1887
Volume 9, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2214-3157
  • E-ISSN: 2214-3165
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Nowhere is the interface between language, culture and cognition more clearly visible than in word meanings and in cases of translational non-equivalence between words of different languages. One such case is that of the meanings of stage-of-life words in different languages. This paper presents a contrastive analysis between the English and the Italian made adopting the principles and methods of cross-linguistic semantics. The analysis demonstrates that the semantic non-equivalence between these two stage-of-life words results from the different age and time spans covered by each word and different cultural assumptions about the transition to manhood, showing how these differences are reflected in discourse in the respective languages. First, a discourse analysis is made for each word; after that, two separate semantic explications are produced with the Natural Semantic Metalanguage methodology and then contrasted to highlight the differences in meaning and the role of culture in the formation of different conceptualisations of the human life cycle.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ijolc.21036.far
2022-01-27
2025-02-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Baker, P.
    (2002) Fantabulosa. A dictionary of polari & gay slang. London: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. (2006) Public discourses of gay men. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203643532
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203643532 [Google Scholar]
  3. Barrie, J. M.
    (1999 [1911]) Peter and Wendy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cantarella, E.
    (1988) La bisessualità nel mondo antico. Milano: Feltrinelli.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Chandos, J.
    (1984) Boys together. English public schools, 1800–1864. New Haven: Yale University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Collins Wordbanks Online
    Collins Wordbanks Online. Accessed inSeptember 2021. wordbanks.harpercollins.co.uk/auth/?
  7. Corid-Codis corpus of contemporary written Italian
    Corid-Codis corpus of contemporary written Italian. Accessed inSeptember 2021. corpora.dslo.unibo.it/coris_ita.html
  8. Cohen, D.
    (1987) Law, society and homosexuality in classical Athens. Past and Present, 117, 3–21. 10.1093/past/117.1.3
    https://doi.org/10.1093/past/117.1.3 [Google Scholar]
  9. De Giovanni, M.
    (2013) I bastardi di Pizzofalcone. Torino: Einaudi.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. (2016) The bastards of Pizzofalcone. Translated byA. Shugaar. New York: Europa Editions.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Dover, K.
    (1978) Greek homosexuality. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Farese, G. M.
    (2019) Italian discourse. A cultural semantic analysis. Lanham: Lexington Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. (in press). The ethnopragmatics of English stage-of-life words as forms of address. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 42(1). 10.1080/07268602.2022.2043824
    https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2022.2043824 [Google Scholar]
  14. Felice, E.
    (2015) Ascesa e declino. Storia economica d’Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Fry, S.
    (1997) Moab is my washpot. An autobiography. London: Soho Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Gamberale, C.
    (2013) Per dieci minuti. Milano: Feltrinelli.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Giordano, P.
    (2008) La solitudine dei numeri primi. Milano: Mondadori.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. (2009) The solitude of prime numbers. Translated byS. Whiteside. London: Black Swan.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Goddard, C.
    (2016) Semantic molecules and their tole in NSM lexical definitions. Cahiers de Lexicologie, 109(2), 13–34.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. (2018) Ten lectures on the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Leiden/Boston: Brill. 10.1163/9789004357723
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004357723 [Google Scholar]
  21. Goddard, C., & Wierzbicka, A.
    (2014) Words and meanings: Lexical semantics across domains, languages and cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Gumperz, J. J., and Hymes, D.
    (Eds.) (1972) Directions in sociolinguistics. The ethnography of communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Harry, J.
    (1982) Decision making and age differences among gay male couples. Journal of Homosexuality, 8(2), 9–21. 10.1300/J082v08n02_03
    https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v08n02_03 [Google Scholar]
  24. Hickson, A.
    (1992) The poisoned bowl: Sex and the public school. London: Duckworth.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Hornby, N.
    (1998) About a boy. New York: Riverhead Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Hymes, D.
    (1971) Sociolinguistics and the ethnography of speaking. InE. Ardener (Ed.), Social anthropology and language (pp.47–93). London/New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Morante, E.
    (1957) L’isola di Arturo. Torino: Einaudi.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. (2019) Arturo’s island. Translated byA. Goldstein. London: Pushkin Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Moravia, A.
    (1945) Agostino. Milano: Bompiani.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. (1982) Two Adolescents. New York: Playboy Paperbacks.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Nash, P.
    (1961) Training an elite. The prefect-fagging system in the English public school. History of Education Quarterly, 1(1), 14–21. 10.2307/367195
    https://doi.org/10.2307/367195 [Google Scholar]
  32. Parsons, T.
    (1999) Man and boy 1999 London: Harper Collins.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Pasolini, P. P.
    (1955) Ragazzi di vita. Roma: Garzanti.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. (2016) The street kids. Translated byA. Goldstein. New York: Europa Editions.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Pavese, C.
    (1948) La casa in collina. Torino: Einaudi.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. (2021) The house on the hill. Translated byT. Parks. London: Penguin.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Pflugfelder, G.
    (1999) Cartographies of desire. Male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600–1950. Berkley: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. (2012) The nation-state, the age/gender system, and the reconstitution of erotic desire in nineteenth-century Japan. The Journal of Asian Studies, 71(4), 963–974. 10.1017/S0021911812001222
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911812001222 [Google Scholar]
  39. Rowling, J. K.
    (1997) Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone. London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. (2018) Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale. Translated byS. Bartezzaghi. Milano: Salani Editore.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Saikaku, I.
    (1990 [1687]) The great mirror of male love. Translated byP. G. Schalow. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10.1515/9781503621664
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503621664 [Google Scholar]
  42. Wierzbicka, A.
    (1972) Semantic primitives. Frankfurt: Athenäum-Verl.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. (1980) Lingua mentalis. Sydney: Academic Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. (1996) Semantic primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. (2004) The English expressions good boy and good girl and cultural modes of child-rearing. Culture and Psychology, 10(3), 251–278. 10.1177/1354067X04042888
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X04042888 [Google Scholar]
  46. Ye, Z.
    (Ed.) (2017) The semantics of nouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ijolc.21036.far
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ijolc.21036.far
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error