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The clearest and most effective indicators of the stereotypicality of proverbs are not, however, the basic formulae of logic and degrees of modality or the basic patterns of semantic transformations or other similar constructs, but rather syntactic clichés with their more or less clear correlations with stereotypes occurring on other levels. Similarly, the well-known formula-like, or ornamental character of proverbs which has led some scholars to believe that it is possible to subject proverbs to a logical description, manifests itself first and foremost as syntactic symmetry (in Estonian inevitably accompanied by morphological symmetry). In the proverbs of Baltic- Finnic peoples (Finns, Karelians, Estonians, Votes) whose fondness of the so-called ‘runic verse’ can be observed in a considerable part of their “metric” folklore in several genres, structural symmetry is particularly frequent and pure, especially as compared to German or Russian proverbs, for example, in which end rhyme with its anti-parallelist effect is much more frequent. Syntactic symmetry is, by nature, yet another aspect of parallelism. Having – in the above discussion of the logical structure of proverbs – pointed out a parallelist supra-implicational level, we should like to emphasize that in proverbs, manifestations of parallelism are certainly not confined to this supra-level, but reach the basic implicational level as well.
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According to the opinion of the author of the present article, among the very few original Estonian plays that can claim to be of international stature, Cinderellagame (Tuhkatriinumäng, 1969) by Paul- Eerik Rummo should be regarded as one of the truly outstanding works in Estonian dramaturgy. In the following essay, I will briefly analyse one of the reasons for the destitute state of the original Estonian dramaturgy and then view one of the aspects of the structure of Paul-Eerik Rummo’s remarkable play in this context. A proficient English translation of the play by Andres Männik and Mardi Valgemäe is available in Alfreds Straumanis’ anthology of Baltic plays Confrontations with Tyrrany (1977). All quotes from the play below are taken from this publication.
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For a folklorist all death-related aspects of human life can be divided in two groups: 1) ritual, beliefs that begin to operate at the instance of death in the neighbourhood; 2) general death-related beliefs in daily life. While the first group can be seen as the more ceremonial one and, thus, more obligatory in a way, the other contains more explanations that are not bound to particular customs. In my opinion beliefs connected with certain activities are inclined to be preserved due to their complexity and dynamic character, while at the same time they are constantly under threat of being levelled down and modernised in accordance with changes in human interpretation. On the other hand, the beliefs that enjoy a certain degree of “freedom” can be more fragmented, but they are more likely to contain more archaic traits. Penetrating into the people’s ideas about what will happen after death, how this world and the one after death are connected to each other, or what is their notion about the other world in general, helps us gain information about everyday beliefs.
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"The Godfather is in The Hague, his cell is small and his activities are very limited, but nevertheless the job has been done: Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is dead. Zoran, my friend, one of the most brilliant men I have ever known, and a symbol of new, democratic Serbia, was felled by two sniper bullets in front of his office in the centre of Belgrade on Wednesday, March 12." [...]
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The article discusses words with the shared meaning „sorrow, grief“ in Bulgarian, French and Romanian. Etymological analysis reveals that in French and Bulgarian the initial etymons from which such lexis developed have as a semantic component the idea of physical pain or violence. In French and Romanian, however, there are lexemes whose initial semantics can only be traced to the social sphere. It is not possible to establish shared etymons between French and Bulgarian, but common semantic models are frequent – in both languages there are words for „sorrow, grief“ which developed from earlier meanings of „torture“, „tear, cut“ and „press, squeeze“. Unlike in Bulgarian and French where the words for „sorrow, grief“ have been inherited from Proto-Slavonic and Latin, in Romanian the majority of the words with such meanings are borrowings, mainly form Old Bulgarian and Bulgarian. All such words, to the exception of jale have undergone significant specific semantic transformations. Special attention is devoted to forms such as Fr. ennui and chagrin, Rom. dor, which are of notable interest both from a semantic and from an etymological point of view.
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The paper aims to draw attention to and discuss the ’underrated’ phenomenon of malapropisms. It offers two perspectives on them – a linguistic/pragmatic approach and a cognitive one – and argues in favour of the cognitive viewpoint. The results and conclusions draw on an extensive corpus of malapropisms in English and Bulgarian.
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It is possible to understand the human activity as theoretical experiment, as practical experience and as experiential result. In humans linguistic experience it is possible to recognize three interconnected but different levels of existence: of theoretical form (as architectonics or theory of sign possibility), of actual existence (as praxis) and of socio-cultural values (as knowledge or language competence). It is clear that such a division is based on three types of experience: experimental-grammatical, practical and as knowledge (competence, language know-how) corresponding to three types of existence: theoretical-virtual, pragmatic-actual and semantic-real. From semantic point of view we have to outline the modes of word’s being. Besides having actual existence (in actual utterance), every single word (as well every single object) has its (imaginary, virtually or theoretically) possible existence and its realized existence as socially established meaningful and understandable word-symbol. Practical language experience leads to semantic knowledge, „sedimented“ in words’ meanings and the meaning is understanding (in certain degree) of object’s essence of the sign or internal-predicative, attributive interpretation of the word.
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REVIEWS AND ANNOTATIONS / R. Ishpekova. Policing the naughty newbies. Conceptual metaphors and discourse strategies in the Financial Times’ coverage of corruption- and organized crime-related events in Bulgaria
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