Once Upon a Time in the Realm of Notions : The Conceptualisation of Novak Djokovic-Inspired Personality Shifts

An analysis was carried out with two interviews given by the tennis-player Novak Djokovic, one of which was in English and the other in his native Serbian. In both instances, Novak Djokovic used many conceptual metaphors throughout his speech, some of which were analysed in more detail. The main premise of the research was that people’s personalities change in accordance with language they speak at any given time and that they use different conceptual metaphors to describe the same events in different languages. The aim of the paper was to investigate whether personality shift in bilingual speakers can be observed through the speaker’s use of conceptual metaphors in different languages. Through the framework of conceptual metaphor theory, it was shown that Djokovic’s personality does change with the language he speaks. This change was shown through the conceptual metaphors, i.e., source and target domains that Djokovic used during the interviews. He does indeed use different source domains to conceptualise the same target domains in different languages.

Categories and social meanings: An analysis of international students’ language practices in an international school

Bilingual educational programmes in recent years received criticism from translanguaging or superdiversity scholars. These programmes follow either the subtractive or the additive models of bilingual education (García 2009), in both of which the languages are considered as separate systems. This distinction is considered as “inadequate to describe linguistic diversity” (García 2009: 142) and masks the real diversity of difference by focusing only on languages. Thinking in terms of plurilingualism and multiculturalism “might contribute to a continuation of thinking in terms of us-versus-them, essentializing cultural or ethnic differences” (Geldof 2018: 45). The present study argues that a critical ethnographic sociolinguistic approach provides a more relevant analysis of children’s language practices. From this critical perspective, speaking is highlighted instead of languages and considered as action in which the linguistic resources carry social meaning (Blommaert–Rampton 2011). This paper introduces the findings of an ethnographic fieldwork set in an international summer school where linguistic and ethnic diversity is a commonplace, although a strict English-only language policy applies in order to achieve the school’s pedagogical goals. The aim of the research has been to find out how students from various cultural background are dealing with ethnical and linguistic diversity and to analyse how the processes of normalisation (Geldof 2018) among students and teachers create values and categories accepted as norms by the group. By analysing the emerging social values and categories within the group, this paper focuses on how internal factors such as emotions, attitudes and identity contribute to the language choices of the students.

Helping Students with Learning Disabilities (ASD)

Integration in education has brought students with learning disabilities into the forefront of everyday teaching in Hungary. Among many types of disadvantaged students, for example, those with ADHD, ODD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, social, economic and linguistic disadvantages, there are also those who suffer from ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). This paper uses research from many papers, including those from Peter Moran of the British Council and Jennifer Reppond, to discover basic principles in how to deal with and teach this type of student in the foreign language classroom. It then moves on to show how these principles helped to create awareness of the problems involved and give some workable practices within the classroom to make an acceptable learning environment for one particular student with ASD.

MAGA: An (Extra-) Linguistic Analysis of Donald Trump’s Speeches in the 2016 US Presidential Campaign

The article deals with the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States and aims to point out the linguistic and non-linguistic factors that led to the victory. The election results came as a surprise to a large proportion of the world, but looking back, it was intriguing to analyse whether the reasons for his victory had been present in his speeches, and whether his triumph could have been predicted using discourse analysis.

A Story of Two Cultures in Doreen Finn’s Night Swimming (2019)

Doreen Finn’s novel Night Swimming (2019) is set during the summer heatwave of 1976 Dublin. The story is narrated by the nine-year-old Irish girl, Megan, who lives in a large Victorian house with her mother (Gemma) and grandmother (Sarah). An American family rent their downstairs flat, and this encounter of two cultures provides the framework for the entire story in which American and Irish sensibilities, mentalities, stereotypical features, and cultural markers are set against each other. The motif that permeates the entire work is the metaphor “night swimming”, which highlights the notion of going against the expected norms set by society. The loss of innocence involved envelops all the characters one way or another, and to which all must react in their own way. In the end, all the characters are forced to “grow up” and come to terms with their lives and their environment.

Houses and the Fate of Families : A Comparison of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

In Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” the house where the events unfold is described as a sentient being, and its first description forebodes the occurrence of dark events. In addition, Poe utilizes the house of Usher to show how the fate of the house and its inhabitants are connected. The House of Usher stands for the building itself as well as the family, and Usher himself believes that the house is alive and can also exert its influence on the people living in it. The house of Thomas Sutpen in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! is equally significant and is used to symbolize Sutpen’s will to establish his dynasty. The house is furnished luxuriously to establish his reputation in society, and Sutpen finally succeeds in bringing home a wife to the completed house. However, after the war the house is in ruins and Sutpen is unable to defy his fate anymore: he cannot rebuild the house, which – several years later – is burnt down by his own daughter, the partly black Clytemnestra. This paper compares and contrasts the houses and their function in the two works.

Translation of Politeness Strategies in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

The present article is a comparative analysis of negative politeness strategies in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and the Hungarian translation in Értelem és érzelem translated by Gerda Barcza. The aim of the article is to examine whether the politeness strategies applied by the characters in the source text remain the same type of politeness strategies in the target text as a result of the translation process. The article also endeavours to establish whether the politeness strategies employed by the characters in the Hungarian translation mirror the same character traits as in the original text. The article presents the parallel analysis of the negative politeness strategies in the source text and the target text used by several characters in the novel. The comparative analysis explores whether there are any changes in the characters’ linguistic behaviour as a result of the translation process. In order to show the differences between the source and the target text, we apply back translation, a translation that is as literal as possible to demonstrate the change of the politeness strategy. When no change is identified, no back translation is applied, only a detailed analysis and explanation is offered. The article presupposes that the politeness strategy in question will show only a slight change, therefore the characters will mirror the same traits as in the original text. The article ultimately aims to prove that the translation of the novel entitled Sense and Sensibility will not alter Jane Austen’s specific way of characterization.

Reflections on Choosing a Prescribed Book for a University Business Presentation Skills Course : Why TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks by Akash Karia Fits the Need

The choice of course material is always bound to the needs and abilities of the students who will be using them. English Studies in the first quarter of the 21st century has to walk a fine line between the traditional, idealised idea of a teaching and research university offering a liberal education and the more employment-oriented, marketized idea of a university equipping students with competences for life after their studies. Offering business soft skills courses within a B.A. in English allows students to develop transferable skills whilst improving their EFL proficiency. TED Talks Storytelling by Akash Karia is reviewed against this backdrop for a course on oral business presentation skills and recommended as a suitable choice for a prescribed book.

The Visits of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Britain and its Impact on the English and Irish People

This paper focuses on the impact the visits of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1854-1898) and Queen consort of Hungary (1867-1898) had on the British and Irish people. Elisabeth is mostly remembered as being one of the most beautiful women of her time. However, she was also one of the best women riders of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It might not be an exaggeration to say that her name can be mentioned among the best who have ever ridden in the British Isles. In Britain, between 1874 and 1882 the Empress stayed seven times: five times in England and twice in Ireland. The English said that “there was nothing but praise for a woman [Empress Elisabeth] who ‘looked like an angel and rode like the devil’” (Haslip 1987: 325).

Considering Liminality as a Passage to the Otherworld in the Early Irish Tale Aislinge Óenguso and Oscar Wilde’s The Fisherman and his Soul

An important piece of early Irish literary material, Óengus’ dream bears several similarities with Oscar Wilde’s The Fisherman and his Soul. It will be demonstrated that liminality (from limen meaning “threshold” in Latin), as epitomized by the presence of water in both tales, can be interpreted as a passage to the Otherworld. It is the liminal and otherworldly aspect of water that brings into existence the universal human aspiration towards the supernatural unification with the cosmos and the theme of all-encompassing love; recurrent topoi in Irish literature from the very beginnings until today. Furthermore, Wilde’s tale is not so much about the “devotional revolution” of religious transformation in a post-Famine Ireland, but an even more universal expression of a “revolutionary devotion”: the Fisherman’s unusual attachment to the forbidden. This supernatural yet human feeling of transition, “in-betweenness” or metaxy makes both tales operate in several dimensions across time and geographical space.