Tanulmányok
Abstract: The present study permits us to demonstrate the construction of the deictic center (DC), the text features that signal the deictic center as well as the shifting of time and space and the linguistic devices that affect the shifts in Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow. The temporal and spatial structures of the novel are analyzed, taking into consideration the deictic centering of each component, DC shifts, linguistic devices that influence shifting, patterns in temporal shifts (direction and distance involved in the shifts), patterns in spatial scale, spatial transitions (from planned and moderate movement to erratic unplanned motion) and a chapter-by-chapter record of the temporal and spatial structure of the novel (table 1. and 2.). The treatment of each structure of the narrative adopts some of the parameters suggested by Talmy (2001[2000]).
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a number of production experiments aimed at identifying the underlying principles of grouping. The detailed analysis of grouping of various degrees of abstractness demonstrates that the same principles underlie visual, abstract prosodic and linguistic grouping, thus questioning the autonomy of language hypothesis in its strict sense.
The initial task was to account for the fact that the rhythmic segmentation of the utterances of identical sentences by a number of speakers is perceived as virtually identical. Three kinds of experiments were carried out to specify such abstract underlying properties: experiments on the grouping of abstract visual elements, experiments on the grouping of abstract prosodic (pitch-related) elements and finally, experiments on grouping in real natural language utterances.
First, subjects were presented with a sequence of abstract elements of the form "•" grouped together into structures with various dependencies and they were asked to assign the perceived groupings a corresponding temporal structure using mouse clicks. It was found that the resulting temporal structures were dependent on the type of grouping the elements represented. Importantly, recursive groupings and only those were assigned a recursive temporal structure. These experiments demonstrated that one has the capacity of assigning a recursive temporal structure to the recursive grouping of abstract elements.
Next, similar patterns were formed using a sequence of capital letters and subjects were asked to pronounce them according to the structure they perceived. Both temporal and tonal grouping were measured. It was confirmed that the grouping of such abstract prosodic elements shows the same temporal organisation as found in the case of the grouping of abstract visual elements. In addition, variation by tone was also found as a means of grouping so that recursive structures and only those were assigned a recursive tonal structure. Finally, real utterances with and without recursive structure were tested with regard to their temporal and tonal organisation. It was found that both rhythm and tonal structure essentially depend on the principles found in the cases of the grouping of more abstract (visual or prosodic) elements, i.e inherent grouping and recursion. Accordingly, grouping in speech prosody was found to be essentially recursive.
We also considered the issue if prosodic and syntactic recursion apply to the same groups of elements. It was found that the two do not match completely but that they do not contradict either. Prosody matches syntactic grouping in its underlying phrasing, but it also has additional (semantic, pragmatic) functions which are expressed at a derived level of prosody.
The fact that the same principles were identified for various, linguistic and non-linguistic modalities made it possible to assume that recursion observed in syntax is not specific to language, instead, it takes its origin from the more abstract human cognitive faculty of grouping. Such a conclusion of these experimental results, contrary to the 'recursion only' argument of Hauser et al. 2002 and Fitch et al. in press support the view that the underlying principles of syntactic recursion did not evolve for language alone, instead, they can be traced back to more general cognitive functions, in particular, grouping. The results, we hope, may inspire further studies to identify possible evolutionary traits of grouping in non-humans as well.
Abstract: The article presents linguistic means of social positioning in a police interrogation of witnesses and analyses its institutional characteristics and speechstructural impact.
Terms of "social categorization" and "positioning in conversation" are defined following the approaches of Goffman, Sacks and Wolf. By using the methodology of ethnomethodological conversation analysis and speech rhetoric, interactive mechanisms are discussed which help the partners to recognize their categorical situation. The question of how these linguistic activities influence the possibilities of participants in institutional communication is also answered.
Abstract: German-speaking Switzerland has been one of the most classic examples of functional diglossia for decades, based on the original, Fergusonian concept. However, the boundaries of the low and high varieties are nowadays becoming more and more blurred; their functions and prestige values cannot always be clearly distinguished. The medial view of diglossia could offer to be a more valid description of the present state, but similar problems arise here too. Thus, a further extention of the interpretation of diglossia, namely the productive–receptive model seems to be inevitable. An alternative view on the rudimentary bilingual state of current German-speaking Switzerland is also offered but the latter model meets more criticism than acceptance.
Abstract: The present paper aims at comparing the first edition of the “Concise English-Hungarian Dictionary” written by László Országh (published in 1948) to three subsequent revised and updated versions issued in 1957, 1981 and 1999. When revising and updating the dictionary, the principle followed by László Országh and his team of lexicographers was to provide an up-to-date wordlist. However, in order to keep the dictionary within approximately the same length, the editors had to remove a number of disused words, phrases and meanings, thus obtaining space for new lexical items. The revised editions became easier to handle owing to the fact that by introducing and separating new meanings and shades of meanings, the entries gained a more fine-grained structure
Abstract: Cognitive semantics offers two basic algorithms that attempt to characterize how humans are able to obtain understanding and meaning from language: metaphorical extension (Grady 1997, Lakoff 1987, Lakoff & Johnson 1980, Lakoff & Turner 1989) and conceptual integration (Fauconnier & Turner 1998, 2000, 2002). Since both seem to run into trouble with certain instantiations of language, I argue that in particular cases sense development is best described in terms of metaphorical extension (e.g. English modals), while the comprehension process of other linguistic phenomena (e.g. verbal irony) seems to be more sensitive to an analysis within a conceptual integration framework. Thus, in sharp contrast with the basic tenets of metaphor proponents, I question the ubiquitous nature of metaphors in sense development, all the more so because I consider conceptual integration as an interim stage in metaphor comprehension, giving blending processes a perhaps more universal role in sense development.
My main objective in the present paper, thus, is to make a brief synopsis of the two sense-developing mechanisms mentioned, revealing uncertainties as for their applicability to processes of speech comprehension. Also, I make suggestions concerning a mechanism in metaphorical extension to set up correspondences between isomorphic conceptual structures of ontologically distant or unrelated concepts. This mechanism is probed through blending operations, revealing an alignment-projection type of relationship between conceptual integration and metaphorical extension.
Recenziók
Abstract: In this review article I point out that this two-volume textbook is a remarkable achievement. It systematically and excellently introduces the reader to Chomskyan generative grammar (Government and Binding Theory) through the analysis of a whole range of Hungarian syntactic phenomena. In actual fact, the authors develop a comprehensive and coherent generative syntactic theory of Hungarian. All this is presented in a reader-friendly format, with a great number carefully selected exercises. After the general overview, I discuss those aspects of the authors’ analyses which I find elegant and convincing from a general theoretical viewpoint as well. Then I concentrate on issues related to their treatment of noun phrases and propose ways in which their approach could be improved or extended.
Abstract: