Page 1: Heaven and Hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. By Sandy Habib
Abstract
The aim of this study was to devise a cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural place terms. To achieve this objective, six supernatural place concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a seven-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold: First, it eases the task of explicating supernatural place concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it makes it easier to compare related supernatural place concepts from different languages. Third, it unveils the devices embodied in the structure of supernatural place concepts and which enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.
Page 37: Japanese case marker elision in contexts of varied emotive intensity: The grammar-pragmatics interface. By Junko Baba
Abstract
This empirical study demonstrates how Japanese Case Marker Elision (CME) is affected by the emotive intensity of spoken discourse in various casual and formal situations. Among the sociopragmatic variables that determine the emotive intensity of the discourse, ‘interaction’ is found to be most remarkable in CME, followed by ‘positive politeness’ and ‘subjectivity’. Exceptional cases of CME superseding the grammatical constraints that ordinarily prohibit CME were found in extremely intensified affective speech and in presentational monologues that are analogous in style to newspaper headings. For the qualitative analysis of CME, use has been made of Discourse Analysis.
Page 73: Sproglig hierarkisering i en international dansk virksomhedskontekst. Om sprogrepræsentation og sprogvalgspraksis med fokus på tysk. Af Sonja Barfod Lund & Petra Daryai-Hansen
Abstract
Taking its point of departure in the theory of language hierarchisation, the article discusses language representation and choice of languages in international companies in Denmark. Two sets of data are analysed; the first analysis is based on 13 interviews in international companies and shows how languages are represented in the companies investigated. The second analysis is based on video recordings of informal language use and shows how the companies’ employees use language in their lunch breaks. The data confirm the prominent role of English has (next to Danish) in this context. What the data also show is that the language hierarchy in question should include German. Based on these empirical studies, the article further aims to contribute to the development of the concept of language hierarchisation.
Page 109: Pennisi & Falzone's Darwinian Biolinguistics. Theory and History of a Naturalistic Philosophy of Language and Pragmatics. Reviewed by Lucrezia Compiani
Page 115: What's the state-of-affairs in Cultural Linguistics? A review of Farzad Sharifian's Cultural Linguistics: Cultural Conceptualisations and Language. Reviewed by Kim Ebensgaard
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