scholarly journals A corpus study of English “nautical” idioms

Neophilology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 636-644
Author(s):  
Olga V. Shchagina

We attempt to study nautical history influence on the phraseology of contemporary English. Britain’s geographical location and consequently its dependence on the surrounding seas greatly affected the language of all English-speaking countries. On the basis of criteria defined by J. Swales and ideas of W. Teubert, we identify the English-speaking discourse community of sea-farers. The assessment of historical and social conditions made it possible to determine the causes and the impact of the highly specialized language of this discourse community on the entire Eng-lish language. Following the study of two main approaches when working with language corpora (corpus-based and corpus-driven), we conducts corpus-driven research relying totally on the data obtained from the corpus. Using the material from the English language corpus NOW (News on the Web), we study the context and extent of distribution of seven phraseological units with com-ponents with the semantics of navigation in two main variants of the English language: British and American. The data obtained showed partial grammatical and syntactic discrepancies, as well as acceptable variations in the lexical structure of some units. The study of original nautical meanings allows us to understand the metaphorical mapping underlying the sense of the idioms.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Haneen Saad Al Muabdi

Motivation is one of the crucial aspects of second language acquisition. Students’ motivation can be influenced by their teachers. The present study aims to investigate the impact of the two types of teachers on EFL learners’ motivations to learn English. These are NESTs (Native English-speaking teachers) and NNESTs (native English-speaking teachers). Hence, it examines learners’ attitudes and perceptions towards the two types of teachers. This study employed a mixed method by distributing a questionnaire contains quantitative and qualitative tools. It consists of twenty items of Likert scales and two open-ended questions. The present study subjects are 31 female students at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The results of the study demonstrate that learners have a positive attitude toward NESTs and NNESTs. Despite that, the tendency to learn with NNESTs is higher than NESTs. The findings also show that both types of teachers motivate students to learn English. Moreover, it suggests that the methodology and teachers’ personalities are more important than the teachers’ nativeness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 498-515
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Herasymenko ◽  
Svitlana Muravska ◽  
Maryna Lomakina ◽  
Nadiia Martynenko ◽  
Iuliia Mazurenko

English language proficiency is a vital requirement for air-to-ground communication for aviation specialists. A special attention should be paid to developing speaking skills of future pilots, air traffic controllers and engineers. Our research has shown that future aviation specialists come across certain challenges in the process of communication in English: insufficient aviation knowledge to give an opinion, low motivation to speak, poor grammatical skills and insufficient knowledge of vocabulary items, uneven participation in discussions, and fear of making mistakes. To overcome these challenges some recommendations were formulated for teachers to follow. The problem-solving activities were chosen and designed to enhance students’ speaking skills. They include value-clarification tasks, discussions, role-plays, information-gap activities, describing pictures, and discussing videos. This research aims to define the impact of applying these problem-solving activities on developing students’ speaking skills. 120 second year students in aviation specialties took part in this experiment. They were divided into a control and an experimental group of equal numbers. In both groups, the teachers taught the same Aviation English content which corresponded to the syllabus. In addition, in the experimental group the teacher implemented the problem-solving activities, which contributed significantly to the development of future aviation specialists’ speaking skills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study has been to analyse the use of English as lingua franca at an internationalised university in a non-English speaking country, the challenges caused by the need to use English for academic and social purposes as well as the use of other languages by a multicultural student community. Methodology: The methodology was based on qualitative research and involved open-ended interviews with students of 14 nationalities as well as staff members, both local (Polish) and from English-speaking countries. Findings: The main findings indicate: a degree of mismatch between the self-perception of English language competence and the actual ability to use it; the key function of language for social bonding; frequent recourse to first language comfort zones rather than the use of the lingua franca. Value Added: The research focuses on English language issues in a non-English speaking country, an understudied area in higher education. It draws attention to the use of Russian as a secondary lingua franca among students for whom it is their other language of fluent communication. Recommendations: University level educators should be more aware of the specificity of the problems in the use of English by international students, including such as underestimated listening comprehension issues, tensions connected with the use of polite forms and the mismatch between communication skills in English and the academic needs. The impact of language identity on international students social networking should be taken into account as well.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (40) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Joanna Warmuzińska-Rogóż

From Translation to the Writing: On the Quebec Feminists, Anglo-Canadian Women Translators and the Translation ContinuumThe article presents the unique relationship between French- and English- -speaking translators in Canada, which has resulted in a great number of interesting translation phenomena. The author makes reference to the distinction between feminist translation and translation in the feminine, derived from literature in the feminine, both widely practiced in Quebec. One of the representatives of this trend was Suzanne de Lotbiniere-Harwood, mostly French-English translator, known for her translations of Nicole Brossard’s works. Her activity, as well as that of other translators, contributed to the spread of the idea of translation in the feminine among Canadian writers and theoreticians. What is more, their cooperation has resulted in the creation of the magazine Tessera and in the emergence of a range of phenomena on the borderline between translation and literature. This relationship is also a rare example of the impact of “minor literature”, which is the literature of Quebec, on the English-language Canadian literature.


Author(s):  
Nataliia I. Melnyk ◽  
◽  
Iryna O. Biletska ◽  
Oksana A. Ponomarova ◽  
Alina V. Buranova ◽  
...  

In the modern world, which is characterised by migration processes, ethnic and cultural mixing, the interest of representatives of various fields of knowledge to the category of ethnicity, ethnic processes, their historical, cultural, philosophical and linguistic component is growing. In this regard, the work is devoted to studying the dynamics of representations of ethnicity in different types of discursive practices and identifying the specifics of conceptualisation of ethnicity in English-speaking society in the context of ideological, socio-economic and socio-cultural transformations of the second half of the 20th – early 21st century. The relevance of the study is due to the inclusion of the dynamics of language development and change in such areas of modern linguistics as ethnolinguistics, linguocultural studies and discourse analysis, as well as growing interest in the evolution of language, lexical structure of English and changes in the English world picture with the development of ethnic culture, the synthesis of language modifications in the context of global socio-cultural transformations. The following methods were used in the work: definition analysis; comparative analysis; quantitative analysis; analysis-discourse; hypothetical-deductive method; generalisation; systematisation. The research methods used in the article made it possible to substantiate the principles of material selection for studying the dynamics of ethnic representations in English dictionaries; to reveal the concepts of ethnic stereotype and ethnonym-nickname as ways of stereotyping; to characterise the concept of political correctness as relevant for the study of linguistic construction of ethnicity. The dynamics of the representation of ethnicity in the lexicographic discourse on the material of British dictionaries of two times cross-sections (mid-20th century and modern latest edition) in the context of socio-cultural transformations were analysed. The practical value of the work is that the obtained results contribute to a fuller understanding of the English-language picture of the world, deepen scientific ideas about the interaction of ideology, language, culture.


2020 ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
E. V. Volkova ◽  
A. A. Khustenko ◽  
E. A. Sherina

The process of borrowing English words in Russian and Italian is discussed in the article. Particular attention is paid to the communicative-pragmatic analysis of the peculiarities of the use of Anglicisms in radio speeches. In the study of dynamic language processes, the media and communication have traditionally been the main sources of replenishment of the lexical structure of the language, including through foreign borrowing. The relevance of this work is determined both by the increased scientific interest in comprehension of active language processes in recent decades, and the linguists refer to comparative studies of dynamic phenomena in systems of different languages in order to identify similar or different processes in them, due to national linguistic specificity. A review of the scientific literature on various aspects of the study of borrowing in the analyzed languages is performed, the choice of material is substantiated, and research methods are described. The results of a comparative analysis of Russian and Italian radio speeches are presented. It is established that English-language borrowings have an extensive set of functions that are auxiliary in relation to the system-forming function of radio discourse - the impact on the target audience. It is proved that the coincidence of the main borrowing functions in the radio discourse of the analyzed countries is due to the strong position of the English language as a universal international means of communication.


Author(s):  
Fahreta Fijuljanin ◽  
Samina Dazdarević ◽  
Amela Lukač-Zoranić

The paper examines the influence of modern linguistics and the consequences of language reflection on both English language and global philology. A comparative analysis of preferences and lacks of traditional and modern linguistics represent a common view of the progress and the needs of the language. The paper aims to highlight several recent studies of modern linguists in the field of English linguistics such as Chomsky, Sapir, Halliday and Bloomfield as the representative of English speaking grammarians. Modern linguistics, as a set of different variations, raises the question of how and why language changes over time. It possibly may represent the basis for research on contemporary linguistics as a turning point for language change in the future, as well as the impact of society on language, change and universals.


2021 ◽  
pp. 225-239
Author(s):  
G. I. Lushnikova ◽  
T. Yu. Osadchaya

 The question of the role, forms and functions of fragmentation of modern artistic narra tive is considered. The results of the analy sis of the fragmentary narrative of the works of contemporary  English-speaking  authors (J.   Barnes,   D.   Mitchell,   M. Cunningham, I. Banks, J. Franzen, S. Faulks, J. Eugenides, A. Smith, J. McGregor and others) are presented. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that in the modern literature of the postmodernist direction, nonlinearity of narration, deliberate mixing of temporal, local, descriptive and other layers are becoming widespread, practically becoming the norm. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the fragmentation of a literary text is studied at different levels — compositional, content-thematic, plot, ideological-figurative, genre, narrative, chronotopic. It has been proved that the forms of implementation of fragmentariness are quite diverse: irregular division of the text, heterogeneity of themes and ideas, lack of linear development of the plot, combination of elements of different genres, the presence of internal polystylism, the use of different types of narration and narrator, violation of the unity of the chronotope. The analysis of specific material showed that the functions of a fragmentary narrative are determined by each specific context, the leading ones being the impact on the reader, the management of his attention, the placement of accents according to the writer's intention, the creation of the impression of authenticity and reliability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01137
Author(s):  
Yulia Yuzhakova ◽  
Liliya Polyakova ◽  
Elena Suvorova ◽  
Tatiana Emets

The article is devoted to the consideration of peculiarities of the English-language news and analytic media texts about Russia, which contribute to the formation of a certain attitude towards this country. It is noted that the scope of media texts in English prevails in the global information space, which cannot but affect the viewpoint of the “average” English speaking reader. The notion of ideological modality, which is often present in media texts about Russia, is considered. The media text compositional peculiarities and linguistic means are described in connection with the impact function implementation and the certain attitude towards Russia formation.


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