No abstract

Advances in corpus linguistics are of vital importance in terminology. The information obtained from corpora can be used to complement data already codified in dictionaries and termbases. In this article, we describe a framework of linguistic analysis that facilitates the extraction of conceptual information from corpora, and thus contributes to the study and analysis of terminological contexts. We are presently using this methodology in a research project called Oncoterm. One of the objectives of this project is to elaborate a bilingual terminological database, whose conceptual structure is an extension of an existing knowledge resource, the Mikrokosmos Ontology. In our termbase, medical concepts are organized in categories represented by templates, which are systematically applied to all category members. The application of the template to more specific concepts generates values that show the inheritance of knowledge structures within a specialized domain. The definitional information within each term entry is thus totally coherent with the information regarding other terms within the same conceptual category. This is conducive to the specification of a language of terminographic definition, which is concise, consistent and applicable not only to the domain of oncology, but also extensive to other medical domains and other languages.

Self-assessment is a process that enables students to assess their own performance and greatly facilitates their acquisition of increased responsibility for their learning and performance. The advent of e-learning in the Spanish university system has provided opportunities to reorient translator training and accept new challenges that enhance the quality of undergraduate studies.The present study demonstrates that the benefits of this new mode of instruction are especially appropriate to translator training. We describe the results of centring e-learning course design on self-and peer-assessment combined with tutor-moderation through the application of a rating scale of criterion-referenced descriptors. Our data demonstrate that the quantitative outcomes of learning remain constant. Furthermore, we include a range of qualitative data which indicate that students have a positive perception of the new learning and assessment processes, suggesting that these are responsible for increasing their awareness of important aspects of the translation process.

Background: The study investigates the tongue position and coarticulatory characteristics of a subset of Catalan consonants and vowels using ultrasound. Method: Ultrasound data were recorded and analyzed for the Catalan front lingual consonants /t, d, n, l, ɾ, s, r, ʎ, ɲ, ʃ/ and vowels /i, e, a, o, u/ in symmetrical VCV sequences produced by 5 adult Catalan speakers. Results: Among other aspects, data show more tongue body fronting for palatal consonants and, among dentals and alveolars, for laminals than for apicals; the manner of articulation demands account for considerable tongue body retraction and predorsum lowering during the trill /r/ and for some tongue body retraction during /l/ next to front vowels. Vowel and consonant coarticulation occurs mostly in lingual regions which are not primarily involved in closure or constriction formation. Differences in the relative prominence of the anticipatory and carryover consonant-to-vowel effects in tongue body position were found to hold clearly for /r/ in all vowel contexts and for palatal consonants next to /a, o, u/. Conclusions: Place-dependent and manner-dependent articulatory characteristics for consonants and vowels account for the most relevant coarticulatory effects and may contribute to explain several sound change patterns.