postsecondary teachers of Spanish in the USA. The findings indicate preferences split among four macro-varieties and a dispreference for Caribbean Spanish, highlighting the importance of comprehension and exposure to varieties regardless of prior explicit training on the topic.

Contrast between the spelling errors in English by bilingual speakers in Gibraltar and those present in a monolingual group in the UK

Alicia Mariscal Ríos — 2023-07-26

In this paper, the spelling errors made in English by 40 bilingual speakers of Spanish-English in Gibraltar will be compared with those detected in 21 monolingual speakers in the United Kingdom. Gibraltar is an overseas British territory characterised by language contact between English and Spanish. Although Spanish is acquired by part of the speakers as a heritage language at home (except for those families that are monolingual in English), Spanish is considered a foreign language and learnt as a subject in school. Lexical availability tests will be used for data collection, in order to identify if Spanish is reflected in the type of errors observed in English in the Gibraltarian sample, and if they differ from those found in the monolingual group in the UK. Despite the differences associated to the context of acquisition, the results show similarities in both groups, except for interlingual errors due to the interference of Spanish.

The Aktionsart of patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a corpus analysis from a Role and Reference Grammar perspective

Alejandro Suárez Rodríguez — 2023-07-26

In this paper we use Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin and LaPolla, 1997; Van Valin, 2005), especially its semantic representation through the lexical aspect or Aktionsart, and we apply this linguistic model to samples for each stage from the PerLA corpus of Spanish patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Pérez Mantero, 2014). Thus, we analyze the frequency and relative distribution of verbs in these samples using statistical measures: average, median, mode, variance, standard deviation, interquartile range and coefficient of variation. Our results show that patients systematically use states as preferred Aktionsart with respect to the rest of types of verbs, as well as the existence of some variability in accomplishments and active accomplishments and the absence of specific types of causative verbs. Among our explanations, we highlight that states have an easier way of cognitive processing and causative verbs express static states of affairs, disconnected from one another.

On experimental lexical production in Spanish as L1 and L2.

Carmela Tomé Cornejo — 2023-07-26

This study investigates lexical production in Spanish as L1 and L2 in an experimental context. Based on a series of lexical availability tasks, words produced by native and non-native speakers of Spanish are contrasted in relation to test modality, oral or written, and response time. The production of native speakers is characterized by being significantly higher and more accurate, while L2 responses reflect lower lexical competence, the influence of L1 and divergent acquisition patterns. Although previous studies had not found significant differences between the number of responses produced orally and in writing, we find that such differences exist, but that they are conditioned by the response time, which affects differently the production in L1 and in L2, although their evolution describes a similar trajectory in both cases. This methodological factor would also cause the neutralization of the qualitative differences between oral and written responses in both groups of participants.

Towards a typological expansion of lexicographic works: beyond the differentiation between printed and digital dictionary

Érika Vega Moreno — 2023-07-26

In this paper, we intend to analyze the general notion of 'dictionary', distinguishing between the printed and digital forms of lexicographic work. We also aim at examining some of the classifications of dictionary that have been established according to different criteria. In this way, considering the medium used and taking the distinction between printed and digital as our starting point, we have proposed a typological extension of this distinction based on whether or not the lexical repertoire has a printed or digital format and, in the case of electronic compilations, depending on the type of access to the work.