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The aim of the article is to demonstrate one of the fundamental characteristics of media discourse on video games: its syncretism. This pertains to the amalgamation of content and structures typical of several different spheres of human activity: entertainment, technology, culture, and business. A genre-based discourse analysis is employed to examine which genre patterns are typical of the media discourse on video games and the common methods of their manifestation. The paper discusses in greater detail four selected genres: video game review, news, overview, and a game publisher's note. The research data was gathered from contemporary Polish-language media outlets specialised in gaming topics, as well as Polish online stores selling video games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This profile of the Pahoturi River language family of southern Papua New Guinea draws from extensive fieldwork on Idi [ISO 639-3: idi] and Ende [kit] – two of six varieties comprising this family – and brief surveying of the other four, which we illustrate in print for the first time. We present the first typological treatment of Pahoturi River in pursuit of shining more light on this understudied corner of the linguistic landscape. This profile is organized into two parts: first, we present sections on the basic structures and systems of Pahoturi River, illustrated with examples from across the family and supplemented with descriptions of Idi and Ende as relevant. From our preliminary data on the four other varieties, we gather that they are similar to Idi and Ende in many respects, but more investigation is warranted. Second, we provide an in-depth treatment of the verbal complex of Idi and Ende. We highlight two intriguing aspects of these complex systems – analytic constructions and ditransitive indexing – that distinguish the Pahoturi River family and the linguistic region of southern New Guinea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an introduction to a collection of papers discussing the identity of form and diversity of function in non-finite verb forms from a variety of perspectives. We start by illustrating the phenomenon and introducing the main functions that non-finite forms can have in the languages of the world. We provide a concise typological overview of the attested combinations of these functions and show how and to what extent these patterns are reflected in the traditional labels, such as participles, converbs, verbal nouns, and infinitives. We briefly discuss the main approaches to the phenomenon under study that have been proposed within both functional and formal frameworks. Finally, we provide a summary of the papers comprising this Special Issue, highlighting the perspectives adopted in the individual contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-finite verbs in Turkic are typically categorised as participles, converbs, and sometimes infinitives, with multiple uses of a form within one category considered to constitute multiple functions. This multifunctionality approach predicts that all non-finite verb forms within each of the categories should have the same range of syntactic functions. We show that this is not the case. Based on analysis of a representative set of Turkic languages (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Sakha, Tatar, Turkish, and Tuvan), we propose a categorisation based on morphological and syntactic properties of non-finite verbs, resulting in four categories: verbal nouns, verbal adjectives, verbal adverbs, and infinitives. Under this approach, forms that are typically labelled as participles end up categorised as verbal nouns, verbal adjectives, or both, and forms that are typically labelled as converbs end up categorised as verbal adverbs, infinitives, or both. Some forms even span these two divisions. When a non-finite verb form appears to exist in multiple categories, we consider this to be a case of syncretism; this is, there is a member of one category that has the same form as a member of another category. We propose historical trajectories that may have led to the types of situations that are attested, examine the limitations of this approach, and discuss its wider implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates non-finite forms in Kazym Khanty (Ob-Ugric, Uralic). In Khanty, almost all subordination makes use of one of the two non-finite forms: -ti (nfin.npst) or -əm (nfin.pst). We propose that their uses are best treated under the headings 'bare non-finites, 'head-agreement non-finites', and 'verb-agreement non-finites'. The three classes are defined based on the subject agreement pattern used in non-finite constructions. Different syntactic tests, such as interaction with argument alternations, island effects, and adverbial modification, are used to show the morphosyntactic nature of the classification. The three classes differ in the amount of functional structure they involve: bare non-finites can vary from vP to TP, head-agreement non-finites are of AspP–TP size, and verb-agreement non-finites are CPs dominated by a nominal shell. The findings support both Givón's Binding Hierarchy and the Implicational Complementation Hierarchy proposed by Wurmbrand and Lohninger, showing that both are also true for languages where all the subordination is done by means of a single form. We also discuss the Khanty data in light of Cristofaro's Subordination Deranking Hierarchy and argue that the amount of functional structure does not correlate with the degree of deranking/balancing of the embedded clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution addresses the general theme of Multifunctionality and syncretism in non-finite forms. When we see a particular form in a number of different environments yielding different effects, what does it mean to say that this reflects multifunctionality rather than syncretism? As a refinement of multifunctionality the notion of 'multi-effectuality' is introduced: one element participates in different derivations, performing one and the same operation, but yields different interpretive effects depending on the environment. The analysis takes as a starting point the role of the affix -en in Dutch. The canonical view is that when attached to a verb stem, -en functions either as an infinitival marker or as a nominalizing affix. It is shown that this view cannot be maintained. The "functions" of -en are unified by analyzing it as projecting an 'eventuality expression', with different effects depending on the syntactic environment. The analysis is extended to English, focusing on the contrasts between Dutch and English infinitives and on the role of the English -ing affix in gerunds and participles. The discussion proceeds with an analysis of Frisian with its two forms of the infinitive and concludes with some reflections on the relation between syntactic and semantic categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a constructionist analysis of two highly syncretic non-finite forms in Irish, traditionally referred to as the verbal noun (VN) and the verbal adjective (VA). The VN can fulfil the function of the infinitive, the 'present participle' in the periphrastic progressive, the argument supporting (AS) nominal and the R(eferential)-nominal. The VA can function as the passive participle in periphrastic passives/resultatives, the 'passive' adjective, the active participle (showing further syncretism with the genitive of VN) and the 'active' adjective. The basic idea is that the two syncretic forms receive a unified analysis (i.e. same structure). The VN is viewed as a kind of "elsewhere" realization of [vP[Root]] in all contexts except for [Tfin [VoiceP [vP [Root]]]]. VA spell-out is implemented when the morphosyntactic bundle carries no features that positively define the input as verbal or nominal. The height of affix attachment is indicative of the type of participle involved. Verbal passive/perfective participles and corresponding adjectives embed the external argument introducing projection (VoiceP), whereas active verbal participles and adjectives lack it. The extensive multifunctionality and syncretism in Irish seem to be closely linked to the lack of the AspP layer in the structure of non-finite verbs, nominals and adjectives as well as the lack of overt transitivizing morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Voice syncretism is widely attested crosslinguistically. In this paper, we discuss three different types of Voice syncretism, under which the same morpheme participates in different configurations. We provide an approach under which the same Voice head can convey different interpretations depending on the environment it appears in, thus building on the notion of allosemy. We show that, in all cases under investigation, allosemy is closely associated with the existence of idiosyncratic patterns. By contrast, we notice that allosemy and idiosyncrasy are not present in analytic passive and causative constructions across different languages. We argue that the distinguishing feature between the two types of constructions is whether the passive and the causative interpretation comes from the Voice head, thus forming a single domain with the vP or whether passive and causative semantics are realized by distinct heads above the Voice layer, thus forming two distinct domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key essay in the volume Les années 10 , Nathalie Quintane's "Why Doesn't the Radical Left Read Literature?" assesses the political potential of contemporary literature to reach the public. This translation brings Quintane's questioning of literature's capacities and relevancy to the radical left into English. Blending theoretical and literary prose, Quintane offers ways to think through modes of poetic action that would act " for real " in our epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to describe the causes that made it possible for the Mapuche language to remain firm in Chillwe, in spite of the Spanish domination, and analyse the process of its disappearance. Although it is not a decisive factor, it is proposed that one of the causes is the demographic change that started by the end of the 18th century with the diminution of the Williche population. The second factor, and perhaps the most defining, are the Bourbonic reforms, particularly those that aim at the linguistic unification of the Spanish domains by imposing the Castilian language. This policy of linguistic assimilation will be further developed with the annexation of Chillwe to the rise Chilean State nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data from a shoe-repair shop, supplemented by data from medical and mundane contexts, to analyze three progressively minimal grammatical formats used to implement offers and requests in interaction (i.e. do you want...?, you want...?, and want...?). We argue that this cline of minimality reflects a cline of the action-initiator's stance, from relatively weak to strong (respectively), regarding their expectation that the action will be accepted or complied with. In doing so, we illustrate that, as part of the design of requests and offers, participants rely on more granular distinctions than a simple binary between interrogative and declarative morphosyntax. We conclude with a discussion of the interactional logic that undergirds the normative use of these grammatical formats, and of our findings' implications for action formation and preference organization. (Conversation analysis, interactional linguistics, offer, request, stance, grammar, morphosyntax) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most characteristic features of the grammar of the Lindisfarne Gospel gloss is the absence of the etymological -e inflection in the dative singular in the paradigm of the strong masculine and neuter declension (a-stems). Ross (1960: 38) already noted that endingless forms of the nominative/accusative cases were quite frequent in contexts where a dative singular in -e would be expected, to the extent that he labeled the forms in -e 'rudimentary dative.' The aim of this article is to assess to what extent the dative singular is still found as a separate case in the paradigms of the masculine and neuter a-stems and root nouns. To this end a quantitative/statistical analysis of nouns belonging to these classes has been carried out in contexts where the Latin lemma is either accusative or dative. We have tried to determine whether variables such as syntactic context, noun class, and frequency condition the presence or absence of the -e inflection, and whether the distribution of the inflected and uninflected forms is different in the various demarcations that have been identified in the gloss. The data have been retrieved using the Dictionary of Old English Corpus. All tokens have been checked against the facsimile edition and the digitised manuscript in order to detect possible errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Benin, as in many postcolonial settings, views of foreign 'Others' figure prominently in local discourses about identity and morality. Most of these characterisations centre on whites or other foreigners, known as Yovó in the Fon language of Southern Benin. While Yovós are stereotypically and disapprovingly believed to hold a distaste for African food and culture, they are praised for their production of modern technology, such as airplanes, cell phones, and the internet. These technological innovations are described by Beninese people as fantastic, even magical, and are referred to as 'White people's witchcraft' (Yovó àzě), in contrast to malevolent African occult powers. The racial discourse of good and evil draws on essentialised notions of whites' and Africans' knowledge and power, suggesting the maintenance of colonial-era, hegemonic identities. However, formerly colonised people's interest in foreign customs can demonstrate ambivalence, and Beninese express both pride and criticism for indigenous supernatural powers, while voicing critiques of foreign knowledge systems. Furthermore, entanglements with a powerful Other can reflect local agency, as in Beninese people's appropriation of European and Asian spiritual traditions in order to co-opt the Other's power – a power that enterprising healers re-interpret as foreign witchcraft to add to their supernatural arsenals. In these examples, religious borrowings are not always externally imposed examples of cultural imperialism, but rather can be the will of local actors incorporating elements from abroad into conceptualisations of themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work examines nominal case marking in Wisconsin Heritage German, based on audio recordings of six speakers made in the late 1940s. Linguistic data provide positive evidence for a four-case nominal system characteristic of Standard German. At the same time, biographical and demographic information show that the heritage varieties acquired and spoken in the home often employed a different nominal system, one that often exhibited dative-accusative case syncretism and lacked genitive case"features that surfaced even when Standard German was spoken. These data strongly suggest that speakers were proficient in both their heritage variety of German, acquired through naturalistic means, as well as in Standard German, acquired through institutional support in educational and religious domains. Over time, these formal German-language domains shifted to externally oriented, English-language institutions. Standard German was no longer supported, while the heritage variety was retained in domestic and social domains. Subsequent case syncretism in Wisconsin Heritage German therefore reflects the retention of preimmigration, nonstandard varieties, rather than a morphological change in a unified heritage grammar. This work concludes by proposing a multistage model of domain-specific language shift, informed by both synchronic variation within the community as well as by social factors affecting language shift over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new phenomenon in inflectional morphology, 'repartitioning', based on data from Soq (Trans New Guinea). In repartitioning, the semantic boundary between two sets of morphological forms is redrawn in a single domain; one feature value takes over part, BUT NOT ALL, of the meaning of the other. In Soq the boundary is redrawn between the yesterday past tense and the hodiernal; the domain is the lexeme s- 'stay'. For this one verb, the yesterday past takes over most of the range of the hodiernal, while the morphological forms remain regular. In clause chains the repartitioned verb surprisingly shows no syntactic effects. We demonstrate key differences from known phenomena, notably syncretism and overdifferentiation. Repartitioning is indeed new. It can be modeled in a theory based on default inheritance, but poses problems for other approaches. Finally, we present a typology of featural mismatches that situates Soq relative to known phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zimbabwe urban grooves music is an urban contemporary musical genre that fuses local and global rhythms and beats and is popular with youth. Afro diasporic genres such as Jamaican dancehall and the Euro-American rap and rhythm and blues (R&B) are appropriated by the youthful artists who sing predominantly in local languages (Shona and Ndebele) about the lived Zimbabwean experiences. Despite the dominant vernacular lyrics, there is a significant fusion of the vernacular languages and English language. The artists also employ figures of speech drawn from vernacular proverbs, idioms, and contemporary Zimbabwean experiences as well as global cultural practices. Thus, language syncretism is a notable characteristic feature of urban grooves. The language syncretism also involves "lexical innovation" as musicians resist limitations of formal grammatical rules of both the local Zimbabwean languages and English; hence, there is a prominent use of slang in urban grooves. This article examines the role of language syncretism in urban grooves musical lyrics. The discussion postulates that there is a remarkable interaction between language syncretism in urban grooves music and Zimbabwean youth experiences and identities which are significantly shaped by the intersection between local and global encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on agreement in South Slavic generalizes that conjunct agreement in gender is only possible when all conjuncts are plural (e.g., Bošković, 2009). Marušič et al. (2015) and Arsenijević and Mitić (2016a,b) attest a significant level of patterns contradicting this claim in elicited production experiments. They weaken the earlier generalization to a facilitating role of plural number for conjunct agreement in gender. However, the stimuli in the two respective experiments involve syncretism between the members of conjunction. The syncretism removes the possibility – at Phonological Form at least – that by agreeing with one conjunct, the verb disagrees with the other. It is hence expected to result in a similar surface effect as the facilitation by plurals, which makes it a potential confound variable. We report and discuss the results of an experiment aimed to test both the effect of syncretism and the reality of the facilitating effects of plural number. The results of the experiment yield positive answers to both questions: syncretism is a facilitating factor, but plural number nevertheless has its facilitating effect too – as confirmed by the stimuli without syncretism. Since syncretism is a phenomenon in which phonological information plays a central role, our findings support syntactic models of agreement which extend to the interface with phonology. Moreover, our results reveal a double similarity of conjunct agreement with agreement attraction, in both showing a (stronger) attraction effect of plural number compared to singular, and in being sensitive to syncretism (cf. Badecker and Kuminiak, 2007; Malko and Slioussar, 2013; i.e., Bader and Meng, 2002; Hartsuiker et al., 2003; Slioussar, 2018). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author analyzes the behavior of Serbo-Croatian (SC) vocatives, a language with morphology and prosody wherein two different forms occur depending on whether the nominal expression is definite or indefinite. It includes definite vocatives as vocatives of DPs that have undergone lexicalization, turned into a kind of proper name, and changed their prosodic pattern. It mentions limitation of vocative-nominative syncretism to proper names and common nouns.

Highlights • Most Spanish sex doublets are actually triplets. • Spanish employs three sex coding modes, two lexical and one grammatical. • Syncretism is pervasive in inflectional sex coding. • Sex features may be concealed by gender and declension features. • Genericity is more compatible with plural than with singular number. Abstract Traditional views on how sex is coded in Spanish nouns are revolutionized in this article. To the initial discovery that sex coding yields not only singlets and doublets but also triplets, it is added that Spanish employs three sex coding modes whose productivity correlates with structural cost. The suppletive and the derivational modes require investing in sex-specific morphemes, which makes them costly, whereas the inflectional mode achieves maximal economy by exploiting the exponent of another grammatical category: declension. The transfer of productive sex coding to the grammar is another major innovation. Lexical Specification is appropriate to formalize the suppletive and the derivational modes, but it is defeated by the intricacies of the inflectional mode, for which a semantic process of Sexualization is introduced. It is further uncovered that syncretism is pervasive and obscures the effects of Sexualization partially or fully. Because sex originates at a deeper level than gender and declension, both of the latter categories can conceal it; hence the common misperception that inflectional sex triplets are doublets or even singlets. The analysis also reveals that plurality facilitates genericity and that inflectional markers are generated from features which, for most words, can be grammatically supplied since they are predictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper opens with a personal introduction to the topic of syncretism within the context of a comparison of enlightenment associated with Eastern religious traditions and individuation as experienced through Jungian analysis. A brief exploration of the recent scholarly revival of interest in syncretism follows. Some close parallels with Jungian theory are highlighted, especially in the work of Timothy Light. Applications to the syncretic trends in Tang culture along the Silk Road(s) suggest deeper patterns of interconnectedness lie at the heart of these trends. A complex systems view highlights similarities between syncretic connections and non-local aspects of synchronistic field events. The final section attempts to extend this approach to innovation in general terms through the recently articulated concept of the 'adjacent possible' from the writing of Stuart Kauffman. From this, the notion of a collective pre-conscious dimension to the psyche is extrapolated. The unifying thread of acausal emergent forms provides a potential synthetic network for these phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nominal complementizers (e.g. Eng. that, Fr. que) often have the same morphophonological form as other grammatical items, such as demonstrative, relative, and wh‐pronouns. In this paper we treat such overlaps as instantiations of syncretism, and we discuss the different patterns of syncretism with the nominal complementizer in various languages. We treat the syncretism facts within a nanosyntactic framework (Starke , Caha), meaning that complementizers are not simplex heads of CP (or ForceP/FinP in Rizzi's sense) but actually composed of multiple features, each feature corresponding to a head in a single functional sequence which is responsible for building demonstratives, complementizers, relativizers, and wh‐pronouns (for alternative decompositions of complementizers in Romance, Balkan, and Germanic, see also Baunaz , , to appear Sanfelice & Poletto ; and Leu , respectively). Interestingly, moreover, many of the languages under discussion show a bound morpheme appearing as an integral part of the internal morphological makeup of quantifiers. This bound morpheme may also be syncretic with the complementizer (Romance ‐que/‐che, Serbo‐Croatian ‐što, Modern Greek ‐ti, Finnish ‐kin, and Hungarian ho‐) or not (Germanic ‐thing/‐ting, for which see also Leu). We call this the 'nominal core' (n), and its behavior with regard to syncretism is crucial for determining the hierarchical ordering of the functional sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Portuguese Language and Culture (EPLC) classes have existed in England for around five decades. Originally organised by the community so that families could return to Portugal, these classes became, overtime, the responsibility of Portuguese governmental departments and agencies. This article takes into account the transition that has occurred in the policies and curricula regarding EPLC classes from its original focus to the present time and offers a reflection on how these changes can affect the positioning of children as language learners and as culture apprentices. Drawing on data collected during and after lessons with 10-12 year old children focussing on the topic of Embroidery, the discussions consider the role played by EPLC classes as privileged places of transmission of linguistic knowledge and culture. It is argued that, through the contact with topics relating to Portuguese Intangible Cultural Heritage, issues relating to multiple literacies, language norms and multimodality (the use of technologies to obtain information and the symbolism in the embroidering patterns) are implicit in the children's learning. Finally, the article offers insights on how syncretic learning is at play in complementary school learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides a fine‐grained morphosyntactic analysis of spatial deixis. We propose that the universal core of spatial deixis is a three‐way contrast: Proximal ‘close to speaker’, Medial ‘close to hearer’, and Distal ‘far from speaker and hearer’. This system arises from three features merged as heads in a single universal functional sequence: Dx3 > Dx2 > Dx1. The hierarchy is understood in terms of superset‐subset relations, such that Proximal [Dx1] is a subset of Medial [Dx2 [Dx1]], which in turn is a subset of Distal [Dx3 [Dx2 [Dx1]]]. Evidence comes from patterns of syncretism and morphological containment in the demonstrative systems of a number of genetically diverse languages. Regarding syncretisms, languages can show a transparent three‐way morphological contrast, or some sort of syncretism: Medial/Proximal vs. Distal, Distal/Medial vs. Proximal, or a totally syncretic Distal/Medial/Proximal (i.e. a neutral demonstrative). These syncretisms entail that the features responsible for the Proximal and Medial readings be adjacent and that the features responsible for the Distal and Medial readings be adjacent in the fseq. Regarding containment, we show that Proximal can be structurally contained within Medial and that Medial can be structurally contained within Distal, meaning that Medial structures are larger than Proximal structures, and that Distal structures are larger than Medial structures, confirming our hierarchy. We show that these facts are naturally accounted for by nanosyntactic principles of spellout. We end the paper by accounting for potential counterexamples and other issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern Chinese Pseudo-Possessive-Object Constructions (shortened as Modern Chinese PPO constructions; e.g. ta shuo le wo de haohua (他说了我的好话) ‘he has put in a good word for me’ and ta chi le wo de doufu (他吃了我的豆腐) ‘he has taken advantage of me’) are actually constructions displaying possessor-affectee syncretism. They derive from Early Modern Chinese Real-Possessive-Object constructions in bridging contexts, some examples being wo ye quande liewei daren de jiu (我也劝得列位大人的酒), ‘I also urged all the magistrates here to finish drinking your wine’ and shi nage zai jie wo de duan li (是那个在揭我的短哩) ‘who is uncovering my demerits’. Di-transitive constructions in Middle Chinese and Early Modern Chinese (e.g. Changxing! quan er yibei jiu (长星，劝尔一杯酒) ‘Comet! I urge you (to finish drinking) a cup of wine’ and shuru gan jie wu duanchu (竖儒敢揭吾短处) ‘how dare the Confucius scholar uncover my demerits’) have provided structural templates for the formation of Modern Chinese PPO constructions. They also have led to a condition in which there are more examples of a maleficiary Modern Chinese PPO construction than examples of a beneficiary Modern Chinese PPO construction (e.g. ta chi le wo de doufu (他吃了我的豆腐) ‘he has taken advantage of me’ vs. ta shuo le wo de haohua (他说了我的好话) ‘he has put in a good word for me’). The grammaticalization pathway can also explain the formation of other constructions including another Modern Chinese PPO construction (e.g. ta chi le wo de kui (他吃了我的亏) ‘he has suffered the loss caused by me’), a Modern Chinese pseudo-object construction (e.g. wo ganxie ni de haoxin (我感谢你的好心) ‘I thank you for your kindness’), and a Modern Chinese pseudo-modifier construction (e.g. wo pa le yi xiawu de shan (我爬了一下午的山) ‘I did mountain-climbing for the whole afternoon’). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines the relationship between forward and backward gapping, based on the evidence from Polish, a language that allows both types. The two types of gapping differ with respect to polarity mismatches, word order, compatibility with relational modifiers, cumulative agreement, and the ability to gap subconstituents. However, they pattern together with respect to inflectional mismatches, preposition stranding, and the behavior of the remnants with respect to movement constraints. Both the differences and the similarities are argued to follow from two distinct derivations, in which forward gapping involves ellipsis (resulting in two copies of the gapped string), whereas backward gapping involves a multidominant structure with the gapped string being literally shared between the two conjuncts (resulting in a single copy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neither in Antiquity nor in the Middle Ages could literary theory settle the debate about the primacy of inspiration or imitation, Plato or Aristotle. It was in the Renaissance that serious efforts were made to reconcile the two theories, and one of the best syntheses came from England. Philosophical and aesthetical syncretism between Plato and Aristotle makes Sidney's Defense of Poesie a non-dogmatic and particularly inspiring foundation for English literary theory. Also, Philip Sidney's notion of "speaking pictures" needs to be revisited, in view of the ontology and epistemology of art, as a ground-breaking model for understanding the multimediality of cultural representations. The first part of the following essay is devoted to this. Furthermore, it will be examined how Sidney's visual poetics influenced and at the same time represented emblematic ways of seeing and thinking in Elizabethan culture. These are particularly conspicuous in the influence of emblem theory in England and in Renaissance literary practice related to that. In the final section I intend to show that Shakespeare's intriguing, although implicit, poetics is a telling example of how Renaissance visual culture enabled a model that put equal stress on inspiration and imitation, and also on the part of the audience, whose imagination had (and still has) to work in cooperation with the author's intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the several aspects of speaking regional cross-border language like French in Alsace, France. Topics discussed include understanding "Alsatian", with or without linguistic "tinkering" with a form of German language; giving dialects a cross-border dimension, as a substitute language for standard German; and the syncretism strategies.