Júda Ronén

Abstract

This thesis presents a study of the linguistic means of text construction and organisation in Literary Modern Welsh (Celtic, Indo-European).

Its approach is situated within structural and text linguistics. The former describes language as a system of signs (conflations of formal signifiers and functional signifieds) whose structural value is derived from their paradigmatic commutation within syntagmatic environments. The latter is concerned with the linguistic treatment of texts, beyond the traditional scope of the sentence. In particular, the focus of this thesis is on the distinct grammatical systems in different text-types and the diverse ways they are structured linguistically, both internally and in relation to other textual components in the broader text.

The data is based on the writings of the 20^th century Welsh-language author Kate Roberts (1891–1985). Roberts was a prolific writer in a great variety of forms and genres: short stories (for which she is most famous), novels, novellas, recollections, letters, plays, essays and journalistic writing. This variety presents an opportunity to describe different text-types while the variable of idiosyncratic linguistic features is held constant. Of the plentiful options available, three topics have been chosen, each investigating one text-linguistic component on the basis of two works (which not only strengthens the validity of the findings, but allows a more refined analysis as well):

Chapter 2 explores anecdotes in autobiographical texts. These anecdotes are distinct and bound embedded sub-textual units, which show a recurrent macro-syntactic structure consisting of five ordered sections and two movable elements (‘anchors’). Each of these constituents exhibits particular linguistic properties and structure. Being succinct narratives — minimal at times — anecdotes offer a glimpse into the essence of narrativity and the grammar of narrative.
The corpus is two memoirs: Y Lôn Wen (1960) and Atgofion (1972).

Chapter 3 is dedicated to reporting of speech in narrative, focussing on the linguistic ‘sewing thread’ of the seam between two primary components (or modes) of most narratives: dialogue, and the narration in which it is embedded. Three basic syntactic patterns of quotative indexes (quotation formulae) are distinguished, with macro-syntactic signifieds. Their internal structure is characterised, and the distribution between overt and zero quotative indexes is portrayed.
The corpus is two collections of short stories: Te yn y Grug (1959) and Haul a Drycin (1981).

Chapter 4 deals with stage directions in plays. They exhibit unique linguistic characteristics and show interesting interrelations with the dramatic text (i.e. the text which is spoken aloud by the actors) with which they are intertwined. Three different main textual environments in which stage directions occur in relation to the dramatic text are distinguished. The interaction between textual environments and the syntactic forms and functions of stage directions differs in the two plays under discussion, which are dissimilar in performativity and modality (one is a stage play and the other a radio play).
The corpus is two plays: Y Fam (1920) and Y Cynddrws (1954).

The choice of topics is not incidental, as all three have broader theoretical implications and three themes thread through them all, namely the linguistic expression of the following:

• The structural regularities of textual functions.
  The chapters treat constructions which show regular behaviour on a textual level, often in an organisational way.

• The interrelation and interconnectivity of textual units or components.
  Anecdotes are inherently embedded within a broader text, reporting of speech by its very nature mediates between two textual components, and stage directions are intertwined with the dramatic text.

• The multifaceted nature of narrative.
  All three topics deal with aspects of narrative: anecdotes are basic ‘miniature’ narratives, signals of reported speech in narrative have narrative on one end and the reported speech on the other, and stage directions make the narrative spine of the events which unfold on stage.

The diverse writings of Roberts offer an opportunity to uncover linguistic systems that lie at the foundation of text construction and organisation in a minority language which is underresearched with regard to text linguistics. None of the above topics has been hitherto described in Welsh from the perspectives offered in this thesis, and numerous new findings are reported. While these findings contribute to our understanding of the particular topics and language in question, they may also shed some light on core text-linguistic questions.

Abstract

Description of the syntactical structures in Old English, in which the demonstrative pronouns (se and ðis) occur independently of a following nominal phrase: structural classification, characterization and analysis of their internal structure and their function in the text by a comprehensive examination of the examples in the corpus, Ælfric’s Lives of Saints.

Such an exhaustive survey of the relevant examples in a text of this length has never been done. A clearer, more complete profile of the functions of the pronouns in question emerges from it, with hitherto undescribed findings. These contribute to a subtler understanding of Ælfric’s language, on a structural linguistic basis.

Abstract

While other text-types have received some scholarly attention with regards to their specific linguistic regularities and constitutive features in Welsh (e.g. Shisha-Halevy (2005) for epistolary texts), to the best of my knowledge the anecdote has received none. This paper aims at describing the use Kate Roberts makes of the rich Welsh linguistic toolbox in writing anecdotes in her memoir, Y Lôn Wen (‘The White Lane’, 1960, Gwasg Gee).

In this memoir Roberts portrays her childhood and childhood environment through diverse literary techniques and text-types, of which the anecdote is a central one, with more than 120 occurrences. These anecdotes, interwoven into the fabric of the text, usually illustrate and support by example points made in the text. This paper describes relevant text-linguistic properties and shared structural features of the anecdotes, based on recurrent linguistic constructions and patterns: both constructions and patterns which signal the internal structure of the anecdotes and those which have to do with the interface between them and the text.

Understanding anecdotes better can contribute to our understanding of Welsh narrative grammar in general, as they provide minimal, ‘bare-bones’ examples of narrative. The anecdotes in Y Lôn Wen are literary texts written by an author known mainly for her short stories. Being extremely short in length, these anecdotes offer a glimpse into the essence of narrativity."

Shisha-Halevy, Ariel (2005). ‘Epistolary Grammar: syntactical highlights in Kate Roberts’s letters to Saunders Lewis’. Journal of Celtic Linguistics. 9, pp. 83-103.

Abstract

In 1588 William Morgan published his monumental Welsh translation of the Bible. This work is notable, among other aspects, in that it has the Old Testament translated directly from the original Hebrew. This fact invites comparative study of the Welsh and Hebrew texts, which may shed light on the Welsh text and language, the translation process, and (the translator’s reading of) the original text.

In this paper I will attempt a close examination of the lexical means by which Morgan translated Hebrew phrases concerning the senses (chiefly verbs of perception). The Hebrew and the Welsh lexicon and grammar are structured differently; that obliges the translator to make constant meaning-bearing choices, interpreting the text according to their reading thereof. Structural description of Morgan’s lexical choices will be at the heart of the paper.

I hope the proposed description, which is based on formal linguistic grounds and aims at understanding (Bible) translations through the lens of structural linguistic analysis, will contribute to our understanding of the 1588 Bible and its language.

(This paper broadens the scope of a paper delivered at ICCS14, in which the semantic field of ‘hearing’ was in focus. Attendance at the previous paper is not required nor assumed.)

Abstract

In 1588 William Morgan published his monumental Welsh translation of the Bible. In this impressive work the Old Testament was translated from the original Hebrew. This fact invites contrastive study of the Welsh and Hebrew texts, which may shed light on the Welsh text and language, the translation process, and (the translator’s reading of) the original text.

In this paper I will attempt a close examination of the semantic field of ‘hearing’ in the Welsh translation of the Pentateuch in comparison with the Hebrew text. Special attention will be given to the means by which Morgan translated the Hebrew verb šmʿ (‘hear’), using the Welsh lexemes clywed and gwrando. Apart from some neutralising environments, there seems to be a meaning-bearing lexical opposition between clywed and gwrando: a meaningful choice the translator had to make every time he encountered this Hebrew verb. I hope the proposed description, which is based on formal-structural grounds and aims at understanding (Bible) translations through the lens of structural linguistic analysis, will contribute to our understanding of the 1588 Bible and its language.

Abstract

Dialogue is a key element in narration: be it a fairy tale, a short story or a novel, the characters usually speak. In literary text, dialogue and narrative are closely interwoven.*

Some syntactic features of the interface between narrative and dialogue in Modern Literary Welsh will be examined in this paper, on the basis of Te yn y Grug (1959) by Kate Roberts (1891–1985). This text-linguistic domain is hitherto unexplored in Welsh.

Narrative and dialogue (Erzählen and Besprechen in Weinrich 1971; histoires and discours in Benveniste 1971) are two principal and complex textemes (that is, signalled and bounded units manifesting distinctive and complete (sub-)systems of grammar). Studying the mutual connections between them is of great importance to both general linguistics and our understanding of the text-grammatical system of Welsh (and of Te yn y Grug in particular).

Abstract

Old English has two demonstrative pronouns, se, seo, þæt and þes, þeos, þis. This talk surveys their core functions in an independent status (i.e. not functioning as a determiner accompanied by a nominal phrase), distribution, structural features and the relation between them.

The examined corpus is Ælfric’s (c. 955 – c. 1010) Lives of Saints, a collection of about forty vitae and passiones of saints and sermons, all written in rich and idiomatic Old English. This long, interesting and varied collection gives us the opportunity to observe the ways in which the author made use of the available ‘linguistic toolbox’ in diverse text-types; in our case, the demonstrative pronouns.

An examination of all occurrences of the said pronouns in the corpus — a little less than a thousand for both pronouns — reveals they can be categorized into a relatively small number of textual-structural functions. Some of these are unexpected, such as taking part in introducing new characters into narrative or mediating in the interface between the end of a text and its doxology. By describing the pronouns’ distribution and features the structural difference between them is apparent. After isolating the syntactic and textual environments in which they do not stand in opposition, it turns out the cases of genuine selectability between them are quite limited.

After the main part — presenting the complex and elegant linguistic system emerging from examining Ælfric’s writing — I will conclude the talk with a short general methodological discussion concerning organizing and presenting a large number of examples (as in our case) using digital tools.

The presented research was served as the basis for my master’s thesis, which I wrote in the Department of Linguistics at the Hebrew University. The thesis, written in Hebrew, is available at the library’s database (system № 990019514640203701) or from here (two volumes in one file):
https://ac.digitalwords.net/digital/mathesis.pdf

The talk will be given in Hebrew, with detailed slides in English:
https://ac.digitalwords.net/#seminars-2018-05-08

Abstract

Dialogue is a key element in narration: be it a fairy tale, a short story or a novel, the characters usually speak. In literary text, dialogue and narrative are closely interwoven.

Some syntactic features of the interface between narrative and dialogue in Modern Literary Welsh will be examined in this paper, on the basis of Te yn y Grug (1959) by Kate Roberts (1891–1985). This text-linguistic domain is hitherto unexplored in Welsh.

Narrative and dialogue (Erzählen and Besprechen in Weinrich 1971; histoires and discours in Benveniste 1971) are two principal and complex textemes (that is, signalled and bounded units manifesting distinctive and complete (sub-)systems of grammar). Studying the mutual connections between them is of great importance to both general linguistics and our understanding of the text-grammatical system of Welsh (and of Te yn y Grug in particular).

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