Studia Neophilologica

Afros, Elena

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2022.2071762pmid: N/A

The article examines the verb-initial independent declarative clauses with overt subjects (V1) in the Old English Bede on which the most complete witnesses disagree. It identifies the syntactic and textual environments in which the V1 clauses are altered or omitted and the types of changes they undergo. The article demonstrates that the majority of the alterations and omissions are recorded in the later manuscripts B and Ca. Most of them reflect the change to the V2 and V3 word order and the rise of the þa VS clauses in the V1 textual environments (e.g. reported discourse). Besides these widely attested developments in syntax and textual organisation, the corpus also exhibits the alterations that can be attributed to the individual scribes who modify or omit the V1 clauses to align the Old English translation with the Latin, eliminate asyndetic parataxis, homogenise the style, and streamline the narrative. The variants and scribal interventions uncovered by the present inquiry not only help form a more complete picture of the transmission and uses of the manuscripts of the Old English Bede but also contribute to the diachronic and synchronic study of the Old English language and style.

Ogawa, Shun

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2022.2041087pmid: N/A

This article explores Wulfstan’s use of a Norse-derived term, lagu. By examining his use of lagu in his homilies from a chronological point of view, it argues that Wulfstan changes his use of the word throughout his career. While in his early homilies he uses lagu in a limited context, later homilies exhibit a more diverse and developed application of the word. Wulfstan’s changing use of lagu in his career may well reveal the outset of the establishment of lagu as an English word, ‘law’.

Goedhals, John Antony

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2212723pmid: N/A

The centrality of food and drink in the ‘Introduction to the Pardoner’s Tale’, the ‘Pardoner’s Prologue’, and the ‘Pardoner’s Tale’ itself has been shown by a number of scholars, in particular Martin Stevens & Kathleen Falvey (1982), Clarence Miller & Roberta Bux Bosse (1972), Joseph Millichap (1974), Robert Nichols (1967), and Frederick Tupper (1914). This essay builds on their insights by showing that Chaucer deliberately constructs a semantic field of words relating to food, some of which are neologisms. The scholars mentioned above show how the bread and wine of the texts have deeper metaphorical resonances with the Mass. But their insights can be taken further, by demonstrating that Chaucer subverts this layer of meaning with yet another discourse set: words and deep metaphors relating to brokenness, violence, and death, as opposed to the whole, the healthy – the holiness of Christ’s body and blood, and its representation in the Christian Mass. In carrying this out, the Pardoner is one of Chaucer’s most evil characters, but also becomes one of his most ethical constructions, as he demonstrates what a Christless world would be like.

Leone, Ljubica

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2022.2145493pmid: N/A

Phrasal verbs formed with forth spread within the linguistic system up to the Early Modern English (EModE) period when they started to decrease in use as a result of internal mechanisms of change and linguistic competition with other particles such as on and out (Brinton 1988; Hiltunen 1994; Akimoto 2006; Thim 2006; De Smet 2010). Despite widespread knowledge, no studies have examined quantitatively the single steps forth followed over the years or questioned the role performed by productivity and processes of semantic specialisation of single instances in the processes of replacement. The present study is a corpus-based investigation that aims to fill this gap. The study has been undertaken on the Corpus of English Dialogues (CED), which is a multi-genre corpus covering the EModE period and, specifically, the years 1560–1760 (Kytö & Walker 2006). The analysis proves that the particle forth shows limited productivity, which created the conditions for processes of interference and replacement. The lexical context favoured the semantic specialisation of the particles on and out which stimulated the retraction of forth.

Ruokkeinen, Sirkku; Liira, Aino; Varila, Mari-Liisa; Norblad, Otso; Peikola, Matti

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2265985pmid: N/A

Abstract This article examines visual modes of information transmission in early modern English books. Images, tables, diagrams, and other graphic devices may be used to support or illustrate the text and to communicate information difficult or even impossible to convey via words alone. Previously established models of graphic representation generally focus either on individual devices or device types, or aim to construct taxonomies of present-day materials; little has been done to combine these approaches to create historical taxonomies of visual communication. This article presents a model for classifying graphic devices in early English print, 1473–1700, based on a cross-disciplinary review of previous scholarly work on graphic and visual devices, and discusses the methodology of constructing a taxonomy of devices suitable for historical, diachronic research.

Tocalo, Abdul Wahid I.; Veruen, Marinelle D.; Panalao, Sahada B.; Ibrahim, Sittie Hadia M.

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2022.2125900pmid: N/A

Authorial stance in academic writing is one of the vital aspects that recognises the evolution of writing to a more context-rich discourse, accounting for writer-reader relationships. Despite the growing interest in diachronic studies on stance markers, only a few studies have considered how stance changed in the recent years in the context of English as a Second Language (henceforth ESL) writing specifically that of Filipino writers. Consequently, this quantitative research diachronically examined stance markers in published research articles of Filipino scholars in the applied linguistics discipline. Chi-square test revealed that the overall use of stance markers varies over the years. Specifically, there is a decline in boosters and attitude markers and an increase in hedges and self-mentions. The overall quantitative findings revealed that Filipinos are becoming less subjective in writing while showcasing idea ownership in writing. This study ends with implications of the findings for academic writing instructions among Filipino writers. Future research directions are likewise provided.

Rabinovich, Irina

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2228831pmid: N/A

The concept of eugenics took an exclusionary and abusive turn in the first decades of the twentieth century, when prominent lawyers, scientists and first-wave feminists championed the cause. Indiana’s 1907 eugenicist ruling was adopted by thirty-two states, and consequently forced sterilizations were performed on whomever lawmakers considered unworthy of bearing children. The most notorious case of sterilization, Buck v. Bell, was performed on Carrie Buck, a victim of rape. K. D. Alden’s novel, A Mother’s Promise (2021), is a fictional rendering of the story, which depicts the fractures of American legal and social structures. By drawing Ruth-Ann Riley’s portrait, Buck’s fictional counterpart, it convincingly exposes America’s restrictive practices. This paper aims at exploring, through a feminist perspective, Riley’s struggle against overbearing eugenicist practices, performed by pseudo-scientists and lawyers who utilized eugenics to promote their professional and economic interests. Additionally, based on Foucault’s theory of power-knowledge relations, the paper demonstrates how, within this context, power and knowledge sustain each other. Finally, it relates the ethical issues concerning misogynistic practices and objectifying women’s bodies that were at stake one hundred years ago to twenty-first-century feminist discourse with respect to the #MeToo movement and the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision.

Classen, Albrecht

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2194325pmid: N/A

When medieval poets began to reflect on love, it was, from the beginning, a highly complex and problematic phenomenon, mostly determined by frustration, contradictions, and a lack of fulfilment. Highlighting particularly two major texts, one in Latin, the other in Middle High German, this paper brings to light the critically important element of discourse as part of the public performance of theoretical and practical reflections of love in the Middle Ages. Since courtly love thus has to be defined as a literary medium for courtly debates about its own identity, it makes perfect sense that we hardly ever hear about actual individual satisfaction and the realisation of erotic dreams. Instead, the overarching intention by medieval poets was to problematise the issue of love and to present its paradoxes, difficulties, and conflicts through the literary performance, not to present a maudlin, sentimental story with a simple happy end. As we realise here, the debate about proper attitudes towards the other gender, the analysis of values and virtues all contribute to the realisation of the discourse itself.

Mac, Agnieszka

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2261492pmid: N/A

Advertising texts are the result of intentionally arranged communication that aims to draw the attention of potential customers to a product. In advertising language, every word is precisely chosen with a specific communicative intention. There are no limits to stylistic-linguistic creativity or to originality. The phrases and passages I examine can be considered as samples of creative advertising text composition. These are slogans related to the Corona vaccination campaign launched on 7 December 2021 by the Berlin advertising agency Antoni, in which over 1,000 brands and companies from German-speaking countries participated. In the large-scale campaign, the companies were modelling their common or new brand slogans on the call for vaccination. I analyse the forms of the claims, which are characterised by unique originality not least because of the exclusivity of the campaign itself; they thus possess special features. The creative modus procedendi of the slogan design on three linguistic levels – the phonological, lexical and syntactic – are the focus of my interest. The innovative potential of the selected advertising claims is to be regarded as a fundamental catalyst for an increased reception stimulus as well as an increased consumer attention.

Rutka, Anna

doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2256365pmid: N/A

This article analyses Lena Gorelik’s latest novel Wer wir sind (2021) in terms of cultural debates on postmigration diversity and multilin-gualism in modern Germany in recent years. The novel Wer wir sind can be read as a process of dealing with the family experience of migration, shown across generations, as well as the difficult process of learning German and settling into a culturally different context. The analysis of the novel focuses on linguistic and narratological means through which the opposition to the national concepts of monolingualism and the identity of migrants as ‘others’ is expressed. The process of learning German, the role of the German-speaking writer and multilingual identity are presented in the novel as strategies of opposition to the hegemonic national discourse. On the one hand, learning German and writing literary works in this language appear to be subversive activities in relation to oppressive cultural and social norms and acts of self-empowerment. On the other hand, literary images of linguis-tic resistance and self-determination are marked by an awareness of linguistic unattainability and uncertainty. ‘Mastering’ a language, as well as writing literature, is an ambivalent process and work in progress.