Irena Zovko Dinković, Linda Gros. Spatial Minds: Conceptual Correlations of Spatial Prepositions in Hungarian, Croatian and English. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.

Many human experiences are interpreted with the help of spatial concepts, which is why spatial language is prevalent in every aspect of human life. However, to what extent is spatial language connected to spatial conceptualization? Has this conceptualization altered due to global communication and new technologies, becoming more similar across languages? This book investigates the similarities and differences between conceptual and morphological spatial categories in three different languages: namely, Hungarian, Croatian and English. To this end, a set of concepts of nine basic spatial expressions involving the prepositions in, on and at is analyzed both morphologically and psycholinguistically, in order to shed light on their mutual relationship in language and in the mind. The research is presented in a clear and simple manner, making the book accessible to students of linguistics and language enthusiasts, and providing a concise introduction to the basic tenets of various approaches to spatial language.

Sven Cvek, Borislav Knežević, Jelena Šesnić (eds.). The errant labor of the humanities : festschrift presented to Stipe Grgas. Zagreb: FF press, 2017.

The collection of essays ranges over a number of themes, grouped into the following sub-sections: Geographies of Imagination ; Croatia, America, History ; Re-thinking America ; Capital in Contexts, and Case Studies: Nature and Science.

Višnja Josipović Smojver. Suvremene fonološke teorije. Zagreb : Ibis grafika, 2017.

Iva Polak. Futuristic Worlds in Australian Aboriginal Fiction. Oxford : Peter Lang, 2017.

The study focuses on the versatile theoretical corpus of the literature of the fantastic, on the one hand, and a vibrant corpus of Australian Aboriginal fiction that explores futurities, on the other. Primary interest is to discuss those Aboriginal works that boldly embark on constructing futuristic worlds and offer a distinctive contribution to the relatively recent field of native writers’ science fiction. This literary corpus has entered the critical domain in the twenty-first century, often under the heading of postcolonial science fiction. Analysed corpus includes: Sam Watson’s The Kadaitcha Sung (1990), Eric Willmot’s Below the Line (1991), Archie Weller’s Land of the Golden Clouds (1998), Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book (2013) and Ellen van Neerven’s novella “Water” published in Heat and Light collection (2014). This is the first book-length study in English that brings these works together under the prefix of contemporary SF.

Contents:
Preface
Introduction: In Search of the Australian Fantastic
1.1 The Australian Non-Aboriginal Fantastic and Its Epitext: A Short Survey
1.2 The Aboriginal Novel and Its Epitextual Minefield
1.3 Spectres of the Aboriginal Fantastic and Its Epitext
Chapter 1 The Fantastic as a Terminological Trickster
Chapter 2 The Postcolonial Turn and the Fantastic
Chapter 3 Below the Line – An SF Novel of (Double) Invasion
Chapter 4 “Water” – The SF Alien as a Metaphor for Culture
Chapter 5 Land of the Golden Clouds – An Epic Space of Science Fantasy and Fantastika
Chapter 6 The Kadaitcha Sung – Towards Native Slipstream
Chapter 7 The Swan Book – Into Transrealist Fiction
Conclusion: The Future Arrives
Works Cited
Index

Ivana Bašić, Marko Majerović and Marina Zubak Pivarski. Grammar Workbook for Contemporary English Language 1. Zagreb : Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada, 2016.

Stipe Grgas, Tihana Klepač, Martina Domines Veliki (eds.). English Studies from Archives to Prospects. Volume 1: Literature and Cultural Studies. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.

When we think about what it is we do in academic literary studies, we do so taking account of time – the time of the institution in which this disciplinary practice takes place, and the history of the discipline itself. Since literary studies engage contemporary issues and how they impact the reader, we must also acknowledge processes and events outside the field.
The contributions to this volume engage with the idea of temporality not only in Anglophone literature studies, but in the humanities as a whole. In the first section, the literary contributions show that the humanities owe a debt to the past – new paradigms question and challenge the validity of older ones without necessarily discarding them. The second section shows how the disciplinary archive can be modified and expanded to engage its present condition, while the last deals with what that condition forebodes. Despite the range of perspectives adopted here, all contributions echo the history of the discipline of literary studies itself, its present condition, and the possibilities for its survival in an age in which the relevance of humanities is being disputed.

Irena Zovko Dinković, Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović (eds.). English Studies from Archives to Prospects. Volume 2: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.

This volume explores English Studies from the perspective of linguistics and applied linguistics. By examining developments within their selected topics, the authors of these 18 chapters provide a broad overview of English Studies as related to their specific points of interest. Topics range from the well-established, such as negation, grammaticalization, and the role of culture in learning English, to those that are currently being revisited or are considered relatively new, such as corpus analysis, English as a lingua franca, and third language acquisition. The chapters reflect a modern approach to linguistic and applied linguistic phenomena, including diachronic and synchronic perspectives, as well as quantitative and qualitative research paradigms.
English Studies as practiced at the English Department in Zagreb during the last 80 years, the anniversary of which instigated the invitation of contributions for this collection, are presented here as a vibrant field, characterized by dynamics and complexities that introduce novel ideas, and help us embrace emerging aspects of more established concepts.

Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović, Marta Medved Krajnović (eds.). Early Learning and Teaching of English: New Dynamics of Primary English. Bristol. Multilingual Matters, 2015.

This book offers an insight into the dynamics and complexities of learning and teaching English as a foreign language at primary level. Taking a Dynamic Systems Theory perspective, the chapters present the findings of longitudinal research undertaken in Croatia into the development of English in young learners. The book includes both qualitative and quantitative research and provides insights into internal individual learner factors and external micro and macro contextual factors which impact English learner development. Importantly, it tackles the unique position of English in today’s globalised world in detail. It therefore makes a major contribution to work on learning English by the digitalised generation and to understanding the impact of practices in the modern EFL classroom. The volume will appeal to anyone interested in new ways of researching the complex and dynamic phenomenon of the early learning of English.

Stipe Grgas. Američki studiji danas: identitet, kapital, spacijalnost. Zagreb. Meandarmedia, 2015.

Peti-Stantić, Anita ; Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan ; Antunović, Goranka (eds.). Language Varieties Between Norms and Attitudes : South Slavic Perspectives : Proceedings from the 2013 CALS Conference. Frankfurt am Main. Peter Lang, 2015.

This volume brings together thirteen articles presented at the 27^th International Conference of the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society held in Dubrovnik in 2013. The authors explore four groups of issues: stability and change at the intersection of the standard and other varieties; language policy and language attitudes in relation to the status of L1 and L2; bilingualism and multilingualism; translation solutions reaffirming and/or establishing the norm. The articles focus on the contemporary Croatian and Slovenian sociolinguistic situation, relating it to the current situation in Europe.

Antunović, Goranka (ed.). Glimpses of the North : Discovering Scandinavia and Scandinavian Studies. Zagreb: Srednja Europa, 2014.

The volume comprises articles by fourteen scholars from ten European universities. The topics, indicative of the variety of research orientations within contemporary Scandinavian Studies, follow four main thematic strands: Old Norse literature and mythology; the shaping and characteristics of group identities in the Scandinavian countries and Finland; Scandinavian writers (H. C Andersen and K. Hamsun) and Scandinavian travelogues by Croatian writers; the Swedish language and Croatian-Swedish contrastive topics.

Nataša Pavlović. Uvod u teorije prevođenja. Zagreb: Leykam international, 2015.

Mateusz-Milan Stanojević (ed.). Metafore koje istražujemo: suvremeni uvidi u konceptualnu metaforu. Zagreb: Srednja Europa, 2014.

Ivana Bašić i Marina Zubak Pivarski. A reader for contemporary English language 1 and 2. Zagreb: FF press, 2013.

This reader was compiled with the purpose of making it easier for first-year university students of English at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb University, to achieve the aims defined by the syllabus of the courses Contemporary English Language 1 and Contemporary English Language 2.