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My study aims to address the phenomenon of literary multilingualism in the nineteenth-century Romanian novel. Based on Johan Heilbron’s approach on “translations as a cultural world-system” and his classification into hyper-central, central, semi-peripheral and peripheral languages, my analysis discusses the nineteenth-century Romanian language at an early stage of its consolidation and thus in self-colonial and anti-colonial relations to the “hegemony” of the French language. Taking advantage of this framework, I consider that the majority of literary code-switching examples faithfully render these linguistic relations, so my study proposes a classification of literary multilingualism into the following possible categories: a livresque multilingualism, which satisfies the self-colonial tendencies of the nineteenth-century language, a latent multilingualism, which can also be associated with an attempt at linguistic bovarisation, but also with the search for authenticity in novels through suggestion and “explicit attribution” (Meir Sternberg), a thesistic multilingualism, in such cases where the novel didactically presents foreign language insertions, and a functional multilingualism. Finally, my paper also launches a discussion of another type of multilingualism, that as a source for “defamiliarization”, which I expect to find in the Romanian novel of the twentieth century, when the Romanian language is no longer in danger of self-colonization and passes by the incipient stage, the phenomenon of code-switching serving Viktor Shklovsky’s technique of “defamiliarization”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Playfulness is seen as a harmony of two vectors: entertainment and seriousness; thus, it represents a didactic resource which deserves to be taken into consideration when teaching Romanian as a foreign language (RFL). Game component, pleasure and interactivity presupposed in didactic games, represent the premises of optimisation of educational process as long as they are attentively and efficiently exploited by the teacher, being an extremely useful didactic strategy in the framework of the lessons of Romanian as a foreign language. No matter if we see the key word of the present paper – “game” – from the literary, grammatical, semantic or pragmatic point of view, the element which links all these perspectives is the playful aspect implied by each of them. A unanimous recognition of the formative possibilities of games continues in the field of pedagogical theory, with the establishment of the optimal didactic ways of the realisation of its potential. Stemming from this observation, the present paper underlines the playful aspect of didactic activity appearing in the “didactic game”, which becomes an efficient method in teaching Romanian as a foreign language (through simulation and/or dramatisation). The role and the importance of didactic game consist in the fact that it facilitates the process of assimilation, fixation and consolidation of knowledge. At the same time, due to its formative character, it influences the development of our students. At the lessons of Romanian as a foreign language, a Russian-speaking foreign student finds a favourable environment for the development of language skills necessary to successfully integrate not only in the university circles to which he aspires, but also in the society which adopts him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at examining the peculiarities of term formation in the specialized languages, providing relevant examples from the domain of biomedical engineering which, representing a mix between medicine and engineering, offers a wide variety of scientific and technical terminology to illustrate the term formation patterns and methods presented. Largely based of the works of Juan C. Sager, one of the most influential researchers in the domain of terminology, the paper aims at explaining and describing the main approaches and mechanisms of term formation, as well as the importance and function of each method in special reference and designation of concepts as required by classificatory function of the specialized languages, precision of expression and systematic reference. Therefore, it is of absolute importance to differentiate between primary and secondary term formation patterns, as well as to specify that terms can be the product of use of existing linguistic resources expressed through the extension of meaning of a an existing term, modification of existing linguistic resources expressed through derivation, compounding, conversion and compression, and creation of new linguistic entities expressed through borrowing and calques or loan translations, each of those approaches having a specific purpose and a place in the specialized designation of concepts, and creating the terminological structure of a specialized domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge of a new culture always starts with the process of learning the language spoken by its representatives. The pluriculturalism and plurilingualism spread in the European area cease to represent some forms of differentiation, delimitation of people and peoples, but on the contrary, it ensures cultural and political integrity, encourages empathy and understanding. The evolution of these phenomena lies in the urgent need to form connections, to identify the links necessary to facilitate the communication process. The Romanian language, a component integrated to the European pluricultural phenomenon, extends its area of use, which increases the interest for studying it as a foreign language. The primary purpose of promoting the Romanian language as a foreign language in the academic environment is the affirmation and perpetuation of the Romanian linguistic and cultural identity. Being one of the oldest languages in the European space, Romanian has always been the target of linguists and historians, and now it becomes a link that facilitates the connection with the surrounding world. This paper aims to present the Romanian language as an object of study and to point out goals and benefits (development of communication skills, access to knowledge, professional mobility) that make a foreigner to learn it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we will present the linguistic perspective about learning foreign languages, and will be structured in two parts: the first part will explain the distinction made by E. Coşeriu between two important aspects of languages, and the second part will approach the linguistic theories in teaching foreign languages. In teaching the Romanian language as a foreign language, it is important to take account, firstly, of the distinction between the sistem and normă by Eugeniu Coşeriu. This is an essential element for understanding and exemplifying the learning/teaching process of Romania as a foreign language. The language has multiple possibilities to form plural, for example, but the grammar only accepts one of those possibilities. The confusions between the right form and the wrong one are explained by this distinction made by E. Coşeriu. In the second part of this article, we will discuss the theories offered by Coşeriu in teaching languages that are directed towards a teaching using a language that both student and teacher speak, avoiding the direct method. We will discuss E. Cassirer's theory, because both theoretical visions develop and capitalizes in different ways the Humboldt's understanding of language as creative activity, not just an instrument that humans use to communicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at highlighting the importance of creating a romanian essential lexicography corpus. The project presented in this paper has as purpose the valorisation of certain results from the complex project eDTLR, by using, as reference text for the alignment, the Thesaurus Dictionary in electronic format and especially creating a Romanian lexicographic corpus, which will contain 100 dictionaries (from the XVIth century to present day) aligned at entry and, partially, at meaning level. At the same time, the lexicographic corpus realized by us will constitute an useful database for linguistic research, in the country or abroad, having the potential of being useful, at its turn, in future project for implementing and developing the Romanian fundamental humanist research according to international standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 150 years since Alexandru Philippide (1859-1933) - the founder of the linguistic school at Iaşi - was born and after 100 years since the first linguistic atlas of the Romanian language (Linguistischer Atlas des dacorumänischen Sprachgebietes) was published by Gustav Weigand (Leipzig, 1909) the disputes between the two linguists are now making the object of this paper which is based on Philippide's polemic work „Un specialist român la Lipsca“ (A Romanian Specialist at Leipzig; Iaşi, 1910). We are presenting the Romanian philologist's critical views on the results of Weigand's dialectal research on Romanian dialects south of the Danube and on Daco-Romanian dialects. Philippide claims that some results of the recordings and their subsequent interpretation were biased by Weigand's insufficient knowledge of the Romanian language and of the history of the Romanian language. This polemic also brings up the issue of Weigand's Ph. D candidates' papers which are criticized for about the same faults. These were published in 15 volumes of a magazine run by Weigand - „Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache (Rumänisches Seminar) zu Leipzig“. Finally we present some points of view regarding the activity of the institute mentioned in the title of the magazine and which was financed by the Romanian State. The head of the institute is criticized for the superior tone of the interventions and especially for the un-academic vocabulary Weigand used in his polemic writings regarding the works of some Romanian linguists. To conclude, we must point out that we should choose, from the linguistic inheritance left by the two scholars, only the positive aspects to create such a synthesis that would be useful to the history of Romanian linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE PRESENT PAPER DEALS WITH THE FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA. IN THE INTRODUCTION I PRESENT THE APPROACH TO THE SUBJECT MATTER AND IN THIS SENSE I UTILIZED EMERSON'S QUOTATION ON THE SCIENTIST WORK IN DOING RESEARCH. IN THE SECOND SECTION I HAVE DEALT WITH DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION. IN THE THIRD SECTION I DEALT WITH THE LINGUISTIC CONSEQUENCES IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA IN SHOWING THAT POWER IN THE WORLD HAS TO DO WITH LANGUAGES IN THAT THE SPECIALIST SHOW THAT ENGLISH MIGHT NOT BE THE LINGUA FRANCA ANY MORE. YET NOTHING IS CERTAIN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural phenomenon of Latinity was the subject of the Conference "Re-construing the Latinity" which took place in Sibiu and carried out to highlight many topics about the central concept, but also the so-called "Peripheral Latinities". During the conferences the main idea was that Latin spirit is not only the language as a vehicle of communication, it is also the link through which countries will prove the membership in this large community. The topics in the panels have included heterogeneous areas like: literature and language, theology, cultural studies, theater, communication and media, history, politics, economics, and medicine. The papers presented in panels reflected the increased interest for the manifestation of the Latin spirit in multiple axes of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an interpretation of Mircea Cărtărescu's short story REM through the perspective of the post-modern palimpsest derived from Julio Cortázar's End of the Game. The dialogue to which Cărtărescu co-opts Cortázar is read not as an inter-textual post-modern quotation, but as a self-legitimating attempt of Cărtărescu to build an intrinsic, self-sufficient textual coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paul Zarifopol (1874-1934) could be described as a notable case of misreading in the field of Romanian literary history. Although allotted generous space in most histories of Romanian literature (from E. Lovinescu to G. Călinescu and Nicolae Manolescu), Zarifopol is often presented as an „anticlassical“ literary critic, with no particular method and no systemic thinking, an impetuous and subjective writer of feuilletons. Collating critical opinions of his contemporaries, as well as fragments from private letters, this paper analyses the way in which Zarifopol deals with his own work and aims to prove that he deliberately chose to be an essayist, and not a literary critic. Zarifopol's criticism stems from a generalized skepticism, as the only expression of intellectual freedom which is possible in a postwar world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My study is a plea for what might be called "export criticism", i.e. that critical discourse which retains some relevance beyond the strictly local, regional or national context where it has arisen. In this respect, I carry out an inventory of both external and internal obstacles impeding the promotion of Romanian literary criticism abroad. As regards external obstacles, the most important are the few translations of Romanian literary works into languages of international circulation (especially English and French), the absence of a recent history of Romanian literature written in a foreign language, the difficulties of assigning Romanian literature in a disciplinary niche (as an object of analysis, it seems to be at the periphery of both Romance and East-European studies), and the poor communication between Romanian and foreign researchers. Regarding internal obstacles, mention should be made of the methodological belatedness of Romanian literary criticism, its essayistic tradition and a certain dogmatism which renders it incompatible with the dominant pluralism on the international market. However, the thesis I attempt to underscore in the present paper is that Romanian literature and criticism not only can be, but they already are areas of international relevance and academic interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper takes into consideration, critically, the previous etymological explanations of the Bulgarian words meκЯc...aM 'to get bored', as a dialectal term, and mepκ 'model, standard ; (fig.) 'a bizarre, extravagant person', as used in colloquial speech. New etymological explanations are propounded for the two words: the etymology of meκЯc...aM should not be considered as separate from the one of оκeκЯc..aM 'to get bored', already discussed in Dictionnaire étymologique bulgare; as for mepκ, it preserves a Turkish archaic term, *terk, as variant of terh 'plan, project' (from Persian ṭärḥ 'plan, project, sketch'). The author takes into account phonetic, morphological and semantic features of the analyzed words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at highlighting the changes currently taking place in the Romanian lexicography. Over the last years lexicographers and informaticians worked on the creation of an digitalized version of eDTLR - the Thesaurus Dictionary of the Romanian Language and also on the creation of the electronical version of texts containing all the sources from which quotations were extracted in order to create the Dictionary. This project closes at the end of 2010. Through its dimensions, eDTLR aligns to important dictionaries of other Roman languages (Trésor de la langue française informatisé - TLFi ; Diccionario de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espagnola - DRAE, Tesoro della lingua italiana delle originii and others), large dictionaries, which already have a digitalized version. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]