Book Review:Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages:Edited by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk,Springer (2019) Switzerland pp.233 ISBN 978-3-030-04981-2

SHEN Ya-qin

The book under review presents contrasts， contacts and interconnections and about similarity， hybridity and differences in languages and cultures by case study. It provides descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena as well as processes that emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in the context of contrastive and contact linguistics and media discourse. Different contexts are explored with rich empirical findings and authentic materials.

Keywords： cultural diversity， intercultural communication， second language acquisition

Different contexts are explored with rich empirical findings and authentic materials. Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages edited by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk is about contrasts， contacts， and interconnections and about similarity， hybridity and differences in languages and cultures. Chapters in the volume well exemplify the interdisciplinary nature of these issues in their cultural diversity and richness， the themes intertwining language and culture， and might be of interest to researchers and educators in linguistics， communication， and journalism.

This volume is a collection of 15 chapters covering the implementations and implications of contacts and contrasts in cultures and languages. Apart from an introductory chapter by the editors， the remaining chapters aredivided into three parts.

Part I （Chapter1-8） addresses conceptual reflection on languages and cultures in contacts and contrasts. Chapter 1 starts with field observations on cultural similarities and differences in Poland， Latvia and Outer Mongolia. In this chapter， a new intercultural perspective on those post-Soviet cultures， which combined an interest in western life and styles with residual properties of their past， portrays a unique picture of their time in three different contexts. In Chapter 2， the author introduces a theme of global English and discusses its role in meaning， perception and culture in international business discourse， as well as argues for the strategies to establish trustful relationships and the development of intercultural competence employing metacognition strategies to reduce potential conflicts. From the perspective of intercultural communication， this chapter resides in the fact of assumed， though not shared， meanings of English as the lingua franca in business discourse. Chapter 3 explores approaches of expressing modality in commercial agreements and contracts thoroughly with an analysis of Polish-English parallel texts. It is concluded that diverse modal meanings are used in both language versions of texts with the variability of other linguistic forms employed to pass similar meaning or attitude on the other.

While a different intercultural experience evolves in the interface of the English and Arab worlds in Chapter 4. The author in this chapter investigates a relationship between English-Arabic proverbs and culture， where the emphasis is put upon the role of proverbs in revealing a national culture of such different nations. It concludes that although cultural diversity mainly reveals cultural difference， there are common aspects between both communities through intercultural communication. Chapter 5 addresses a narrative of a failed romance in Hemingways short story Mr. and Mrs. Elliot in terms of a new approach to narratology， cognitive poetics， which presents contrasts to an accepted romantic pattern of love and its opposition or negation. The use of the inverted pattern of romantic love and circular return， though devoid of any intertextual references， also represents ideas and cultures motivated by times of uncertainly and fragmentation that followed the end of World War I in Europe. In Chapter 6， the author verifies factors influencing the outcome of a conversation， discussing in particular specific conversational needs and the failure to discover the speakers intended meaning in mixed-gender communicative contexts. Basing on principles of politeness and cooperation， this chapter proves that gender differences can also influence the results of conversation between genders that different intercultural communicative features of interlocutors may cause misunderstandings， understatements and other problems. Chapter 7 investigates sensory properties of physical objects which are used to metaphorically describe memories in Polish and English by corpus data-illustrated linguistics and theoretical frameworks of the theory of objectification combined with the multisensory integration theory as his methodological instruments. At the end of Part I， Chapter 8 gives a thorough analysis of metaphors expressing the emotion of pride in Polish and English in a corpus-based study. The author combines research in philosophy， psychology and cognitive corpus linguistics to study the conceptualization of a self-conscious emotion of pride， in Polish and British English and concludes the similarities and contrasts between the two languages and cultures.

Part II （Chapter10-11） focuses on contact linguistics and borrowing among languages in contact. Chapter 9 analyses the area of the blending processes of languages and the development of their creolized versions. The account of creolization not only is considered from the linguistic perspective but is taken to be rooted in processes of sociocultural hybridization， which reflecting the negotiation of cultural and linguistic identities. The observations contribute to this important discourse and motivate a more nuanced appreciation of how contacts and contrasts can condition the linguistic landscape. In Chapter 10， the author presents loanwords of Nahuatl origin in the press of Veracruz， Mexico， by putting Nahuatl loanwords in Mexican Spanish in the focus of her inquiry， based on the language of the Veracruz state press， presents language contact scenario of the presence of words of Nahuatl origin constitute an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Mexico. Through analysis in this chapter， the constant presence of words of Nahuatl origin shows that this kind of vocabulary constitutes an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Mexico.

Part III （chapter12-15） shift sits focus to cultural and linguistic aspects of media discourses. Drawing on observations， chapter 11 provides an in-depth exploration of how the US Supreme Court ruling was framed by social media users. The author in this chapter focuses on the realms of the socially perceived interpersonal relationship and touches upon the perception of the minority gender roles. This contacts-and-contrasts analysis envisages the relation between a particular event， its news framing and their reflection in the social media audiences judgments. In Chapter 12， the author performs a corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of the form migrants and migration as identified in the British tabloid and quality press which emerges divergent pictures of migration and its perception， relative to the globalization and intercultural communication. The analysis shows the representation of the problem of migration in British newspapers is generally negative， and the negativity revolves mainly around the illegal entry， employment and abuse of the social benefit system， which results in the frequent social and political exclusion of migrants on economic and legal bases. Chapter 13 makes a comparative analysis among Korean and American newspaper headlines which covers two or three Korean and English headlines for each issue. Besides the qualitative differences， the author notes differences in frequencies of using quotations as an important stylistic strategy in political discourse categories， juxtaposed to the difference in using metaphorical expressions， which provides a significant reference in the category of intercultural business texts. Chapter 14 offers a comparative analysis on wellbeing and collective identity in both Polish and English contexts， which focuses on the types of collective group identity patterns and differences between them in which the categories evolve from the analysis of the materials from public Internet space. Two clear suggestions are proposed to achieve the state of well-being by the participants in terms of two variants of the relevant scenarios in activities involved attempts. In Chapter 15， the author again studies the phenomenon of global English in the world of interactive online entertainment. It argues for the major role of the Internet for the use and recognition of English as a global language and claims the English language dominance， substantiated by the results of a survey conducted among college students of modern languages.

This volume can be recommended for the following reasons. Firstly， researches collected in the volume are with novel standpoint and creative thoughts， such as multisensory metaphorical conceptualization， wellbeing and collective identity， social media discourse， etc. It goes beyond the “usual”， compartmentalized linguistic research and explores the phenomena of contact and contrasts between languages and cultures in different contexts. Secondly， the volume covers a broad range of contacts and contrasts in cultures and languages， which broadens the vision of readers who are interested in intercultural communication. It provides rich empirical findings on social and cognitive phenomena concerning contact-situated contrastive studies and media discourses. Thirdly， the volume presents numerous carefully chosen examples， which may help readers understand the theories and approaches more easily. Interdisciplinary in nature， it sheds new light on the phenomena of cultures and languages from the perspective of discourse-based approaches， exemplified by authentic materials.

Conclusion

Overall， Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages provides researchers and educators with the various approaches needed to touch intercultural communication in new diverse contexts such as social media context， characterized by conflict and fear of the other and fresh insights to scholars of education， applied linguistics， and sociology. It is a worthwhile read for researchers and educators who seek to study intercultural communication in-depth， since it expands and deepens readers understanding of intercultural practice in contacts and contrasts at a variety of levelsand offers an enormous intercultural research route and framework to follow.