Brno studies in English 

About: Brno studies in English is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Identity (social science) & Narrative. It has an ISSN identifier of 1211-1791. Over the lifetime, 279 publications have been published receiving 836 citations.

Stranger than fiction? : a few methodological notes on linguistic research in film discourse

Abstract: This theoretical essay addresses a number of methodological problems perti nent to linguistic research on film discourse. First of all, attention is paid to the interdependence between contemporary film discourse and everyday language, with a view to dispersing doubts about the former’s legitimacy in language studies. Also, the discussion captures the interface between a character’s identity portrayal and the target audience’s socio-cultural background and expectations. Another objective is to elaborate a model of film discourse’s twofold layering, viz. the fictional layer and the film crew’s layer; and two communicative levels, namely the characters’ level and the viewer’s level, on which meanings are communicated and inferred by the viewer, who is conceptualised as the recipient. Additionally, the notion of recipient design will be endorsed in order to demonstrate that meanings are purposefully communicated to, and thus gleaned by, the viewer. Several postulates are propounded concerning the viewer’s understanding and appreciation of film discourse.

Trolling in online discussions: from provocation to community-building

Abstract: This paper focuses on the practice of trolling in online discussions. Working with a corpus taken from the websites of three British newspapers, it examines how users themselves define trolling; comparison with a previous study (Hardaker 2010) suggests that users’ definitions of trolling may vary depending on the discussion topic. The paper then presents a qualitative pragmatic analysis of one discussion which was attacked by trolls. After examining how trolls announce their presence and attempt to provoke reactions from core community members, the article then moves on to discuss several salient aspects of the antagonistic facework used during the ensuing ‘flame war’. Finally, the article turns to address the social dimension of trolling, outlining how a practice which is generally considered destructive can also paradoxically have constructive effects, helping to build new communities and strengthen existing ones.

Euphemism and political discourse in the british regional press

Abstract: Politicians resort to euphemism as a “safe” way to deal with unpleasant subjects and criticize their opponents without giving a negative impression to their audiences. In this regard, it is my purpose to gain an insight into the way euphemism is used by politicians from Norfolk and Suffolk both at word and sentence level using a sample of the regional newspaper Eastern Daily Press, published in Norwich (UK). To this end, I will rely on the frameworks of critical-political discourse analysis (Van Dijk 1993, 1997; Wilson 2001), pragmatic theory, particularly politeness and facework (Brown and Levinson 1987), and Cognitive Metaphor Theory (Lakoff 1993). The results obtained reveal that euphemism plays an important role in the “self-promotion” of regional politicians, who employ euphemism – mostly by understatement, litotes and underspecification – for a variety of purposes, namely sensitivity to audience concerns, avoidance of expressions that can be perceived to marginalize socially disadvantaged groups, polite criticism and mitigation – even concealment – of unsettling topics.

CoerCive Metaphors in news headlines: a Cognitive-pragMatiC approaCh

Abstract: This article explores the application of metaphors in news headlines with a view to interrogating their potential for coercion. Coercion in news discourse is understood as a strategic deployment of pragma-linguistic devices, including metaphors, to foreground the representations of socio-political reality that are compatible with the interests of the news outlet rather than those that inform public debate. It is argued that coercion can be exposed through systematic discourse analysis. Methodologically, the study aims to integrate the cognitive and pragmatic approaches to metaphor in regarding it as both a conceptual building block of news representations and a strategic framing device in news discourse. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a sample of metaphors excerpted from a corpus of 400 most-read headlines from one of the most visited English-language newspaper sites The Daily Mail is conducted to illustrate such coercive applications of metaphor as simplification, imaging, animalization, confronta tion, (de)legitimization, emotionalization, and dramatization. In the course of the analysis it is demonstrated how certain ideologically-biased representations can be coerced through figurative language.