The master thesis is called Indirect Speech Acts in series Vyprávěj and according to the title, it refers to indirect speech acts in the particular Czech series. The master thesis is based on Speech Act Theory by J. Austin, P. Grice and R. Searle. The most interesting thing on this issue is that words themselves are not so important as the meaning and intention which are hidden behind them. The master thesis would like to prove that indirect speech act is a part of illocution, the aim of a speaker in making an utterance, and stands hierarchical higher than a direct speech act.

4 Abstract The present thesis focused on the differences in the usage of hedging in research articles of native speakers of Czech writing in English and native speakers of English. Hedging is considered to be a fundamental part of any academic text ensuring that the results and outcomes of one's research are successfully communicated to its intended audience. The main aim was to discover, by analysing the most heavily hedged, concluding sections of research articles, how the native Czech speakers employ hedging in comparison to native English speaking authors and if they project features typical for Czech academic discourse into their work written in English. The most important outcome of the results of this study is the observation that one of the most salient features of Czech academic discourse, which is the low degree of authorial presence and interactivity of the text, does significantly influence the way the Czech authors present the outcomes of their research in English. This is evidenced by the significant difference in the frequency of the reader-oriented hedging strategies in the NCS corpus.

This diploma thesis examines how the first, spring wave of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated aspects were presented by Czech media, specifically by the opinion sections of reputable mainstream online media in three three-days intervals in different phases of this period. Its main premise is that the way media refer to a social reality can significantly influence this reality, its theoretical part is therefore focused on the reciprocal relationship between media and society, mainly the social construction of reality and discourse, besides also describing the pandemic itself and the trends in the usage of media during the analysed period. The research itself was made using the discourse analysis method. The central chapter of the thesis presents key findings in ten subchapters focused on the main discursive tendencies, common language elements and social phenomena being referred to. The interference of the COVID-19 discourse with the ones about the government restrictions, economic development and the assumed Chinese origin of the virus was salient, the parallels with other diseases or historic events or eras were also common. Metaphors, neologisms, fallacies or metadiscourse reflections appeared in the analysed texts as well. The dynamics of the discourse that was varying depending on the...

This diploma thesis deals with the critical mapping of British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood with a focus on the relationship between her activist actions and branding. The goal of this thesis is to analyse discourse practice and uncover the meaning behind creating Westwood's media image. Westwood is actively involved in political, social and environmental matters. She's known for her critical stance towards the establishment, consumer society as well as economic system. She stood at the beginning of punk and helped to define its visual identity. She belongs amongst known sustainable fashion advocates which reflects her famous quote 'buy less, choose well, make it last'. On the other hand, she built a global fashion brand with annual turnover of more than 40.7 million pounds in 2017 and she herself became the subject of criticism because of this contradiction towards her own actions. Some critics pointed out that she urges the public to consume less but owns a global network of stores under her name at the same time. From a methodological point of view the thesis is based on qualitative research, specifically on critical discourse analysis whose mechanisms help to uncover power relationships and put this issue into a broader context.

The diploma thesis deals with the characteristics of the discourse of selected Czech food blogs. On the one hand the food blogs, which are considered here as part of the media content, have common features with other culinary discourses, on the other hand they have their specifics, which are given mainly by their multimodal nature. The theoretical part therefore introduces the culinary discourse, as well as the phenomenon of blogging, which was made possible with the advent of the Internet and web services. The thesis then presents a brief food blogs history and previous foreign research, that dealt with the characteristics of the food blogs language. Qualitative analysis of discourse, which was used for the food blogs analysis in the research part of the thesis, focuses on common language and formal features of food blogs, discourses of individual authors and the most common topics that food blogs contain. The research material was selected based on the results of the last year of the Food blog roku competition. These are contributions from three popular Czech food blogs, which were published on blogs in the first half of 2019. These contributions were subjected to an in-depth analysis, the results of which are subsequently presented in the thesis.

This thesis focuses on the Aeronet.cz website and the division of society into 'Us' and 'Them' in the context of the website. The thesis is divided into two parts - a theoretical one and a research one. The theoretical part aims to describe the background of the researched website and certain phenomena which are believed to be connected to the website. This part also includes a review of theoretical concepts pertaining to the connection of language and ideology. Furthermore, certain strategies utilized in group identity construction and division of society into differently evaluated segments are described. The research is conducted in the form of a semiotic analysis but incorporates certain elements of critical discourse analysis as well. The analysis has two main goals. The first goal is to describe the composition of 'Us' and 'Them' groups in the context of the portal, the second goal is to investigate which strategies of identity construction are employed to achieve such division. To support the findings, the thesis offers a detailed overview of individual entities and their evaluation. A description of strategies from all levels of the research, which were used to evaluate a certain entity, is also included. The discussion consists of synthesis of all the findings with respect to both...

CHARLES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Sociological Studies Department of Sociology Analysis of the political discourse on migration in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic: restrictive or liberal approach? Abstract of the Master's thesis Author: Ilia Kovalev Study programme: Sociology Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Zdeněk Uherek, CSc. Year of the defence: 2021 References KOVALEV, Ilia. Analysis of the political discourse on migration in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic: restrictive or liberal approach? Prague, 2021. 80 pages. Master's thesis (Mgr.). Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociological Studies. Department of Sociology. Supervisor doc. PhDr. Zdeněk Uherek, CSc. Length of the thesis: 120256 characters Abstract Most of the previous research that has examined migration in the Czech Republic has focused primarily on the development of migration flows and changes in government strategies in this area, not on how we think about this issue and how we talk about it. Therefore, the aim of this Thesis is to analyze the political discourse on migration in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on the hypothesis of the existence of two consistent discourse attitudes, which represent restrictive and...

In over 20 years of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there has been no significant progress towards a peaceful agreement. It has been argued that there is not enough incentive for leaders to agree to a compromise and that the citizens are not ready to accept one. In this context, the way the conflict and the enemy are described in public discourse is important not only because it represents the viewpoints of those producing the discourse but because it can have a real effect on public opinion. This paper examines discourse on Azerbaijan and the future of Nagorno-Karabakh in an official newspaper, showing that distrust of Azerbaijan and rigid expectations about the future of Nagorno-Karabakh are dominant.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of Early Warning Systems (EWS), a key part of conflict prevention. It applies a model of quantitative analysis of international media outputs on the case of the Mali insurgency in January 2012. As an EWS tool, it analyzes international media represented by the major global press agencies. The main goal of the thesis is to answer the following research question: Did the international media manage to anticipate the outbreak of the conflict in Mali? The answer should also show whether international media can detect growing tensions leading to a conflict and therefore whether they could be used as an EWS tool. The application of the model should, observing the period from August 2011 to the beginning of the insurgency on January 17, 2012, prove whether the conflict could have been anticipated. In order to contextualize the model, structural factors of instability were identified in the discussion of the dynamics of the conflict that has been repeating itself for dozens of years. A discourse analysis of international media during the observed period was also presented on the background of the securitization theory of the Copenhagen school of security studies. The discourse analysis and the quantitative EWS model have both shown that international media have not...

The thesis deals with media representation of protests in the Czech media. They are anti-communist protests, student, "anti - austerity", anti-Roma and anti-racist or antifascist. The author has used critical discourse analysis on a sample of media texts from 1/2008 to 7/2014 period. It focused on analyzing the labeling of protesters, representing the relationship between the protests and democracy and the protesters and society or "ordinary people". The author concludes that labeling the protesters as well as representation of the relationship between protest and democracy in the reference sample strongly reflects the overall concept of the Czech post-communist identity as the one that emphasizes moderation, but also individualism or rather minimalist definition of politics as limited to the party or parliamentary politics. As congruent are usually presented anticommunist protests and student protests, on the other hand suspicious or problamatic are framed union protests or "radical" or "extrem" protests.