Wolfgang Viereck Knihy

Čtenářsky velmi zajímavá publikace je věnována šíření anglického jazyka i jeho lokálním proměnám a variantám v celosvětovém měřítku. Přiblížení toho, jak se klasická forma britské spisovné angličtiny „pokřivovala“ ať už samovolně nebo úmyslně, jaké vlivy bezprostředně působily na vznik těch, či oněch výrazů a frází, je cenné a povzbudivé nejen pro studenty, kteří narazili alespoň na jednoho obyvatele Skotska, ale i pro zájemce hledající hlubší jazykové poučení. Text navíc odborně ošetřil PhDr.Marek Nekula.

This collection unites 21 papers mainly presented at the 21st IAUPE (International Association of University Professors of English) Conference held at the Valetta Campus of the University of Malta in mid-July 2010. Most periods of world-wide literature in English from Anglo-Saxon to the present day were represented as well as many aspects of language and linguistics. One section «Writers and the Mediterranean» was of particular local interest.

The Atlas Linguarum Europae (ALE) is the first continental linguistic atlas. It is, primarily, an interpretative word atlas. Among the methods to interpret the geolexical data, motivational mapping is an innovative one and the most important one to illustrate Europe's cultural history. It asks for the motives in designating certain objects. Taking the history of religions as the frame of reference, it becomes apparent that Europe's cultural history is not made up of random elements but exhibits a recurrent structural pattern. Three layers can be distinguished here, one historical level and two pre-historical ones. Concentrating on plants, animals, supernatural beings, natural phenomena, diseases and bread, it is demonstrated with many examples both from the ALE and from the author's own research that the same reality was first given kinship and zoomorphic names to be followed by anthropomorphic names and finally by Christian and Islamic names.