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POLITICAL MYSTICISM AND THE LEGIONARY MOVEMENT IN INTERWAR ROMANIA. A COGNITIVE APPROACH

Author(s): Ioana Silvia Sonea / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: discourse; ideology; cognitive linguistics; mental space; conceptual integration; political religion;

Political Mysticism and the Legionary Movement in Interwar Romania. A Cognitive Approach. The purpose of this article is to explore the public discourse of the Iron Guard, the often called “exotic” Romanian fascist movement. I will focus especially on the messianic figure of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the charismatic leader of the movement, and the long lasting fascination he has exerted in the Romanian public space for more than a century now. The approach taken here is based on Gilles Fauconnier’s and Mark Turner’s conceptual integration theory and it is an attempt to show how by blending various mental spaces, from religious elements to medieval historical characters and events, the movement managed to create a unique mix that seemed to set it apart from other European fascist movements. Its members were extremely young and, by all accounts, genuinely religious, even practicing a type of political „mysticism” that was rather uncommon elsewhere.

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THE LEGITIMIZING TOOLKIT OF THE ROMANIAN COMMUNIST ANTHEMS. IDEOLOGY AND LINGUISTIC IMAGINARY

Author(s): Anca Ursa / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: national imaginary; identity legitimation; mythemes; anthems; homeland; ritual; communism; wooden language;

The Legitimizing Toolkit of the Romanian Communist Anthems. Ideology and Linguistic Imaginary. Anthems are associated with nationhood and are part of its legitimizing toolkit. Their complete interpretation usually goes through the analysis of the linguistic imaginary, namely of the mythemes of the age, of the unconscious representations of the community, identifiable in rhythmical patriotic verses. National myths, recycled in patriotic songs Romanians have created since the 19th century, have been coloured differently, according to the ideology of the era. However, during 1948-1989 a double orientation could be “read” in the three national anthems: the natural insinuation of the community’s unconscious projections on the one hand, and the evidence of ideological charge meant to change Romanians’ representations of national reality on the other. Thus, the anthems Broken Shackles (Zdrobite cătușe), We Glorify Thee, Romania (Te slăvim, Românie), and Three colours (Trei culori) mark different stages in the communist discourse, even if they seemingly reuse the same motifs specific to the imaginary of the time: the country, the flag, the proletariat, the victorious past, the bright future and the “crushed” enemies.

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ON “THE FABRICK OF THE TONGUE”. LANGUAGE METAPHORS USED TO ADVOCATE DESCRIPTIVISM/PRESCRIPTIVISM IN ENGLISH AND ROMANIAN DICTIONARIES

Author(s): Maria Ștefănescu,Mircea Minică / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: language metaphor; lexicography; dictionary; descriptivism; prescriptivism; purism;

On “The Fabrick of the Tongue”. Language Metaphors Used to Advocate Descriptivism/Prescriptivism in English and Romanian Dictionaries. There has been considerable scholarly interest in the relationship between language and national identity. The topic is vast and multi-faceted, but in this paper we are especially interested in the manner in which the perceived interdependence between ‘mother tongue’ and ‘fatherland’ has often prompted policies intended to protect the former, and therefore the latter, of whatever was regarded as harmful influence. In particular, we intend to survey some lexicographical work undertaken in Great Britain and (what is now) Romania between the middle of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century in order to compare decisions on prescriptivism or descriptivism in dictionaries, and the reasons behind them. While some background information will be necessary, our main focus will be the language metaphors which lexicographers and other people who brought a contribution to dictionary making resorted to in order to support their arguments in favour of or against prescriptivism/descriptivism.

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HOMO LUDENS AMONG CULTURES AND TRANSLATIONS – A PRACTICAL APPROACH

Author(s): Diana-Viorela Burlacu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: abusive fidelity; communication; cultureme; equivalence; meaning; mediation; wordplay;

Homo Ludens among Cultures and Translations – A Practical Approach. Not only once have we learned about the parasitic, mimetic structure of a translation, or the inauthenticity of the invisible translator, a performer without a stage, as Robert Wechsler would describe it. Yet, beyond such a shallow disparaging perspective, (good) translation obviously means art, being shaped by the translator’s expertise, talent and imagination, and resembling a creative Lego game rather than an already set puzzle game, hence its uniqueness. The present study aims to briefly highlight certain key-concepts in this ambiguity-fraught domain, such as abusive fidelity, domestication and foreignization (covert and overt translation) or culture-bound terms, the so-called culturemes. Mainly relying on practical illustrations, encountered while translating a series of jokes from the German language into Romanian, during a translation course within the Leipzig University, the article will focus on the ludic aspect of translation, which paradoxically does not always trigger a laughter on the part of the translator, sometimes faced not only with difficulties, but with impossible equivalences. Ultimately, the study will try to justify the reasons for which communicative translation should prevail over the semantic translation or why an authentic target-language text proves superior to a faithful-to-the-source-text translation.

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THE COLLECTIVE IMAGINARY OF ROMGLISH IN CYBERSPACE AND FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTIONS

Author(s): Anamaria Radu,Alexandra Cotoc / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: collective imaginary; Romglish; Globish; cognitive processes; online and offline interactions;

The Collective Imaginary of Romglish in Cyberspace and Face-to-face Interactions. The activity of Romanian users in digital spaces oftentimes exhibits a dynamic code containing Romglish (the combination of Romanian and English features), which also reverberates in offline discourses and has an ongoing boomerang effect between offline and online interactions. By means of a survey, this paper investigates the Romanian collective imaginary which is set in the linguistic data. As the Romanian language constitutes a matrix in which English and Globish (a simplified pragmatic form of English) are embedded and they become part of a new dynamic code, destined to be changed at all levels (lexical, morphological, and syntactical), Romanian native speakers’ perception of Romglish is an important dimension. As such, this paper will analyse how individuals perceive their personal use of Romglish online and in face-to-face interactions: the use of the code created, the preferences and mechanisms of linguistic choices and linguistic creativity, the frequency of code-switching and code-mixing both in formal and informal contexts, and the degree of universality of the code used. The findings will provide insight not only specific to the aspects of the Romglish, but also related to the cognitive processes involved and the reasons which trigger such processes.

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BUILDING TRANSLATION COMPETENCE THROUGH DIARY STUDIES: AT THE CROSSROADS OF STUDENTS' REFLECTION AND IMAGINATION

Author(s): Valentina Mureșan,Andreea Șerban / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: translation competence (acquisition); diary studies; instruments; challenges; good practices;

Building Translation Competence through Diary Studies: at the Crossroads of Students’ Reflection and Imagination. Our paper tackles a more practical aspect of the translation training process in the context of translation competence acquisition (TCA) by focusing on a group of students of the Applied Modern Languages Programme, who were in the first year when our research was initiated. This study represents the second part of a small-scale qualitative research, which used diaries as a research instrument to investigate the strategies and tools employed by students as they tried to overcome challenges in translation and to develop good practices for their future career as translators. Participants were asked to reflect on register related issues encountered during the process of learning about and doing translation, since in our teaching experience this is one of the most prominent challenges to overcome. By employing this open-ended tool, we wanted to see whether diary keeping increased students’ awareness of register related problems and, moreover, whether students integrated reflection as one of the strategies to develop competence in translation. As a follow-up to our initial research, participants (now graduates) were asked to reflect on their study and translation practices and instruments so as to discuss which of these they retained (compared to the first year), what strategies they make use of now both for learning and for doing translation work, and whether they have discovered any new ones that make translator training more effective.

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OBJECT-ORIENTED ONTOLOGY AND NEOLIBERAL CAPITALISM: A MATERIALIST-DISCURSIVE CRITIQUE

Author(s): Daniel Clinci / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: object-oriented ontology; posthumanism; new materialisms; neoliberal capitalism;

Object-Oriented Ontology and Neoliberal Capitalism: A Materialist- Discursive Critique. Object-oriented ontology [OOO], alternatively known as flat ontology or as a branch of speculative realism, has recently been developed and presented as a non-anthropocentric attempt to construct an ontology, a metaphysics, or both. In this paper, I will look at the texts of Graham Harman, probably the most vocal of all the theorists working within the framework of OOO, in order to show that the many flaws of this approach end up legitimizing a neoliberal capitalist worldview and reinforcing its contradictions. Also, one of my goals is to answer a current misunderstanding of object-oriented ontology as posthumanism; OOO is not a posthumanism because it rejects any political discourse and criticism. On the contrary, as we will see, OOO explicitly opposes the new posthumanist materialisms.

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“DARE TO THINK, DARE TO SPEAK, DARE TO ACT”: TRANSLATING POLITICAL SLOGANS IN MO YAN’S FROG FROM CHINESE INTO ROMANIAN, ITALIAN AND SPANISH

Author(s): Mugur Zlotea / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: political slogan; ideology; translation; Cultural Revolution; Mo Yan;

Dare to Think, Dare to Speak, Dare to Act - Translating Political Slogans in Mo Yan’s Frog from Chinese into Romanian, Italian and Spanish. Slogans are some of the most typical elements of Chinese politics and a significant part of the important decisions took by the Communist Party are made known to the masses using slogans, such as “It is right to rebel!”, “Destroy the four olds!”, or “The most serious problem is to teach the peasants”. Participation in political life after the founding of the People’s Republic, in 1949, could be done only by employing slogans or formulae derived from the elite political discourse. The major impact of politics upon people’s lives has transformed the slogan from a manifestation of political authority into a manipulation tool used by people to make their counterparts react in a desired way. Mo Yan’s novel Frog (Wa/Broaște/Rana/Le rane) shows to what extent slogans can influence ordinary people’s lives, where the use of real political slogans or even make-believe slogans – discourse modeled to resemble a political slogan –, are either attempts by the characters to make their voices heard and participate into decision making, or small acts of rebellion against the system. Considering the culture specific character of the slogans, the fact that they were created into a very particular socio-political context, the paper analyzes the translations of the slogans in Mo Yan’s novel into three Romance languages, in an attempt to identify not only the techniques and the choices made by the translators, but also the possibility, or impossibility, to recreate the slogan and conserve its original impact into the target culture.

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MUGURAȘ CONSTANTINESCU, DANIEL DEJICA, TITELA VILCEANU (EDS.), O ISTORIE A TRADUCERILOR ÎN LIMBA ROMÂNĂ ÎN SECOLUL AL XX-LEA (ITLR), VOL. I, BUCUREȘTI: EDITURA ACADEMIEI ROMANE, 2021, 1445 P.

Author(s): Ioana Alexandru,Robert-Giulian Andreescu,Roxana Pintean / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Muguraș Constantinescu; Daniel Dejica; Titela Vîlceanu; history; translations; review;

Review of: Muguraș Constantinescu, Daniel Dejica, Titela Vîlceanu (eds.), O istorie a traducerilor în limba română în secolul al XX-lea (ITLR), vol. I, București: Editura Academiei Române, 2021,

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ILEANA OANA MACARI, IULIA ANDREEA MILICĂ (EDS.), ROMANIAN CULTURE –A CRASH COURSE / CULTURA ROMÂNĂ – O PREZENTARE SUCCINTĂ. IAȘI: EDITURA UNIVERSITĂȚII ”ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA”, 2021, 205 P.

Author(s): Amalia Cotoi / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Ileana Oana Macari; Iulia Andreea Milică; Romanian Culture; review;

Review of: Ileana Oana Macari, Iulia Andreea Milică (eds.), Romanian Culture – A Crash Course/Cultura română – o prezentare succintă, Iași: Editura Universității ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 2021.

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ANDRA VASILESCU, MIHAELA-VIORICA CONSTANTINESCU, GABRIELA STOICA, JONATHAN RUSSELL WHITE (EDS.) EXPLORING DISCOURSE PRACTICES IN ROMANIAN. NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE: CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARS PUBLISHING, 2020, 460 P.

Author(s): Veronica Manole / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Andra Vasilescu; Mihaela-Viorica Constantinescu; Gabriela Stoica; Jonathan Russell White; discourse analysis; review;

Review of: Andra Vasilescu, Mihaela-Viorica Constantinescu, Gabriela Stoica, Jonathan Russell White (eds.), Exploring Discourse Practices in Romanian. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020

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ELENA PLATON (COORD.), ENCICLOPEDIA IMAGINARIILOR DIN ROMANIA. VOLUMUL II. PATRIMONIU SI IMAGINAR LINGVISTIC / THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ROMANIAN IMAGINARIES. VOLUME II. LINGUISTIC PATRIMONY AND IMAGINARY, IASI: POLIROM, 2020, 486 P.

Author(s): Alexandra Olaru / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Elena Platon; Linguistic Patrimony; review;

Review of: Elena Platon (ed.), Enciclopedia imaginariilor din România. Volumul II. Patrimoniu şi imaginar lingvistic/The Encyclopedia of Romanian Imaginaries. Volume II. Linguistic Patrimony and Imaginary, Iaşi: Polirom, 2020.

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IOAN CHIRILĂ (COORD.), ENCICLOPEDIA IMAGINARIILOR DIN ROMÂNIA. VOLUMUL IV: IMAGINAR RELIGIOS/THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE IMAGINARY FROM ROMANIAN SPACE. VOLUME IV: RELIGIOUS IMAGINARY. IAȘI: POLIROM, 2020, 383 P.

Author(s): Anca Lorena Sacalîș / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Ioan Chirilă; Encyclopaedia; review;

Review of: Ioan Chirilă (ed.), Enciclopedia imaginariilor din România. IV: Imaginar religios/ The Encyclopaedia of the Imaginary from Romanian Space. IV: Religious Imaginary. Iași: Polirom, 2020

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DIANA COTRĂU, ALEXANDRA COTOC AND OANA PAPUC (EDS.) AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET LINGUISTICS: THE CULTURAL SOCIOLINGUISTIC TAKE WITH CASE STUDIES. CLUJ-NAPOCA: PRESA UNIVERSITARĂ CLUJEANĂ, 2021, 191 P.

Author(s): Marian-Răducu Toderiță / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Diana Cotrău; Alexandra Cotoc; Oana Papuc; Linguistics; review;

Review of: Diana Cotrău, Alexandra Cotoc and Oana Papuc (eds.), An Introduction to Internet Linguistics: The Cultural Sociolinguistic Take with Case Studies. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2021,

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The ignored origins of the concepts of progress and evolution

Author(s): Mihail M. Ungheanu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2021

Keywords: evolution; Hegel; philosophy of history; progress;

The related concepts of progress, development, or evolution seem to be the expression of pure modern rationality, of science. The present paper intends to show that these concepts have another root that can be found in the realm of myth, of occult theology, or mythology. The transformist point of view can be found in Heraclitus from Efesus or in Hinduism, but also in hermetic philosophy or the Kabbalah or even alchemy. All these points of view have been synthesized and expressed in Hegel’s work and through Hegel they got to be present in Marxism. The role of the state is now conflated with the role of the divine Redeemer. Politics gets a new meaning. The fact that progress and evolution have become Indisputable dogmas and carry such an import is to find in the religious roots thereof and the view on man as the self-deifying agent.

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Setting the heritage of Old Europe in perspective – cultural studies and their interdisciplinary contextualization

Author(s): Harald Haarmann / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: Old Europe civilization; cultural studies; performative art; heritage;

The present article addresses the Old Europe concept by presenting it from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on its cultural heritage and meanings, but also on the cultural continuity in terms of art, spirit and aesthetics.

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What it takes to be a conservative?

Author(s): Radu Baltasiu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: utility; God; morality; love; society; democracy; peasant;

What does it mean to be conservative (right-wing)? Here’s the question of our day. A few considerations, from Nae Ionescu, Petre Țutea and Roger Scruton. At least five coordinates define the conservative stance: nationhood-God, nuances not resentment, family-childhood-Holliday, the peasant and finally, the doctrinal clarity.

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The movement of Romanian women from the Middle Ages to the end of the WWII

Author(s): Ovidiana Bulumac / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: Middle Ages; myths; emancipation; communism; women; her story;

The present paper addresses in a schematic manner the image of Romanian women, a subject not well developed in the sociological literature. The text indicates references to the condition of women starting from the Middle Ages, continuing with early modernity time frame, following the interwar period, and ending with the communist oppression installment. This is, in fact, the first fragment of a wider study, designed in three main parts. The second one is based on research centered upon the Scânteia newspaper, the official trumpet of the communist power, documenting all the published references related to women between September 1944 and February 1954 (almost 30,000 pages), a study that will be published in 2022 in London. The third part, still under development, represents a reality check: the real herstory, that took place in the communist induced state of terror, a timeframe which was considered to be the harshest repressive regime that the country endured until the Revolution of December 1989.

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The function of dialogue in a society of isolation

Author(s): Samira Cîrlig / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: dialogue; lonely society; destiny; sociality;

This material discusses the usefulness of dialogue in a lonely society. To establish its function, we first define the key concepts: dialogue and word. The definition of dialogue will be from a Socratic perspective, and we will say that it is how truth is discovered. The word on the other hand will be clarified starting from Mircea Vulcănescu who states that words contain love and implicitly faith. For this reason, we can say that through words, we assume destinies. We will then try to argue with statistical data why we start from the premise that today’s society is lonely. We will mention the most important moments: the advent of smartphones in 2012 (first in the US) and the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020. These two factors are certainly not the only ones, but they are two of the main factors that led to the shift of dialogue from face to face to online, when its (dialogue's) functions were largely compromised. We will conclude by saying that the function of dialogue in a lonely society is on one hand knowledge (knowledge of the self and knowledge of the other), and on the other hand it is the one that guaranties the quality of man as a social being.

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The Cultural Center-a gustian answer to the issues of todayʼs Romanian village

Author(s): Narcis Rupe / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2021

Keywords: Romanian village; Sociological School of Bucharest; Dimitrie Gusti; village cultural centres; social problems;

The Romanian village is threatened by challenges similar to those it went through before the imposition of the communist regime. Can the cultural center, the solution conceived by the founder of the Sociological School in Bucharest as a response to the problems of the interwar Romanian village, still respond today? This material offers a possible answer. In the first part, the theoretical thinking on which the cultural centers were built and functioned will be presented. The second part is reserved for the exposition of the economic and demographic problems of today's Romanian village. Then, through an exercise of imagination, it will trace the possible solutions offered by the cultural center in solving them. What can be the contribution to the problem of the deficiency of peasant agriculture, or to the low fertility and emigration of young people from the village?

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