Textual
and pictorial representations in
strategic thinking about linguistic meaning

The aim of this study was to investigate L2 speakers’ ability to think strategically about linguistic meaning by asking them to make sense of particle verb (PV) constructions, a particularly demanding aspect of the English language for L2 speakers. Our focus was on meaning construal strategies in textual and pictorial representations of 22 figurative PVs with the particle down. The participants were asked to express themselves verbally and visually, and we were interested in the nature of their answers as well as their relationship. More specifically, we wished to determine the salience of particular elements in the participants’ strategic meaning construal, the type of relationship between textual and pictorial representations and, finally, potential dominance of one mode over another, which was examined in terms of the well-established concepts of “relay” and “anchorage”. The results showed that participants generally related the meaning of the PV construction to its components in their textual answers, whereas in pictorial answers their main tendency was to attend to the figurative meaning of the PV. Furthermore, their textual and pictorial answers most frequently depended on each other, which allowed us to determine that the text-picture relationship was predominantly that of relay, i.e. that text was perceived as more significant in the text-picture relationship.

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THE NATIONAL PECULIARITIES OF THE CONCEPTS HEART AND SOUL IN THE ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY: A MULTILINGUAL ASPECT

English and American Studies ◽

10.15421/382006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (17) ◽

pp. 34-40

Author(s):

Lina Repp

Keyword(s):

Human Body ◽

English Language ◽

Human Existence ◽

Character Traits ◽

Psychological State ◽

Figurative Meaning ◽

Frequency Of Use ◽

Wide Range

The research is dedicated to the investigation of the national peculiarities of the concepts heart and soul in the English, German and Ukrainian phraseological worldviews.The examined lexicographic and phraseological sources reveal that the frequency of use of phraseological units with the concept heart is approximately the same in Ukrainian, English and German. Moreover, the phraseological units with the concept heart are widely used in all the three languages and can express a wide range of meanings, connected with the emotional and psychological state of a person and the qualitative and evaluative characteristic of a person, both positive and negative. Thus, the research shows that phraseological units that verbalize the concept heart form an extremely used layer in the Ukrainian, German and English phraseology. Investigation of the concept soul in the Ukrainian, English and German worldviews demonstrates that the human body is considered to be the form of human existence, the soul holder. So, in a figurative meaning, the heart can be the symbol of the soul, its center. Therefore, in the phraseological worldviews of the studied languages, human’s soul, as well as heart, can describe a variety of human feelings, emotions and character traits. The research shows that the English language is not as rich in phraseological units that reflect the concept soul as the Ukrainian language. Thus, the greatest number of phraseological units actualizing the concept soul belongs to the Ukrainian phraseological heritage.

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Figurative Transformation of Free Compound Words into Adjectival Phraseological Units in the Albanian and English Language to be Acquired from the Students

European Journal of Language and Literature ◽

10.26417/ejls.v2i1.p70-77 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 70

Author(s):

Lediana Beshaj

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Special Focus ◽

Compound Words ◽

Figurative Meaning ◽

Part Of Speech

One of the crucial features of phraseology is figurative meanings the words get. In this paper it is aimed to see the figurative transformation of similies and metaphors considered as free compound words into adjectival phraseological units in the Albanian and English language. The examples are extracted from the “Phraseological Dictionary of the Albanian language” compiled by J. Thomai, from the English-Albanian Phraseological Dictionary of I. Stefanllari, as well as from the lexical file departament of the Albanian language. A special focus is given to the meaning that these phraseological units have and how can they be acquired by the students, in order to have a native like fluency of the foreign language. Phraseological units are very hard to be acquired by the students as their meaning is different ( not all the time though) from the words that this phraseological unit is compounded of. In the English language the adjective is one of the most important part of speech that describes, identifies, modifies, or quantifies something (a noun or a pronoun). Thus, adjective are used frequently in all types of discourses and styles. The area where the adjectival phraseological units are commonly used is literature and that is where the figurative meaning is definitely appreciated and emphasied to make it more attractive to the reader and to make one’s writings colorful. Hopefully, these adjectival phraseological units will help and will be used by anyone who wishes to write aristically.

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Translation of Polysemous and Synonymous Terms of the English Language: The Possibilities of a Cognitive Approach

Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Serija 2 Jazykoznanije ◽

10.15688/jvolsu2.2021.4.14 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 170-181

Author(s):

Irina Rubert ◽

◽

Svetlana Kiseleva ◽

Marina Mironova ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

English Language ◽

Linguistic Meaning ◽

Cognitive Approach ◽

Investment Activity ◽

University Courses ◽

Cognitive Context ◽

Correct Definition ◽

Primary Meaning ◽

Definition Of

The article describes the problem of translating polysemantic and synonymous investment terms and is studied from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, namely in the light of the prototypes theory, which presupposes the identification of the content core as the best representative of the word's semantics. The subject of the research are the semantic processes taking place in the English term system reflecting investment activity. By the example of the research of term dealer and its synonyms broker and agent, the authors have defined that the meanings of polysemantic and synonymous terms are not isolated, but are united by a meaningful core and develop according to the laws of semantic derivation based on the common language nominative-non-derivative meaning. The authors found that the reduction of translation failures in the transfer of terms is possible due to the competent use of the cognitive context and the correct definition of the content core of the terminological unit. The research is carried out by means of such methods as the prototypical semantics method, a definitional and component analysis. When identifying the content core of a polysemantic term it is first of all necessary to define the average primary meaning of this term on the basis of dictionary definitions. As a result, the most frequent meaning is determined. Then etymological analysis of the meaning is carried out. At the next stage, in order to model the cognitive image of a word, contextual analysis is performed, and metaphorical comparisons are investigated. Based on the obtained data, a content core of the term is formulated generalizing all the derived meanings and demonstrating their connections. The results obtained allow the authors to prove that the meanings of polysemantic and synonymous terms are connected by a single content core and are developed on the basis of a common linguistic meaning. The practical value of the scientific research is in the possibility to use the results of the work in lexicographic practice when compiling terminological dictionaries, and when writing university courses in terminology and translation studies. The identification of a content core is necessary while translating polysemantic and synonymous terms, because it reveals the meaning of the term in the context and defines the choice of a right translation variant.

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Applying Cognitive Linguistics to teaching English prepositions in the EFL classroom

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.17509/ijal.v8i1.11456 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

David Wijaya ◽

Gabriella Ong

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

English Language ◽

Language Instruction ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Rule Group ◽

Post Test ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Pictorial Representations

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study investigating the effect of cognitive linguistics-grounded instruction on learning the prepositions in, on, and at, which are known to pose tremendous difficulty to English language learners due to their language-specific features and polysemous nature. The participants (N = 44) were adolescent learners at a school in Indonesia. They were assigned into the cognitive group and the rule group. The cognitive group was presented with pictorial representations of the prepositions and cognitive tools used to motivate non-spatial uses, while the rule group was provided with rules. Participants’ performance on the three uses (i.e. spatial, temporal and abstract) was measured with pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests in a form of gap filling. The study yielded mixed results. The findings demonstrate that the cognitive group outperformed the rule group in the overall immediate and delayed post-tests. The cognitive group improved significantly in the immediate post-test; however, the positive effect did not last until the delayed post-test. On the other hand, the rule group gained a little in the immediate post-test, but the group’s performance decreased significantly in the delayed post-test. Although there was no indication of long-term effects of the cognitive instruction, the results still indicate a value of applying cognitive linguistics to teaching the prepositions, and thus lend support to the applicability of cognitive linguistic theory in second language instruction.

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Linguistic Meaning Versus Pragmatic Meaning

European Scientific Journal ESJ ◽

10.19044/esj.2017.v13n26p248 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (26) ◽

pp. 248

Author(s):

Mohammad Awwad

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Linguistic Competence ◽

Linguistic Meaning ◽

Cooperative Principle ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Critical Gap ◽

Oral Skills

A critical gap between linguistic specifications and context-relevantinterpretation has existed ever since linguists sought to investigate meaning.As a matter of fact, English language has gained an unprecedentedmomentum over the last decades, and the ultimate aim of English languageteaching has revolved around fostering the students’ ability to communicateproficiently in English. In this realm, much emphasis was given on thedevelopment of learners’ oral skills; however, those efforts were watereddown on the progression of linguistic competence on the expense ofcommunicative competence. In an attempt to bridge this gap, this studyadopted Grice’s Cooperative Principle (1975) and embodied examples onhow participants breach and neglect maxims upon which the Cooperativeprinciple rests. For this aim, the study was carried on 100 English majorstudents enrolled in the TEFL class at the Lebanese University (fifth branch);the investigation was carried over a period of four months in spring 2015-2016. The results revealed that despite the subjects’ adequate linguisticproficiency in English, EFL learners still fall behind attaining pragmaticcompetence. The study endorses recommendations for EFL learners,teachers, and curriculum designers.

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Metafora jako prubířský kámen teorií významu

FILOSOFIE DNES ◽

10.26806/fd.v8i2.235 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 37-57

Author(s):

Josef Zeman

Keyword(s):

Figurative Language ◽

Linguistic Meaning ◽

Figurative Meaning ◽

Starting Point ◽

Theories Of Meaning

Cílem této studie je prozkoumat postavení metafory na poli zkoumání významu a následně představit potenciál metafory, a obrazných vyjádření obecně, zastávat pozici kritéria hodnocení teorií významu. Jako výchozí bod si práce bere několik vlivných pojetí metafory, na nichž ukazuje šíři bádání o metafoře a obraznosti a zároveň různorodost možných přístupů k vysvětlení těchto jazykových fenoménů. Dále je věnována pozornost několika sporným bodům opakovaně se objevujícím v různých teoriích metafory. Na základě analýzy těchto sporných bodů jsou předloženy argumenty zpochybňující předpokládanou odlišnost mechanismů konstituování významu u obrazných a doslovných vyjádření. Následkem toho je pak vznesen návrh, zda by metafora, pro své kvalitativní a kvantitativní rysy, nemohla být chápána jako prubířský kámen teorií významu, tj. byla nástrojem k hodnocení těchto teorií, k jejich falsifikování, modifikování či přímo k jejich vytváření.The main aim of this study is to examine the role that metaphor plays in investigation of linguistic meaning and to present the potential of metaphor and figurative language in general to maintain a position of an evaluating criterion for theories of meaning. Several influential theories of metaphor are used as a starting point for this inquiry, to show how vast the field of investigation of metaphors and figurative language might be and how various approaches attempt to explain these language phenomena. I then focus on a number of problematic points repeatedly resurfacing in various theories of metaphor. My analysis of these problems issues in arguments questioning supposed difference between constituting mechanisms of literal and figurative meaning. Having this in place, I propose that, on account of its quantitative and qualitative features, metaphor could be understood as a touchstone of theories of meaning, i.e. the tool for their evaluating, refuting, modifying and even for creating new ones.

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Van typiste naar ingenieur?

Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/dujal.18014.kos ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 248-269

Author(s):

Dietha Koster ◽

Chiara Iding

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Gender Equality ◽

English Language ◽

Language Education ◽

Interesting Case ◽

Future Studies ◽

Gender Neutral ◽

And Gender ◽

Pictorial Representations ◽

Do So

Abstract Studies on English language learning materials indicate that women are underrepresented and often appear in low-status professions, though gender equality increases within the last decade (Sunderland, 2015). To what degree does this finding apply for textbooks for learners of Dutch as a Second Language (DSL)? To our knowledge, there are no studies into gender and profession in DSL materials. Dutch however, constitutes an interesting case as both female, male and ‘gender neutral’ professional role nouns exist, while their use is not formally regulated. We systematically analyzed textual and pictorial representations of female and male professionals in textbook chapters about work in fifteen DSL textbooks published within the last 50 years. We drew on quantitative (e.g., number of fe/male and ‘gender neutral’ professional names; instances of male generics and firstness; number of depicted wo/men) and qualitative (e.g., nature of the most frequent professional names; categorization of textbook images) methods to do so. Results show that women are not underrepresented in dialogues and pictures, but that dialogue themes are unequally divided over women and men. Moreover, women are backgrounded through male generics and male firstness and female professional names appear less frequently than male names. Women are also described in gender typical roles, whereas men are not. This holds for both older (1974–2009) and recent textbooks (2011–2017). Overall, more ‘gender neutral’ nouns refer to men in the corpus, but they are used more frequently to refer to women within the last decade. Future studies should address the present theme from psycholinguistic and classroom discourse perspectives and consider additional analytical domains (e.g. chapters about family) and foci (e.g. analyses of verbs associated with wo/men). We discuss pedagogical implications (e.g., screen materials for male firstness; describe women in a greater variety of roles; reverse gender roles in class) for those with concern for gender equality in language education.

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Geometric metaphors in English language

SCIENTIFIC WORK ◽

10.36719/2663-4619/56/24-27 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 56 (07) ◽

pp. 24-27

Author(s):

Aynur Afsar Guliyeva ◽

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

English Language ◽

Geometric Figure ◽

Economic Discourse ◽

Figurative Meaning ◽

Economic Reality ◽

High Level

The article is devoted to the study of geometric metaphor in the modern English language. Metaphor quite often can be found both in English and in many other languages. Very often metaphors are associated with the letter, but without noticing it, they often use them in everyday speech. The role of a metaphor in the English language is to diversify speech with turns that have a figurative meaning that gives expressiveness to phrases and sentences. To make English speech not only literate, but also beautiful. Metaphors enrich the language and show a high level of language proficiency. Therefore, when learning English, along with everyday vocabulary, idioms, phrasal verbs, it is not out of place to learn some common beautiful metaphors. The geometric metaphor can be considered an important element of the modern English economic discourse and correspondingly communication, thus it obtains a special status in the frame of cognition. It is understood from the research there are a lot of geometric metaphors and is actively used in the cognitive processes of conceptualization and classification of economic reality. Key words: metaphor, geometric figure, geometric metaphor, sentence, figurative meaning

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The Broad Applications of the Scanning Electron Microscope

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100062002 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 20-21

Author(s):

C. T. Nightingale ◽

S. E. Summers ◽

T. P. Turnbull

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscope ◽

Scanning Electron Microscope ◽

Light Microscopy ◽

Surface Topography ◽

Great Depth ◽

Resolving Power ◽

Depth Of Field ◽

Pictorial Representations ◽

Scanning Electron

The ease of operation of the scanning electron microscope has insured its wide application in medicine and industry. The micrographs are pictorial representations of surface topography obtained directly from the specimen. The need to replicate is eliminated. The great depth of field and the high resolving power provide far more information than light microscopy.

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