Universal Grammar Research Articles

대중적 의사소통 속에서 나타나는 은유의 사용과 구현

The purpose of this paper is to build up a pragmatic account of using and realising metaphor, particularly shown in public communication such as commercial advertisements. According to the traditional point of view, metaphor is a “figure of speech in which a linguistic expression normally belonging to one field of reference is extended analogously to another”(Huang 2012: 191-192). Beyond this way of rhetorical perspective on metaphor, however, this paper pursues to re-recognition of the linguistic nature of metaphor with a more active insight(e.g., from a viewpoint based on experientialist epistemology) and seeks the rational explanation of metaphor in accordance with it. Especially, in some influential studies of cognitive pragmatics(i.e., Relevance Theory: RT) such as Sperber and Wilson(1995, 2006), Yus(2009) and Carston(2000, 2002, 2010), metaphor has been evaluated as a linguistic mechanism which shows ordinary language users’ cognitive reasoning and conceptualization abilities, not just as a method of expression. Based on the RT approach to metaphor, this paper presents an alternative way of explaining metaphor used in public communication, the goal of which is to perform argumentation for persuading consumers to purchase an advertiser’s products, services and ideas.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH AND AZERBAIJANI LANGUAGES

Language is the universal means of communication. Unlike other ways of transmitting and receiving information, a person uses a sound language, which has an important property. Revealing the specifics of the linguistic nature of prosodic units is the object of research by many domestic and foreign linguists.

На полях типологии речевых жанров: кроссворд

A popular socio-cultural phenomenon, the crossword puzzle, is considered a peculiar aspect of uncodified (folk) linguistics, a spontaneous, not conditioned by an institutional intention, practice of reflecting people on the language in the referent-instrumental field of everyday consciousness. The main objective of the publication is to show that the discursive format of the crossword puzzle actualizes fundamental knowledge, concepts and categories from the thematic area of the word linguistics (lexicology). The lack of a unified strategy for the presentation of linguistic knowledge, which appears before the addressee in a wide range of modal-pragmatic intonation – from the ones which are strict lexicographic to the comic ones – is specific for this form of communication as a speech genre. A crossword puzzle acts as a semiotically multifaceted formation, integrating in its substance different aspects of the ontology of the communicative-information product: visual and verbal, play and academicism, standard and creativity. The multifaceted semiotic nature of the crossword puzzle determines its special place in the typology of texts and speech genres – the categories in which the form-creating intention underlying any intellectual work is embodied. It is a creolized (polymodal, syncretic) text dominated by pictorial semiotics and visual representation functions; in the speech genres systematics, the crossword puzzle occupies a peripheral position – due to the combinatorial specificity of its substance and the multifaceted discursive properties. Based on the analysis of the empirical material extracted from two leisure-specialized periodicals, the author reveals the peculiarity of updating knowledge about the linguistic nature of the word due to the format of communication.

Translations of the Qurʼān into Chinese: Peculiarities of the Names of Suras

The paper discusses some peculiarities of translating the names of suras of the Qurʼān into Chinese based on the study of the most common Chinese translation made in the second half of the last century by the Muslim intellectual Muhammad Ma Jian. The work examines suras possessing the most significant discrepancies between the original Arabic names and the corresponding Chinese equivalents. The study is accompanied by commentary on the potential reasons for these variations while taking into account factors of an ethnocultural and linguistic nature. In a number of cases, comparisons with translations of the Qurʼān into Russian are also provided. The interdisciplinary nature of the work is manifested in the application of methods of source study, historical and philological, and comparative analysis. Having researched the main milestones in the history of translations of the Qurʼān into Chinese in the context of the spread of Islam in China, the authors come to the conclusion that the peculiarities of the translation of the names of suras into Chinese are largely due to the history of their occurrence and the variability of the original names since the written record of the Holy Text. At the same time, Muhammad Ma Jian’s belonging to the Hui community and Chinese traditions and customs also influenced the process of choosing equivalents. Obviously, the search for correspondences relied on the synthesis of methods based on the analysis of different variants of the names of suras and the need for ethnocultural adaptation of individual concepts in order to ensure the adequate perception of certain concepts by the inhabitants of the China. The problems of translating the Qurʼān into Chinese are largely related to the typological difference between the two linguistic systems. In this regard, the analysis of the translations of the names of suras of the Qurʼān into Chinese seems to be the most optimal starting point for the study of this topic.

Sarcasm Detection Base on Adaptive Incongruity Extraction Network and Incongruity Cross-Attention

Sarcasm is a linguistic phenomenon indicating a difference between literal meanings and implied intentions. It is commonly used on blogs, e-commerce platforms, and social media. Numerous NLP tasks, such as opinion mining and sentiment analysis systems, are hampered by its linguistic nature in detection. Traditional techniques concentrated mostly on textual incongruity. Recent research demonstrated that the addition of commonsense knowledge into sarcasm detection is an effective new method. However, existing techniques cannot effectively capture sentence “incongruity” information or take good advantage of external knowledge, resulting in imperfect detection performance. In this work, new modules are proposed for maximizing the utilization of the text, the commonsense knowledge, and their interplay. At first, we propose an adaptive incongruity extraction module to compute the distance between each word in the text and commonsense knowledge. Two adaptive incongruity extraction modules are applied to text and commonsense knowledge, respectively, which can obtain two adaptive incongruity attention matrixes. Therefore, each of the words in the sequence receives a new representation with enhanced incongruity semantics. Secondly, we propose the incongruity cross-attention module to extract the incongruity between the text and the corresponding commonsense knowledge, thereby allowing us to pick useful commonsense knowledge in sarcasm detection. In addition, we propose an improved gate module as a feature fusion module of text and commonsense knowledge, which determines how much information should be considered. Experimental results on publicly available datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method in achieving state-of-the-art performance on three datasets as well as enjoying improved interpretability.

The methodological incompatibility between an innate grammar and a bottom-up approach

For Universal Grammar (UG), the identification of substantial universals seems unprincipled, because it is indeterminable, with solely bottom-up assumptions, whether a category advanced in UG is entailed by the notion of innateness, or on that basis, what sufficiently evidences its presence. Unable to constrain the theorization of UG, innateness only seems to be inexplicable, that is, it must be questioned how UG is framed within an innate blueprint. I contend that bottom-up assumptions hardly create an innate universal grammar. A theory resulting from bottom-up assumptions is contingent whereas UG must be a promise that the hypothetical Language Faculty (LF) is epistemologically unique (necessary truth). From bottom up, the identity of a linguistic item always points to multiple possibilities and is ad hoc, as no one has real access to the way that a linguistic item naturally exists in LF. Therefore, unless the principle(s) of how categories are recognised and organised in the LF can be genuinely set out for UG, so that its categorisation inputs all linguistic items methodically and outputs their identities uniquely, the putative substantial inventory of UG is unlikely to be complete and systematic: categories in it are merely opportunistically thrown up on random grounds.

Prosody Trumps Orthography in Second Language Phonology: The Case of Consonant Gemination.

This paper examines the understudied phenomenon of consonant gemination in the pronunciation of English among Levantine Arabic learners of English (LA learners). The very few studies that touched on gemination among LA learners attributed gemination to spelling in the target language (English). This study challenges this analysis and demonstrates that gemination is primarily a phonological phenomenon that is triggered by first language under-represented structural rules as well as Universal Grammar (UG) markedness principles. Data were elicited through semi-structured interviews with three groups of LA learners. Contrary to previous studies (on other phonological aspects), which argue that interference errors decrease over time, findings show that gemination is attested across all groups of LA learners and persists even among advanced learners. Results show that interface phenomena involving more than one phonological level pose a great challenge to second language learners.

Japanese Linguistic Politeness as Speakers’ Rational Choice and Social Strategy

Japanese linguistic politeness is a commonly observed phenomenon and the speaker’s being linguistically polite is an expected social behavior in the Japanese society. Most previous studies of Japanese politeness describe such a polite social behavioral pattern at a superficial or observational level without exploring the linguistic nature of such a polite behavior or the speaker’s motivations for performing a polite speech act in a particular speech context. From some linguistic, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and sociological perspectives, this study defines “politeness” as the speaker’s rational choices and a social strategy in the Japanese culture beyond surface language forms themselves. This paper claims that so-called “polite” or “honorific” language forms as commonly employed by the speaker in various social interactions do not necessarily always indicate that such a speaker must be a polite person. The so-called “polite” language is “linguistic” in nature and is thus more about a particular language form itself than about the speaker himself/herself. This paper further claims that the speaker makes rational choices of particular polite language forms to realize his/her communicative intention with the outcomes as perceived. Thus, this study explores the relationship between polite language forms and their social, cultural, and pragmatic functions. It concludes that speakers in the same speech community are conscious of linguistic choices which conform to their normative views for the interaction types; there is no simple equation between polite forms and polite speakers, and speakers are rational actors in making linguistic choices.

The Nexus between Ethics, Communication, and Universal Grammar: An Analytic Philosophical Approach

This research paper delves into the intricate relationship between ethics and communication within the context of 21st-century Analytic philosophy. It argues that this relationship holds significant implications, especially when examined through the lens of the theory of Universal Grammar proposed by Noam Chomsky. The paper begins by establishing the fundamental connection between ethics and communication, emphasizing the increasing complexity of ethical considerations in the digital age. It then introduces Analytic philosophy as a suitable framework for dissecting these complexities due to its emphasis on logical rigor and precision in language. Contemporary ethical concerns in communication, such as online privacy and misinformation, are explored, followed by an examination of Universal Grammar’s relevance to linguistic ethics. The paper raises questions about linguistic relativity, cultural sensitivity, linguistic imperialism, and cultural appropriation within this framework. Finally, the paper highlights the practical implications of integrating ethics and communication within Analytic philosophy, emphasizing the role of Analytic philosophers in promoting ethical communication practices in our rapidly changing digital world.

ПРЕДПОСЫЛКИ, ПУТИ, СПОСОБЫ И МЕХАНИЗМ ГРАММАТИКАЛИЗАЦИИ СИНТАКСИЧЕСКИХ КОНСТРУКЦИЙ

The article examines the phenomenon of grammaticalization on the material of syntactic constructions. The authors reveal the sources (linguistic means) of grammaticalization, their linguistic nature (causes of grammaticalization), determine the grammaticalization degree of each source; have formed a typology of sources for free and phraseologized syntactic constructions, have determined universal and unique sources; justified the allocation of syntactic sources proper. The paths of grammaticalization are described. Two means of grammaticalization have been established: the main one is the deactualization of the indicator, the secondary means is actualization. At the same time, both means lead to a generalization of lexical, grammatical and functional semantics, to decategorization or transcategorization of the language sign. Thus, we argue that in the field of syntactic constructions there is only one mechanism of grammaticalization - generalization / abstraction / expansion of the language sign meaning. We formulated the following definition of syntactic construction grammaticalization: grammaticalization of the compulsory unchangeable component of the fixed phrase scheme is the transition of a functional or notional lexeme (or a combination of lexemes) into a compulsory component of a phraseologized syntactic construction as a result of complete or partial deactualization of its lexical-morphological and syntactic meaning, i.e. the transition of language signs from the lexical-morphological sphere to the syntactic (syntaxization). The grammaticalization of the syntactic construction ultimately leads to the formation of a new linguistic tool (syntactic phraseological unit: a fixed model, fixed phrase scheme or fixed phrase) with new grammatical indicators, as well as a new way of representing both grammatical and dictum-modus (a fixed model, fixed phrase scheme) or only modus (fixed phrase) meaning.

Терміносистема сучасної медіалінгвістики в міждисциплінарних контактах

The article substantiates the thesis about the interdisciplinary nature of media linguistics as an innovative field of modern knowledge. Therefore, media linguistics is an interdisciplinary humanitarian discipline that studies the functional potential of language means in mass communication. The research potential of neoscience is described and systematized in an "Media Linguistics: Dictionary of Terms and Concepts" (Kyiv, 2013) innovative lexicographic edition, which gave an impetus to analyze the terminology of the modern neo-direction through the prism of ten years. Among the perspective tasks, the authors note the interpretation of language as a instrumentality for modeling information and influencing public opinion, taking into account the challenges of the information age, studying unexpected angles of analysis of linguistic and stylistic resources in the media, etc. A separate task is the formation and analysis of the media-linguistic terminology in the context of the diffuseness of modern humanitarian knowledge. As for every innovative science, the development and description of a terminological system, which must correspond to logic, integrity, monosemacy, clarity, motivation, and relevance, remains problematic for media linguistics. The complexity of this process, as stated in the article, is revealed due to the syncretic relationships of the analyzed terminology system with other, tangential to it, fields – psychology, sociology, cultural studies, law, cybernetics, social communications, etc. On the material of media dictionaries not only of Ukrainian, but also of Polish, German and English languages, the author analyzed the terms and concepts in the specified interdisciplinary contacts, which allows to prove the integral nature of media linguistics and determine its place in the system of modern sciences of the socio-humanitarian block.

The Universal Cognitive Grammar of Systems Mapping

It is well established that visualization is of paramount importance to individual and collective cognition, understanding, imagination, innovation, and knowledge creation. This paper explores the research, theory, and practice that helps us to define and explicate the processes of Systems Mapping. It provides three critical insights: (1) that "visualizing" is a proxy for numerous other functional operations such as: tactile or tangible manipulation and movement; object-orientation; social navigation; and, embodied learning; (2) that any definition of Systems Mapping that does not include an explication of the implicit cognitive structures is lacking; and, (3) that Systems Mapping, like Systems Thinking, must be derived from a universal cognitive grammar (UCG) that parallels physical structures in the universe. The paper concludes that a Rubric to Evaluate Systems Mapping Tools is needed to assess the necessary and sufficient features of any Systems mapping medium (i.e., internal thought, white or blackboarding, tactile manipulatives, software, group process, etc).

The Interdisciplinary Nature of Linguistics

The debate about whether linguistics is a science or arts has lasted for quite long time. We argue that the interdisciplinary nature of linguistics is an appropriate answer based on the exploration of the study scopes of major branches in linguistics, such as computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, social linguistics etc. Besides, the analysis of research methods used by major linguists also proof our argument. In the end, we conclude that the interdisciplinary nature of linguistics is more suitable.

The Role of Universal Grammar in Second Language: English Adjective Phrase by Saudi Learners

The Role of Universal Grammar in Second Language: English Adjective Phrase by Saudi Learners

Interface at a higher level: Review of Universal Grammar and Iconicity

Interface at a higher level: Review of Universal Grammar and Iconicity

Газет тақырыбындағы прецеденттік бірліктер қолданысы

In the article, the language culture in the mass media and the established tradition of the language of the people are analyzed from a scientific point of view, the precedent units that have been formed as a science in the course of the study of the Kazakh language are analyzed in the mass media, and the linguistic and ethno-cultural aspects of the language culture are classified from a scientific and practical point of view. Precedent names and names in the media are a source of cultural information as culturally meaningful names. That's why it is important to study the linguistic nature of the expressions and transmission of precedent names in intercultural communication and interlinguistic communication from the point of view of linguistics in order to improve health. Therefore, in the course of the study, on the basis of the comparative analysis of modern theories and concepts, the use of precedent units in the regional press pages was described by specific examples, and their pragmatic functions were demonstrated. Precedent names in the mass media are mainly created for pragmatic purposes, they provide preliminary information from the story line and serve as a basis for an impressive, understandable, thorough, eventful presentation of the story to the consumer. This, in turn, gives an opportunity to clearly understand the professional skills of journalists working in the media, in addition to their thorough knowledge of national traditions, customs, cultural, social and political issues. It is known that due to the development of science and technology, using gestures and various slang words in interlanguage communication is a big danger that leads to a decrease in vocabulary. That's why understanding the meaning of speech, striving to convey more meaning with fewer words is probably a necessity of the times.

Theoretical views on specifics of ceremonial lexicons Khujand dialect

The article dwells on the specifics of ritual wedding vocabulary in Khujand dialect. In order to study the peculiarities of the vocabulary of wedding rituals, the linguistic nature of the vocabulary of the vocabulary of the wedding ritual was investigated and represents a linguistic description of the peculiarities of ritual (wedding) vocabulary in Khujand dialect, taking into account the tradition of historical and modern lexicology of the Tajik language and ethnolinguistics.

ОБ ИНТЕРФЕРЕНЦИИ В ОБРАЗОВАНИИ ФОРМ МНОЖЕСТВЕННОГО ЧИСЛА В РУССКОЙ РЕЧИ ИТАЛЬЯНЦЕВ

The article is about the observation of the interfering influence of the Italian language on the formation of plural forms in the Russian speech of Italians, which can lead to the erroneous formation of plural forms from the Russian words singularia tantum. The purpose of this study is to establish the main linguistic causes existing in the Russian and Italian languages, which are the basis for the occurrence or absence of such type of interference and related errors; which, in turn, allows us to understand the nature of errors in the speech of non-native speakers. The research was conducted on the material of authentic translated texts written by Italians for educational and other purposes. The relevance of the topic is due, on the one hand, to the frequency of the formation of plural forms from the words singularia tantum in the Russian speech of Italians; on the other hand, the need for a clear understanding of the linguistic nature of such errors. It is important to emphasize the unsystematic nature of the formation of number forms in nouns in Russian and Italian, as well as the unsystematic nature of grammatical litters describing the category of numbers in bilingual and explanatory dictionaries, which creates a significant methodological difficulty.

GERMAN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION OF UKRAINIAN REFUGEES IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND INTEGRATION POTENTIAL

Having found themselves in unpredictable and difficult life circumstances starting from the end of February 2022, Ukrainian refugees in Germany faced a barrier of a linguistic nature, and therefore of a social and cultural nature. In order to solve many urgent life tasks and meet the needs and maximum integrated functioning in the German-speaking environment, the question arose of learning not only the German language, but also culture through the language. The article outlines the current situation related to the study of the German language by Ukrainian refugees in Germany and outlines the difficulties of learning language collocations, fixed expressions and phraseological units at the initial stage of learning German as a foreign language in accordance with the conditionally level criterias of the European Language Standard in order to successfully understand and master the language in in the context of integration processes. The study contains survey and testing data of Ukrainian refugees in Germany, which relate to separate realities of the ethno-cultural level, fixed word combinations, collocations and idioms, phraseological expressions, reveal examples of difficulties in learning and acquisition the German language, which require transformations or switching language codes during the learning process. The survey and its results direct attention to ethnolinguistic components in the form of idiomatic expressions that do not have counterparts in the native language, their meaning is figurative, implies the possession of ethnocultural information, and can also be understood thanks to linguistic guesswork and previous experience. Set expressions in the form of collocations contain typical word combinations of the German language, which are not characteristic for Ukrainian speakers. Understanding and acquisition the above mentioned language categories is the key to the successful formation of sociocultural competence for intercultural communication in the context of integration processes.

LEXICOGRAPHY OF VERB STABLE PHRASES IN THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE

The article deals with the problems of distinction, types, recognition by composition in Kazakh linguistics of verbal combinations of two or three words. The paper reviewed the issues of the linguistic nature, word formation and grammatical nature of compound verb expressions. There are many opinions on the problem of the compound verb and the principles of their classification. The semantic features of complex verbal expressions are revealed. In this paper, we approach the concept of a complex verb by the criterion of composition and semantic integrity. For lexicography of complex verbal expressions, examples from a 15-volume explanatory dictionary of the Kazakh language, a phraseological dictionary and a text corpus of the Kazakh language were considered.In complex verb and analytical forms, verbs and compound verbs, as well as verb stable phrases, have semantic integrity, i.e. several syllables are connected and denote only one action, designating them as complex compound verb phrases. As with the lexicography of complex verbs, the principles of lexicography of analytical verbs and verb stable expressions are determined. Below are examples that explain the meaning of complex verb phrases (complex verb and verb of analytical form) and reveal semantic features.