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323509

An ecolinguistic analysis of the salience of non-human beings in children’s literature as represented by Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Perceptual linguistics

Abstract

This paper aims to study Wishtree by Katherine Alice Applegate from an ecolinguistic perspective by revealing how the non-human elements of nature, as represented in the novel by the tree Red, the crow Bongo, and the other birds and animals, are depicted saliently and prominently. In contrast to other branches of linguistics that concentrate on the function of language in human-to-human communication without taking the broader environmental context into account, ecolinguistics concentrates on the function of language in increasing the importance and prominence of the non-human world. The study investigates whether the salience patterns mentioned by Stibbe (2015) in his framework of ecolinguistics are present in the novel and whether they are employed for the same purpose, i.e., foregrounding the non-human species and presenting them as important and worthy of consideration. The paper adopts a descriptive qualitative approach to the analysis of the novel, surveying the linguistic and discursive elements which construct the salience and high prominence of the non-human living beings. Based on the analysis of the salience techniques and how they contribute to the revelation of the prevalent ecological ideology in the novel, its text is assessed as to whether it exemplifies a beneficial, ambivalent, or destructive ecological discourse. The analysis reveals that five linguistic devices are used to give prominence to non-human entities: basic-level terms, individualization, personalization, activation, and imagery. The researcher concludes, according to the study's ecolinguistic analysis, that Wishtree is an ecologically beneficial discourse.

DOI

10.21608/jltmin.2023.323509

Keywords

ecolinguistics, salience, children’s literature, Wishtree, activation, Imagery

Authors

First Name

Naglaa Ahmed

Last Name

Awny

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of English, Faculty of Al-Alsun, Minia University, Minia, Egypt

Email

naglaa.abdelazeem@mu.edu.eg

City

المنيا

Orcid

0009-0003-5140-9420

Volume

10

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

44108

Issue Date

2023-10-01

Receive Date

2023-08-09

Publish Date

2023-10-01

Page Start

1

Page End

32

Print ISSN

2735-4520

Online ISSN

2735-4539

Link

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/article_323509.html

Detail API

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=323509

Order

323,509

Type

مقالات بحوث مبتکرة

Type Code

1,567

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of Languages and Translation

Publication Link

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

An ecolinguistic analysis of the salience of non-human beings in children’s literature as represented by Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree

Details

Type

Article

Created At

27 Dec 2024