Sbornik 2012.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
KONSTANTIN PRESLAVSKY UNIVERSITY OF SHUMEN CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF ENGLISH (A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS) Konstantin Preslavsky University Press KONSTANTIN PRESLAVSKY UNIVERSITY OF SHUMEN CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF ENGLISH (A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS) Konstantin Preslavsky University Press Shumen, 2012 Contemporary trends in the study of English (a comparative analysis) is the end result of a project (No RD-05-265/15.03.2012) of the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Konstantin Preslavsky University of Shumen. Книгата Съвременни аспекти в англицистиката (в съпоставителен план) е резултат от проекта „Съвременни аспекти в англицистиката (в съпоставителен план)“ (РД-05- 265/15.03.2012), катедра „Английска филология“, Факултет по хуманитарни науки, Шуменски университет „Епископ Константин Преславски“. Editors: Assoc. Prof. Temenuzka Seizova-Nankova, PhD Assoc. Prof. Rumyana Todorova, PhD Formatting editor: Assist. Prof. Deyana Peneva The editors bear no responsibility of the content or accuracy of the articles. ©Individual contributions: respective authors © © Konstantin Preslavsky University Press ISBN: 978-954-577-651-9 CONTENTS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER Aglika Dobreva. Metaphorical schemes in the representations of some emotions………. ……………………………………………………… Alexandra Alexandrova. Nicknames in English and Bulgarian media texts.. Deyana Peneva. Speech situation, speech event and speech act in the domain of apology speech act pragmatics…………………………………………….. Evdokia Marinova. The metaphor of theatre in understanding news discourse.. Iliyan Ivanov, Desislava Cheshmedzhieva-Stoycheva. Russians in the Bulgarian and the British Press…………………………………………… Irina Ivanova. Facilitating trainee-teachers‘ decision in lesson planning during pre-teaching discussion……………………………………………………. Miroslava Tsvetkova. On the inseparability of grammar and lexis in the English present progressive construction………………………………………….. Radostina Iglikova. Efficiency in the discourse of relationship articles from the American and the Bulgarian online editions of cosmopolitan women‘s magazine (a comparative study)…………………………………………. Rumyana Todorova, Zlatko Todorov. London Olympics 2012 as a cultural, social and linguistic phenomenon…………………………………… Todor Todorov, Desislava Cheshmedzhieva-Stoycheva. The mosque: a cradle of faith or an incubator of terrorists (religion as part of one‘s identity in some American, Bulgarian and British online newspapers)…………………… Snezhana Obeyd. Verbal Substitution……………………………………….. Svetlana Nedelcheva. It‘s better to do it over than overdo it: polysemous prefixes and particles…………………………………………………………. Sylvia Teneva. Multiculturalism, xenophobia and identity in Rammstein‘s ―Mein Land‖……………………………………………………………………. Temenuzhka Seizova-Nankova,Bill Templer. Galvanizing fresh strategies for intensive and extensive in Bulgarian ELT……………………………… METAPHORICAL SCHEMES IN THE REPRESENTATION OF SOME EMOTIONS Aglika Dobreva Abstract: There is a close relationship between emotions and language, especially in the field of metaphorical language. Metaphors that stand for emotions in English and Bulgarian are the focus of the article. The emotion concepts combine physiological experience and culture-specific models. The article focuses on different schemes representing basic emotional meaning. The cognitive models and schemes are probably universal but there are different linguistic representations and some culturally modified forms of representations. Key words: metaphors, schemes, basic emotions, cognitive linguistics There is considerable research done by cognitive linguists in the field of emotion concepts (Lakoff, Johnson, Kovesces, Wierzbicka). In fact, most linguists, psychologists and anthropologists have pointed out the close relationship between language and emotions. However, it is the linguistic perspective of the research on metaphors and metonymies for the respective emotion concepts that is of special interest. Moreover, being expressive figures of speech, metaphors and metonymies are especially useful in research as they are often used to represent emotion concepts. Imagery that is characteristic of metaphors is typical of human thinking and actions (Lakoff, Johnson, Kovesces, Palmer). Metaphors and metonymies are also representative of folk theories of emotions, giving evidence of a picture of a world that is related to human values and beliefs. Nowadays, the analysis of emotion metaphors is a well-established area of research in English. Research was carried out in other natural languages, too. There are two general issues that linguists are interested in: 1. Are there basic (prototypical) emotions common for most languages? 2. Is emotion meaning affected by culture? Regarding the first issue, there are two contradictory beliefs. For certain researchers there are five universal emotions – anger, love, sadness, happiness and fear. Kovecses has pointed out certain common cognitive structures (scenarios). For Wierzbicka (1972) there seem to be almost no universals in the field of emotions. There is a third approach (Kövecses, Palmer 1999) according to which the emotion concepts combine universal experience of physiology with culture-specific models and interpretations. Here common physiology is mixed with differences in cultural knowledge and pragmatic functions of the discourse, which are effected through different culture-bound rules and scenarios. The analysis of phraseological units in English and other languages, including Bulgarian, tend to identify with the third viewpoint. The aim of the study is to present cognitive schemes and models for the conceptualization of emotions in two languages that are not closely related i.e. belong to different language families (English and Bulgarian). For example ‗keep a low profile‘ / ‗ovesvam nos‘ are metonymies for desperation. A typical feature of the phraseological units is the fact that they do not name emotions. They rather reveal their aspects/signs of description – a degree of intensity, control, cause, direction. These signs are often absent from the dictionary definitions of emotion terms but are closely related to human activities. Therefore, phraseological units are not simply more expressive nominations of phenomena, already named by lexical units. The importance of PHU (Phraseological units) for the analysis of the language of emotions should be pointed out and interpreted in that very sense as it has already been pointed out by Lakoff Johnson and Kovesces. The following part of the paper deals with conceptual models (metaphors and metonymies) as well as conventional expressions (PHU) used in language situations that are related to emotions. The group of PHU expressing emotions, most of which involve name of the part of the body (somatism), will be considered. The models are grouped around more general categories (prototypes), giving the general cognitive schemas of the metaphorical models. Each prototype depicts an image picture of the correspondent ethnic mental world. The approach of reconstructing a language prototype through groups of language metaphors was suggested by G. Lakoff and Kovecses. 1. Cognitive schema (prototype) of force or (image schema of force elaborated by M Johnson 1987). The most widely spread model for its realization is a vector of force (i.e. source) - impact on an object – trajectory of the movement of the object under the influence of the force. It could be interpreted either literally as movement with a definite goal, or non-literally as change in the state, caused by some reason, and even as development. The different interpretations of the prototype form the wide range of its application for activities aimed at achievement of a specific goal, processes related with the change in condition, expression of causality etc. Not all structural elements of the prototype are realized. On certain occasions only the source and goal are made explicit and on other occasions only the final point (the result). This schema can be found in PHU in both languages under analysis through the following models: 1.1 Emotions are directed activities (the emphasis is on the impact and the source). Bulgarian: Поливам с вряла/студена вода някого (причинявам неприятна емоция на някого) *Pour hot/cold water on somebody. (make somebody feel unpleasant) Изкарвам акъла /ума на някого (уплашвам някого) *Take the wits out of somebody. (frighten somebody) Поставям пръст в раната (карам някого да страда) *Put a finger in somebody‘s wound. (make somebody suffer) (The above translations are literal in order for the imagery to be preserved) English: Scare the wits out of somebody/to be scared out of one‘s wits (frighten somebody) pour/throw cold water on something (informal) The above expression formally resembles the Bulgarian expression and is used with a similar meaning. Compare with the English PHU. If you pour cold water on opinions or ideas, you criticize them and stop people believing them or being excited about them. e.g. Margaret Thatcher poured cold water on the idea of a European central bank. 1.2 Emotions are the impacts of a natural force. Bulgarian: Камък ми пада на сърце(то) (мъка) *A stone fell on my heart. (grief) Червей ми гризе сърцето (мъка) *A worm is eating my heart (grief) Мравки ми лазят по гърба (страх) *Ants are creeping on my back. English: I was overwhelmed. I was swept off my feet. The idea of the moving of the entity from one location to another is present in the above examples. 1.3 An emotion is pressure on a container (the body or an organ). The