The Morpho-Phonology-Semantics Interface in Modern Standard Arabic

The issue of the interface between linguistic components has got much interest in contemporary linguistics especially after the advancements that took place in the discipline of Conceptual Semantics. In essence, linguistics components have all been considered to be equal in terms of deriving meaning. In this article, the researcher scrutinized how the component of morpho-phonology interfaces with semantics. This aim was achieved through the analysis of intransitive verbs in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, henceforth). It was found that intransitive verbs serve well in terms of demonstrating the interface between morpho-phonology and semantics. The morphological and phonological alternations of intransitive verbs result in changes in meaning. Cognition has a central role in generating causative verbs from intransitive ones.

The lexical semantics of blaguer: French ways of bringing people together through persuasion, deception and laughter

This study presents a lexical semantic analysis of the French verb blaguer and related expressions. This verb belongs to a suite of “French humour practices”, and French-English dictionaries translate it as ‘to joke’. However, Anglo-specific terminology such as “joke” does not match the conceptual semantics of blaguer and its related noun blague. Relying on Anglo-specific terms to categorise culture-specific practices perpetuates conceptual and terminological Anglocentrism. This study furthers the call to avoid the dangers of sustaining Anglocentrism in the theoretical vocabulary of humour studies (Goddard & Mullan 2020; Goddard 2018; Wierzbicka 2014a). Working from the assumption that semantic categories reflect particular ways of speaking, thinking, and behaving, this study’s goal is to capture the insider perspective that French speakers have about the meaning of the verb blaguer and the noun blague. Making local understandings more obvious and accessible to cultural and linguistic outsiders will increase cross-cultural understanding and foster appreciation for the different ways that speakers construct and interpret their world with words (Levisen & Waters 2017). The analytical tool for this study is the technique of semantic explication couched in the simple cross-translatable and culture-neutral words of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014). Carefully chosen example sentences are drawn from Google searches (google.fr) of authentic language use of the verb blaguer and the noun blague. Comparative reference is made to the verb ‘to joke’ from Australian English to highlight the differences in the conversational humour cultures of French and English speakers (Goddard & Mullan 2020; Béal & Mullan 2013, 2017).

مضامين و انديشه­هاى شعرى فقى قادر هه­مه­وند

Abdul Qadir Rasool was one of the poets of the nineteenth century. He is known as Faqe. He was a talented poet but his works are still being disregarded and unknown to others. Searching and understanding his poems will clarify his new innovations in poetry. By analyzing the collected works and poems of Persian poets and Quranic verses, he could utilize conceptual semantics in his poetical works. His poems are the symbol of desire, sympathy, using the persuasive of metaphors and dominating words to spread splendid compound literary works. He was able to combine the impacts of both his life experience and the complicated community issues of sultan Aziz Ottoman era in his works intelligently. In this research, the researcher attempted to indicate the notions of the poet to give the ability to understand his concepts and his views, and they are important to understand ingenuity he innovated in his poems. Key words: Faqe Qader, Elegy, Saki poem, Blaming poem, Prison poems.

Cognitive semantics and the semiological function of language

This chapter provides a critical examination of the cognitive approach, which claims to follow a semiological or symbolic principle according to which the fundamental role of language is to allow the symbolization of conceptualizations by means of phonological sequences. It asks whether Cognitive Grammar is faithful to this principle and argues that the cognitive postulate of a continuum between semantics and pragmatics stands in direct contradiction to it. Critical assessments are also offered of Prototype Theory, Conceptual Semantics, Construction Grammar, and Natural Semantic Metalanguage.