CEEOL - Search Result

The Magic of Words in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

Author(s): Eugenia Irimiaş / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2012

Keywords: utopia; anti-utopia; ambiguity; reality; fiction; morality; language

The word and the magic of its meaning have constantly obsessed the writer of the twentieth century. For George Orwell, the use of language represented almost “a moral disease” and his strongest conviction was that “without morality language could not function properly.” “1984” may be considered an accumulation of all those aspects of life that Orwell felt most desperately about. One of these aspects is the legitimacy or non-legitimacy of the totalitarian society. This study intends to approach the Orwellian totalitarian world by analyzing ‘the magic of words ‘that make up this anti-utopic universe.

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A Diachronic Perspective On American Literary Journalism

Author(s): Ioana-Gabriela Nan / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2012

Keywords: American journalism; literary journalism; the essay periodica; nonfiction

The article proposes to provide a historical overview of the journalistic style known as “literary” or “narrative” by tracing its roots to the 18th century essay periodicals and by outlining its close ties to fiction writing through all of its three major periods of development inside successive literary paradigmatic frameworks - from the 19th century American realism and naturalism to the modernism of the first decades of the 20th century and into the postmodernist decades of the 60s and 70s - suggesting, in this way, that journalism’s professional pledge to factuality can be both challenged and assisted by the aesthetic quality of the prose in which its facts are narrated.

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Cultural perspectives on leadership

Author(s): Margareta Petrut / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: culture; leadership; China; change; influence

Research has demonstrated that national culture influences management philosophy and practice. While examining existing literature, it becomes clear that, for decades, most contributions in this field have reflected the European and North American viewpoint. However, for anyone interested in a more balanced view, an insight into Eastern perspectives on such influences is necessary. Also a more systematic effort is needed to bridge the gap between cultures. This paper is meant to provide a brief introduction to cultural differences between the East and the West regarding leadership, as they are perceived from an Eastern perspective.

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L’Ambiguïté en tant que stratégie de communication

Ambiguity as communication strategy

Author(s): Delia Marga / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: world of turbulence; uncertainty and ambiguity; strategic communication; strategic ambiguity; crisis communication

The purpose of this paper is to explore some communication strategies in organizations facing an uncertain and turbulent environment. First, strategic communication and its variables will be presented. Then, the role of ambiguity as strategy in communication coping uncertainty will be explored. Finally, the use of strategic ambiguity in business contexts and politics in responding to complexity will be discussed.

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Book review: Compte rendu: Mona Marner, Mona, Mama Mona şi Frau Marner

Compte rendu: Mona Marner, Mona, Mama Mona şi Frau Marner

Author(s): Alexandra Viorica Dulău / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: Mona Marner; book review

Book review

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The semantic nature of the religious text: Dosoftei, viaţa şi petreacerea svinţilor (Lives of the saints), Iași, 1682-1686

Author(s): Rodica Frenţiu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: hagiographic text; semiotics of culture; textual semantics; symbolic-mythical sense

This study aims to analyse a hagiographic text from the seventeenth century, written in the Romanian language but in Cyrillic script, from the perspective of the current exploratory state in textual semantics, the hermeneutics and semiotics of culture, attempting to “decipher” the cultural code and the discursive universe peculiar to that age. Due to the permanent dynamics of the reception horizon, “old” works are facing the danger of losing their significance as a result of the “closure” of the text within a particular symbolic universe. What is necessary, therefore, is a “cultural dialogue,” in which memory should amount to a creative and constructive process, and the traditional historical vein should undergo a “literary reinterpretation.” The cultural function of the printed work bearing the title Viaţa şi petreacerea svinţilor (Lives of the Saints), published in Jassy by Metropolitan Dosoftei, may be examined in light of the functional-typological categories of cultural texts, as proposed in Eastern European semiotics, and may be identified as a textual type that outlines a “semantic” world model, which generates a symbolic-mythical sense.

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The peritext of Boris Vian poems

Le péritexte des poèmes de Boris Vian

Author(s): Letiţia Ilea / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: peritext; title; motto; dedication; infrapage note

In his poems, Boris Vian uses the peritext in a very personal way, lending it a destabilising force, one that consequently leads to readers’ confusion. At the same time, Boris Vian’s peritext gives away a certain attitude to poetry which is no longer perceived as either pontification or a privileged activity.

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Punctuation marks at Tahar Ben Jelloun - ellipsis, context and culture

Les signs d’orthographe chez Tahar Ben Jelloun – ellipse, contexte et culture

Author(s): Sergiu Zagan,Diana Zăgan-Zelter / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: ellipsis; recovery; orthographic marks; blank; narrative discourse

In this paper, we argue that the ellipsis is a complex linguistic phenomenon which can be studied at an orthographic level. We take into consideration the comma, the semicolon, the dots, the interrogation mark, the exclamation mark and the full stop to show that the existence of the orthographic marks makes possible situations such as enumeration, dramatisation, opposition or interruption which sometimes involve elliptical phenomena in the narrative discourse of Tahar Ben Jelloun. We don’t focus on the existence of an orthographic ellipsis but on the role the orthographic marks play in signaling the ellipsis and on the importance they have in its recovery.

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Antonyms, synonyms, analogies. A minimal vocabulary of Romanian language (with a translation into English)

Author(s): Ileana Mureşanu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: antonyms; synonyms; analogies

Book review

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Orwell and the challenge of subjective journalism

Author(s): Ioana-Gabriela Nan / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: American newspapers; objective/subjective journalism; Orwell’s essays; Gandhi

Orwell was one of the few British writers of his time not afraid to adopt a strong political stance, both in his fictional and his non-fictional work, and who saw it as the duty of the writer, forced on him by historical circumstance, to take sides against what he perceives as injustice and the perversion of truth. His views on Ghandi, as on other personalities and issues of the day, are therefore, and above all, a rare example of a balanced – personal, yet detached – style of reporting that gives Gandhi’s portrait the consistency of a truthful account rarely to be seen in the contemporary press.

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Excellence – universal or cultural construct?

Author(s): Adriana Fekete / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

Keywords: excellence; quality; rankings

The concept of excellence appears in the mission statements of almost all universities worldwide and is generally understood as of high quality. However, the meaning of the word remains vague unless we define quality and the criteria against which its presence or absence can be assessed. For higher education, establishing clear and relevant criteria proves to be a lot more difficult than for economic activities and economic and cultural factors can significantly influence the results. Rankings do not take into consideration such differences, but merely measure what can be measured.

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Toponimy in the Political Communication in Catalonia

Los topónimos como deícticos en la comunicación política de Cataluña

Author(s): Paul-Sorin Tiţa / Language(s): Spanish / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: deixis; indexes; politics; Catalonia; discourse; political discourse; mythical discourse

The classical distinction between personal, spatial and temporal indexes is questioned by the use in political discourse of toponyms. The referent of those proper names is modified and enriched by the means of mythical discourse. Therefore, in political discourse, toponyms are acquiring personal and even temporal deictic values. The study focuses on the use of the proper name “Catalunya” (Catalonia) in the electoral programs of Catalan parties for the regional elections held in 2012.

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„...Writing the words on my palm...” – Migrant Workers and Language Learning Beliefs

Author(s): Enikő Biró / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: language learning beliefs; language learning; bilinguals; migrant workers

The present paper deals with the content analysis of 21 interviews carried out in Transylvania between 2011 December and 2012 March. The interviewees were all migrant workers working in the EU or the USA. The social and individual factors together lead us to understand their language learning strategies which are influenced by internal and psychological factors as attitude, motivation or language learning beliefs.

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France in the History, the Culture and the Mental of the Romanians

La France dans l’histoire, la culture et le mental des Roumains (II)

Author(s): Sorin Barbul / Language(s): French / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: history; mentality; Middle Ages; relations; culture; cultural relations

Our research approaches the historical and cultural relations between Romania and France from the Middle Ages contacts (situated on the boudary between history and legend), till the Modern Age, when these contacts experienced a burgeoning period. Our paper tries to re-construct the image of France and the French people as they have evolved in time in the Romanians’ mentality, with specific differences, historically and politically motivated, between Moldavia and Romanian County on one side, and Transylvania on the other side. Without being exhaustive, the research approaches those fields where the interaction between the two cultures prevailed. It also presents the outstanding French profiles that influenced the Romanian culture, and the French as well, trying to explain the causes of the Romanians’ „francophilia” and „francophonia” (today, unfortunately, in decline). Our research fully demonstrates, we think, the extent of the historical and cultural relations between the two peoples, of the same Latin kinship.

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Defining Literature and the Literary. Attempts and Caveats

Author(s): Ioana-Gabriela Nan / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: literature; literariness; fiction; Formalism; the criterial approach

Literature and fiction are often assumed to be synonymous terms covering the same area of reference. Although it is true that what we understand by literature are mostly works of fiction, and that by fiction we understand forms of written output that is also literary, a second look will allow us to reveal the difficulties associated with these assumptions. As accurate as they may be considered for everyday purposes, closer scrutiny will prove these terms distinct and far from easy to define.

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Umberto Eco’s reconsideration of the LIST

La rivalutazione della lista nella visione di Umberto Eco

Author(s): Delia-Ioana Morar / Language(s): Italian / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: Umberto Eco; list; books; culture; literature; arts; order

The present work analyses Umberto Eco’s reconsideration of the LIST. According to the author’s view and application of the term, the list lies at the basis of culture and is part of history and literature. Since what culture attempts to accomplish is to render the infinity comprehensible by describing its forms of manifestation and organising it, the list is primarily viewed as a means of creating order. Library catalogues, museum collections, encyclopedias and dictionaries are forms of the list meant to establish order in a chaotic universe. Today we place a lot of faith in progress and evolution, but resort to the list, which already existed in Homer’s Iliad, in the hope that we will manage to organise and exhaust the multitude of possibilities and the vast quantity of information that assaults us in every area of activity.

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The role of Pragmatics in the Process of Assigning a Name to a Person

Il ruolo della pragmatica nel processo di attribuzione di un nome proprio di persona

Author(s): Denisa-Alexandra Ionescu / Language(s): Italian / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: name; pragmatics; language; communication

The present study aims to prove the strong bond that exists between personal names and pragmatics. In order to receive and interpret correctly an anthroponym, we have to consider not only its linguistic nature, but also the context, the information coming from the extra-verbal sphere, thus its pragmatic nature.

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Esp / Business Communication: Teaching Integrated Language (In Use) Skills

Author(s): Adrian Ciupe / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: business English; communication; curriculum; ESP; language in use; language levels; learning; lexis; speaking; syllabus; teaching; tertiary level; testing; writing

While ready-made ESP course books and other resources can prove useful per se, in variable-dependent situations such as ESP teaching and testing at tertiary level, customised approaches have to be taken to ensure compliance with the existing variables towards effectiveness and coherence. This paper explores one such instance, arguing for integrated language skills in teaching and testing, based on the author’s experience as a teacher / tester / syllabus writer within the framework provided by a clearly delineated academic context.

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Iris Wolff's Halber Stein

Verlieren, wiederfinden und verwandeln in Iris Wolffs Halber Stein

Author(s): Andrada Savin / Language(s): German / Issue: 2/2013

Keywords: emigration; sites of memory; metafiction; dialogic patterns

The purpose of the present paper is to discuss how a present day novel represents the history and cultural tradition of Transylvanian Saxons. The author, who emigrated to Germany as a young child, is influenced by contemporary cultural and literary theories, rather than having consciously experienced Saxon life in Transylvania. By embedding family history in the broader social environment, following a German literary tradition, Iris Wolff offers a fresh view both on the issue of emigration-immigration and on that of retrieving the past.

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Significance and Meaning of Papal Names

Author(s): Denisa-Alexandra Ionescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: media; religion; papal name; meaning; message; communication.

The present article intends to illustrate the meeting point of two apparently remote areas: religion and media. Our goal is to present the way in which the Holy See interacts and collaborates with the media in the benefit of the Church and of the community. From this point of view, the name choice of the newly elected pope is highly significant and rich in veiled meanings. The papal name bears an enormous spiritual weight and its choice is highly mediatized and interpreted, thus becoming an opportunity to review past Popes and their actions and programmes and consequently reminding people of good deeds, of Christian conduct and beliefs.

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