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This study examines the performance of four major AI translation tools Google Translate, Papago, DeepL, and ChatGPT in translating poetry between Korean and English in both directions. Poetry translation presents unique challenges, including cultural context, stylistic intricacies, and emotional resonance, which machine translation tools traditionally struggle to capture. The research utilizes Juliane House’s 2015 Translation Quality Assessment model(the TQA), combined with a custom numerical rubric, to evaluate both covert and overt errors in translation. To ensure cultural and poetic variety, the study analyzes two canonical poems: Seo, Jeong-ju’s “Beside the Chrysanthemums” (Korean) and Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” (English). These serve as case studies for both Korean-to-English (K2E) and English-to-Korean (E2K) translation tasks. Evaluation scores from both human and AI assessors reveal that ChatGPT achieved the highest performance, scoring 93/100 on K2E, closely rivaling human translations, while DeepL scored significantly lower at 72/100. Results also indicate that translations from English to Korean (E2K) were consistently more challenging, with average scores dropping by 7.75 points across all tools. Strong correlations between AI and human evaluation scores (r 0.83) suggest that AI models, particularly ChatGPT, can support high-quality literary translation assessments. The study highlights the emerging role of generative AI as an assistant not a replacement in poetry translation workflows, suggesting a promising future for AI-human collaboration in preserving literary nuance and emotional depth.

Both human listeners and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems tend to struggle more with recognizing second-language (L2) speech than first-language (L1) speech. This study examined the performance of Whisper (a state-of-the-art ASR system) and L1 English listeners in recognizing L1 and L2 English under a controlled, homogeneous setting (using the same sentences and data collection procedures), enabling a direct comparison across listener and talker types. Speech recordings from 67 L2 English talkers and 25 L1 English talkers embedded in varying levels of background noise were tested, and transcriptions from Whisper and humans were analyzed. Across both L1 and L2 speech, Whisper showed overall higher word recognition accuracy than humans. Notably, it achieved near-perfect performance in quiet or low-noise conditions. Despite this superior performance, Whisper showed greater hallucination rates than humans under loud-noise conditions, with a particularly large gap for L2 speech. Further analysis revealed that Whisper’s hallucination rates remained higher for L2 than L1 speech even after controlling for accuracy, suggesting that these hallucinations are not merely a byproduct of recognition difficulty but reflect a functional difference in how Whisper processes L1 vs. L2 speech. Overall, these findings underscore both the strengths and limitations of Whisper: its robustness in clean listening conditions, but also its hallucination bias against L2 speech.

This study investigates the distributional patterns of the English modal verbs can and could in native (L1) and non-native (L2) spoken discourse using a multifactorial corpus-based approach. Drawing on spoken data from the ICNALE Spoken Dialogue corpus, utterances containing either can or could were annotated for their morphosyntactic and pragmatic features. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that modality, sentence type, and subject person significantly predict their distributional patterns, with interrogative and epistemic contexts most strongly associated with could. Importantly, a significant interaction between language group and sentence type was observed, suggesting that L1 speakers frequently employ could in interrogatives to convey politeness or mitigate face-threatening acts, while the same does not hold for L2 learners. Contrary to prior research, L2 learners in this study did not show reduced usage of epistemic modals, indicating that spoken discourse may afford more opportunities for epistemic modals than previously reported. These findings shed light on how grammatical and pragmatic factors jointly shape L2 learners’ modal usage and highlight the importance of register in understanding L2 speakers’ acquisition of modal expressions.

It has been known that Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) elicits a sense of psychological stability and calmness. Kim and Kim (2022) reported the affective representation of ASMR stimuli in the core affective space. Using their dataset, Kim (2022) showed that affective words including angry, fearful, irritated, happy, calm, gay, sad, anxious, gloomy, and peaceful, were mapped onto the valence-arousal space. In this study, I replicated Kim (2022) and also investigated the relationship between affective adjectives and four semantic variables (certainty, preference, familiarity, and imageability). Correlation analyses and multidimensional scaling were performed. The results showed a successful replication of the representation of affective adjectives. Additionally, preference, familiarity, and imageability were linearly correlated with positive valence. Quadratic term of valence was not related to affective adjectives. This result differs from studies using conventional affective words, indicating that the relationship between affective and semantic variables may be stimulus-specific rather than stimulus-general.

This study examines the modes of positioning manifested in the 2025 Constitutional Court’s impeachment decision, employing the positioning theory of Davies & Harré (1990/1999) as a theoretical framework and adopting the analytical methodology proposed by Kayi-Aydar (2019). At a more granular level, the analysis follows the typology of positioning modes outlined by van Langenhove & Harré (1999), with the aim of identifying the specific features of each mode as employed in the Court's discourse. The analysis reveals that the Court dismissed the respondent’s argument that the declaration of martial law constitutes an act of high-level political discretion as a personal positioning mode lacking legal foundation. The Court further engaged in a deliberate other-positioning mode to morally censure both the respondent and, to an extent, the petitioner. Ultimately, the Court assigned legal responsibility for the constitutional violation through a performative positioning mode, culminating in the respondent’s removal from office. Additionally, the Court demonstrated a deliberate self-positioning mode, presenting itself as a unanimous collegial body that adjudicates ‘separately yet together,’ while also acknowledging the presence of concurring supplemental opinions.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the interjection m’enfin used in Gaston Lagaffe, a comic series by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin, and to explore the value it holds within the work. To this end, the paper examines the implied meaning of m’enfin, the psychology and consciousness of the protagonist Gaston when he uses the expression, and the message conveyed by the author through Gaston. M’enfin, a contraction of mais (but) and enfin (finally), is an exclamation that implies ‘things did not turn out as intended’. It is the only word Gaston utters when his enthusiastic attempts end in disaster due to a momentary mistake. However, behind this m’enfin, which reflects the disastrous and ridiculous outcomes of his failures, lies a positive value of the human Gaston. Despite repeated errors and failures, he never gives up and resolves to try again in pursuit of human happiness. In other words, Gaston’s m’enfin carries the sorrow of human beings in modern society who have lost their dignity and freedom, becoming mere cogs in a vast organization. For readers, Gaston symbolizes human dignity, freedom, and a longing for nature a figure of nostalgia and yearning. While m’enfin signals that Gaston’s attempt has ended in failure, it also heralds a new attempt. As long as Gaston’s m’enfin continues, his challenges do not end, and he remains a hero to readers, creating yet another popular myth. Until Gaston’s m’enfin (I’ve failed again) is transformed into enfin (Finally, I did it), his challenges and the readers’ support will continue.

This paper traces Margaret Fuller’s evolution from a self-described “bright and ugly” girl, grappling with anxiety over her femininity, to a pioneering American woman scholar who articulated a proto-feminist discourse of gender fluidity. Employing Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, it examines Fuller’s journals, letters, and writings, with particular attention to her personal experiences of gender trouble, including her rigorous, boyish education, and unsettling adolescent experiences. This paper, then, turns to her troubled friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, analyzing how she gradually moved beyond the need for his intellectual mentorship to fashion herself as an independent ‘Woman Thinking.’ It further explores Fuller’s two short stories and Woman in the Nineteenth Century, illustrating her radical assertion that “there is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.” Ultimately, this paper argues that Fuller’s intellectual independence, honed through persistent struggles with gender norms, enabled her to launch a groundbreaking critique of gender essentialism of her time and advocate for women’s human rights to self-culture and personal development.

In this paper, we explore the complex philosophical concepts present in the works of Zhuangzi, focusing particularly on the theories of mutual generation and transformation within the context of life and death. Central to our discussion are the notions of “방사방생” (mutual generation), “제사생” (equal life and death), and the implications of these ideas as they relate to achieving a harmonious existence free from the conventional dualities of life and death. We delve into the interpretation of “방사방생,” which articulates the interconnectedness and continuous cycle of birth and death, as reflected in Zhuangzi's philosophy. This concept is further examined alongside “제사생,” which posits an egalitarian view of life and death, suggesting a state where life and death are seen as harmonious and non-oppositional. Our analysis is grounded in a detailed examination of classical texts, including commentaries by scholars such as Lin and Lynn, who offer modern translations and interpretations of these ancient ideas. We also consider the historical context and the evolution of these concepts over time, drawing connections between Zhuangzi's views and contemporary philosophical thought. Through this exploration, we aim to shed light on the profound and often enigmatic views of Zhuangzi on life and death, highlighting their relevance to modern philosophical discourse and their potential to inform a more holistic and integrated understanding of existence.

This study explores Marguerite Yourcenar’s early works L’homme couvert de dieux (1926) and Denier du rêve(1934) through the lens of political thought. Both texts, though differing in form and tone, employ historical and mythological allegory to reflect on the nature of totalitarian power and the conditions of human existence. Rather than making direct ideological statements, Yourcenar encodes political critique in symbolic figures and aesthetic structures. While Denier du rêve has often been studied in isolation for its political implications, this research considers it alongside L’homme couvert de dieux, first published in the communist newspaper L’Humanité. The comparative approach highlights a more nuanced ideological trajectory. In L’homme couvert de dieux, the protagonist's submission to artificial gods suggests the dangers of blind devotion and sacrificial ignorance. In Denier du rêve, the symbolic exchange of dream and silver coin exposes the commodification of subjectivity under authoritarian regimes. Figures such as ‘the Duce’ and ‘Caesar’ symbolize a power structure sustained by invisible violence and recurring indifference. This study argues that Yourcenar’s political poetics operates through indirect, allegorical means situating her within a broader 1930s literary context where writers often addressed political crisis through oblique and aesthetic strategies. By reassessing these two works together, this article repositions Yourcenar not as a politically neutral author but as one experimenting with form to critique power and complicity. This perspective also opens the way for comparative studies of other ideologically ambiguous writers of the twentieth century.