“Spinning the thread/(t)s” around images of time

Author(s): Camelia Cmeciu / Language(s): English Issue: 1&2/2016

Salvador Dali’s words are actually the embodiment of surrealism1, founded in 1924, in Paris, by André Breton with his Manifeste du surréalisme. This literary and art movement was based on surprising and unexpected juxtaposition of elements of reality. These startling transformations of the real world bring forth new objects that are the creative expressions of imagination, “free of the conscious control of reason and free of convention” 2. The plunge into the subconscious or spontaneous thought could be actually linked to the physical state of headache, mentioned by Dali when starting to paint watches. The combination between the hard metal texture of watches and the softness of the molded watches relies on the “principle of paranoiac metamorphosis” in tangible form (Descharnes, Néret, 2001: 171). My paper is actually a “digging into” the process of creating (of spinning) the nonverbal and verbal images of some indices (threads) of time, watches becoming such a semiotic object. The theoretical background used in the understanding of the reasoning beyond the subjective depicting of some real objects is epistemological in nature, dealing with traditional and social semiotics. The empirical data4 will be provided by Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory (Soft Watches) and Carl Sandburg’s Solo for Saturday Night Guitar. These two verbal and visual images are closely connected, the former being the picture accompanying the discursive representation of time by Sandburg.

Translating Nonce Words (A Corpus Study Based on a Novel)

Author(s): Svetlana Nedelcheva / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Translators face different challenges in their everyday work. They have to deal with lexico-semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and cultural problems. This article focuses on John Harding’s novel Florence & Giles where the narrator is the 12-year-old Florence. She has created her own language by distorting words, e.g. nouns and adjectives are turned into verbs, nouns into adjectives, adverbs and prepositions into verbs, etc. These nonce words constitute Florence’s fairly unusual style. Based on a parallel corpus of the original English novel and its Bulgarian translation, this research uses the contrastive method to analyze the intensely concentrated nonce words in the text and their equivalents in Bulgarian

Опыт преподавания устного перевода магистрантам-лингвистам в режиме дистанционного обучения

Author(s): Irina Tivyaeva,Albina Vodyanitskaya / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/2021

The goal of the paper is an attempt to offer a systematic description of the authors’ experience in distance teaching of a consecutive and simultaneous interpreting course to graduate students of linguistics within the concept of transitioning to online instruction. The paper provides a review of distance interpreting programs available online and focuses on a particular case of adjusting an on-campus course in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting to online instruction. Preliminary results highlight technical and didactic specifics of teaching an online course in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting and make prominent pros and cons of online student teamwork. Drawing from the case study, the authors discuss possible solutions for online interpreter training.

Mетодът „Глобални симулации” при преподаване на испански в сферата на ихтиологията

Author(s): Mihal Pavlov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The purpose of this article is to present the contemporary application of global simulations in the teaching of specialized Spanish in the field of ichthyology. The methods of linguodidactic archeology and linguodidactological analysis are used. The perspectives and concrete results of the application of the “Global Simulations” method in teaching ichthyological terminology to Bulgarian students studying Spanish are studied. The different phases of the application of this method are presented and conclusions are made about its effectiveness in the conditions of the Bulgarian educational system.

Diachronic Analysis and Deictic Means of French Benevolences and Curses

Author(s): Nargiz Seidova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Benevolences and curses, integral and authentic part of the discourse, most clearly reflect the culture of people. The use of these expressions in the communication space of different languages indicates the need for their study from the standpoint of linguistics, folklore, stylistics, rhetoric, psychology, cultural studies and other sciences. This article provides diachronic analysis and examines the deictic means of French benevolences and curses in the French language. The material for the study was the texts of the Bible, French epic poems, medieval legends, ballads, tales, and fiction. When considering this topic, the author used both general and special scientific methods and techniques: a historical-etymological method, a descriptive method that includes methods for observing, comparing, interpreting and classifying the material being studied; semantic identification method; distribution method. Comparing the medieval French discourse with the modern French language, the author examined the grammatical and semantic evolution, which underwent benevolences and curses.

Обучението по словашки език в Италия в контекста на словашко-италианските културни взаимоотношения

Author(s): Dagmar Kročanová / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The initial part of the paper describes the history of Slovak language and culture teaching in Italy, namely, Slovak lectorates at University of Naples L´Orientale, University of Rome Sapienza, and University of Bologna in Forlì. The central part of the paper discusses the foundation, development and activities of the most recent lectorate, founded in 2006, and currently affiliated with the Department of Interpreting and Translating at University of Bologna in Forlì. The paper mentions the circumstances related to the foundation of the lectorate, especially the message of Alexander Dubček (1921 – 1992) upon whom University of Bologna conferred the honorary doctorate in 1988. The paper discusses various activities of the lectorate (language teaching, research and publishing, promoting Slovakia and Slovak culture). It mentions the collaboration with Slovak and Italian institutions, including the Embassy of Slovak Republic in Rome, Slovak Institute in Rome and Honorary Consulate of Slovak Republic in Forlì. The final part of the paper mentions the current situation and perspectives of Slovak studies in Italy.

Book review

Author(s): Christian F. Hempelmann / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

Satire, humour, and parody in 21st century Nigerian women’s poetry

Author(s): Bartholomew Chizoba Akpah / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

21st century Nigerian women poets have continued to utilise the aesthetics of literary devices as linguistic and literary strategies to project feminist privations and values in their creative oeuvres. There has been marginal interest towards 21st century Nigerian women’s poetry and their deployment of artistic devices such as satire, humour, and parody. Unequivocally, such linguistic and literary devices in imaginative works are deployed as centripetal force to criticise, amidst laughter, the ills of female devaluation in the society. The major thrust of the study, therefore, is to examine how satire, humour and parody are deployed in selected Nigerian women’s poetry to reproach and etch the collective ethos of women’s experience in contemporary Nigerian society. The study utilises qualitative analytical approach in the close reading and textual analysis of the selected texts focusing mainly on the aesthetics of humour, satire, and parody in challenging male chauvinism in contemporary Nigerian women’s poetry. Three long poems: “Nuptial Counsel”, “Sadiku’s Song”, and “The Sweet, Sweet Mistress’ Tale” by Mabel Evweirhoma and Maria Ajima respectively were purposively selected. The choice of the selected poems hinges on the artistic vigour, especially the evoking of laughter, mockery and condemnation of hegemonic structures through the use of satire, humour, and parody. The paper employs Molara Ogundipe’s Stiwanism, an aspect of Feminist theory in the analysis of the selected poems. The poets have shown the interventions of humour, satire, and parody as linguistic devices in condemning and highlighting peculiarities of women peonage in Nigeria.

Collocational Knowledge Uptake by University Students under Online Learning

Author(s): Svetlana Danilina / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The article discusses an experiment that looked into the acquisition of collocational knowledge in three university groups studying online, each subjected to different learning conditions: incidental acquisition, intentional acquisition, and intentional acquisition with an extra productive output (essay), the latter having been assessed for the amount and accuracy of target lexis usage in their texts. The aim of the study was to see how well upper-intermediate university students could identify collocations in an input text, and how the text-based output affected the collocational uptake outcomes. The study showed that the productive output group outperformed the other intentional learning group, while incidental acquisition group failed to complete a productive knowledge posttest. Although the study revealed only slightly higher gains in the output group, their results appeared more consistent than those demonstrated by the other intentional uptake group, whose retention rate decreased by the time of delayed posttest.

Совершенствование иностранного (русского) языка в школе посредством пословиц и поговорок

Author(s): Marzanna Karolczuk / Language(s): Russian Issue: 3/2021

The results of research on proverbs and sayings in such areas as linguistics, psychology, didactics and teaching methodology show that paremia has cognitive, educational and pedagogical functions in almost all areas of science and life. Understanding proverbs and sayings contributes to a better understanding of other cultures in the context of their interaction. Introduction proverbs and sayings to educational process develops students’ intercultural skills and a positive attitude to other people, as well as constitutes creative atmosphere in the classroom. The use of paremia in the learning process also enables the development of language knowledge and abilities, as well as speaking skills. The purpose of the article is to discuss the use of paremia in language education and propose kinds and types of exercises that can be used in the process of teaching a foreign language.

Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Online Distance Language Teaching in Higher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author(s): Elena Somova,Denitza Charkova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

The present study examined the relation between students’ preferred mode of learning (online, face-to-face, and hybrid) and their opinions about the effectiveness of an online distance learning English language course under the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The students favoring online distance learning constituted a significantly smaller proportion of the group versus those in favor of face-to-face instruction (p = 0.004). A significant relation was established between the students’ preferred mode of education and their opinions about the course effectiveness (p < 0.001). The students whose preferred form of education was compatible with online distance learning rated the course effectiveness at 93%, those favoring face-to-face education at 58%, and the supporters of hybrid education at 81%. Students’ comments and suggestions for the teaching practice in the post epidemic time are discussed.

Introduction of Online Language Corpora into Future Translators’ and Interpreters’ Teaching

Author(s): Elena Zelenina / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

This paper outlines some benefits from online language corpora use in translators’ and interpreters’ teaching, especially its advantages for developing target language competences, translation competences and scientific research competences of future translators and interpreters. The author shares the results of her five year theoretical and empirical studies in training students to apply online language corpora in doing their language research projects, as well as offers rationalizing contributions to existing pedagogical language corpora applications in university teaching practice. The main resultant outcome of the author’s scientific pedagogical studies has become the Research-Oriented Methodology of Gradual Online Language Corpora Introduction.

Универсальные смыслы в русских романах ХХІ века

Author(s): Alexey Manchev,Dmitriy Pol / Language(s): Russian Issue: 4/2021

Universals as a continuation of the traditions of Russian novels of the 19th – 20th centuries. Universal meanings are clearly expressed in Russian novels of the 21st century and are conditioned by modern problems of society. Universal meanings are viewed through the prism of universal images and motives. The image of the wanderer as a universal image in the novels “Laurus”, “Aviator”, “Nenastye”, “Winter Road”, “Gods of the Steppe”.

ИНТЕРКУЛТУРАЛНА КОМУНИКАЦИЈА НА РАДНОМ МЕСТУ...: РОДНО ОЗНАЧЕНЕ ЛЕКСЕМЕ ЗА НАЗИВЕ ЗАНИМАЊА, ЗВАЊА И ТИТУЛА У СРПСКОМ И ЕНГЛЕСКОМ ЈЕЗИКУ

Author(s): Katarina Subanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 73/2020

This theoretical paper deals with gender-lexicalized names for occupations, functions and titles in the Serbian and English languages. The main task is to provide a summary of Serbian and English literature in terms of a given topic so as to compare general attitudes and conclusions in the two languages. The language material consulted for the writing of this paper included scientific studies, academic debates and newspaper articles, since this topic represents a social phenomenon which can be pointed at by the interaction between scientist (academic studies, debates) and the public (newspaper articles). As for the methodological procedure, it involved several steps. Firstly, we created tabular annotated bibliographies which contained the following data: the title of the paper/article, the subject matter of the paper/ article, the aim(s), methodology, the information on the participants in the study, or the information on the corpus, the main results, limitations and conclusions. Next, we selected the relevant parts for the problems we dealt with and included them in the appropriate parts of our paper. Eventually, based on the analyzed studies and newspaper articles, we made a conclusion regarding the given topic. The main results indicate that active efforts are made in both languages in order to eliminate sexist language and gender inequality. However, since English and Serbian are different in terms of the typological classification, the problem is approached differently in the two languages. To conclude, these results refer to the said corpus, thus further research is needed to consider the observed tendencies a rule.

Минало и настояще на българистиката в Белградския университет

Author(s): Ivana Davitkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

This article aims to outline the main stages in the development of Bulgarian studies at the University of Belgrade, as well as to describe its current state, without claiming to be exhaustive. The first stage of the development of the specialty could rather be considered a preparatory stage in the development of Bulgarian studies as we know it today. The second stage is marked by the scientific work of Marin Mladenov and the development of mainly literary Bulgarian studies. In the third stage, the emphasis is placed on the linguistic Bulgarian studies by Mariana Aleksic, as the teaching staff expands. Today, the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade is the only place in Serbia where Bulgarian studies exist as a separate specialty within the Department of Serbian with South Slavic Languages. The Bulgarian language is also studied as an elective discipline (two-semester and four-semester), and almost all Bulgarian disciplines can be studied as electives by students from other specialties. It could be said that Belgrade Bulgarian studies today strive to soon achieve the much-needed balance in the presence of specialists in the field of literature and language.

Падежни остатъци при българските фразеологизми

Author(s): Nemanja Jovanović / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

This article analyzes the case remnants in Bulgarian phrasemes. As a source we used Nov frazeologichen rechnik na balgarskiya ezik (1993) by Keti Ankova-Nicheva. Where possible, a comparison has been made with phrasemes in Russian, Serbian, Old Bulgarian and Church Slavonic, which are taken from phraseological dictionaries of the respective languages. The origin of some case forms has been studied. The methods of definitional, component and comparative analysis with Slavic synthetic languages are used. The analysis of the material shows that under the influence of the Church Slavonic language, most of the phraseologies that have retained case forms belong to the sphere of religion.

Misvaluation: On the Bulgarian Verbs подценявам ‘Underestimate’ and надценявам ‘Overestimate’, their Semantic Structure and Translation into Russian

Author(s): Elena Yu. Ivanova,Alexandra Eremchenko / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2021

The article examines the semantic structure of the two Bulgarian verbs of misеvaluation, подценявам ‘underestimate’ and надценявам ‘overestimate’. Attention is drawn to the ambivalence of their position in the semantic typology of predicates, notably their features/traits stemming from the presence of an interpretive component. With reference to the Bulgarian National Corpus, the article outlines the most common options for filling the positions of the participants and the main contexts in which the verbs occur. Some issues in translation into Russian are shown, which exist despite the availability of full equivalents in the target language.

Многообразието на кирилицата в обучението по български като чужд

Author(s): Antonia Radkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2021

The focus of this article are the issues of teaching and acquiring Cyrillic alphabet. In the first part of the text a contrastive analysis of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet is made. The second and third part are dealing respectively with reading and writing (manuscript and cursive handwriting and keyboarding).

Тактики и стратегии при превод на термини в български език (на фона на руски и сръбски език)

Author(s): Radostina Stoyanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2021

The article is devoted to the various tactics and strategies for translating scientific terminology into Bulgarian against the background of Russian and Serbian. Different tactics for the concept of translation strategy are presented. An analysis of a number of similar difficulties for all three Slavic languages, which could be encountered in the translation of terminological units, has been made.

Ролята на интерактивния бинарен урок в обучението по български език като чужд

Author(s): Margarita Dimitrova,Teodora Todorova,Vasil Dimitrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2021

The conducting of an experiment on the role of the binary interactive lesson with the participation of a research associate from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) has an extremely important part in the learning process. The lesson is about getting to know the role of the natural products in our health. The main objectives of this interactive binary lesson are: expanding and improving of the grammatical knowledge and development of specialized language skills in Bulgarian of our medical students by including them in innovative formats to increase their communicative competence; introduction of pseudo-communicative tasks with particular speech actions, repetition of phrases and creation of own short dialogues, communicative exercises for building complete and bigger dialogues and narrative texts; utilizing teamwork for creating situational compositions, transformations and psychological testing for measuring the parameters of readiness for working in a team, mutual respect, trust, mutual assistance, responsibility in a multicultural environment. In this manuscript we offer the specifics of an interactive lesson about the role of natural products and health realized with foreign students. We specify the opportunities for language acquisition orally and in writing in accordance with the indicated levels of competence of the European Language Framework. We take into account the possibilities for the application of interactive in parallel with the traditional methods and tools of work, so as to achieve the development of creative thinking in a foreign language for students, as well as the improvement of communicative skills for professional realization.