Online Journal of Humanities ETAGTSU

EDITOR'S FOREWORD

Manana Rusieshvili-Cartledge — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

It is a privilege to present the 2026 issue of the Online Journal of Humanities ETAGTSU, which brings together a diverse and engaging collection of scholarship exploring the intersections of linguistics and AI technology, literary narrative, and education. The contributions in this issue examine how meaning is constructed, transmitted, and reinterpreted across languages, artistic media, and educational contexts.

A central thread across several papers is the dynamic relationship between text, visual narrative, and semiotics. Tata Tevzadze (Georgia) investigates the semiotic shifts in adapting Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code from page to screen, highlighting how visual logic reshapes spectator engagement. Aura Caro Sampedro (Spain) analyses the visual construction of cognitive conceptual metaphors through colour symbolism in La La Land. Exploring narrative structures, Erika Lucia Silipo (Italy) introduces a feminist fabulation framework by contrasting Christopher Vogler’s Hero’s Journey with Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey through an intersectional lens. In literary studies, Sudan Altun (Turkey) provides a comparative analysis of individual-society conflicts in modernist and postmodernist contexts, drawing on Oğuz Atay's The Disconnected and Aka Morchiladze's Santa Esperanza, while Nino Tsurtsumia (Georgia) investigates the urban chronotope and stream of consciousness in James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Another key theme of the issue is the evolving landscape of translation of linguistic structures, particularly in the era of artificial intelligence at the intersection of linguistics, translation studies, and AI technology. Manana Khvingia (Georgia) evaluates Neural Machine Translation and Large Language Models for translating English idioms from George Orwell’s Animal Farm into Georgian and Russian. Addressing a similar challenge, Shorena Tsabadze (Georgia) examines phraseological transposition issues when using AI systems, drawing on examples from Mikhail Javakhishvili’s Arsena Marabdeli and detailing the complications introduced by English as an intermediary language. Complementing these computational approaches, Tibor M. Pintér (Hungary) traces the broader theoretical evolution of Bible translation from historical equivalence and Sociolinguistics to modern functionalism.

Linguistic structures and cultural cognitive models constitute another critical domain of enquiry. Nino Daraselia (Georgia) explores the conceptual metaphor UNDERSTANDING/KNOWING IS HEARING in the Georgian language and culture. In applied linguistics and meaning theory, Nino Kuratishvili (Georgia) conducts an ESP-based comparative study of wine-evaluation terms and registers in Georgian and Western technical sheets. Valeria Purtseladze (Georgia) applies Relevance Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis to investigate guilt-tripping as a pragmatic strategy in gaslighting discourse. Sonia Maria Melchiorre (Italy) adopts a transdisciplinary approach within a Queer Linguistic framework to investigate the "null curriculum" and the pragmatics of negation and erasure in educational contexts.

Finally, the volume offers practical insights for education and professional identity. Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel and Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia (Poland) discuss the linguistic, personal, and cultural dimensions of study abroad experiences. Closing the issue, Nona Popiashvili (Georgia) analyses asynchronous online forums to reveal how English language teachers discursively construct professional identity and community.

Together, these contributions reflect the vibrancy of contemporary humanities research, offering fresh perspectives on linguistic communication, narrative, and meaning creation. We trust that readers will find this volume both intellectually stimulating and inspiring.

From Page to Screen: Semiotic Transformations in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code

Tata Tevzadze — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This paper examines the semiotic and narrative transformations that occur when Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code transitions from a literary text to a film. Grounded in semiotic theory, specifically the work of Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco, this study investigates how meaning is constructed, transformed, and redistributed across different media formats. Particular attention is given to the narrative codes through which the text organises suspense, action, and interpretation. Utilising a qualitative, comparative text-to-screen methodology, the study evaluates structural shifts in interpretive models, character functions, intertextual references, and audiovisual frameworks across three pivotal narrative sequences. It contrasts the novel’s discursive, code-driven narrative with the film’s multimodal, visually oriented system, illustrating how mechanisms of meaning production shift from reflective cognitive engagement to immediate perceptual impact. The findings indicate that the film’s semiotic system operates according to the formal logic of cinematic representation, redistributing narrative functions across visual and auditory channels while fundamentally reshaping the spectator’s interpretive role.

Colour-Related Conceptual Metaphors in The Context of The Film La La Land

Aura Caro Sampedro — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

Cinema is more than a purely visual experience. It offers rich semiotic system and the elements of mise-en-scène, such as lighting, set design, costumes, and props, work together to shape viewers’ emotional responses. Among these elements, colour plays a particularly significant role as both a narrative and thematic device. This paper examines the use of colour in the film La La Land (2016), focusing on how red, blue, and purple function as carriers of meaning within the film. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), the study analyses how these colours are systematically associated with abstract concepts and how such associations are visually constructed. The analysis unveils the main colour metaphors in the movie (FANTASY IS BLUE, REALITY IS RED, and LOVE IS PURPLE), provides a justification for their conceptualisation, and discusses the means by which the main metaphorical expressions are visually displayed in the film. The results reveal how each of these three colours is used to convey specific ideas and themes throughout the film, particularly those related to fantasy, reality, and love.

Gender Equality and Feminist Fabulation: The Heroine’s Journey as a New Narrative Paradigm

Erika Lucia Silipo — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This article explores the possibility of a new narrative paradigm from a critical gender perspective by conceptualising a feminist fabulation. Moving beyond the dominant phallogocentric and patriarchal narrative associated with the monomyth, it investigates the female scopic pleasure and fantasies of othered bodies from an intersectional and trans-feminist viewpoint. Departing from a language-based critique, wherein women have historically been positioned as image/object and men as the subject of the gaze, I propose a comparison between two narrative arcs: Christopher Vogler's Hero's Journey (1992), inspired by Campbell and Jung, and Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey (1990). In doing so, this study analyses and unveils how the substantial differences between the two paradigms may reside within the complex, increasingly pertinent concept of intersectionality, as examined by Marina Pierri (2020). By evaluating key stages of both narrative arcs through Marina Pierri’s (2020) intersectional lens, this study traces their genealogical evolution. It also reveals how their key structural differences align with contemporary theories of intersectionality. The core narrative stages are synthesised in a comparative table to illustrate the internal processes inherent to each journey.

The Individual-Society Conflict Between Modernism and Postmodernism

Sudan Altun — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This study aims to examine the impact of modernism and postmodernism on the individual-society relationship and identity themes in Turkish and Georgian literature. Specifically, Oğuz Atay’s The Disconnected (1972) and Aka Morchiladze’s Santa Esperanza (2004) novels explore the individual’s conflict with social structures and their search for identity while employing modernist and postmodernist narrative techniques in different cultural contexts. The Disconnected focuses on the internal conflict of the individual with the external world, particularly highlighting alienation, identity crises, and the struggle to fit into societal norms. On the other hand, Santa Esperanza, adopting the postmodern emphasis on multiple perspectives and ambiguity, presents the individual’s search for identity in a more flexible and layered manner. Employing qualitative content analysis within a comparative literary framework, this study examines how modernist and postmodernist narrative strategies represent individual identity and social conflict in different cultural contexts. As a result, both novels question the individual’s position in society, illustrating that modernist and postmodernist techniques serve different aesthetic and thematic functions, exploring the individual’s quest for identity and the impact of societal structures on the individual from different angles. The role of modernism and postmodernism in this context becomes clearer through a deep analysis of the texts.

Mapping the Modernist Urban Chronotope in James Joyce's Ulysses

Nino Tsurtsumia — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

In James Joyce’s modernist novel Ulysses, the city and consciousness merge into a single narrative syntax through the stream of consciousness: the protagonist’s physical movement through Dublin intertwines with his subjective associations, memories, and premonitions. The novel sharply reveals the ambivalence, labyrinthine structure, and internal constraints of urban space, which consistently challenge its characters. Dublin functions simultaneously as a concrete, historical city, a universal mythic space, and a medium for stream-of-consciousness narration, synthesising three distinct chronotopes. At least three temporal registers operate concurrently: subjective/epiphanic (Bloom’s consciousness), historical/colonial (British-ruled Ireland in 1904), and mythological/cyclical (Homeric parallels). For Joyce, the modernist city embodies dual symbolic significance: it is both a realm of decline and a site of potential salvation, juxtaposing mechanised urban life with mythic metamorphosis. The theoretical and methodological framework of the present study is grounded in Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope (Bakhtin, 1981), together with key contributions to literary urbanism by Edward Soja (Soja, 1996), Lieven Ameel (Ameel, 2017; 2023), Robert Alter (Alter, 2005), and Richard Lehan (Lehan, 1998).

Machine Translation of English Idioms into Georgian and Russian: A Comparative Analysis Based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Manana Khvingia — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This study examines the semantic, stylistic, and pragmatic aspects of translating English idioms from George Orwell’s Animal Farm into Georgian and Russian, using Neural Machine Translation (NMT) and Large Language Models (LLMs). It evaluates five contemporary systems - Google Translate, Gemini AI, ChatGPT, PROTRANSLATE.GE, and Glosbe- to assess their strengths, weaknesses, and translation strategies.

Using a comparative, descriptive, and qualitative approach, the study analyses the generated translations for semantic accuracy, idiomatic equivalence, contextual adequacy, and naturalness.

The findings reveal that while AI systems demonstrate high lexical and syntactic accuracy, translating idioms still yields literal renderings, calques, semantic shifts, and stylistic flaws. Limited digital resources and parallel corpora for Georgian negatively affect translation quality. Conversely, established phraseological equivalents in Russian yield more natural, functionally adequate results.

The study’s novelty lies in comparing generative AI models alongside established machine translation tools for literary idioms across two distinct language families. Ultimately, these insights contribute to computational linguistics, idiom-translation methodology, and the enhancement of natural language processing resources for Georgian.

Challenges of Phraseological Translation in the Era of AI: Georgian-Russian MT Perspectives and the Role of Intermediary Languages

Shorena Tsabadze — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This article examines the core challenges of translating phraseological units in Machine Translation (MT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on the Georgian-Russian language pair. Phraseologisms, characterised by cultural specificity and semantic indivisibility, pose a significant hurdle for automated systems that often rely on morphological and syntactic analysis rather than deep semantic synthesis. This research adopts a complex comparative-experimental methodology, analysing translations of idiomatic expressions from Mikhail Javakhishvili’s novel Arsena Marabdeli within the digital framework of the Electronic Text Analysis Group at Tbilisi State University (ETAG-TSU). By comparing professional human translations with machine-generated outputs, this study identifies critical failures in AI systems, including literalism, an inability to distinguish homonyms, and misinterpretation of cultural and biblical realia. Furthermore, the paper investigates the computational stylistics of phraseological transformations in literary prose, highlighting how algorithmic models struggle with authorial style and figurative nuances. A key finding is that English serves as a “pivot” or intermediary language in the Georgian-Russian MT process, introducing additional phonetic and lexical errors. The paper concludes that, for AI to achieve functional proficiency in translating idioms, it must be equipped with extensive electronic corpora, Parallel Idiomatic Corpora, and Specialised Knowledge Graphs in which phraseologisms are treated as independent, indivisible semantic components.

Some Thoughts on Changes in the Theoretical Framework of Bible Translation

Tibor M. Pintér — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This study situates Bible translation within the broader development of modern translation studies, tracing its evolution from early sense-for-sense reflections by Cicero and St Jerome to contemporary linguistic and functionalist theories. It argues that translation is best understood not as the substitution of linguistic units but as an act of interpretive text production and cultural mediation, shaped by purpose, audience, and context. By examining historical and modern Bible translations alongside theoretical frameworks, from formal and dynamic equivalence to relevance theory and functionalism, the paper highlights the plurality of legitimate translation strategies. Special attention is given to the roles of hermeneutics, sociolinguistics, cognition, and pragmatics in shaping translational decisions and in defining varying degrees of equivalence or adequacy. The analysis demonstrates that Bible translation occupies a unique position between literary and specialised translation, combining linguistic precision with theological interpretation and communicative intent. Ultimately, the study contends that the coexistence of multiple translations within a single language is not a deficiency but a scholarly and cultural asset, facilitating comprehension, interpretation, and critical engagement with sacred texts.

The Conceptual Metaphor UNDERSTANDING/KNOWING IS HEARING in Georgian Language and Culture

Nino Daraselia — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This paper, which is part of the ongoing research, deals with one of the instantiations of the generic-level conceptual metaphor COGNITION IS PERCEPTION, namely, UNDERSTANDING/KNOWING IS HEARING in the Georgian language and culture (the issue almost unexplored in Georgian). In order to reveal the significance of the mentioned metaphor for the Georgian language community, intrafield (i.e., across sensory modalities) as well as transfield (i.e., across different domains) semantic extensions reflected in Georgian lexemes for the hearing modality were studied and compared with metonymic and metaphoric extensions linked to the vision and intellection domains.The research was conducted within the framework of cognitive linguistics, lexical semantics, cultural studies and Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. The results of the study show that for intrafield semantic extensions across sensory modalities in Georgian, the hearing modality is at the top of the hierarchy. Regarding patterns of transfield semantic extensions, alongside widely accepted image-schemas associated with hearing (hear>heed>understand>obey), Georgian lexical units tend to develop meanings of considering, getting the message, grasping the idea, believing, learning something, realizing and knowing. The paper argues that the importance of hearing to the Georgian language and culture stems from the primacy of musical and interpersonal intelligences within the community.

A Linguistic Comparison of Wine Evaluation in Georgian and Western Technical Sheets

Nino Kuratishvili — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This study explores how language shapes wine evaluation within the framework of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It examines 100 technical sheets — 50 Georgian and 50 Western (American, French, Spanish, and Italian) — sampled from winery websites and online wine shops, focusing on how writers use word choice, repetition, and sentence structure to construct evaluative meaning. Although producers label these documents uniformly as technical sheets, the genre is realised in markedly different ways across the two sub-corpora.

The analysis reveals clear differences in how evaluations are constructed. Writers in the Western corpus consistently integrate technical, sensorial, and market-oriented meanings into a stable, highly structured evaluative register. Georgian texts display a more variable pattern: some closely resemble Western descriptions, while others emphasise production-focused or more generic evaluative language. To account for this variability, the study introduces the concept of frame friction — competing evaluative logics that do not fully integrate into a cohesive system. From an ESP perspective, these findings point to uneven alignment with established evaluative norms, particularly in the use of conventionalised expressions and syntactic density, while also suggesting the potential for a corpus-informed wine descriptor lexicon reflecting both emerging patterns and existing variation.

Guilt-Tripping in Gaslighting Discourse: From Self-Trust to “I’m Sorry”

Valeria Purtseladze — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This study examines guilt-tripping as a pragmatic technique used in gaslighting discourse, emphasising how emotional responsibility is linguistically constructed and interpreted. The analysis employs Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986/95a; Wilson and Sperber, 2004; Carston & Powell, 2009), critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1989; Van Dijk, 2006; Maillat & Oswald, 2011), and perspectives from truth-conditional semantics (Vanderveken, 1990; Seuren, 1998; Nordquist, 2025). The empirical data include dialogue extracts from contemporary film and television, such as 'No One Would Tell' (1996), 'Before I Go to Sleep' (2014), 'Alice, Darling' (2022), 'Resurrection' (2022), 'Priscilla' (2023), and 'Fake' (2024). A qualitative analysis of fifteen dialogue segments explores how explicitly encoded content interacts with pragmatically inferred meaning.

The findings identify three types of guilt-tripping — speaker-referential, hearer-referential, and dual-referential — each representing distinct patterns of responsibility attribution. In all instances, guilt-tripping functions through the interaction of entailment and implicature, whereby ostensibly factual propositions serve as cognitive anchors for evaluative inferences. This mechanism facilitates the internalisation of responsibility while preserving plausible deniability.

The study views guilt-tripping as a linguistically mediated and cognitively rooted strategy, enhancing research on manipulative discourse and providing a structured understanding of guilt induction in gaslighting.

Come out only when I summon you! For a Queer Linguistic Methodology of Absence in null curricula

Sonia Maria Melchiorre — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, this study investigates the “null curriculum” through the pragmatics of negation and absence. Situating the research within a Queer Linguistic (QL) framework, the author recontextualises the curriculum as a discourse domain in which “null” elements function as zero-signs. Drawing on Elliot Eisner’s (Eisner 1979) seminal theory, the study argues that silence in education is a deliberate form of speech and that the perspectives and lexemes omitted from the classroom are as foundational to a student’s development as the explicit content provided. Central to this analysis is Melchiorre’s “spare me the word” strategy (Melchiorre, 2022), which, in this account, is framed as a linguistic sanitisation that bypasses queer terminology to maintain a facade of inclusivity. By applying Speech Act Theory (SAT), I treat these communicative voids as perlocutionary acts that perform epistemological erasure, arguing that such systematic omissions are not neutral gaps but institutional tools of control that reinforce the gender binary. In my final remarks, I conclude that such a discursive absence culminates in “emotional segregation” (Beeman, 2007), creating an educational landscape that denies queer individuals the linguistic mirrors necessary to articulate their lived experiences and thereby facilitating profound affective alienation.

Study Abroad: Food for Thought

Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel, Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

Despite the growing popularity of study abroad programmes, it remains unclear how this unique experience shapes sojourners’ lives and future careers. Hence, the aim of this paper is to present the potential benefits and perils of the study abroad experience. For this purpose, the most important factors are discussed from the perspective of three broad categories: linguistic, personal and cultural. The overwhelming body of research points to the general success of the study abroad experience, which, as such, needs to be advocated as a pedagogical tool that yields substantial gains in global citizenship and professional adaptability. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the transition to a foreign academic environment presents multifaceted challenges that are not equally met by all individuals. Consequently, we should focus on variables that support the adaptation process. This includes competencies such as linguistic proficiency and intercultural sensitivity, as well as social and contextual variables (social network development and resilience).

Professional Identity Construction in Asynchronous Teacher Forums: A Discourse Analysis of Online Professional Development Interaction

Nona Popiashvili — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0400

This article examines how professional identity is constructed through discourse in asynchronous online forums used in teacher professional development programmes. It analyses two purposively selected datasets from British Council English language teacher development contexts: the TKT Module 1 forum (2013; 14 participants, 6 discussion themes, 80 posts) and the Online Teacher Community (OTC) forum (2025; 35 participants, 7 discussion themes, 267 posts).

The qualitative, interpretive analysis combines Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) with the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to examine participant positioning, evaluative and epistemic stance, collegial alignment, and interactional organisation. The unequal corpus sizes and differences in participant composition, task design, and platform context are treated as contextual conditions; the comparison focuses on the forms and functions of discursive practices rather than their statistical prevalence.

The findings show that professional identity emerges as participants draw on experience, calibrate knowledge claims, align with colleagues, and connect contributions across delayed interaction. Thread-level analysis further shows how a procedural prompt can develop into contextualised pedagogical reasoning through hedging, acknowledgement, asking questions, and sharing experience.

Overall, the study demonstrates how asynchronous teacher forums can support social and cognitive presence while revealing a tension between supportive collegiality and critical engagement. It contributes micro-level evidence to research on online teacher professional learning and offers implications for designing and facilitating discussion forums.