Department of English

The article focuses on the pronunciation of English place names that appear in Slovenian in a (semi-)citation form. By using reference manuals (Slovenski pravopis and Govorni pomočnik) and analysing language use (audio/video recordings of the national broadcaster and the corpus of spoken Slovenian, GOS), we examine the extent to which Slovenian speakers follow the prescribed Slovenian pronunciation of English place names. An analysis of the data shows that there are occasional discrepancies between the norm and language use, which stem from incorrect transphonemisation, the influence of the English spelling of words, and incorrect analogies.

Prispevek se osredinja na problematiko izgovarjave angleških zemljepisnih imen, ki se v slovenščini pojavljajo v (pol)citatni obliki. S pomočjo jezikovnih priročnikov (Slovenski pravopis, Govorni pomočnik) in razčlembe govorjenega jezika (arhiv televizijskih in radijskih oddaj na portalu MMC in Korpus govorjene slovenščine GOS) preverjamo, ali govorci in govorke pri izgovarjavi angleških zemljepisnih imen sledijo pravorečni normi. Razčlemba podatkov pokaže, da prihaja do občasnih razhajanj med normo in podatki zaradi napačne transfonemizacije, vpliva angleškega zapisa besed ter napačnih analogij.

The paper presents an experimental study on the perception of the General British monophthongs that was conducted in three stages in 2014–2018. The vowels observed are studied by (i) comparing the vowel systems of General British and Slovene, and (ii) by conducting an experiment on their perception. The analysis focuses on the participants’ over-all performance, their most frequent misperceptions, and their progress over the course of one semester. The results indicate: that the previously observed production difficulties mirror perception difficulties; that the discriminative failures of FL vowels are not entirely predictable by com-paring vowel systems; that new sound contrasts are assimilated in different ways; and that the participants’ perception of foreign language phonemes can benefit from explicit instruction.

V članku poskušava izpostaviti nekatera vprašanja, ki se odpirajo pri pravopisnem pravilu o pisnem krajšanju angleških lastnih imen z nemim -e na koncu osnove (Slovenski pravopis 2001, § 772). Prispevek pokaže, da obravnavano pravopisno pravilo ne zajema vseh glasoslovno določevalnih lastnosti nemega -e, kar se neposredno zrcali v nedoslednostih pri zapisovanju angleških lastnih imen s končnim nemim -e v neimenovalniških sklonih. Razprava pokaže, da bi bilo smotrno pravopisno pravilo poenotiti v smeri splošnega (ne)krajšanja osnove.

The article discusses some aspects of Slovene orthography related to the (non-)omission of the word-final mute -e in the Slovene declination of English proper nouns (cf. Slovenski pravopis 2001, § 772). It shows that the existing rule fails to cover all phonological properties of mute -e, which is reflected in the inconsistent spelling of English nouns in Slovene oblique cases. The discussion reveals the need to modify the existing orthography rule(s), perhaps in a manner that would allow for the general (non-)omission of the word-final mute -e.

The idea for the present volume grew out of a very successful series of summer schools bringing together students and staff from five different countries under the auspices of the Erasmus Intensive Programme “Cultural Landscapes: Negotiating Cultural Encounters with the English-Speaking World.” Focussing on the cultural aspects of the English-speaking world and on intercultural communication, this volume of ELOPE reflects both the main aims of the summer school and the fundamental mission of the journal to promote the research and discussion of linguistic and literary issues.

Adopting Weir’s (2005) socio-cognitive validation framework, the present paper focuses on the syntactic and lexical complexity of listening comprehension subtests in three B2-level examinations: The City Guilds international examination in English, The First Certificate in English, and the General Matura in English. By analysing and interpreting the results obtained from different automated tools, the research aims to determine to what extent the three subtests are comparable. The results of the study suggest the unreliability of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as a sole mechanism for test comparisons.

Prispevek  je  osredinjen  na  izražanje  izvzemalnosti  v  podredno  zloženih  povedih  s  po-udarkom  na  odvisnikih,  ki  jih  uvaja  razen  v  kombinaciji  z  vezniki,  tj.  razen  če,  razen  ko,  razen kadar, razen kjer, razen kamor in razen da. Ti odvisniki nazorno pokažejo, da v po-drednih razmerjih težko ločimo izvzemalnost od drugih prislovnih pomenov, saj običajno prihaja do zlitja pomenov s pogojnostjo, časovnostjo in primerjavo oz. omejenostjo. Kor-pusna  obravnava  zadetkov  z  večbesednimi  vezniki  z  razen  predstavi  njihovo  pogostnost  in  obravnava  njihovo  rabo  z  vidika  zanikanja  v  nadrednem  in  podrednem  stavku,  tipa  zanikanja (pravi oz. pleonastični), skladenjske vpetosti odvisnika in pojavitev opazovanih odvisnikov v pogojnem naklonu.

The paper focuses on exceptive expressions in subordination with an emphasis on depend-ent clauses introduced by the Slovenian particle razen (Eng. ‘except’) in combination with several conjunctions, i.e., razen če, razen ko, razen kadar, razen kjer, razen kamor and razen da.  Such  clauses  illustrate  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  the  exceptive  meaning  from  other adverbial meanings, since it typically involves fusion with conditionality, temporal-ity, and comparison or limitation. The corpus study of clauses containing multiword con-junctions with razen presents their frequency and discusses their use in terms of negation in superordinate and subordinate clauses, type of negation (clausal or pleonastic), syntactic integration, and co-occurrence with the conditional mood.

The paper presents a study on the perception of four General British (GB) vowels – the DRESS-vowel /e/, the TRAP-vowel /ae/, the STRUT-vowel /ʌ/ and the NURSE-vowel /ɜ:/ – by 101 Slovenian university students of English as a Foreign Language. The analysis includes the students' performance, the differences between the strong and the weak performers, and the respondents' most frequent misperceptions. The results show that production difficulties mirror perception difficulties; that the misperceptions of L2 sounds are predictable; and that there is a correlation between the least successfully perceived GB vowels and the ones most typically heard as interchangeable. While the findings are mostly of pedagogical value for teachers of GB pronunciation, they are also used to address the potential impact of a recent change in the GB vowel notation in Gimson's Pronunciation of English.

The novels The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World's End (1896) by William Morris are considered the formative works of the type of literature which has been labelled high fantasy. The latter is one of the commercially most successful genres of fantasy literature. The two novels are analysed from the perspective of critical utopianism as articulated through a distinctive type of aesthetic structure which was established in these works and has become characteristic of the high fantasy literature. The author of the article suggests that it is this complex of aesthetic structiire-aiid ifs inherent utopian Impulse which may be one of the important factors-in the perennial popularity of high fantasy.

The article examines the process of teaching English for specific purposes at the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Maribor, Slovenia using coursebooks and authentic supplementary materials. The survey has shown that the students of the Faculty of Tourism prefer supplementary authentic materials to coursebooks because they find them sufficiently interesting or challenging. Specially designed classroom materials that are put into the Moodle by the teacher also offer opportunities for various activities in lesson planning for teaching, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Another important aspect of supplementary materials is that they facilitate the teacher’s creativity. However, there are advantages and disadvantages to using only coursebooks or only specially prepared classroom materials, and both - coursebooks and supplementary materials - should be used only after careful consideration. Although authentic materials may contain complex grammatical structures and difficu...

This article examines the phenomenon of the latest niche trend that has emerged in the Tourism industry and represents a great part of one destination's economy. It runs under several names, such as Film-induced Tourism, Screen Tourism, Set-Jetting, or, most simply, Film Tourism. The currently trendy story of Outlander, written by Diana Gabaldon and first published in 1990, was examined and analysed in the article. Through what is presently eight thick volumes, we follow the story of two main protagonists, the rebellious but honest Scottish warrior James Fraser, and a 20th century independent but devoted Englishwoman, Claire Randall. The title of the very first book is Outlander, meaning a person who does not come from that particular area and is, in fact, an outsider. Back in the 18th century, to where the mentioned book dates, it also meant an Englishman. The following paper focuses on the important impact of the Outlander series, also named 'Outlander effect', on the perception of Scotland and its heritage around the globe, as well as on Scottish tourist visitation since the TV adaptation of the eponymous name aired in 2014. Ovaj članak ispituje fenomen jednog aktuelnog nišnog trenda koji je zabeležen u turizmu i koji predstavlja veliki deo ekonomije jedne destinacije. On se pojavljuje pod raznim nazivima, kao što su "filmski indukovan turizam", "ekranski turizam", "set-džeting" ili, najprostije, filmski turizam. Detaljno se analizira trenutno popularna priča o "Tuđinki", koju je napisala Dajana Gabaldon i koja je prvi put objavljena 1990. U osam do sada objavljenih obimnih tomova, pratimo priču dvoje glavnih protagonista-buntovnog, ali pravičnog škotskog ratnika, Džejmsa Frejzera i nezavisne, ali odane Engleskinje iz XX veka, Kler Rendal. Naslov prve knjige serijala je "Outlander", što označava osobu koja ne potiče iz tog kraja i koja je, u stvari, tuđin. U XVIII veku, u kome se odvija radnja knjige, ova reč je označavala i Engleza. Ovaj rad se bavi velikim uticajem serije "Tuđinka", poznatim i pod nazivom "efekat Tuđinke", na globalnu percepciju

This article is focused on the language of tourism as a means of economic potential. Language in tourism, especially language of promotional texts, motivates and attracts tourists to visit a certain destination, and, consequently, makes profits. In its introductory part, the article offers a short theoretical insight into the functions of tourism discourse and, further on, Rick Steves‘ website texts (travelogues) about European destinations are examined through discourse analysis, more precisely linguistic analysis involving analysis of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. The results confirming the importance of lexical choices in tourism discourse are presented and discussed at the end of the article. Steves’ travelogues aim to turn potential tourists into actual tourists by employing language, rich in stylistic devices and lexical imagery. The texts convince the potential tourists actually to buy the tourism services and products promoted in the texts. Thus, Steves’ texts are examp...