Thoughts

A Deep Dive into Conceptual Metaphors of Love: A Cognitive Analysis of Taylor Swift's “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” Lyricism

2023-09-21T16:34:10+07:00

This research investigated the musical domain of Taylor Swift, with two primary goals: (1) to identify the conceptual metaphors of love embedded in her lyrics and (2) to demonstrate how these metaphors connect with the fundamental nature of love as an emotion. This study utilized data from Taylor Swift’s official website, focusing on her acclaimed album, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”, which includes a collection of 26 outstanding songs. A detailed analysis highlighted the frequent use of love-related metaphors, revealing that Taylor Swift’s lyrical decisions are not random but are carefully crafted, drawing from universal human experiences. The structural metaphor surfaced as the most prominent style in her songs. Furthermore, this examination offers an in-depth look at Taylor Swift’s unique metaphorical portrayal of love, showcasing the significant role of language in shaping perceptions and profoundly connecting with listeners.

Making Fun of the Make-believe: How The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Takes Revenge on the Discourse of Power

2024-02-19T13:03:50+07:00

This study investigates the courtroom section in Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to explore how the discourse of power is exploited to privilege some and exclude others, and to explain how such institutionalised power can be mimicked, ridiculed and ultimately made irrelevant through cunning courtroom strategies and shifty postmodern theories. The results reveal that scientific knowledge is essentialised and monopolised by the state through practices that brand the female protagonist as insane and deprive her of the most basic form of legal rights. In addition, sanity and insanity alike are shown to be mere representations of the imaginary as they are both mimicable; the sane can act insane and vice versa. Their truth value, consequently, becomes indistinct and unjustifiable. Essentially, the truth that the trial has set out to justify remains as elusive at the end as it was at the beginning of the novel.

The English Middle and Ergative in Appositive Relative Clauses

2023-12-03T14:32:32+07:00

This study delves into English middle and intransitive ergative constructions within appositive relative clauses. Despite surface similarities, their differences lie in the middle’s semantic and pragmatic properties. Their appearance in relative clauses raises questions about pragmatic functions at the sentential level. This study focuses on appositive relative clauses due to their syntactically detached yet semantically attached to the DP head. Data from the COCA Corpus shows both constructions in all argument positions. The study demonstrates that both constructions align with the main clause’s information structure, appearing either initially or finally. However, the productivity of the middle construction at the sentence outset contrasts with typical subject -relatives. Moreover, the high frequency of sentence-final definite heads differs from expected information structure patterns. Ultimately, the study concludes that appositivity and the middle’s arbitrary agent are key factors governing the occurrence of these relative clauses.

It’s about Empathy and So Much More: Fellow Feeling as Sensibility Capital in Graphic Narratives about Healthcare Workers

2024-01-08T13:52:10+07:00

This article examines graphic novels whose stories revolve around the experiences of healthcare professionals. Paying attention to their themes, plot trajectories and visual elements, it discusses and reflects on the discourses surrounding the concept of empathy through a Marxian lens. My reading accentuates the view that empathy should be regarded as a resource that can be exhausted, involves cognitive/affective costs and thereby requires structural support so that the empathy-driven approach of caregiving can be sustainably maintained.

English Language Features in Brochures Promoting Thai Tourism and Thai-English Translation Strategies

2024-04-05T16:22:17+07:00

This study analysed English language features in translated brochures promoting Thai tourism and Thai-English translation strategies applied in the brochures’ translation. With a lottery method, thirty bilingual brochures with Thai as source texts and English as translated texts promoting tourist attractions in the six regions of Thailand were selected. Durán-Muñoz’s (2012) tourism language was used as a framework to analyse the English language features while Pinmanee’s (2012) translation strategies were used as a framework to analyse the Thai-English translation strategies. All the data were also analysed inductively to explore any emerging patterns before developing them into themes. The findings revealed that Durán-Muñoz’s tourism language and Pinmanee’s translation strategies were spotted with some emerging themes being identified. Arguably, the findings can yield both knowledge addition in the literature and practical implications beneficial for translators, those interested in tourism translation, and those responsible for translation courses in the sphere of education.