Metaphysics of Reality: Pragmatico-Analytic Interpretation of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Approach

Author(s): Andrii Synytsia / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The article examines Ludwig Wittgenstein’s views on the world and human beings in it. It is emphasized that the philosopher, in addition to paying a lot of attention to the study of language, which determined the basis of his method of cognition, followed a number of worldview ideas about reality. They were supported by the achievements of physics of that time, although Wittgenstein himself argued that the study of reality is not possible without understanding the metaphysical issues concerning the unspeakable, supernatural, spiritual, and so on. It shows how Wittgenstein interpreted the world and reality, distinguished between different levels of being, studied logical atoms, not laws, analyzed facts, not things, comprehended not only the macrocosm but also the microcosm, and as a result built a pragmatic ontological-cosmological conception, in which human and the way of their being in the world occupied a significant place.

Lingwista wobec języka uczuć

Author(s): Elżbieta Laskowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1&2/2016

Celem referatu jest zebranie dotychczasowych sposobów rozumienia zagadnienia języka uczućprzez lingwistów oraz zaproponowanie sposobu opisu języka uczuć. Zagadnienie to byłoprzedmiotem zainteresowania takich badaczy jak Wierzbicka, Grabias, Nowakowska-Kempna,Awdiejew, Habrajska, Pajdzińska, Data. Biorąc pod uwagę poziomy języka, uwzględniane wgramatyce komunikacyjnej, autorka rozważa zjawiska nazywanie uczuć oraz ich wyrażania.Nazywanie mieści się na poziomie ideacyjnym, Wyrażanie – na poziomie interakcyjnym.Badając wypowiedzi pod względem języka uczuć, zauważyć można, że nie zawsze łatwo jestwskazać granicę między wymienionymi poziomami. Trudności te związane są przede wszystkimz dwiema kwestiami. Pierwsza z nich polega na wykorzystaniu nazw uczuć do ich wyrażania,mamy wtedy do czynienia z wyrażaniem uczuć za pomocą ich nazywania. Druga kwestia toemotywne nacechowania nazw uczuć albo też emotywne nazywanie reakcji mogącychświadczyć o uczuciu. Analiza wypowiedzi, zawierających nazywanie i wyrażanie uczućdowodzi, że w różnych odmianach języka omawiane zjawisko występuje w bardzo różnychzakresach i przejawia się bardzo zróżnicowanymi środkami językowymi). // The goal of the paper is collecting hitherto existing ways of understanding the concept of the language of feelings by linguists and suggesting a way of describing the language of feelings.This question was the subject interest of such researchers as Wierzbicka, Grabias,Nowakowska-Kempna, Awdiejew, Habrajska, Pajdzińska, and Data. Taking into account the levels of a language, included in communication grammar, the author considers naming of feelings and expressing them. The naming is contained in the ideation level, the expressing –in the interaction level. Examining utterances with reference to the language of feelings one can notice that it is not easy to show a borderline between the mentioned levels. The difficulties are mainly connected with two questions. The first one consists in using the names of feelings for expressing them, in which the feelings are expressed by naming them. The second question is the emotive marking of the names of feelings or emotive naming of reactions which can manifest the feeling. The analysis the utterances including naming and expressing feelings proves that the phenomenon in question occurs in various scopes and manifest in diverse means of language.

“Spinning the thread/(t)s” around images of time

Author(s): Camelia Cmeciu / Language(s): English Issue: 1&2/2016

Salvador Dali’s words are actually the embodiment of surrealism1, founded in 1924, in Paris, by André Breton with his Manifeste du surréalisme. This literary and art movement was based on surprising and unexpected juxtaposition of elements of reality. These startling transformations of the real world bring forth new objects that are the creative expressions of imagination, “free of the conscious control of reason and free of convention” 2. The plunge into the subconscious or spontaneous thought could be actually linked to the physical state of headache, mentioned by Dali when starting to paint watches. The combination between the hard metal texture of watches and the softness of the molded watches relies on the “principle of paranoiac metamorphosis” in tangible form (Descharnes, Néret, 2001: 171). My paper is actually a “digging into” the process of creating (of spinning) the nonverbal and verbal images of some indices (threads) of time, watches becoming such a semiotic object. The theoretical background used in the understanding of the reasoning beyond the subjective depicting of some real objects is epistemological in nature, dealing with traditional and social semiotics. The empirical data4 will be provided by Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory (Soft Watches) and Carl Sandburg’s Solo for Saturday Night Guitar. These two verbal and visual images are closely connected, the former being the picture accompanying the discursive representation of time by Sandburg.

Recenzja tomu Niedosłowność w języku. Język a Komunikacja 37 pod redakcją Marcina Odelskiego, Aleksandry Knapik, Piotra Chruszczewskiego i Władysława Chłopickiego, Kraków: Krakowskie Towarzystwo Popularyzowania Wiedzy o Komunikacji Językowej „Tertium

Author(s): Grażyna Sawicka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1&2/2016

Творчеството на Георги Караславов по време на комунистическия режим. Пътят от реализма към социалистическата конюнктура

Author(s): Antoaneta Alipieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The article traces the path of one of the great Bulgarian fiction writers, established between the two world wars. An author with strongly leftist convictions, Georgi Karaslavov became a figure of power in the second half of the 20th century, which determined the pathos of his work, which appeared within the regime. It actively participates in the formation of the communist mythology, in the display of fetishes and values, which are an outright falsification not only of the historical facts, but also of the left ideology, which is very popular in the interwar Bulgarian period.

За деня на раждане на Васил Левски

Author(s): Vidin Sukarev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The article concerns the recently published study by Plamen Mitev and Grigor Boykov about the year of birth of the Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski. The authors firmly established 1840 instead of hitherto accepted 1837. The new evidences about the birth year of Levski require also a revision of the birth day. The article proposes that the Apostle of Freedom was born on 9/21 of July 1840.

Нови данни за дюлгерите, работили в Копривщица през XIX век

Author(s): Svetlana Muhova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The article introduce poorly researched or completely unknown documents, revealing many unknown data about the builders of public buildings in Koprivshtitsa in the period 1817 – 1858. The obscurity of the information contained in this rich source material, creates a great void in our knowledge and sometimes leads to repeated inaccurate or unreliable information, based on uncertain memoirs. The article present the data from the documents containing the names of the people who created wonderful examples of the Bulgarian Revival architecture in Koprivshtitsa in the XIX century.

Предпочитан начин на управление и комуникационни характеристики на роботите асистенти в зависимост от индивидуалните нужди на потребителите

Author(s): Margarita Bakracheva,Nayden Chivarov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

In the article are outlined the results of a project aimed to describe the use of robot assistants in the light of improving the quality of life in the context of an aging population and increased percentage of people with disabilities in Europe. This shifts the focus to uniting and integrating the efforts of different sciences in search for adequate operating measures and stressing on what people with specific difficulties can, but not on what they cannot do, and maintenance of the autonomy of seniors living alone. The preferences regarding the assistant robot’s control, appearance, functions, and voice, people with disabilities and seniors living alone have, are described. Two groups of users’ preferences are identified - universal and specific, which is a valuable guidance for optimal consideration of the general and subjective characteristics and needs.

Translating Nonce Words (A Corpus Study Based on a Novel)

Author(s): Svetlana Nedelcheva / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Translators face different challenges in their everyday work. They have to deal with lexico-semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and cultural problems. This article focuses on John Harding’s novel Florence & Giles where the narrator is the 12-year-old Florence. She has created her own language by distorting words, e.g. nouns and adjectives are turned into verbs, nouns into adjectives, adverbs and prepositions into verbs, etc. These nonce words constitute Florence’s fairly unusual style. Based on a parallel corpus of the original English novel and its Bulgarian translation, this research uses the contrastive method to analyze the intensely concentrated nonce words in the text and their equivalents in Bulgarian

Опыт преподавания устного перевода магистрантам-лингвистам в режиме дистанционного обучения

Author(s): Irina Tivyaeva,Albina Vodyanitskaya / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/2021

The goal of the paper is an attempt to offer a systematic description of the authors’ experience in distance teaching of a consecutive and simultaneous interpreting course to graduate students of linguistics within the concept of transitioning to online instruction. The paper provides a review of distance interpreting programs available online and focuses on a particular case of adjusting an on-campus course in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting to online instruction. Preliminary results highlight technical and didactic specifics of teaching an online course in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting and make prominent pros and cons of online student teamwork. Drawing from the case study, the authors discuss possible solutions for online interpreter training.

Mетодът „Глобални симулации” при преподаване на испански в сферата на ихтиологията

Author(s): Mihal Pavlov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The purpose of this article is to present the contemporary application of global simulations in the teaching of specialized Spanish in the field of ichthyology. The methods of linguodidactic archeology and linguodidactological analysis are used. The perspectives and concrete results of the application of the “Global Simulations” method in teaching ichthyological terminology to Bulgarian students studying Spanish are studied. The different phases of the application of this method are presented and conclusions are made about its effectiveness in the conditions of the Bulgarian educational system.

Diachronic Analysis and Deictic Means of French Benevolences and Curses

Author(s): Nargiz Seidova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Benevolences and curses, integral and authentic part of the discourse, most clearly reflect the culture of people. The use of these expressions in the communication space of different languages indicates the need for their study from the standpoint of linguistics, folklore, stylistics, rhetoric, psychology, cultural studies and other sciences. This article provides diachronic analysis and examines the deictic means of French benevolences and curses in the French language. The material for the study was the texts of the Bible, French epic poems, medieval legends, ballads, tales, and fiction. When considering this topic, the author used both general and special scientific methods and techniques: a historical-etymological method, a descriptive method that includes methods for observing, comparing, interpreting and classifying the material being studied; semantic identification method; distribution method. Comparing the medieval French discourse with the modern French language, the author examined the grammatical and semantic evolution, which underwent benevolences and curses.

Обучението по словашки език в Италия в контекста на словашко-италианските културни взаимоотношения

Author(s): Dagmar Kročanová / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The initial part of the paper describes the history of Slovak language and culture teaching in Italy, namely, Slovak lectorates at University of Naples L´Orientale, University of Rome Sapienza, and University of Bologna in Forlì. The central part of the paper discusses the foundation, development and activities of the most recent lectorate, founded in 2006, and currently affiliated with the Department of Interpreting and Translating at University of Bologna in Forlì. The paper mentions the circumstances related to the foundation of the lectorate, especially the message of Alexander Dubček (1921 – 1992) upon whom University of Bologna conferred the honorary doctorate in 1988. The paper discusses various activities of the lectorate (language teaching, research and publishing, promoting Slovakia and Slovak culture). It mentions the collaboration with Slovak and Italian institutions, including the Embassy of Slovak Republic in Rome, Slovak Institute in Rome and Honorary Consulate of Slovak Republic in Forlì. The final part of the paper mentions the current situation and perspectives of Slovak studies in Italy.

Comedy and humour:

Author(s): Mehrdad Bidgoli / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

In this essay, I aim to study comedy and humour from an ethical perspective. My main proposal is that comedy and humour can be understood alternatively in the light of ethics, and in one sense, they actually begin, more effectively, with an ethical sensibility. Effective comedy and humour initiate through an ethical sensibility called “hospitality”; ideally, they are preceded by this ethical openness. I will argue that it is this pre-original ethical hospitality and openness that can give rise to more effective moments of comedy, humour, carnival, festivity and also laughter, opening the Self to the Other in order to be able to enter into a disinterested humorous (dialogic) experience. Hospitality is of prime importance here because it turns out to be part and parcel of comedy as it also underlies the ethics of alterity. I therefore suggest that the thoughts of both Emmanuel Levinas and Mikhail Bakhtin can give rise to a fruitful study of ethics, comedy and humour. I will “reduce” socio-political complexities of our daily life-world to comic moments through Bakhtin, and then expose the reader to a Levinasian simplicity and ethical openness that actually takes place before effective comedy and humour can begin. In this essay, I mainly have literary/critical aims, and to fulfil that aim, I will briefly discuss two Shakespearean works and contextualize my thesis. The matter of studying comedy, humour and ethics in a broader cultural, social and/or philosophical context is open for other thinkers.

Humour and ex-Yugoslav nations:

Author(s): Željko Pavić,Nataša Krivokapić / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

This study explores the issue of humour stereotyping between ex-Yugoslav nations, its veridicality and possible explanations. Three research questions were put forward related to humour stereotyping and the differences in humour production, use and appreciation between the countries, with Hofstede’s model of culture as a possible explanatory framework. The survey data were collected on a sample of university students from four ex-Yugoslav countries (N = 611). The results revealed strong negative humour stereotyping toward Croats and Slovenians and positive stereotyping toward Bosnians. However, only about 0–4 per cent of the variance in humour production, use and appreciation, depending on the sub-scales of the Multidimensional Sense of Humour Scale, could be attributed to group (country) membership, thus indicating low correspondence between the stereotypes and reality. The study results concerning the stereotypes were interpreted by evoking the discourse of Balkanism, as well as humour-style differences in popular culture between the countries.

Book review

Author(s): Vaso Psilaki,Matoula Papadimitriou / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Book review

Author(s): Şenay Yavuz Görkem / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

Book review

Author(s): Christian F. Hempelmann / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

Satire, humour, and parody in 21st century Nigerian women’s poetry

Author(s): Bartholomew Chizoba Akpah / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

21st century Nigerian women poets have continued to utilise the aesthetics of literary devices as linguistic and literary strategies to project feminist privations and values in their creative oeuvres. There has been marginal interest towards 21st century Nigerian women’s poetry and their deployment of artistic devices such as satire, humour, and parody. Unequivocally, such linguistic and literary devices in imaginative works are deployed as centripetal force to criticise, amidst laughter, the ills of female devaluation in the society. The major thrust of the study, therefore, is to examine how satire, humour and parody are deployed in selected Nigerian women’s poetry to reproach and etch the collective ethos of women’s experience in contemporary Nigerian society. The study utilises qualitative analytical approach in the close reading and textual analysis of the selected texts focusing mainly on the aesthetics of humour, satire, and parody in challenging male chauvinism in contemporary Nigerian women’s poetry. Three long poems: “Nuptial Counsel”, “Sadiku’s Song”, and “The Sweet, Sweet Mistress’ Tale” by Mabel Evweirhoma and Maria Ajima respectively were purposively selected. The choice of the selected poems hinges on the artistic vigour, especially the evoking of laughter, mockery and condemnation of hegemonic structures through the use of satire, humour, and parody. The paper employs Molara Ogundipe’s Stiwanism, an aspect of Feminist theory in the analysis of the selected poems. The poets have shown the interventions of humour, satire, and parody as linguistic devices in condemning and highlighting peculiarities of women peonage in Nigeria.

Book review

Author(s): Alyona Ivanova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018