Vol. 3 No. 2 (4) (2007)

The article discusses the trends of male and female communication strategies whose differences are studied based on the analysis of the unique ways of starting and finishing an SMS, as well as expressing positive and negative feelings. The use of the speech acts of praise, criticism and proposition by men and women is of special attention. The analysis indicates that while communicating via e-mail women praise their interlocuter and make suggestions more than men. Meanwhile, men and women demonstrate different preferences to express their feelings towards the addressee. Thus, for instance, men use a more neutral language preferring to express solidarity towards the interlocuter while women turn to more polite and emotional forms.

The article highlights several syntactic constructions which seem identical on surface level. However, the analysis of deep structures reveals certain syntactic and semantic differences. The article suggests the grammatical notion of a new passive-causative structure.

Controversies about the text and discourse have been around since the moment they became a subject of linguistic analysis. Linguists are trying to understand their differences considering the fact that both of them are considered communication units. Very often both the text and the discourse are described as equivalent notions, as inter- and extralinguistic contexts of speech activity that are conditioned by cultural, social, psychological and other factors. The article is another attempt to shed light on these issues.

The generic utterances with the pronouns one, you, we possess all the features specific to the communication process. Unlike the generic utterances containing a noun which express generalization about a certain class, the ones containing the pronouns one, you, we involve the participants of the communication or the person who is in the center of the speaker’s attention. These utterances help realize the functions of self-expression of the speaker. Moreover, they establish a link between the speaker and the listener and exert an impact on the listener.

The article addresses one of the key issues of the studies of proverbs which refers to the use of proverbs in literature. The article is an attempt to reveal the attitude of the author and the character towards the proverbial truth. The traditional wisdom contained in a proverb can be either accepted or totally rejected. Besides these extremes, there is another situation when the characters of a literary text and/ or the author accept the proverbial truth to a certain extent. A proverb is applied in most diverse ways in literature starting from traditional interpretations to literary reinterpretations which serve the specific needs of the author.

It is common knowledge that Modern English (especially its American version) has become a language of international significance and is expanding its area of impact day by day. Naturally, Armenia could not remain unaffected. Bilingualism (Armenian and English), even trilingualism (including Russian) have doubled in our country in the last decade owing to the development of tourism, mixed marriages, growth in the number of international organizations and other factors.
Bilingualism is closely related to a linguistic phenomenon in which the Armenian speech is complemented with English words, word combinations and even sentences. The reasons contributing to such phenomena are not only linguistic but also social-psychological. It is applied in most diverse social spheres – in the field of education in order to enhance one’s knowledge, in everyday speech to fill the vocabulary gaps and make some impression on the interlocuter, etc. Research suggests that code switching can contribute to borrowings from one language into another thereby enriching the Armenian vocabulary. On the other hand, if this process lasts long and encompasses larger masses it can distort the language and threaten the purity of the national language.

The interrelation between language and cognition can be considered from various perspectives. The role of the language in human mental activity is described by the type of his/her activity when it is also linked with cultural characteristics. The active role of the language in thinking is conditioned by the fact that the existence of a language serves as a precondition for cognitive thinking. Language is also the basis of cognition. Social experience is a means to form individual thinking. Language affects the process of the acquisition of knowledge and organization, and its two functions possess a cognitive nature.

The discourse of e-advertising which is considered a functional-stylistic expression of Modern English is characterized by a number of features: the abundant use of metaphoric expressions, short sentences, literary cuts, verbs in the active voice and the use of lexical units with positive or extremely negative meanings.

The article discusses some of the characteristics of the Internet Discourse which is regarded as a functional-stylistic expression of Modern English in general and the functional and pragmatic specificities of the internet chat by teenagers, in particular. Relexicalization is examined as a linguistic expression of speech which aims not only to win some time but is regarded as a proof of a certain electronic status.

The article attempts to define the possible structural-patterning options that come to describe the patent headings in the USA. In particular, the article tries to show that it is possible to present the heading of a patent in a single pattern. The research aims to help a foreign scholar to pattern the content of the material in the form of a heading as well as to confirm the fact that a patent heading, as well as the patent document as a whole, is a combination of the functional style of scientific prose and official documents where the scientific prose is responsible for the vocabulary while the official aspect is expressed through patterned structures.

The communicative intent which is a linguo-philosophical notion is important from the perspective of pragmatic analysis. The article attempts to examine the complicated interconnection between the intention of communication and the perception of the figurative language. Special attention has been paid to metaphor and irony whose perception and interpretation heavily depend on the intention of communication.

The article discusses a number of issues contributing to the efficient teaching of a foreign language. Studying Diary Writing as a unique literary genre (a text disclosing the self of the author) the author of the article believes it is very important that students should have diaries since such an assignment highly contributes to the improvement of a written language.

The article addresses the issue of teaching efficiency based on the research findings conducted in American University of Armenia. The author of the article finds it necessary to overcome the possible differences teachers and students may have over learning principles since otherwise the relevance of these contradictions will certainly have a negative impact on the learning process.

The article addresses the concept “faith” and examines questions related to its linguo-cultural aspect. “Superconcepts” are the super-values that are etymologically transferred to the human consciousness and survive in the form of concepts, images, knowledge, sense perceptions and emotions. The article analyzes the most important concept “faith” from a linguo-cultural perspective. The words “faith” and “հավատ” undergo an etymological analysis.

The article discusses the issue of untranslatability at the lexical level considering the expansion of the meanings of root words and other elements of word formation as a result of the development of the language. Based on the borrowed words from Japan into English, as well as with the help of comparative examples of Armenian and Russian, it has been revealed that the solution to the problem of untranslatability is closely related to the existence of the linguistic mechanisms which make it possible to assimilate the foreign words using the original pattern that was selected the moment the notion was created for its full expression. The article also discusses the attempts of lexicalization of the notion in the second language.

The article examines the use of the three methods of the investigation of a literary text – linguostylistic, linguopoetic and literary critical in order to reflect the characteristics of the original text in the translation.

In this article the author presents the Armenian translations of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labours Lost. It was first translated by the renowned Armenian writer and translator Khachik Dashtents. He translated all the other comedies by Shakespeare which were published in a single volume in 1953. Khachik Dashtents placed an emphasis on the principle of “equivalence”, faithfulness and reliability in his translations. Kh. Dashtents, H. Sevan, S. Mkrtchyan followed the principles set by H. Masehyan and are known as translators of post-Masehyan period.

The article highlights a number of issues related to poetic speech. Through the analysis of the works by such world-acclaimed poets as Tennyson, Yeats, Lawrence which contain animal symbols the authors of the article attempt to reveal the traditional connection between the speech of the old and new verse.

The article draws parallels between Solomon the Wise and King Lear who has suffered a lot and has acquired wisdom. Shakespeare wrote his tragedy as a servant to King James I. He was inspired by the love and admiration his king, who was regarded the wisest fool of the Christian world, held for Solomon the Wise.

There are striking similarities between the Book of Lamentations by Grigor Narekatsi, the ingenius poet of the 10^th century and the hymns by the 11^th century Byzantine mystic writer Symeon the New Theologian. The article points out the similarities and states that Grigor Narekatsi could not have used the ideas of Symeon the New Theologian. The two poets composed separately from each other presenting the highest level of Christian mystic thinking. The author of the article, based on the interpretation of the symbols preserved in Manuscript N 7703 of the Matenadaran comes up with a new interpretation of the last stanza of Grogor Narekatsi’s Canto to Vardavar.

The article examines the language of liturgies in England and Armenia from the fifth to the eleventh centuries. Drawing parallels between the Armenian and English histories the author points out that unlike Armenians who performed the liturgy in Armenian, the language of the liturgy in England was Latin. The author tries to analyze the extralinguistic factors which conditioned the situation of the period.

The article examines the language used by the present-day generation of the people of Islamized Hamshenians of Armenian origin as a memory and expression of their identity. As a result of the merging linguistic policy of the Ottoman Empire the vast majority of the generations of the Hamshen Armenians who were forced to convert to Muslim have become Turkish speaking in the course of time. Only the Hamshen Armenians in the state of Ardvin still preserve the dialect of Hamshen. The linguistic evidence presented in the article indicates that the dialect of the Hamshen Armenians in the state of Khopa is still viable today and that they keep speaking, telling stories and singing songs in that language. These written facts are valuable materials for Armenian philology and lexicology. These examples can help discover phonetic, grammatical and lexical similarities, differences between the Islamized Hamshen Armenians and Christian Hamshenians living on the northern coasts of the Black Sea.

The Armenian press in the Ottoman Empire is a most valuable source for the investigation of the political history of the multi-national empire. They play a more acute role when there is scarcity or lack of Turkish sources. One of such cases is the plot against Sultan Abdul Majid, referred to as “Kuleli Case” in professional literature.
The author of the article concludes that the publications of the Armenian press of the time contain some new information about the Kuleli Case which can expand the sources for the study of the important event.