2014 ROUND TABLE


PH.D RESEARCH IN SUPPORT OF LIFELONG LEARNING

Following a tradition which started on 26 September 2006 with the first celebration of the European Languages Day, the annual Round Table organised by the Department of Foreign Languages and Communication took place on February 12, 2014.
Presided by Associate Professor Ph.D MARINELA NISTEA, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Languages and Communication and Associate Professor Ph.D CARMEN ARDELEAN, Director of the Research Centre for Specialised Translation and Intercultural Communication, discussions focused on the research results and Ph.D thesis presentations by several of our colleagues. Each of these presentations was followed by a Q & A session which gave speakers an opportunity to bring to light details about the methodology of research they had chosen, the difficulties they had met and solutions to them. Debates showed a high degree of interest from younger members of our Department towards exploring new theoretical areas in order to gain useful experience for their teaching practice.

The first presentation was made (using PowerPoint slides in support of her interesting and well documented presentation) by Lecturer MARINA-CRISTIANA ROTARU, Ph.D with her scientific research on British and Romanian constitutional monarchies and their representations in the royal discourse of Queen Elizabeth II and King Mihai I.
What has emerged historically as far as constitutional monarchy and its representations are concerned can be considered a matter of exchanges at societal level, which can be theorized in various manners, including Critical Discourse Analysis, in short CDA, which provides the analytical framework of my research. My investigation is mainly based on Norman Fairclough and the Critical Discourse Analysis concepts of discourse and style. Fairclough uses the term “discourse” to refer to “spoken or written language use” (Norman Fairclough, 1999: 62) and underlines the central place that language occupies in social life, which makes language “dialogically interconnected with other elements of social life” (Norman Fairclough, 2003: 2).
The author’s investigation of the manner in which the two monarchs represent themselves and their role as distinct representatives of their peoples rests on a critical analysis of their speeches. In the case of King Mihai, I have also looked into various communiqués issued by the Romanian Government in the early 1990s which manifest influences of communist ideology.
Central to this investigation are, among others, the CDA concepts of intertextuality, dialogicality of the text and re-contextualization. Since intertextuality reveals how the text under scrutiny is built on previous texts, it may point to the presence, in the text, of ideologically invested elements. Closely linked to intertextuality, dialogicality reveals to what degree a dialogue between the various voices in the text under analysis has been established. The communiqué of the Romanian Government related to King Mihai’s private visit to Romania planned for the Easter of 1990 is characterized by a small degree of dialogicality, manifested in assumptions reminiscent of the communist ideology, upon which the Romanian executive built their position towards King Mihai and whereby they tried to muffle the king’s voice. Re-contextualisation rests on the re-location of a particular event into a new context, by extracting the event from its original context. Hence, re-contextualisation can be used as a manipulative means, as demonstrated by a particular section of the Romanian press in the early 1990, which was constantly attacking the king.
Discourse identification, according to Fairclough, can be achieved through an analysis of themes, defined as central domains of social life, as well as an investigation of the angle from which these domains are represented (ibidem: 129). Since discourse as way of representing can apply to the manner in which monarchs represent themselves and what they do, the concept of themes proves helpful in circumscribing royal discourse. The themes that I have selected are the role of constitutional sovereign, succession to the throne, unity and reconciliation and in investigating them I have adapted Fairclough’s methods to my own ends. In dealing with these themes, I have made use of Walter Bagehot’s interpretation of the rights of a constitutional monarch. In addition, Bagehot’s distinction between the “dignified” and the “efficient” parts of the British constitution has been instrumental in the investigation of the representational role of the monarch who, as “dignified” element in the architecture of State is supposed to “excite and preserve the reverence of the population” (Walter Bagehot, 1963: 61).
In the Romanian royal discourse as manifest in King Mihai I’s speeches, the reconciliation between the country’s communist past and the present is essential for the moral awakening of the country. A particular aspect of this theme is the king’s emphasis that reconciliation should not be expected to come from the victims of the communist regime since it would not be “loyal” to their sacrifice.  I have used Josiah Royce’s concept of ‘loyalty to loyalty' (Josiah Royce, 1995) to demonstrate that the king’s use of the word “loyal” is not at random. King Mihai’s position on reconciliation is also characterized by a particular emphasis on the need for forgiveness, without which reconciliation would be just an empty word, manifest only at the level of political statements. In order to illustrate the complexity of the matter, I have used Charles L. Griswold’s interpretation of forgiveness (Charles L. Griswold, 2007), which traces the steps that both the wrong-doer and the victim have to take in order to reconcile their positions. I have also used Paul Ricoeur’s concept of “dissociation” (Paul Ricoeur, 2004: 490) which shows how the wrong-doer can prepare to become a better person in the future, distancing himself from his own regrettable deeds.
As ways of being, styles are to do with identification, and their dialogical character does add an important dimension to the manner in which the two monarchs represent themselves.   In my analysis of the identity of Queen Elizabeth II and King Mihai, I make use of Fairclough’s concepts of “social identity” and “personal identity or “personality” (Norman Fairclough, 1999, 2003) in order to reveal how the two of them combine. In conceptualizing “social identity” and “personal identity”, Fairclough seems to emphasize the need to draw a line between the individual and society, illustrative perhaps of a modernist view on life. To my investigation I have added Jan Blommaert’s concepts of “ascribed identity” and “achieved identity” (Jan Blommaert, 2005: 205-206). Although Blommaert uses a different taxonomy from Fairclough’s, there are few marked distinctions between the two sets of concepts. However, taking into considerations that the target of my analysis are two monarchs, whose identities are substantially influenced by their public roles (which does not presuppose that their personalities should not be allowed to reveal themselves), Blommaert’s taxonomy seems more apposite. He places particular emphasis on the role that the group or the community plays both in attributing an identity to an individual (ascribing identity) and in being recognized as inhabiting an identity by the group (achieving identity). Simply inheriting the crown does not make a monarch a constitutional sovereign par excellence. He needs to be recognized as such.

Discussions were continued by French Lecturer ERWIN KRETZ, whose thesis, written in French (Aspects déontologiques de la traduction du français en roumain. Contexte socio-historique et études de cas) treats deontological aspects of translation from French into Romanian. Starting from defining the social and cultural premises for such translations on a historical background, the author then turned to a detailed presentation of the case study representing the practical part of his thesis.

The Ph.D thesis of BIANCA GEMAN is centered on specialised terminology research in the field of architecture; its relevance in the practice of translation is given by the author’s detailed explanations regarding the various levels of usage of this terminology. Written in Romanian, her thesis (Terminology of Architecture. Levels of usage) proposes an analysis of architectural terminology, from a linguistic perspective, aiming to determine its role in contemporary Romanian.
Specialised terminology is a field of significant interest in contemporary linguistics. Being a complex domain, covering a wide range of topics in continuous development, terminology can also be perceived as an interdisciplinary area of study. “The socio-cultural, economic and pedagogical importance of specialised terminologies is growing, which explains the interdisciplinary approach and wider interest for these areas, beyond any particular field of science” (Bidu-Vrănceanu 2001: 71). In the thesis motivation its author explains the relationship between concepts and specific means of expression. The interdisciplinary characteristics are also taken into consideration, with a view to their practical value for specialists in this field.
Works of major authors in the field of terminology, among whom M. T. Cabré, Angela Bidu-Vrănceanu, H. Bejoint, F. Gaudin, F. Bertaccini, F. Rastier, P. Lerat, L. Depecker were inspirational in order to build the scientific-theoretical axis of the thesis. The absence of relevant scientific studies focusing on the architectural terminology from the viewpoint of terminological units or their development increased the degree of difficulty of the author’s approach but, at the same time, opened the way for an original work in its own right. The definition and description of specialised lexical units are of a real use for determining the identity-differentiation relationship with terminological corpuses belonging to other fields.
The research results will also prove useful for extending the domain of existing specialised dictionaries or of other lexicographic and lexicological works; they can also play a role in higher education specialty fields, through the innovative method for teaching specialised lexical corpuses.  

Teacher Assistant ANCA TITI proposed a terminological discussion on a different topic. Her paper, ”Dynamic Form and Meaning of Animal Idioms in Romanian Newspapers” aims to draw attention to the animal idioms whose standard form and meaning have been changed in the contemporary Romanian journalistic text. The mechanisms of formal and semantic change were analysed in a corpus made up of a selection of articles from ”Academia Cațavencu” satire and humour magazine and in newspaper articles such as: ”Adevărul”, ”Cancan”, ”Constănțeanul”, ”Cotidianul”, ”Cuget Liber”, ”Evenimentul zilei”, ”Gândul”, ”Jurnalul Național”, ”Libertatea”, ”Renașterea”, ”Renașterea Bănățeană”, ”România Liberă”, ”Ziarul de Iași”, ”Ziarul Independent”, ”Ziarul Prahova”, ”Ziarul Văii Jiului”, ”TmPress”, ”Wordpress”.
Although animal idioms have been named „expressions referring to animals”, „phraseological bestiary”, „phraseological zoonimes”, „zoomorphic metaphors” or „expressions based on animals”, the general English term is ”animal idioms” (like in ”animal proverbs and sayings”). In journalism, more changes can be combined at the same time, for example both substitution (immutatio) and inflexional modification, addition and inflexional modification, transmutatio and detractio, or both contamination and detractio.
Intertextuality plays an important role in the semantic reconstruction of animal idioms: „phraseological deviations are saved from non-sense or from too much ambiguity by intertextuality” (Ștefănescu 2003: 634). In order to make a good interpretation, the receiver must know the initial scenario in memoriam the changed animal idiom in presentia refers to.

Teacher Assistant IRINA-ANA DROBOT joined the debate with a literary topic of great interest. Her Ph.D thesis (Virginia Woolf and Graham Swift: The Lyrical Novel) seeks to ascertain the extent to which Virginia Woolf and Graham Swift wrote similar novels, since they belong to different eras and cultural contexts, how their novels were shaped by contemporary cultural movements, Modernism and, respectively, Postmodernism, similarities and differences between these cultural movements, the manifestation in the arts of these cultural movements and their influence on the some novels’ technique, as well as what the structure of the lyrical novel is.
The corpus consists of all novels written by V. Woolf (The Voyage Out, Night and Day, Jacob’s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves, The Years, Between the Acts, Flush: A Biography) and all novels written by G. Swift (The Sweet Shop Owner, Shuttlecock, Waterland, Out of this World, Ever After, Last Orders, The Light of Day, Tomorrow, Wish You Were Here) up to 2011, the date of the publication of his most recent novel.
The theoretical framework of the thesis is, mainly, narratology. The thesis considers the theories formulated by Mieke Bal and Susana Onega and a chart that W. Bronzwaer (1981: 193) uses to illustrate the model put forth by Mieke Bal.
The chart applies to illustrate the existence of multiple levels of understanding of the plot of the lyrical novel, levels which become visible once the narratological concepts of fabula and story are applied. Sometimes the fabula retains our attention, but initially we interact with the story. At the story level, the authors can change the order of incidents, contrary to the usual chronological order.
The existence of these levels is related to the context of Modernism and Postmodernism. Modernism and Postmodernism create, for the readers, illusions around the concept of plot. They can reconstruct the plot of these novels as narratives or poems, depending on the writing style that is suggested to them. Moreover, they can imagine a plot that does not actually exist in the pages created by the writers.
To complete the narratological perspective, psychoanalytic and psychological theories dealing with the reaction of readers are used, with which both writers were concerned in their theories of autobiographical writings. The thesis also uses the theories in V. Woolf’s diaries for understanding her perspective on the novel she wanted to create, identifiable as the lyrical novel.

The next speaker, Teacher Assistant MIHAELA VRAJA turned our attention towards the works of an important Romanian woman-writer, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. Her Ph.D thesis (Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu Mirrored in her Youth Prose) concentrates on the evolution of the subjective works of the author. The theme is not a new one and it stands next to the monographies, studies and articles already published, but the purpose of the paper is to highlight the similitudes between Hortensia Papadat‑Bengescu’s early prose and her correspondence, as both her letters and her subjective prose represent an act of analysis and a confession, a means of communication of the senses of a woman’s soul. Therefore, we have a writer that, before suprising anyone through fiction, builds an extensive epistolary map. When writting, Hortensia Papadat‑Bengescu is looking for “supplies” inside her, and we should rather see her correspondence as a prophetic messenger of her subjective fiction. Therefore, her letters deserve to be looked upon as literary documents, firmly anchored in her early prose.
As research methods, the author applied the text analysis and the comparative study, by making use of the critical edition by Eugenia Tudor Anton. The theme allows a practical analysis, an applied study of the short prose, as well as a research on the similitudes of the works and the letters sent by Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, with respect to the style.
The paper consists of four chapters, as follows: The Confessions of Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu; Highlights in the Short Prose; Themes and Motivs, and Literary Echoes, Critical Reception.
In her early prose there is no “literature for women, about women, with women, but about the substantial, emotional development of «a feminine ideology»” (Simona Popescu, 2010: 87). While “in the books written by men the feminine characters are looked at from behind, as if in a mirror” (Ioana Nicolaie, 2006: 16), in those written by Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu the road towards symbol and reflection is given by a direct look – the look in the mirror.
To G. Călinescu, Hortensia Papadat‑Bengescu’s early prose is a journal with ethereal and inconsistent pages, with no notion of art, but still written by an inteligent woman, one of refined tastes. To E. Lovinescu, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu is a profound analyst of the soul, and to G. Ibrăileanu – a woman with a strong personality, with an endless repertory of delicate sensations, or even bundles of sensations.

Assistant Lecturer CRISTINA HERLING then proposed an overview of the way in which issues of morality are expressed in proverbs, in a comparative study between Romanian and Spanish (Representation of vice in proverbs – a contrastive study of Romanian and Spanish).
Being a topic which involves cultural specificity it is bound to show significant differences; however, the fact that both Romanian and Spanish are Romance languages and share a common cultural root was proved by various examples given by the author. Participants in the Round table were very receptive especially when the author of the thesis explained the way in which such proverbs inspire contemporary expressions used in everyday speech.

The second part of the Round Table was dedicated to a presentation of the gender research group coordinated by Associate Professor Ph.D MIHAELA IONESCU and Lecturer Ph.D MARIA ALEXE. The activities covered by this research group, in which teachers work with other professors from different universities, as well as with selected students include articles presentation in national and international conferences, exhibitions, debates on topics related to gender studies, polls and statistics. The activities of this research group are held under the auspices of the Research Centre for Specialised Translation and Intercultural Communication.
The diversity of topics presented during the Round Table, as well as the discussions that followed proved the growing interest of staff members in research. In all cases, doctoral theses are bound to have a positive effect in the professional formation of our colleagues, but they can also act as a source of inspiration for younger teachers.  

Here is the complete list of presentations:
Erwin KRETZ, Aspects déontologiques de la traduction du français en roumain. Contexte socio-historique et études de cas
Marina ROTARU, Monarhia constituţională din Marea Britanie şi România şi reprezentările ei în discursul regal al Reginei Elisabeta a II-a şi al Regelui Mihai I
Bianca GEMAN, Terminologia arhitecturii – nivele de utilizare
Anca TITI, Tipuri de modificări ale unităţilor frazeologice animaliere în presa românească
Cristina HERLING, Reprezentarea viciilor în proverbe - studiu contrastiv român-spaniol
Ana DROBOT, Virginia Woolf si Graham Swift: Romanul liric
Mihaela STANCIU-VRAJA, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu în oglinda prozei de tinereţe

Maria ALEXE, Mihaela IONESCU, Perspectiva de gen şi evoluţia învăţământului liceal şi universitar.