A matter of reception: ELF and LaRa compared
Abstract This article addresses the conceptual differences and commonalities between two modes of intercultural communication: English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Lingua Receptiva (LaRa). While the former is more frequent and wide- spread but disputed for reasons of monolingual dominance, the latter is lesser known und contextually restricted but praised for preserving linguistic diversity. The article takes such common presumptions as a starting point for a detailed comparative investigation of the concepts ELF and LaRa. The first section is dedicated to the overall language frameworks of the two modes. It thus points to their constellational specificities and the notions of locality and context involved in them. The second part takes a closer look at the speaker/hearer perspectives assumed in ELF and LaRa as well as at the different manifestations of linguistic variability and accommodation emerging from them. The third part is then concerned with the assumedly most prominent dividing points between lingua franca and lingua receptiva, namely issues of range, linguistic diversity and eventually the relative degree of plurilinguality exhibited in the two modes. In a final comparative summary of the points raised, the article ultimately comes to the conclusion that ELF and LaRa are not at all mutually exclusive but overlapping communicative modes. It thus argues that intercultural speakers could profit from using them in a complementary fashion.
From within and without: the virtual and the plurilingual in ELF
Abstract This article explores the shifts of form and meaning involved in the use of unconventional language in English as a lingua franca (ELF). Assuming that ELF speakers as intercultural communicators are less inhibited by standardising forces than speakers in a primary lingua-cultural environment, it points to the fact that “virtual” resources, i.e., latent linguistic possibilities within English beneath the surface of the encoded, play a crucial role in the lingua franca mode. Since ELF emerges in multilingual contexts and can itself be considered a multilingual mode, the virtuality aspect is claimed to interact with elements from without English, namely plurilingual resources from the speakers’ first or other language backgrounds. While the discussion of virtual resources has thus far mainly been focused on morphological flexibility, in this article their interconnection with the plurilingual aspect of ELF is shown to also affect the dimension of meaning. It is thus argued that a valid semiotic framework of ELF needs expansion both on the morphological and on the pragmatic levels. Such an expansion acknowledges virtual and plurilingual aspects as integral parts of the lingua franca and eventually nullifies the initial distinction between influences from within and from without.
An introduction to dramatherapy
What Is Dramatherapy? Theory into Practice Preparing for Dramatherapy Beginning a Dramatherapy Session Applying Dramatherapy The Heart of Dramatherapy Dramatherapy and 'Mental Illness' Dramatherapy and Other Forms of Disorder of Mind Other Client Groups and Dramatherapy