Intellectual Reception of G. Lozanov’s Theory on Suggestopedia in the Pedagogical Discourse of Ukraine

Author(s): Olha Soroka,Olena Klymentova / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The paper is aimed at studying the results of Ukrainian scientists who developed the theory and practice of suggestopedia.The ideas of the outstanding Bulgarian scholar G. Lozanov serve as the foundation of modern linguistics, including the directions of suggestive language didactics, linguistics of influence, psychological and neurological and marketing linguistics. Thanks to Lozanov's contribution, researchers have learned to find suggestive components in political messages, analyze strategic narratives, find hidden aspects in religious texts, better understand the applied nature of some folk genres and more. The special anthropological value of Lozanov's approaches is objectified by the development of neuroscience, where a person is often positioned as a functionary with electronic chips. Instead, Lozanov's man is a free, conscious and loving man. Although research on suggestion is growing in the scientific literature, there is still a significant gap in this topic, in particular on theoretical and empirical developments on the impact of suggestion on various aspects of communication. A review of recent publications on suggestopedic topics shows that the interest in G. Lozanov’s approaches does not fade and is nourished by the pedagogical search for educational paradigms which are adequate to the real needs of life and capable of combining tradition with innovation. The article presents different approaches to Lozanov's discoveries and aims to encourage new discourses into the area of the linguistic programming of personality.

Теория и практика в обучението по български език като чужд в свободноизбираема дисциплина „Български език за медицински цели“

Author(s): Margarita Dimitrova,Hristiana Krasteva,Teodora Todorova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

This is not only the general communicative competence, but also professional competence to converse. That gives us confidence to further actively research working pedagogical study models. In the course of one academic year, we have been developing such dynamic model with the medical students (who study Medicine in English), taking part in the freely chosen discipline “Bulgarian for medical purposes”. At this stage we have the following goals: to verify problematic areas in communication in professional environment and during practice; applying together conventional and innovative methods, instruments, and forms of education and proposing ways to improve the educational process; interdisciplinary approach to realize successful communicative competence by creating a direct connection between theory and practice. At the end of the academic year, we thus define the parameters of the results of the communicative competence in Bulgarian for professional communication. Achieving excellent communicative competence of the foreign students for a year is a key factor for checking the results.

Етнонимът „българи“ в ранносредновековните арменски текстове

Author(s): Peter Goliyski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

The standard form Bulghar, with which Bulgarians and the Land of the Bulgarians (Bulgaria) are recorded in medieval Armenian texts, has been established as traditional only since the 11th century. Until then, there were several attested variations, while the oldest form in the earliest Armenian texts was Bulkar, with “k” instead of “gh” (Movses Khorenatsi’s “History of the Armenians”, circa 482 AD), with parallel variants Bolkar and Blkar in the expanded version of the geography Ashkharats’uits’ of Anania Shirakatsi, who lived in the 7th century AD. This characteristic of the earliest Armenian records of the name “Bulgarians” puts an end to the speculation that the form Bulghar in some copies of the history of Movses Khorenatsi proves that his “Bulgarian passages” are a late interpolation making their reliability disputable. On the other hand, the parallel forms Bulkar, Bolkar and Blkar in Ashkharats’uits’ are a valuable indication that different Proto-Bulgarian groups have pronounced the name “Bulgarians” differently. The last leads to the hypothesis of the existence of dialectal differences among the Proto-Bulgarian tribes in the 7th century and even earlier.

Reflections on Some Instances of Translanguaging in Written Bulgarian Discourse

Author(s): Maria Kolarova / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The use of translanguaging strategies in written Bulgarian discourse is continually expanding and this expansion ultimately affects the Bulgarian language system in one way or another. The present paper focuses on 42 instances of translanguaging taken from Bulgarian-language lifestyle magazines and online advertisements. On the one hand, the aim is to illustrate the interrelatedness between translanguaging and linguistic creativity and, on the other hand, to identify what economy effects could be achieved by applying translanguaging strategies in written Bulgarian discourse. The collected samples have been classified and described in such a way as to see how the phenomenon of translanguaging has currently affected the Bulgarian language system.

Разработка опросника для изучении языковых биографий носителей унаследованного языка

Author(s): Leonid Moskovkin,Bernhard Brehmer,Tatiana Kurbangulova,Tatiana Lypkan / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The purpose of this study is to identify the pieces of biographical information that are most relevant for the study of Russian as a heritage language. It builds on a review of questionnaires for studying linguistic biographies that are currently used in articles and methodological materials by different researchers. We perform a critical analysis and comparison of these questionnaires, which aims at a more systematic and condensed approach to the gathering of relevant sociolinguistic data. This comparison showed that the most relevant types of biographical information are the following: (a) general biographical information, including data on the acquisition and proficiency in the languages of the participants, (b) information on language use in different communicative domains by the informant, (c) data on the attitudes of the informant towards the heritage language, and the language of the country of residence, (d) data on the informant's self-assessment of proficiency in the heritage language in general and mastery of basic skills. The research results can be useful not only for studying heritage languages, but also with a little refinement to studies on second and third language acquisition.

The Benefits of Lexical Approach in Quizlet-Based Vocabulary Learning

Author(s): Olga Chaikovska / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

In the present experimental study second-year students majoring in “Agricultural Engineering” and “Electrical engineering” revise for the Unified Entrance Exam to join the Master course. Both groups learn vocabulary through the online vocabulary learning platform Quizlet. In contrast, to control group the experimental group entered not isolated words, but words in chunks according to the lexical approach. To compare students’ progress in vocabulary acquisition the Student’s t-test was used. The results show that the first hypothesis should be taken into consideration: there is a significant difference in the average indicators in the groups. Learning words in chunks had a significant effect on the test scores and, consequently, increases the chances to pass the Unified Entrance Exam and do postgraduate studies.

Gamification in language Teaching at the University Level: Learner Profiles and Attitudes

Author(s): Denitza Charkova / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

In instructional settings, the term gamification refers to the use of game-based elements to increase learner motivation and involvement. This study aimed to get insight into how adult learners of English perceive gamified activities incorporated into their English language course, and whether player types as defined by Bartle (1996) - explorers, achievers, socializers, and killers – affect student attitudes to specific gamification elements (rules, time limit, challenges, leaderboard, awards, bonuses, and badges). The results showed a high level of student support (97%) for gamified language instruction. A significant difference was observed between player types regarding their attitudes to certain gamification elements and player types. Challenges were highly rated by the explorers (p = 0.006); leaderboards by the killers (p = 0.049), and time limit by the achievers (p = 0.009). The conclusion is that player types and preferences should be surveyed and considered when designing gamified learning activities.

МОЖЕ ЛИ СЕ РЕЋИ "У БОЉШОМ ТЕАТРУ"?

Author(s): Žarko Veljković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 77/2022

During the process of transcribing the name of the Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater (Большой театр) to Serbian, the Serbian normativistics was tending to gradually turn away from the declension Бољшој теат(а)р, Бољшоја театра (1960) to more or less variant declension Бољшој теат(а)р, Бољшог/Бољшоја театра (1989, 1994, 2010), concluding with the declension Бољшој театар, Бољшог театра (2013) exclusively. On the last transcriptional solution given, the author made remarks that it was discrepant, confusing, impractical, and gram- matically impossible to implement. Thus the author suggested that the Serbian normativistics adopt the following, most practical, solution: as it has come into use that way, Бољшој-театар should be normativized as a semicompound word. In all other and future cases, the Russian toponyms and names beginning with (Не) большой, in the neutre form (Не)большое, should be transcribed as (Не)бољши and (Не)бољше with (joint) genitive case (Не)бољшег, e. g. Russian Большой Город> Serbian Бољши город with genitive case Бољшег города, Russian Небольшой драматический театр > Serbian Небољши драматически театар with genitive case Небољшег драматическог театра, Russian Большое Трифоново > Serbian Бољше Трифоново with genitive case Бољшег Трифоновa. And in the case of Russian toponyms and names beginning with (Не)большая in the feminine gender, their transcription should not be altered anyhow, but stay the way as it is in Serbian normativistics – they should be transcribed as beginning with (Не)бољша(ја) with genitive case (Не)бољше, e. g. Russian Большaя Речка > Serbian Бољша(ја) Речка with genitive case Бољше Речке.

Българското списание „Роден глас” – комуникационно изкуство зад граница

Author(s): Anzhela Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 11/2022

The article examines the processes of the development of the Bulgarian magazine, published in the Czech Republic, 'Roden glas' ('Native voice'), and its half-century history. The purpose of an article is to analyze the factors that led to the need of a migrant community to publish its own media and to reason the significance of this type of media products as main contributors to the cultural identity of the Bulgarian diaspora and the preservation of its history.

FIKTIVE WELTEN – FIKTIONALE SCHRIFTEN. ZUR TRENNUNG DER SEMIOTISCHEN UND SEMANTISCHEN BETRACHTUNG VON LITERARISCHEN SCHRIFTEN

Author(s): Alexandru Popa / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2022

Different theoretical backgrounds for the study of literature leads to different objects of investigation. This article is concerned with the distinctions of two types of theoretical backgrounds (semiotic and semantic) and some consequences in the study of a particular field of investigation of literature: fictional texts and fictive worlds. It is commonly considered that fictional texts are non-referential. This consideration fits in the study of literature with a semiotic theoretical background. In a study of literature with a semantic background fits another presupposition: fictional texts are in a particular sense deemed referential. This article is concerned with the contrast of these positions and some implications for investigations of fictive worlds as part of the study of literature.

Book review

Author(s): Dafina Genova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Humour and belonging:

Author(s): Reza Arab,Jessica Milner Davis / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Serving as introduction to this Special Issue, this article presents a thematic review of topics involved in studies on humour and belonging. It briefly elaborates on the intricacies of concepts such as humour, sense of humour and belonging and their relationships. It then provides a selective review of some major relevant studies. Finally, the themes and contents of the Special Issue are introduced.

Laughter, bonding and biological evolution

Author(s): Cliff Goddard,David Lambert / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

This paper combines perspectives from evolutionary biology and linguistics to discuss the earlyevolution of laughter and the possible role of laughter-like vocalisation as a bonding mechanismin hominins and early human species. From the perspective of evolutionary biology, we hereemphasise several things: the role of exaptation, the typically very slow pace of evolutionarychange, and the danger of projecting backwards from the current utilities of laughter to inferits earlier function, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of years ago. From the perspectiveof linguistics, we examine both the semantics of the word ‘laugh’ and the vocal mechanics ofhuman laughter production, arguing that greater terminological care is needed in talking aboutthe precursors of laughter in the ancient evolutionary past. Finally, we turn to hypotheses abouthow laughter-like vocalisations may have arisen, long before articulate language as we know ittoday. We focus in particular on Robin Dunbar’s hypothesis that laughter-like vocalisation,which stimulated endorphin production, might have functioned as a bonding mechanism (a kindof “vocal grooming”) among hominins and early human species.The paper contributes to the special issue theme (Humour and Belonging) by casting a longlook backwards in time to laughter-like vocalisation as a distant evolutionary precursor ofhumour, and to bonding as an evolutionary precursor to cognitively and socially modern formsof “belonging”. At the same time, it cautions against casual theorising about the evolutionaryorigins of laughter.

The role of laughter in establishing solidarity and status

Author(s): Angus McLachlan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Drawing on a range of American, Australian, British and Scandinavian research into laughter,the current paper will use the form of pragmatic analysis typically found in qualitative researchand apply it to data produced by the quantitative methodology common in the author’s owndiscipline of psychology. Laughter will be examined as an indexical that serves both a discoursedeictic function, designating the utterance in which it occurs as non-serious, and a social deicticfunction, marking the laughing person’s preference for social proximity with fellowinterlocutors. The paper will then analyse examples and data pertaining to three types oflaughter bout derived from taking laughter as an indexical. First, solitary listener laughter willbe argued to signify a deferential acknowledgement of continued solidarity with the speaker.Second, solitary speaker laughter will be suggested to mark a simple preference for solidarity.Third, joint laughter will be accepted as a signifier of actual solidarity that may also be used tomark status depending on which party typically initiates the joint laughter. Joint laughter thusacts in a manner closely analogous to the exchange of another set of indexicals, the T and Vversions of second person pronouns in European languages. Finally, the paper will concludeby examining the problematic case of laughing at another interlocutor, before brieflyconsidering the implications of this pragmatic perspective for traditional accounts of laughteras well as for future research.

The idea of national humour and Americanisation in Australia and Britain

Author(s): Mark John Rolfe / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The widespread notion of a unique national humour involves an impulse to apply thecommonplace assumptions of national identity that demand uniqueness of identity, history,language and culture for a political society. What is deemed true and distinctive of the nationmust be also be true and distinctive of its national humour, goes the thinking.However, such cultural exclusivity has not been reconciled with cultural exchangesbetween nations. Paradoxically, conceptions of national humour have been formulated indynamic tension with such exchanges during the various phases of globalization that havetaken place since the 19th century. The Americanisation of humour, in particular, has been animportant component of such transmissions and resulted from the commercial popular culturedominated by America since the nineteenth century. Australia is a prime example examinedhere along with examples from Britain. To complicate matters of transmission,Americanisation sometimes arrived in Australia via Britain as well as directly from Americaitself.Australians and Britons periodically reacted against American culture, includinghumour, as a threat to national identity. But this was part of a dynamic tension played outbetween modern and traditional, imported and local in their selections and adaptations ofhumour imports from America.There is a huge and historic complexity of cultural anxiety and cultural transfer lyingbehind the apparent cultural comforts of belonging to a nation-state. Moreover, humour hasplayed its part in the continual discursive recreation of the nation in the form of constantsearches for the unique national humour of a people.

On the “Dark Side”:

Author(s): Kerry Mullan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

This study examines the use of online humour in a subversive local community Facebook group set up in 2017 by disgruntled members banned from a similar group “in opposition to [the original group’s] arbitrarily-applied rules, [its] enforced happiness, and [its] suppression of any post that isn't about giving away lemons or asking to borrow small appliances”. The dissatisfaction with the guidelines and the administration of the original Facebook group provides rich material for humorous posts in the new group, many with varying degrees of aggression directed at the founder and certain members of the “Dark Side”, as the original group is frequently referred to. This article will demonstrate how the use of humour in this new rival Facebook group is used for the purposes of inclusion and exclusion, and how it contributes to a sense of belonging in this online community of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991) created by a small group of selfdeclared dissidents. It will be shown how the humour shapes the identity of the group through the members’ shared ideologies and beliefs (Tanskanen 2018), and how the humorous messages intended to denigrate and belittle the “Dark Side” reinforce unity among the group members, since the feeling of superiority over those being ridiculed coexists with a feeling of belonging (Billig 2005). Fifteen single comments or multi-post threads were chosen for analysis. These appeared during the first twenty months of this rival group’s existence, and included primarily affiliative and/or aggressive humour (Meyer 2015) directed at the original group. The analysis was carried out using elements of computer-mediated discourse analysis (Herring 2004), and an insider participant-observer online ethnographic approach. The examples chosen illustrate how the humour is used to unite the members of this subversive group by dividing them from the original one, to create the joking culture (Fine and de Soucey 2005) of the new group, and in so doing, creates and sustains the members’ shared identity as irreverent breakaway troublemakers.

“It only hurts when I laugh”:

Author(s): Barbara Plester,Tim Bentley,Emily Brewer / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Our study examines the impacts on workers when organisational humour is repeated,sustained, dominating, and potentially harmful, and thus can be considered to be bullying. Inan ethnographic study of an idiosyncratic New Zealand IT company, we observed humour thatwas sexualised, dominating, and perpetrated by the most powerful organizational members.We argue that the compelling need for belonging in this extreme organizational cultureinfluenced workers to accept bullying humour as just a joke and therefore acceptable andharmless even when it contravened societal workplace norms. Our contribution is inidentifying and extending the significant theoretical relationship between workplace humourand bullying that, to date, is not well-explored in organizational research.

Laughing along?

Author(s): Meredith Marra / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Successfully joining a new workplace community is demanding, especially when this involvescrossing national boundaries in addition to team boundaries. For outsiders, humour is anarea that arguably presents a challenge to full participation, particularly when localunderstandings are not shared, nor even recognized as distinctive. Newcomers face thechallenge of navigating the trajectory from legitimate peripheral member towards core status(adopting the terms of the Community of Practice model). This involves cooperating withothers in interaction, including engaging with humour and laughter as a way of indicatingbelonging. Here belonging is operationalized using the two dimensions proposed by Antonsich(2010), namely (1) a sense of belonging and (2) the politics of belonging as evidenced throughnegotiation with others. Applying an Interactional Sociolinguistic approach, I offer analysis ofnaturally occurring workplace interactions and reflections from skilled migrant interns in NewZealand workplaces. I discuss the place of laughter in attempts to demonstrate teammembership, arguing that these attempts at belonging require the cooperation andendorsement of insiders. The findings indicate that, however benevolently intentioned, thelocal colleagues’ use of humour, and their reactions to the humour and laughter produced bythe skilled migrant interns, often results in a sense of othering and exclusion. This is keenlyfelt by the interns who note the difficulties that taken for granted practices create in theiracceptance and progress. In many cases the result is laughing along, as an outward signal offit, rather than laughing with which suggests a deeper sense of belonging.

Book review

Author(s): Lydia Amir / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Book review

Author(s): Sara Martínez Cardama,Fátima García López / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022