"Astérix et Obélix" – un univers pragmatique

Author(s): Alexandra Caramizaru / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2013

The article uses notions and concepts borrowed from Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis (i.e. speech act and ethos), combined with the actantial model developed by Greimas (1966). The author focuses on the essentially pragmatic dimension of the textual world created by Uderzo & Goscinny: the actions performed by Asterix and Obelix, the heroes of the famous comics bearing the same title, are based on their knowledge and understanding of the world they live in (dictionary and encyclopaedia), on their will to act (intention), but also on the fact that they can act (they have a mandate from their leader). This pragmatic dimension is inherent to the discourse allowing certain relationships to be established between individuals acting in specific contexts. By identifying the dominant speech acts, the author draws up the ethical profiles of the selected characters and the corresponding relations, more or les asymmetric (at the social and/or discursive level), generated by them.

"auleta" und es bleibt alles beim Neuen! Zur Konstitution der polnischen Fachneologismen im Bereich der altgriechischen Musik.

Author(s): Grzegorz Pawlowski / Language(s): German / Issue: 1/2015

Epistemic properties of a man constitute the base for change. So far little attention has been paid to those properties in semantics. Questions of epistemic factors, which influence the formation of specialised neologisms, have not been posed. The keynote of this article is the attempt to answer this question. To achieve this goal, I attempt to explain such expressions as ‚neo’, ‚epistemic’ and ‚specialised neologism’. Then I proceed with the presentation of the results of the analysis of an interview. The subject of the interview is the Polish neologism ‚auleta’, created by Maciej Kaziński during his work an the translation of John Landes’ Music in Ancient Greece and Rome.Epistemic properties of a man constitute the base for change. So far little attention has been paid to those properties in semantics. Questions of epistemic factors, which influence the formation of specialised neologisms, have not been posed. The keynote of this article is the attempt to answer this question. To achieve this goal, I attempt to explain such expressions as ‚neo’, ‚epistemic’ and ‚specialised neologism’. Then I proceed with the presentation of the results of the analysis of an interview. The subject of the interview is the Polish neologism ‚auleta’, created by Maciej Kaziński during his work an the translation of John Landes’ Music in Ancient Greece and Rome.

"Części mowy odmieniające się przez przypadki." - Feliks Żochowski

Author(s): Malgorzata B. Majewska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 04/2017

"Essere" o "avere"? La selezione dell’ausiliare tra teoria e didattica nell’insegnamento dell’italiano a stranieri

Author(s): Davide Bozzo / Language(s): Italian / Issue: 2/2018

In the teaching of Italian L2, learners and teachers encounter difficulties when they are faced with the issue of auxiliary selection in the formation of compound tenses. If we analyse the way grammars for foreigners deal with the problem, we notice—between hypertrophic classifications and lists of exceptions—the lack of a model that is able to explain the phenomenon in a systematic and exhaustive manner. Looking at the source, i.e., the Italian L1 grammars, the syntactic model based on the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs, both in its traditional and non-accusative version, is not suitable for application in L2 teaching, especially in the case of learners from countries where little room during class time is given to metalinguistic reflection. This paper aims to suggest an alternative semantic model that is capable of representing an orientation tool for learners and finding a balance between theoretical and teaching needs, as well as between learning and acquisition. According to our model—which moves the attention from government to diathesis and starts from the meaning of the auxiliaries as autonomous verbs—avere is used when the effects of the action expressed by the verb are directed towards the external world. Meanwhile, essere is used when such effects are directed towards the subject itself, that is, when the syntactic subject of the sentence represents the semantic object of the event, and it therefore assumes the role of the patient, typical of passive and middle diathesis.

"Le convoi du 24 janvier" de Charlotte Delbo et la mémoire ressuscitée de la Déportation

Author(s): Beata Kedzia-Klebeko / Language(s): French / Issue: 10/2016

The novel Convoy to Auschwitz, a testimony of the concentration camp experiences of a famous French writer Charlotte Delbo appeared in France in 1966. This book expresses the author's ethical position, who admits that the language of literature is capable to express even those human experiences which seemed inexpressible or inexplicable. The novel Convoy to Auschwitz is a biographical account of the daily lives of 230 women who were deported from France to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. The author attempts to protect and preserve for the posterity the lives of silent female heroes who were doomed to die in the camp appalling living conditions because of their nationality, political views or race. The memory of them requires a written testimony because of passing time, insensitivity to the past of subsequent generations, and also because of possible free interpretations of history.

"Nebibliografinë" Jono Bretkûno Postilë (1591): Vlado Daumanto egzempliorius

Author(s): Ona Aleknaviciene / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 06/2004

In this article I describe the copy of Jonas Bretkûnas' Postilla (1591), which is kept in the Kaunas Art Gallery of Mykolas Žilinskas (this is a division of the National Art Museum of Mikalojus Konstantinas Èiurlionis), in the section of Archival Documents and Photographs (call number: Tkr. 148). Until 1944 the copy was kept in the private collection of Vladas Daumantas. For a certain period after World War Two it was unknown to scholars. The copy was included neither in the Lithuanian Bibliography (Lietuvos TSR bibliografija, 1969; LB I), nor in the supplement volume (Papildymai, 1990; LBP). This is the tenth copy of Bretkûnas' Postilla kept in Lithuania. Daumantas' copy is not defective, but is in good condition. There are, however, certain errors of pagination. Certain circumstances attest that this copy was the property of Vladas Daumantas: (1) an inscription in purple pencil on the title page "VDaumantas" (cf. Fig. 1); (2) an inscription "VDaumanto kolekcija" in the accession book of the Art Museum of Mikalojus Konstantinas Èiurlionis; (3) a description of the Postilla in the manuscripts by Petras Jakðtas (a contemporary of Daumantas; they both were members of the 27 Book Lovers Society).

"Œdipe Roi" – De l’enquête policière à la quête identitaire : noms propres et descriptions définies

Author(s): Madalina Rasoga / Language(s): French / Issue: 4/2015

Sophocle’s tragedy, Oedipus the King, may be considered the first detective novel whose plot is built around the defining question of this literary genre: “Who is the murderer (x)?”. The existence of a murderer is thus presupposed since the beginning, which leads us to the first interpretation of the play, namely the referential investigation, aiming at the identification of the murderer to whom we assign the variable x. However, the real subject of the play is not the identity of the alleged murderer, but that of the eponymous character. The accent shifts from the referential investigation to Oedipus’s beliefs about his own origin (“Who am IŒdipe?”). Therefore, we propose a second reading level that leads us to the analysis of the play as the story of the quest for identity. We will sustain our hypothesis with the help of the notions of reference – seen from a double perspective: (i) logical vs (ii) pragmatic – and the universe of belief.

"ROMANIAN TODAY – AN OVERVIEW", BY MARINELA DOINA NISTEA

Author(s): Raluca Ghentulescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2012

"Vzhledově neodolatelný", ale "povahově nesnesitelný", czyli o niektórych czeskich przymiotnikach i przysłówkach

Author(s): Irena Bogocz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 50/2015

The present contribution from the field of comparative Slavonic word for­ mation deals with a specific feature of the Czech language, namely its frequent (in comparison to other Slavonic tongues) use of adjectives of passive possibility (impossibility), which in Czech usually assume the suffix -telný (or ne-telný), and of so-called viewpoint adverbs, like cenově, vzhledově, and povahově. The article’s main focus is the situation of Czech from a diachronic perspective. Emphasis is also placed upon the differences between particular Slavonic languages as well as in academic traditions of linguistics in particular Slavonic nations. These theoretical remarks are illustrated with examples of different languages conveying the same message with means that are either synthetic (one word, e.g. adjective or adverb) or analytic (multi-word phrase).

"Warum soll man müssen müssen?" - System und Gebrauchsaspekte zur Beschreibung von müssen und sollen im Deutschen

Author(s): Hans Rainge / Language(s): German / Issue: 13/1986

Autor próbuje w oparciu o teorię działań językowych dokonać analizy czasowników modalnych w języku niemieckim. Analiza ograniczona do wzajemnej relacji czasowników "müssen" i "sollen" uwzględnia trzy płaszczyzny: opis z punktu widzenia teorii działań językowych, analizę ontogenetyczną oraz rzeczywiste użycie w/w czasowników.

"Земя" и "пустиня" в българската фразеология

Author(s): Ekaterina Struganova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 1 (5)/2017

This article is dedicated to analyses of Bulgarian idioms stemming from semantic fields centred round "earth” and "desert” from the point of view of cultural linguistics. An attempt has been made to classify cultural markers which were found in our material published in the phraseological dictionaries.

(Auto)traducir(se) en el espacio fronterizo: estrategias discursivas de autoras chicanas

Author(s): Iwona Kasperska / Language(s): Spanish / Issue: 29/2017

The objective of this analysis is to find out the main discursive strategies used by two acclaimed Chicana authors: Gloria Anzaldúa and Sandra Cisneros. Due to the fact that all of the texts mentioned above are written in English with Spanish entries, some discursive strategies turn out to be translation procedures. These are literal translation of idiomatic and vocative expressions, paraphrases, inter- and intralingual explications, and even leaving some Spanish items without any translation. Such procedures used in the original multilingual texts assume a subversive strategy that aims at coercing the Anglo-American hegemonic language and culture into coexisting with the Mexican minority ones in the same text.

(Beб)-комикс как современный феномен семиотики

Author(s): Natalia Góra / Language(s): Russian / Issue: 9/2015

I think that the phenomenon of comics can be described as a semiotics because they have a significant impact on society. They allow us to evaluate how the spiritual condition of the mass media human is changing. They come from a semiotic system that should be considered in the linguistic context.

(IM)POLITENESS AS INTERSUBJECTIVE ACHIEVEMENT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POWER INTERRUPTIONS IN TWO RADIO PHONE-IN PROGRAMMES

Author(s): Milan Ferencík / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2008

One of the serious issues of theorizing about politeness that has recently been raised (Eelen 2001, Watts 2003) is whether the current politeness models devised by researchers adequately account for concepts and procedures to which social actors adhere when engaging themselves in real-life interactions. As an alternative to the core politeness theories of considerable tradition and volume of research that they have inspired and which conceive of politeness as a set of strategies designed to achieve harmony, avoid interpersonal conflict, enhance mutual co-operation, attend to face-wants, stay within the terms of the current Conversational Contract etc., a newly emerging paradigm of politeness understood as “discursive struggle” approaches (im)politeness issues as being discursively struggled over by the interlocutors themselves in the course of ongoing interaction. Informed by the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of this novel model of politeness and using authentic data from two radio phone-in discussion programmes from two different socio-cultural settings the paper analyzes those instances of authentic interaction involving power interruptions in which interactants appear to be engaged in the struggle for the achievement of mutually shared understanding of what constitutes (im)polite behaviour.

(Mikro)Syntax in Mikrotexten. Syntaktische Analyse von Märchentiteln

Author(s): Magdalena Makowska / Language(s): German / Issue: XIV/2012

The article poses an attempt to provide an answer to the question whether in case ofa literary title, treated as a microtext, it is possible to talk about its specific microsyntax.The subject of analysis encompasses titles of contemporary German fables which are classified due to their syntax construction. The aim of the article is to show what kinds ofsyntax constructions can be regarded as dominant among fable titles for children as wellas to explain what that dominance results from and in what way/s it can influence perceptionin case of such a text recipient that a child is.

(RI)VLERËSIMI I HIBRIDITETEVE GJUHËSORE: RASTI I SHQIPES

Author(s): Julie Kolgjini / Language(s): Albanian / Issue: 36/2017

Recently emphasis has been placed on locating linguistic materials that reveal intermediate and hybrid constructions in the language in attempts to address various multifaceted imbalances in language codification, including hegemonic forces of standard language ideology. Such a focus situates Auer’s dialect-standard constellations of various European languages in the limelight, thus yielding space for discussions regarding the development of diaglossic repertoires and destandardization tendencies involving centrifugal elements in relation to various centripetal impositions; such constructions allow us “to...explore the linguistic loot forgotten in the folds of time” (Rutten, Vosters, & Vandenbussche, 2014, p. 14). These linguistic dynamics can also be brought to light when codification efforts of Albanian are examined. Such tendencies involving varying degrees of di(a)glossic language practices can be surmised when investigating written and spoken forms of language. Such a trajectory disrupts fixed, homogenizing, and ortholinguistic standardization efforts that have attempted to stymie various language movements. This paper addresses the meshing of heteroglossic forms in various genres, registers, and modes in Albanian in historical and contemporary milieus, thereby highlighting di(a)glossic forces at work in everyday language practices; an emphasis will also be placed on various situated centrifugal elements, including truncated forms, where language histories and changes ‘from below’ are considered.

(Un)readability of legal English on the basis of the UK Public General Acts enacted in 2013

Author(s): Rafal Krzysztof Matusiak / Language(s): English / Issue: 7/2017

The aim of the paper is to discuss the readability of legal English on the basis of the UK Public General Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The corpus includes a complete collection of 33 UK Public General Acts enacted in 2013. The number of running words amounts to about 900 000. The analysis of the present material reveals that despite the fact that almost four decades have passed since the Plain English Campaign was launched, the UK legislation passed in 2013 is invariably characteristic of quite a high readability index. However, some syntactic simplifications might be captured in the material being scrutinized.

(Under)specification of the person feature in relative clauses

Author(s): Kaori Furuya / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

By examining ϕ-agreement in relative clauses, this paper investigates the relation between syntax and morphology in terms of the person feature. English relativized subjects appear to have different phi-features for the purposes of subject–verb agreement and binding relations. The verbal morphology uniformly displays 3rd person whereas reflexive binding shows 1st/2nd person in addition to 3rd person. If subject extraction must trigger an invariable verbal form as Ouhalla (1993) argues, the binding alternations cannot be accounted for. This paper proposes dual properties of the person feature based on Harley and Ritter’s (2002) feature geometry, and argues that relativized subjects may not obtain both properties of the person feature from the head noun via Agree. This partial agreement causes morphosyntactic variation in English and cross-linguistically in Distributed Morphology (DM). The current analysis demonstrates that referential and morphological (under)specifications are kept separate under the constraint of the syntactic operation Agree.

,Зоопарк’ ментального представления русскоязычных. Вариации и динамика репродуктивного образа (3)

Author(s): Piotr Czerwinski / Language(s): Russian / Issue: 4/2018

The character of the relations between linguistic and not strictly linguistic elements of awareness is discussed upon the example of existing notions. The vocabulary material reflecting both historical and contemporary interpretations is quoted. These interpretations consider the etymology of words. The purposes of this analysis is to discover the motives which change in time, features and semantic analogies. These three elements are then consolidated in the notions of the mental and linguistic culture. Subsequently the character of relations is established (by placing the character in the artificially created space) between the state of an animal and a human. The human resembles the animal and the latter is a representative of a community in captivity and the human observing the animals becomes an element of the collective display. The information and interpretations which were collected (compared to the data from the dictionary of dreams via their semantic and mental features) make it possible to ask a question on the semantics of the mental and semantic features of the vivid experiences which are in perceptual and mental existence. These experiences shape the notions for the representatives of a specific mental culture. The notions in question are of regulating, approximate and not always realized character. These notions, especially the ones which condition the organization of the world in linguistic and non-linguistic awareness, eventually influence the semantic evolution of a language as well as the mentality of its users.

/fɑɪs/, /fes/ or /feɪs/? Teachers’ phonetic accommodation of diphthongs in an L2 classroom setting

Author(s): Piotr Steinbrich / Language(s): English / Issue: 11/2016

The following paper aims to investigate whether, and if so to what extent, native speaker teachers resort to phonetic accommodation in the use of diphthongs in the classroom setting. In the course of analysis, seven native speaker teachers, each representing a different variety of British English, were recorded in two distinct contexts: classroom and natural. The recordings were used in acoustic analysis in order to gauge potential differences in F1 and F2 in each context. It was concluded that phonetic accommodation does occur in the classroom setting and the modifications of either individual segments or the whole glides can be observed, irrespective of the native accent of the user. It was found, however, that the speakers representing northern varieties of English accommodate more than those speaking with other accents. Another important observation resulting from the analysis was that some diphthongs are likely to undergo phonetic accommodation more than others. On the one end of the cline we observe the diphthong price, whereas the other end is occupied by the glides goat and cure. It is still unclear, however, whether the modifications occur consciously, thus representing a rather developed declarative knowledge of the users, or subconsciously, which would suggest an inner need to attempt to pronounce diphthongs in a standardized way.