Linguistics and Culture

Chaney states two consequences that became characteristics of cultural studies: first, it became very important how one understands and evaluates pieces of arts and second, judging a piece of art as “great” is not enough to understand and interpret it as bourgeois frequently did in Marxist tradition. These characteristics of cultural studies gave birth to another idea: methodology of cultural analysis became the most crucial aspect of interpreting. Accordingly, judging and interpreting literary works have also taken a turn by centering human beings and culture in its center. Since literature feeds itself from life and human beings and it is a reflection of civilizations and societies, it was only natural to view a literary work through a cultural window. Culture as a broad term, requires a thorough study from individuals’s lifes to conventions of society, from psychology to sociology. If culture is to be taken as basis in artistic judgement and interpretation, a strong link between arts and above listed fields and principles is definitely required.

Several years have elapsed since the defense of my PhD thesis. While I currently do not have opportunity to publish the work in a book form, I understand that recently there has been a revival and significant interest in the linguo-cultural studies with Bulgarian and other Slavonic languages. Therefore, I decided to take the chance and upload my work to Academia, in order to give more of my colleague linguists the opportunity to read it (and appreciate my great value as a linguistic and cultural studies guru, of course).
I’d like to use the occasion to thank my thesis advisor P. Legurska for her help and support during the thesis writing and defense, and my reviewers, L. Krumova-Tsvetkova and M. Almalech, for their objective reviews and for the many positive and useful recommendations I received from them.
The thesis has been uploaded in its original version, dated from the thesis defense (February 25 th, 2010). A couple of small adjustments and comments have been added, which have by no means altered the original intentions of the thesis.
Enjoy it!

Propõe-se que o vínculo entre a(s) identidade(s) e a(s) cultura(s) pode e deve ser examinado na perspectiva do contato e do conflito linguístico, considerando-se ainda as territorialidades envolvidas no processo. Os mitos da formação de uma cultura procedem em grande parte de preconceitos que dizem respeito, dentre outras coisas, ao que se costuma chamar de invenção da escrita. Algumas das questões que nortearam as discussões foram:
a) O que veio antes, a fala ou a escrita, o gesto ou a fala?
b) Como se deu a relação entre transmissão de mitos, escrita e religião?
c) Qual foi e qual é a função da cultura ou da identidade na formação das línguas ao longo da História?
d) A função da escrita seria de comunicar, perenizar, elitizar ou democratizar?
Este livro objetiva mostrar a complexidade e os paradoxos que regem as relações nada evidentes entre esses conceitos. Será possível notar que se assiste nos dias de hoje a uma nova revolução que transforma radicalmente o lugar da língua, da cultura, da identidade e da escrita nas sociedades — revolução geralmente associada à globalização e à internet.
Um grande ponto de conflito, portanto, é a própria definição daquilo que é uma língua, em oposição, por exemplo, a uma variedade, um dialeto, um socioleto ou um registro – aqui também outro ponto que está longe de ser pacífico. Geralmente, recorre-se à escrita para caracterizar uma língua, em oposição a outros “falares” de menos prestígio. Mas, pergunta-se: como se pode sustentar o uso da escrita para tanto, já que parece ser demonstrado que uma língua e a escrita da qual ela faz uso são, na verdade, processos e objetos diferentes? O que dizer, então, das línguas que não possuem escrita ou que possuem mais de uma forma de escrita? A discussão é realmente complexa.

The thesis has been elaborated within the scientific area of linguoculturology (linguistics and cultural studies). The “concept” has been chosen as a major unit of analysis for the dissertation, and could basically be defined as a mental construct with its own realization in language. In this particular case, the author has examined the linguistic realization of the concepts expressed through the nouns good and evil.
A contrastive linguistic modeling of the concepts of good and evil in the naïve consciousness of the Bulgarian and Russian language personalities has been attempted, which allowed the author to discover common features in their content and volume. A base for the inter-linguistic comparison (tertium comparationis) of the concepts of good and evil has been worked out based on a large variety of language material in Bulgarian and Russian – surveys, dictionaries, proverbs, and lexical corpora. As a result of this contrastive study, a specific structure has been created involving the core and periphery of the concepts under analysis.

This paper examines how the representatives of the Bulgarian and Polish linguocultural community
understand hospitality. Focusing on the linguistic picture of the world in both languages (which entails a
lingo-anthropological analysis of Bulgarian and Polish phrases, idioms, words, and sayings) we discover
some similarities between the Bulgarian and the Polish worldview, linked to the theme of ‘hospitality’.
The study also contains a comparative analysis of Bulgarian/Polish and English expressions. The analysis
is used to outline some unique features in the fragment of the Bulgarian/Polish linguistic picture of the
world we are looking at.

The Bangla world-view has been both liberal and prescriptive varying amongst classes, but having an underlying moral thread that resists deviance. This deviance could be social, professional, individual and sexual. The desire for homogenization is somewhat differently constructed. This is culturally bound and represses individual goals to perpetuate a covert normative adherence. The aim of the paper is not to scandalize cultural constructs or embedded value-systems. The objective is to highlight how the notion of ethical becomes elusive within the cultural system and perceptual framework.

This study aims to investigate the implementation of environmental cost accounting during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to medical waste management at Wangaya General Hospital, Denpasar Indonesia using a qualitative approach through case studies. Data were collected through field observation, documentation, and interviews with 4 key informants. The results show that the Wangaya Hospital had implemented environmental cost accounting, but had not made an explicit disclosure of environmental costs. There is no environmental cost report, and the operational statement is only reported in the goods and services expense account. But in the other hand, Wangaya General Hospital already integrated economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The research results also show that Wangaya General Hospital is still able to manage its business in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study looks at a small fragment of the Bulgarian worldview. On the basis of lingo-cultural analysis of different sayings, words and grammatical constructions in the Bulgarian language I draw conclusions concerning individualism and collectivism in Bulgarian culture. I also analyse Bulgarian native speakers’ views, as expressed through the language, towards personal projection and suppression of this personal projection.

This article draws on recent developments within media linguistics, both regarding the changing objects of research as well as crucial theoretical questions. Regarding the objects, an expansion can be observed, overcoming the long-lasting limitation to journalistic mass media. This change is above all due to changes that came along with digital media communication permeating our everyday lives, but also blurring the lines between one-to-one and one-to-many communication. These far-reaching changes also led to an intensified discussion of central concepts like medium and mediality. As current tendencies within the field, multimodality, culturality, and the triad of produc-tion – product – reception are dis-cussed.

The present study aims to scrutinize the efficiency of using social media on EFL Yemeni learners in Indian universities during COVID-19 pandemic. This research covers four social media_ Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp. The research methodology that is used in this research is quantitative design using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed online using a closed-ended questionnaire. Google forms was exploited in this study. The findings indicate that learners spend more time using social media for learning the English language, and listening is the most improved skill when using social media for learning the English language. Results also indicate that using social media makes learners acquire and practice new vocabularies and decrease their spelling errors. Finally, YouTube is the most used social media platform used for learning the English language. More research is needed to clarify the impact of other social media such as  Snapchat, Instagram, Wechat...

This article presents a reconstruction of the language picture of the beard in Bulgarian. The analysis was performed with the use of systemic data (derived from Bulgarian language dictionaries) and text data (collected from electronic versions of high-volume magazines, other Internet portals, and from the Bulgarian national corpus). Data originating from Bulgarian folk traditions are also taken into consideration. The image of the beard in the Bulgarian language is based on its symbolic meaning as an attribute of old age, wisdom, experience, power, grandness, and masculinity. A man with a beard is depicted in the language in opposition to a man without a beard (кьосе) of negated masculinity and even stigmatised. Beard in the Bulgarian language is described in relation to its owner, colour, physical properties (length, density and shape), bread growth time, and is assessed for its aesthetic values and sexual attractiveness of a man. At present, a beard reflects fashion preferences and is subject to various care treatments and cosmetic regimens.

For a person to realize their self-improvement, they need to develop their self-affirmation and social communication the function of which consists in the aspiration of a person to recognition, self-realization, and achievement of role and personality certainty. Due to the importance of this issue, the authors aimed to determine the relationship of self-affirmation strategies with the time perspective of the personality. The study of the profile of the students' time perspective was conducted. It was determined to be close to the optimal ones. Significant correlation was established between the indicators of self-repression strategy and the orientation towards the future. During the study, it was proved that orientation to the negative past is typical of the students with a strategy of self-suppression, constructive self-affirmation strategy coreelates with turning to the positive past. Students with a dominant type of self-affirmation are the most oriented to the future.

The purpose of this study was to analyze and determine the strategy of Tourism Higher Education (PTNP) operated by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia towards vision Indonesia’s Golden Generation 2045. This research is a policy research to solve social problems that aims to identify the implementation of adaptation, innovation, and collaboration strategy. The results of this study indicated that Tourism Higher Education (PTNP) in the face of two main trends, namely globalization and pandemic COVID-19. The winning strategy of Tourism Higher Education (PTNP) were, 1) Adaption strategy, by provided facilities and support the lecturer and faculty members to use hightech and also strictly discipline with CHSE standard to protect the spread of  COVID-19 pandemic. 2) Innovation strategy, by using hightech in education and curriculum designed to facilitate long distance learning as well as  the development of big data for personnel, finance, logistics and stud...

The present study attempts to examine (im) politeness in Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, a drama play written by Drew Hayden Taylor. Politeness and impoliteness have received a great amount of attention from many scholars in recent years. The study applied a classification developed by Culpeper in his latest book entitled Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. The classification mainly focuses on conventionalized and implicational impoliteness in literary texts. Drew Heyden through his characters’ conversational dialogues presents numerous (im) polite expressions to both entertain and make actors and audiences think critically. This study applied the previously mentioned classification to examine impoliteness in characters’ expressions. The findings revealed that impoliteness is a common phenomenon in the language used especially by women characters in the play. The main reason behind this is the emotional pain the characters experienced in their life. Impoliteness ...

The methodology for analysing the veracity and accuracy of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad involves a set of specific procedures and activities. The science of hadith helps to clearly assess each individual expression attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in terms of its veracity. The task of hadith scholars is to determine the truth of hadith. Only after examining the biographies of the people mentioned in the Isnad (chain of transmissions) to convince them of their positive moral and intellectual qualities it is possible to judge the authenticity of a particular hadith. The purpose of the study was to conduct a systematic analysis of the stages of hadith study based on Sheikh Abdullah Harare's theology and to draw attention to the complexity of the science of hadith. This study provides traditional insights into the hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad as an important source of Islamic religion and Muslim culture in general. All the Prophet's activities are covered by...

Therapeutic communication will create a trusting relationship between nurses and patients. With thus, patients will feel satisfied and comfortable with the services provided by nurses so as to increase enthusiasm and motivation of patients to recover. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of communication therapeutic nurse with satisfaction of inpatients at RS Columbia Semarang, RSI Tologorejo Semarang, RSIA PKU Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, RS Rem 721 Yogyakarta, RSU Siloam Surabaya, and RS Adi Husada Surabaya in 2020. Types quantitative research with a cross sectional research design. The population in this study were all patients hospitalization in the selected. Sampling using accidental sampling, then obtained the number of samples in this study as many as 40 respondents. Research instrument using questionnaires and data processing using the program. The results obtained from 40 respondents as much as 24 respondents are satisfied with inpatient services and as m...

Kolts of the Kyivan Rus era is a Ukrainian goldsmiths' brand, personification of the highest achievements of artistic thought of the then jewelers, behind which you can feel the huge inner spiritual culture of the masters and their professional impeccable knowledge of materials and techniques. At the same time, the ability of Kyivan Rus authors to crystallize their own domestic style is striking. Its special refinement indicates the deep knowledge the local people had of the best creative achievements of the artistic ecumene, awareness of many of the then fashionable trends of jewelry art in Europe and the East. Currently a significant part of the available artifacts from the heritage of jewelers of the Kyivan Rus era requires verification. After all, using a low level of provenance, individual collections announce fake or “modified” or reconstructed kolts to be the real pre-Ukrainian ones. In this regard, the factors of professional art history attribution are extremely importa...

This article analyzes the phenomenon and behavior of computerization among elementary school-aged children through a literature review of culture, technology, sociology, education, and sociolinguistics. The emphasis of this analysis is from the point of view of the challenges and opportunities of preparing a cultured Islamic generation. We have found the answer to the above problem through an analysis of several publications of previous findings that we obtained through an electronic search and involving analytical studies such as coding systems, data evaluation, in-depth interpretation, and data inference as final findings with the principle of validity and alignment of findings with the problems of this study. The findings show that we have summarized technological trends among elementary school-aged children into two categories. First, digital trends positively impact digital skills development at an early age under the direction and control of educational goals. Another trend is...

Teaching and learning process using mobile application becomes one of alternative tools to substitute face-to-face learning during Pandemic Covid-19. The lecture process during the period has been experienced since March 2020 until the end of the even semester of the academic year 2019/2020. There were various obstacles felt by lecturers and students in the courses. Under normal conditions, learning Arabic as a foreign language is still faced with various problems. Since, there are no specific studies in this issues that have been conducted by experts for Indonesian context, we are interested to identify the perception of students and lecturers on the quality of Arabic teaching and learning process. This research uses qualitative method where the sources of data are students and lecturers of Arabic language education study program Faculty of Islamic Studies, Muhammadiyah University of West Sumatra. The data collection taken from interview by phone. The finding showed that the studen...

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the article is to compare and distinguish between the communication phenomena of sabotage, suicide, and avoidance displayed in the speech of characters of modern Ukrainian plays; to define them as communicative tactics that do not always violate communicative comfort and lead to conflict in communication; to characterize the main communicative goals and maxims affected by these communicative tactics. The key methods of the study, in addition to general scientific ones, were such dedicated linguistic methods as contextual and situational, speech and action analysis of communicative sabotage, suicide, and avoidance, as well as the method of structural and pragmatic analysis to provide characteristics of speech abnormal behavior of characters in modern Ukrainian plays, to identify of the consequences of communicative sabotage, suicide, and avoidance. The tactics violating the rules of the communication code are communicative sabotage, communicative ...

This article contains bilingualism and its importance in human life, as well as the benefits of bilingualism for children, skills and recommendations for identifying their ability to be bilingual, or to develop their language skills. Thus, children have the ability to accept external stimuli, creating them to form their own thoughts in order to recognize similar sounds which together form words and phrases that allow them to easily express thoughts and feelings over the years.

The seeming eternal pursuit of profit by financial institutions and other enterprises has proved to be short-sighted judging from recent studies. Emphases have shifted to securing the goose that lays the golden egg (the customer) rather than the egg itself. This study focused on the imperative of deploying evolving customer-centric platforms such as CRM to manage customer needs satisfactorily to guarantee continued patronage and profit (performance). CRM is revealed as a competitive strategy hotly becoming popular among Nigerian banks - extant literature on its dynamics was clinically x-rayed. Models of relationship management such as relational benefit, network and relational quality models were discussed about service offerings. Survey research was used in a cross-sectional study to test the nature of the association between CRM predictor variables of interactive marketing, service quality and bonding among leading banks in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. These varia...