Analysis of Political Discourse: Methodological Constraints

Author(s): Piotr Cap / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2002

The paper bridges considerations characteristic of the domains of linguistic pragmatics, discourse analysis, as well as psycholinguistics and social psychology. It poses the hypothesis that political discourse is as such an analytic determinant, i.e. that it dictates methods of investigation into it. These methods manifest a “bottom-up” or “top-down” orientation (cf. Beaugrande, 1991), which is different in intensity relative to what kind of text is investigated. It is argued that certain texts which “include” an analyst (i.e. where an analyst is part of depicted events or part of discourse audience) or are more “familiar” to him/her generate observations on their function and structure at an early stage of their componential analysis, or even before it takes place. Once the global function of the text has been presupposed, the analysis proceeds “top-down”, i.e. toward all micro-data chunks supportive of the initial hypothesis.

Analysis of the UK prime ministerial discourse on Brexit: Thematic choices and their implications

Author(s): Ray C. H. Leung / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

This study of political discourse focuses on three selected texts about Brexit delivered by British Prime Minister Theresa May in early 2017. The texts represent three rare occasions on which May revealed to the public in detail what “negotiating objectives” the government has for Brexit. The three texts are: (i) the Lancaster House speech; (ii) Britain’s Article 50 notification letter; (iii) May’s oral statement in Parliament on the notification letter. Analytic tools from systemic functional linguistics (SFL) were employed to investigate the thematic choices in these three texts. The findings shed light on the interface between discourse and ideology. For example, frequent reference to the British society in the experiential Themes of the Lancaster House speech suggests that May tries to give prominence to the voice of the British people while addressing the general public. In the Article 50 notification letter, textual Themes which signal an adversative relation construe May’s optimism about the prospect of Brexit. Furthermore, the first-person plural pronoun we in the thematic position serves multiple purposes, one of which is to establish solidarity between Britain and the European Union. The current research underscores the contributions of SFL thematic analysis to the study of ideology in discourse.

Anforderungen an die phraseografische Praxis aus der Perspektive des Nichtmuttersprachlers

Author(s): Doris Sava / Language(s): German / Issue: 59/2016

The German metalexicography of the last decade is preoccupied by exposing the phraseology in (phraseological) dictionaries from the language user’s perpective and from the perspective of his consulting needs. Starting from theoretical considerations regarding the creation of a dictionary entry, the importance of the quality criteria of a lexicographic work, the principle of addressability and the current phraseographic practice, this study exemplarily exposes the main difficulties of the phraseographic practice from a non-native speaker’s perspective and the shortcomings of the Romanian bilingual phraseological dictionaries.

Anita Lorenc, Wymowa normatywna polskich samogłosek nosowych i spółgłoski bocznej, Warszawa 2016

Author(s): Andrii Baran / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 02/2017

The review of: Anita Lorenc, Wymowa normatywna polskich samogłosek nosowych i spółgłoski bocznej, Dom Wydawniczy „Elipsa”, Warszawa 2016, ss. 370

Anomalous use of definiteness and gender in some types of noun phrases in Bulgarian

Author(s): Valentin Gešev / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2016

The paper considers the anomalous use of definiteness and gender in Bulgarian noun phrases containing hypocoristic names, nicknames or sometimes even legal personal names. Proper names of people, being semantically definite, usually do not take the definite article in Bulgarian. But in the cases considered it is just the opposite – in informal conversation, in fiction or in ironic statements the use of a definite article is either obligatory or facultative depending on the formal and semantic features of the names. The factors to trigger the anomalous use described may be the female sex of the designee, the less typical ending of the noun, its being grammatically neuter or its inclusion in an attributive phrase. Thus the female legal personal names (e.g. Marija, Elena) may take a definite article on some special occasions (Marijata, Elenata) but male legal personal names (e.g. Boris) cannot. Male legal or hypocoristic names ending in -o (Stojko, Borko More...

Antropocentrinių frazeologinių vienetų funkciniai ir pragmatiniai ypatumai skirtingose kalbose ir kultūrinėje aplinkoje (aprašomoji ukrainiečių, rusų, lenkų ir anglų kalbų medžiaga)

Author(s): Lubomira Hnatiuk / Language(s): English / Issue: 30/2017

The article attempts to outline some characteristics of the selected Ukrainian-Russian-Polish-English anthropocentric phraseological units. The author strives to show a significant role of anthropocentric phraseological units in the representation of a cultural mentality, as well as in reflecting the national and cultural identity. The investigated examples are grouped into several paradigms, each reflecting a special human trait. It is the first attempt to draw parallels as well contrasts between phraseologisms in a given semantic paradigm both in related Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and non-related English languages. The attempt has been done to learn and understand the national spirit of the certain ethnic group through anthropocentric phraseological units. This is one of the first attempts when these four languages – Polish, English, Russian and Ukrainian, have been compared in the certain paradigms of anthropocentric phraseologisms reflecting the national and cultural identity in order to capture the spirit of the target language. It is essential for effective cross-cultural communication because the national and cultural factors of a single speech environment significantly affect not only the elements of the communicative code, but they are also important in the communication process with all its components, i.e. principles, maxims, rules of communication, communication strategies and tactics.

APOLOGIES IN L1 AND LINGUA FRANCA ENGLISH: A CONTRASTIVE PRAGMATIC STUDY OF TRIPADVISOR RESPONSES

Author(s): Christophe Hopkinson / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

Apology routine formulae in Hungarian

Author(s): Malgorzata Suszczynska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2005

This paper describes the forms and functions of Hungarian apology routine formulae (RF) used by Hungarian adults in a written Discourse Completion Test. Five apology RF types are identified, their choices being influenced by such factors as the offence type and its severity, the social role of the interlocutor and the offender's gender. Two main apology RF types, Ne haragudj `Don't be angry' and Elnézést `Excuse me' are shown to perform complementary communicative functions of restoring harmony in familiar vs. unfamiliar settings. Gender differences in the use of RF types present on various levels of analysis demonstrate that males and females choose different ways to restore social harmony and may attach importance to different aspects of the context.

Approche sur corpus FOS: aspects sémantiques et pragmatiques des combinaisons privilégiées du domaine de la restauration

Author(s): Cindy Charneau / Language(s): French / Issue: 4/2018

This article’s aim is to enrich the reflection on how digital corpora studies can contribute to the analysis of specialized combinations. In order to evaluate this contribution, our objective will be to distinguish different kinds of word combinations into professional speeches for the catering area with the help of semantic and pragmatic aspects. First, we will assess the role devoted to word combinations into the teaching of French as a Foreign Language, then, we will present the methodology used to analyse the corpus before finally presenting the results.

Ar paaugliams skirtų filmų dubliavimas (vis dar) cenzūruojamas?

Author(s): Patrizia Giampieri / Language(s): English / Issue: 31/2017

The dubbing of teen films is claimed to be harshly censored and manipulated in view of the target audience. In particular, the teen films of the 1970s touching upon certain taboo topics, such as sex, drugs and violence are argued to be modified extensively in order to become less disturbing. The aim of this paper is to explore whether these claims are still true, especially in view of recent films addressing sex and drugs. In this respect, a corpus of 14 films (from 1983 to 2015) has been implemented. The first striking difference that this analysis will bring to the fore, is the film rating, being R in North America and G, or a sort of NC-14, in Italy. This paper will then analyze the Italian renderings of the most recurrent swearwords uttered in the corpus. Finally, an analysis of random film phrases will underpin that in the 1980s and 1990s the characters’ utterances were heavily manipulated. On the contrary, as far as NC-14 films and more recent films are concerned, not only do they not censor words or utterances, but they even add extra taboo words. This analysis will hence highlight that NC-14 and more recent teen films are far less manipulated and censored than the films of the 1980s and 1990s.

ARAPSKE MODALNE PARTIKULE I ADEKVATNOST NJIHOVIH PRIJEVODNIH EKVIVALENATA U BOSANSKOME JEZIKU: SURA ET-TEKASUR

Author(s): Belkisa Dolic,Nedim Haracic / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 7/2014

The introductory part of the paper provides a brief overview of the issues that are connected to a translation craft and with modal words as a category whose struggle for linguistic identity has been going on for a long time, and the final outcome only recently began to emerge on the horizon of the pragmatic, linguistic and discourse studies. The main goal of this paper is to define and describe the communicative-pragmatic function of Arab modal words hatta, kella, sevfe, sume, lev, le and n and their actualization in Sura/Chapter Et-tekasur, and then assessing the adequacy of existing translation equivalents for the same word in in the Bosnian language as well as finding new ones, more competent in the case of such proccedings impose as required. As our corpus will serve Sura/Chapter Et-Tekasur in the original Quran (in Arabic) and its seven translation in Bosnian language: Ali Riza Karabeg (1991), Džemaludin Čaušević and Muhamed Pandža (1969), Besim Korkut (1977), Mustafa Mlivo (2004), Enes Karić (1995), Esad Duraković (2004) and Muhamed Mehanović (2013).

Argumentace v jazykové interakci

Author(s): Jakub Kopecký / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 4/2018

The article aims to introduce the fundamental features of the communicative conception of argumentation based on rhetorical and pragmalinguistic argumentation theories. Argumentation is defined as (linguistic) action grounded in accounting for a controversial position with the purpose of convincing listeners of its acceptability or in order to defend it when it is challenged. The basic form of the argumentation process is described using a three-component model which consists of the argument itself, the justified opinion and the warrant represented by the relationship between the previous components allowing the “plausibility transfer” from the argument to the disputed opinion (cf. Toulmin 2003). The article also deals with the conditions that must be met by convincing arguments, with stable content schemes of argumentation (topoi), and it seeks to answer the question of what the rationality of argumentation is based on, i.e. what the sources of its plausibility are.

Arsenie Boca. Particularități ale discursului

Author(s): Lumini?a Hoar?a Carau?u / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 1-2/2016

„Cărarea Împărăției” was written by Arsenie Boca, between 1946 and 1949, being continuously ”polished” during these years, as Monahia Zamfira Constantinescu declares in her work Notă asupra Editiei I (Note on the First Edition). I used The Fifth Edition of the book, the Priest Conf. Dr. Simion Todoran and Monahia Zamfira Constantinescu edition, Deva, 2006, Publishing of the Romanian Saint Orthodox Episcopate of Arad, 358 pages. In Notă asupra Editiei I (Note on the First Edition), it’s mentioned that the quotations from the Holy Scripture were given by Arsenie Boca 95 according to the 1936 edition of the Holy Scripture and the 1939 edition translated by the Priests Prof. Vasile Radu and Gala Galaction. Our study highlights and analyse the main morphologic, syntactic, rhetoric and pragmatic particularities of Arsenie Boca’s book, „Cărarea Împărăției”. In this analysis, we use, also, „Cuvinte vii” (Living Words), edition of father Arsenie Boca edited by Bishop Daniil Stoenescu PhD, printed at Deva, in 2006. The Edition includes, as stated by Bishop Daniil Stoenescu, in the edition's „Foreword”, titled „The Homilies" of Prislop, 137 Sunday and Holiday sermons, evangelic meditations and spiritual words of various sizes, written by Father Arsenie Boca, at „Sâmbăta de Sus" and Prislop Monasteries, between November 25, 1946 and March 27, 1950.

Artefakty językowe jako zasoby marketingowe dzieł literackich na przykładzie opowiadania A. Sapkowskiego Granica możliwości

Author(s): Michal Turniak / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 6.3/2018

Language artefacts are the most natural marketing resource for literary works, since the potential for such use is even directly quoted or slightly re-written. Such linguistic artifacts, after the appropriate selection for the most exciting, expressive, symbolic and intriguing ones, can be successfully used on a variety of media (bookmarks, stickers, wallpapers, etc.) both for promotional purposes as well as a full-fledged product. The aim of the article is to identify the potential of language artefacts to create marketing resources based on the content analysis of the short story Limits of Opportunities by Andrzej Sapkowski. In addition, the added value of this article is a sum-up of characteristics and motifs of individual characters from the analyzed story and proposals for the possibility of their concise description.

Asociačné testy ako lingvokultúrny kognitívny zdroj

Author(s): Jozef Sipko / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1/2012

This paper is devoted to the study of linguistic associations. Revealing ethnic, cultural, historical and spiritual values of a nation, they become an important source of knowledge. Results of the association tests using linguistic data collected from the Russian media of the last twenty years show that this method is capable of constructing a hierarchy of the Russian cultural values.

Aspecte ale influenței Franceze asupra lexicului limbii Române

Author(s): Mihaela Popescu,Daniela Dinca / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 1-2/2016

The study of the French influence on the Romanian language from a lexicographic, lexicological and semantic-pragmatic perspective is a topic of real importance in the context of European plurilingvism, given that French lexical loans are now regarded as part of the cultural heritage of humanity, but also an important element of the Romanian linguistic and cultural identity. Based on the results obtained in two research projects devoted to this issue („Typology of French lexical loans in Romanian. Theoretical aspects, dynamic and semantic categorization” and „Semantic Reconfiguration of Galicianisms in the Romanian socio-cultural space”), the present article aims to emphasize the creative character of the Romanian language that not only kept the meaning of the words borrowed from French in representative conceptual domains of the Romanian language vocabulary (clothing, furniture, gastronomy, etc.), but it has innovated, operating semantic changes (meaningful enrichments, constraints and semantic specializations, positive or negative connotations), in close correlation with the extra-linguistic factor.

Aštuonios pragmatinės tikrinių žodžių teorijos problemos

Author(s): Richard Coates / Language(s): English / Issue: 66/2012

This article develops an approach to the understanding of proper names called The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP), which is built on two central ideas: (1) Proper names have no sense (2) T he essence of being a proper name is to be found in reference, not in denotation It outlines the elements of TPTP, its premises and consequences, and proceeds to examine a selection of eight of the issues which remain, or which appear to remain.

Atasözlerinde Toplumsal Cinsiyet Algısı Olarak Kadın

Author(s): Hanife Nalan Genc / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 94/2018

In the course of time, observations, experiences, and impressions about the general attitudes and behaviors of an individual become stereotyped and turn into the words which characterize a certain situation and/or events. These words reflect the viewpoint of one person against another, the world, and the society of which s/he is a member. From this perspective, proverbs and idioms contain the viewpoints, evaluations, and judgements about concepts, situations, and facts which societies develop within the context of socio-cultural issues. This research is based on the general screening model and emphasizes the perception of women in terms of gender in proverbs. The research analyzes how women are perceived in individual, domestic and social life or how they are made to be perceived by society. It is clearly seen from the research that proverbs and phrases about women are frequently evaluated within a domestic sphere and familial relationships. The perspective of a society toward women becomes integrated with the roles of women in social and domestic life. The gender perception of women in society has religious, economic, political, social, and cultural differences. There are also different perceptions about women’s sexuality, education, and familial bonds. Within this criteria, the thoughts and judgements about the concept of women in proverbs are either affirmative, negative, or a combination of the two. This research finds that the situation of women in proverbs is mostly determined by a brother, father and/or a husband in a male dominated family.

Atbildes uz jautājumiem mutvārdu tekstā: pragmatiskais aspekts

Author(s): Linda Lauze / Language(s): Latvian / Issue: 9/2018

Nowadays, when the communication process and its effectiveness are influenced by information technologies and social networks, there is an invisible change when the social expectations of the partner are not fulfilled. Thus, it is necessary to pay more attention to the dialogue which is the main form of expression in the spoken text. The present article deals with answers to yes-no questions and wh-questions from the point of view of pragmatics. The research is based on the analysis of spoken dialogue that have been fixed in different speech situations in everyday communication as well as taken from television and radio broadcasts where fairly spontaneous speech has been used. The question and answer are one of the types of adjacency pairs. It should be mentioned that an answer to a yes-no question can be a particle jā ‘yes’ or nē ‘no’ or to a wh-question – one word expressing the information necessary for the conversation partner. However, in many cases in the spoken text answers can be expanded when the conversation partner wants to give some more information in their answer. From the point of view of pragmatics answers to yes-no questions and wh-questions can be direct and indirect. Indirect answers belong to implicatures. The author’s attention has been focused on semantic implication too that is implemented not only in answers to yes-no questions but also in answers to whquestions. However, indirect answers are more characteristic to yes-no questions rather than wh-questions in the spoken text.

Atsakymas į klausimą „Kas yra reikšmės teorija?”

Author(s): Mindaugas Japertas / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 35/2003

The article examines one of the main problems of analytical philosophy, namely what are the necessary as well as sufficient conditions for a satisfactory account of meaning in language? The reasons against a systematic theory of meaning and in favour of it are advanced. We recall that it was Wittgenstein, the author of Philosophical Investigations, who most stubbornly resisted any attempt to view the philosophy of language as a meaning-theoretical undertaking. Wittgenstein’s position was opposed by Dummett, one of today’s leading philosophers of language. Dummett maintains that within the theory of meaning (which has yet to enter the scene) there must be, in his terminology, some one key concept which has an application in the derivation of the meaning of each and every sentence in the language. The remainder of the article discusses Davidson’s, another great contributor to the theme, considerations concerning the point and form of a theory of meaning.