Anti-Realism about Fictional Names at Work: A New Theory for Metafictional Sentences

Author(s): Louis Rouillé / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

In this article, I contribute to ongoing debates about the status of fictional names. The main debate in the philosophy of language focuses on whether fictional names should be thought of as non-referring terms (this is anti-realism) or referring terms (this is realism). This debate corresponds to a debate in metaphysics about the ontological status of fictional characters: the anti-realist claim that fictional characters do not exist while the realist say that they do exist in some sense. Although anti-realism is pre-theoretically intuitive, it has been challenged by a powerful argument in favour of realism based on so-called “metafictional” uses of fictional terms. This argument puts a lot of pressure on the anti-realist, for they have to come up with a theory of metafictional sentences which is in keeping with the anti-realist central tenet. I show that the existing anti-realist account of metafictional statements is wrong-headed. I thus propose a new one. In doing so, I hope to free the anti-realist from the realist pressure. However, I do not offer any argument against realism. Consequently, I merely claim that anti-realism be a live option. My modest proposal will, perhaps, make anti-realism more attractive than it is today among philosophers of language.

Nové prírastky v slovníkovom portáli Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV

Author(s): Vladimír Benko,Radovan Garabík / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2021

Slovníkový portál JÚĽŠ SAV od svojho vzniku v r. 2003 slúži odbornej aj laickej verejnosti ako hlavný internetový portál združujúci elektronické verzie významných slovenských lexikografických diel a prístupný je na adrese https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk

The Moral Status of the Reclamation of Slurs

Author(s): Bianca Cepollaro / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

While prototypical uses of slurs express contempt for targets, some reclaimed uses are associated with positive evaluations. This practice may raise concerns. I anticipate this criticism in what I dub the Warrant Argument (WA) and then defend the legitimacy of this kind of reclamation. For the WA, standard pejorative uses of slurs are problematic for assuming unwarranted connections between descriptive properties (e.g., being gay) and value judgements (e.g., being worthy of contempt). When reclaimed uses of slurs express a positive evaluation of their targets—the WA goes—reclamation fails to challenge the unwarranted link between descriptive properties and value judgements, and merely reverses the evaluation polarity from negative to positive. So, the WA concludes, reclaimed uses of slurs evaluating targets positively for belonging to a certain group make a similar moral error as derogatory uses of slurs (sections 2-3). The WA could lead us to condemn reclamation. To resist this conclusion, I draw a parallel with affirmative action, arguing that it can be morally permissible to balance an existing form of injustice by temporarily introducing a countervailing mechanism that prima facie seems to violate the norm of equality: even if the WA were right, it wouldn’t constitute an argument against the moral permissibility of reclamation in the case of most slurs (section 4). This line of argument in defense of pride reclamation may also serve to debunk the myths of reverse racism and reverse sexism (section 5).

Kto je slovenský Leonardo da Vinci? O jednom type metaforicko-metonymických konštrukcií v slovenčine

Author(s): Martina Ivanová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2022

The paper deals with a special kind of metaphoric-metonymic constructions which are referred to as XYZ constructions in the theoretical studies. The article focuses on subtypes of these constructions with Y being a proper name. The analysis shows how metaphor and metonymy co-work in this type of constructions to produce figurative meaning. Analysed structures are based on a special type of metonymic model called paragon-metonymy (IDEAL MEMBER of CATEGORY for WHOLE CATEGORY) and the metonymic scheme BEARER of PROPERTY for PROPERTY. This double metonymic transposition which is at work within this type of construction may cause orthographic problems concerning writing initial capital letter. On the data from corpus Omnia Slovaca III Maior, various microconstructions forming the family of XYZ macroconstruction are analysed with a special focus paid on typical proper nouns functioning as X and Y elements.

Predhorie či Priedhorie, Brestenné či Briestenné? (1. časť)

Author(s): Anna Ramšáková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 4/2022

Klobúk dolu!

Author(s): Katarína Balleková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 4/2022

Podnetom na napísanie tohto článku sa stala časť relácie Nárečja slovenskje v T V Folklorika venovaná klobúku. V nej sa mužská pokrývka hlavy, obyčajne z plsteného materiálu a charakteristická oblým dienkom a strieškou po celom obvode hlavy, predstavuje tromi zemepisne najrozšírenejšími pomenovaniami: širák, klobúk a kalap. Všetky tri sú v našich nárečiach dominantné a v tomto poradí vytvárajú od západu na východ Slovenska tri veľké súvislé oblasti výskytu. K nim sa pripája menšia oblasť názvu kapeľuch, ktorý sa v rovnakom význame používa v nárečiach východnej polovice Spiša a severozápadného Šariša. Dopĺňajú ich regionálne ojedinelé názvy: v najsevernejších častiach Oravy a Spiša kapeľuš (kapeľus), na severnej Orave aj kaňak. Približne päťminútová relácia graficky názorne predstavuje rozšírenosť uvedených lexém na zjednodušenej mape Slovenska, v sprievodnom slove moderátora sú jednotlivé výrazy použité v kratučkom nárečovom kontexte alebo v ilustračnej vete (podobným spôsobom sú vystavané všetky diely tejto relácie).

Concepts May Still Be Objects

Author(s): Harold Noonan / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

In his book (2021) Trueman attempts to provide a solution to the problem of the concept horse, which according to Frege’s published writings is an object, not a concept. In the course of doing so Trueman rejects Wright’s response (1998) according to which some objects are also concepts, for example, the concept horse, so the categories are not exclusive. Trueman’s argument for exclusivity (Chapter 4) is the heart of the book, and as he says , it is his response to holders of differing views, like Wright. I think that there is a gap in Trueman’s argument which needs to be filled if Wright is to be considered refuted.

Duóm hor nohami a gazďiná f posťeli

Author(s): Dagmar Šimunová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2023

Duóm hor nohami a gazďiná f posťeli; Dze stoji, tam śpi; Dze baba śedzi na zatku, tam malo poratku – aj takto sa v Betliari (o. Rožňava) či v Dlhej Lúke pri Bardejove hovorilo o gazdinách, ktoré nič nerobia, rady iba vyspávajú alebo vysedávajú, jednoducho sú lenivé. V Tisovci (o. Rimavská Sobota) sa uloží do posťeľi aňi posťeľňica, aby nemusela pracovať, predstiera chorobu, a v Kláštore pod Znievom (o. Martin) o takej, ktorá sa nepriberá do roboty, hovoria, že tá bi ľen románi čítala.

O názvoch gemerských polievok

Author(s): Dagmar Šimunová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2023

Polievka oddávna bola a doteraz je v slovenskej kuchyni tradičným jedlom. Zaujímala v nej vždy významné miesto. Na dedinách, tie gemerské nevynímajúc, bola často jediným vareným jedlom dňa. Jedávala sa ráno na raňajky, na obed i na večeru. Nie nadarmo sa v Revúcej hovorilo, že poliauka je fundament.

Pár poznámok o slove brownie/brownies

Author(s): Daša Cimermanová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2023

Slovo brownie/brownies pomenúvajúce druh sladkého koláča nie je v slovenčine nové, bežne sa používa v písomnom aj ústnom jazykovom prejave. Stretávame sa však s dvomi podobami na označenie jednej konkrétnosti – brownie aj brownies. Otázky týkajúce sa tohto slova sme zaznamenali aj v jazykovej poradni JÚĽŠ SAV.

Freya – Freyin či Frein?

Author(s): Kristína Piatková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2023

Strom ma korunu, drik a koreňe (1. časť)

Author(s): Ľubica Dvornická / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 3/2023

Krypto- a krypto

Author(s): Judita Páleníková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 3/2023

Každu ňedzeľu bula zabava...

Author(s): Mária Mikolajová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 4/2023

O pomenovaní food court

Author(s): Judita Páleníková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 4/2023

Keď to, čo nepripomína jedlo, sa predsa len dá zjesť

Author(s): Dagmar Šimunová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 5/2023

Cvičíme sed-ľahy alebo sedy-ľahy?

Author(s): Kristína Piatková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 5/2023

Plurilinguismo e disordine del mondo in Carlo Emilio Gadda

Author(s): Delia-Ioana Morar / Language(s): Italian Issue: 2/2024

Starting from the need to convert the disorder of the world into a rational whole and a rigorous vision of reality, Carlo Emilio Gadda, paradoxically, does nothing but reveals the chaotic disorder of his time, the tangle of relationships that hides behind the apparent simplicity of objects and facts. His two unfinished masterpieces, That Awful Mess in Via Merulana and The Cognition of Pain, offer us a portrait of the infinite multiplicity of relationships of which every manifestation of reality is an expression. To represent all this, he brings together the national language and its various dialects, mixes the sectorial languages of science, technology, engineering, medicine, psychoanalysis and art history. The result is an original and extremely innovative prose, in which the vulgar and low registers alternate with lyrical and sublime registers in an extraordinary stylistic excursion. His stories convince us that the complexity of reality cannot be traced back to a reassuring, unambiguous and complete description.

Postrzeganie pieniędzy utrwalone we frazemach – szkic problemu

Author(s): Wioletta Kochmańska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 23/2024

The text undertakes the reconstruction of facets for more than 330 phrases with the lexeme “money,” recorded from the sources, which are collections of paremia (with an originally oral mode of transmission) and important for modern culture, quotations of a literary nature (primarily in the rank of winged words). A methodology appropriate to pro-analysis according to the assumptions of cognitive definition was used, thanks to which the following facets were extracted: physical features of money, the object of human desire, functions of money, source of money, amount of money, place (for) money, and valuation of money. The image of the essence of money hidden in the collected texts testifies that it is such an important element of the human world that it is sometimes placed as the center of attention for the communities living in it; is a factor that determines the rank of its participants and at the same time forms the basis for the formation of their image. Regardless of how they are judged, they give joy, the opportunity to realize dreams, plans and needs.

Zbornik radova o dagestanskim jezicima posvećen jubileju profesora R. O. Mutalova

Author(s): Sofija Gadžijeva / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 98/2024

Review of: Zbornik radova o dagestanskim jezicima posvećen jubileju profesora R. O. Mutalova. Durqasi xazna. Sbornik statej k 60–letiju R. O. Mutalova. Red. T. A. Maisak, N. R. Sumbatova, Ya. G. Testelets. Buki Vedi, Moskva, 2021.