Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0012
Vitalii Stepanov, Anna Reshytko, I. Kobiakova
Abstract The article is dedicated to researching resilience as a relevant social concept. It puts forward a new idea to study the actual mental consideration of social and political phenomena via purely linguistic tools. As a research methodology, a new approach is offered. In particular, the authors extrapolate Zhabotynska’s semantics of lingual networks onto Popova and Sternin’s semantic-cognitive analysis. The study is conducted through corpus technologies: a COCA sample of discourse contexts with the resilience lexeme is used to reconstruct a conceptual model of the resilience concept (denotative meaning). Subsequently, this meaning is processed via two cognitive operations: cognitive interpretation and prominence. Finally, the field cognitive model of resilience is obtained. Sorted by frequency in the corpus sample as core and periphery zones, the separate cognitive features indicate what is more or less important for Americans in the current consideration of resilience as a social and political phenomenon. Each research stage is explained and discussed by the authors in detail.
{"title":"The mental consideration of resilience as a relevant social concept (a corpus-based research of American English)","authors":"Vitalii Stepanov, Anna Reshytko, I. Kobiakova","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article is dedicated to researching resilience as a relevant social concept. It puts forward a new idea to study the actual mental consideration of social and political phenomena via purely linguistic tools. As a research methodology, a new approach is offered. In particular, the authors extrapolate Zhabotynska’s semantics of lingual networks onto Popova and Sternin’s semantic-cognitive analysis. The study is conducted through corpus technologies: a COCA sample of discourse contexts with the resilience lexeme is used to reconstruct a conceptual model of the resilience concept (denotative meaning). Subsequently, this meaning is processed via two cognitive operations: cognitive interpretation and prominence. Finally, the field cognitive model of resilience is obtained. Sorted by frequency in the corpus sample as core and periphery zones, the separate cognitive features indicate what is more or less important for Americans in the current consideration of resilience as a social and political phenomenon. Each research stage is explained and discussed by the authors in detail.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139188750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0009
Gian Claudio Batic
Abstract This study aims at analysing the absolute semantic complexity of kin terms in Hausa, i.e. to measure the amount of semantic information of individual kin terms. Each kin term is defined by a set of sufficient and necessary conditions (i.e. properties and relations) derived from the construction of a genealogical “space”. In order to calculate semantic complexity, properties (e.g. x is male, x is older than y) and relations (e.g. x is married to y, x is father of y) are encoded as a series of predicates. The terms are defined in a feature matrix system: for each property and relation each kin term is assigned a value on a truth table. Resorting to predicate calculus, the complexity coefficient c of kin terms is calculated as the negative dyadic logarithm of the relative number of trues according to the formula proposed by Lehmann (1978) and adapted from Carnap and Bar-Hillel (1952). Being culture-independent, the definition of kinship terms in a feature-matrix system allows for a) cross-linguistic comparison; b) a consistent treatment of polysemous instances based on the principles of intension and extension; and c) further analysis and applications in representations of kinship systems formulated with genealogical or algebraic approaches.
摘要 本研究旨在分析豪萨语中亲属词的绝对语义复杂性，即衡量单个亲属词的语义信息量。每个亲属词都是由一系列充分和必要条件（即属性和关系）定义的，这些充分和必要条件来自于家谱 "空间 "的构建。为了计算语义复杂性，属性（如 x 是男性，x 比 y 年长）和关系（如 x 与 y 结婚，x 是 y 的父亲）被编码为一系列谓词。这些术语是在特征矩阵系统中定义的：对于每个属性和关系，每个亲属术语都在真值表上赋值。根据 Lehmann（1978 年）提出并改编自 Carnap 和 Bar-Hillel（1952 年）的公式，运用谓词微积分学，亲属称谓词的复杂系数 c 被计算为真值相对数量的负对数。由于与文化无关，在特征矩阵系统中定义亲属关系术语可以：a）进行跨语言比较；b）根据内延和外延原则对多义实例进行一致处理；c）进一步分析并应用于以谱系或代数方法制定的亲属关系系统表述中。
{"title":"The semantic complexity of Hausa kinship terms","authors":"Gian Claudio Batic","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study aims at analysing the absolute semantic complexity of kin terms in Hausa, i.e. to measure the amount of semantic information of individual kin terms. Each kin term is defined by a set of sufficient and necessary conditions (i.e. properties and relations) derived from the construction of a genealogical “space”. In order to calculate semantic complexity, properties (e.g. x is male, x is older than y) and relations (e.g. x is married to y, x is father of y) are encoded as a series of predicates. The terms are defined in a feature matrix system: for each property and relation each kin term is assigned a value on a truth table. Resorting to predicate calculus, the complexity coefficient c of kin terms is calculated as the negative dyadic logarithm of the relative number of trues according to the formula proposed by Lehmann (1978) and adapted from Carnap and Bar-Hillel (1952). Being culture-independent, the definition of kinship terms in a feature-matrix system allows for a) cross-linguistic comparison; b) a consistent treatment of polysemous instances based on the principles of intension and extension; and c) further analysis and applications in representations of kinship systems formulated with genealogical or algebraic approaches.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139188433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0008
Stephan Kornmesser, Alexander Max Bauer
Abstract Austin’s groundbreaking distinction between constative and performative utterances and his investigation of how to act in saying something initiated a whole new research programme in linguistics and philosophy of language. Within this programme, the arguments and discussions concerning the constative-performative distinction are based on linguistic intuitions. However, generally, they are only based on the respective linguist’s or philosopher’s own intuitions. This fact makes the whole programme seem incomplete because the linguistic intuitions of native speakers should be considered an important contribution which, so far, is mostly missing. With this article, we contribute to closing this gap by empirically investigating native speakers’ linguistic intuitions with respect to the following four aims: Aim 1 is concerned with the question of whether Austin’s criteria for distinguishing between performatives and constatives work. In order to achieve Aim 2, we introduce a new criterion for distinguishing between constatives and performatives, representing what we call the event character of performatives. For Aim 3, we evaluate Austin’s presumably strongest argument to reject the constativeperformative distinction which we call the Constative Expositive Argument. Aim 4 is concerned with the much-discussed question of whether performatives have truth values and, thus, are statements. In order to achieve the four aims, we present the findings of an online study comparing native speakers’ responses to vignettes containing constative or performative utterances.
{"title":"Austin in the Lab: Empirically reconsidering the constative-performative distinction","authors":"Stephan Kornmesser, Alexander Max Bauer","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Austin’s groundbreaking distinction between constative and performative utterances and his investigation of how to act in saying something initiated a whole new research programme in linguistics and philosophy of language. Within this programme, the arguments and discussions concerning the constative-performative distinction are based on linguistic intuitions. However, generally, they are only based on the respective linguist’s or philosopher’s own intuitions. This fact makes the whole programme seem incomplete because the linguistic intuitions of native speakers should be considered an important contribution which, so far, is mostly missing. With this article, we contribute to closing this gap by empirically investigating native speakers’ linguistic intuitions with respect to the following four aims: Aim 1 is concerned with the question of whether Austin’s criteria for distinguishing between performatives and constatives work. In order to achieve Aim 2, we introduce a new criterion for distinguishing between constatives and performatives, representing what we call the event character of performatives. For Aim 3, we evaluate Austin’s presumably strongest argument to reject the constativeperformative distinction which we call the Constative Expositive Argument. Aim 4 is concerned with the much-discussed question of whether performatives have truth values and, thus, are statements. In order to achieve the four aims, we present the findings of an online study comparing native speakers’ responses to vignettes containing constative or performative utterances.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139188810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0011
Jarosław Wiliński
Abstract In this article, the author applies the theory of frame semantics, a usage-based model of construction grammar, and quantitative corpus-based methodology to investigate the nature of the ADV speaking-construction in American English, an adverbial participle construction that has not been previously explored using quantitative corpus-based methods. To investigate this construction, the author extracted its occurrences from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), analysed its structural, semantic, distributional and discourse-functional properties, and identified adverbs that frequently appear in the construction. The investigation reveals that the construction tends to combine with speech-functional adverbs, which evoke different semantic frames. It commonly occurs in spoken and written registers and serves various functions in discourse. In particular, it is used frequently in spoken discourse and academic prose to comment on the manner of conveying a message and to express speakers’ stances and attitudes toward various topics.
{"title":"The ADV speaking-construction in American English: A quantitative corpus-based investigation","authors":"Jarosław Wiliński","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this article, the author applies the theory of frame semantics, a usage-based model of construction grammar, and quantitative corpus-based methodology to investigate the nature of the ADV speaking-construction in American English, an adverbial participle construction that has not been previously explored using quantitative corpus-based methods. To investigate this construction, the author extracted its occurrences from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), analysed its structural, semantic, distributional and discourse-functional properties, and identified adverbs that frequently appear in the construction. The investigation reveals that the construction tends to combine with speech-functional adverbs, which evoke different semantic frames. It commonly occurs in spoken and written registers and serves various functions in discourse. In particular, it is used frequently in spoken discourse and academic prose to comment on the manner of conveying a message and to express speakers’ stances and attitudes toward various topics.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139191156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0010
Fusheini Hudu, A. Iddrisu
Abstract One of the defining morphological properties of nouns and adjectives of Dagbani (a Gur/Mabia language of northern Ghana) and related languages is the presence of suffixes that mark number (singular or plural) as well as serve as the basis for noun classification. The typical regular noun or adjective (e.g. bi-a ‘a child’) consists of a bound root (bi-) providing the lexical meaning, and a suffix (-a) which indicates the singular number of the noun. In plural form, the suffix is replaced by a different one that marks plurality: (bi-hi). In this paper, we show that while this broad description is generally accepted, it is much weaker than assumed in previous studies, with many inconsistencies. As our main goal, we offer a much broader analysis of the morphological and syntactic functions of the nominal suffixes. We show that these suffixes are primarily there to project lexical words as nouns and adjectives and should be referred to as nominal suffixes used to inflect inherent nouns and derive nouns and adjectives from verbs. The nominal suffixes are also crucial to distinguishing between different compound nouns and noun phrases. The paper is largely descriptive, with no specific theoretical approach assumed.
{"title":"The morphological and syntactic functions of Dagbani nominal suffixes","authors":"Fusheini Hudu, A. Iddrisu","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract One of the defining morphological properties of nouns and adjectives of Dagbani (a Gur/Mabia language of northern Ghana) and related languages is the presence of suffixes that mark number (singular or plural) as well as serve as the basis for noun classification. The typical regular noun or adjective (e.g. bi-a ‘a child’) consists of a bound root (bi-) providing the lexical meaning, and a suffix (-a) which indicates the singular number of the noun. In plural form, the suffix is replaced by a different one that marks plurality: (bi-hi). In this paper, we show that while this broad description is generally accepted, it is much weaker than assumed in previous studies, with many inconsistencies. As our main goal, we offer a much broader analysis of the morphological and syntactic functions of the nominal suffixes. We show that these suffixes are primarily there to project lexical words as nouns and adjectives and should be referred to as nominal suffixes used to inflect inherent nouns and derive nouns and adjectives from verbs. The nominal suffixes are also crucial to distinguishing between different compound nouns and noun phrases. The paper is largely descriptive, with no specific theoretical approach assumed.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139192649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0006
Mohammad Alhailawani
Abstract The purpose of this study is to discuss the morphosyntax of ordinal numerals in Jordanian Arabic (JA). I show that ordinal numerals in JA do not belong to a uniform category and argue that they show different syntactic and morphological behaviours depending on their structural position inside the extended nominal projection. In particular, I argue that pre-nominal ordinals are QPs that can merge inside or outside the DP, similar to the quantifier kull (Shlonsky, 1991; Benmamoun, 1999). On the other hand, I show that post-nominal ordinals are adjectives that merge inside the extended nominal projection (Corbett, 2004; Fassi-Fehri, 2018), similar to adnominal adjectives in JA. The findings of this study show that ordinals might belong to distinct syntactic categories within the same language depending on their structural position.
{"title":"Ordinal numerals in Jordanian Arabic: A morphosyntactic investigation","authors":"Mohammad Alhailawani","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The purpose of this study is to discuss the morphosyntax of ordinal numerals in Jordanian Arabic (JA). I show that ordinal numerals in JA do not belong to a uniform category and argue that they show different syntactic and morphological behaviours depending on their structural position inside the extended nominal projection. In particular, I argue that pre-nominal ordinals are QPs that can merge inside or outside the DP, similar to the quantifier kull (Shlonsky, 1991; Benmamoun, 1999). On the other hand, I show that post-nominal ordinals are adjectives that merge inside the extended nominal projection (Corbett, 2004; Fassi-Fehri, 2018), similar to adnominal adjectives in JA. The findings of this study show that ordinals might belong to distinct syntactic categories within the same language depending on their structural position.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41881358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0007
Tomasz Dyrmo
Abstract The following qualitative study focuses on the metaphors of coming out in the Polish language. Native Polish speakers were asked to define coming out and then describe their coming out experiences. Data from 94 participants were analysed. The results from the analysis show that, consistently with the previous study on English data (Dyrmo, 2022b), coming out metaphors are based on several different conceptual structures and meaning foci, for example the image schema of FORCE and CONTAINER, the concept of openness and visibility, the domain of MOVEMENT and TRANSFER, the frame of SHARING AN OBJECT and two discursively oriented metaphorical scenarios: COMING OUT IS MAKING YOUR ORIENTATION VISIBLE TO OTHERS and COMING OUT IS SHIFTING A HEAVY OBJECT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS. The present analysis lays ground for further multimodal analyses of coming out metaphors.
{"title":"Metaphors of coming out in Polish: A cognitive linguistic approach","authors":"Tomasz Dyrmo","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The following qualitative study focuses on the metaphors of coming out in the Polish language. Native Polish speakers were asked to define coming out and then describe their coming out experiences. Data from 94 participants were analysed. The results from the analysis show that, consistently with the previous study on English data (Dyrmo, 2022b), coming out metaphors are based on several different conceptual structures and meaning foci, for example the image schema of FORCE and CONTAINER, the concept of openness and visibility, the domain of MOVEMENT and TRANSFER, the frame of SHARING AN OBJECT and two discursively oriented metaphorical scenarios: COMING OUT IS MAKING YOUR ORIENTATION VISIBLE TO OTHERS and COMING OUT IS SHIFTING A HEAVY OBJECT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS. The present analysis lays ground for further multimodal analyses of coming out metaphors.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44598882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0002
Kent Lee
Abstract Nuclear stress (or sentence stress) as a prosodic feature marks information flow in spoken English, and has received some treatment in the linguistics literature, most notably in pragmatics, but less so in newer phonological paradigms. Current theories in linguistics might shed light on this feature, such as Optimality Theory (OT) and cognitive grammar (CG). This paper compares potential insights and likely predictions of these two approaches for nuclear stress, by examining a recorded conversation of native US English speakers. The descriptive statistics indicate stress pattern distributions as expected, and some stress tokens show particular pragmatic and discourse functions of nuclear stress. The OT framework can better explain the interaction of different levels of prosody, grammar, and information structure, while CG might offer a more holistic explanation of stress, and its sociopragmatic and discourse functions, and may thus be likely more applicable to discourse studies, applied linguistics, and pedagogy. Implications are discussed for a CG theory of prosodic phonology, and for L2 pedagogy.
{"title":"A comparative analysis of English nuclear stress principles in conversation","authors":"Kent Lee","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Nuclear stress (or sentence stress) as a prosodic feature marks information flow in spoken English, and has received some treatment in the linguistics literature, most notably in pragmatics, but less so in newer phonological paradigms. Current theories in linguistics might shed light on this feature, such as Optimality Theory (OT) and cognitive grammar (CG). This paper compares potential insights and likely predictions of these two approaches for nuclear stress, by examining a recorded conversation of native US English speakers. The descriptive statistics indicate stress pattern distributions as expected, and some stress tokens show particular pragmatic and discourse functions of nuclear stress. The OT framework can better explain the interaction of different levels of prosody, grammar, and information structure, while CG might offer a more holistic explanation of stress, and its sociopragmatic and discourse functions, and may thus be likely more applicable to discourse studies, applied linguistics, and pedagogy. Implications are discussed for a CG theory of prosodic phonology, and for L2 pedagogy.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47919344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and cultural linguistics (CL), which form the chief theoretical anchor for this study, express the role of language, culture and cognition in the construal and expression of human experiences. The approaches posit that the metaphorical use of language by an individual or group is shaped by their ideological orientation, knowledge of their natural and social world, and their cultural worldview. This study investigates the metaphorical use of language by the Nigerian print media in their attempts to express ideation on corruption in the Nigerian public sector. There has not been any deliberate and rigorous attempt to study the metaphorical representation of corruption in the Nigerian media discourse, hence this study aims at addressing the lacuna. Thus, this study uses insights from CMT and CL to identify, classify and analyse some of these metaphors in six Nigerian newspapers, namely; The Guardian, Punch, Daily Trust, The Nation, Vanguard and The Sun. The study shows that print media reports of corruption in Nigeria involving powerful social actors such as politicians, government appointees, career civil servants, academics, the military, the media and others have often used metaphorical frames that emanate from the domains of disease, war and conflict, enmity, impediment to movement, violent natural forces, monstrosity, among others, to describe the incidence, scope, effects and consequences of public sector corruption in Nigeria.
{"title":"Metaphoric construction of corruption in Nigerian media discourse","authors":"Ikenna Kamalu, Okwudiri Anasiudu, Rabiat Oiza Fakunle","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and cultural linguistics (CL), which form the chief theoretical anchor for this study, express the role of language, culture and cognition in the construal and expression of human experiences. The approaches posit that the metaphorical use of language by an individual or group is shaped by their ideological orientation, knowledge of their natural and social world, and their cultural worldview. This study investigates the metaphorical use of language by the Nigerian print media in their attempts to express ideation on corruption in the Nigerian public sector. There has not been any deliberate and rigorous attempt to study the metaphorical representation of corruption in the Nigerian media discourse, hence this study aims at addressing the lacuna. Thus, this study uses insights from CMT and CL to identify, classify and analyse some of these metaphors in six Nigerian newspapers, namely; The Guardian, Punch, Daily Trust, The Nation, Vanguard and The Sun. The study shows that print media reports of corruption in Nigeria involving powerful social actors such as politicians, government appointees, career civil servants, academics, the military, the media and others have often used metaphorical frames that emanate from the domains of disease, war and conflict, enmity, impediment to movement, violent natural forces, monstrosity, among others, to describe the incidence, scope, effects and consequences of public sector corruption in Nigeria.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42945045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.2478/topling-2023-0003
Ljubica Leone
Abstract Existing studies have highlighted the close link between language and society (Fairclough, 1992) and demonstrated the impact of Covid-19 on language (Mahlberg and Brookes, 2021). There are no studies to date that have examined the changing representations and conceptual shifts of freedom in the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic years, which are expected to be affected by government policies on Covid-19. The present study aims to fill this gap. Specifically, the objective is to examine the conceptual evolution of freedom in the years 2019 and 2021 and to interpret it in the light of socio-historical issues derived from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study is a corpus-based investigation undertaken on The Sun Corpus (TS), i.e. a self-compiled corpus including newspaper articles published in the UK during the years 2019 and 2021. Media including newspapers are, indeed, influential discourses that shape the public view of particular events, current issues, and play “an important role in framing how people understand and respond to” contextual happenings (Brookes and Baker, 2021, p. 1; see Baker et al. 2013). The analysis reveals that there is a shift in the use of the word freedom, which is depicted as an enjoyable experience in 2019 and seen in a negative shade in 2021. These results support the social conceptualization of language and reveal aspects that are of particular concern in Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1992), aiming to examine how socio-historical aspects frame the linguistic representations of social issues like the Covid-19 disease.
现有研究强调了语言与社会之间的密切联系(Fairclough, 1992)，并论证了Covid-19对语言的影响(Mahlberg和Brookes, 2021)。迄今为止，还没有研究考察大流行前和大流行后几年自由的表述和概念的变化，预计这些变化将受到政府应对Covid-19政策的影响。本研究旨在填补这一空白。具体而言，目标是研究2019年和2021年自由概念的演变，并根据2019冠状病毒病大流行引发的社会历史问题对其进行解释。该研究是在Sun语料库(TS)上进行的一项基于语料库的调查，该语料库是一个自编的语料库，包括2019年至2021年在英国发表的报纸文章。包括报纸在内的媒体确实是有影响力的话语，它们塑造了公众对特定事件和当前问题的看法，并在“构建人们如何理解和回应”情境事件方面发挥了重要作用(Brookes和Baker, 2021，第1页;参见Baker et al. 2013)。分析显示，“自由”一词的使用发生了变化，2019年被描述为一种愉快的体验，2021年被视为负面的阴影。这些结果支持语言的社会概念化，并揭示了批判性话语分析(Fairclough, 1992)中特别关注的方面，旨在研究社会历史方面如何构建社会问题(如Covid-19疾病)的语言表征。
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