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La professionalització dels intèrprets en l’àmbit jurídic està guanyant importància a Espanya a causa de les directives de la Unió Europea sobre els drets processals de persones sospitoses o acusades d’algun delicte. A això s’hi ha d’afegir la prolongada crisi humanitària, que ha sensibilitzat l’opinió pública sobre la qualitat de la interpretació proporcionada per diverses ONG i altres organismes que s’ocupen dels sol·licitants d’asil. Actualment, els proveïdors de serveis privats contracten els intèrprets en funció de les llengües que necessitin o que estiguin disponibles, sense exigir-los una formació específica. En aquest article, analitzem la qualitat percebuda dels serveis d’interpretació i el paper de l’intèrpret des de diverses perspectives, incloses les dels agents de les ONG (assessors jurídics, treballadors socials i psicòlegs) i els advocats que participen en aquesta mena de processos, seguint mètodes d’investigació descriptiva. A continuació, tractarem les diferents percepcions sobre la figura de l’intèrpret que tenen els diferents professionals que intervenen en el procediment de sol·licitud d’asil, amb l’objectiu d’obtenir una imatge vàlida, basada en dades, de la interpretació en el context de la sol·licitud d’asil a Espanya. S’espera que aquesta informació serveixi per omplir el buit que existeix en el desenvolupament professional dels intèrprets com a part essencial dels processos d’asil i, el que és més important, com a garantia dels drets humans. També contribuirà a sensibilitzar els professionals que desenvolupen la seva feina amb l’ajuda d’intèrprets.

En aquest article intentarem determinar els motius que hi ha darrere de la baixa qualitat de la feina dels intèrprets judicials en el context dels processos penals als tribunals de Barcelona. A partir d’un corpus de judicis reals enregistrats, explorem quatre possibles factors que poden afectar l’actuació dels intèrprets: durada del judici, problemes de gestió de les converses, experiència dels intèrprets i tipus de delicte que es jutja. A més, també analitzem faltes de rendiment injustificades, que es consideren un indicador important de la ineficàcia. Les conclusions es comenten en el context de la competència lingüística de l’intèrpret, el seu paper en la interacció amb tots els participants i les normes establertes dels codis de conducta professionals. En aquest article se subratlla la necessitat de millorar la qualificació dels intèrprets, però també de conscienciar els membres del poder judicial espanyol sobre el paper dels intèrprets, amb l’objectiu de protegir els drets processals de les persones que no parlen ni entenen la llengua en què es du a terme el procediment.

Aquest article té per objecte presentar quina ha estat l’evolució de la normativa en matèria lingüística en el Parlament de les Illes Balears, i fer una breu descripció dels usos lingüístics institucionals, en un context de canvi en el paper i el tractament de la llengua catalana, pròpia de les Illes Balears, a causa de la recent aprovació, el mes de febrer de 2024, de l’anomenat Acord per al bilingüisme. En els usos lingüístics institucionals, hi podem diferenciar tres etapes, que es corresponen, pràcticament, amb les legislatures següents: l’etapa inicial, que comprèn la primera i la segona legislatures (des de la promulgació de l’Estatut d’autonomia de l’any 1983 fins a l’any 1991), l’etapa de consolidació de l’ús institucional de la llengua catalana (legislatures segona a desena, de l’any 1991 a l’any 2023) i l’etapa actual de l’onzena legislatura (a partir de febrer de 2024).

La intel·ligència artificial mou milions d’euros i ocupa una part important de les agendes polítiques i estratègiques dels governs. En aquest article reflexionem sobre aquest concepte difús i ho fem a través de tres entrevistes a tres persones que ocupen llocs rellevants en aquest àmbit, i que a més tenen en comú que són nascudes i formades a Catalunya. Amb elles hem parlat distesament dels orígens d’aquesta revolució tecnològica, del seu impacte sobre l’organització social i el mercat laboral, de les seves implicacions ètiques, de les tendències futures que es dibuixen i també sobre quin paper juguem els catalans en aquesta revolució. En la qüestió catalana hem volgut saber si les nostres universitats són capaces de generar el talent necessari, com impulsar estratègicament el teixit empresarial en aquesta àrea, quin paper ha de tenir l’administració i què hauria de passar perquè la intel·ligència artificial també parli en català. En aquestes converses, els nostres interlocutors ens han transmès la urgència i la necessitat de treballar en la definició d’estratègies concretes de país per tal de no quedar socialment i estructuralment enrere en el que sembla una revolució sense límits.

This paper focuses on interpreter-mediated interviews with victims, suspects and witnesses under the age of 18 who are vulnerable because of their age, native language and country of presence, with particular emphasis on how to provide the necessary information, support, and protection for this group. The paper reports on the results of the European project Cooperation in Interpreter-Mediated Questioning of Minors (CMIQ). As the name suggests, cooperation or teamwork amongst the stakeholders is of paramount importance in interpreter-mediated questioning of minors (ImQM). This contribution will focus on the semi-structured interviews conducted by the Belgian researchers with twelve Flemish children, boys and girls aged 5 to 17, of which 11 were hearing and 1 was deaf. Based on the outcomes of the twelve semi-structured interviews with minors, results point at specific perceptions of the interpreter reported by children: the interpreter seems to be the person they turn to when speaking and the person they trust most. Since ethical codes prescribe, amongst other things, neutrality and often even ‘invisibility’ of the interpreter, reflection on this topic is necessary. Based on the paramount importance of rapport-building with the child, this paper argues that the role of interpreters should be discussed certainly during a briefing, but also in interprofessional joint training. In this way, all stakeholders improve their knowledge of their respective professional roles in situations of ImQM, which further helps to tackle some contradictory expectations in regard to the role of the interpreter.

This monographic section of the Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law presents the findings of six critical perspectives on translation and interpreting policies and practices in modern societies that pose challenges for public institutions. Taking a critical and empirical stance, the papers provide data and reflections on how language access is critical to fulfilling fundamental rights and ensuring the ability of institutions to implement their mandates effectively. The introductory article reviews the role of public services in present-day multilingual societies and of translation and interpreting in relation to the policies governing language access. It goes on to review conflicting implicit theories of translation and interpreting by providing a brief discussion of the roles prescribed and described for translators and interpreters. Finally, it proceeds to present the papers, which are constructed around two axes: (a) an examination of practices capable of providing evidence for policy redesign and reform; and (b) a fundamental review of the role of public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) itself, conducted by means of comparative studies which examine the needs and perceptions of PSIT in various domains, and the challenges of training in the face of emerging realities.

In her poetry collection falsche freunde the German-speaking artist Uljana Wolf develops a translinguale Lyrik, a poetic voice dwelling on a linguistic and geographical border zone. Building on Emily Apter’s concepts of untranslatability, this paper investigates how Wolf’s structural and thematic checkpoints instil a strong political commitment into her poetry. Furthermore, this engagement is here interpreted as the expression of the paradigm of the postmigrantische Gesellschaft. Finally, the paper argues that through the choice of the term ‘alien’ over the category ‘fremd’ Wolf suggests an innovative shift in the representation of migratory dynamics, from their cultural dimension to their biopolitical significance.

Aquest estudi ofereix una anàlisi detallada del llenguatge emprat en la cobertura de la pandèmia per The Guardian i El País, examinant la representació de les postures governamentals i la seva influència en la resposta dels ciutadans. S’investiga el paper d’aquests mitjans com a canals de comunicació governamental i el seu efecte en la percepció pública durant la crisi sanitària. A través d’una anàlisi rigorosa, confirmem la nostra hipòtesi que els governs del Regne Unit i Espanya van exercir una influència ambivalent sobre la població mitjançant l’ús estratègic d’un discurs manipulador. Aquest estudi es basa en la creació d’un corpus bilingüe i en l’ús d’anàlisi textual avançada per desentranyar les tàctiques de control i persuasió aplicades. Les troballes revelen una tendència cap a l’ús d’un lèxic carregat negativament i d’estratègies emocionals, així com l’ús de metàfores i argot tècnic per establir una asimetria informativa entre les autoritats i la ciutadania.

En aquest article analitzem la política lingüística en dos països que compten amb diverses llengües oficials, Suïssa i Sud-àfrica, i en els quals el paper de la llengua anglesa ha evolucionat respecte a les llengües "nacionals" locals des de la dècada de 1990. Ens centrem en la política lingüística com a manifestació de les lluites socials i, fent especial èmfasi en l’anglès, estudiem els documents polítics actuals en aquests dos contextos tan diferents. L’ús de la “neutralitat” com a lent analítica ens permet demostrar que la política lingüística va més enllà dels plans d’estudi i de la inclusió o exclusió de les llengües i, al seu lloc, neutralitza les idees socials que estan en consonància amb la concepció d’un futur “d’èxit” en una conjuntura sociohistòrica determinada. Per acabar, reflexionem sobre la neutralitat com a component de les ideologies lingüístiques, en virtut de les quals s’autoritzen llengües específiques per a objectius polítics contingents i canviants, cosa que té conseqüències com ara la inclusió en la política educativa o l’exclusió de la política educativa de determinades llengües i la distribució desigual del coneixement, els recursos i l’autoritat.

Aquest epíleg proposa un fil conductor dels discursos sobre llengua i neutralitat en els diversos contextos presentats en el recull d’articles. La idea bàsica és que les forces en joc en tots els casos transcendeixen l’àmbit de l’estat nació i responen directament o indirecta a la posició de l’anglès com a llengua hegemònica global. En la mesura en què la globalització afecta tots els àmbits de la vida social, les antigues grans forces colonials opten per polítiques de legitimació de les pròpies llengües i cultures en base a l’acció diplomàtica. Igualment, la implantació de fórmules d’ensenyament multilingüe a nivell intraestatal també es veu tensionada per la pressió de molts sectors perquè s’inverteixi en l’anglès. Proposo que l’ús dels termes neutre i neutralitat marquen, en aquest context, un canvi de paradigma respecte dels nacionalismes lingüístics moderns, ja que apareix la necessitat d’adoptar estratègies d’equidistància i valors universalitzants en contextos caracteritzats per la multilateralitat i fora de la sobirania nacional. També s’observa com les clivelles racials encara marquen significativament les estratègies de diplomàcia cultural, alhora que el discurs de la suposada neutralitat de l’anglès emmascara el seu paper substanciador de les pràctiques i ideologies neoliberals.

Aquest article estudia els efectes que les lleis de Carles III tingueren en la fisonomia institucional mallorquina, en la seva cultura i llengua catalanes. Alhora, examina el pes dels funcionaris, ambaixadors de la voluntat reial, en el reeiximent del projecte borbònic; el paper que aquests empleats públics, especialment el fiscal, exerciren en l’execució de les lleis borbòniques, i l’afectació sobre la llengua catalana, el seu ús i la seva consideració, a la Mallorca d’aquest període; així com la resposta, entre la desídia, la incúria i la resistència, que des de les institucions municipals i locals es donà a l’afany centralitzador. La pretensió última és aportar a la historiografia lingüística material de base inèdit que contribueixi a la revisió del paper de les nostres institucions locals al llarg d’aquest període tan intens per a la biografia catalana.

The objective of the paper is to propose a multi-perspective and multi-method research framework for legal translation by modelling key dimensions and factors applicable to legal translation. As a result of the ongoing expansion of Legal Translation Studies, the field is experiencing a methodological development, which extends our perspective on legal translation. The paper proposes four postulates for the multi-perspective framework for researching legal translation — namely, transdisciplinarity, multidimensionality, bidirectionality, and multimethodology. The multi-perspective research framework for legal translation embraces a continuum of four key dimensions of translation — the product itself, the context of production and reception, process and participants, modelled according to their dominant factors, components and related methods of research. The second part of the paper investigates, by way of illustration, how corpus methods interact with the above proposed multi-perspective framework. In the conclusions it is argued that research into legal translation may be expected to become increasingly larger in scale and more teamwork-based in order to bring in multiple perspectives on the object of study.

In this paper, a multi-perspectivist approach to translation-relevant comparative law is presented. The approach is conceptually oriented and joins three lenses with relevance for the study of meaning construction and development in the field of law: National cultural influences, influences from systemic-functional epistemic aspects, and influence from interpersonal knowledge communication. Focus in the article is upon the argumentative grounding of the three perspectives and upon possible methods with special relevance for the different lenses. In order to present the backdrop against which the approach is developed, the paper starts out with an overview of recent developments and suggestions in the field of comparative law, especially for the purposes of legal translation.

Interactions between citizens and the public administration are increasingly taking place by electronic means, often referred to as e-government. In Spain, these interactions mostly have to be monolingual, in Spanish, in the case of the central administration, but may be bilingual or even multilingual in autonomous communities that have their own official language. In this paper, we intend to show how state-of-the-art oral and written linguistic technologies for Spain’s coofficial languages could allow speakers of these languages to use them in many of their administrative relations with any Spanish public agency, thereby facilitating the conversion of Spain’s mostly monolingual administration into a multilingual one, enhancing digital language equality and guaranteeing the linguistic rights of speakers of minoritised languages. We will present an overview of the most promising language technologies in terms of their relevance from the point of view of multilingual communication between citizens and the administration. We will also review the existing technologies for Spain’s co-official languages, and present some ideas on how these could be integrated towards the multilingual transformation of Spanish public administrations without neglecting some of the attendant ethical and legal issues. The present work is intended to serve as an introductory and accessible overview for legislators, administrators, or any other person interested in the potential of language technologies to assist in developing a multilingual public administration.

Catalonia has developed a model of schooling in which Catalan is the medium of instruction and both Catalan and Spanish are compulsory subjects. In 2020, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia ruled that at least 25% of teaching must be delivered in Spanish in all schools in Catalonia, raising the issue of whether this obligation conforms to the undertakings chosen by that Spain under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. To clarify, we first need to answer the following question: what does “education in a regional or minority language” mean? This paper provides an answer to this question based on the interpretation of the Committee of Experts of the Charter, and addresses two side issues: whether education in a regional or minority language can be compulsory for all pupils, and under what scenarios would it be legitimate to enforce the use of the State’s official language in schools where a regional or minority language (RML) is the medium of instruction. A conclusion is reached that may offer guidance for future discussion on the role of the State’s official language(s) in RML-medium schools.

German-language rural legal sources contain a multifaceted vocabulary that is unusually colourful compared to the rest of the legal language. This holds especially true regarding criminal law, criminal procedure and breaches of order, as this paper will illustrate with selected examples. They are based on the material of the “Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch” (DRW). This comprehensive dictionary of historical German legal terms encompasses extensive rural legal sources. In particular, the freely accessible online version with its various search tools offers convenient access to the rural legal sources and their terminology. Already the designations of the rural legal codes vary enormously, as do those of the courts and the legal proceedings such as the obligatory calling of the alarm in the case of a crime (so-called “Gerüfte”) in the Middle Ages. Although thefts occurred in town and village, the crimes differed in the objects stolen, which in the countryside were mainly related to everyday farming life. Poaching and fraudulent border manipulation played a major role in rural law. A separate vocabulary also developed for insults and acts of violence – such as pub brawls. The same applies to swearing, false oaths, superstitious practices and breaches of morality. Just as in the city, there were numerous fire regulations with their own terminology in the villages. Especially in the field of regulatory law, the large subject area of agriculture also plays a central role – with a broad canon of regulations for the protection of animals, pastures and plantations.

Theo Padnos published My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun in 2004, when Prison Studies were burgeoning and gaining academic attention globally. Neglected by critics, the book relates the author's experience as literature instructor in an American prison. Engaging methods of pedagogical research and reader-response criticism, the paper investigates the role of literature in the cultural activities of young male inmates in a medium security jail in Vermont. An original amalgam of crime reports, pedagogy of literature, and autobiographical criticism, Padnos' study for the first time confronts young criminals with a literary canon dripping with violence. The experiment sheds light on the reading activities of prisoners, on their and the author's social background, and on the power of American literature to speak to marginal groups.

Linguists argued that the Cockney dialect, in London, is expected to be replaced by Multicultural London English in the years to come. However, this does not imply that Cockney is dead, as recent research revealed that it just moved to Essex. This paper aims at examining whether (l) vocalisation, a common feature of Cockney, is still present in the London district of Bermondsey. Ten working-class English speakers, stratified by age and sex, have been recorded by means of sociolinguistic interviews. The results, discussed both quantitively and qualitatively, show that: (a) (l) vocalisation is present in all age cohorts, with young speakers favouring the non-standard feature; (b) preceding long vowels trigger (l) vocalisation.

The so-called indirect passive, where the subject is not the argument of the underlying verb that bears the Theme/Patient role, is generally understood to be a bi-clausal phenomenon (cf. Kuno 1973; Shibatani 1978; Kuroda 1979). In other words, the passive morpheme rare is merged with a clause, and then the resulting item is combined with the subject. In this paper, however, we argue that the indirect passive is best understood as a mono-clausal phenomenon. We first point out that with some instances of the indirect passive, the passive morpheme rare is not understood as being combined with a verb or clause in syntax. Thus, we are led to assume that the lexicon contains numerous instances of the Vrare form. This implies that even when the passive morpheme rare is combined in syntax, it forms a constituent with the relevant verb; hence, the indirect passive is a mono-clausal phenomenon. We furthermore maintain that when the indirect passive involves the merging of rare with a verb in syntax, the verb must be a volitional verb, and demonstrate that this generalization, as well as the case particle alternation involved in the indirect passive, poses a challenge to the bi-clause analysis but not to the mono-clause analysis. Finally, we review one of the main arguments for analyzing the indirect passive to be a bi-clausal phenomenon, which concerns the antecedent of zibun. We show that it is inconclusive at best.

The goal of this paper is to reconcile the definite marking with the indefinite-like semantics of those superlatives that take a relative/comparative reading. Following Szabolcsi (1986) and Heim (1999), we will assume that the difference between absolute and relative readings of superlatives is represented at the syntactic level of semantic representation, LF (Logical Form). We will however depart from Heim’s hypothesis that what raises at LF is the superlative operator itself (EST). We will instead assume a quantificational-determiner analysis of EST, which involves two raising operations at LF: EST-raising to Spec,DP and raising of the whole superlative DP (Determiner Phrase) to a scope position in the sentence. We will examine the relative readings of quality superlatives. The generalizations and the proposed analysis are not assumed to extend to quantity superlatives.

This paper analyses Angela Carter’s desecrating tendency to taboo-breaking in thematic and formal terms. By referring to her short-fiction production and focusing on “John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore", I intend to show how gender/patriarchal and genre/authorial taboos are similarly broken and transmuted into daringly subversive outcomes. In line with her feminist agenda and postmodern transformism, Carter superbly challenges, sabotages, violates, de- and re-constructs traditionally codified sexual and gender taboos by mimicking such reversals through new narrative solutions. If diversity, multiplicity and change guarantee the continuity of life, incest can easily metaphorise a taboo relationship based on repetition of the identical, sameness, and immobility, to be finally transformed, if not avoided. Consistent with many of her female characters’ incestuous relationships with parents or siblings, Carter also establishes incest-like relationships with previous authors and narrative discourses, which she predatorily appropriates. Carter’s resulting narrative testifies to the fact that taboos must be first experienced to be eventually broken. It is in the dialectic between rule and infraction, taboo and its violation that Carter’s writing is rooted, constantly looking for borders to be crossed.

Designed as a paper reflecting on the editorial mediation of early modern French literary texts, this article maps the educational activities conducted on the Tragiques Inventions site since 2020. In particular, it delves into the procedures linked to documenting, generating and manipulating descriptive and analytical (meta)data. A new concept of ‘hand-reading’ is being developed – the possibility of using digital technology to prioritize human intervention in the construction of knowledge through textual editing. This concept will bring a fresh perspective on early modern literary texts.

There is a substantial body of scholarship arguing for the relevance of magic realism to Toni Morrison’s fictional production, with one exception being her last novel God Help the Child, which, in that respect, has been remarkably overlooked. The present paper intends to fill this scholarly gap by focusing on what Morrison called “enchantment”, a powerful blend of magic and realism that she employed to represent a host of racial and ancestral issues of Blackness, often of a traumatic kind.

Sylvia’s Lovers is a novel about war. It is a historical novel set in the years 1793-1800 during the Napoleonic wars, and written by Elizabeth Gaskell in the years 1859-1862 when the American Civil War broke out, in April 1861. Examining Gaskell’s correspondence with Charles Eliot Norton in the years 1861-63 and the articles Norton wrote in support of the War and the anti-slavery cause, this paper explores the way in which the news coming from America and the debates on the contemporary events left a significant mark on the second part of the novel. The implied reference to the context of the American Civil War would shed new light on Gaskell’s narrative choices concerning the plot and the main male character’s development, which has been substantially overlooked.

Linguists argued that the Cockney dialect, in London, is expected to be replaced by Multicultural London English in the years to come. However, this does not imply that Cockney is dead, as recent research revealed that it just moved to Essex. This paper aims at examining whether (l) vocalisation, a common feature of Cockney, is still present in the London district of Bermondsey. Ten working-class English speakers, stratified by age and sex, have been recorded by means of sociolinguistic interviews. The results, discussed both quantitively and qualitatively, show that: (a) (l) vocalisation is present in all age cohorts, with young speakers favouring the non-standard feature; (b) preceding long vowels trigger (l) vocalisation.

The so-called indirect passive, where the subject is not the argument of the underlying verb that bears the Theme/Patient role, is generally understood to be a bi-clausal phenomenon (cf. Kuno 1973; Shibatani 1978; Kuroda 1979). In other words, the passive morpheme rare is merged with a clause, and then the resulting item is combined with the subject. In this paper, however, we argue that the indirect passive is best understood as a mono-clausal phenomenon. We first point out that with some instances of the indirect passive, the passive morpheme rare is not understood as being combined with a verb or clause in syntax. Thus, we are led to assume that the lexicon contains numerous instances of the Vrare form. This implies that even when the passive morpheme rare is combined in syntax, it forms a constituent with the relevant verb; hence, the indirect passive is a mono-clausal phenomenon. We furthermore maintain that when the indirect passive involves the merging of rare with a verb in syntax, the verb must be a volitional verb, and demonstrate that this generalization, as well as the case particle alternation involved in the indirect passive, poses a challenge to the bi-clause analysis but not to the mono-clause analysis. Finally, we review one of the main arguments for analyzing the indirect passive to be a bi-clausal phenomenon, which concerns the antecedent of zibun. We show that it is inconclusive at best.

The goal of this paper is to reconcile the definite marking with the indefinite-like semantics of those superlatives that take a relative/comparative reading. Following Szabolcsi (1986) and Heim (1999), we will assume that the difference between absolute and relative readings of superlatives is represented at the syntactic level of semantic representation, LF (Logical Form). We will however depart from Heim’s hypothesis that what raises at LF is the superlative operator itself (EST). We will instead assume a quantificational-determiner analysis of EST, which involves two raising operations at LF: EST-raising to Spec,DP and raising of the whole superlative DP (Determiner Phrase) to a scope position in the sentence. We will examine the relative readings of quality superlatives. The generalizations and the proposed analysis are not assumed to extend to quantity superlatives.

This paper analyses Angela Carter’s desecrating tendency to taboo-breaking in thematic and formal terms. By referring to her short-fiction production and focusing on “John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore", I intend to show how gender/patriarchal and genre/authorial taboos are similarly broken and transmuted into daringly subversive outcomes. In line with her feminist agenda and postmodern transformism, Carter superbly challenges, sabotages, violates, de- and re-constructs traditionally codified sexual and gender taboos by mimicking such reversals through new narrative solutions. If diversity, multiplicity and change guarantee the continuity of life, incest can easily metaphorise a taboo relationship based on repetition of the identical, sameness, and immobility, to be finally transformed, if not avoided. Consistent with many of her female characters’ incestuous relationships with parents or siblings, Carter also establishes incest-like relationships with previous authors and narrative discourses, which she predatorily appropriates. Carter’s resulting narrative testifies to the fact that taboos must be first experienced to be eventually broken. It is in the dialectic between rule and infraction, taboo and its violation that Carter’s writing is rooted, constantly looking for borders to be crossed.

Designed as a paper reflecting on the editorial mediation of early modern French literary texts, this article maps the educational activities conducted on the Tragiques Inventions site since 2020. In particular, it delves into the procedures linked to documenting, generating and manipulating descriptive and analytical (meta)data. A new concept of ‘hand-reading’ is being developed – the possibility of using digital technology to prioritize human intervention in the construction of knowledge through textual editing. This concept will bring a fresh perspective on early modern literary texts.

There is a substantial body of scholarship arguing for the relevance of magic realism to Toni Morrison’s fictional production, with one exception being her last novel God Help the Child, which, in that respect, has been remarkably overlooked. The present paper intends to fill this scholarly gap by focusing on what Morrison called “enchantment”, a powerful blend of magic and realism that she employed to represent a host of racial and ancestral issues of Blackness, often of a traumatic kind.

Theo Padnos published My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun in 2004, when Prison Studies were burgeoning and gaining academic attention globally. Neglected by critics, the book relates the author's experience as literature instructor in an American prison. Engaging methods of pedagogical research and reader-response criticism, the paper investigates the role of literature in the cultural activities of young male inmates in a medium security jail in Vermont. An original amalgam of crime reports, pedagogy of literature, and autobiographical criticism, Padnos' study for the first time confronts young criminals with a literary canon dripping with violence. The experiment sheds light on the reading activities of prisoners, on their and the author's social background, and on the power of American literature to speak to marginal groups.

Sylvia’s Lovers is a novel about war. It is a historical novel set in the years 1793-1800 during the Napoleonic wars, and written by Elizabeth Gaskell in the years 1859-1862 when the American Civil War broke out, in April 1861. Examining Gaskell’s correspondence with Charles Eliot Norton in the years 1861-63 and the articles Norton wrote in support of the War and the anti-slavery cause, this paper explores the way in which the news coming from America and the debates on the contemporary events left a significant mark on the second part of the novel. The implied reference to the context of the American Civil War would shed new light on Gaskell’s narrative choices concerning the plot and the main male character’s development, which has been substantially overlooked.

The main theme of this paper is the examination of the judgments of Italian and Spanish Constitutional Courts on minority language legislation to show how they had paramount importance to develop legislation in this sector. The paper is two-hold: the first part of the paper deals with Italian Legislation and Italian Constitutional Court judgments regarding the protection of minority languages. Then the paper narrows down its focus onto Italian Constitutional Court judgment n. 159 of 2009. The second part of the paper looks to Spanish Constitutional Court judgments regarding the Autonomous Communities legislation on minority languages. The paper then concludes that Constitution and Constitutional Court judgments have a significant influence in the development of legislation regarding the protection of minority languages.

In this paper, Old High German mood alternations in the different types of subordinate clauses (complement, adverbial and relative clauses) are discussed. The use of the subjunctive in subordinate clauses is notoriously more frequent than in Modern German and has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Based on a comprehensive corpus study, the paper will show that the licensing conditions for the subjunctive in Old High German are determined by notions such as veridicality and – in relative contexts – specificity. These conditions are thus similar (but not always identical) to those observed for Modern Greek and Romance languages. Furthermore, a syntactic analysis is provided in order to account for the licensing of the subjunctive in each type of subordinate clause.

This paper deals with Latin discontinuous nominal expressions (hyperbatons) both by a diachronic perspective internal to Latin (I-VI cent. A.D.) and compared to Romance languages. A nominal expression can be considered discontinuous when its word order is interrupted by one or more elements. In these cases a violation of the principle of the ‘domain integrity’ takes place. Discontinuity is typical of Latin and sets it apart from Romance languages, in which hyperbatons are not allowed. It is well attested in all phases of Latin so that it is considered one of the most distinctive feature of Latin word order. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that not all linearly discontinuous orders are real hyperbatons. In fact, cases in which the order Modif.-N or N-Modif. is interrupted by the complement of one of the two categories are frequent; in this perspective the domain of hyperbatons results consistently restricted. As regards real hyperbatons, we will propose the following three syntactic configurations: Type 1 due to the extraction of an element within the phrase; Type 2 due to the insertion of a weak element in second position; Type 3 due to the insertion of a verb. A final observation will concern the fact that we find in Latin kinds of hyperbatons that can be considered a clear sign of those that will develop later in Romance because they involve clitics which are absent in Latin.

This paper investigates the syntax of non-topicalized preverbal subjects in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). In BP, both locative PPs and locative DPs can occur in preverbal position: Na escola do Pedro aceita cartão de crédito; A escola do Pedro aceita cartão de crédito. In the latter case, the verb agrees with the locative. In BP, it is also possible to find non-argument constituents triggering verbal agreement, as in Essa estante cabe muitos livros. These sentences have been analysed as innovative constructions restricted to BP. This paper shows that some of the above structures are also present in other languages, e.g. Italian; not all of them are therefore innovative constructions of BP, and subcases need to be differentiated. The hypothesis is that sentences with preverbal non-argumental subjects have the same syntax as sentences with argumental subjects. What seems to occur in some cases is a modification in the verb thematic grid. We interpret BP’s “flexible diathesis” patterns as revealing that in this grammar, a variety of verbs have undergone a modification of their thematic grid which their counterparts in European Portuguese and other Romance languages did not.

This article reports some of the main achievements of the EU-funded PRINCIPLE project in collecting high-quality language resources (LRs) in the legal domain for four under-resourced European languages, namely Croatian, Irish, Norwegian and Icelandic. After illustrating the significance of this work for developing translation technologies in the context of the European Union and the European Economic Area, the paper outlines the main steps of data collection, curation and sharing of the LRs gathered with the support of public and private data contributors. This is followed by the description of the development pipeline and key features of the state-of-the-art bespoke neural machine translation (MT) engines for the legal domain that were built using this data. The MT systems were evaluated with a combination of automatic and human methods to validate the quality of the LRs collected in the project; the high-quality LRs were subsequently shared with the wider community via the ELRC-SHARE repository. The main challenges that were encountered in this work are discussed, emphasising the importance and the key benefits of sharing high-quality digital LRs.

Indefinite nominals can typically be modified by pre- or postnominal adjectives in Romance languages. With the exception of a small group of adjectives concerning physical or moral characteristics whose meaning changes according to their pre- or postnominal use, the position of an attributive adjective does not alter its meaning. However, prenominal adjectives in a Spanish indefinite trigger its specific interpretation, thus preventing its variable reading; the same phenomenon obtains also in Catalan. The aim of this paper is to discuss specific cases in some Sicilian dialects – mainly in the dialect of Delia (province of Caltanissetta) – in order to provide further evidence of the fact that prenominal evaluative adjectives force the specific interpretation of indefinites in Romance. Since Sicilian dialects do not typically display prenominal adjectives, this paper will therefore draw on elatives to check whether Sicilian shows a parallel restriction in the postnominal position.

Based on a qualitative case study research, this paper investigates the efficacy of indirect translation as a strategy in the translation of terminology in private legal documents from Serbian to Albanian via English in Kosovo. The aim is to examine whether this approach may improve the accuracy, quality, and availability of translation services in an under-resourced linguistic combination. Research within this subfield seems necessary in the context of Kosovo, where Serbian is a minority language and translations of private legal documents in the Albanian < > Serbian language pair have been found to be of low quality, primarily due to a lack of professional translators and resources which are specific for that combination. Two official Albanian < > Serbian translators fluent in English were recruited as participants to translate a list of terms excerpted from documents translated for official procedures. One translator provided a direct translation from Serbian to Albanian and the other an indirect translation from Serbian to Albanian via English. Despite the limitations of the research, the comparative analysis of the submitted translated terminology indicates that the indirect translation via English in the context of Kosovo may provide accuracy, quality, and availability, thereby offering members of minorities in Kosovo the potential guarantee of a fair treatment within legal procedures.

Modern information technologies allow us to disseminate specialized knowledge through ask-an-expert forums that serve as a resource for transforming specialized concepts for a lay audience. This paper aims to add to the study of discourse production and is intended as a contribution to legal communication from a popularization-centered perspective. It considers the popularization of legal knowledge to a lay audience as a process of discursive accommodation to the reader’s knowledge base and of alignment of the cognitive levels of participants in asymmetrical interactions intermediated by explanatory strategies. Through the analysis of online legal-lay communication, the article builds a classification model of discursive strategies that allow experts, including forum lawyers, to represent complex and abstract specialized content in an intelligible way to prevent communicative problems from emerging and communicate efficiently. The findings illustrate how various popularization strategies function to align the cognitive levels of participants and eliminate knowledge asymmetries. Two types of strategy (popularization by formulation and reformulation and popularization by illustration) are analyzed and assessed. Definition as a type of popularization by reformulation, comprising 42% of all strategies found in the corpus, is the most common explanatory strategy. Metaphors employed to popularize legal knowledge by relating specialized and everyday domains of experience are the least common explanatory tools used by forum lawyers. These explanatory strategies can be combined to jointly contribute to the purpose of accommodating legal information to the knowledge base of lay forum users. This study is a vector for investigating the problems of asymmetrical interactions in institutional settings. The methodology or aspects of asymmetrical exchanges can be expanded and become an avenue for further research.

In this paper aspects of the sibilant system in the variety spoken in the Germanic language island Sauris/Zahre in north-eastern Italy are presented. I investigate whether an intermediate, postalveolar “shibilant” (from Protogermanic */s/) in preconsonantal position is preserved from Middle High German as observed in other German minority languages in northern Italy. In Sauris/Zahre, in preconsonantal position a postalveolar realization is sometimes mentioned in literature, while in Modern Standard German and most related varieties in this position historical, postalveolar */s/ is retracted to palatoalveolar /ʃ/.

El règim de conjunció lingüística al sistema educatiu català ha estat motiu de diverses controvèrsies al llarg dels anys que permeten constatar una posició a favor i una altra en contra del model. En aquest article, identifiquem els principals arguments a favor i en contra del sistema en el debat públic i n’analitzem els fonaments normatius d’acord amb les aportacions de la teoria política sobre justícia lingüística. En darrer terme, el nostre objectiu és avaluar fins a quin punt hi ha marge per a l’apropament o la reconciliació entre els arguments de les dues posicions. El nostre argument principal és que les dues posicions, que han emprat raonaments força estables al llarg del temps amb una tendència compartida a evitar arguments explícitament d’identitat, poden tenir cert marge d’apropament. Algunes interpretacions dels valors que fonamenten els arguments d’ambdues posicions, com els ideals de tracte igual de llengües, la igualtat d’oportunitats individuals o la garantia del pluralisme, podrien sostenir un sistema lingüístic de conjunció lingüística a l’escola en què el català tingués un paper prominent, el castellà gaudís d’un reconeixement suficient i es garantís una competència igual en ambdues llengües en finalitzar el període escolar.

After the latest enlargement of the European Union and the increase of the number of languages recognized as being official, this paper raises the question of the current situation of the other languages, those that are not official, as well as the outlook for their future within the Union. In this regard, special attention is paid to the situation of Catalan. First, however, the international regulatory framework of reference as regards minority language rights is presented. Then, the regulation of the general European Union language regime is examined and, afterwards, the paper deals with the modulation experienced by this regime during the ordinary operation of the different European institutions, together with the effects of treaty languages, some of which, under the Treaty establishing the European Constitution, have been broadened to include non-official languages. In trying to take stock of the language policy of the Union, the paper focuses on the expression “language diversity” (or, more recently, “multilingualism”), which is used recurrently in community proceedings, regulations and resolutions to adopt specific measures of protection and promotion for the different languages of the Union. The expression, however, entails a certain degree of legal uncertainty, to the extent that it does not sufficiently clarify which language groups are the target of these measures. Finally, the paper highlights a series of recent actions that directly affect the possibility of invoking Catalan and other languages different from Spanish that have an official status within a country, in some of the European institutions (presumably, in practically all of them in the not too distant future). Such actions would allow the official use of these languages within different limits or levels and under specific conditions (written presentations, speeches and translations and publication of some legal texts). Some critical considerations are, however, brought up with regard to the recognition of this new and improved status of Catalan in the European Union, based on the fact that Catalan has an extrajudicial character and this situation is not definitively resolved in a totally satisfactory manner.

The advances in the recovery of the Catalan language in the Balearic Islands over the 20 years in which the Statute of Autonomy, passed in 1983, has been in effect have been nothing short of historic. This paper analyzes the positive changes that have come about in this period regarding the legal regulation of the social use of language, social awareness, language authority, and the social and official use of language. On the other hand, it also analyzes the limitations of the legal framework itself, the social and political limitations that have prevented attainment of the full language normalcy contemplated in this legal and institutional framework. At a time when a significant wave of immigrants is joining immigrants who already reside in the Balearics, when immigration and globalization characterize a new framework for social relations, knowledge of Catalan is still not universal, nor has Catalan become the common, habitually used language of the public sector. The paper, then, sets forth the broad outlines of an action plan for the new historic phase that is now under way, a phase that entails challenges for the Catalan language in the Balearics. How these challenges are met shall depend on the achievement of an overall framework of language sustainability capable of facilitating the egalitarian recognition of Catalan in Spanish central government, European and international domains. Successfully dealing with these challenges shall also depend on the cohesiveness of the entire Catalan language area. The transmission of the language to newly arrived citizens and the presence of Catalan in mass culture and the workplace as an ordinary state of affairs should be the fundamental objectives of a language policy capable of mobilizing society and generating confidence in the future.

A mode de provocació intel·lectual i com a estratègia de “pensament lateral” (lateral thinking) per a la creativitat, el treball es proposa veure què pot suggerir als lingüistes l’estudi de la dinàmica de la diversitat biològica. En aquests darrers anys l’equació analògica “llengua = espècie biològica” s’ha anat estenent com a font metàforica de renovació conceptual i alhora de justificació per a la defensa de la linguodiversitat, a la manera com es duu a terme la mobilització per a la protecció de les espècies. No obstant això, cal anar amb compte amb la transferència acrítica de conceptualitzacions i de marcs teòrics d’un camp a l’altre, per tal com òbviament es tracta de fenòmens ben distints en la realitat. El diàleg amb els bioecòlegs comença per preguntar-nos per la formació de la diversitat, és a dir, per l’especiació. Es constata aquí la similitud dels processos de fragmentació lingüística i genètica en el sentit de ser fenòmens de base (sòcio)geogràfica en produir-se la dispersió i la pèrdua, doncs, de la compactació i intercomunicació originàries. La propietat autoorganitzadora i creativa dels humans afavoreix el desenvolupament de varietats específiques per a cada subconjunt, que continuen en evolució constant, a través de l’incessant “llenguar” de la humanitat. Sobre la continuïtat de les espècies o llengües, es constata també el paper decisiu de la relació intragrupal. La permanència de les varietats lingüístiques serà més alta com més alta sigui la intensitat de la relació entre els propis components del subconjunt. En canvi, si s’hi introdueixen elements exòtics, especialment si són de caràcter agressiu, l’alteració del nínxol ecològic pot ser fatal per a la continuïtat de les formes prèviament existents. Això ens suggereix la necessitat d’estudiar en profunditat quines foren les condicions contextuals mínimes per fer que un grup lingüístic determinat pogués tenir una continuïtat sostenible en un marc de contacte lingüístic. ¿De quin tipus de nínxol (sòcio)ecològic mínim hauria de disposar una llengua si volguéssim assegurar la seva reproducció habitual? Es proposa aquí explorar les idees de “funcions exclusives” i de “distribució funcional no-jeràrquica” per als codis en situació d’alt contacte i de perill de desús. Pel que fa al canvi, aquest fenomen és vist com un fet inherent de la tendència de la vida a crear novetat, que pot o no anar acompanyat d’adaptació a les condicions ambientals canviants. Es remarca que, semblantment com en el pla biològic, molta de la innovació lingüística prové de la mescla de solucions de codis distints, reorganitzada sistèmicament. Una pregunta de recerca important fóra, però, esbrinar perquè algunes d’aquestes innovacions desapareixen i d’altres sobreviuen i s’estenen a través de la comunitat. El gran interrogant, doncs, com assenyala Mufwene, és arribar a entendre com “l’evolució lingüística procedeix per selecció natural entre les alternatives que competeixen disponibles a través dels idiolectes dels parlants individuals”. L’extinció —de les llengües o de les espècies— són causades en la majoria dels casos “per una combinació de processos demogràfics en les poblacions i de canvis ambientals”, com assenyala Brown. Així, el medi jugarà un paper fonamental en la direcció de l’evolució, ja que “la supervivència dels millors dotats és, de fet, la supervivència dels que encaixen en el context” (Allen & Hoekstra), la qual cosa ens farà veure després la gran importància dels contextos politicoeconòmics en el cas de les llengües. Igualment, els moviments migratoris seran, també, una de les grans variables determinants de l’extinció de la bio- i de la linguodiversitat. L’espècie i l’hàbitat formen la unitat existencial bàsica, i això serà el punt de vista central per entendre el problema de la conservació i recuperació de les espècies o llengües. Atès l’augment del grau de contacte lingüístic, la continuïtat de la linguodiversitat dependrà de trobar, com diria el físic Prigogine, de la manera més exacta possible, quines condicions precises de desequilibri poden ser estables. El gran desafiament no és tant com evitar el contacte sinó com gestionar-lo. I l’”ecologia restauradora” ens pot ajudar també aquí. Poder arribar a solucions sostenibles per a la diversitat lingüística implica el coneixement aprofundit de les dinàmiques de determinació dels usos lingüístics en situacions de contacte. Es conclou en general que la lingüística està encara mal preparada terminològicament i conceptualment per tractar el caràcter dinàmic de les llengües humanes. Cal concebre el món i els nostres objectes com a elements en flux, com a sistemes canviants en equilibri inestable. Respecte de la política lingüística caldria fer l’esforç d’arribar a establir uns principis generals d’organització lingüística de l’espècie humana, que fessin possible la compatibilitat entre la diversitat lingüística local i la necessària comunicació a escala planetària. Per reeixir en això cal continuar impulsant una perspectiva socio-ecològica autònoma dedicada a la comprensió dels fenòmens lingüístics, que parteixi del paradigma de complexitat, tot situant els éssers humans en el centre de la seva teorització.

La qüestió lingüística, en un territori plurilingüe com l’Estat espanyol, és tractada directament o indirecta en la normativa estatal que afecta diferents àmbits. Durant el període democràtic comprès entre 1979 i 2019, s’observa una evolució en el tractament d’aquest pluralisme lingüístic en sectors com l’ensenyament, l’Administració pública i de justícia, els mitjans de comunicació i el sector audiovisual, la toponímia o la socioeconomia. També hi tenen un paper rellevant els estatuts d’autonomia de les comunitats autònomes. Per a la recopilació de la normativa esmentada seguirem les cròniques legislatives de l’Estat espanyol de la Revista de Llengua i Dret des de l’any 1983.

The influence of loubok (Russian popular print) on Dostoevsky’s works is a topic deserving more attention than has been given up to now. It makes us understand how Dostoevsky got inspiration from popular iconography. The present article could be a further contribution to this research topic; its aim being to investigate the recurrence in Dostoevsky’s poetics of a particular typology of popular print, showing how a wife beats her husband after he came back home drunk. This loubok spread widely through Russia (the peasant family version) and Germany (the cobbler version). In particular the German version, which had a wide readership thanks to the German printer G. Renner and was named “Der Blaue Montag” was undoubtedly known to Dostoevsky, since it was widespread in the very period he travelled through Germany. In this paper I will try to show how the Russian novelist caught not only the general setting but also some details from this version to describe Marmeladov’s home in the scene (I, 2) when he comes back home and faces a violent welcome from his wife Katerina Ivanovna.

The goal of this paper is to establish the nature of the scholastic-linguistic model in non-university education in the Balearics: the free choice model (which allows pupils to choose the language of instruction freely) or the total bilingualism model (in which pupils receive instruction in both official languages). The Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands (1983) does not define the scholastic-linguistic model, unlike the Language Normalisation Act (1986). The author draws attention to articles such as 1.2.b, which mentions the goal of ensuring that Catalan is used progressively as the language of instruction in education, or 18.1, which restricts the right to free choice of the language of instruction to "early education". This analysis of the Language Normalisation Act enables the author to conclude that the scholastic-linguistic model in the Balearics is that of total bilingualism: beyond early instruction, pupils are not allowed to choose the language of instruction, a role that, following an administrative decision, is to be played by both Catalan and Castilian. The paper ends with an analysis of Decree 92/1997, which sets the necessary measures to implement the total bilingualism model, e.g., by stipulating the subjects that must be taught in Catalan in primary and compulsory secondary education. In this connection, the author notes that the implementation of this Decree may be delayed if the Language Normalisation Act is not observed as far as the language training of teachers is concerned.