Se basant sur un corpus de 1800 tweets, cet article compare deux constructions verbales du français informel : la construction pronominale se taper (ex. se taper une randonnée, se taper la gastro, se taper une bonne bouteille) et la construction active taper (ex. taper un foot, taper un coma, taper un grec), une variante plus récente qui semble gagner du terrain dans le langage des jeunes sur les réseaux sociaux. En s’appuyant sur les résultats de notre étude, nous montrerons que ces deux constructions se distinguent au niveau (i) de la fréquence et de l’ouverture lexicale des emplois que celles-ci ont en commun, (ii) des restrictions sémantiques et morphosyntaxiques imposées sur le syntagme nominal sélectionné, et (iii) des nuances sémantiques véhiculées par ces deux formes verbales. Nous montrerons que ces nuances sémantiques tiennent au fait que les emplois pronominaux mettent principalement en oeuvre des constructions datives tandis que les emplois actifs sont des extensions du sens de base du verbe.

This article revisits the provenance of the preverbal imperfective aspect marker ka, which characterizes the French-lexicon creoles of the Lesser Antilles and French Guiana and sets them apart from those of Haiti, Louisiana, and the Indian Ocean, which instead employ reflexes of après ‘after’. The origin of ka is controversial and still not properly understood. We argue that earlier proposals have focused too narrowly on the syntactic properties of the alleged source constructions, while neglecting semantic and functional motivations. We show that the emergence of ka follows the well-attested Location Schema, i.e. the grammaticalization pathway from locative predication to progressive aspect, and identify the French locative construction n’(en) être qu’à X ‘to be only at X’ as the most plausible source. In addition to its semantic aptness, the perceptual salience of this construction made it an ideal candidate for grammaticalization in a creolizing context. We bolster our argumentation by means of typological data from creoles and non-creoles. By situating ka within this broader typological framework, the article not only solves a much-debated etymological puzzle, but also demonstrates that, although creoles innovate, the cognitive-semantic mechanisms shaping their grammars are essentially the same as those shaping ‘traditional’ languages.

Focusing on the strategy game The Opium War (1997), developed in mainland China, this article argues that, while designed as a patriotic product about the Opium War, the game moves beyond simple propaganda. Through its rule-based systems, it constructs a nuanced historical argument that operationalizes the tension within the Marxist concept of historical inevitability and contingency. The inevitability of the Qing Empire’s structural weakness is conveyed through a high degree of difficulty and the mechanics of systemic corruption, while contingency is enabled by allowing skilled players to achieve a counterfactual victory, subverting the orthodox narrative of the Qing’s inevitable defeat in the war. This subversive design was politically tenable because it operated within the accepted framework of Marxist historiography. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that video games can generate more complex historical experiences than traditional media. By analyzing this non-Western case, the article calls for a more globally conscious approach to game studies, and it recognizes games as significant sites of historical debate within politically sensitive contexts. It addresses a dual gap: the Western-centric bias in historical game studies and a lack of inquiry into the extent to which video games can engage with Chinese history.

A 23-foot cutter lies adjacent to the wreck of HMS Terror (Franklin Expedition, 1845–1848). Historical accounts of the 28-foot boat found in 1859 at site NgLj-3 in Erebus Bay (“Boat Place”) describe extensive field modification, including lightened upperworks, an altered rail arrangement, and a 9-inch weather-cloth supported by iron stanchions that also served as thowells. This paper uses reproducible image-processing methods to test whether the cutter preserves visible features consistent and convergent with elements of the NgLj-3 modification suite. Using still imagery, contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalisation, colour-index segmentation, and gradient-based seam detection, we assess three markers: anomalous rail height relative to the stemhead, preferential loss of upper planking, and a rail-mounted upright compatible with a stanchion. The imagery shows a pronounced mismatch between rail height and stemhead elevation relative to Admiralty cutter plans. A sub-gunwale void consistent with missing upperworks, which is notably similar to the strake replacement described, and a small upright feature of approximately the same order of magnitude as the reported weather-cloth height. These observations are suggestive rather than diagnostic, but taken together, they support a hypothesis that the Terror cutter may preserve traces of field modification comparable to those described at NgLj-3.

Initiatives protecting wild animal health, including vaccination campaigns, medical treatments, and parasite control programs, have been implemented for decades. Their goal has been to safeguard human well-being, as well as to further conservationist goals. This paper argues that the well-being of wild animals, considered as sentient individuals, should be another crucial reason to expand these measures. Rather than treating animal health in a purely instrumental manner, this perspective aligns more closely with the ethos of the One Health paradigm. The paper presents examples of existing programs that benefit wild animals and could be broadened based on this idea. Next, it explains the kind of cross-disciplinary research framework—integrating animal welfare science, ecology, and other disciplines—needed to successfully develop effective ways to help wild animals. It then argues that the reasons to protect wild animal health also apply in the case of other ways to help wild animals. This is relevant especially in light of the very large scale of wild animal suffering.

This article takes xenophobia in right-wing ecological conservation in contemporary Germany as its research object, first examining its manifestation in the history of right-wing ecotourism. Then, using species and animal protection as examples, it specifically analyzes the ways, argumentative characteristics, and underlying motives of the NPD, the AfD, and the Third Way in combining ecological topics with xenophobia. This article emphasizes the continuity and importance of xenophobia in the history of right-wing ecological conservation in Germany and its new characteristics in contemporary times. My conclusion is that xenophobia has always been an important objective of right-wing ecological conservation, and contemporary German right-wing ecological conservation has both maintained historical traditions and undergone contemporary updates. In right-wing ecological conservation in contemporary Germany, far-right parties and organizations use both traditional biologism and more covert cultural racism to incite xenophobia. However, whether advocating the superiority of “species (race)” or “culture,” the underlying ideology is one of inequality. Similar to the argumentation methods in the history of right-wing ecological conservation, species conservation and animal protection in right-wing ecological conservation in contemporary Germany ultimately equate to homeland protection. Therefore, species conservation and animal protection are merely tools for far-right parties and organizations to build their image, disguise xenophobic ideas, and greenwash their agenda. This article contributes to research on immigration and the far right in contemporary Germany.

In the autumn of 1920, Dáil Éireann leveraged the hunger strike and subsequent death of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, to launch a propaganda campaign aimed at advancing the Irish independence cause in the context of the Anglo-Irish War. One of the principal countries targeted by this campaign was Spain. There, Sinn Féin received significant support from the various branches of the Catalan nationalist movement. However, this support was met with unease by Irish republicans, whose primary objective was to win over broader Spanish public opinion and Spanish political elites. This article examines how the Dáil crafted its propaganda strategy in Spain based on the principles of realpolitik, in contrast to a Catalan nationalism that offered its backing from a position of idealism, and situates that response within a broader context and contrasts it with the reception it received from the Irish delegates led by Éamon de Valera.

Since 1859, attempts to resolve the question of the identity of a sailor from the 1845 Franklin expedition whose body was found that year on the south shore of King William Island have been complicated by contradictory evidence found with the skeleton. Documents found with the body implied the man was Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop, but the clothing indicated the man held a domestic rating, a steward or officer’s servant. This paper examines the question of the sailor’s identity through a review of the investigative framework of past attempts to ascertain the man’s identity. It then presents results of comparative DNA analyses conducted on the skeleton and on samples provided by descendants of Harry Peglar and six of the eight stewards. Comparison of DNA profiles obtained from the skeleton with those of descendants of the stewards yielded no matches, but comparison of the mtDNA profile obtained from the skeleton with a presumed descendant of Harry Peglar yielded a match with a genetic distance of 0. We conclude that the DNA and genealogical evidence confirm that the identity of the sailor whose skeleton was discovered in 1859 was that of Henry Peter (“Harry”) Peglar, Captain of the Foretop, HMS Terror.

A non-identity theodicy is any attempt to explain why an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, and all-loving God might cause or permit the pain and suffering of his creatures that makes use of one or more claims about the identity conditions of those creatures. Most non-identity theodicies make use of one identity thesis in particular: origin essentialism, the thesis that the particular circumstances in which a person first comes into existence are essential to that person. In this paper, I argue that, despite some impressive upshots, origin essentialist non-identity theodicies fall short in at least two ways. I argue, furthermore, that both of these shortcomings can be rectified by building a non-identity theodicy on a stronger identity thesis: superessentialism, the thesis according to which every event in the life of a person, and not just the circumstances in which he or she first begins to exist, is essential to that person.

The last phases and immediate aftermath of World War One represented both the peak of the nationality question and the definitive breakthrough of the minority one. The “morphing” of one into the other (as Holly Case has defined it) is often mentioned in the historiography but rarely analyzed in detail. This article focuses on the key period 1916–1923 and tracks this transition examining the work of different organizations and actors that contributed to it. The article shows that the switch from nationalities to minorities was not absolute. Although the grammar of minorities and majorities was dominant in the interwar years, the vocabulary of nationalities did not disappear and many actors used these terms as synonyms to refer to the same underlying “problem”: the persistence of national difference in an increasingly homogenizing world. Above all, the move from nationalities to minorities foreclosed any possibility of obtaining independent statehood in the new Europe of nation-states. Finally, the article dissects the process whereby the imposition of minority treaties only to Central and Eastern European countries entrenched a stereotypical distinction between a civilized homogenous West and a repressive heterogeneous East that established an understanding of the two areas as undifferentiated monolithic entities.

Italy’s dynamics of labour exploitation in agriculture have recently attracted intense scrutiny, nationally and internationally. Legislative reform and multiple policy initiatives have been introduced since 2016 to address some of the factors driving exploitation within and beyond traditional mafia areas. While much scholarship has examined the effectiveness of legislation and enforcement, little attention has been paid to the policies’ more innovative dimensions. Indeed, recognising that repression is not enough to deter criminal exploitation of workers, Italy has devised a model of governance-with-civil-society, seeking to mobilise and empower grassroots actors to tackle the causes of these crimes. This article assesses whether this collaborative governance approach is proving able to achieve its goals. It draws on grey literature and semi-structured interviews with civil society actors tasked with fighting exploitation from ‘below’: unionists, activists, NGOs, independent observers, and alternative food producers. Borrowing from collaborative governance studies, it identifies strengths and weakness, and discusses whether the model offers a viable approach for fighting organised and white-collar crime in Italy beyond traditional ‘anti-mafia’ systems.