Beyond Philology
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BEYOND PHILOLOGY AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS, LITERARY STUDIES AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 6 WYDAWNICTWO UNIWERSYTETU GDAŃSKIEGO GDAŃSK 2009 EDITORS Joanna Burzyńska-Sylwestrzak Danuta Stanulewicz EDITORIAL BOARD Roman Kalisz David Malcolm Ryszard Wenzel Tadeusz Z. Wolański ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL BOARD Janusz Arabski (Katowice) Marta Bogdanowicz (Gdańsk) Eugene H. Casad (Gdańsk) Desmond Graham (Newcastle) Edmund Gussmann (Poznań) Aleksandra Kędzierska (Lublin) Zoltán Kövecses (Budapest) Wojciech Kubiński (Gdańsk) Ronald W. Langacker (San Diego) Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (Łódź) Jerzy Limon (Gdańsk) Irene Gilsenan Nordin (Falun) Elżbieta H. Oleksy (Łódź) Adam Pasicki (Kraków) Piotr Ruszkiewicz (Kraków) Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) Krystyna Stamirowska (Kraków) Bogdan Szymanek (Lublin) Marta Wiszniowska (Toruń) Cover desing Andrzej Taranek Computer-aided composition Izabela Żochowska ISSN 1230-6185 © Copyright by Uniwersytet Gdański, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego Beyond Philology is published with subsidies from Rektor Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego Fundacja Rozwoju Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego Dziekan Wydziału Filologicznego, Uniwersytet Gdański Instytut Anglistyki, Uniwersytet Gdański CONTACT ADDRESS Institute of English, University of Gdańsk Wita Stwosza 55, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland Phone/Fax (+48 58) 523 25 13, e-mail: [email protected] CONTENTS LINGUISTICS Applied cognitive linguistics: Language teaching and a cognitive corpus-based analysis of at and in ANNA BĄCZKOWSKA 9 Age and hierarchy in military English MICHAŁ GOLUBIEWSKI 55 Gender and language: A study of conversational strategies used in political interviews by male and female speakers of Polish ALICJA MOLĘDA 75 “The lady of the house speaking”: The language of snobs in selected British sitcoms MACIEJ RATAJ 103 Lexical abbreviations in American slang MACIEJ WIDAWSKI 125 LITERARY STUDIES Light and darkness in presenting the Christian vision of the world in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien KAROLINA BAŁŁABAN 135 Jim Crace’s Arcadia and the “partial magic” of his self-conscious art MAŁGORZATA SCHULZ 165 Genre mixture in Ian Rankin’s detective fiction AGNIESZKA SIENKIEWICZ 183 The sacred fantastic: The Biblical paradigm in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter BĀRBALA STRODA 207 Gender as southern decorum: A vehicle for conformity or resistance? Peter Taylor’s short story “Guests” BEATA ZAWADKA 235 CULTURE The Reformer Queen and her protégés’ contribution to the popularisation of Protestant thought in 16th century England MAREK SMOLUK 255 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION The argumentative language function in bilingual education MARTA SMALARA 275 REVIEWS Translation: A Cognitive-Communicative Approach by Krzysztof Hejwowski JUSTYNA GICZELA 303 The Interpreting Studies Reader edited by Franz Pochhacker and Miriam Schlesinger MARCIN KOTWICKI 309 Disturbing Strangeness: Foreignisation and Domestication in Translation Procedures in the Context of Cultural Asymmetry by Piotr Kwieciński ALICJA MOKRZYCKA 315 REPORTS The Sixth International Conference “East – West: A Dialogue between Cultures” ANNA CISŁO 323 The Second International Conference “Humour: Theories – Applications – Practices” ANNA CISŁO 327 The 10th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference: Theme session “Extensions of Vantage Theory: Points of View in Language Structure and Use” ADAM GŁAZ 331 The 10th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference: Parasession on Passive, Reflexive, Impersonal and Related Constructions DANUTA STANULEWICZ 337 The First International Linguistic Symposium “Colour, Space and Time in the Dialogue of Languages and Cultures” DANUTA STANULEWICZ 341 The Tenth International Conference of Young Scholars “The World of Slavs in Language and Culture” MARCIN WALCZYŃSKI 349 INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS 357 LINGUISTICS Beyond Philology 6, 2009 ISSN 1230-6185 Applied cognitive linguistics: Language teaching and a cognitive corpus-based analysis of at and in ANNA BĄCZKOWSKA 1. Introduction The present paper aims at demonstrating an original format of classroom activities grounded in the theoretical framework of cognitive grammar (Langacker 1987). To be more precise, practical aspects of how cognitive analysis may assist the understanding and teaching of two prepositions – at and in – will constitute the present focus. Pursuing pedagogical objectives, the theory concerning the cognitive analysis of the two prepositions in question will be restricted to cases relevant to the present study. As a full-fledged theoretical investigation is not the intention of the author, we shall focus on (1) the similarity in the conceptual meaning between the preposition and the words preceding (verbs/ adjectives/nouns) or following the preposition (nominals), i.e. on the predictability of components in a phrase built around the preposition (prepositional valence); (2) the application of these observations to classroom teaching. The issues will be discussed in the following order: we will first present a general cognitive perspective on phrases containing prepositions in line with cognitive grammar theory (CG); next, the concept of mutual word predictability in prepositional valence relations will receive due attention; and finally, practical applications of CG to the teaching of prepositions will be demonstrated, into which relevant justifications derived from cognitive analysis will be interwoven. 10 Anna Bączkowska 2. Cognitive grammar perspective on prepositions In the framework of cognitive grammar, the preposition is classified as an atemporal relation which derives its meaning from the relation held between the semantic pole of the preposition and the instantiation of landmark e-site (the nominal) which follows it (Langacker 1987, chap. 6 and 8). The semantic pole of the preposition inherits specifications of the landmark e-site, which makes the conceptual meaning of the preposition heavily dependent on the nominal which follows it in structures such as prepositional phrases, where the preposition is the head of the phrase (Prep+N) (henceforth right-predictive phrases, cf. Kjellmer 1996). In other words, the preposition is conceptually dependent on the nominal, while the nominal is conceptually autonomous. At the same time, however, we may observe that the reading of the nominal in a given phrase is dependent on the preposition. For example, in (1) we would visualize different aspects of the object encoded by the nominal, i.e. our conceptualization of ‘the box’ would be different in each case: the interior walls of the box (a), the outer surface of the box upper side of the box (b), and the space lateral to one of its sides (c). (1) a. In the box b. On the box c. By the box It is thus the preposition that determines our reading of the whole prepositional phrase. In other words, the preposition is a conceptually dependent profile determinant, while the nominal is a conceptually autonomous base of the profile. However, the preposition may also be a composite element of larger structures than prepositional phrases. For example, it may be followed by a nominal (Prep+N), and at the same time preceded by, say, a verb (V+Prep) (example 2, cited after Langacker 1087: 435). Applied cognitive linguistics... 11 (2) They always quarrel over women. CG has not established one unified approach to such phrases, and therefore, according to Langacker, two options of a cognitive analysis are permitted: (2) a. [[quarrel over] women]; or b. [quarrel [over women]]. In the first case ‘quarrel’ and ‘over’ are integrated to construe a composite structure at a higher (first) level of constituency, in which a transitive verb emerges. This structure is further elaborated at the second hierarchical level by a direct-object nominal. In the second case, on the other hand, ‘over’ together with ‘women’ are integrated to derive a composite structure at a higher level of constituency (a prepositional phrase), which elaborates the e-site of ‘quarrel’. It is believed that “the semantic consequences of choosing one analysis as opposed to the other are relatively inconsequential”, and “on a given occasion either type of analysis can be imposed” (Langacker 1987: 436). The format of the practical activities proposed in this paper conforms to both compositional paths permitted by CG: structures which consist of V/ADJ/N+Prep and are further elaborated by a nominal are discussed as left-predictive (2a). Prepositional phrases, on the other hand, are classified as right-predictive (2b). 3. The aim of this paper The claim we would like to defend in this paper revolves around the observation that the composite elements of a number of phrases exhibit some degree of predictability. It is not our intention, however, to characterize the entities which are constitutive of the phrases in question (Figure 1), but the possible valence relations into which they enter (Figure 2). It is our belief that by showing the relationship existing between the two entities, especially when explicitly stated in classroom 12 Anna Bączkowska teaching, a teacher may positively contribute to effective learnability of these phrases. Figure 1 Figure 2 4. Prepositional valence Word predictability is easily discernible in right-predictive structures, as in line with CG, a preposition inherits specifications of its e-site instantiated by a nominal. Likewise, it is legitimate to claim that the nominal is compatible with the canonical meaning of the preposition, which is ‘orientation point/proximity’ in the case of at, and ‘enclosure/containment’ in the case of in. The canonical