Narrative Voice Structure in Kole Omotoso’s The Edifice

This article offers a reading of Kole Omotoso’s The Edifice in which he exposes the themes of insensitivity, callousness, aggressiveness, oppression, marginalization and racial discrimination of the whites against the black people successfully. It is clear that the most important and highly unique technique that the writer uses to advantage and which projects the theme of the novel forward is the one of conversational speech which contributes highly to the success of the novel. This explains the reason the present writer is picking the novel out of all Omotoso’s novels because it makes it more prone to linguistic analysis more than most African literary works. Using linguistic stylistic analytical tool of narrative voice structure and focusing particularly on free direct speech and free direct thought, this paper examines the themes of racial discrimination and oppression of the whites against the black people in the novel. From the analysis, the paper concludes that the implication of this racial discrimination is that all the expressions used in the novel against the black people by the whites are exaggerated, hyperbolic and highly calculated to depict African race in bad light.

Twins/Zwillinge: A Broader View. A Contribution to Stith Thompson’s Incomplete Motif System—A Case of the Continuation of Pseudoscientific Fallacies †

Explaining the rationale and main objectives for his motif system; Stith Thompson declared that it emulates what “the scientists have done with the worldwide phenomena of biology” (Thompson 1955, I, p. 10). In this respect; the underlying principles for motif identification and indexing are comparable to those devised by anthropologists at Yale for “categorizing” culture materials into 78 macro-units and 629 subdivisions thereof used to establish “The Human Relations Area Files” (HRAF). By comparison, 23 divisions (chapters) make up the spectrum of sociocultural materials covered in Thompson’s Motif-Index system. Thompson’s cardinal themes are divided into 1730 subdivisions permitting more specificity of identification (El-Shamy 1995, I, xiii). Historically; the disciplines of “anthropology” and of “folklore” targeted different categories of the human population; with “folklore” assigned to populations stratified into “social classes” (Dorson 1972, pp. 4–5: For details, see El-Shamy: “Folk Groups” (1997b, pp. 318–322, in: T.A Green, gen. ed. 1997c, p. 321); El-Shamy 1980, p. li; compare El-Shamy (1997a), p. 233 (“African hunter”). The limitations Thompson placed on the goals of his motif system (along with its tale-type companion) were triggered by the fact that “folklore” was; then; primarily interested in literature (prose and verse). The sociocultural milieu surrounding the creation of the literary forms occupied minor roles. Considering that a folktale is a “description of life and/or living” including all five universal culture institutions; the relevance of the contents of folktales are of primary significance for understanding the community in which they were born and maintained (El-Shamy 1995, I, p. xiii). Consequently; for the present writer; a folktale is considered a sixth (universal) culture institution. Also; because Thompson’s Motif-Index sought global coverage; many regions and national entities didn’t receive adequate attention: significant fields of human experience are missing or sketchily presented. This article offers two cases as examples of: (1) How editors of folklore publications ignore novel ideas incompatible with established trends; and (2) Samples of the spectrum of current psychosocial issues addressed in an expanded Thompson’s System (with more than 26,000 new motifs and 630 tale-types added).

An Oracle of Ashes: The Burial of James Purdy

James Purdy (b. 1914), an American writer known for his grim humour and embrace of the outlandish and estranged, died in 2009, shortly after uttering his final wish: that after cremation his ashes should be buried near to Dame Edith Sitwell, one of the earliest and staunchest supporters of his works. This essay chronicles the journey of Purdy’s ashes from New York, USA, to Northamptonshire, UK, where they were laid to rest ten years after his death, and it explains how the present writer came to know Purdy not only through his novels, plays and poems, but also through working with Purdy’s literary executor, John Uecker, who also served as an assistant to Tennessee Williams. Necessarily autobiographical in certain passages, this essay tells of the discovery of grief in the process of planning the burial, of the power that can inhere in the materiality of cremated remains, and of the legal and logistical complexities of plotting interment across international borders.

Conservation of the Lyre from Grave 48 in the Area between the So-Called ‘Eriai’ Gates and the Dipylon (470–50 BC)

This paper focuses on the conservation of the lyre (chelys) of Grave 48, from the area between the so-called ‘Eriai’ Gates and the Dipylon. First, it describes the lifting of the lyre (sound box) from the ground and the recovery of the fragile plaques and fragments from the compact block of soil in the laboratory. Subsequently, it presents the extensive conservation work undertaken by the present writer and her team. Furthermore, it summarizes the conclusions of the X-Radiography and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) examinations of the sound box and the string holder and provides information about the biochemistry, structure and decay of the tortoise shell. In conclusion, the collaboration between conservator and archaeomusicologist, during the remedial conservation treatment, was of great importance, and helped with the identification of the plaques and restoration of the lyre.

AFFECT ANALYSIS OF CRIME NEWS IN THE JAKARTA POST AND THE JAKARTA GLOBE: A STUDY OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS

This study explores the affect of appraisal systems by comparing the crime news in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe. There were six texts of the crime news that were classified into the same topics. These texts were analysed using Appraisal Systems Theory (Martin & White, 2005). The objectives of the present study are to find out the differences of the affect of crime news in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe and then to know the types of appraising items in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe. The data is analysed by using the mixed method research. The present writer found out that the writers in The Jakarta Globe present the affect dominantly. The Jakarta Globe shows 63,8% of affect and it is dominated by the affect of dis/satisfaction. However, The Jakarta Post shows 36,2% of affect and it is dominated by the affect of in/security. In addition, the types of appraising items that occur in the affect of crime news are mental process, behavioural process, relational process, attitudinal lexis, minor clause, epithet and grammatical item.

AFFECT ANALYSIS OF CRIME NEWS IN THE JAKARTA POST AND THE JAKARTA GLOBE: A STUDY OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS

This study explores the affect of appraisal systems by comparing the crime news in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe. There were six texts of the crime news that were classified into the same topics. These texts were analysed using Appraisal Systems Theory (Martin & White, 2005). The objectives of the present study are to find out the differences of the affect of crime news in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe and then to know the types of appraising items in The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe. The data is analysed by using the mixed method research. The present writer found out that the writers in The Jakarta Globe present the affect dominantly. The Jakarta Globe shows 63,8% of affect and it is dominated by the affect of dis/satisfaction. However, The Jakarta Post shows 36,2% of affect and it is dominated by the affect of in/security. In addition, the types of appraising items that occur in the affect of crime news are mental process, behavioural process, relational process, attitudinal lexis, minor clause, epithet and grammatical item.

A Descriptive Catalogue of the Phalangiinae of Illinois

The great majority of the American species of those familiar creatures commonly known as ''harvest-men " or "daddy-long-legs" (not to be confounded with the crane-flies— Tipulida'—which go by by the latter name in Europe) belong to the subfamily PJialangiind' of the family Phalangi(Ja> of the suborder Opilonea and order Arthrogastra. Though abundant and widely distributed, these arachnids have as yet received comparatively little attention in this country. The first American descriptions were published by Thomas Say in 1821 (Jour. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. IT., pp. 65-68), when four species were characterized under the genus Phalangium. Besides the above the only descriptive paper that has appeared is that by Dr. Horatio C. Wood, Jr., entitled "On the Phalangese of the United States of America," which was published in 1868 in the Communications of the Essex Institute (Vol. VI., pp. 10-40). In 1885, Prof. L. M. Underwood published a list of the described species (Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XVI., pp. 167-160), but added nothing to our knowledge of the group. Finally, in the "American Naturalist" for October, 1887 (Vol. XXL, p. 935), the present writer published a brief note calling attention to the proper generic position of several species hitherto retained in the old genus Phalangium.

Racial Issues and their Influences on the Characters in Shakespeare’s Othello

This study aims to describe the racial issues found in Othello and to analyze the influence of the issues on the characters in the play. In finding racial issues, the present writer analyses dialogues between the characters in the drama implicitly and explicitly.The author uses Abrams‘ objective approach and also some references to classify the racial issues and along with the characters based on the types of racism such as individual racism, passive racism, active racism, and internalized racism. The data were obtained by observing the play without being influenced by materials outside of the text.The result of this study indicates that there are racial issues in this play. The racial issues have a very significant effect on the characters‘ view, including Othello‘s, of the existence of black people. Othello becomes racist against himself and loses the confidence of being black, hence the cause of the fall of Othello.

Grape Pips from Etruscan and Roman Cetamura del Chianti: On Stratigraphy, Literary Sources and Pruning Hooks

Recently an article appeared raising some issues about the interpretation of grape pips that were excavated at Cetamura del Chianti by the present writer (2012-14). This commentary makes suggestions concerning the arguments in that article with reference to 1) stratigraphy at the site; 2) literary sources on Etruscan viticulture; and 3) the use of the pruning hook by the Etruscans. The present article makes a contribution to the study of Etruscan viticulture by assembling an appendix on actual pruning hooks that have been discovered in Italy dating from the Late Bronze Age down to the second century B. C. E., as well as an appendix on representations of a youth holding the pruning hook in Etruscan art, mainly from the fourth and third centuries B. C. E.

Abu Tahir as-Silafi on Islamic culture and adab in Bab al-Abwab Shirwan and Arran

The biographical dictionary by Abu Tahir as-Silafi under the title “Mu`jam as-safar” (Dictionary of the travels) has been introduced by the Ukrainian Arabic scholar of Daghestani origin Ziya Saidov. The rich and hitherto underexplored data on the history of the Northern Caucasus was used in his PhD Thesis, however not extensively. Then only the first volume of the biographical work of As-Silafi was available to him. Some information used by Dr Saidov originate from the works of later Muslim authors, in the first instance al-’Askalani, Ibn al-Sabuni, Ibn al-Fuvati and al-Zahabi. The present article mostly provides additional information to the broad picture of the Islamic religious life in the Eastern Caucasus in the 11th - 12th centuries, to which mostly contributed Professor Amri R. Shikhsaidov, Dr Z. Saidov and the present writer.