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This paper presents an analysis of nonce words that relies on Cognitive Grammar (CG) using the English version of "Jabberwocky" and its two Ukrainian renditions. We identify great variation among the versions, both inter-lingual and intra-lingual. In particular, not only do the versions differ greatly in terms of construal presented in CG terms, but there are various elements that do not, and simply cannot, get through between the English version and the Ukrainian ones. We accordingly propose that the use of Multiple-Parallel-Text (MultiParT) approach can not only help make generalizations across representative text producers within the same language but also allow one to investigate how different systems of human communication are equipped to produce unconventional meaning using its own conventionalized means, and that use of CG is capable of providing a reliable analytical framework with high descriptive adequacy. We also propose that a combination of MultiParT and CG may constitute an advantage in cross-linguistic research of literary semantics and cognitive poetics.

This paper investigates the working of antithesis in Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be" and its three Ukrainian translations. In cognitive poetics, antithesis is often viewed as a verbal variety of conceptual oxymoron. However, this paper argues for distinguishing antithesis from conceptual oxymoron based on consideration of the different processes at work behind their creation and reading. Significantly, in antithesis the emergent meaning retains the dichotomy of two input spaces rather than creating a new one, as happens in conceptual oxymoron. In this context, we consider antithesis in English-Ukrainian translations against the backdrop of Kaluza's (1984) reflection on asymmetry and irreversibility in antithesis. As will be seen, renditions into Ukrainian change the perception of the original antithesis prompted by structural and semantic changes in the translations. © 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Danish dialogue particles are nine optional, non-focusable monomorphemic words which point to intersubjective configurations of shared knowledge, conflicting perspectives, or different balances in knowledge states. Acquisition of the particles requires sophisticated perspective-taking skills as children must be able to represent a proposition from both their own and another person’s perspective simultaneously. A comparison of results from 164 Danish children and 60 adults on a gap-filling test with three of the particles suggests that most 11-to-14-year-olds follow adult-like usage norms for these three particles. The children demonstrated understanding of the complex meaning of each individual particle and sensitivity to the ways in which constellations of character perspectives shifted in the narratives. A comparison with the performance of Danish same-age, verbal children with autism, known to have difficulties with taking others’ perspective, showed that the children with autism chose the most appropriate dialogue particle in the test significantly less often than the typically developing children. The results confirm the semantic analysis of the particles and the cognitive-functional view of language as reflecting cognitive predispositions and communicative requirements.