Subject-tracking and topic continuity in the Church Slavonic translation of the story of Abraham and his niece Mary

The present article addresses issues of referentiality and text cohesion in a Church Slavonic narrative text. Starting with the specific problem of referential conflict as formulated by Kibrik (19871, issues of tracking personal participants in a narrative text are broadly explored in order to arrive at a rationale for the construction of cohesive text interpretation through topic continuity in subject position. The article takes an interpretative text-based approach of close-reading and argues for participant tracking to be dependent on text genre and general cultural prerequisites of text reading and interpretation rather than on systemic grammatical features of language. It is also hinted at the possibility that medieval narrative text genres (like the Byzantine-Slavic hagiographic genre being explored in this paper through the specimen of the Story of Abraham and Mary) may adhere to a type of narrative construction which places more responsibility on the reader-listener than on the narrator

Three ways to link merge with hierarchical concept-combination

In the Minimalist Program, language competence is seen to stem from a fundamental ability to construct hierarchical structure, an operation dubbed `Merge'. This raises the problem of how to view hierarchical concept-combination. This is a conceptual operation which also builds hierarchical structure. We can conceive of a garden that consists of a lawn and a flower-bed, for example, or a salad consisting of lettuce, fennel and rocket, or a crew consisting of a pilot and engineer. In such cases, concepts are put together in a way that makes one the accommodating element with respect to the others taken in combination. The accommodating element becomes the root of a hierarchical unit. Since this unit is itself a concept, the operation is inherently recursive. Does this mean the mind has two independent systems of hierarchical construction? Or is some form of integration more likely? Following a detailed examination of the operations involved, this paper shows there are three main ways in which Merge might be linked to hierarchical concept-combination. Also examined are the architectural implications that arise in each case

Between the Idea of a Common Slavic Language and Slavic Literary Microlanguages

The idea of a common Slavic language has been strictly connected with the history of Slavophilism. The concept to use Russian or Old Church Slavonic as an all-Slavic language found numerous advocates. Apart from this, the projects of artificial all-Slavic languages were elaborated, that is “Slavic Esperanto”. Until today, we have come to know 29 such projects, among others, by J. Križanić, S.B. Linde (mainly on the basis of the Polish language), J. Herkel, M. Majar. A manifestation of the disintegration of the Slavic linguistic world is the formation of the so-called Slavic literary microlanguages. Nowadays, there exists more than 20 of such languages or the attempts of their codification.The idea of a common Slavic language has been strictly connected with the history of Slavophilism. The concept to use Russian or Old Church Slavonic as an all-Slavic language found numerous advocates. Apart from this, the projects of artificial all-Slavic languages were elaborated, that is “Slavic Esperanto”. Until today, we have come to know 29 such projects, among others, by J. Križanić, S.B. Linde (mainly on the basis of the Polish language), J. Herkel, M. Majar. A manifestation of the disintegration of the Slavic linguistic world is the formation of the so-called Slavic literary microlanguages. Nowadays, there exists more than 20 of such languages or the attempts of their codification.

Where Is the Conflict between Internalism and Externalism? A Reply to Lohndal and Narita (2009)

Where Is the Conflict between Internalism and Externalism? A Reply to Lohndal and Narita (2009

A Language with a Purpose - the Original Lingua Franca

The original Lingua Franca was a language without a nation, without native speakers, and without literature. Despite these facts, which we may easily see as severe shortcomings in the linguistics department, it was, however, a language that served its purpose. From the Dark Ages and until the onset of modernity it served as the traders’ Esperanto. As such it was spoken from the Levant across the Mediterranean and to the Maghreb. Actually a quite convincing track record for a linguistically challenged language, I might add

Web 2.0 under the light of free software

The development of Web 2.0 has favoured a closer relation between Internet users and the different web applications that facilitate creating, sharing and structuring digital information in a horizontal and collaborative way through so-called social software. Social software includes tools that are familiar to us all, such as chats, forums, blogs, wikis, syndication standards (RSS type), social tagging, multimedia file sharing, social networking, etc. They are tools oriented to give the user a greater capacity of interaction, and a stronger control over the content and the format in which they can be presented

LEXICOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF SLOVAK ADJECTIVE-NOUN COLLOCATIONS

In the article, we focus on the conceptual treatment of adjective-noun collocations in the Dictionary of Slovak Collocations. Adjectives. We deal with the analysis of the formal and semantic aspects of collocations, especially those collocations that lie on the border between fixed and free word combinations. We evaluate the formal side of collocations from the perspective of their formal preference and observe how it is reflected in their changed word-class features. We analyse the semantic side of the chosen collocations using their restrictions in collocability. We demonstrate that the formal and collocability preference of words reflects itself in their statistical characteristics, which is why we consider the preference an important lexicographical criterion for choosing collocation candidates

Косвенные речевые акты в речи персонажей “Повести временных лет”

The article states that communication in Old Russian as well as in modern Russian discourse is characterized by the use of mono-functional and poly-functional indirect speech acts. Moreover, the important aspect that helps to specify the illocutive functions of indirect speech acts in Old Russian is their verifiability: the verbal or non-verbal response of the interlocutor as well as the frame constructions, which introduce direct speech (preposition). These constructions are also used in the middle of the utterance (interposition) or at the end of the utterance (postposition). The author of the chronicles observes the communicative purposes of both the speaker and the interlocutor, indicating that the given utterance should be regarded as an indirect speech act. By analyzing the use of mono-functional indirect speech acts in the original dialogue fragments of the Tale of Bygone Years, the author works out their typology. The groups of interrogative and non-interrogative indirect speech acts have been singled out, each of them having certain typical characteristics. The semantics of non-interrogative utterances in most cases is connected with the expression of indirect meanings of time and aspect of verbal forms. The use of interrogative utterances as indirect speech acts is mostly connected with the changes not only in the illocutive function, but also in the propositional meaning of the predicative unit: interrogative utterances with negations should be interpreted as affirmative non-interrogative utterances and vice versa. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of modern mono-functional indirect speech acts is traditional, since it is identical to their functioning in Old Russian

The role of high prestige languages in the formation of European literary language

I believe that contacts between popular dialects and high culture languages (mainly Latin and Greek) were the main factor driving the increase of language efficiency in the early period of forming literary languages of the European cultural area. Vernacular language patterns did not prompt developments in vocabulary, syntax and style until much later. Once intellectualized, dialects served as a tool for transmitting Greek and Latin culture, as well as logical and abstract thought. A purely popular language was unable to fulfill this function

The Discursive Construction of Cultural Differences

By understanding in depth the actual process of cultural difference creation, businessmen become equipped with a knowledgeable and erudite shield that helps them circumvent cultural misunderstandings that they might encounter in their everyday business transactions. Paying more attention to the actual wordings that the cultural actors use in these transactions could prove very advantageous for the outcome of any business interaction. Only by obtaining a deeper understanding of the origin and manifestation of the differences can the intercultural perplexities be transcended. Only through knowledge and appreciation of the differences, intercultural obstructions need not become a reality