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Abstract: In this study, we propose an integrative approach to Small Talk by bringing together routine and ritual, and also by approaching Small Talk through the lens of ritual, speech acts and discourse. Routine manifestations of Small Talk include banal phatic interaction, such as weather talk which follows conventionalised patterns, has limited bonding ca pacity and no deeper meaning. Ritual Small Talk, on the other hand, refers to phatic interaction which also follows conventionalised patterns but has a deeper purpose and meaning, and has a more lasting bonding capacity. We analyse a corpus featuring shop talk in a rural Chinese town, hence filling a knowledge since Small Talk in rural settings has been understudied. We conduct a bipartite analysis, i.e. we first consider how in teractions in our corpus tend to be opened and closed, and then we analyse our data through Small Talk themes. Our analysis shows that in Chinese rural shops routines do not simply dissolve when the participants become more familiar, but rather they transform into ritual. This finding shows that Small Talk in the setting studied operates differently from what has been observed in urbanised contexts.
Keywords: applied linguistics, Chinese, English, small talk, routine, interactions, ritual, rapport, rural shops, China
Published in DKUM: 26.09.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: Through first-hand experiences undertaken with students using the OpenMWS platform (Taibi 2020), the paper reports on the progress made by second-year language degree students in English linguistics at the University of Messina as regards their use of online corpus construction, annotation and search tools when exploring video genres. The paper describes the ways in which participation in the Messina OVP (Online Video Project) on schools in the British Isles during and after the Covid crisis has proved beneficial for the students in question, both in terms of acquiring textual competences and as regards creating new interactive communities (Vasta and Baldry 2020; Baldry et al 2022).
Keywords: multimodality, corpus construction and annotation, digital literacy, English linguistics, video genres
Published in DKUM: 28.07.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: The thesis explores the theme of nostalgia in George Orwell’s novel Coming Up for Air from various analytical perspectives. The research is made possible by the novel’s detailed story, which captures the tensions between the individual and a rapidly modernising world in pre-World War II Britain. The work is structured into three main sections. First, the theoretical framework provides an overview of different definitions and interpretations of nostalgia from literature, history, and cultural studies. Second, various philosophical perspectives examine the relationship between nostalgia, personal identity, and the individuals’ ways of approaching the memory. From the standpoint of existentialism and the self, the thesis investigates how the protagonist, George Bowling, experiences nostalgia as a mechanism for self-definition. The thesis argues that nostalgia distorts the temporal order, merging past and present into a seamless but fictional continuum. The political philosophy and modernity perspectives place the main character’s nostalgia within the broader socio-political status of 20th century Britain. Orwell employs nostalgia to critique the oppressive forces of industrialisation, totalitarian governance, and capitalist consumerism. Third, the linguistic analysis applies Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), using the discourse system framework developed by authors Martin and Rose (2007), to examine how Orwell’s language constructs the protagonist’s nostalgic experience. The analysis looks at how Orwell’s linguistic features show Bowling’s emotional attachment to the past and his disappointment with the present. Engagement is analysed to reveal how the protagonist’s reflections position the reader within his subjective perspective.
Keywords: Nostalgia, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, Existentialism, Memory, Self-Identity, Political Philosophy, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Time, History.
Published in DKUM: 29.05.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 29
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Abstract: The monograph consists of three parts. Twelve contributions presented on several aspects of German and Slovenian phraseology represent a selection of authors phraseological studies, mostly related to the language contrastive (German-Slovene) research topic. Part I deals with typical aspects of proverbs from the perspective of system-related research. This is followed by contributions on the lexicographical and translational problems of phraseology (Part II). The volume ends with reflections on appropriate treatment of phraseology in the learning and teaching contexts (Part III). German as the primary language of observation plays an important role in all the contributions because its status as an influential language in Slovenia is increasingly challenged. It is worth mentioning that in the past, German used to exert much greater historical, cultural, and linguistic influence on the Slovenian society. By combining different research perspectives and linguistic contrastive approaches, the volume intends to appeal to linguists as well as practising translators and language teachers.
Keywords: phraseology, paremiology, German, Slovene, contrastive linguistics, translation, language‑didactics
Published in DKUM: 21.12.2023; Views: 524; Downloads: 85
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Keywords: reviews and reports, Stefan Michael Newerkla, Sprachkontakte Deutsch-Tschechisch-Slowakisch, comparative linguistics, dictionaries, lexicography
Published in DKUM: 14.02.2018; Views: 1468; Downloads: 142
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