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Apology in Use
Get PDFThere have been many researchers (Holmes, Brown and Levinson, Olshtain, Blum-Kulka, House, Kasper) who have devoted themselves to the analysis of one of the basic units of human linguistic communication - the act of apologizing. An apology, as argued by Holmes (1989), is seen as a face-supportive act. As such, it does not impose on thehearer’s face. It has been understood that the act of apologizing serves as a social goal of maintaining harmony between the speakers, and in order to make it convincing and workable it has to be used with appropriate strategies. Olshtain (1989) claimed that apologies do not differ drastically across languages and therefore it could be said that they are mostly universal. Interestingly enough, what Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989: 21) noticed is that apologies are used with different degrees of intensity. Speakers may use intensifiers or upgraders to increase the power of their apology (‘I’m so sorry’, ‘I’m really sorry’), but they may also use other modality markers such as downgraders to avoid the use of apology and minimize their guilt (ex. I didn’t know you’d be eager to go out tonight.).
Moreover, an act of apologizing might not accompany the set of realization patterns typical for apologizing and does not have to coincide with thespeaker’s pragmatic intention. ‘Sorry ‘bout that!’ is an example that one may find in contexts in which a speaker is not apologizing for something s/he did, but s/he is sarcastic or just superficially using the pattern to avoid a sincere apology. In other words, meaning does not have to be tightly connected to the pragmatic intention whatsoever. Still, the aim of this paper will be to analyze the structure of an apology using data-collection instruments, such asthediscourse completion test (DCT), rating scalesand role-plays,inorder to elicitapologetic data produced by non-native speakers who are highly proficient in English andwho are responsible for teaching and guiding young generations. The paper will examine teachers’ apologetic competences as a type of knowledge that everyone needs to acquire, process, develop, use and display on a daily basis. The analysis of teachers’ contextual perceptions and choices of apology strategies openly indicates their socio-pragmatic performance through written and oral tasks, and their pragmalinguistic performance as well.
Keywords: interlanguage pragmatics, speech acts, discourse completion task, role-play data, apology strategie
Academic Writing Proficiency: The Role Of Academic Writing Instruction In EFL Preparatory Programs
Get PDFIn studies of writing, linguistic proficiency has been assumed to play an important factor contributing to writing proficiency (Raimes, 1987; Bereiter&Scardamalia, 1987; Hayes 1996). Additional factors such as “cognitive” processes (i.e. planning and reviewing) (Ellis, 2005), memory (McCutchen, 1996, Alamargot&Chanquoi, 2001), and the matter of the quality of writing and lexical fluency (Van Gelderen&Oostdam; 2002, 2004) and error correction (Ferris & Roberts, 2001; Ferris;1999, 2002, 2004) have been among the focus areas. This study examines whether instruction in a university preparatory EFL program increases the quality of writing. A typical criticism from university academic writing classes often argues that short preparatory programs do not produce able, coherent, and proficient writers as preparatory reading and writing programs face the dual challenge of integrated skills instruction as well as covering many of the conventions of academic writing. In an effort to evaluate the effects of teaching academic writing within an EFL preparatory program, this research aims to compare the quality of writing within two groups of students, low level EFL students (pre-intermediate and intermediate levels) after a two-three semester program against students whose initial fluency was significantly higher at the time of university entry (direct-entry students with an IELTS 6.5 equivalency or higher). To this aim, four factors which are readability, lexical density, coherence and grammar complexity in 50 essays have been examined quantitatively. In this presentation, we aim to highlight implications of the findings for academic writing instruction at EFL university settings and for the broader context academic programs in EFL context. Our findings indicate that EFL students graduating from the ELC score well below their direct-entry peers in a number of categories.
Keywords: linguistic proficiency, EFL program, instructions, integreted skill
The Prosody and Quantity of English Compounds
Get PDFFollowing the earlier works of Booij (1985) and Nespor & Vogel (1986) I provide further evidence that English compounds are made up of prosodic words. The length of the first components must be preserved because they are identical to basic lexical forms. In some other languages, as for example in Serbian, the length of the first components may be shortened because the inclusion of linking vowels can contribute to the building of the required ‘derived environment’ (Kiparsky 1985). This invoking of the strict cyclicity condition is however necessary only for those English dialects in which the accented syllables are not necessarily closed. In this paper I discuss the prosodic status and quantity of English compounds.
Keywords: English Compounds, prosodic structure, trochaic shortening, quantity, stric cyclicit
The Court Settlement – a New Approach to Resolving Disputes
Get PDFAbstract: The court settlement is one way of resolving civil disputes. Regulated by the provisions of the applicable Code of Civil Procedure Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but is not sufficiently applicable .
The court settlement is dispositive procedural action by which parties regulate their relations to be dispositive, immediately before the court. The aim is to reduce the number of cases, preservation or improvement of business relations, the mutual satisfaction of the parties without the expectation of judicial decisions. The disadvantages are reflected in the impartiality of judges objections, the parties can not freely express their thoughts, because they run a risk of attachments that his statements and proposals in case the negotiations fail. However, the judge as a professional person can clearly and legally parties to explain and explain the legal nature of their dispute, their position in the dispute, and to set out the facts and evidence, in some cases, directly in front of customers to read and learn about the party with the applicable provisions of relevant laws.
Mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution found is very broad and successful application in practice of resolving disputes in modern western societies.
The paper discusses a court settlement and mediation, as required in the practice of dispute resolution in BiH. The aim is to point out the necessity of accepting and regulating institution of conciliation with the existing regulation of court settlement should represent a new approach to judges in resolving disputes
SUGGESTIONS ON DEVELOPING CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN NET ENVIRONMENT
Get PDFThis paper presents an empirical study on Chinese university students’ intercultural communication competence. The results show that learners should promote their cultural knowledge, intercultural sensitivity, communication strategies and intercultural awareness, etc. Suggestions for the curriculum and pedagogy of intercultural communication and the methods in developing Chinese university students’ intercultural communication competence in net environment are provided based on the research results
JAPANESE CASE MARKER DE IN COPULAR SENTENCES: ESSIVE OR LOCATIVE?
Get PDFIn this paper I will discuss two constructions of the Japanese verb aru ‘be’. In one construction, aru occurs with a copular complement marked by the particle de, obtaining a sentence-ending pattern known as N-dearu. In the other construction, aru expresses the happening of a dynamic event and may occur with a de-marked locative adjunct encoding the physical place of the event. By analyzing these two constructions I will single out a ‘predicative’ function of the case marker de, and show that when functioning as a support item in nominal predications and in other copular sentences, aru retains its original nature as a locational verb and consequently assigns a locative-like grammatical case (marked with de) to the second argument of its clause. In this instance of strong localism, a grammatical split of the locative marker de happens so that de ends up marking a number of different surface cases. In the conclusion I will propose that the particle de in predicative function should be acknowledged to be an ‘Essive’ case marker
POGLED NA STILSKE FIGURE PRIPOVIJETKE MRAK NA SVIJETLIM STAZAMA IVANA GORANA KOVAČIĆA
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to explore the stylistic authenticity of Dark on the Lit Paths, a short story written by Ivan Goran Kovačić, within the context of theory of stylistic devices. The short story abounds in expressive lyrical descriptions which portray characters and events from the author’s own homeland who, sympathising with the minor, ordinary, suppressed members of society emphasizes an idyllic harmony between Jačica Šafran, a peasant and nature, at the same time warning against poverty, envy and inhuman relationships among people. The paper presents an analysis of stylistic devices which, like skillfully interwoven threads in the plot of this short story, in presentation of characters and in problems presented in this work, are extremely important for the poetic segment of the author’s work of fiction. Gérard Genette (1985; 52) claims that a stylistic device is space which has its own form, space “between a sign and sense”, “inner space of language”, and that there are as many stylistic devices as there are forms of this space that can be identified. Therefore, the paper aims to present a review of figures of diction, figures of speech based on sentence structure, tropes and figures of thought, using the concrete examples from the short story in order to show the characterisation of the figurative features of Kovačić’s text, such as its picturesque features or expressive syntax. Figures of literary discourse have been exempt from this paper. Analysing the short story through various examples of anaphora, epiphora, onomatopoeia, epithets, inversion, similes, metaphors, antithesis, gradation, hyperbole, irony, personification and many other stylistic devices, the author wishes to present, determine or dispute the recent claims by numerous critics who do agree about one thing – that Kovačić's fiction is original both in its structure and expression. She also wishes to emphasize a wide range of meaning and engagement of the writer's discourse
LITERARINESS AS FREEDOM OF THINKING
Get PDFThe study argues about the advantage of the linguistic approach to literature in enabling students become aware of the multiple perspectives of narration giving them the power to do the work that otherwise the supreme interpreter would have done for them, thus sharpening their critical thinking skills. Contemporary novels in Albanian will be examined, by renowned writers such as Ismail Kadare and Ben Blushi. Kadare, probably the most famous Albanian writer ever, will be argued as an example of the author who kept the free thinking alive during the period of extreme totalitarian regime where the language was saturated with communist manipulative rhetoric, and his literature achieved this specifically with impersonal techniques of narration. These texts will be analyzed by pointing out the main linguistic indicators of interior monologue (Cohn), such as features of agency, transitivity, passivization, nominalization, deictic expressions, and free indirect speech. Examples from popular fiction will be discussed, taking into account the negative connotations about popular fiction as a kind of literature associated with industry and entertainment, as opposed to literary fiction which is studied at the academia. Popular fiction will be explored from the perspective of provoking public discussion about important societal issues, such as is the case with the Albanian author Blushi who aroused heated debate and was accused by the Muslim community for ruining the religious harmony of Albanians. This debate will be compared with the initiative to review Kosovar history textbooks due to their negative portrayal of Turkey. As conclusion, the study aims to demonstrate that perspectival narration may be used as teaching strategy to help readers explore the other’s self and develop freedom of thinking
OSTVARIVANJE PRAVA NA DJEČJI DODATAK – ANALIZA STANJA U TUZLANSKOM KANTONU
Get PDFNepostojanje jedinstvene implementacije Zakona kojim se reguliše pitanje zaštite porodice sa djecom rezultira nedosljednostima u implementaciji prava djeteta širom Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine, pri čemu su djeca u sličnim situacijama podložna varijacijama u ispunjavanju njihovih prava zavisno od područja na kojima su nastanjeni. Kantonalna ministarstva za rad i socijalnu politiku se uglavnom fokusiraju na poslove koji se odnose na registraciju korisnika i ocjenjivanje formalno pravnih kriterija za ostvarivanje prava na socijalnu pomoć, a ne na pružanje podrške samoj porodici i djeci.
U pogledu dječjeg dodatka, kao vida socijalne pomoći, autor se u radu ograničava na analizu zakonskih propisa koji se odnose na ostvarivanje ovog prava. U tom će pogledu daljnja analiza biti ograničena na ostvarivanje prava na dječji dodatak u Tuzlanskom kantonu.
Ključne riječi: dječji dodatak, najbolji interes djeteta, siromaštvo
Prohibition of Operation and Activities of Political Parties - Comparative Review of the Jurisdiction of Constitutional Courts in the Region
Get PDFIn the contemporary constitutional and democratic state, political parties represent one of the most important organizations of modern political action. Their constitutionalization, or introducing into the constitution the provisions which govern the principal position of the political parties and which recognize their (democratic) role in the constitutional system, influenced the appearance of different mechanisms of control and prohibition of their operation and activities. This paper analyzes the position and role of contemporary constitutional courts in controlling the operation and activities of political parties. The analysis of the practice of constitutional courts which exercise these powers, as well as of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and of the opinions of the Venice Commission expressed by “Guidelines on Prohibition and Dissolution of Political Parties and Analogous Measures” is essential if we wish to critically evaluate the place and role of modern constitutional courts in the control of operation and activities of political parties