Varieties of English language in Lexical, Grammatical and Spelling Domain in Bosnian Highschool Context

Classified as a Germanic language and evidently a common language, a lingua franca of the world, after years of development, English has formed a number of varieties differing in many areas, including vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and in some cases, accent. As a result of its widespread, it is crucial to know which variety is used, yet preferred by learners, and observe differences between them. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the two most commonly used, often mixed, varieties of English, namely American English and British English, in one high school in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, we aimed , to see whether students are aware of the significant differences in spelling, vocabulary, and grammatical structure. In doing so, 50 randomly selected high school students were given a test consisting of written differences related to lexical items, spelling, as well as differences visible in grammar. The findings revealed that the majority of participants prefer British English, though they are not totally aware of the differences in the mentioned areas between these two varieties; as a result, they are frequently mixing them. Lacking knowledge about these two primary varieties of English would, undeniably in some cases, lead to misunderstanding; thus, teachers should pay more attention and give more effort to raise the learners’ awareness of different varieties and their distinctive aspects.

The Pluralization of Mass Nouns in European and Asian ELF

English has become a global lingua franca unlike any language before. This has led to the increased pragmatic use of English by an increasing number of non-native speakers and, consequently, English as a lingua franca (ELF) has emerged. It has become a contact language between speakers of different mother tongues which has led to the blurring of strict regulatory frameworks formerly established by native English varieties. ELF speakers use English in creative ways and influenced by their native languages and cultures and the imitation of the native speaker has been pushed to the background in favor of successful communication. In order to facilitate the examination of this new type of English, several ELF corpora have been established, two of which are used for this study. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (VOICE) and the Asian Corpus of English (ACE) are both collections of spoken interactions between ELF speakers that have the same size and rely on the same coding system and search parameters, which make them readily comparable. While these corpora have already aided in the discovery of several common features of ELF in general, this study focuses on the lexico-grammatical feature of the pluralization of mass nouns by either adding the ‘s’ or some type of quantifier in European and Asian ELF. Results show that Asian ELF speakers are less likely to pluralize mass nouns than European ELF speakers. Yet, pluralization can be found in both types of ELF and this, along with other specific, non-standard features, raises questions for English language teaching and the status of native English.

Javna diplomatija, propaganda i upravljanje komunikacijama

U ovom radu analizira se koncept javne diplomacije u odnosu na pojmove tradicionalne diplomacije i propagande, te se propituje značenje ovog pojma u kontekstu primjene koncepata meke, tvrde, i pametne moći država. Također, analizira se i upravljanja procesom komuniciranja u okviru aktivnosti javne diplomacije, kao i pitanje odnosa medija i drugih komunikacijskih kanala i javne diplomacije u novom digitalnom komunikacijskom ekosistemu. Javna diplomacija ubrzano se okreće online komunikacijskim kanalima i alatima kako bi dosegnula javnosti u stranim zemljama. U sve većoj mjeri prepoznaje se da tradicionalne metode i tehnike komuniciranja s javnostima gube na značaju i da uspješno obavljanje diplomatskih aktivnosti sve više podrazumijeva direktnu interakciju s ciljnim grupama. To otvara novo poglavlje u razvoju koncepta javne diplomacije, a pitanje interaktivnosti i dijalologa s novim ciljnim grupama dobija sve više na značaju.

Importance of Intercultural Sensitivity

Due to the fast development in the domains of technology, education and research, different cultures worldwide have become interconnected and we are all considered to be living in the global village. Mutual understanding and tolerance in such a community is of crucial importance. Thus, intercultural sensitivity has become a core concept that needs to be understood and promoted worldwide among both younger and older population. The aim of this paper is to analyze the concept of intercultural sensitivity and its importance. Moreover, the paper discusses different models of intercultural sensitivity and the importance of intercultural sensitivity training programs. It is expected that the paper will raise awareness about this fundamental issue, and will contribute to its further understanding.

Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shakespeare studies Nature in the context of human behaviour. His drama deals with transformations and he displays these changes on both social and personal levels through alternating the graphic images from characters to situation. In an authoritarian society where lives of women were governed by a belief system which resulted out of Nature’s disposition of preordained roles in society, the portrayal of dominating female voices would have bothered many. Shakespearean drama is a protest against the society which is always dominated by the destructive forces of male paranoia, egocentrism, patriarchal instinct of exploitation of the weak, male sexual anxiety and corrupt abuse of rules of justice by the powerful. A study of the female mind presented in Shakespearean drama is seen at its best in The Winter’s Tale. The following article is an attempt to explore some of the aspects of Womanhood in Shakespearean art.

Initial P4C Implementation in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Educational Context

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has a fragmented education system which is resistant to progressive changes. Therefore, implementing a program such as the Philosophy for Children (P4C) may make a significant impact on the lives of students and their teachers. In this paper, we discuss some potential benefits of the program and anecdotal evidence of its efficacy in two B&H schools. The TPO Foundation, an NGO from Sarajevo -Transcultural Psychosocial Educational Foundation (TPO Fondacija, Equal opportunities and freedom of choice without discrimination on any ground), which has organized the first training in P4C for teachers from several cantons in B&H, is working on creating a framework for initiating the implementation of philosophy for children in cantonal education systems in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This paper includes two cases of the implementation of P4C in two schools, through school courses, namely Religious Studies and English Language. The results of the study showed the program is very interesting to students and has a potential to improve school effectiveness in multiple ways. The findings of this study may help instructors to plan and organize their classes to acquire educational objectives in good and productive classroom atmosphere.

The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary in High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the last couple of years, there has been an obvious increase in the number of school children proficient in English. One of the main reasons is the influence of the media, as well as students’ great exposure to video games. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between video-game playing and English language proficiency based on age, gender and latest grade in English language. A questionnaire was completed by 71 middle and high school students answering a range of questions on the quantity and quality of the video game they play. The results showed that video games have a great impact on language learning, as well as that vocabulary and communication are areas of most benefit. Therefore, as a form of highly desirable entertainment, video games provide a positive and motivating atmosphere which is perfect for adopting a foreign language and may have positive impacts on obtaining and improving vocabulary.

The Birth of a Nation: Views on the Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies

The emergence of a nation can be understood through the prism of modernist or traditionalist ideas but both ideas agree on the fact that the struggle for territory and influence, the development of the state through the bureaucracy and the collective experience of the community are fundamental conditions for the emergence of a nation and national identity. National identity creates an atmosphere and space in which members of the nation exist, providing the possibility of socialization and cooperation between different strata of society that accept common values and traditions, which has enabled a uniform collective self-definition. The theoretical starting points for understanding the origin of the nation inevitably touch on the French theoretical aspect for which the state is a community of people in a certain area, the homeland is represented by a repository of historical memories, and the patria by a community of laws and institutions of unified political will. From the German theoretical aspect, the emphasis is on the nation as a community of birth and gender culture. The people are understood as a superfamily of common ancestors, languages, customs and religions. In addition to the above theories, the theory of the historical will to live together is unavoidable, which emphasizes the common historical destiny of people living in one country, thus creating a common identity that has a transcendent meaning. In addition to the above, the nation can be understood as a judicial-administrative product with a collective foundation in the state within which sovereignty arises. The cultural background of the creation of the nation and national identities, in its essence, opposes the modern desacralization of the world. Although Western nationalism offered an integrative force for the creation of larger states that no other ideology could provide until then, it led to bloody conflicts and violence in the transition from agrarian to industrial societies. The crises produced by nationalism have been overcome by secularized ideas, values, myths and symbols from the Judeo-Christian tradition, which is easiest to reach in Western European societies in times of crisis. Nation-states in the Muslim world did not appear until the 20th century. After the decisive secularization, nation-states became a political framework in Muslim societies as well. Nationality in its loyalty to the nation was opposed to the hitherto generally accepted loyalty to the ummah. In order to alleviate the tension in this regard, the starting point for the development of nations in Muslim societies is the secularization of traditional values. Religious feeling remains at the root of nationalism in Muslim societies, so loyalty to a nation implicitly means religious loyalty as well. Nevertheless, modern processes of globalization transcend nation and national identities as sources of interethnic conflicts. The foundations are being laid for a global pacification culture that encourages self-definition of local cultural identities and a new way of emphasizing people's sovereignty. As modernization failed in the expectation of weakening national consciousness, national identities and nationalist movements strengthened at the end of the 20th century. The nation once again has the potential to offer solutions to problems that have emerged in a globalizing world in which a sense of continuity of a common past has been disrupted, as important determinants of identity.

The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register

The main objective of this corpus-based study is to shed more light on the influence of the English language on BCS with the focus on the business register. The specialized and written corpus was designed in order to examine at what levels of BCS the impact of English is most notable. The corpus was based on the texts from the news portal Klix. The results showed that the influence of English was evident at all levels of BCS, but most prominent at the lexical and syntactic level. All the phrases from the corpus were analyzed and it was found that out of 148 phrases, 113 were the examples of the influence at lexical level and the rest, 35 precisely, were the examples of the influence at the level of syntax. As for the lexical level, most borrowings are nouns, but BCS also borrows a large number of verbs, as well as adjectives. Some of these borrowings are adapted to the rules of BCS, while the others are either used in their original forms or they are used in some hybrid forms. When it comes to the syntactic level, BCS borrows inflections, modification patterns, collocations, as well as passive “by phrase”. Finally, these Anglicisms were also analyzed in terms of writing and spelling and it was found that there are many inconsistencies regarding the spelling of these borrowed words primarily due to the fact that most of them are either brand new Anglicism or they simply were not adapted to the rules of BCS. However, it was concluded that, despite the previously mentioned fact, some rules regarding the spelling of Anglicisms can still be formed.