Introduction to the special issue

This is the introduction to a selection of papers presented at the international conference Thirty Five Years of English Studies in Osijek (35YESO) held from 18-19 October 2012 in order to mark the 35th anniversary of English studies at the University of Osijek

Introduction to the special issue

This is the introduction to a selection of papers presented at the international conference Thirty Five Years of English Studies in Osijek (35YESO) held from 18-19 October 2012 in order to mark the 35th anniversary of English studies at the University of Osijek

Nije ni potrebno govoriti o tome (iako ću svejedno reći)

It is not very frequently assumed that negation may play an active role in achieving specific conceptual frames, but as claimed by Langacker (2008) or Lakoff (2004), language enables the actual physical presence of words, even if in some kind of a negative construction, to create the positive conception of what is being denied. Our research focuses on the phenomenon of praeteritio or apophasis as a rhetorical device in political discourse, where we noticed a frequent use of various types of negation constructions as introductory lines for the content which is actually not being negated but rather accentuated. Structures like ‘It goes without saying…’, ‘We don’t want to mention that…’, etc., which are then followed by actual descriptions of affected participants or events, have been spotted in our corpus of public political speech events, particularly in the media discourse and in other types of discourse involved in shaping public opinion. The cognitive and pragmatic functions of apophatic structures in the elicited corpus are analysed as well as their role in creating the persuasive force of this rhetorical device. Their iconic nature and psycholinguistic background are used as a vehicle to explain their unique position in the process of conceptualization of the world around us.Ne smatra se često da negacija može imati aktivnu ulogu u postizanju određenih konceptualnih okvira, no kao što tvrde Langacker (2008) ili Lakoff (2004), jezik omogućava stvarnoj fizičkoj prisutnosti riječi, čak i ako se one nalaze u nekoj vrsti niječne konstrukcije, stvoriti pozitivnu sliku onoga što se niječe. Naše se istraživanje prije svega bavi pretericijom i apofazom kao retoričkim sredstvima u političkom diskursu, gdje smo zamijetili čestu uporabu različitih vrsta niječnih konstrukcija koje uvode sadržaj koji se zapravo ne niječe, već naglašava. Konstrukcije poput ‘Nije ni potrebno govoriti...’, ‘Da i ne spominjemo...’, itd. iza kojih neposredno slijedi opis “prešućenih” sudionika ili događaja, pojavljuju se u našem korpusu javnih političkih govora, u medijskom diskursu te u drugim tipovima diskursa kojima se oblikuje javno mnijenje. U radu se analiziraju kognitivne i pragmatičke funkcije apofaznih konstrukcija u navedenom korpusu te njihova uloga u stvaranju uvjerljivosti ovoga retoričkog sredstva. Njihova ikonička priroda i psiholingvistička pozadina koriste se kao alat za tumačenje njihova jedinstvenog položaja u procesu konceptualizacije svijeta oko nas

MOBILE LEARNING INTEGRATION AMONG TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Unstoppable and constant advances in technology affect the inevitable changes in the ways and methods of teaching, but also changes in different students’ learning needs. New generations of students are characterized by mobility and because of that the information is very easily accessible, which requires the implementation of new trends in the educational process. One of these trends is mobile learning, which is available to young people everywhere and at any time 24/7. Therefore, it is scientifically and pedagogically justified to research the implementation and evaluation of such a new useful education tool in facilitating foreign language teaching. Mobile learning combines all forms of learning which refer to mobile devices and wireless internet. Such learning with the help of modern technologies would make it easier for students to acquire new knowledge, and at the same time to improve and to accelerate their personal and social development. Due to the various opportunities provided by mobile learning, the complexity of its implementation and implementation in teaching English as a foreign language increased almost exponentially. It has become particularly obvious in times of uncertainty such as the implementation of distance learning instead of traditional classroom teaching due to a sudden pandemic around the world. Although mobile learning is very often taken for granted because it is considered a disruptive factor in foreign language teaching (Aldrich, 2017), the affirmative attitude about mobile foreign language learning (MALL) (Zhang, Cristol, 2017) has become increasingly prevalent. The paper analyzes the results of a survey of English language teachers in primary and secondary schools in Osijek-Baranja County, which is one of the 21 counties in the Republic of Croatia, on attitudes toward mobile learning obtained from a sample of 121 participants. They point that the use of digital media in teaching is changing didactic and methodological methods and approaches to learning English, especially in secondary education. There is a lack of research on multimedia-didactic structuring of mobile learning in foreign language teaching in Croatia, this research will contribute to a better understanding of this issue but also offer possible solutions for designing innovative methods in teaching English from the aspect of mobile learning.  Article visualizations

Bilješka o karijeri metaforičkih domena: O ulozi konstrukcija tipa XYZ u preokretanju metaforičkog prijenosa

One of most dominant conceptual metaphors used to talk about the COVID-19 across languages and cultures is the WAR metaphor, but many other metaphors have been attested, exploiting a wide range of source domains. It appears, however, that there is a sort of evolutionary movement concerning the frequency with which particular source domains are used, progressing first towards more aggressive, war-like concepts, then after a sort of culmination in the spring of 2020, towards other related concepts, as the epidemic turned into a pandemic, and as new waves of infections emerged. However, we can now observe the beginnings of a new cycle: the domain that has so far been conceptualized metaphorically in terms of other source domains is now beginning to emancipate itself, becoming itself a source domain. Metaphorically speaking, when we study this switch, we study not the career of a metaphor, but the career of a domain (which in our opinion is even more exciting than the former enterprise). The aim of this article is to shed some light on this incipient trend by taking a look at the constellation of two (among many possible) factors that may have facilitated this mutation: the phenomenon of domain homogenization (towards a negative paragon) as a semantic catalyst and the family of XY(Z) constructions as the formal catalyst.Jedna od najdominantnijih konceptualnih metafora pomoću kojih se govori o koronavirusu u nizu jezika i kultura je metafora RATA, no zabilježene su i mnoge druge metafore koje su rabile cijeli niz izvornih domena. Po svemu sudeći na djelu je evolucija metafora kada se promatra čestoća s kojom se pojavljuju pojedine domene, s pomakom prvo prema agresivnijim konceptima vezanima uz rat pa nakon kulminacije u proljeće 2020. prema drugim konceptima kako se pandemija pretvarala u endemiju i kako su dolazili novi valovi zaraza. Može se, međutim, uočiti i početak novog ciklusa: domena koja se konceptualizirala metaforički pomoću drugih domena se počinje emancipirati te i sama počinje funkcionirati kao izvorna domena. Metaforičkim rječnikom, kada proučavamo tu zamjenu domena ne bavimo se karijerom metafore već karijeru domene (što je prema našem viđenju zanimljivije nego ono prvo). Cilj je ovog članka rasvijetliti ovaj trend u nastanku tako što se koncentriramo na konstelaciju dva (od više mogućih) čimbenika koji potpomažu ovu mutaciju: semantičku homogenizaciju domena (u ovom slučaju prema negativnom paragonu) te porodicu konstrukcija tipa XYZ kao formalnog katalizatora