Anna Vogel
About me
My work is about how various perspectives impact language and how language influences the world. I am both interested in the cognitive and social aspects of linguistics. Semantics is often my entry into data.
Research
Current projects
Swedish Save the Children International in changing times. Framing and stories for the organisation’s new identity.
Funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond RMP19-1308:1
12 February 2020-30 June 2024
In the process of expanding its activities in Sweden, from having worked primarily with influence and impact, to offering wealth fare services of education, employment and healthcare, the organisation Save the Children will need an increased awareness of how it frames its undertakings as well as of what stories it tells. Framing concerns not only what key concepts are used, but also their internal logic, how paragraphs sentences are structured and how the grammar and vocabulary harmonize with the intended message. The aim of the proposed project is to study how Save the Children currently frames its actions and tells stories, both externally and internally, and how the framing and the stories need to alter as the organisation’s identity changes. Two sets of data will be collected, first a set of text data, including pictures and video-clips from Save the Children, and second a set of ethnographic data, more specifically interviews with and observations of the organisation’s members and employees. The data will be approached by a variety of methods, such as concept analysis, rhetoric analysis and narrative analysis. Finally, recommendations will be suggested concerning possible modifications of framing and alternative stories, in order to assist the organisation in strengthening and communicating its new identity.
The project is a so-called Flexitproject, which means that I am employed by Save the Children during the first two years of the project, and will spend the third and last year at Stockholm University.
Publications:
2024a ‘Where others are not able to safeguard the Rights of Children’: Legitimizing transformation of social identity and practice in Save the Children Sweden. CADAAD Journal 15(2) pp . 23-41 (full text)
2024 Linguistic negotiation in non-profit organization regarding identity. A study on narratives, metaphors and the use of ‘we’. SN Social sciences. (full text)
(Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQryeVqudDM
How youths comprehend 'honor'
As an offspring of the Save the Children projcet I am also interested in issues related to 'honor' as in honorrelated violence and oppression. I study how youths negotiate about the concept 'honor' at a school where, according to the counseler, honorrelated issues are present. Part of the investigation was performed in collaboration with Pia Raattamaa Visén, Stockholm university.
Publications:
(2024) Co-atuhored with Pia Raattamaa Visén: Om du hade levt det livet som din pappa vill, had du ångrat dig då? Analyser av elevfrågor i ett temaarbete om hedersnormer. In: Anders Ohlsson, Anders Sigrell, Paul Strand, and Martin Sundby (eds.): Språk och litteratur - en omöjlig eller skön förening? SMDI 2015. (Studia Rhetorica Lundensia 8). Lund: Lund University. (full text - collection of papers - please go to page 247).
(Preprint) Heder. Ungdomars förhandling kring ett laddat begrepp. Språk och stil.
Being good in a globalized world. A linguistic study of discourses on humanitarian aid
The purpose of the project is to explore how humanitarian aid is defined, discussed, and legitimized in contemporary Sweden and how citizens are positioned within the discursive struggle concerning what humanitarian aid is and should be. Togheter with Theres Bellander (Stockholm University) and Karin Hagren Idevall (Uppsala University).
Publications:
2019. A Critical Analysis of Metaphors on Läkare Utan Gränsers's (Swedish Médecins Sans Frontières') Website/Meningsfullt bistånd. En kritisk analys av metaforer på Läkare Utan Gränsers webbplats. Sakprosa 11(2). (full text in Swedish with an English abstract)
Loaded words
Words which are replaced over time are studied. Data from three domains are collected: health, sexuality and ethnicity. The "labels" all refer to minorities, and the labels are analysed in relation to language policy and language change in a micro perspective. The study is carried out by using methods from discourse analysis and congitive linguistics.
Publications:
2019. To evaluate corpus planning. A case of a Swedish language policy action concerning terms for disability. Current Issues in Language Planning. DOI: 10.1080/14664208.2019.1601471 (full text)
The style of Tomas Tranströmer
The aim is to study the style of the Swedish poet and Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer, with a focus on the lexical level. Metaphors, metonymi, abstract/concrete and the three spatial dimensions are studied. The analyses are performed using cognitive linguistic methods.
Publications:
2017. How to Build a Metaphor: Novel Metaphors Construed by Concrete Elements in Tomas Transtromer’s Poetry Style. 51.4. Pp. 506-525. (no fulltext)
2015. Metaforik i Tranströmers poesi. In: Östman, Carin (ed.), Det skönlitterära språket. Stockholm: Morfem förlag. Pp. 59–79. (In Swedish, no fulltext)
Entitlement. A Feminist Reading of Anne of Green Gables.
I have studied how the main character in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery is described in four translations to Swedish, with a special interest in power and agency.
2021. Anne på svenska. Hur tidsanda och produktionsvillkor påverkat huvudpersonens karaktärsdrag i svenska översättningar och adaptioner av Anne of Green Gables. Barnboken, 44. (fulltext in Swedish with an English summary)
In a short film (1 minute 35 seconds) I summarize the main findings of the study Anne på svenska. Link to the film here: https://www.youtube.com
I have also edited a retranslation of Anne of Green Gables to Swedish, the first one without deletions and insertions that occured in the earlier translations. See link to the retranslation at the end of the page!
Accomplished research projects
Adjectives from a cognitive linguistic perspective
For a long time now, adjectives have been in the shade vis-à-vis the verbs and the nouns. However, semantically speaking, they are as intriguing as their word class siblings. The project sheds light on dimensional adjectives and the relation of oppositeness. Further, a broad overview of related research from the congitive linguistic domain has been compiled (2013a).
Publications:
2013a. Adjective. In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK – Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. (In English and German, no full text)
2013b. Classifier. In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK - Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. (In English and German, no full text)
2013c. Comparison . In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK - Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. (In English and German, no full text)
2013d. Gradability . In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK - Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. http://www.degruyter.com/view/WSK. (In English and German, no full text)
2013e. Participle . In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK - Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. (In English and German, no full text)
2013f. Superlative. In: Niemeier, Susanne & Juchem-Grundmann, Constanze (eds.), Cognitive Grammar. WSK - Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Series. 14. (In English and German, no full text)
2009. A cognitive approach to opposites: The case of Swedish levande 'alive' and död 'dead'. Varieng 3 “Approaches to Language and Cognition”. https://varieng.helsinki.fi/series/volumes/03/vogel/ (fulltext)
2008. Ett kognitivt grepp på motsatsord. Svenskans beskrivning 29. Förhandlingar vid Tjugonionde sammankomsten för svenskans beskrivning. Vasa den 4 och 5 maj 2007. Eds: Nordman, Marianne, Björklund, Siv , Laurén, Christer, Mård-Miettinen, Karita, & Pilke, Nina. Vasa: Vasa universitet. Pp. 317–325. (In Swedish, no full text)
Second language teaching from a cognitive linguistic perspective
How can second language teaching be carried out using cognitive linguistic methods? In the project, a first survey, complemented by a small-scale study, is performed.
Publication:
2012. Co-authored with Elżbieta Strzelecka. Andraspråksundervisning i ett kognitivt lingvistiskt perspektiv – en första kartläggning. Nordand. Nordisk tidskrift for andrespråksforskning 7:1 Pp. 85–105. (In Swedish, no full text)
Dying across languages
The aim is to systematize and interpret euphemisms for the most difficult there is: dying or losing people you love.
Publication:
2009b. Going towards the unknown. Expressions for dying in European languages. In: Zlatev, Jordan, Johansson Falck, Marlene, Lundmark, Carita & Andrén, Mats, Studies in Language and Cognition, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pp. 209–217. (no full text)
Popular science:
2016. Våga vägra döden. Språktidningen maj 2016. (In Swedish, fulltext)
2017. Döden, döden. Palliativ vård 2 2017. (In Swedish, no fulltext)
Male and female in academia
The aim is to shed licht on a practice within academia, using action reserach. Do we let male and female students share talking time equally in the seminar hall?
Publication:
2007. Tillträde till festen. Könsfördelningen av talartid på en högskolekurs i grammatik. I: Gunnarsson, Britt-Louise, Entzenberg, Sonja & Ohlsson, Maria (eds.): Språk och kön i nutida och historiska perspektiv. Studier presenterade vid Den sjätte nordiska konferensen om språk och kön, Uppsala 6–7 oktober 2006. Skrifter utgivna av Institutionen för nordiska språk. 71. Uppsala: Uppsala universitet. (In Swedish with an English abstract, no full text )
Teaching and textbooks
Teaching and advising: I teach the following courses: Text Analysis and Multimodality, Presentation and Rhetorics, Swedish for Teaching at Primary School Years 4-6 and Years 1-3, Literary Stylistics and I advise students (undergraduate and graduate) when the write their theses.
Publications:
2016. Togheter with Gunilla Almström Persson, Vendela Blomström and Karolina Wirdenäs. Språk i samspel. Retorik för pedagoger. Stockholm: Aglaktuq. (In Swedish, no full text)
2011. Språket, kroppen och tankarna. Introduktion till kognitiv semantik. Lund: Studentlitteratur. (In Swedish, no full text)
Popular science
I regularly contribute with texts and talks outside academia.
Publications:
2016. När litteraturen växlar TONLÄGE. Under strecket Svenska Dagbladet 20 feb 2016 (In Swedish, full text)
2014. Tranströmer visar världen på nytt. Språktidningen. 11/2014. (In Swedish, full text)
2011. Laddade ord. Språktidningen. 4/2011. (In Swedish, no full text)
2010. Laddade ord. Populär kommunikation. Nr 3/2010. (In Swedish, no full text)
Miscellaneous
I was the editor for a retranslation of Anne of Green Gables into Swedish. The translation was performed by Eva Ström: Anne på Grönkulla (Aglaktuq 2022).
I am passionately devoted to fiction literature, which not only shows in academic involvements (literary stylistics) but also in my own fiction publications, Blodapelsin (Aglaktuq 2014) and Den ryska sjalen (Aglaktuq 2010) (both in Swedish). This dedication has led to arrangements where I have initiated, led or contributed to various literary saloons in public librarys, book shops and literary festivals.
Find me on Research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna-Vogel-6
