The Metaphorization of Practical Action and Everyday Life Experience in the Words, Emblems, and Coverbal Gestures of Spoken Language

This paper focuses on the impact of practical action and experience on all aspects of oral language, segmental and suprasegmental, verbal and visual (i.e. gestural). It is based on observations of emblems and coverbal gestures in synergy with the words of spoken language over a number of years annotating and studying visual and verboacoustic manifestations in videotaped oral interactions. Facial expressions, postures, gestures, and body movement in general visually manifest the close semiotic interweaving of movement, space, and words in human thought and consequently in human oral expression. The important part of this interweaving results from the metaphorization or analogical converging of two notions that share one or more features but otherwise belong to different categories. Thinking and speaking are experienced as just another form of activity such as the practical actions of walking, running, handling objects, only transposed into the virtual world of cognitive and linguistic reality. Thus, when speaking, we are handling concepts by using gestures and words as if they were the objects experienced in the outside material reality. The etymology of words expressing abstract ideas often hide the metaphorical source domain of a concrete phenomenon in our practical life. For example, not only is the Latin word comprehendere, equivalent in meaning to the English words catch, get, grasp, or comprehend; the French saisir or comprendre; and the Croatian shvatiti, but all of these words also share the same underlying metaphor: Understanding is catching. The coverbal metaphorical hand gesture of grasping an imaginary object seems to visually revitalize in the gesture space the metaphor, which had become ´dead´ in the linguistic system. The correspondences in the verbal and gestural structure of metaphorical mappings in a given language are possible because words and gestures are parts of a single framework. They developed out of practical action and everyday life experience and stay deeply embedded in it. This paper was presented at the 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies: Gesture, Brain and Evolution, 25-30 July 2010, University of Viadrina, Frankfurt Oder, Germany

Vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika

Knjiga nastoji pružiti uvid u problematiku vizualnih obilježja govorenoga jezika s motrišta suvremene jezične znanosti. Njen cilj jest omogućiti upoznavanje s osnovnim pojmovima i terminima problematike razgovornih gesta te osvijetliti znanstveno zanimanje za vizualne pojave govorenoga jezika u interdisciplinarnome ozračju suvremenih lingvističkih istraživanja. Sadržaj knjige je usredotočen na vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika, tako da se nastojalo razmotriti vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika u odnosu na povezane aspekte iz problematike jezika i spoznaje te na taj način pridonijeti boljem razumijevanju i istraživanju uloge vizualnih obilježja u usmenoj jezičnoj djelatnosti

The Metaphorization of Practical Action and Everyday Life Experience in the Words, Emblems, and Coverbal Gestures of Spoken Language

This paper focuses on the impact of practical action and experience on all aspects of oral language, segmental and suprasegmental, verbal and visual (i.e. gestural). It is based on observations of emblems and coverbal gestures in synergy with the words of spoken language over a number of years annotating and studying visual and verboacoustic manifestations in videotaped oral interactions. Facial expressions, postures, gestures, and body movement in general visually manifest the close semiotic interweaving of movement, space, and words in human thought and consequently in human oral expression. The important part of this interweaving results from the metaphorization or analogical converging of two notions that share one or more features but otherwise belong to different categories. Thinking and speaking are experienced as just another form of activity such as the practical actions of walking, running, handling objects, only transposed into the virtual world of cognitive and linguistic reality. Thus, when speaking, we are handling concepts by using gestures and words as if they were the objects experienced in the outside material reality. The etymology of words expressing abstract ideas often hide the metaphorical source domain of a concrete phenomenon in our practical life. For example, not only is the Latin word comprehendere, equivalent in meaning to the English words catch, get, grasp, or comprehend; the French saisir or comprendre; and the Croatian shvatiti, but all of these words also share the same underlying metaphor: Understanding is catching. The coverbal metaphorical hand gesture of grasping an imaginary object seems to visually revitalize in the gesture space the metaphor, which had become ´dead´ in the linguistic system. The correspondences in the verbal and gestural structure of metaphorical mappings in a given language are possible because words and gestures are parts of a single framework. They developed out of practical action and everyday life experience and stay deeply embedded in it. This paper was presented at the 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies: Gesture, Brain and Evolution, 25-30 July 2010, University of Viadrina, Frankfurt Oder, Germany

Vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika

Knjiga nastoji pružiti uvid u problematiku vizualnih obilježja govorenoga jezika s motrišta suvremene jezične znanosti. Njen cilj jest omogućiti upoznavanje s osnovnim pojmovima i terminima problematike razgovornih gesta te osvijetliti znanstveno zanimanje za vizualne pojave govorenoga jezika u interdisciplinarnome ozračju suvremenih lingvističkih istraživanja. Sadržaj knjige je usredotočen na vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika, tako da se nastojalo razmotriti vizualna obilježja govorenoga jezika u odnosu na povezane aspekte iz problematike jezika i spoznaje te na taj način pridonijeti boljem razumijevanju i istraživanju uloge vizualnih obilježja u usmenoj jezičnoj djelatnosti

Studies in the Sphingolipids Series. XV. Partial Synthesis of Anhy~ro Cerebrin of Yeast

The partial synthesis of anhydro cerebrin (Ila) - a compound resulting by the acid catalyzed release of yeast cerebrin (I) - was effected. The synthetic Ila and its diacetyl derivative (Ile) were identical with the authentic samples

Studies in the Sphingolipids Series. XIII. On the Ceramides and Ceramide Esters of C20-Phytosphingosine and Cio-Phytosphingosine Anhydro Base of Yeast

The N and 0-acylations of C20-phytosphingosine anhydro base (Ia) , C20 -anhydro cere\u27brin (Ila) and C20 -cerebrin (IIIa) with longchain fatty acid chlorides have been examined. The reactions have been carried out in both quinoline and N,N-dimethyl formamide. The ceramides and ceramide esters thus obtained are represented by formulas I-III

Studies in the Sphingolipids Series. XIII. On the Ceramides and Ceramide Esters of C20-Phytosphingosine and Cio-Phytosphingosine Anhydro Base of Yeast

The N and 0-acylations of C20-phytosphingosine anhydro base (Ia) , C20 -anhydro cere\u27brin (Ila) and C20 -cerebrin (IIIa) with longchain fatty acid chlorides have been examined. The reactions have been carried out in both quinoline and N,N-dimethyl formamide. The ceramides and ceramide esters thus obtained are represented by formulas I-III

IMPACT OF BAD LOANS ON THE CAPITAL ADEQUACY OF BANKS IN CROATIA

Despite of the economic and financial crisis, which was caused by the banking crisis, the condition of banks in Croatia is very good. According to the indicators, the banking system in Croatia is among the most stable in Europe. If the indicators of stability and liquidity of the Croatian banks are very good, the question is why there are economic problems of the real sector in such system. Analysis of bank balance sheet, the quality of their assets and claims, leads to other findings that speak of the apparent stability of the financial system. The problem is that the part of the assets of Croatian banks is contaminated and refers to the bad loans. Bank stability that results from the capital adequacy ratio is statistically very good, but high capital adequacy ratio of Croatian banks actually has no real cover. The research results confirm that high capital adequacy ratio is unrealistic and that refers to inadequate valorisation of assets of the commercial banks