Vocabulary in autism spectrum disorders. Part 3: Qualitative description – the category of relations / Słownictwo w zaburzeniach należących do spektrum autyzmu. Część 3: Charakterystyka jakościowa – kategoria relacji

Author(s): Ewa Hrycyna / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 11/2022

The article is the third part of a study concerned with vocabulary in autism spectrum disorders. The subject of interest in this article is the category of relations and its lexical exponents. The author presents various types of linguistically expressed relations. She discusses how they are represented in the language of people with autism spectrum disorders and devotes a separate fragment to parts of speech. The acquisition of relational concepts and their lexical exponents is a significant development challenge; especially difficult for people with autism. In the category of relations the differences between the vocabularies of typically developing people and people with autistic disorders are the most pronounced. Other conclusions from the analysis carried out are in line with those in the second part of the study concerning the category of things and events.

Performance of a picture description by ten-year-olds with fetal alcohol syndrome / Realizacja opisu obrazka przez dziesięciolatki z płodowym zespołem alkoholowym

Author(s): Marta Krakowiak / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 11/2022

Alcohol consumption by a woman during pregnancy may result in a number of developmental disorders in her offspring, known as (fetal alcohol syndrome – FAS). They relate to, among others, acquisition of language and communication competence problems, manifested, among others, by incorrect articulation, deficits in inflection and syntax, and irregularities in creating narrative forms of expression. The subject of this paper is describing of a picture by ten-year-olds with fetal alcohol syndrome and their peers from a control group. Findings indicate that children with FAS have difficulty using the following procedures: generalization of events, spatiality of description, presentability of events, and characterization of elements of reality. These people, while creating descriptions of pictures, usually do not use formulas that allow to begin a statement and present the content of the described events, introduce individual space plans in a disorderly manner, do not use the right wording, omit many important details related to the characteristics of individual elements of reality and the relationships that occur between them. The abnormalities mentioned above are related to the poverty of content and the abnormal structure of texts constructed by ten-year-olds with FAS.

Biblical and Anthropocentric Phraseologisms in Dmytro Dontsov’s Works: A Cognitive Aspect

Author(s): Oksana Mykytyuk / Language(s): English Issue: 34/2022

The paper deals with Dontsov’s “phraseological speech” in the framework of cognitive linguistics. The ways of creating partially-authorial (biblical) and authorial (anthropocentric) phraseologisms are discussed and their assignment to different phraseological-semantic microfields is suggested. A number of Dontsov’s phraseologisms are viewed as linguomental pictures of the world that are potentially acceptable for a wider use. Methodologically, the research presents a cluster of general scholarly methods and those used in cognitive linguistics as well as special approaches developed in modern anthropocentric research. Methods of cognitive linguistics are of the utmost importance and include categorizing the phenomena of the objective reality and the interdisciplinary method of interpretation related to the correlation of language data with cultural studies, political science, ethnopsychology and other disciplines. Semantic and contextual analyses are also used as supplementary methods. The potential value of the research is ensured by its contribution to the modern anthropocentric linguistics that aims at studying language through its speaker. Structural-and-logical scheme illustrating the cognitive stages of generating a phraseologism is suggested and the importance of categorization of lingual phenomena is emphasized. Dontsov’s phraseologisms are claimed to be means of exposure of the national Ukrainian lingual picture, symbols of the national worldview, and the prism of the world perception and understanding.

Second Language Acquisition and Some of its Aspects

Author(s): Nadezhda Stalyanova,Elena Krejčová / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

The goal of our study is to present the issues of second language acquisition. It is an interdisciplinary scientific field that tries to point out the processes that accompany the learning of each additional language (after the first, mother tongue). Special attention is devoted to the role of the first language in relation to second language acquisition, and we juxtapose various perspectives – from accepting the statement that first language influence on the second one is minimal, to the concept of first language influence on the second one in the form of linguistic transfer, which is also the reason for occurrence of a number of errors in the acquisition process. The influence of the first language on the acquisition and afterwards on the use of the second language can be positive, negative, or even zero. Positive influence is manifested by the fact that the practical and theoretical knowledge from the mother tongue, the language habits and skills facilitate the process of acquisition and usage of the next language as a communication tool. Negative influence is manifested at all language levels though the so-called negative transfer or interference – these are the errors occurring as a result of the influence of the first language on the second, and having the characteristics of the first.

Les mots pour rire

Author(s): Bilyana Mihaylova / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

The article examines the origin of the words denoting ‘laugh’ and ‘laughter’ in the Indo-European languages. The semantic changes are analyzed on the basis of the relation ‘A’ > ‘laugh, laughter’, A being the source meaning. The descendants of a single root with primary meaning ‘laugh’ are spread out in several Indo-European languages: the root *smey-. Expectedly, the most common source of the words for laugh are some primary concepts related to different sounds. Other semantic developments that have been found are from words with primary meaning ‘show one’s teeth, make a grimace’, ‘brilliant, joy’, ‘pleasure’ and ‘burst’, the latter giving also rise to expressions such as English ‘burst in laugh’.

Интеракционен анализ на чувствителните епизоди в диалози от системи за изучаване на чужд език (френски и английски): особености на комуникацията в полза на учещите чужд език

Author(s): Magdalena Markova,Kristin Dimitrova-Trendafilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

Study objects are dialogues in French and English language learning systems. Studied are techniques of constructing dialogicity in them and the patterns of verbal behaviour recommended in tense, conflictual or apparently calm situations in which the 'ritual equilibrium' between participants is disturbed. This approach provides an opportunity to become familiar with the functioning of different communicative tools used to overcome difficulties in a real environment. The study draws attention to some cultural and interactional specificities of verbal communication that highlight common attitudes and skills of participants as well as communicative intentions and goals in different situations.

Амиан Марцелин и западноарменският консонантизъм

Author(s): Petar Goliyski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

If not the most essential, but at least the most noticeable difference between the two forms of the modern Armenian language – the Eastern and the Western – is the difference in the pronunciation of a large part of the consonants. In initial position and within the word, the voiceless consonants of Eastern Armenian language have voiced pronunciation in Western Armenian and the voiced consonants of the Eastern Armenian, especially the explosive ones, have voiceless pronunciation in Western Armenian. The devoicing has been already found in Old Armenian texts from the 10th – 11th centuries, but a similar case has been discovered much earlier – in the 7th century, in a text of the so-called ‘Anonymous interpreter’ (Armenian: Անանուն մեկնիչ), a commentator of ‘The Art of Grammar’ of Dionysius Thrax (170 – 90 BC), whose work had been translated into Old Armenian in the 5th century AD. In the commentaries of the Anonymous Interpreter there is an alternating use of the forms bazuk ~ pazuk ~ p'azuk (‘hand, arm’), which suggests that the devoicing of the explosive consonants in the Armenian language was a very old phenomenon. An even earlier and neglected example of devoicing of the explosive consonants in the Old Armenian language (Grabar) could be found in the Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus, a Latin speaking author who worked in the second half of the 4th century. Writing about the events of 368 – 369 AD, Ammianus mentions an Armenian eunuch named Cylaces, which name was a Greco-Latin form of the Syriac-Armenian personal name Glak, but in its Western Armenian pronunciation, Klak. This example not only lowers the timeline of this typical Western Armenian phonetic phenomenon by as much as three centuries, but also supports the existing hypothesis that the devoicing of the explosive consonants in the Armenian language already existed in the preliterate period, that is, before 405 AD.

Щрихи от епистоларната теория за „Доброто Писание“ на „Красни Писма“ в „Славеноболгарский предручний послателник за наставлениe на болгарските юноши“ (1835) от Неофит Бозвели и Емануил Васкидович

Author(s): Maria Mitskova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The hereby offered article points out some strokes from the revival epistolary theory that is presented on the pages of the letter-writing manual “Slavenobolgarskiy predruchniy poslatelnik za nastavleniya na bolgarski yunoshi” (1835) by Neophyte Bozvely nad Emanuil Vaskidovitch. The main target of the following research is the philological insight of the two teachers from Svishtov in the aspects of soundness of language and its stylistic perfection, and their following instructions concerning the writing of good and proper letters. Following the basic beliefs of the European Enlightenment and especially the correlation between the right, the virtuous and the beautiful, Bozvely and Vaskidovitch are constructing their own concept about the language and style of the letter by planting the two principles: “Write good when you do” and “Write just as you speak”. Under the banner of these two absolutes the coauthors introduce the stylistic demands for brevity, simplicity, aptness and beauty of language.

Изследване на синтактичната компетентност при деца с езиково нарушение на развитието

Author(s): Denitsa Krasteva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The article presents a study of syntactic competence in primary language pathology, comprising 170 children mastering Bulgarian language. Recruited respondents from the experimental and control groups are divided into three age groups, respectively 35 children between 4 and 5 years, 30 between 5 and 6 years and 20 children in preschool age (6 - 7 years). The first section examines the identified issues from theoretical perspectives. The methodology and objectives of the study are then described step by step and the results are analysed. In the conclusion, in addition to the summary, an attempt is made to outline the main aspects for the design of a future study, which would rely not so much on quantitative data, but on the classical tradition of longitudinal studies, allowing direct qualitative observations on the norm and specific language disorder.

Семейно-медиираната ранна интервенция - естествен комуникативен модел, подкрепящ взаимодействието дете- родител в ранното детство

Author(s): Nikoleta Yoncheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

Family-mediated early interventions (FMEI) as a natural communicative model is effective in addressing the needs of children with developmental disabilities and enhancing parents’ competence in supporting parent-child social interactions. The article presents 2019 cross-sectional study conducted in Varna, Bulgaria with 40 parents and 40 children participating. The study aims to explore the relationship between FMEI service use, parental capacity and children’s social functioning and adaptive skills. Results indicated a significant progress in 2–3-year-old children. FMEI prove to be effective and meaningful for parents and their children.

Exploring FL Readers’ Metacognitive Beliefs: Narrations from Learner Diaries

Author(s): Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2023

Metacognition is a complex construct widely investigated in SLA studies, also those that focus on reading skills and reading comprehension. Ample research points to metacognition as a strong predictor in developing foreign language reading skills, thus promoting metacognitive strategies in FL education is highly recommended. This paper presents a report on a study in which Polish FL learners kept a diary for a period of one month and wrote comments in reference to the reading classes in which they participated. The data obtained from the students’ narrations allowed to examine the learners’ metacognitive beliefs defined in the study as knowledge about cognition, consisting of three components: person knowledge, task knowledge, and strategy knowledge (Flavell, 1981). The diary data were analyzed in a global narrative way, which enabled the researcher to examine a complex character and a dynamic nature of metacognition in relation to the reading lessons. The findings underline a double role that learner diaries played in this study: as a research tool useful in investigating learners’ metacognition and an effective task that seemed to facilitate the learners’ reflection skills.

Making Students Responsible for Grammar Learning: A Report on a Learner-centered Technique Aimed at Accuracy

Author(s): Zuzana Nováková / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2023

Learner-centered approaches to learning and teaching alongside education for sustainable development (ESD) emphasize the education of engaged and active global citizens (UNESCO, 2017). The development of students’ reflective skills and metacognitive strategies is the center of this study that aims at investigating the learner language of a group of adult learners at an upper-intermediate level. It sets out to investigate to what extent learners are able to notice and correct their errors after reflecting on their spoken production. Moreover, it seeks to examine the students’ perception of their self-reflection and their attitude towards using speaking tasks for grammar learning. Comparative error analysis showed that the participants were able to amend 34.6% of total errors. These were made mainly in noun phrases (30% of total errors in Task 1 and 31% in Task 3) and verb phrases (40% of total errors in both tasks). Although no general conclusions could be drawn, the results seem to suggest that after critical, evidence-based reflection, the participants were able to notice and correct some errors, namely, in determination and the use of the past simple. The results of the survey analysis showed that all participants reported on an improved awareness of the gaps in their interlanguage, and all of them considered speaking tasks beneficial to grammar development. The study indicates that carefully planned, repeated speaking tasks might be helpful for learners’ language processing, consolidation of their grammatical knowledge and the improvement of their reflection skills and metacognitive strategies.

Nazwiska mieszczan ukrainskich w ziemi chełmskiej w XVI wieku

Author(s): Irena Mytnik / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 1/2018

The proposed research article aims to explore the social aspects of Ukrainian anthroponomical stock in 17th and 18th centuries which concerns Polish female representatives of the most privileged class in old Ukraine. It presents and describes their baptismal names, additional identifiers and personal identification formulae (naming styles), which were a language measure for the social differentiation.

Caucasian and Semitic Influences in the Early Medieval Bulgarian “Runic Inscriptions”

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The present article is focused on the similarities existing between some of the characters of the Caucasian Albanian script and some of the graphemes of the so called “runic inscriptions” from the 10th century Bulgarian rock monasteries from Murfatlar and Krepcha. The similarities in question do not only concern the shape of some of the “runic graphemes”. Obvious parallels between the designations of the Caucasian Albanian characters and the “ordinal numerals” from the Proto-Bulgarian calendar are discussed, too. After analyzing these similarities and making a critical discussion on the different attempts at etymologizations of “the ordinal numerals” of the calendar on the ground of the Turkic -r/-l languages, I conclude that the numerals reflect designations of letters from an unknown writing system created for some of the clan languages of the Proto-Bulgarians and partly or entirely based on Caucasian and Semitic written traditions.

Annual International Scientific Conference of The Prof. Lyubomir Andreychin Institute for Bulgarian Language at The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 15-16 May 2023

Author(s): Simeon Stefanov / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Book Review

Author(s): Tianli Zhou / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

What did the Portuguese laugh at 200 years ago?

Author(s): João Pedro Rosa Ferreira / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This article aims to identify the existence of a laughter community in Portugal in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Based on research into the beginnings of humour in periodicals published in Portugal, a corpus consisting of newspapers published between 1797 and 1835 was analysed, from the first in which humour was used systematically as a resource (Almocreve de Petas) until the establishment of the Constitutional Monarchy. With the concept of laughter community in mind, evidence was sought that it was present in the period that covers the political, social and economic transition from the Ancien Régime to modern society, having as main players writers, editors, printers, readers and listeners, in a process of production, reception, circulation and appropriation of ideas and meanings. This process, which developed in the public sphere, also played a part in forming incipient public opinion. To detect evidence of this community, clichés, jocular expressions and comic stories conveyed by the periodicals were identified. Very often they were found to have kept the same meaning they had at the time, while some expressions have survived with slight changes, and others simply no longer make people laugh.

Book review

Author(s): Kristina Stankevičiūtė / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Енантиосемия – систематизиране и видове в сравнителен план

Author(s): Magdalena Nikolova-Tsaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The paper discusses the phenomenon of enantiosemy in linguistics – its nature, appearance and belonging to one of the following groups: polysemy, homonymy or antonymy. The enantiosemy theme has been in the scope of linguists for more than century and a half. At the beginning it was believed that this phenomenon could be examined only in Slavic languages, because some of the first findings for it were in Russian, Chech and Bulgarian. Nowadays enantiosemy examples are excerpted in French, German, English and other non – Slavic languages. It is an attempt to classify different research approaches and to describe a new type of enantiosemy, from a contrastive perspective, which in this paper is called affixal enantiosemy. In accordance with a certain context, the affixal enantiosemy clarifies the semantics of the affix which is part of a lexeme.

Общие трудности разных категорий говорящих при употреблении русских имен существительных и именных словосочетаний

Author(s): Galina Shamonina,Leonid Moskovkin / Language(s): Russian Issue: 3/2023

The purpose of the study is to resolve the issue of whether there are difficulties of the Russian language that are common to different categories of learners of this language. Research methods are identification and comparative analysis of deviations from the norms in the use of nouns and noun phrases. The material of the study is data from observations of oral speech, written works, transcripts of recordings of stories based on pictures. The objects of analysis are the facts of deviations from the norms in the use of nouns and noun phrases in the speech of foreigners who study Russian as a second language, Russian-German bilinguals at the age of 10-15 years, Russian monolinguals at the age of 10 – 15 years. As a result of the study, the most typical similar grammatical errors were identified, indicating the general difficulties of the Russian language: the replacement of some case forms by others, the replacement of some forms by others within the same case, the replacement of prepositions, the mixing of possessive pronouns, violations of the agreement between the main and dependent words. The study has confirmed the hypothesis that there are common difficulties of the Russian language, which do not depend on the native language of students and are due to the structural diversity of the grammatical phenomena of the Russian language.