Language as a public good and national identity: Scotland's competing heritage languages

The preservation of one or several historically and culturally important languages may be a salient political issue in some polities. Although they may not be used as an active means of communication, these languages can also serve a symbolic identitary function. These ‘heritage’ languages can be seen as ‘public goods’ and that even non‐speakers of these languages can have opinions regarding their importance to national identity. In the Scotland example, while Gaelic has been the focus of proactive government legislation and education initiatives, Scots is still struggling for status as a recognised language. Both languages are in some way constituent parts of Scottish identity that at times may seem in competition with one another. Using original survey data, we delve deeper into questions of language, identity and politics in Scotland. First, we describe how public opinion is divided over the importance of Gaelic and Scots to Scottish identity. Second, we use attitudes towards these languages as a dependent variable looking at Scottish identity and attachment. Finally, we use these attitudes towards Gaelic and Scots as an independent variable in models for party identification in Scotland.     

Lions and birds as literature. Some notes on Isaiah 31 and Hosea 11

Abstract

A certain combination of animal metaphors found in two different texts, Isaiah 31 and Hosea 11, has caused considerable scholarly confusion. Additional similarities as well as dissimilarities between the texts are presented, but the intertextual question is left open. Instead an attempt is made to analyze the metaphors in their context. The analysis is based on modern metaphor theory and the concept of genre allusion (in relation to the theophany Gattung). It is suggested that the metaphors in Isaiah 31 are related to the symbol of the cherubs, while Hosea 11,10–11 contains deliberate reversals of other Hosean passages.     

张元幹词风格浅论

张元斡是两宋之交重要的词人,南渡后他一方面因个性和时代的关系,在词作中承袭了苏轼词对主体情性的突出和高扬,将个人的情感抒发拓宽到对国家民族、时政的感慨,给词坛带来了新的气象;另一方面受传统词学观念的影响,尤其是受到北宋末期周邦彦等人富丽精工、沉郁顿挫的词风的熏染,在词中大量用典,引用或化用前人诗句、诗意,精于练字遣词,结构回环曲折,更多地呈现出婉约的风格。主要原因是他以真性情贯注其中,加上高洁的人品、丰富的学识、曲折的经历,自然形成了磊落之气,以气驭词,使词的风格随着具体情性的变化,在不同的题材里呈现出不同的面貌。从以上角度评价他上承东坡,下启稼轩应该更为合理,而不仅仅局限于词风的豪放和词境的开拓。     

小议民族考古学

20世纪80年代民族考古学作为新考古学的重要组成部分与新考古学一同被介绍到中国大陆.引起了中国考古学界的注意.学者们通过各类学术刊物对其定义、理论和研究方法进行了广泛的讨论.近30年过去了,这场讨论的余波也早已平息,但对于民族考古学的理解学界仍然未达成统一的认识.民族考古学的理论专著和实践亦寥寥无几,中国的民族考古学研究进展缓慢.     

Some notes on water supply in South India

This Article investigates the assertion by many Indian agronomists that methods of water management advocated by various Research Institutes are not being applied in the field. The sample village studies on the coastal plain around Madras and in the Cumbum Valley to the West of Madurai were carried out in 1969. Particular reference is also made to the Coimbatore Agricultural Research Centre in Tamilnad and the value of informed leadership in the villages of South India. “Although India can boast of her gigantic feats in the storage of water for irrigation and the distribution thereof in well planned channel systems, her performance in the actual application within the field continues to be outdated”. — (A. P. Bhattacharya¹).     

《时贤本事曲子集》新考订

北宋杨绘的《时贤本事曲子集》(以下简称《本事》)①,是中国词学史上第一部词话专著.作为开山之作,其重要性不言而喻.然而,遗憾的是,这部词话早已亡佚,后人只能从他书转引中窥知一二.