https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse <p>The journal publishes original research in the traditional fields English studies, i.e. linguistics, literature and translation studies. </p> Masaryk University en-US Brno Studies in English 0524-6881 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40066 Jan Chovanec Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 5 11 10.5817/BSE2024-1-1 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40067 Memes occupy a central position in the culture of the internet, which is at the center of contemporary culture. Therefore it is crucial to understand how memes can be used for political purposes. A basic issue is that, in the process of production of the variants of a meme, the contents of the meme change. I refer to these changes as memetic drift. In this paper, I show that memetic drift tends to go from specific to generic meanings, but beyond that it is random and unpredictable. This has profound implications for the use of memes for political discourse as the producers of the memes cannot control how the memes will be adapted, remixed, and changed. This process is investigated in some detail in a case study of the Dark Brandon meme, a pro-Biden meme that originates in anti-Biden memes. This shows that memes are floating signifiers, i.e., signs that do not connect fixed signifiers and signifieds (meanings). Because of the random nature of the drift of these floating signifiers I propose the metaphor of memes as "jetsam," cultural debris that belong to no one in particular, but can be seized by any community for their purposes. Salvatore Attardo Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 13 31 10.5817/BSE2024-1-2 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40068 This study explores the metaphorical portrayal of women as animals in Victorian prose fiction, focusing on four mid-19th-century novels. Its objectives are to unveil the nuances of women's conceptualisation as animals and to investigate gender disparities in the use of animal metaphors among novelists. Employing the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as the theoretical basis, this research examines metaphorical mappings and ontological correspondences between the source domain (ANIMAL) and the target domain (HUMAN BEING), identifying the general conceptual metaphor WOMAN IS AN ANIMAL, along with the constituent submetaphors WOMAN IS A WILD ANIMAL and WOMAN IS A DOMESTIC ANIMAL. The findings highlight a prevalent negative portrayal of females as animals and mirror the societal attitudes towards women during the Victorian era. The frequency counts reveal no significant gender disparities among the authors in their use of animal metaphors or in the derogatory depiction of women. Liudmyla Hryzhak Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 33 53 10.5817/BSE2024-1-3 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40069 The article presents two ways in which the classification accuracy of describing Anglicisms could be improved. Firstly, by distinguishing two layers of Anglicisms, based on how they came into existence. Secondly, by revising the simplifying dichotomous division into discrete direct and indirect Anglicisms in view of their hybrid variants (found in both layers) which disrupt the dichotomy and allow Anglicisms to be seen as a continuum. Inasmuch as directness and indirectness of Anglicisms (i.e. their being either transferred or translated from English) correspond to their 'visibility', their being clearly of English origin or not, Anglicisms can be also arranged on a scale of 'in/visibility'. The article concludes with the proposal of an alternative taxonomy of Anglicisms. Aleš Klégr Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 55 70 10.5817/BSE2024-1-4 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40070 The present study aims to describe processes of context-induced reinterpretation affecting the semantic prosody of phrasal verbs (henceforth PVs) during the Late Modern English period (1750–1850). Diachronically, the semantic evolution of PVs has been associated with semantic reanalysis and idiomatization (Akimoto 1999; Rodríguez-Puente 2019; Leone 2023). When approached by adopting a phraseological perspective (Sinclair 1991; Stubbs 2002), the changes that occurred in the period 1750–1850 have been explained "as the effect of a reinterpretation driven by context-specific factors" (Leone 2019: 265). There are no studies examining the role of the lexical environment in the changes affecting the semantic prosody of PVs. The present study is a corpus-based investigation undertaken on the Late Modern English–Old Bailey Corpus (1750–1850), which includes texts taken from the Proceedings of the Old Bailey. The analysis reveals that the selected PVs (lock up, take away, throw away) during the period 1750–1850 underwent changes affecting their semantic prosody, driven by context-induced processes, but also conventionalized their extant uses. Ljubica Leone Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 71 86 10.5817/BSE2024-1-5 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40071 In the press releases (PRs) issued by universities to showcase the research of their affiliated authors, the purpose of knowledge dissemination seems to coexist with that of self-promotion (e.g. Di Ferrante et al., 2021; Petrocelli et al., 2022). This reflects the hybrid nature of corporate PRs (e.g., Jacobs, 1999; Catenaccio, 2008). Considering that academic discourse often enhances reliability through hedging strategies (e.g., Hyland, 1998a), whereas science news tends to emphasise the impact of findings (e.g., Stocking, 1999), this study examines how hedges and boosters of academic discourse manifest in press releases. A mixed-method approach was used to analyse 30 academic articles and their associated press releases. Results highlight the prevalence of boosters in PRs. However, these also contain hedges to convey credibility by acknowledging scientific uncertainties. Further studies with a larger corpus and additional metadiscursive elements are proposed to validate these results. Emilia Petrocelli Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 87 113 10.5817/BSE2024-1-6 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40072 This paper explores the representation of cultural identities in fictional dialogic interactions, focusing on a famous (and controversial) detective from the 1930s novels by E.D. Biggers, Charlie Chan, linked to the model minority Chinese stereotype, which implies traits like modesty and self-representation. Chan's (stereo)typical politeness is expressed in the dialogues that represent the backbone of the novels, involving the main character and his suspects. The fictional nature of the dialogues makes them particularly interesting, as the intercultural exchange is conceived by a Western author, who stages his characters complying with stereotyped models and with a view to the expectations of his intended (Western) audience. The dialogic interactions examined in this paper are from Bigger's novel The Black Camel (1929), and involve Chan and Tarneverro, an ambiguous character who offers his assistance to Chan, while remaining a suspect. In the dialogues, the two resort to recurring strategies which will be analyzed in the framework of intercultural politeness theories, with specific attention to their relevant linguistic traits. On the one hand, facework depends on their different roles in the investigation; on the other, different stereotypical cultural traits may lead to the exploitation of a different set of strategies. Dora Renna Francesca Santulli Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 115 135 10.5817/BSE2024-1-7 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40073 This article examines the boundaries of the term 9/11 novel by exploring what we truly mean when we say a novel is about 9/11 and what are the issues in reading general twenty-first-century literature through 9/11. By taking a thorough look at 9/11 literary scholarship, I argue that the issue of defining the 9/11 novel has been largely overlooked; consequently, the label 9/11 has often been stamped too easily on twenty-first-century fiction. In the aim to establish the boundaries of 9/11 fiction, I compare the thematic, temporal, and spatial features of some of the most iconic 9/11 novels to two works which have been commonly read as 9/11 novels even though they do not explicitly discuss the attacks, Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America. By building on this discussion, I offer a concise definition of what a 9/11 novel is and where 9/11 ends. Sini Eikonsalo Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 137 153 10.5817/BSE2024-1-8 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40074 The phenomenon of realist literary fiction has been in the centre of attention of theoreticians and thinkers since onset. The study focuses on a critical comparison of various aspects of the realist novel in selected early discussions of realist literature, as delivered namely by Émile Zola, Hippolyte Taine, Gustav Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, and others, and of those delivered by Roman Jakobson in his influential study On realism in Arts (1921). This comparison is also enriched by the context of modern theoretical investigation in the field and shows the major similarities and dissimilarities between the early views of realism and its modern theoretical depiction. Bohumil Fořt Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 155 165 10.5817/BSE2024-1-9 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40075 "Guides can not master the subtleties of the American joke," Mark Twain writes after he finishes a bout of stymying European efforts to teach culture to him and his comrades in The Innocents Abroad (293). The joke is double-barreled: Europeans do not realize the joke is on them for being stuck in their past and because Americans are not as dull-witted as they seem, but the joke is also of course on clueless traveling Americans, thrashing about Europe for cultural self-improvement. However, and mostly overlooked in previous analyses, there really is a "subtlety" to that multi-layered term "the American joke." Acknowledging earlier socio-historical analyses of Twain's confrontation between new and old worlds, as well as criticism problematizing the idea of authenticity in travel or implicating his book in Western imperialism, this paper instead explores via the lens of Menippean satire Twain's complex narrative construction of his "joke", which ultimately blends humor and horror. Andrew L. Giarelli Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 167 183 10.5817/BSE2024-1-10 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40076 This study contextualizes the colonial conceptions of disease and disability in the context of Native Hawaiians, focusing on Alan Brennert's Moloka'i. The narrative investigates the interwoven nature of disability and indigeneity to challenge the colonial characterization of leprosy. Western colonial authority constructs a racialized image of lepers through various apparatuses, defining the Other as a subject for scientific curiosity and experimentation. Moloka'i delineates Kānaka resilience against Western stigmatization and marginalization by decolonizing the dominant colonial paradigms. Three interconnected themes – kinship, place, and knowledge-making – articulate the connections between Native Hawaiians, ‘āina (the land), and their ancestors. Contrary to the Western conception of a natural prison, the island of Moloka'i is positioned as a focal point for Indigenous revival and cultural resurgence. Traditional beliefs, kinship structures, and connections to the land actively shape the experience and understanding of disability in Kānaka epistemology. Reading on Moloka'i highlights Indigenous resilience against colonial impositions based upon the intersection between disability and indigeneity. Kristiawan Indriyanto Ida Rochani Adi Galant Nanta Adhitya Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 185 200 10.5817/BSE2024-1-11 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40077 This article aims to explore the importance of secrecy, both state and individual, in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, a science fiction novel that narrates its events in two different timelines, one during World War II, the other presumably at the end of the 20th century. The two timelines in which the novel takes place present numerous state and individual secrets that give rise to readings about the need (or not) for a society of total transparency, as well as various ethical conflicts that may arise in the reader. These conflicts may arise from the audience's empathy towards certain characters and the unfolding of various secrets and plots involving these characters throughout the novel. Juan L. Pérez-de-Luque Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 201 215 10.5817/BSE2024-1-12 https://journals.phil.muni.cz/bse/article/view/40078 Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel (1964) explores the process of aging as a time of reflection and self-discovery, marked by a reassessment of perspective and life values. This personal transformation juxtaposes the development of a renewed relation to nature, both literal and metaphorical. However, this transformative process is complicated by intergenerational divides, misunderstanding, and resistance to change. Mutual understanding between generations and acceptance of the idea of humans as part of nature are prerequisites for personal and societal growth. Significantly, the anger that often accompanies the necessary reassessment of values can be productively channelled as a driving force for positive change. Through the lens of Laurence's novel, the article demonstrates the potential for intergenerational understanding and cooperation to facilitate positive social change. It is not resistance but rather this mutual understanding that can be achieved at any age, offering the possibility of reconciliation at both personal and societal levels. Pavlína Studená Copyright © https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.cs 2024-12-28 2024-12-28 50 1 217 233 10.5817/BSE2024-1-13