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Meaning Construal in Old English Riddles

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Brkljačić, Marta. (2017). Meaning Construal in Old English Riddles. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan].

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Abstract

This paper deals with the meaning construal in the Exeter Book Riddles, investigating riddles through a linguistic analysis of form and content, in an attempt to explore and describe their complexity from the primarily linguistic perspective, with an occasional comment on literary, and some historical, cultural and philosophical aspects. The analysis of formal categories revealed the following: a strong rule of alliteration and frequent occurrence of anacrusis as fundamental features of half-lines, several metrical patterns with a clear predominance of a single pattern, three different narrative principles expressing different viewpoints (I-am, I-saw and There-is), variations in opening and closing structures (X+VERB(+COMPLEMENT); imperative structure, ø – ending), a flexibility of word order, an extensive vocabulary, some prominent syntactic structures (three different S-V positions, prepositional and infinitive construction, negative particle construction, X-link-Y) and metastructures. The analysis of content discusses riddle solutions (the majority of which turn out to be objects), particular themes (such as power, independence, conquest) and motifs (such as nature, or human hands), figurative language (personification, metonymy and the kenning), and other poetic devices (namely vivid imagery, oppositions, and the servant-master paradox).

Item Type: Diploma Thesis
Subjects: English language and literature
Departments: Department of English Language and Literature
Supervisor: Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan
Date Deposited: 29 Jun 2017 09:00
Last Modified: 29 Jun 2017 09:00
URI: http://darhiv.ffzg.unizg.hr/id/eprint/8893

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