Euphemism: Sweet Talking or Deception?

The aim of this paper is to shed light on euphemism in two different senses: sweet talking and deception. I shall treat euphemism from two different perspectives: the usual use of euphemism, sweet talking, in which it is used to maintain one's face and the orthophemistic sense, deception, where 'torture' is referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques". I shall analyze examples, taken from religious, cultural, political backgrounds, on each case. Moreover, I shall talk about taboo since it is usually associated with euphemism. I shall talk about the referential (semantic) and expletive (pragmatic) aspects of swearing expressions. In this essay, I shall show that euphemism can be used in two different senses: sweet talking and deception.

Alternative Identities and Foreign Language Learning

My D-essay has the working title “Alternative Identities and Foreign Language Learning”. I have chosen this area because I have noticed a certain reluctance among Swedish students to use the foreign language English in English classes. They often seem embarrassed to express themselves in a language which is not their mother tongue, but they seem less embarrassed when they are allowed to act somebody else. These two observations converge into a focus of discussion on the matter, which will be supported by a minor study of my own, by extracts from other people’s essays on the matter, and by an overview of current litterature on language, identity and drama.The aim of my essay is to compare Swedish students’ willingness to use the foreign language English when acting minor plays in school, as themselves and as a chosen character, and to investigate the possibility of improving students’ willingness to use a foreign language, when given the opportunity to do so through acting somebody else.

Utformningen hos toppuniversitets logotyper : en visuell innehållsanalys

Föreliggande studie syftar till att genom en visuell innehållsanalys kartlägga gemensamma drag i 120 universitetslogotypers visuella utformning, samt undersöka samband mellan dessa karaktärsdrag och universitetens internationella rankningsposition.Med utgångspunkt från topprankningslistan Times Higher Education World University Rankings med 400 internationella universitet, indelade i fyra grupper i intervaller om 100 (d.v.s. rankningsposition 1–100, 101–200 etc.), valdes 30 universitet ut per grupp genom ett obundet slumpmässigt urval. Logotyperna för universiteten inhämtades främst från deras grafiska manualer.I studien presenteras förekomsten av generella drag med avseende på färg, typografi, typologi, detaljrikedom samt innehåll och form. Resultatet visade på tydliga gemensamma drag med i regel en till två dominerande karaktärsdrag per kategori. Resultaten tyder dock inte på att universitetens rakningsposition påverkar den visuella utformningen.