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- Volume 7, Issue 2, 2020
International Journal of Language and Culture - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2020
Volume 7, Issue 2, 2020
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“Say Mashallah!”
Author(s): Nada Algharabali and Hanan Taqipp.: 147–163 (17)More LessAbstractThe goal of the present study is to investigate the sociolinguistic aspects in relation to the existence of the evil eye as a belief system in Kuwaiti society. Specifically, we examine the verbal and nonverbal manifestations of the evil eye, even at a distance, when its effect is believed to permeate into online interaction on social media. To achieve this goal, we used a combined research method that consists of an online questionnaire that reached an extensive group of 518 participants and a face-to-face interview with a group from our sample in order to elicit both quantitative and qualitative data. The results demonstrate that believing in the evil eye and its harmful effects is prevalent among all groups of people in the Kuwaiti society, regardless of sociolinguistic factors, which affect the frequency and nature of posts. Our findings also indicate that the same verbal and nonverbal methods of protection from the evil eye used in the offline world are used online. Moreover, these preventative methods appear to be in support of similar ones mentioned in previous literature related to this area.
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Age and gender in Iranian ‘taaroff’ politeness system
Author(s): Veronika Makarova and Elham Pourmohammadipp.: 164–193 (30)More LessAbstractThis paper focuses on the Iranian taaroff politeness system. We report a quantitative analysis of the attitudes to taaroff held by 60 Iranians (30 women and 30 men) of two age groups (20–29 and 40–59 years old) and their use of formulaic taaroff expressions in conversations. The data come from dialogues elicited from the participants in Iran via short scripted scenarios and from their answers to a questionnaire survey about their attitudes to taaroff. Taaroff expressions were manually extracted from the dialogue transcripts and their overall use as well as frequencies of each expression were compared across the gender and age groups with the help of t-tests. The participants’ answers to the survey questions were compared across the groups with Kruskal-Wallis H tests. The results show statistically significant differences in the participants’ attitudes to taaroff and in its use in dialogues by gender and age group.
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Euphemisms as linguistic tool for politeness in Kempo speech of Manggarai
Author(s): Agustinus Semiunpp.: 194–214 (21)More LessAbstractThis article presents euphemisms as linguistic tools for the expression of politeness in a local language, Kempo speech of the Manggarai language, in West Flores, Indonesia. The universal use of euphemisms indcates that speakers of languages across the world very much care about politeness as a means to maintain social relationships. Euphemisms are defined as the use of soft or mild words to replace offensive words for the purpose of politeness. They are used during interactions, to ensure that social relationships are maintained. The qualitative data show that Kempo ethnic people use various types of mild words to prevent their crops being damaged by certain animals; to maintain interactions by not mentioning certain human body parts; to replace the names of certain professions that are not polite to mention during interactions; and to avoid mentioning unworthy words for certain activities, events, and conditions. These euphemisms are used to maintain politeness in any interaction or communication.The euphemisms identified are morphologically and syntactically formed. It is interesting that some euphemisms are in the form of words bearing lexical meanings, while others have idiomatic meanings. Meanwhile, some euphemisms are in phrase and clause forms that bear idiomatic meanings. These findings indicate that the people of Kempo ethnicity very much care about how to use language properly to maintain politeness and social relationships.
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Different cultural conceptualizations underlying intercultural business communication problems between Thais and Koreans
Author(s): Yangwon Hyunpp.: 215–240 (26)More LessAbstractWhen people from different cultural backgrounds interact, their divergent conceptualizations may result in communication problems. While the significance of intercultural business interactions between Thais and South Koreans has increased with the development of trade relations between their countries, few attempts have been made to research interactional problems in this context. This study investigates the respective Thai and Korean cultural conceptualizations that underlie communication problems between them in the context of Korean multinational companies operating in Thailand. By analyzing data derived from in-depth interviews, this article elucidates the linguistic features of Thai and Korean speakers in relation to four different culture-specific conceptualizations: for Thais, the cultural schema of kreng jai and the cultural category of phinong; and for Koreans, the cultural schemas of ppalli ppalli and gunsinyuei. The findings show that these cultural conceptualizations govern Thais’ and Koreans’ different ways of interacting, and the paper discusses how these differences lead to and shape misunderstandings and interpersonal conflicts between these cultural counterparts during intercultural business communications.
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The importance of cultural conceptualizations and metacultural competence in developing cultural literacy
Author(s): Dr Gabriel García Ochoa, Dr Nadine Normand-Marconnet and Dr Sarah McDonaldpp.: 241–256 (16)More LessAbstractCultural Literacy is an emerging, interdisciplinary approach in literary and cultural studies. As such, it seeks to grow and benefit from different fields and disciplines. Whilst there are differences between Cultural Literacy and Cultural Linguistics, there is common ground between them, and Cultural Literacy can draw immense benefit from the cross-pollination of ideas with Cultural Linguistics. This article explores the interconnections between Cultural Literacy and Cultural Linguistics, particularly in relation to intercultural communication. The article compares a number of differences and similarities between Cultural Linguistics and Cultural Literacy, in particular, the notions of ‘cultural conceptualisations’ and ‘metacultural competence’ as they are currently applied in Cultural Linguistics. The article discusses the possible use of cultural conceptualisations in Cultural Literacy, arguing that these can support the development of cultural literacy skills, by providing a strong, useful framework to enhance what is known as ‘cultural readability’. Furthermore, the paper looks at the application of strategies for metacultural competence hitherto associated with Cultural Linguistics in the context of Cultural Literacy, arguing that such strategies illustrate practical steps that can be taken toward developing an individual’s Cultural Literacy skills. Lastly, the article suggests that the ideas of transcultural competence, critical reflection and cultural readability, often used in Cultural Literacy, can enrich new discussions on Cultural Linguistics.
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A cultural linguistic analysis of Swahili body metaphors
Author(s): Rosanna Tramutolipp.: 257–273 (17)More LessAbstractThis study describes the relationship between language, culture and conceptualization, considering in particular the embodied cultural metaphors of ‘heart’ and ‘liver’. The recent study by Kraska-Szlenk (2014) on the semantic analysis of Swahili body terminology has demonstrated that moyo (heart) has a prominent role in the conceptualization of numerous emotional states, with several different metaphorical meanings (e.g., love, generosity, will). However, from a diachronic perspective, ini (liver) is equally important for the metaphorical expression of emotions or character traits in Swahili. Considering in addition the practice of Swahili traditional medicine (uganga), this study highlights Swahili bodily conceptualizations involved in the expression of emotions and personal traits. The data were collected mostly through interviews with Swahili speakers during fieldwork conducted in Tanzania.
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Anthropomorphic metaphors in wine discourse, with special reference to Japanese wine manga
Author(s): Nadine Normand-Marconnet and Jason Christopher Jonespp.: 274–301 (28)More LessAbstractWine discourse has been readily found in the forms of wine tasting notes, reviews, advertisements, poetry, and classical literature. The popularity of Japanese wine manga, however, introduces a new venue for wine discourse and vector along which academic analysis can be conducted. In this paper, we seek to expand upon prior research on wine semantics and wine discourse by applying the framework of Cultural Linguistics to the subgenre of wine manga. Based on an original, Japanese-French bilingual corpus developed from the graphic novels Sommelier and Kami no Shizuku – each an epoch-making work, highly didactic in nature – our analysis focuses on the conceptual metaphor wine is a person. Results illustrate the Japanese authors’ contribution to the figurative language used in wine discourse. In other words, in Japan just as in France, wine is a person, and there is a shared cultural understanding of wine, or traits therein, being the embodiment of the human.
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Cultural conceptualizations of haghighat/vagheyat (‘truth’/‘reality’) in Persian
Author(s): Dr Vahede Nosratipp.: 302–321 (20)More LessAbstractThis article examines the cultural conceptualizations of haghighat/vagheyat (‘truth’/‘reality’) expressions in Persian as these are fundamental concepts in life, religion, as well as culture and are used in many commonly used everyday expressions. Therefore, it is important to understand what these expressions really mean and how they compare with equivalent concepts in other languages. To that end, this study investigates haghighat/vagheyat expressions that instantiate cultural conceptualizations in Persian. This is the first attempt at employing the analytical tools of Cultural Linguistics (Sharifian 2011, 2017b) to exclusively focus on exploring such cultural conceptualizations. In order to study naturally instigated expressions, the researcher makes use of multiple sources including an open-ended questionnaire, dictionaries, online sources, and focus group interviews. The study further draws on the author’s intuition as a native speaker and analyzes have been cross-checked by a number of Persian native speakers and experts. Analysis of the data concerns the significant conceptualizations of haghighat/vagheyat expressions, indicating that haghighat/vagheyat functions as the main conceptual basis for many manifestations of truth/reality in Persian. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that a number of sociocultural factors such as religion, history, and literature have a role in shaping the cultural conceptualizations of haghighat/vagheyat expressions in Persian.
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Review of García-Sánchez & Faulstich Orellana (2019): Language and Cultural Practices in Communities and Schools: Bringing Learning for Students from Non-Dominant Groups
Author(s): Amirreza Karami and Charlene Johnson Carterpp.: 322–325 (4)More LessThis article reviews Language and Cultural Practices in Communities and Schools: Bringing Learning for Students from Non-Dominant Groups
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Fairies, banshees, and the church
Author(s): Arne Peters
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