Construing the scene in Julian of Norwich’s “A Revelation of Love”

Julian of Norwich’s “A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman” and “A Revelation of Love” are texts which present two accounts (short and long, respectively) of her mystical experience. Julian was an anchoress whose work is known for its vivid imagery and bodily resonance it provokes in the reader. New research on Julian’s work has focused scholarly attention on the significance of embodied cognition for the exploration of the mystic’s writing. The present paper identifies a gap in this research in that cognitive-linguistic aspects of the anchoress’s text are still largely ignored. The article discusses the connection between perception and cognition and its potential role in structuring Julian’s longer text, “A Revelation of Love”. The Cognitive Linguistic analysis focuses on selected excerpts from the long version portraying scenes from Julian’s visions, where visualisation is particularly significant for meaning construction. Providing a link between recent findings from cognitive science and current cognitively-oriented studies of Julian’s texts, the paper draws on the concept of construal pertinent to the fact that the language user may conceive and present some conceptual content (an apprehended scene) in alternate ways. The Cognitive Linguistic investigation connects Julian’s work to the visual and material culture of her day, revealing how the mystic transforms the familiar imagery into vivid, dynamically unfolding images. It is concluded that cognitively-informed research is likely to shed new light onto long-standing issues in scholarship on Julian, particularly those that concern the interplay of language, culture and cognition.

USAGE OF THE TERM "ADAPTATION" AND ITS DERIVATIVES IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

The article presents the results of the study of the semantic-synonymous field of the concept of "adaptation". The frequency of occurrence of this term and its derivatives is compared in Russian and English scientific periodicals presented in open databases such as eLIBRARY.RU and Semantic Scholar. It has been found that both samples are characterized by the predominance of journal articles containing the broadest term “adaptation" / "adjustment". The results of the cognitive linguistic analysis of the content of Russian language concepts are presented: "adaptation" is the broadest term that describes both the process and the result of individual adaptation to environment while its three derivatives are narrower in meaning. The general definition of the concept "adaptation" for psychological texts in Russian is formulated, definitions of the concepts "adaptivity", "adaptability", "adaptedness" are analyzed. It is planned to conduct cognitive linguistic analysis of the considered categories based on English-language publications.

Domains in the Encyclopedic Semantics of some English and Arabic Equivalent Culture-Specific Words

The present study aims at finding interpretations for some inquiries in the field of encyclopedic semantics. It is an academic reflection of language exchange between English and Arabic which is one of the most prevalent interests of the recent cognitive linguistic researches. Particularly, it analyzes the way culture-specific words of two different languages can comparatively be understood. The single-method is adopted for the methodological approach of the study. The data collection is conducted according to a content analysis by extracting some CSWs that are referred to in some comparative culture-specific studies of English and Arabic. It is found that (1) there can be more than one domain matrix for equivalent CSWs; (2) the exact comparison between CSWs lies in the profile-base organization (3) the two or multi-dimensional domains are configurational; (4) the culture-specific standards locate the diversity between the domain matrixes of equivalent CSWs. Some key conclusions to draw is that (1) the domain matrix of a CSW depends on to the culture-specific norms; (2) the distinctive point of the tripartite (profile, base and concept) is the profile rather than the base; (3) image-schematic domains indicate the object material domains; (4) culture-specific norms are affected by religious and historical factors which control the inventory knowledge for the CSWs.

Metonymy and Croatian adverbial clauses

In this article I examine some metonymic aspects of the semantics of Croatian connectives introducing adverbial clauses of cause, condition, purpose, and concession. The analysis leans on the theory of conceptual metaphor and metonymy and, to a lesser extent, on cognitive grammar. It is also informed by grammaticalization scholarship within typological functionalism. I explore metonymic mappings between the categories of time and cause, manner and cause, cause and condition, purpose, cause and concession, condition and concession, time and condition, and metonymic mappings operating at the level of speech acts. The goal is to contribute to the growing, though still arguably small, body of cognitive linguistic research into the relevance of metonymy for the semantics of complex sentences, specifically the role it plays in subordination, and to expand this analysis to subordinate constructions in Croatian. Some attention is given to grammaticalization studies, where metaphor and metonymy are seen as two types of pragmatic inferencing facilitating interactions between the mentioned semantic categories in complex sentences.

American Dream Revisited: A Media Discourse Representation in Cognitive-linguistic Perspective

Considered in cognitive-linguistic perspective, “American Dream” is a represented in media discourse stereotype that embodies ideal of happiness in a prosperous democratic society. The research methodology rests on the premise of cognitive-linguistic approach to study of sociocultural stereotypes, which are seen as complex phenomena of social and cultural experience, manifested in behavioural, material, and verbal codes. Methodological tools of discursive and corpus analysis proved the variability of meaning of the stereotype. In the course of time, it shows semantic changes, conditioned by socio-economic and cultural factors. Empirical study eventuates in distinguishing three periods that correlate with transformation of the stereotype. The period of formation outlines the ideal of freedom and equality. The next period, which started in the 1950s, manifested changes toward obtaining happiness only in virtue of wealth. In recent years, “American Dream” is being associated more with freedom of choice than mere financial success.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak on the Performance of Sign Language Interpreters

In general, stress affects the efficiency of workers’ performance. With the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic outbreak, sign language interpreters experience increased stress due to various factors. This study aims to determine the stressors faced by sign language interpreters during the pandemic. To achieve this goal, we prepared a questionnaire consisting of 15 paragraphs covering psychological, health, cognitive, linguistic and environmental aspects. Then, we surveyed 57 sign language interpreters in the Arab region. In the analysis, we calculated the average performance levels in addition to the differences between participants’ average scores. We also divided the stress levels into three categories: simple, moderate and severe. Results indicated that the stress was medium on average and no statistically significant differences in the performance average in accordance with the study variables (gender, experience and workplace).