<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This qualitative study is aimed at elucidating conceptual metaphors associated with renewable energy sources (further referred to as ‘renewables’) in Ukrainian prime ministers’ (PMs) political discourse. The material derives from a corpus of Ukrainian PMs’ political texts on renewables in Ukraine within the timeframe 2005-2014. The corpus is examined for the presence of conceptual metaphors pertaining to the topic of renewables. Data analysis indicates that from 2005 to 2013 conceptual metaphors involving renewables are embedded in the issues of Ukraine’s adherence to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU directives on renewables, the monetary value of renewables and the role of renewables in Ukraine’s energy security, thus instantiating the conceptual metaphors Renewables as Ukraine’s European Choice, Renewables as a Path to the EU, Renewables as Money and Renewables as Independence respectively. However, the novel metaphor Renewables as Survival is identified in PM Yatsenjuk’s political discourse in 2014. This metaphor is embedded in the context of another conceptual metaphor, Gas as a Weapon, which is present in political discourse involving Russian natural gas export to third countries. Data analysis indicates that the conceptual metaphors Renewables as Survival and Renewables as Independence are in a polyphonic relationship of synergy and contrast with Gas as a Weapon.</abstract>

Conceptual metaphors in Ukrainian prime ministers’ discourse involving renewables

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The starting point for this study is that (the majority of) conventional figurative units (CFUs) are conceptual in nature and that they somehow record and preserve the knowledge and even worldview of diverse cultures. The aim of this paper is to take a first step towards answering the question whether it is true not only that phraseology preserves the way a given culture understands the world (or understood it in the past), but if it works the other way round, i.e. if people using/knowing CFUs involving stereotypes - in this case, Czech idioms and collocations regarding nations and ethnic groups - tend to extend these stereotypes and attitudes beyond the linguistic sphere. For this purpose a survey questionnaire was created, by means of which the stereotypes underlying a varied sample of 13 Czech CFUs were related to the prejudices of the respondents</abstract>

Stereotypes in Czech phraseology. Nations and ethnic groups

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Combining critical discourse analysis and the cognitive theory of metaphor, the study analyses hard news on Ebola from two American newspapers of a liberal political orientation, The New York Times and The New York Daily News, to investigate metaphoric representations of the disease and portrayals of its victims. It is revealed that both newspapers heavily rely on a single conceptual metaphor of EBOLA AS WAR, with only two alternative metaphors of EBOLA AS AN ANIMATE/HUMAN BEING and EBOLA AS A NATURAL CATASTROPHE employed. All three metaphoric themes assign the role of a culprit solely to the virus, which stands in contrast to non-metaphoric discursive allocations of blame for the situation in Africa, assigning responsibility mainly to man-made factors. African victims tend to be impersonalized and portrayed as voiceless and agentless, rarely occupying the role of a “fighter” in the military metaphoric representation of the disease, which runs counter to the findings of recent studies detecting a change towards a more positive image of Africa in the media. Both newspapers fail to represent infected ordinary Africans as sovereign agents, hindering readers from reflexively identifying with them.</abstract>

Representations of Ebola and its victims in liberal American newspapers

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Almost immediately after the Charlie Hebdo shootings of 7 January 2015, some print media made room for alternative opinions of what had happened. The articles and the discussions they inspired are replete with evaluations which lend themselves to analysis using methods and procedures of Politeness Theory. The paper examines an example of a metadiscourse of (im)politeness which questions the “moral orders” underlying the cartoonists’ as well as other participants’ social practices vis-à-vis their ideological foundations, esp. freedom of speech as one of the principal liberties of our society. To that end, the approach to politeness as “social practice” is employed which, while insisting on multiple understandings of politeness, places participants’ evaluations at the centre of politeness research.</abstract>

Je ne suis pas Charlie. Metadiscourses of impoliteness following “France’s 9/11” in selected print media

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Over recent years, the use of corpora in stylistic analysis has grown in popularity. However, questions still remain over the remit of corpus stylistics, its distinction from corpus linguistics generally and its capacity to explain complex stylistic effects. This article argues in favour of an integrated corpus stylistics; that is, an approach to corpus stylistics that integrates it with other stylistic methods and analytical frameworks. I suggest that this approach is needed for two main reasons: (i) it is analytically necessary in order to fully explain stylistic effects in texts, and (ii) integrating corpus methods with other stylistic tools is what will distinguish corpus stylistics from corpus linguistics. My argument is supported by reference to examples from Mark Haddon’s no vel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and the HBO TV series Deadwood. Both these examples rely for their explanation on a combination of corpus stylistic analytical techniques and other stylistic methods of analysis.</abstract>

Towards an integrated corpus stylistics

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 24 (2023): Issue 2 (December 2023)

Volume 24 (2023): Issue 1 (June 2023)

Volume 23 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022)

Volume 23 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

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Volume 21 (2020): Issue 2 (December 2020)

Volume 21 (2020): Issue 1 (June 2020)

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Volume 20 (2019): Issue 1 (June 2019)

Volume 19 (2018): Issue 2 (December 2018)

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Volume 18 (2017): Issue 2 (December 2017)

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Volume 16 (2015): Issue 1 (December 2015)

Volume 15 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015)

Volume 14 (2014): Issue 1 (December 2014)

Volume 13 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014)

Topics in Linguistics

 Topics in Linguistics is a double-blind, peer-reviewed international scientific journal issued twice a year by the Department of English and American Studies, the Faculty of Arts, at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.  The journal aims to foster interdisciplinary, cross-linguistic and cross-cultural approaches to language research. Topics in Linguistics seeks to publish high-quality, original papers which adopt diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives in exploring a wide range of current issues in linguistic studies. Although papers on world languages are considered, we especially encourage submissions dealing with the majority and minority languages spoken in Europe.  Subject areas of study include, but are not limited to:   general linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics)  interfaces with general linguistics (neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, computational linguistics)  cognitive linguistics  comparative linguistics  corpus linguistics  applied linguistics  stylistics  (critical) discourse analysis  intercultural communication   Topics in Linguistics is published in English. Authors are requested to submit their papers (doc. format) anonymously. The authors will receive an automatic confirmation email and are notified within one month of submission of the results of the initial screening of their manuscript.From Volume 13, 2014 onwards, Topics in Linguistics has been published by De Gruyter Open (now Sciendo). Since 2016 Topics in Linguistics has been an electronic-only journal.  Acceptance Rate (2020-2021)   11.85%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 