Faculty of ArtsComenius University Bratislava

Annotations

Nr. Topic Annotations
1. Inclusive communication model and development of interpretative competence in Slovak language

The applicant's goal is to develop a didactically and methodologically applicable model of teaching the Slovak language in primary and secondary schools, which will reflect both the ideas of inclusive education (i.e. maximally supportive and accepting education for all), and conscious efforts to strengthen the potential inclusive character of the language - Slovak, with a view to deepening interpretive competence. From this methodological perspective, the functioning of the interpretive mechanism can also be understood as a process of inclusivity, i.e. the integration of certain quanta of the information offer of the text into the student's knowledge and experience complex, which has an evident impact on his full-fledged life in the conditions of the current modern digital society.

2. From symmetry to asymmetry in the system of inflexible parts of speech – pragmalinguistic interpretation of aflectional manifestations in Slovak language

The proposed topic is a continuation of the ongoing, financially supported research on manifestations of aflection in the contemporary Slovak language. The aim of the work is to summarize the individual manifestations of aflection in the system of flexible, but especially inflexible parts of speech and to capture in an explanatory way possible shifts in the perception and interpretation of these phenomena in relation to the synchronous dynamics and communication culture of contemporary Slovak. The work presupposes independent empirical research based on the identification and classification of inflectional morphosyntactic components in various types of texts (especially on the axis of dialogic versus monologic texts) with specific regard to their pragmatic-communicative function.

3. Slovak stylistics in the 21st century in scientific, professional and socioscientific communication offline and online (in interactions of a selected professional field, for example linguistics, sports, healthcare, administration, business, ...)

The research will probe the needs and variations of communicative interactions in a constellation of actors in different roles - for example, linguists as academics, linguists as teachers, linguists as translators, linguists as "experts" in the media, both offline and online). Empirical research combining quantitative questionnaire findings with findings from ethnographic interviews will provide a database for interpreting the effects of interactions in a given sphere (with regard to mutual equality, freedom, full self-realization... and other aspects of inclusiveness according to J. Dolník, Language in the Dynamics of Democracy, 2023). The outcome should be the optimization of the verbal behavior of actors in the monitored sphere, excluding anti-inclusive or quasi-inclusive practices.

4. Citizen science and linguistics (with a focus on the vocabulary of sociolects in particular) The work will focus on citizen science as a modern concept of cooperation between scientists and laypeople in conjunction with the ideas of socioscientific communication by J. Dolník. The aim will be to map, classify and hierarchize currently uncoordinated projects or products of citizen science lexicology/lexicography offline and online and subsequently create a professional manual for academic support of civic science lexicographic projects dedicated to selected lexically unprocessed (usually non-literary) lexical means of sociolects (professionalism, slangism), or possibly occasionalism. It will include personal participation in a civic science project, which will bring a sample notebook of previously unprocessed lexicon.
5. Language Changes in the Development of Slovak from the Perspective of Historical and Variational Sociolinguistics

The subject of the thesis is selected phenomena from the historical development of the Slovak language (its historical (cultural) or regional (dialectal) varieties), the description and subsequent interpretation of which will be based on the concept of linguistic change as a gradual and complex process conditioned by intra-linguistic relations and extra-linguistic factors. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge of the process of language change on the basis of the research of linguistic variation and its variability over time and in communication. The choice of specific change cases, historical period or regional dialect will be specified after mutual consultation with the candidate. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources and/or field research in the selected region.

6. Foreign Languages in the Cultural History of the Slovak Language Community

The subject of the dissertation is the research of the status and functioning of selected foreign languages, which were used as cultural languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, and how their status and function have changed in the course of the historical development of the linguistic situation up to today. The aim of the thesis is to extend the existing knowledge about the functioning of foreign languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, which mostly concerns language contacts, spheres of foreign language use and language interference (e.g. borrowings from these languages into Slovak), by interpretation from the perspective of the theory of language planning (especially in terms of status and its dynamics against the background of the social situation) and by research into attitudes towards these languages. The choice of the specific language(s) and the historical period will be specified after consultation with the candidate, or in the first year of study. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources, official documents and contemporary periodicals.

7. Etymological analysis of a selected lexical-semantic group in Slovak

The topic of the thesis is the etymological analysis of a specific lexical-semantic group in Slovak (with regard to the contemporary standard language, Older Slovak, and Slovak dialects). The objective is a complex etymological interpretation of the relevant Slovak lexicon based on the standard methods and procedures which are used in contemporary etymological research

8.

The research on oikonymy in relation to the settlement history

The topic is interdisciplinary, therefore historical knowledge and orientation in Latin, Hungarian and German are welcome. Oikonymic records (including possibly extinct names) from a particular region from the earliest times to the present will be analysed and classified according to the method of small types in order to reveal the relationships between name structures, their temporal layers and areal distribution, and to reconstruct the settlement process. The origin and motivation of the names will also be explained
9.

The development of urbanonymy and its linguistic analysis

The aim is to describe the dynamics and evolution of street names of medium and large-sized cities. The basis will be lexico-semantic and word-formation classifications. The development of urbanonymy will be analysed in stages defined by important milestones in the development of the city and the whole society. Changes in the use of motivational categories and word-formation processes will be illustrated by diagrams. The dissertation will include a list of contemporary urbanonyms with their explanation, the time of their origin and previous names of the locality in question.

10.

Exonyms in Slovak

The work will focus on the research on Slovak exonyms (domestic forms of foreign geographical names) regarding their historical and cultural background, current usage (especially in relation to original forms of geographical names – endonyms), and graphic (in)consistency, based on cartographic, literary, media and journalistic sources. The aim is to analyse exonyms from a functional approach, reflecting language needs and the functioning of exonyms in communication.
11.

Language Changes in the Development of Slovak from the Perspective of Historical and Variational Sociolinguistics

The subject of the thesis is selected phenomena from the historical development of the Slovak language (its historical (cultural) or regional (dialectal) varieties), the description and subsequent interpretation of which will be based on the concept of linguistic change as a gradual and complex process conditioned by intra-linguistic relations and extra-linguistic factors. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge of the process of language change on the basis of the research of linguistic variation and its variability over time and in communication. The choice of specific change cases, historical period or regional dialect will be specified after mutual consultation with the candidate. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources and/or field research in the selected region.

12.

Foreign Languages in the Cultural History of the Slovak Language Community

The subject of the dissertation is the research of the status and functioning of selected foreign languages, which were used as cultural languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, and how their status and function have changed in the course of the historical development of the linguistic situation up to today. The aim of the thesis is to extend the existing knowledge about the functioning of foreign languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, which mostly concerns language contacts, spheres of foreign language use and language interference (e.g. borrowings from these languages into Slovak), by interpretation from the perspective of the theory of language planning (especially in terms of status and its dynamics against the background of the social situation) and by research into attitudes towards these languages. The choice of the specific language(s) and the historical period will be specified after consultation with the candidate, or in the first year of study. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources, official documents and contemporary periodicals.

13.

The development of Slovak legal terminology and pursuit of its unification after 1843

The work will be focused on the analysis of data from the 19th century legislative texts in form of a specialised corpus aiming to identify the extent of potential continuity of the use of legal terms in the second half of the 19th century in comparison with the processed legal lexicon in older lexicographic works and also in the framework of the contemporary legal context. The work will also include comparative analyses of selected semantic probes into legal terminology extracted from 19th century legislative texts with dictionaries of legal terminology published at the beginning of the 20th century