Pragmatic Characteristics of Indefinite Pronouns in Croatian as a Second Language

This paper deals with some of the pragmatic characteristics of indefinite pronouns, specifically about the potential for expressing a negative attitude or stance by using them. The results of a quantitative survey will be presented exploring to what extent the potential to express a negative attitude using indefinite pronouns has been mastered. The research questionnaire consisted of two parts and examined the respondents’ command in terms of both comprehension and production of the pragmatic properties of indefinite pronouns in Croatian as a second language (CL2), and the examples used in the questionnaire were taken from the hrWaC 2.0 corpus (Ljubešić and Erjavec 2011). The research was conducted among students of CL2 at the levels B2 and C1 (N=60) who attended the programs of Croaticum – Centre for Croatian as Foreign and Second Language, University of Zagreb in the 2019/2020 academic year. The results obtained in this research can be applied in the development of learning materials intended for teaching the semantic and pragmatic features of indefinite pronouns in the instruction of CL2. They show that the pragmatic level needs to be included more thoroughly in the teaching of CL2 because its mastery is an essential component of language competence, especially at higher levels. The pragmatic properties of IP should also be taught, as should idiomatic expressions with IP. It is necessary to not only teach from an explicitly grammatical approach, but also to teach lexically in such a way that includes the pragmatic level, because IP have great pragmatic potential.

East Slavic indefinite pronouns: a corpus-based approach

The paper focuses on the development and functional distribution of indefinite pronouns in Old East Slavic, taking into account different sources, genres and registers. All the examples in the collected dataset were taken from the historical modules of the Russian National Corpus. They were tagged for type of indefinite marker, source (including originality and date), type of reference of the indefinite marker, semantics, type of discourse, and the degree of formality (formal or informal) present in the context. We then applied both descriptive and inferential statistical methods such as Random Forest analysis as well as multinomial logistic regression. Our analysis enabled us to identify the primary and secondary predictors of the choice of a particular indefinite marker and to trace the functional distribution of indefinite markers according to these factors.

Lexico-grammatical peculiarities of expressing indefinite semantic subject in russian and english

The aim of the study is to investigate the means of representation of the indefinitely expressed subject in Russian and English for the purpose of structuring and classifying the linguistic means of its expression. As the basis for investigation we chose the fictional text of the novel by M. A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita” and its parallel translation to English. In the paper we used the method of semantic analysis, contextual component analysis, comparative analysis and the method of linguistic modelling. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the results of the comparative analysis which show that there exist symmetrical and asymmetrical forms of expressing formally indefinite semantic subject. Symmetrical means of implicit expressing semantic subject is mostly nominalization. Generalized subject can be expressed either symmetrically or asymmetrically by various syntactic constructions in Russian and English. Asymmetrical means of expressing semantic subject can be traced in the syntactic constructions of different kind which are represented by binary oppositions. As a result of the research it has been found that the preferred ways of expressing indefinite semantic subject in Russian are indefinite pronouns; in English – passive constructions.

Semantic content of indefinite pronouns in the English literary texts

The goal of this article lies in analysis of the semantics of indefinite pronouns of the English language, which form the core of the semantic field of uncertainty from the perspective of functional linguistics. The subject of this research is the semantic content of English indefinite pronouns in the literary and publicistic texts. The relevance of this work is defined by the lack of works in both domestic and foreign modern linguistics dedicated to indefinite pronouns of the English language. The scientific novelty consists systematization of indefinite pronouns in form of semantic field and determination of possible varieties of uncertainty through the semantics of this group of pronouns in the English literary texts. It is established that in literary texts, the indefinite pronouns of the core of the semantic field of uncertainty of the English language are used for conveying quite very peculiar; however, the key components are uncertainty and generality in evaluation of the unfolding events. Uncertainty can be explicit or conditional. Generality also correlates with uncertainty, leaving out particularities. The absence of particularities is the main semantic indicator of the use of nuclear indefinite pronouns in the literary texts.

LINGUAPRAGMATIC MEANS OF SATIRICAL METHODS REALISATION IN BRITISH MEDIA DISCOURSE

The article investigates linguopragmatic means of satirical methods realisation in British media discourse. The material for the research includes texts from British satirical magazine Private Eye (2019-2020). The aim of the survey is to establish linguopragmatic means of realisation of satirical methods in British media discourse within the framework of discursive approach to satire. To achieve the aim, we turned to the method of discourse analysis and functional pragmatic analysis. In terms of discursive approach to satire suggested by P. Simpson this article singles out two categories of satirical methods – metaphoric satirical method and metonymic satirical method. The study argues that metaphoric satirical method is realized with the help of intertextuality which presupposes overlapping of different domains. The article establishes that metaphoric satirical method is realized through the following intertextual figures: transformed quotation, allusion, calque, pastiche and precedent-related phenomena. The metonymic satirical method embraces stylistic techniques of saturation, attenuation and negation. The research claims that saturation is accomplished by means of repetitions, stylistic inconsistencies, abundance of academic style and terms, jargons, slang expressions and even vulgarisms. Linguistic means of attenuation include undercoding, euphemisms, litotes and paraphrasing. Means of negation embrace indefinite pronouns, the negative particle “not”, the adverb “never” and the lexemes which imply negation. Further research in this direction could be done in the investigation of correlation between satirical targets and prototypical linguopragmatic means of satirical methods realization in British media discourse.

Connective negation and negative concord in Balto-Slavic

With negative indefinite pronouns the Balto-Slavic languages all exhibit strict negative concord. In this study we investigate how negative concord functions in a context in which a connective negator (‘neither ... nor’) combines either phrases or clauses. We show that there are various types of non-concordant patterns.

Indefinites and free choice

Indefinites display a great functional variety and they give rise to different pragmatic effects. We focus on free choice indefinites and in particular on the Italian qualsiasi. Our aim is to reconstruct the grammaticalization path of this item and understand how diachronic data might shed some light on existing semantic theories of free choice. We employ corpus-based tools to build a database containing occurrences of qualsiasi from its origin and early forms to its current usage. We show that qualsiasi emerged from a particular unconditional construction and we outline the different stages which led to its grammaticalization. We analyze the compatibility of our diachronic study with formal accounts of free choice inferences, with a focus on Alternative Semantics analyses for indefinite pronouns and so-called grammatical theories of free choice. Our work shows that an integration between formal semantics and historical linguistics is fruitful and worth pursuing.

Gwarowe nazwy kobiet z sufiksem -ula

Dialectal Female Names with the Suffix -ula The article discusses female names created with the suffix -ula, taken from the Lexicon of Polish Dialects prepared by the Polish Institute of Sciences (PAN). Despite the possibility of double motivation, it was assumed that most of them were motivated by male names, with only few derived from verbs, adjectives or nouns. Among the formations in question, words with a negative connotation are prevalent, and positive ones (diminutives and terms of endearment) are rare. This is compliant with colloquial Polish in which negative assessment is dominant, too. According to the analysis: 1) the suffix -ula has a feminizing function when it is used to create female names based on common names, and the expressiveness of the name is transferred from the basis to the derivative; 2) the scope of the suffix -ula is limited to Lesser Poland and Silesia; 3) it hardly ever occurs in other dialects.The author of this article discusses the structure, origin and functions of dialectal pronouns which occur in the local dialect of Posada Jaśliska near Krosno. Posada Jaśliska is a village of three cultures: Polish, Lemko and Slovakian. The author describes mutual influences of these three languages on shaping the collection of pronouns, with particular emphasis on the pronouns that are typical of this area or known only in this place: definite ones, such as haw ‘here’ and het ‘very far, somewhere, from somewhere, away’, and indefinite pronouns, such as dakto ‘whoever’, dagdzie ‘wherever’.

O wybranych zaimkach gwarowych z Polski południowo-wschodniej (przyczynek)

Selected Dialectal Pronouns from South-Eastern Poland (Outline) The author of this article discusses the structure, origin and functions of dialectal pronouns which occur in the local dialect of Posada Jaśliska near Krosno. Posada Jaśliska is a village of three cultures: Polish, Lemko and Slovakian. The author describes mutual influences of these three languages on shaping the collection of pronouns, with particular emphasis on the pronouns that are typical of this area or known only in this place: definite ones, such as haw ‘here’ and het ‘very far, somewhere, from somewhere, away’, and indefinite pronouns, such as dakto ‘whoever’, dagdzie ‘wherever’.

An Analysis of Negation in English

This paper offers an overview of the different constructions used to express negation in English. Based on previous research in the literature, several negation types have been identified. It has been shown that certain negative affixes such as dis-, un-, anti-, -less, etc. can be attached to the base word and negate it without affecting the remainder of the sentence. The second form of negation is the standard negation, where English adds the particle not (or its contracted form n’t) to the primary verb or to the auxiliary. Negative imperatives are made of do not / don’t + infinitive, while only not is used before infinitives and –ing forms to express negation. It has also been noted that there are several instances in English where negative quantifiers and indefinite pronouns can mark a clause negative. And, one of the major findings at this level is that the replacement of the not-negation (not…anybody, not….anyone) by no-negation constructions (nobody, no one) is often possible. However, the use of no-negation form at the beginning of the clause is more grammatically accepted due to the principle of negative attraction. The study finally shows that subject-auxiliary inversion in negative sentences can be considered optional sometimes.