Vol. 6 No. 1-2 (7) (2010)

The present article examines the complex and constantly developing relations between characteristics typical of academic discourse and individual style. The analysis has been conducted from the diachronic perspective since it compares the argumentative styles of various authors in different stages of the development of English academic and particularly of economic discourse. Analyzing the authorial identity as an element of discourse identity in the works of two celebrated scholars Robert Boil and John M. Mains, the article demonstrates how the leading scholars contribute to the establishment of new principles of academic discourse overcoming the barrier between the established norms and authorial preferences.

Alternative questions in English, as well as other interrogative sentences, can fulfil functions of direct and indirect speech acts expressing various pragmatic meanings (advice, threat, resentment, etc.). From the point of view of the form and structure, such interrogative sentences can be different in nature. In certain cases interrogative sentences with the conjunction or do not possess an alternative meaning.

The article analyzes the multifunctional nature of questions in modern English. In particular, it offers a semantic and pragmatic examination of verifying and identifying questions. An attempt is made to investigate the additional meanings expressed by verifying and identifying questions and their application in communicative processes where these questions can express various indirect speech acts such as request, offer, invitation, advice, etc.

The article examines the semantic and syntactic characteristics of existential (es gibt / there is) and possessive (have / haben) constructions of English and German. The article underlines the effective methods of their teaching for those who study English as a foreign language. The research indicates that having a number of syntactic and semantic similarities, the aforementioned structures are distinguished with their unique forms of expression, which, in its turn, contributes to the elaboration of typology of the patterns.

The present article offers a comparison of the English prepositions and Armenian case endings. The examples illustrate the correspondence between different Armenian cases and English prepositions. The topic of the article is not conclusive and calls for further research since the information provided in the article can serve as solid material for further investigations of the correspondence between English prepositions and Armenian case endings. Such investigations can lead to the creation of certain grammar rules which will naturally help make the work of translation from Armenian into English and vice versa easier.

The article examines the two major types of word meaning – broad meaning and polysemy. An attempt is made to define the standards which will make the distinction between these complicated, extremely indefinite and at times partly or fully coinciding phenomena possible. The research demonstrates that broad-meaning and polysemantic words differ from each other not only functionally and semantically, but also with their semantic structure which is the direct outcome of the historical process of the change of meanings. In case of broad meaning words, there are more meanings since the number of the denotators of the latter is not limited. Rather, it is predetermined by its theoretically possible subtexts whereas the number of the meanings of the polysemantic words is determined by the number of the denotators fixed by itself.

The names of colours are frequently encountered in idioms. In fact, idioms are to a great extent a product of culture. The meaning of idioms is often based on particular ideas and perceptions specific to a given nation and culture. Being universalities in the structure of a language the elements of idioms are, at the same time, the most striking linguistic characteristics that express the national features of a given language, its word forming, grammatical and stylistic nuances.
The meaning of idioms containing colour names is connected with colour symbols existing in the given society. Evidently, this fact should not be overlooked when doing translations.

The present article aims to study, analyze and compare phraseological units with the component “heart” expressing love and devotion in Armenian, Russian and English. These phraseological units in the languages mentioned have structural, grammatical, stylistic, as well as semantic similarities and differences. The similarities reflect the peculiarities of the linguistic thinking of the language bearers, whereas the differences witness the peculiarities of the mentality of the given nation.

It is no news that English has turned into a language of global significance. The influence of English can be observed in various social-political, scientific, economic, cultural spheres in Armenia in recent decades. The present article aims to investigate the impact of English on the Armenian language and culture. The research has been conducted in two directions:

1. paralinguistic examination which includes about 70 respondents with different professions and belonging to different sex and age groups.
2. linguistic research based on various articles, commercials and posters, as well as the material collected from various specialized dictionaries.

The article investigates the stylistic device of repetition which plays an underlying role in Whitman’s poetry. It brings rhythm and harmony to the poetry and helps convey higher moral values – wisdom, morality, various human states of mind and moods. Repetition with its various manifestations is a unique feature in Whitman’s poetry and it is impossible to imagine the great poet without his grand individual language. Undoubtedly, his poetry is the height of the art of repetition.

The article provides a thorough analysis of the role of foreign words and phrases in newspaper film reviews. They bring expressiveness to newspaper film reviews making them more impressive. Foreign words and phrases fulfil the functions of communication and that of impact. The frequency of their use is conditioned by the social and educational level of the reader.

The article aims to investigate the stylistic characteristics of hyperbole in Sherwood Anderson’s short stories. The examination of the theoretical part of the given material and the analysis of the examples make it possible to distinguish three major types of contextual hyperbole in the short stories – mixed hyperbole, non-mixed hyperbole and biblical allusive hyperbole.

The article investigates the role of emotions in speech. People often try to make their speech more expressive with an aim to have a positive impact on the listener and to achieve the desired result more easily. To this end, they make use of various intensifiers, which enhance the meaning of the whole sentence or one of its members. Since the linguistic expression of emotions and its interpretation is connected with the level of expressive speech acts, its solution calls for a pragmatic approach.

The article attempts to consider text interpretation process in the light of two phenomena that come to describe speech acts – intention and convention. Though both are of importance in terms of text interpretation, they take different positions in case of a national and non-national reader.

The paper focuses on the role of group work in the foreign language class as an effective technique for developing language learners’ analytical thinking, as well as communication skills. The paper states that despite the cognitive, psychological and social benefits that group work provides, it is hardly ever used in the Armenian formal educational setting where the whole studying process is teacher-centered rather than learning-centered. The authors strongly believe that implementing group work into the Armenian educational establishments will stimulate effective learning and teaching. Group work will provide Armenian EFL students with opportunities for developing skills like organization, negotiation, team work and co-operation which they very often lack.

The method of self-assessment can be effectively applied in foreign language teaching. It ensures the diversity of checking and evaluating by raising interest among students, increasing their responsibility towards their own performance, concentrating attention on the mistakes rather than on the grade. If applied correctly self-assessment provides students with an opportunity to review and revise the material, to correct the mistakes independently with the help of dictionaries and textbooks thereby enhancing the knowledge and adding more information.

The article discusses the two most popular types of tests in the EFL testing system – multiple choice and free response questions. Both of the tests have their advantages and disadvantages. Psychological and fairness-related factors are of significant importance during an exam. The article highlights certain reforms suggested by the author in relation to oral HEI entrance exams.

The use of ads and adbusters is a most effective tool in the Business English teaching since it supposes the ability to analyze linguistic and inter-cultural situations which is a necessary precondition for creating ads and adbusters in the given language. It is noteworthy, that the efficiency of a foreign language teaching is first and foremost ensured in case inter-disciplinary relations have been considered, i.e. the ones that exist between the given foreign language and the professional field the student is engaged in. Future specialists of business should be competent in linguostylistic and psychological peculiarities of ads and adbusters. From the methodological perspective they should also be able to create ads, adbusters and resumes using various communicative methods and forms.

Along with technological advancements worldwide there is a growing demand in machine translation as well. With its various and most diverse translation opportunities, computer translation, however, has its disadvantages and restrictions. At the current stage of technological development, translation done by a translator will provide a higher quality and effectiveness if it is combined with the employment of machine translation tools.

The article attempts to analyze the worldview of the famous modernist Eliot, the relation between the contemporary and classical literatures and the possibilities of the poetic language. In his youth Eliot was not able to fully understand and perceive Goethe’s philosophy in its depth since he viewed it in complete isolation from his poetry. Only years after did he come to the conclusion that the greatness of a genius is demonstrated in his ability to merge the philosophical mind with the poetic language thereby creating infinite semantic opportunities for the given language.

The present article examines the translated versions of the Armenian word yeghern in English and the semantic field of its equivalence. Based on the well-known speech/language dichotomy which is of fundamental importance in linguistics, the author examines the word as a unit of the language system and as an element endowed with a certain amount of dynamism and stylistic and pragmatic nuances in speech. The study of the word yeghern at the linguistic level is based on numerous data provided by explanatory, terminological and synonym dictionaries.
The study of the speech peculiarities of the use of this unit is carried out from the point of view of the horizontal and vertical contexts based on the appeal to the Swedish parliament of 68 specialists of various fields.
The investigation confirms that despite the broad semantic field of the unit both in Armenian and in English, the English equivalent for the word yeghern is genocide – the only equivalent which was internationally acknowledged back in 1948.

The present article examines the methods and stages of the policy of Turkification of the non-Muslim toponyms in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. Being stable linguistic facts, toponyms supply valuable material for topography and studies of dialects, ethnography, history and geography. They also contain important linguistic facts which can confirm the national belonging of a given settlement. Hence, realizing the strategic value of toponyms, the Turkish authorities have changed, distorted and have tried to get hold of the Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Laz toponyms through translations ascribing them Turkish and at times Kurdish origins. The article contains the translated version of Enver Pasha’s decree on Turkification of toponyms issued on January 5, 1916 – a document which aims to conceal the traces of the Armenian Genocide. The article also examines the political aims of the Turkish authorities to replace the term Western Armenia with Eastern Anatolia as well as the dangerous consequences of the use of this term we could face. The Armenian toponyms that have been around since ancient times do not serve as linguistic evidence only. Rather, they provide unbiased historical evidence that reveals the whole truth of the real native masters of the Armenian Highland. Therefore, the protection, preservation and restoration of the Armenian toponyms is of great strategic significance for us.

The article analyzes Levon Shant’s interpretations of the literary and ideological value of the works by Grigor Narekatsi, the medieval Armenian genius. Shant paid special attention to Narekatsi’s poetic art and his spiritual achievements, regarding them as significant. The great interest Shant demonstrates towards not only Narekatsi, but also earlier Armenian Renaissance issues cannot be neglected.

Siamanto’s poetry is closely connected with the metrical characteristics of medieval poetry. Writing in accordance with the basic structural standards of free verse he connected the poetic meters of Armenian medieval lyrical poetry with various stylistic elements of modern poetry of the start of the century. The article presents poetic meters which were used by both several medieval poets, and Siamanto. The structural changes carried out by Siamanto have also been partly addressed in the present article.

The article examines the interrelation between death, memory and the material in Armenian culture. The image of a dead person can revive after his death turning into a material memory. This memory is usually preserved with the help of cross-stones, gravestones and statues that come to replace a living person. The article makes reference to the attitude of the society to the photos. Samples of written speech on gravestones have also undergone research. The aim of our work is to create a bond between the perished one and the society through language.