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The principle of end-focus in biblical narrative
Nováková, Eliška ; Dušková, Libuše (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
The present study attempts to outline the influence of the principle of end-focus in a Biblical narrative by means of the theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP). It focuses on different types of interaction between two word order principles: the linearity principle of FSP, which places the communicatively most important element (rheme) at the end (end-focus), and the principle of grammatical word order, which in English requires SVOAdv(s) ordering of clause elements. Following a previous research in the field carried out on contemporary fiction, the textual material is analysed from the viewpoint of the following groups: (1) a group with clauses that adhere to both principles, (2) a group displaying violation of grammatical word order, and (3) a group displaying violation of the principle of end-focus. The fourth group is constituted by the so called transformed structures (in opposition to basic structures in the first three groups), i.e. clauses which with special devices to align the clause elements in agreement with both principles (such as the passive construction). This group is treated both separately, and in relation to the other three. As the study is intended to be diachronically comparative, the analysis is done on three versions of the same text: the Old Testament book of Esther in the...
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The geographical aspects of pricing in the field of freight road transport
Čermák, Jan ; Marada, Miroslav (advisor) ; Kraft, Stanislav (referee)
The aim of this paper is to show what relation is between the distance and the transport price and which factors can contribute to the expected irregularity. Based on the real freight transport prices the paper is looking for and finding significant differences in the relative transport prices between chosen regions. It seems that the quality of the transport price is influenced by factors like the location of the target region within Europe and towards Czechia, within transportation routes and networks, its economic power and structure and possibly also by the mutual relations that the source and target regions have within the global supply chains. The quality of the transport connection between the regions is further compared with the connection that these regions have within the global city network. As was found out, these two kinds of connection do not have to necessarily be the same. A short questionnaire was taken among chosen transport experts to get the basis for a better interpretation of the paper's conclusions and also to get their opinion on the sense of the geographical research in the field of international transport and logistics. Keywords: international freight road transport, transport pricing, transport price, logistics, supply chains, geographical aspects of pricing
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The topos of the bower in Middle English verse romance
Petříková, Klára ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
The space of the lady's bower is at the very heart of romance. It is in this emotional, most private of spaces that love, the main ingredient of the genre, finds its expression. This study will focus on the ways in which the bower is depicted in Middle English verse romances. It will concentrate on the typical romance topoi connected to this space, particularly in relation to the different facets of love as portrayed in the works of this genre. Inevitably, other related themes will be brought into the discussion; the role of the lady in romance is the most important of these. At the same time, the work will attempt to assess the place of the lady's bower in relation to the public, male sphere of the castle: the hall. Examples from Old English texts have been included in order to emphasize the contrast between Middle English romances and, in particular, to show the different contexts in which private space is to be found in the epic and romance genres. Rather than an exhaustive survey, it is selective in its scope, concentrating on a textual analysis of the romances in which both the typical scenes connected with the topic can be traced, together with those that are characteristic of the Middle English romances only. The work will focus in greater detail on two particular romances. The first of them, King...
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The meaning and Czech equivalents of "should" in subordinate nominal content clauses after evaluative and directive expressions
Hráská, Michaela ; Dušková, Libuše (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
This diploma thesis examines functions of the modal verb should in nominal content clauses introduced by the conjunction that. The Czech counterparts of the English sentences are considered as well. The research focuses on the so-called putative should which occurs after main clauses with directive, epistemic, attitudinal, evaluative and volitional expressions. Should expressing intrinsic (root) modality (expressing permission, obligation or ability) is left out of account. The work pays attention to the basic classification of nominal content clauses deriving from a verbal form alternating with putative should. Two kinds of putative should will be dealt with, namely should after directive and volitional expressions which could have its alternative form in the present subjunctive and should after epistemic, attitudinal and evaluative expressions which could possibly alternate with the indicative. The work examines these verbal forms in relation to the intentional modality of the sentence in an independent form (e.g. declarative, interrogative or imperative sentence). The work is divided into two parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part of the work describes the basic classification of all central modal verbs in English and putative should in terms of its relation towards the...
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Structures of directive speech acts and strategies of politeness associated with them in the late medieval and early modern private epistolary English prose: a synchronic and diachronic perspective
Palivada, Katsiaryna ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
In this paper I have carried out a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the structural variations of directive speech acts in relation to politeness strategies involved in them. In my research I have employed both function-to-form and form-to-function methods of linguistic mapping, or, in other words, I combined a careful manual selection of samples from a limited study material (the collection of the Paston and Stonor family letters) and an automatic corpus-based research carried out on the material presented by the PCEEC. The work with the Paston and Stonor family letters was mainly devoted to the synchronic qualitative analysis of directives, whereas the corpus-based research was concerned with the quantitative presentation of the development of certain directive strategies throughout the 15th-17th centuries. In both synchronic and diachronic analysis I have tried to correlate different structural classes of directives with politeness strategies mentioned in the theory of politeness as postulated by Brown and Levinson (1987). When making judgements on the level of politeness of particular directive structures I also paid attention to the contextual and situational appropriateness of certain forms of directives in each particular case (Watts 2003), their conformity with the temporal variations in the...
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Quod Christus cum Hinieldo: readings in the manuscript context of the Exeter Book
Znojemská, Helena ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee) ; Franková, Milada (referee)
T HE problem I set out to tackle in this study is bound with what is perhaps the most intriguing paradox of Old English literary history. It is generally accepted that vernacular poetry depended for its preservation on the tolerance of the monastic environment that controlled the mechanisms of recording and transmission of texts. It is true that this monopoly was not absolute. Documents were also produced in centres associated with royal households, but these seem to have specialized in writings of administrative character and purpose: law-codes, charters, wills etc.; and even so, in many instances the task of recording such a text was likewise entrusted to monastic "professionals". Laymen could certainly own texts (as is clear from the anecdote narrated by Asser about young king Alfred and his love of vernacular poetry and the determined effort that had won him the book that belonged to his mother) and we know of rare cases when they composed them (again, we can name Alfred and in a later period, Ealdorman lEthelweard, founder of Cernel monastery and author of a Latin translation of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle), though our knowledge does not extend to the manner in which these were written down. A document of substantiallength, showing an indisputable degree of craftsmanship in the quality of script, use of...
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Testing English collocations in Czech learners of English
Vaňková, Lenka ; Klégr, Aleš (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
The present study focuses on English collocations and their testing in Czech learners of English. Since the importance of collocations and phraseology as a linguistic discipline has not been recognised until recently, these concepts are introduced from the general point of view. First, the attention is given to the history of phraseology and its underlying principles as well as to the major approaches to it. Second, phraseological units are described from the point of view of their categorisation and of some influential typologies of these units. The main focus of interest is collocations, particularly major approaches to them as well as criteria commonly used to describe and delimit collocations from other types of prefabricated units and their definition and classification. Previous research on collocations in learner English is also outlined. The analytical part (based on Granger's (1998) study) analyzes the results of testing English collocations in Czech learners of English. The main focus is on whether these results confirm or deny the results of Granger's study, as well as on the learners' knowledge of and ability to use collocations, particularly on their (non)attaining the native "ideal."
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The language of war in "Sir Gawain and the Green knight" and "Beowulf"
Hajniková, Kristína ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
It is said that in times of war, the muses are silent. Yet extraordinary poetic voices can be heard from the past if we listen close enough; they tell the tales of glorious victories, woeful defeats, terrible monsters and heroes of old. Two such tales are the poems Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both poems are separated by an abyss of time, yet there is something in the tone and manner of the yarn that unites the two. It may be the character of the hero, his adventures, his enemies or his ultimate downfall; but the tales are told in a language that has great dignity, capacity for expression and a slow sonority seems to echo the roar of the ancient battlefields. The language of war, then, is the topic of the present work. The ways of characterizing a man as a warrior in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight will be subject to analysis that should reveal the cornerstones of poetic diction in both poems. In order to achieve this, we shall look at the lexical fields that denote 'warrior' in the poems. These lexical items will be subject to analysis from three points of view: (1) First, we shall investigate the structure of the lexical fields denoting 'warrior.' The items will be looked at from a morpho-semantic point of view. The description will contain morphological characterization of the...
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