The thesis deals with the subject of semantics of colours in the Czech folk texts using theoretical and methodological framework of culturally oriented and cognitive approaches to language. In order to contribute to the research of the colour domain in linguistic picture of the world in Czech, semantic structure of colour concepts is examined using qualitative analysis of the occurrences excerpted from the corpora of the selected compilations of folk songs of the 19th century. The topic of radiance and visual salience of colours and their manifestations in the source material is discussed as well. Furthermore, the thesis examines if conclusions concerning the usage of colour terms in folk texts drawn by the studies based on the folklore of other Slavic languages can be applicable to the Czech material.

The dissertation aims at the analysis of the traditional linguistic worldview of the woman in Czech. Theoretically and methodologically, the dissertation follows from the modern Polish ethnolinguistics, i.e. a discipline focusing on the studies of language in relation to culture, which uses the term of "linguistic worldview", referring specifically to the ways in which the values and experience of the particular society have been written into its language. The aim of the dissertation is to reconstruct the image (the stereotype) of the woman in Czech, i.e. to reveal the structure of stereotypical characteristics related to the woman in the language and the culture. The attention was paid primarily to the traditional image, built in the centuries before the dramatic changes of the society and the women's role in modern times. The analysis of the Czech vocabulary (including phraseology) and of the traditional songs lyrics, minor folklore genres as well as classical Czech literature has led to the reveal and subsequent characterization of four specific modes of the linguistic worldview of the woman, divided according to the three aspects (profiles) - the age, the appearance and the social role - as the young girl (maiden), the wife, the mother and the old woman. Each of them involves the general as...

The dissertation The Linguistic Picture of Death, Afterlife and Dying in Primary and Secondary School Pupils is devoted to the reconstruction of the linguistic picture of death in these groups of pupils, its mutual comparison and its comparison with the developed psychological concept of death. Furthermore, it describes how the taboo of this topic manifests itself in the pupils' linguistic picture of death and which modifications of the linguistic picture of the world are shown in the linguistic picture of death among pupils. In the first part, the dissertation deals with the concept of death in language and culture, and thus also with the linguistic and socio-cultural taboo of this phenomenon. We deal with the development of the conception of death in history and also the development of the concept of death of children and youth. The theoretical frame for this work is based on the methods of cognitive linguistics and its approach to linguistic research. We characterize this linguistic approach, its methods and the main representatives in the next part of the work. We use cognitive linguist methods not only for processing but also for collecting language data. In the third part, we analyze system, text and empirical language data. Textual data are derived from texts of intentional literature for...

The aim of this thesis is to create an ethnolinguistic analysis of two corpuses of Mongolian riddles (Lovor and Ölziikhutag 1990 and Ölziikhutag 2013). The work contains over one hundred riddles appended with translations and morpheme-to-morpheme glosses. The riddles are further analyzed on a phonetic level, including descriptions of specific sound patterns and alliterations, as well as their lexical and semantic properties. This complex analysis, in conjunction with findings gained in field research, renders possible the description of a specific language of Mongolian riddles, characterized by the frequent occurrence of borrowings, the presence of semantically and phonetically 'damaged' words, ideophones, metaphors and many specific cultural expressions. The language of Mongolian riddles also often skilfully exploits overt abstractions, allusions, and lexical and morphological ambiguities, in addition to other techniques which facilitate conceptual mapping and cognitive blending. This linguistic analysis makes possible a description of the various aspects of the worldview of Mongolian nomads concealed in these riddles, including the characteristic linking of the 'sacred and profane,' as well as the relationship of these riddles to mythology and religious ideas.

Bibliography: leaves 253-298 / This study examines the language, identity and intercultural communication dynamics in the Xhosa communities of Cape Town where some immigrant Shona speakers dwell. Language is a complex and nuanced repertoire of culture and the choice of language constitutes part of an individual’s identity construction. Owing to these identity dynamics, the Shona speakers resident among the Xhosa communities find themselves entangled in the politics of belonging and identity that define the Shona-Xhosa immigrant landscape in Cape Town. The Shona speakers engaging in intercultural communication in Xhosa communities are confronted with language and cultural hurdles. Orbe’s Co-cultural Theory among others was central to the unpacking of the intricacies of culture and the Xhosa hegemony. Results show that Shona people speak Xhosa for social acceptance and to secure economic benefits. Nevertheless, this seems not to offer them profound indulgence with the Xhosa culture. Even if they comprehend the culture, their Shona cultural identity hampers their full admission into the Xhosa culture. This lack of cultural acceptance leaves the Shona speakers alienated from both Xhosa and Shona cultures. In that regard, Shona speakers among Xhosa communities in Cape Town live a fluid life in which relentless cultural change is the only constant. This transitory life promotes intercultural concession in the personal layer of self, leading to the emergence of a hybrid multicultural self-concept. The study thus contributes towards scholarship by revealing that the differences in individual linguistic circumstances in the process of intercultural negotiation appear to produce different levels of acquisition of the Xhosa culture and Xhosa by the Shona speakers. This is corroborated by the fact that Shona speakers who could not speak English learnt Xhosa faster than those who could speak English. This study argues that the maintenance of the Shona language by its speakers in Xhosa communities is as much their duty, as it is their right. Ultimately, the study posits that ethnocentrism stifles the intercultural communication process and leads to tiffs in multicultural communities / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Phil. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)