Linguistic context of functionality and peculiarities of the English military aviation terminology in professional journals (on the example of the “Rotor and Wing”)

This article is dedicated to the linguistic context of functionality of the English military aviation terms in the journal “Rotor and Wing”. The goal lies in revealing the specificity of the linguistic context of functionality of the English military aviation terminology, as well as its structural, semantic and pragmatic characteristics in the journal “Rotor and Wing”. For achieving the set goal, the author aims to determine the most representative linguistic (stylistic, syntactic, grammatical, and  lexical) peculiarities of the journal; which military aviation terms are most and least common for the journal; as well as structural, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of the terms. The novelty lies in comprehensive description of the English military aviation terminology (structural, semantic and pragmatic aspects) and its linguistic context in the professional journal. The research employs the analytical, comparative, and statistical methods. The author establishes the most significant syntactic, grammatical, stylistic, and lexical peculiarities of the journal; as well as structural (most terms are two-component phrases), semantic (presence of the absolute and conditional synonymous terms, absence of polysemy, and  partial presence of antonyms), and pragmatic characteristics of military aviation terminology (terms fulfill the functions that are substantiated by the content and purpose of the journal. The acquired results can be used both in lexicographical practice (compiling the English-language dictionaries, thesauri, glossaries of military aviation terms), and in the practice of teaching the aviation English language.

INVESTIGATING THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT IN THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF OGUNDIMU’S A SILLY SEASON

This paper investigates the importance of context in the analysis and interpretation of Ogundimu’sA Silly Season. It aims to describe, analyse and interpret linguistic context, situational context, and cultural context of the production of speech events in A Silly Season. Basing on a descriptive survey method relevant passages that require the clarification of contexts for their full understanding have been selected. It has been contended that the description of the linguistic context of the highlighted lexical items has helped determine who the speakers and hearers are in terms of the roles they have played either individually or collectively. In the same way, the description of the situational context clarifies the circumstances in which the speech events take root and even helps disambiguate ambiguous sentences. The description of the cultural context of words and expressions used has helped contend that the author values Yoruba culture and tradition.

The Lingua Franca

Whose name is hidden behind the anonymity of the key publication on Mediterranean Lingua Franca? What linguistic reality does the label 'Lingua Franca' conceal? These and related questions are explored in this new book on an enduringly important topic. The book presents a typologically informed analysis of Mediterranean Lingua Franca, as documented in the Dictionnaire de la langue franque ou petit mauresque, which provides an important historical snapshot of contact-induced language change. Based on a close study of the Dictionnaire in its historical and linguistic context, the book proposes hypotheses concerning its models, authorship and publication history, and examines the place of the Dictionnaire's Lingua Franca in the structural typological space between Romance languages, on the one hand, and pidgins, on the other. It refines our understanding of the typology of contact outcomes while at the same time opening unexpected new avenues for both linguistic and historical research.

Territorial and non-territorial arrangements in a multi-ethno-linguistic context

This article argues that the geographically dispersed distribution of the minorities in the Baltic republics (apart from the Poles in Lithuania and the Russians in Northeast Estonia) constitutes an objective obstacle to provision of territorially based minority rights. However, the potential alternatives to the territorial principle are also rarely adopted. The cultural autonomy model in Estonia and Latvia failed to be implemented in practice, while threshold rules (in respect of topographical bilingualism, for example) are in force only in Estonia, and there with the highest threshold in Europe (50%). The paper aims to explain the reluctance to adopt these solutions by reviewing the main factors that affect language policy implementation in general. It also considers the background to the debate over which languages need protection: the minority languages within the Baltic States or the titular languages themselves (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian), which at the global level are small and vulnerable. In general, the strictness of language policies is in inverse relation to the size of the minorities, with Lithuania being the most liberal and Latvia the most restrictive.

Discours politique sur la pandémie du COVID-19: une étude de cas des allocutions télédiffusées de Sánchez et Macron en mars 2020

Partiendo de los postulados del análisis crítico del discurso, de la pragmática y la retórica, se estudiarán los procedimientos discursivos en el discurso político pronunciado por los dirigentes políticos en el marco de la pandemia actual. Los discursos de los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno francés y español, retransmitidos por los medios de comunicación en marzo de 2020 y cuyo objetivo primordial era decretar el estado de emergencia, constituyen el corpus del presente estudio. La metodología se basará en diversas categorías de análisis de recursos discursivos y retóricos (presuposiciones, metáforas, paralelismos), entre los que la deixis desempeñará un papel crucial como mecanismo fundamental de anclaje del material verbal en su contexto extralingüístico. Los resultados muestran características discursivas de las ideologías políticas en el poder en dos países vecinos, aunque culturalmente diversos: la France en guerre de Macron y la España unida de Sánchez. This study draws on Critical Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics, and Rhetoric to investigate some instances of political discourse within the framework of the current pandemic situation. In particular, I analyse the statements by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and French President Emmanuel Macron released in March 2020 and aimed at announcing the state of emergency in Spain and France respectively. Various categories of discursive and rhetorical resources are taken into account, such as presuppositions, metaphors, and parallels, among which deixis plays a crucial role as a fundamental mechanism for anchoring the verbal material in its extra-linguistic context. Strategic discursive functions are considered, above all in terms of persuasion and legitimacy, as expressed by the political leaders in question. The results highlight the discourse features of the political ideologies in power in two neighbouring, albeit culturally diverse countries: Macron’s France en guerre and Sánchez’s España unida.

On the Interpretation of Metaphors and Similes in the Psalms: subtilitas intelligendi – subtilitas explicandi – subtilitas applicandi

Based on the example of sacred Psalter explanations, the article examines numerous metaphorical descriptions with the intention to reconstruct the procedures and operations for extracting the spiritual meaning from the veil of the literal. According to the authoritative explanations in question, metaphors and figurative comparisons (similes) used by the psalm singer differ in their inherent meaning despite the coincidence in the semantic mechanism of transposition and the need for their subsequent transformation in interpretation. Some of them, in a poetic way, reflect David’s state of mind; others are filled with a deeper spiritual meaning. As a consequence, instructions for their interpretation become different. In the figurative-symbolic interpretation, explaining conditions for the choice of an auxiliary object, it is the nearest linguistic context that becomes an explanatory instruction; and when there is no such context it is the presumption of similarity by which X can be linked to Y in expressions like “God, the horn of my salvation” that serves this function. In the symbolic-allegorical interpretation, designed to explain metaphorical expressions at a different level of understanding, it is the presumption of spiritual meaning that becomes the instruction explaining metaphorical expressions in accordance with the rules of the Christian exegesis as a prefiguration of the New Testament history (in the typological reading), as a norm of moral behavior (in the tropological reading), and as the fulfillment of promises (in the anagogic reading). The basics for hermeneutics are implemented in the following way: subtilitas intelligendi, subtilitas explicanda, and subtilitas applicandi.

Heritage Language Variation and Change – How Complex Is It?

We focus on complexity from the comparative variationist perspective, a sociolinguistic approach that examines variable aspects of language (that is, different ways of saying the same thing). Arguably, variable elements are harder to acquire than categorical ones, as a Variability Matrix must be acquired along with every element. This matrix contains probabilistic information about when each form is (more) appropriate, according to an array of factors. These include inter-speaker (social) and intra-speaker (linguistic context) predictors. We ask how the Variability Matrix for predictors of a variable compares between heritage speakers (people living in a context where their language is a minority language) and homeland speakers (people living in a context where their language is a majority language), and how these can fairly be compared. In the variationist approach, multivariate regression analyses reveal the predictors (and levels within each predictor) of a response or dependent variable and their corresponding Variability Matrices. However, the variationist field lacks an established comparative methodology to determine how/if varieties differ. One shortcoming is that different-sized samples are often compared, implicating different levels of statistical significance even when the populations’ patterns are identical. Comparison of variable patterns in Heritage and Homeland Cantonese illustrates one solution. We revise analyses conducted previously of two morphosyntactic variables: prodrop and classifiers (Nagy, 2015; Nagy & Lo, 2019) in Cantonese, applying a bootstrap procedure to mitigate issues associated with unequal-sized datasets frequent in studies of minority and endangered varieties. From these analyses, we learn that heritage and homeland grammars’ degrees of complexity are similar: the matrices of (significant) frequencies are the same size. This approach allows us to consider not just which surface forms constitute the heritage vs. homeland varieties, but also the complexity of the decision-making process the speakers apply in selecting among the forms. As one might expect, heritage and homeland speakers are capable of equally complex processes.

Contrastivity and comparability: pragmatic variation across pluricentric varieties

The recent pragmatic turn in the study of pluricentric varieties marks a shift in analytical focus, with increasingly more research contrasting the conventions of language use and interaction across pluricentric varieties. This turn demands new data types and new methods of analysis which uphold the principles of contrastivity and comparability. Addressing this basic requirement for the case of cross-varietal speech act analyses, the present article examines the contextual factors to be considered in the choice of data types and the potential definition and usability of a pragmatic variable in speech act analyses across data types. These considerations are applied to a cross-varietal analysis of responses to thanks in direction-giving exchanges across English in Canada, England and Ireland. The study highlights the frequent necessity of a multi-faceted definition of the pragmatic variable. In addition, challenges of contextual equivalence which emerge in the course of the analysis highlight a basic need for research to regularly re-examine the linguistic context and the definition of the pragmatic variable and to potentially redefine the variable during the analytical process. The contrastive analysis reveals a more extensive use of routinised responses to thanks in the Canadian English data relative to the Irish English and English English data. A more complex closing, with more continuations and confirmation checks, is shown to characterise the Irish English data, a finding which is suggested to potentially relate to a strong orientation towards hospitality in the Irish context.

Les textes francophones malgaches sont-ils hybrides?

Francophone literary production in Madagascar, although born out of a colonial context, has found its own voice in terms of the codes and themes it uses. It seeks to take its place in Francophone literature through comprehension based on a common language. However, the works written in French are informed by the cultural, social, spiritual and linguistic context of Madagascar. The resulting texts are full of allusions to prestigious literary genres, shared concerns and concepts whose comprehension is difficult for a readership which understands the words without understanding their cultural connotations. It is necessary to reflect on the specific task of the literary critic who may, whilst respecting the dynamics of a literary text, add annotations in the form of ‘cultural translations’. The aim would be not to smother a body of work, which must be allowed to maintain its own nuances, but to allow better knowledge of the works and to make more effective the intercultural exchanges which are part of contemporary globalisation.

Neue Wege der Beschreibung von Rechtstermini: der semasiologisch-onomasiologische Ansatz der Begriffsbestimmung und seine Bedeutung für den Rechtsübersetzer

Within the framework of modern terminological findings, a new approach for the description of legal terms is presented which attempts to overcome the limitations posed by the traditional conceptual understanding of Wüster’s theory of terminology. The central question deals with the role of definition, which is of importance in the delimitation of legal terms, but more so and particularly in the formation of legal concepts. Viewed from the perspective of a modern conceptual understanding, legal concepts are the result, not the object of definition. Often, however , they may be formed through definitions only in the core area, but not in the marginal area important for the differentiation of legal concepts, and this means that further debate on the objects of law is required. By defining legal terms, and not legal concepts, a basic precondition is created for taking into consideration not only the subject specialist but also the linguistic context, and thus for fully taking into account the needs of the legal translator.