( SWL 1 ) Leipzig , 5-8 August 2004 Non-canonical applicatives and focalization in Tswana
This paper examines non-canonical uses of Tswana applicative verb forms that support the hypothesis of a prototypical relationship between the syntactic role of object and the pragmatic role of focus. In its canonical use, the applicative suffix of Tswana can be defined as licensing the presence of a direct object representing a participant that cannot figur in the construction of the same verb in its non-derived form. One of the non-canonical uses of applicative verb forms examined in this paper involves no change in the valency of the verb: in Tswana, as in other Southern Bantu languages, the use of the applicative form of the verb may simply indicate the focalization of a locative complement or adjunct. This non-canonical use of applicative verb forms must be related to other facts of Tswana, and more generally of Bantu languages, suggesting that in Bantu syntax the immediate post-verbal position, grammaticalized as the obligatory position of the objects of transitive verbs, is primarily a focus position.
Conjunctive and disjunctive verb forms in Setswana
Setswana has a distinction between the so-called ‘short form’ and ‘long form’ of the Present Indicative (positive) which at first seems to be isolated in the system of this language. Its function has so far not been adequately identified. The aim of this paper is to show that: a) several other tenses of the Setswana verb have tonal variations carrying a distinction functionally identical to that between the short form and the long form of the Positive Present of the Indicative; and b) this distinction between what could conveniently be termed ‘disjunctive’ and ‘conjunctive’ verb forms, has a pragmatic function; the use of conjunctive forms implies that the verb is not in final clause position and that the noun phrase or the adverb which follows it provides some new information. Disjunctive forms have the opposite implication: if a disjunctive verb form is followed by a noun phrase or an adverb which seems to belong to the clause in which the verb in question fulfils the predicaste function, this element i...
MT and the Swiss language service providers: an analysis and training perspective
Switzerland is perceived as a highly multilingual country, with four national languages and a solid translation tradition in official, administrative and corporate settings, now even extended to include English. A research case study was set up to investigate the understanding and use of translation and language technologies by Swiss language service providers. This paper highlights some findings, particularly focusing upon the issue of translation automation processes in multilingual documentation production, with a view not only to spot preconceptions or knowledge gaps about MT, but also to 
suggest some training principles. We will argue that training activities ought to present MT systems as 
key aiding components of translator workbenches and, their output, as a valid linguistic resource for further human refining, if necessary. Moreover, in line with the idea that MT can be part and parcel of multilingual content production cycles, we will look at the interaction of MT with controlled language, CAT tools and terminology work. In sum, we will make explicit the usefulness of MT against the 
widespread prejudice that investing in MT does not return any benefits given the ‘low and hilarious quality of its output’, as quoted by most of the interviewees of our case study.