Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 2010 vol. 46.1
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Item Spontaneous use of vocabulary learning strategies(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Zybert, JerzyThe paper argues that language learners employ learning strategies naturally. To corroborate the claim it presents a research on vocabulary learning strategies and provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the findings and concludes with some pedagogical suggestions.Item Telling it straight: A comparison of selected English and Polish idioms from the semantic field of speaking(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Szczepaniak, Renata; Adamska-Sałaciak, ArletaThis paper attempts to illustrate one way of achieving greater precision in presenting idiomatic equivalents by implementing the functionally-oriented methodological instrument devised by Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen (2005). A small-scale analysis along the three parameters of semantics, syntax and pragmatics is carried out with a view to identifying and explaining all cross-linguistic contrasts and similarities between selected English and Polish near-equivalent idioms from the semantic field of speaking. The empirical data of this study includes corpus evidence, apart from the available monolingual, bilingual and phraseological dictionaries. The resultant descriptions of the idiomatic expressions attest the validity of a functional approach to contrastive idiom analysis, which, unlike judgments based on the superficial properties of idioms (i.e. their lexical components, structure), reveals that differences in images will not always prevent idioms with similar actual meaning from being regarded as equivalents. On the other hand, closeness of underlying imagery does not guarantee identity with respect to all parameters of comparison (especially pragmatics).Item On the relationship between grammaticalization and reanalysis(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Jarad, Najib IsmailThis paper seeks to explain and exemplify the relationship between grammaticalization and reanalysis, two important processes of grammatical change which occur in language. The ultimate goal of this paper is to prove that whilst the two are crucially related, they are not mutually dependent and can extensively occur alone. The paper focuses on the shift of for from the thematic function and/or case realizer to the modern pure complementizer status.Item Teaching punctuation in Early Modern England(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Rodríguez-Álvarez, AliciaMuch has been written on the punctuation practice of late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English writers in order to work out the ultimate function of marks of punctuation. The main point of discussion has almost ever been whether punctuation indicated syntactic relationships or represented speech pauses either to give emphasis in oral delivery or just to be able to breathe. The focus of this paper, however, is the theory rather than the practice, in particular, the set of rules and conventions used by schoolmasters to guide students in their use of stops. Thus, textbooks used at the time to teach reading and writing will constitute our main sources of information to achieve the following aims: (i) to offer a classification of the different marks of punctuation described, (ii) to establish the functions schoolbooks assigned to punctuation marks in general, and (iii) to assess the importance schoolmasters gave to pointing. The results of this study – which follows the works by Ong (1944) and Salmon (1962, 1988) – will contribute to shed light on the ever-lasting debate on the principles guiding Early Modern English punctuation usage.Item Rhetorical evaluation of seventeenth century prefaces to English treatises on midwifery(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Sánchez-Cuervo, MargaritaThis study tries to offer a rhetorical account of the main arguments and figures encountered in 17th c. English prefaces, dealing with the art of midwifery and the delivery of children. I foreground a main causal argument wherein the author states the necessity for a treatise of this delicate nature and proposes the motives for its requirement. In doing so, some other reasonings support the causation and provide the reader with more evidence for a good performance at childbirth. In addition, the arguments are enhanced by the presence of some figures of communion that contribute to the rhetorical organisation, and help to portray the prologue as an expository discourse. The insistence on complying with the author’s directions, and the urge not to follow some predecessors’ work also suggests the new authority that the early modern English preface writer is acquiring.Item The origin of "abandon" and "random"(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2010) Diensberg, BernhardModern English ban and related lexemes will be shown to have their origin in common with abandon, the latter of disputed etymology. This applies to a still greater extent to random, for the origin of which a plausible solution will be presented. A last paragraph is devoted to the etymology of Modern English PLAN.