Department of Translation Studies
Regina Blass, Ph.D.
Head of Translation Studies Department and Professor of Translation Studies
regina.blass@negst.edu
Education
Ph.D. (Linguistics), University of London
M.A. (Linguistics) UCL, University of London
Post-Graduate Diploma (Linguistics) UCL, University of London
Philosophy of Teaching
I believe in sparking interest and creativity in the subjects I teach through various methods of presentation and discussion.
Research Interests
My research interest is mainly in linguistics with special focus on Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis and Translation. As far as theory is concerned I am especially interested in Relevance Theory in which I am working presently on issues of discourse, discourse particles, resemblance strategy and hermeneutics. My research is mainly done on African languages, but also on English, German and French.
Publications
Book
1975 Sisaala-English, English-Sisaala Dictionary, Ghana: Institute of Linguistics
Articles
1980 'The Sisaala negative in the light of universal predictions',unpublished MA thesis, University of London.
1986 'Cohesion, Coherence and Relevance', Notes on Linguistics 34, P. 41-62, SIL, Dallas
1987 'Relevance and Particle Typology', Proceedings of the 14th Int. Congress of Linguists, Academie-Verlag, Berlin
1988 'Discourse connectivity and constraints on relevance in Sissala", Ph.D thesis, University of London.
1989a 'Baa' in Sissala - Truth-Conditional or Non-Truth-Conditional Particle?' In Weydt (ed) Sprechen mit Partikeln, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin
1989b 'Grammaticalisation of interpretive use: The case of re in Sissala.' LINGUA 79, p. 299-326
1989c 'Pragmatic effects of co-ordination: the case of "and" in Sissala.' UCL working papers in linguistics, 32-51, London: University College London.
1990a Relevance Relations in Discourse: A study with special reference to Sissala. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 55, CUP, Cambridge
1990b 'Constraints on Relevance and Particle Typology' Notes on Linguistics No. 48, pp.9-20
1990c Kaboré, Idriss and Regina Blass , Kleine Sprachkunde, Moore-Deutsch, Deutsch-Moore , DSE, Bad Honnef.
1993a 'Are there Logical relations in a text?' LINGUA, Vol. 90, No. 1/2special issue on Relevance Theory.
1993b Response to E. Lou Hohulin of Relevance relations in discourse. Notes on Linguistics No. 63, pp. 33-43
1998 'Evidential Particles as Constraints on higher level explicatures: The case of ja and wohl in German, Proceedings of the Conference of Linguists, Paris , Elsevier.
1998a 'Contrastive focus and Eliminiation' Proceedings of the Gur Conference, University of Bayreuth.
2000a Review of 'Grammaticalisation, a Conceptual Framework', by Bernd Heine, Ulrike Claudi and Friederike Hünnemeyer, the University of Chicago Press (1991) and Auxiliaries, Cognitive Forces and Grammaticalisation By Bernd Heine (1993) Oxford University Press Reviewed in Notes on Linguistics No. 82, SIL Dallas
2000b 'Particles on Higher Level Explicature and Mutual Manifestness' in Anderson, Gisle and Thorstein Fretheim Pragmastic Markers and Propositional Attitude, Pragmatics and Beyond, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
2002 Translation is Linguistics, Notes on Translation Vol. 15, No. 3, p 50-52, SIL, Dallas
2002 (submitted) Review of Speaker, Listener and Communication Exploration in Discourse Analysis By Gillian Brown, CUP 1995 Review in Notes on Linguistics, SIL Dallas
2005 'Manipulation in the speeches and writings of Hitler and the NSDAP' In De Saussure, Louis & Peter Schulz (eds), Manipulation and Ideologies in the Twentieth Century: Discourse, Language, Mind. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Selected Papers and Presentations
"Verbal Irony in Bible Translation," "Manipulation." Meeting in Metarepresentation at NEGST, organized by SIL, 2002.
"Metarepresentation in German discourse," "New insights into Metarepresentation marking." IprA Toronto, July 2003.
"Verbal irony in Bible translation." SBL Cambridge, July 2003.
"Cultural variety and concept choice in Bible translation." University of Groningen, Netherlands, April 2004.
"Interpretive resemblance, reformulation and exemplification" (Plenary Speaker). University of Warsaw, Poland, June 2004.
"Is Biblical communication guided by speech acts and/or relevance?" Panel on Hermeneutics and Relevance Theory, Trinity College, Singapore, June 26-July 4, 2005.
"Establishing the context in bridging in Biblical interpretation." SBL, Edinburgh, July 2006.
"Resemblance strategy in language: evidence from African language data." International Pragmatics Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, July 2007.
"Relevance theory and discourse connectivity: example from Romans 3:21-31." SBL, Vienna, Austria, July 2007.
"Evaluating a new translation course on an Introductory Course in Communication and Translation." SIL, Melbourne, Australia, August 2007.