Modern European Languages Research Articles

WHO INVENTED WHAT? EXPLORING THE ROLE OF THE NORTH WESTERN SEMITIC ALPHABET UPON THE FORMATION OF MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

It is an accepted fact that, with some exceptions, the ancient Greek and Latin languages served as the basis for the formation of most of the Western (modern) languages. However, what remains less known is that the Greeks borrowed the alphabet letters from the North-Western Semitic alphabet of the 2nd millenium BCE. This alphabet was used by Phoenicians, Arameans, Hebrews and the Moabites beginning with the early second millenium and was borrowed by the early Greeks from Phoenician merchants in the later part of the second millenium and the beginning of the first millenium BCE. In this article we will explore the issue of the revolutionary contribution that the North-Western semitic alphabet had upon the cultures of the Ancient Near East (including Egypt, Canaan, Mesopotamia and Siria).2 The transition from a system that used hundreds of pictograms and signs (the cuneiform and hierogliphic alphabets) to an alphabet of only 22 linear letters marked one of the most important, yet neglected, innovations in ancient history. The purpose of our article is to draw on both ancient and contemporary scholarship in order to show how this revolutionary alphabet influenced the Greek and Latin alphabets (and implicitly the languages themselves) and the impact that this event had upon the formation of the modern European languages.

Деривационный потенциал латинской лексики: диалог сквозь пространство и время (на материале новолатинских текстов в сфере медиакоммуникаций)

Creating actual texts is a sort of a longterm linguistic experiment, whose product is a source of material, primarily, lexical and word-formational innovations, to be analyzed for understanding the developments occurring within a “revived” language system and for identifying the role of systemic factors and individual creativity within the given inventory of forms and norms of a language system. The linguistic material from new Latin texts were compared with the results development of Latin borrowings in English. At the same time the number of users of this revived language and artificial nature of the examined linguistic activity impose a critical limitation on possible conslusions. Obviously, vocabulary choice and coinage of new terms to denote modern realia in these new Latin news texts are subject to individual authors’ preference and are sometimes arbitrary. Furthermore, in coining innovations the authors of texts in question are inevitably guided by their native language. As a result, the innovations in “New Latin” show some features more typical for Modern European languages, besides, the basic trends of development within the group of Latin borrowings in English were found to differ from those occurring in the examined lexicon of new Latin texts.

Suffixal borrowed lexical items and features of their transformation in modern European languages (on the material of modern terms)

This work is a scientific research, based on the comparison of different terminological branches, where the terminological units of the most influential foreign languages are presented. This approach is relevant in our time due to the globalization of the world economy. Because the globalization process is active, regardless of the attitude to it of some countries or some groups of the population. The descriptive method and elements of the structure-typological method are used in the work. The process of creation of modern legal and economic terms is studied synchronously; when the need arises to explain the origin of terms, to show the path taken by this or that term, the author turned to etymological dictionaries, i.e. the data of dichrony was obtained. Thus, the novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in the formation of alternative words, which we are all used to and do not perceive them as such, described ways of adapting terminoelelements of classical origin in near-spoken and non-spoken Indo-European languages (Ukrainian, German, French, English). However, they underwent a difficult historical process of formation, being transformed into the hyphenated aphixi or medial parts of modern terms, for which the old Greek and Latin languages were their bosoms. The paper presents a detailed analysis of the dictionary definitions, in the structure of which the final terminological elements are highlighted. Suffixal borrowed lexemes of modern terms are considered in terms of their semantic analysis and morphology of the Latin language as the most common final elements in European languages. The hypothesis of complete or partial adaptation of the structural elements is confirmed and the ways and means of their penetration into the systems of various languages are considered. This article is also based on the deductive method and is an attempt to substantiate the study of language phenomena and their regularities through the singular to the riddle. There are no guesses, conjectures, notions, fantasies. The work is based on concrete language facts, formalized and synthesized into general conclusions, and interpreted into semantic models. In the future they can be used in information and speech languages and the systems that serve them. The new trends of Industry 4.0 and related technologies are impossible without the exchange of data put by people in an automated system. That is why we are creating in real time the future basis that defines the cultural identification of people.

Minority or minority?

The articles in this journal issue cover a wide range of topics stimulated by the term “minority.” When I was first invited to consider this topic by my Swedish colleagues back in the 1980s and 1990s, I observed and described “multiculturalism” as a way a nation-state could control the definition of a swelling group of newcomers from other countries who came with very un-Scandinavian backgrounds and sensibilities. The work of Owe Ronström, Dan Lundberg, Krister Malm, and others showed that the invention and design of a “minority-music” establishment, with resources and performance structures, might have little to do with what the recent arrivals themselves thought of as their own intimate music (Ronström 1993, Lundberg, Malm & Ronström 2003, Ronström & Lundberg 2021). My impression is that even codified Scandinavian “folk music,” like modern European national languages, began more as a product of the Minority than as a grassroots movement.

THE RICHNESS OF THE LEXICAL FUND OF EUROPEAN LANGUAGES THROUGH THE PRISM OF INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY TERMS

At first glance, the process of studying word elements seems outdated and stale. However, the structuralist approach to language learning helps not only to take a philosophical look at the development of grammar, but also to establish deep connections in the structure of encoded meanings, and contributes to the study of the latest meanings in nominalization trends associated with internationalization and globalization as phenomena of modern life. In a broad sense, it is simply an interesting and fascinating journey into the history of language, as terms with final elements of classical origin are increasingly subject to varying degrees of adaptation in modern European languages. Consideration of the ways and means of penetration of finite term elements into the systems of different languages is an important step in the study of modern languages, the study of etymology, and the study of term elements in new European languages. The paper presents a detailed analysis of dictionary definitions, in the structure of which final term elements are distinguished. It is proved that any research methodology (contextual, comparative, interpretive, distributional, component, associative) has the right to exist. And the emergence of new terms or the adaptation of long-known ones is a challenge to the digitalization processes of today. The material for the study was based on etymological and explanatory dictionaries of Polish, German, French, and Ukrainian. The hypothesis of the study is that terms with finite elements of classical origin have undergone varying degrees of adaptation in modern European languages. They are characterized by a "standard set" of semantic groups of meanings, and the terms go back to the classical languages. The article uses descriptive and comparative and typological methods of research; the dynamics of adaptation of terms and their meanings is analyzed in synchronicity and diachrony. The conclusions illustrate typical metamodels in which information is encoded. The comparative study contains recommendations for the application (the terminology matrix exists and needs to be followed; the latest technologies and related artificial intelligence are polished by the linguistic units that form text passages; elements of terminology are capable of extrapolation).

Семиотическая квинтэссенция цвета

Colour is a universal phenomenon of cognitive space, mixed with semiotic hierarchy, and existential constructions. Being a very dynamic cognitive category, it forms a complex system of meanings, images, linguistic formulae. The modern European languages have lost many of the ancient Indo-European terms of colour. Some of them have changed semantics, or have been substituted by borrowed words. Nevertheless, linguistic parallels in the sphere of colour nomination are quite obvious. Semiotically, colours have retained the elements of intuitive symbolism in their semantics, which is especially noticeable in phraseological or similar phrases. Idioms are linguistic symbols, represented the figurative component of the language, and function as a separate sign system. Colour terms, being a semiotic and linguistic unit, are inserted as one of the components into a phrase, forming the specific meaning and reflecting the historical and cultural aspect of the idiom. In contrast to the word with its semantic certainty, colour due to the associative perception, being a powerful causative agent of the sphere of the extra-consciousness, turns out to be an important gnoseological factor.

Халкидий о демонах: фрагменты «Комментария на Тимей Платона» (перевод и комментарии)

The publication presents a commented Russian translation of chapters 120 and 127–136 from Calcidius’ Commentarius on Plato’s Timaeus dealing with demonology, a most important part of philosophical knowledge in the eyes of Neoplatonic thinkers. We know virtually nothing about Calcidius, neither the dates of his lifespan, nor the place where he lived and worked. Even his name has become debatable recently: Chalcidius or Calcidius. Meanwhile, his principal (and only) work, a Latin translation of Plato’s Timaeus accompanied by a detailed commentary, has become the most important link in the transmission of Plato’s legacy from Antiquity to the medieval Latin West. Up to the twelfth-century turning point and the rise of the School of Chartres, the reception of Plato in the West was channeled almost exclusively through Calcidius’s work. His translation of the Timaeus, which occupies pages 17a–92c in the Corpus Platonicum, carries on only up to page 57c; another translation of the Timaeus, which has been accessible in the Latin West, belonged to Cicero, and was even more abridged (pages 27d–47b with omissions); nevertheless, it was Cicero’s translation that St. Augustine (354–430) used, unaware, it would seem, of Calcidius’ work. The most probable dating of our author seems to be the 4th – the beginning of the 5th century AD. Calcidius reveals himself as an author in his own right, who had not only accomplished the serious job of translating philosophical terminology from Greek into Latin, but also contributed to the development of the genre of commentary, and so deserves to be studied not only as a transmitter of knowledge from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The Russian translation is based on the standard Jan Hendrik Waszink’s edition (1975), taking into account more recent editions by C. Moreschini (2003), B. Bakhouche (2011), and J. Magee (2016), which are accompanied by translations into modern European languages; the chronological density of these publications testifies to the undoubtable surge of interest in Calcidius’ work in the last few decades.

What I Will Never Forget

What I Will Never Forget

Towards the Definition of the Bulgarian Word Order System

The world’s languages with clitic clusters pattern with four major types of the word order systems, depending on the presence or absence of the 2P condition and the parameter of clitic-verb adjacency. Bulgarian has a double-focus system of clitic placement (2P condition and clitic-verb adjacency), which has typological parallels outside Europe but lacks direct counterparts in modern European languages. Neither the analogy with standard 2P languages without clitic-verb adjacency nor the analogy with the Romance systems with vP-internal clitics captures the profile of the Bulgarian clitic syntax. Historically, the rise of the clitic-verb adjacency is an innovation of Bulgarian, but its exact time and triggers are unclear. The language of the Wallachian letters (ca. 1386-1509) has a marked tendency towards the clitic-verb adjacency and is typologically similar to Modern Bulgarian but still has residual #XP – CL – [Y] – V orders. This idiom spoken by the L2 speakers of Middle Bulgarian cannot be viewed as a source of the Modern Bulgarian but hints that the clitic-verb adjacency parameter could develop in the history of Bulgarian because of the contact influence on the part of some Non-Slavic clitic systems.

Women Slang: A Study of Some Selected Female Students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

This study evaluates women slang among students in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Women tend to device some unique means through which they communicate within the group. Therefore, they borrow, coin or create words connotatively from either English language or other indigenous languages they use to refer to persons, places, things and processes within their environment. This paper seeks to explore this kind of language with specific reference to women slang among 300Level and 400Level female students of the Department of Modern European languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The Theoretical Framework adopted in this study is “Slang Word Theory”. The instrument for data collection was Questionnaire and Observation method. The findings of the study reveal that, historically, women were put in a difficult situation(s) due to the fear of uttering some certain words that the society may consider as inappropriate or taboo. As such, they tend to develop new words and associate new meanings to the already existing words to circumvent the taboo words. The paper concludes by identifying the most important processes used in women slang.

Latin for Bachelors in Water Bioresources and Aquaculture: a Linguodidactic Aspect

Today’s society needs qualified specialists in aquaculture who are proficient not only in the native language but also in international professional one, are familiar with the scientific conceptual terminology apparatus of modern European languages. The purpose of the article is to study ways to implement professional linguodidactic key concepts and principles in teaching and learning Latin on the example of the educational program “Water bioresources and aquaculture” which led to the choice of such research methods: analysis of scientific literature to study state of the problem, synthesis and generalization. The study found that, Latin is the integral component of bachelors training, but can hardly be considered on an equal basis with any other LSP: teaching and learning living languages are aimed at forming students’ foreign language professional communicative competence, but in case of Latin focus on the formation of professional terminological competence. Therefore, it can be considered in the context of professional linguodidactics, key concepts and principles of which (interdisciplinary integration, internationalization, selectivity) can be implemented in the educational process. In the reviewed program, the component “Latin” reveals intersubject connections with most disciplines both general and special training cycles, that as a whole assumes interconnection, interdependence and complementarity of intersubject information and ways of learning. So learning professionally oriented Latin is a holistic, complex and integrative process of development specialist’s linguistic personality. That is why it can be of scientific interest not only in the framework of methodology, but also very promising in linguodidactic, terminological, cognitive and other aspects for further research.

The National Specificity of the Proverbial Fund: Basic Concepts and Procedure for Determining

The article presents an attempt to define the basic concepts and proposes a methodology for identifying the national specificity of the proverbial fund of a given language in the synchronic plan. In modern linguistics, more and more attention is paid to the study of interlingual specificity / generality of proverbs, both in the theoretical (typological, language and cultural), and in the applied (linguodidactic, lexicographic) terms. However, in linguistics there is no special methodological apparatus for establishing and describing the national specificity of proverbs. The aim of the research is to develop and test the basic concepts and methodology for identifying the national specificity of the proverbial fund of the language in the synchronic plan. Research methods - interlingual comparison, structural and semantic modeling, ethnolinguistic analysis, language and cultural description. The research material was over 1,500 of the most actively used Belarusian proverbs (from its paremiological minimum, the main paremiological fund, the corpus of literary texts), as well as proverbs of the Slavic, Baltic, Germanic, Romanic, Finno-Ugrian languages (more than 220,000 proverbs from the most authoritative paremiographic sources in 34 modern European languages). As a result of the study, it was found that for the differentiation of common with other languages and specific units of the proverbial fund of the language, the synchronic analysis based on the structural and semantic modeling of proverbs is the most objective. The linguistic content of the concepts national specificity of a proverbial fund, unique, international, universal proverb, national specificity of a proverb, national and language specificity, national and cultural marking of a proverb has been determined and verified. The methodology for describing the national specificity of a proverbial fund has been developed and tested. It includes the principles and methods of selecting the most representative units for analysis, the determination of the interlingual specificity / generality of proverbs, the ascertainment of their national and language, national and cultural specificity, the identification of the degree and nature of the national marking of the exact language proverbs. It is proved that the national specificity of the proverbial fund is qualitatively and quantitatively determined not by proverbs that are unique against the background of other languages, but by the national and language and / or national and cultural marking common (international and universal) proverbs of other languages.

Introduction: Sufi Texts in Translation

Abstract This special issue of the Journal of Sufi Studies attempts to make the case that the act of translation is best seen as a recurrent activity necessitated by the various changes that inform the interpretation of Sufi texts on the one hand, and the languages and cultures that receive them on the other. The nine Sufi texts featured in this collection illustrate the diversity of genres and variety of languages in which they have been written, thereby pointing up the distinctive hermeneutic potentials of translation theory and practice when these texts are rendered by experts into modern European languages, particularly English and French.

Код у контексті лексикографічної фіксації термінів

. The article presents for the first time the norms according to which the formation of Ukrainian terminology took place, in particular the practical implementation of codification on Ukrainian basis. The purpose of the study is to analyze the origins of the concept of terminological code, which appeared at the beginning of the XXth century and was gradually established in connection with the lexicographic fixation of the terms, due to which the term elements gained the ability to spread and became easy to use. Materials and methods of research . The research was based on documents of the first third of the last century, which dealt with issues of standardization in terminology, as well as foreign and Ukrainian dictionaries. The descriptive method using the technique of external interpretation was used in this paper work, which demonstrates the general connections of realities, consciousness, thinking at the stage of formation of Ukrainian terminology. Discussion . It should be borne in on that the terminological code serves as a basis for the creation of modern terminological systems, caused by the cultural influence of classical languages f or many centuries. Conclusions . The terminology code helps to recognize foreign words not only among the languages of the Indo-European language family, but also other language families, expanding the process of interaction of terminological systems of closely related and remote related languages. The use of the terminological potential of classical languages by modern European languages is an important factor in the development of Greco-Latinisms.

Juan Luis Vives on the use of Ancient literature in education

The work “On Education” (De tradendis disciplinis) by the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives (1492/3–1540) is considered from the perspective of the use of ancient literature during the in-itial period of child school training (from 7 to 15 years). Vives’ appreciation of the Latin language, a positive attitude towards teaching Greek at school, and the influence of ancient languages on modern European languages — Italian, Spanish, and French are discussed. The article draws attention to some features in teaching the Latin language that are not characteristic of the hu-manists who preceded Vives and also wrote about school. They are as follows: using the native language as an instrument for mastering Latin at the initial stage of learning, and using modern literature - writers, grammarians, humanists, which helps to learn ancient languages in the subsequent period. These features can be explained by Vives’ epoch when national states were being estab-lished, national languages were strengthening, and pedagogical thinking was developing. The article also examines the issue brought up by Vives himself about the attitude to pagan literature and to some, in Vives’ opinion, morally questionable poets. With all the inconsistency of Vives and the low persuasiveness of his self-censorship, the solution to this problem comes down to se-lecting such authors the study of whose works will protect school students from vices. The article shows that both Latin and Greek literature (works on oratory, poetry, comedy, history, my-thology, etc.) are widely used in teaching. Ancient writings not only form and enrich the language, but also provide versatile knowledge, mainly of humanitarian kind, help to bring up an ed-ucated and cultured person. This is supported by a large survey of over 100 ancient authors, modern writers, scientists, humanists, early medieval writers, “church fathers”, publishers, translators, and commentators provided at the very end of Vives' discussion on education, with brief characteristics of many of them.

Comparing the Literatures: Literary Studies in a Global Age

Comparing the Literatures: Literary Studies in a Global Age

Jezik kot posoda Duha pri Luthru in Trubarju ▪︎ Luther and Trubar’s View on Language as the Vessel of the Spirit

The discussion sheds light on the conception or understanding of the national language of two prominent personalities of the 16th-century Reformation: the German reformer Martin Luther and the Slovene Protestant and most important reformer Primož Trubar. For both authors, language serves as a basic tool for preaching the gospel in their mother tongues. They accomplish this by translating the Bible, and they each in their own way justify the use of the mother tongue as the means through which the Spirit of God is embodied. Both Luther and Trubar consolidate the biblical text in early modern European languages: Luther in the New High German and Trubar in the Slovene language, which had not appeared in books until the publication of his printed texts. Both authors developed their own language programme that can be compared and from which both Protestants’ view on language can be discerned, which was based on the realization that God used languages when he wanted the gospel to spread among all people.

The influence of English on Modern Standard Arabic speech reporting styles: A corpus-based study

This paper traces the development of speech reporting styles across historical varieties of Arabic and seeks to explain aspects of such development. To this end, the study examines and compares speech reporting patterns in corpora representing Modern Standard Arabic and different stages of Pre-modern Arabic. The comparison reveals that Modern Standard Arabic uses speech reporting methods that were extremely rare or totally lacking in the Pre-modern varieties, such as indirect speech, mixed reporting, and quotation fronting. The paper argues that such changes are attributable to language-external rather than language-internal factors, namely, the impact exerted on Arabic by modern European languages, especially English, which is the most learned and most translated foreign language in the Arab world. The study proposes that such changes have occurred through massive translation into Arabic from English and through bilingual writers who may use foreign patterns in their writing. This argument is further supported by the close structural similarity between the newly introduced styles and those established in English, the adoption of the Western punctuation system, and the high frequency of the new styles in genres that were themselves borrowed from the West, which suggests that there is a reciprocal relationship between borrowing a given genre and borrowing the linguistic patterns associated with it. The study also shows that the new reporting styles serve pragmatic purposes that cannot be achieved by employing the conventional speech reporting methods alone.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BIBLICAL PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS WITH BLUE AND GREEN COLOUR COMPONENTS (on the example of English, Russian and Georgian)

Language as an important part of culture reflects our reality and interprets it, creating the reality in which we live. It expresses mentality of the nation, views of peoples in the world and is closely related to the history, culture and traditions of different countries.The study of language is provided within many different disciplinary areas and from different theoretical angles, all of which inform modern approaches to linguistics.Echoes of previous years remain today in proverbs, sayings, phraseological units, metaphors, culture symbols, etc. Lan- guage learning is a natural creative process.A study and analysis of words cannot be done without the consideration of various features and linguistic theories. Language attracts people’s attention because of the wealth literature and knowledge enshrined in it. As is known EnglishRussian and Georgian are considered as one of the most vital universal languages in the world. Nothing defines a culture as distinctly as its language, and the element of language that best encapsulates a society’s values and beliefs is its proverbs. Proverbial expressions are still very much alive in everyday languages, and the daily conversation would seem rather dull without them. Biblical proverbs and sayings are the wisdom of thought.Although English, Russian and Georgian belong to a family of different languages and systematically differs from each other, it is interesting to make comparative analysis of different lexical and phraseological units.There are countless colours in nature. Colour is a physical, psychological, and linguistic phenomenon and a subject of analysis in many sciences, a component of many arts playing a great role in the life of society. The lexical group of colour designation is significant in creation and expression of a language picture.The notion of colour is multifaceted, complex in its structure. It expresses not only visual perception but also connotative meanings. The diversity of the meanings of colors is due to the history of the development of states, religions and traditions. A colour palette has been reflected in mythology, legends, fairy tales, customs and various religious or mystical teachings.In this paper, we aimed at discussing the phenomenon of blue and green colours, which has a wide range of nominal po- tential and semantic ambiguity. They are the most conservative colours in the spectrum, perceived in both human consciousness and languages with a wide range of symbolic meanings.In linguistics, the study of colour concepts in different languages has a long tradition, presented by lots of publications. People can look at the same subject but perceive its colour differently. Colour terms differ across languages and the differences have been viewed through the prism of culture.A phraseological unit is more complex and multi-dimensional space, as far as the language reveals its possibilities most in phraseological units. As language is a meaning of expressing thoughts, any linguistic unit (a word, phrase, saying ...) should be considered in context.In our paper we have attempted to present phraseological units in three languages adapting bible words and expressions that made them own language property. Thus, it should be noted that phraseological units make the concentrated wisdom of all nations. They have certain pure linguistic features showing powerful universal and actually national culturological and lan- guage capacity. As far as we understand, phraseological units have their own connotative fields, analysing expressions with the above mentioned colours in the given languages, we can see that the connotative fields of the colours are not always integral. Life of biblical expressions in the modern European languages convincingly testifies to imperishability of spirit and a letter of the Book of books.Comparative approach allows receiving information on similarity or distinction of colour concepts in different languages, national and specific, lingvocultural peculiarities, conceptual models of vision of the world and interpretations in separate languages.

Early modern European languages and literature: A short review

This article engages with several recent books about language and literature, with a general focus on the early modern period in Europe. One of these books discusses language study in early modern England. Another examines the histories of words relating to ‘ingenuity’. The third provides a theoretical look at the aphorism with a wide historical scope but with some chapters relating to early modern literature. Each is of general interest for linguistic and literary scholars.