Hasil untuk "Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar"

C. Pollard, I. Sag

J. Bresnan, Anna Cueni, Tatiana Nikitina et al.

Charles D. Yang

The present dissertation is a study of language development in children. From a biological perspective, the development of language, as the development of any other organic systems, is an interaction between internal and external factors; specifically, between the child's internal knowledge of linguistic structures and the external linguistic experience he receives. Drawing insights from the study of biological evolution, we put forth a quantitative model of language acquisition that make this interaction precise, by embedding a theory of knowledge, the Universal Grammar, into a theory of learning from experience. In particular, we advance the idea that language acquisition should be modeled as a population of grammatical hypotheses, competing to match the external linguistic experiences, much like in a natural selection process. We present evidence—conceptual, mathematical, and empirical, and from a number of independent areas of linguistic research, including the acquisition of syntax and morphophology, and historical language change—to demonstrate the model's correctness and utility. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)

A. Khamkhien

Reem A. Al-Samiri

Abstract With the increase in the use of face masks as a health precaution in the post-pandemic era, the effects of wearing such masks on language learners’ speech perception, which depends highly on visual cues, remain uncertain. This study explores the impact of wearing face masks on the listening comprehension and word recognition of 254 learners of English as a foreign language at intermediate and lower-intermediate levels at a university in Saudi Arabia. Participants listened to a passage read by a native English speaker in one of three conditions assigned randomly: audio-visual-face (AV-F), audio-visual-mask (AV-M), or audio-only (A-O) groups. A series of multiple-choice questions measured their comprehension of the listening passage and recognition of words. Findings revealed significant differences in accuracy scores, with AV-M and A-O resulting in lower accuracy than AV-F, which was the highest in accuracy. Additionally, higher language proficiency correlated with better AV-F performance, indicating the participants’ experience in recognizing facial cues. This study supports other findings on the negative impact of face masks on second language learners’ listening comprehension and word recognition, emphasizing the significance of observing facial and lip movements for language learners. Relevant implications and recommendations are provided for educators and researchers working with language learners to support their listening comprehension and perception skills.

Dina Zhalko

Статтю присвячено дослідженню маркування інтертекстуальних включень у художньому дискурсі з метою розкриття семантико-функційного потенціалу імпліцитних та експліцитних маркерів інтертекстуальності у творах американських та англійських письменників ХХ століття. Аналіз інтертекстуальності в художньому дискурсі допоміг виявити інтертекстуальні маркери та визначити засоби їх репрезентації, систематизувати інтертекстуальні включення та встановити їх дискурсивно-функційний потенціал. Матеріалом дослідження слугували романи "The Crying of Lot 49" Томаса Пінчона та "A History of the World in 10½ Chapters" Джуліана Барнса. Методологія дослідження передбачала використання методу уважного читання для аналізу структури романів, методу текстологічного аналізу творів дібраного матеріалу, методи лінгвостилістичного та інтертекстуального аналізу для  ідентифікації й опису різних видів інтертекстуальності та міжтекстових зв’язків, методу інтермедіального аналізу для встановлення семантичних зв’язків між інтертекстуальними елементами належних до суміжних видів мистецтв,  семантико-стилістичного методу для опису мовностилістичних ресурсів та  їх семантики, методу  деконструкції для ідентифікації непрямих інтертекстуальних зв'язків між текстами. Розроблено критерії для ідентифікації та типологізації інтертекстуальних маркерів: прямі та непрямі. Окреслено особливості семантики й функціонування інтертекстуальних маркерів у проаналізованому корпусі матеріалу. Результати дослідження полягають у розробленні авторської таксономії прямих і непрямих маркерів інтертекстуальності, що дозволить оцінити вплив рівня читацької компетенції на розуміння художніх текстів.

T. Boyer

C. Chen, Xu Wen

The present study probes into a comparative study of metaphorical expressions of money in English and Chinese. By hiring corpus-based methodology, this article aims to gain insight into the universality and variation of money-related conceptual metaphors manifested in corresponding linguistic expressions in English and Chinese. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the findings unravel a significant overlay in money-related conceptual metaphors between English and Chinese, upholding a notch of acclaim. Additionally, a small part of money-related conceptual metaphors is specific in a certain kind of language, either in English or Chinese. Meanwhile, the present study tends to explore metaphorical conceptualizations of money primarily based on common bodily experiences, and thus, most money-related conceptual metaphors are universal in English and Chinese, while the variations in English and Chinese can be explained by cultural experiences. Consequently, this research contributes to our understanding of the interplay between conceptual unit schematicity and embodiment hierarchy. Moreover, it bids valued insights for future comparative studies on conceptual metaphors spanning diverse languages and cultures.

Majid Salehbek, Abdolghader Pariz, Parvin Sanei

With a systematic and systematic view, Saussure considers language to be a set of signs, and therefore, in her linguistic theory, sign is the main keyword. Signs are also very important in translation, and the translator should be able to identify the relationships between them by knowing the words of the text accurately and use these relationships for a more accurate translation; This issue is doubly important in the translation of the Holy Quran. Among the words used in the Holy Qur'an, whose semantic analysis requires attention and precision, is the word "Sehr". The present research, which was carried out in an analytical-descriptive method, tries to answer the question with a semantic-structuralist approach, how the different levels and layers of meaning of the word "Sehr" are formed in the Holy Quran, and the concept of "sohar" in the use of the Holy Quran, based on The axis of substitution and companionship is synonymous with which words? And the obtained result states that although both in the Persian original of the word "Sehr" and in the Arabic dictionary, one of its main meanings, "Nasab", is mentioned, but on the other hand, its association with the same word causes it to have a different meaning. To be therefore, translators have taken different approaches in this regard, and some of them have translated the two into relative and causative, taking into account the conflicting relationship between Nasb and Sahr. Some have translated these two as male and female. Also, although the meaning of son-in-law for the word Sahr is found in many sources, but in the ten translations examined in this article, only one of the sources, the translation of Fuladvand, gives such a meaning for this word.Keywords: Translations of the Qur'an, Relative, Ferdinand de Saussure, Succession and Cohabitation.IntroductionOne of the most important factors in the formation of meaning in a text is the relationships of substitution and association of words. Saussure, with a new and structuralist approach to language, shifted his focus from the word to the phrase, leading to a major revolution in linguistics. A part of Saussure's modern theories pertains to the two axes of substitution and association. One of the binary oppositions among signs is the contrast between two fundamental types of relationships, namely the associative relationship and the substitutive relationship or "syntagmatic" relationship in language. In other words, meaning is derived from the difference between signifiers, which are of two types: differences arising from association, also known as syntagmatic, and differences resulting from the axis of substitution.The substitutive relationship examines the reason for choosing a word for a phrase, and the associative relationship examines the reason for creating a specific order for the arrangement of words in a phrase. Thus, the substitutive relationship delves into the deeper layers of language, necessitating comparison and analogy since one must examine a word and its synonyms in various texts.The substitutive relationship is based on intertextual and intratextual relations. In this relationship, texts are always interacting with each other (Ostakhrian Haqiqi and Ahsant, 2019: 15). Chandler examines substitutive relationships in three layers: contrastive, analogical, and comparative; and associative relationships in three layers: sequential, spatial, and conceptual (Sajudi, 2019: 52).After Saussure, structuralists who have theorized about translation, including Catford and Nida, believe in the translatability of texts because they argue that what Saussure established are general rules that align with the principle of linguistic systems, and therefore, the substitutive and associative relationships that exist in one language can also be transferred to another language.Saussure specifically, and structuralism in general, hold a view aligned with translatability: "If all natural languages share a level called 'langue,' this is where translation is possible, and therefore, anything that can be expressed in one language can be expressed in another language as well, which means absolute translatability" (Mousavi Razavi, 2018: 562).Given the axes of substitution and association in Saussure's theory, the present article conducts a comparative analysis of the translation of the word "ṣahr" in Surah Al-Furqan, explaining its semantic aspects, synonyms, and related concepts. This word appears in the Quran in this form only once:﴿وَهُوَ الَّذِی خَلَقَ مِنَ الْمَاءِ بَشَرًا فَجَعَلَهُ نَسَبًا وَصِهْرًا وَکَانَ رَبُّکَ قَدِیرًا﴾ (Al-Furqan/54)and once in another form with a different meaning:﴿یُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِی بُطُونِهِمْ وَالْجُلُودُ﴾ (Al-Hajj/20)which, given the semantic difference, does not seem to have the same root.The necessity of this research lies in its structuralist perspective, meticulously examining the axes of substitution and association to analyze and compare the translations of one of the disputed words in the Holy Quran.In this context, the study aims to answer the following questions:How are the different semantic levels and layers of the word "ṣahr" in the Holy Quran formed?With which synonymous words is the concept of "ṣahr" in its Quranic usage associated on the axis of substitution, and how does each synonym change the meaning of the verse?Literature ReviewNumerous articles have been written on the semantics of Quranic vocabulary, including:Akbari and Kabiri, in an article titled "The Semantics of the Word Makr in the Holy Quran" (2018), explained the verses related to this word and concluded that this term in the Quran is used for both good and evil deeds and has synonyms such as deceit, plot, arrogance, treachery, and betrayal.Among the articles addressing the subject of substitution and association are:Zafari et al., in a study titled "Semantic Components of the Word 'Nazul' with Emphasis on the Two Axes of Association and Substitution" (2017), examined the uses and derivatives of this word and its synonyms, concluding that the word has gained semantic breadth through its association with other concepts.Vafaei and Ali Nouri, in a study titled "Artistic Appropriateness in the Two Axes of Association and Substitution in the Poetry of Qaisar Aminpour" (2010), examined the poems of this poet and concluded that Aminpour deliberately chooses words on the axis of substitution to create the greatest semantic and lexical harmony in combination with other elements of speech on the axis of association.Parmehr Yabandeh et al., in a study titled "Semiotic Analysis of the Collection of Posters of the Art of Resistance Festival with Emphasis on the Two Axes of Substitution and Association of Signs" (2022), conducted an analytical-conceptual examination of these posters, concluding that in all the works, when a visual sign metaphorically expresses the concept of revolution and Iran, the understanding of the sign occurs on the axis of substitution, and the arrangement of textual and visual signs is based on the axis of association.Additionally, Mousavi Razavi, in an article titled "An Explanation of What Structuralism Is, Based on the Views of Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, and Propp, and Examining the Traces of Structuralist Thought in Contemporary Translation Theories" (2018), examined the views of structuralists on the translatability or untranslatability of texts and concluded that structuralism believes in the translatability of texts.Upon reviewing the studies related to the subject of the present article, it was found that no research has been conducted on this specific topic, thus indicating the innovation in this study.Research MethodologyTextual AnalysisCollect and analyze interpretive and lexical texts related to the term "صهر"from various sources such as Quranic dictionaries, lexicons, and Quranic commentaries.Examine the usage of the term "صهر" in Arabic poetry before and after the revelation of the Quran and compare it with its usage in the Quran. Collocation AnalysisInvestigate the term "صهر" in collocation with words that appear alongside it in Quranic sentences. This includes analyzing the relationship between the term "صهر" and the term "نسب" in verse 54 of Surah Al-Furqan.Analyze different translations of the Quran and examine how various translators have rendered the term "صهر" in context with other words.Substitution AnalysisAnalyze the substitution axis of the term "صهر" with words that can replace it. For example, substituting the term "صهر" with "بعل" and "الأقربین".Examine the impact of substituting the term "صهر" with other words on the meaning of the sentence and the overall concept of the verse.Comparative AnalysisCompare different translations of the term "صهر" in the Quran and analyze their differences and similarities.Investigate the impact of substitution and collocation relationships on various interpretations of the term "صهر".Linguistic AnalysisExamine linguistic and semantic structures related to the term "صهر" using theories of linguistic semantics.Analyze the phonetic and pronunciation features of the term "صهر" and their impact on meaning.Sources and ReferencesThe Holy Quran and its various translations.Quranic commentaries including Tafsir Al-Mizan, Tafsir Majma' Al-Bayan, and Tafsir Nemooneh.Reputable lexicons such as Lisan Al-Arab, Taj Al-Aroos, and Quranic dictionaries.Articles and books related to semantics and theories of substitution and collocation.Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and poetry after the revelation of the Quran.ConclusionThe word "sahr" (صهر) appears in the Quran only twice and in two different meanings: as "صِهْرًا" and "یُصْهَرُ." These two uses have no semantic connection and do not seem to share the same root. This paper analyzed the first usage of the word in verse 54 of Surah Al-Furqan and examined its translations based on Saussure’s theory in terms of substitution and collocation. The findings indicate that in terms of collocation, the association with the word "nasab" (نسب) plays a crucial role in the translation of "sahr" because, while one of its main meanings in both Persian and Arabic dictionaries is "kinship" (نسب), its collocation with this word gives it a different meaning. Consequently, translators have adopted various approaches regarding this term, with some translating it as "males" and "females."Although the meaning "son-in-law" for "sahr" is mentioned in several sources, only one out of the ten translations reviewed in this study, namely Fooladvand’s translation, uses this meaning.In terms of substitution, words such as "ba'al" (بعل), "al-aqrabin" (الاقربین), "arham" (ارحام), and "zawj" (زوج) are conceptually and semantically close to "sahr" and are mentioned in the Quran. However, the choice of "sahr" over these synonyms relates to the context of the verse. In the preceding verse, verse 53 of Surah Al-Furqan, Allah mentions: "He is the One who merges the two seas, one fresh and sweet, the other salty and bitter." Therefore, since verse 54 also speaks of water and its division into two opposites, it seems that "sahr" more effectively conveys the concept compared to its synonyms. Additionally, considering the preceding verse, translating "nasab" and "sahr" as opposites may be more accurate.

Т.А. Такоева

В рамках настоящей статьи предпринята попытка сопоставительного анализа отдельных способов действия, участвующих в формировании аспектуальных значений осетинского и английского языков. Языковые факты и явления рассматриваются с позиций функционально-семантического анализа, который представляется нам некоей лингвистической универсалией, позволяющей дифференцировать вид как морфологическую категорию и способы глагольного действия, в образовании которых участвуют лексические, лексико-синтаксические, а также морфологические средства в их разнообразных проявлениях. Изучению способов глагольного действия, как одного из составляющих функционально-семантического поля (ФСП) аспектуальности, посвящено немало работ и все же многие вопросы, затрагивающие классификацию способов действия, схему организации ФСП аспектуальности в языках разной типологической отнесенности и статуса его (ФСП) компонентов (ядра и периферии) интерпретируются учеными неоднозначно и нуждаются в дальнейшей разработке. Материалом для исследования послужили тексты осетинских нартских сказаний и их англоязычные переводы Уолтера Мэя. Методологическую базу исследования составили анализ литературных источников, посвященных вопросам аспектуальности, сравнение, обобщение, систематизация языкового материала, полученного эмпирическим путем. Делается вывод о том, что любой язык располагает разноуровневыми языковыми средствами для передачи аспектуальных значений. По своему внутреннему устройству ФСП аспектуальности в осетинском и английском языках существенно разнятся, что находит подтверждение в фактологическом материале статьи. Сопоставительное изучение языков, помимо теоретического значения, имеет и прикладную значимость. Результаты проведенного анализа могут быть использованы для решения практических задач межкультурной коммуникации, способствовать совершенствованию методики преподавания практического курса изучаемых лингвосистем, теоретической грамматики и теории перевода. При дальнейшей разработке темы предполагается разбор способов действия, не нашедших отражения в настоящей статье. In the present article, a comparative analysis of individual aktionsarten involved in the building of aspect meanings in the Ossetian and English is attempted. A functional-semantic approach to the analysis of linguistic phenomena seems to us to be a kind of linguistic universal, which allows us to differentiate the species as a morphological category (if any in the language) and aktionsart, in the formation of which lexical, lexical-syntactic, as well as morphological means in their various manifestations participate. Despite the rich history and advances in aspectology, many questions interpreted differently by scientists and require further research. The research was based on the texts of Ossetian Tales of the Narts and their English translation by Walter May. The methodological basis of the study was: analysis of literary sources devoted to the issues of aspect, comparison, generalization, systematization of linguistic material obtained by using empirical way. It is concluded that every language has different levels of tools for the transmission of aspect meanings. Functional-semantic fields in the languages of different typological organizations differ significantly in their design, which is confirmed in the research materials. The comparative study of languages has not only theoretical but also applied relevance. The results of the study can be used to solve practical problems of intercultural communication, contribute to the improvement of methods of teaching a practical course of language systems under study, theoretical grammar and translation theory.

Liliya Yaremko, Paweł Levchuk

By applying the survey method, the article presents and summarizes the theoretical questions of language policy, the language consciousness of students and their attitudes towards the Ukrainian language both before and after the start of the current Russo–Ukrainian war. Students from four universities took part in the survey: Kyiv National Linguistic University, Ivan Franko National University of L'viv, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, and Yuriy Fedkovych National University of Chernivtsi.

Yves Gambier

MILESTONES FOR A HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE FRANCOPHONE TRANSLATION STUDIES FIELD (2ND PART) First, we identify the period before traductologie and then the issues of a historiography of translation studies, before grasping the debates around the term „translation studies” in the 1970s, in particular the motivations of the various equivalents suggested for Translation Studies (TS). In a second step, we refer to the precursors (1950s-1960s) and the pioneers (1980s and 1990s) of this French-language translation studies: what names emerge from this recent period and how have they advanced the reflection? Then we turn our attention to the problem of the translation of TS into French and translation studies into English. Finally, in order to define the socio-institutional dimension of the discipline, we study the parameters and factors that have favored and still favor this French-speaking translation studies, such as associations, training places and programs, recruitment bodies, as well as certain channels of dissemination (doctoral schools, research teams, journals, collections). Our final question focuses on the direct and indirect influences of French speaking researchers in the humanities and social sciences on TS and translation studies.

Svitlana O. Koloda

The article presents a theoretical analysis of traditional and new approaches for studying the text from the standpoint of linguistic theory. The author considers the linguistic theory of translation in communicative and textological aspects. Text linguistics, as a part of linguistics, does not still have a clearly defined subject of study as it has become divided into narrower areas: text grammar, text syntax, text theory, speech communication theory. Despite this fact it allows to study and characterize the text in terms of content and structure. When analyzing the text, different approaches are used. However, if we consider texts created in different languages as a product of translation activities, the most perspective approach is the approach to the text analysis as a phenomenological fact. At the same time, the author offers to examine the original text as the source language and speech material for creating a target text, i.e. it is necessary to begin the analysis of the source text not with individual elements (words, phrases, super-phrasal units), but with the whole text. Thus, the target text should take into account some general characteristics of the discourse. Understanding of the text is also based on the awareness of its integrity. In addition to integrity, an important aspect of the text in its analysis is subtext, presupposition, cohesion and completeness. These main features of the text (cohesion, integrity and completeness) are the main text characteristics that should be included not only in the analysis of the source text when creating a new target text. Furthermore, they are the most important ones for the implementation of intercultural communication in the form of translation. The author concludes that the characteristics of the text integrity are mainly a basis for its understanding as a semantic unity. It is integrity that mostly influences the creating of a target text, which is equivalent to the source one.

Martin Haspelmath

N. Nagy, Timothy Gadanidis

We focus on complexity from the comparative variationist perspective, a sociolinguistic approach that examines variable aspects of language (that is, different ways of saying the same thing). Arguably, variable elements are harder to acquire than categorical ones, as a Variability Matrix must be acquired along with every element. This matrix contains probabilistic information about when each form is (more) appropriate, according to an array of factors. These include inter-speaker (social) and intra-speaker (linguistic context) predictors. We ask how the Variability Matrix for predictors of a variable compares between heritage speakers (people living in a context where their language is a minority language) and homeland speakers (people living in a context where their language is a majority language), and how these can fairly be compared. In the variationist approach, multivariate regression analyses reveal the predictors (and levels within each predictor) of a response or dependent variable and their corresponding Variability Matrices. However, the variationist field lacks an established comparative methodology to determine how/if varieties differ. One shortcoming is that different-sized samples are often compared, implicating different levels of statistical significance even when the populations’ patterns are identical. Comparison of variable patterns in Heritage and Homeland Cantonese illustrates one solution. We revise analyses conducted previously of two morphosyntactic variables: prodrop and classifiers (Nagy, 2015; Nagy & Lo, 2019) in Cantonese, applying a bootstrap procedure to mitigate issues associated with unequal-sized datasets frequent in studies of minority and endangered varieties. From these analyses, we learn that heritage and homeland grammars’ degrees of complexity are similar: the matrices of (significant) frequencies are the same size. This approach allows us to consider not just which surface forms constitute the heritage vs. homeland varieties, but also the complexity of the decision-making process the speakers apply in selecting among the forms. As one might expect, heritage and homeland speakers are capable of equally complex processes.

Rumadani Sagala

Tulisan ini berbicara tentang Faktor-Faktor Dari Penyebab Rendahnya Aktivitas Peserta Didik Pada Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Arab Kelas VII MTs Nurul Falah Bukit Kemuning, dengan fokus persoalan apa faktor-faktor penyebab rendahnya aktivitas peserta didik pada mata pelajaran Bahasa Arab kelas VII di MTs Nurul Falah Bukit Kemuning?. Selanjutnyametodepenelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif deskriptif yaitu analisis data yang menekankan pada makna, penalaran, definisi suatu situasi tertentu (dalam konteks tertentu).Sementaraalatpengumpul data terkaitdenganpenelitianiniadalah interview, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Adapun dalam pengambilan kesimpulan menggunakan pendekatan berfikir induktif yaitu pemikiran yang berangkat dari fakta atau peristiwa khusus, kemudian dari fakta-fakta yang khusus dimaksud, ditarik generalisasi yang memiliki sifat umum. Mengacu padastatemen di atas, maka temuan yang dihasilkan menunjukkan bahwa faktor-faktor penyebab rendahnya aktivitas belajar bahasa arab peserta didik  kelas VII MTs Nurul Falah Bukit Kemuning adalah faktor internal dan eksternal. Faktor internal dapat dilihat dari indikasi yaitu tidak menjaga kesehatan, aktivitas belajar menjadi terganggu sehingga mengakibatkan tidak bergairah untuk mengikuti kegiatan belajar, minat dan motivasi yang rendah sangat mempengaruhi keinginan peserta didik dalam mengikuti aktivitas belajar bahasa arab cara belajar yang salah tidak memperhatikan waktu belajar dan tidak menggunakan teknik belajar  yang baik sehingga hasil belajarpun kurang memuaskan. Sedangkan faktor eksternal dapat dilihat dari indikasi yaitu letak sekolah yang tidak strategis dan kondusif, metode mengajar guru yang kurang memuaskan, kemampuan guru dalam mengajar, kurangnya penegakan disiplin sekolah, kurangnya penggunaan alat pelajaran, kurangnya penempatan waktu belajar disekolah dikarenakan keadaan gedung sekolah yang kurang memadai.

Elena Siemens

An Experiment with Google Translate

Esther Vázquez y del Árbol

In this article I explore some of the arguments pertaining to word-structure used by the nativists to bolster the idea that language is part of our genetic endowment. The focal point of this analysis will centre primarily on the arguments put forth by Steven Pinker in his various works, regarding the morphological constraints supposedly imposed on language by our genetically hard-wired language faculty. Peter Gordon’s work on English compounding will also be critically evaluated. I contend that these allegedly innate constraints are wrongly construed as such, and can easily be explained without postulating a ‘language acquisition device’, as contingent cultural and environmental factors suffice when trying to explain the morphological phenomena Pinker believes can only be explained by the innate constraints of universal grammar. Hence, this strand of the nativist’s paradigm needs to be seriously re-evaluated as the original conclusions drawn by theorists like Pinker and Gordon are flawed. Introduction Linguistic nativism has been built on an edifice ranging from armchair philosophical argumentation to rigorous empirical data. There are numerous strands of nativism, but the focus here is on word-structure, and on how influential scholars like Steven Pinker have bolstered their case for linguistic innateness with reference to the phenomenon of how phenomena such as derivational and inflexional morphology are constrained by a genetically hard-wired language faculty. Peter Gordon (1986) argues along similar lines, citing research done on compound words, claiming that innate restrictions preclude the compounding of morphologically complex modifiers. Though this argument is only one strand of a particular theory with an increasingly parochial following, it is still a paradigm that is followed by the majority of linguistics scholars around the world. The concern here is that the mind-set that accompanies a theory of this kind can have negative consequences. In Grein and Weigand (2007), for example, Geoffrey Sampson explores some of the contentious upshots regarding a theory that tries to homogenise mankind, while ignoring the disparities. Language policy has also been informed the world over by this way of thinking. The belief is that if things as detailed as the rules pertaining to word-structure are part of a child’s innate machinery, then the educator’s role is merely to elicit this innate knowledge. This may have contributed to the rationale behind the failed outcomes-based education curriculum, which sees the teacher as a ‘facilitator’ who is not meant to teach, but merely to stimulate the expression of what is already innately there. In the pedagogical context of teaching English as a foreign language, adherents to the critical period hypothesis believe that teachers’ jobs only ought to entail helping their students/learners to ‘get by’ in the target language by aiming for a basic level of communicative competence. This aim is because educators are trained in a paradigm based on the belief that it is impossible to attain native speaker competence after a certain age – this is a biologically constrained phenomenon (cf. Lenneberg, [1967], on whose work Chomsky draws and which he explicitly endorses). The various strands of nativism alluded to here are used to inform policies that are damaging to the country; linguistic pedagogy draws on theoretical underpinnings in linguistics, 7 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM) Vol.3, Issue 1, March 2013 and aside from the pedagogical implications of the theory, the nativist paradigm is taking linguistics as a whole away from its scientific standing in the academic world. Scholars such as Gordon (1986) and Pinker (1994; 1999) argue that phenomena such as compounding rules and the rules pertaining to morphological concatenation are not logically necessary, making their alleged ubiquity not only contingent, but in need of explanation. As mentioned, Gordon and Pinker explain the morphological restrictions found in their data by postulating a universal grammar that is part of our biological endowment. This article serves to re-evaluate this strand of linguistic innateness by pointing out the false predictions Pinker, Gordon (and others of their ilk) make with regard to morphology, and in light of that counterevidence, proffer an explanation that is more commonsensically commensurable. Hence, this article calls for a paradigmatic re-evaluation of linguistic nativism as a whole. Nativism should either be more answerable to conspicuous counter-evidence, or embrace a theory that is more amenable to the counter-evidence shown in conflicting data. The case for innate morphological constraints Pinker (1994) claims that the restrictions pertaining to the structure of words lend evidence to nativism in the sense that children’s minds seem to be designed with the logic of word-structure built in. His first example is that of a pattern whereby the derivational affix can attach only to roots, not to stems (i.e. roots with at least one affix attached). When we try to attach a derivational affix to a stem, we get something like Darwinsian, which could refer to the works of Charles Darwin and his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. However, this would sound ridiculous, not because it is illogical, but because there seems to be some sort of innate restriction on what affix can go where in a word. Later Pinker says that the restriction is that derivational suffixes cannot attach themselves to inflected roots. Pinker (1999) discusses headless compound words, and draws conclusions that provide further evidence for his case. An example of a headed compound would be “barman”, with the -man part constituting the head. Hence, a “barman” is a kind of man, namely one that works in bars. Headless compounds are words like “walkman”. Here, -man cannot be the head because a “walkman” is neither a kind of man, nor is it a kind of walk, even though the rightmost morpheme is usually defined as the head of a compound. Pinker (1994; 1999) explains that when a compound has a head, all the information regarding the head gets percolated up to the top-most node of the (morphological) tree, including the rules. When there is a headless compound, it is not clear where the information must come from, so the “percolation conduits” get blocked, and the default rule applies. That is the reason why we say “sabre-tooths” and “still-lifes”, not “sabre-teeth” and “still-lives” (Pinker, 1999; 1994). Other research cited by Pinker includes Peter Gordon’s experiment with three-year-olds, commonly referred to as the “Jabba experiment” (Gordon, 1986). He showed them a puppet and said: “This is Jabba. Jabba eats mice. Jabba is a ___?”, to which the children replied: “Mice-eater”. Thereafter, he asked: “Jabba also eats rats. Jabba is also a ___?”, to which they replied: “Rat eater”. Now, Gordon asks, why do they use the plural “mice”, but not the plural “rats”? Given that not a single child ever used the inflected plural as the initial constituent of the compound, this could indicate that there is some sort of rule that they are applying. It is unlikely that they were told that this is so, as Motherese contains few or no compounds, especially of that kind; it is also unlikely that someone would have told them not to include inflected words in their compounds. Why do they not generalise the rule: “Create a compound by putting two words together”? Why should there be a restriction of this sort? Nativists like Gordon and Pinker would explain it as 8 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM) Vol.3, Issue 1, March 2013 follows: If there were an innate rule of this kind to facilitate language acquisition, the child would already ‘know’ some of the things that cannot be said, like including an inflected word in the first part of a compound word, which is obviously why they avoid constructions of this sort. Gordon concludes that these results were interesting because there seemed to be a consistent restriction in terms of what kind of word was allowed to be in the first part of a compound word. “Mice-eater”, for example, was an acceptable form to them; their answer to the first question would be just that. However, they never answered “rats-eater” to the second question; they always answered “rat-eater”. This is interesting, because if one goes solely on logic, then “ratseater” ought not to be precluded, since “mice” and “rats” are both plural forms, and both (equally) morphologically complex. The question, then, that Gordon posed is: What exactly makes forms like “rats-eater” ungrammatical? The reason he postulated was that the form “rats” is clearly derived from a rule: rat + -s. The word “mice”, however, is not; despite its morphological complexity, the word is learnt as a listeme, and therefore treated as such by the lexicon. Hence, “mice” in “mice-eater” is treated by the phonology as a simplex word. This, Gordon claims, must be an innate constraint placed on us by universal grammar, and we have fairly good reason to assume this, given that children as young as three consistently do it. There are problems with this claim, however, since there are languages that do exactly that which is claimed by Gordon to be universally excluded by an innate constraint. German, for example, makes use of regular plural forms in compounds. Consider the set of data in the table below:1 Table 1: English and German compound words English compound German translation 1) Mice-eater Mäusefresser 2) Rat-eater Rattenfresser 3) Butterfly-eater Schmetterling(s)fresser 4) Insect-eater Insektenfresser 5) Cat-eater Katzenfresser 6) Flower-eater Blumenfresser 7) People-eater Menschenfresser 8) Tree-eater Bäumefresser 9) Sheep-eater Schaf(s)fresser 10) Fish-eater Fischfresser In German, -e(n) represents the plural suffix. To clarify, Table 2 shows the singular/plural forms of the (German) words used in the data above: 1 Data gathered by me from a nat

Hanić Jasmina, Pavlović Tanja, Jašić Alma Jahić

This paper aimed to investigate metaphorical images used by master’s students in order to gain an insight into their schemata for thinking about the process of master’s thesis writing. Semistructured interviews on the topic of master’s thesis writing with three students coming from humanities, social sciences and natural sciences served as a corpus from which the data were extracted. The paper analysed participants’ unconscious use of metaphorical language in their narratives, mirroring their perception of the thesis writing process. The results revealed that the participants’ personal experience revolves around the concept of journey as the central image they share and the journey metaphor, along with a group of related specific metaphors, serves to illustrate the complexity of the writing process itself.

Rachid Acim

[straipsnis ir santrauka lietuvių kalba; santrauka anglų kalba] Versti Šekspyro poeziją yra vienas iš sudėtingiausių uždavinių, jaudinusių šimtus vertėjų, vertimo teoretikų ir mokslininkų visame pasaulyje. Kadangi poezijoje vartojama daug retorinių priemonių, dėl kurių dažnai išnyksta riba tarp vaizdingumo ir intertekstualumo, ji pati tampa neaiški, dviprasmiška, o kartu ir neišverčiama. Be to, vartojamos stiliaus figūros, tokios kaip palyginimai, sinekdokos ir metaforos, šiai poezijai su-teikia tokią diskursinę jėgą, kuri nekinta nepaisant anglų kalbos evoliucijos ir to, kad poetas mirė jau prieš kelis šimtmečius. Šioje poezijoje temų spektras toks didelis, kad pats Šekspyras atrodo kaip kosmopolitinė figūra, neapribota nei laiko, nei erdvės. Straipsnyje siekiama įvertinti Šekspyro poezijos meilės tema vertimo sprendimus Ibrahimo (2012) vertime į arabų kalbą. Siekdamas šio tikslo, autorius siūlo naudoti gretinamąją anglų ir arabų poetinio teksto analizę ir nustatyti, ar vertėjui pavyko išsaugoti jos esmę. Daroma išvada, kad originalaus poetinio teksto stilistiniai aspektai ir estetinės savybės vertimuose į arabų kalbą daugeliu atvejų buvo prarasti, nes dėl archainių formų ir reikšmių daugiasluoksniškumo vertėjui dažnai nepavyko išsaugoti sonetų stilistikos, kartais net supainiotas soneto adresatas (vyriška / moteriška giminė).