Abstract: This article presents and examines one specific Late Antique rhetorical form – the so-called ‘lalia’ or ‘free improvisation’. In order to explore the ‘lalia’, the study analyses the treatise Peri epideiktikon (On epideictic) ascribed to Menander Rhetor (3-th or 4-th c. AD), as well as other rhetorical treatises (On Types of Style by Hermogenes of Tarsus; Progymnasmata by Aphthonius of Antioch etc.). According to (Pseudo-) Menander improvisation belongs to the deliberative and epideictic eloquence. The analysis is focused on the different types of the ‘lalia’, on their style (‘Clarity’, ‘Naivety’ and ‘Sweetness’) and on their disposition. Regarding these characteristics, the ancient improvisation is compared to the modern ‘stand-up show’ or ‘stand-up comedy’.

Key words: Lalia, stand-up show, Menander Rhetor, rhetorical exercises, progymnasmata, epideictic rhetoric, improvisation, rhetorical structure, rhetorical topics, style

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: Agenda-setting is the first stage of every policy process. Without the existence of a clear agenda in a political system, effective decision-making is impossible. That is why acquiring better knowledge of the agenda-setting process is an essential condition for the better understanding of the entire decision-making process. This article examines the framework of the political agenda theory and the specifics of agenda-setting in political context. To accomplish this task the paper defines key concepts and presents in brief two major theoretical models explaining the process of political agenda-setting.

Key words: political agenda, agenda-setting, decision-making, streams theory.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The article describes the science of policy study and policy analysis. The most quoted definitions during the last few years are reviewed. The key terms “policy study” and “policy analysis” are differentiated and analysed. Fundamental principles such as interdisciplinary approach, iteration and normativity are outlined. Current dimensions of policy study and policy analysis are presented through the prism of communication postulates.

Keywords: policy, good governance, policy study, policy analysis, policy change, policy paradigm.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: Legal argumentation has been and still is a subject for research by different scientific fields (legal philosophy, legal logic, legal theory and so on). In scientific areas the nature of legal thinking is often determined as a thinking of formal logic. Hence legal justification and legal reasoning are considered as obeying hard deductive logic. However, the law as a system of rules is also a social phenomenon that is linked to the development of society. Undoubtedly contemporary multi-layered, interdisciplinary and multifactorial considerations and resolving of complicated technological, sociological and moral questions are approaches that could be used in researches of the nature of legal inferences. That’s why article’s contribution is the effort to show a similar unconventional method for analysing and evaluating legal argumentation, namely a method of multifactorial analysis along with some leading approaches in analysis and evaluation of legal argumentation.

Keywords: legal argumentation, plausible reasoning, pragmatic argument, evidence, argument schemes, multifactorial analysis.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The article reviews some theoretical approaches to comparative rhetoric, used or professed in publications from the past 20 years where it is demonstrated that leading authorities in the field have shaped this emerging discipline in a postmodernist fashion as predominantly critical and neo-sophistic. With a number of exceptions these theorists do not engage in actual comparative studies of the rhetorical practices in different cultures. An alternative approach based on historical “descriptive” methodology and analytical apparatus from the theory of rhetorical argumentation is proposed.

Keywords: comparative rhetoric, history of rhetoric, rhetoric, ethos, postmodernism, neo-sophistic, systematic approach.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstarct: The current material has the goal of presenting the intense development of rhetoric as an academic discipline with a research focus on the Scandinavian countries, which over the last few decades have marked an increasing scope of research and intensification of their interdisciplinary approach. What is also presented is a characteristic research tradition with Norwegian roots or the study of “subject-oriented prose” (“sakprosa”) i.e. non-fictional texts dedicated to a specific subject with the underlying premise that societal development can be understood through the communication patters of this society and the analysis of such texts, especially scientific ones and their effects on the public thinking providing the possibility for understanding the very ways through which modern society and modern thought came into being. This approach has much in common with the rhetoric of science. The last part of the material is dedicated to the short resume of the concept of two key figures in Scandinavian rhetoric – Jorgen Fafner and Christian Kock. According to Fafner rhetoric can be viewed as “philosophy of communication”. His approach is humanistic with particular interest in the influence of rhetoric in the development of culture and the individual, described by him as a verbally perceiving and acting being. Christian Kock, on the other hand, aims at defining rhetoric as a normative and empiric science focused on particular utterances. Together with their different definitions and approaches towards rhetorical studies, they also lay out new research possibilities.

Key words: Scandinavian rhetoric, research, subject-oriented prose.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The attitudes and preferences of media audiences can be considered as components of public opinion. They actually give out signs about the condition of vox populi toward different topics with significant importance for society. The object of this article is media audience as a component of the communication chain; subject of the study is the results of surveys conducted among readers of some Bulgarian newspapers. The article has one purpose that is to check whether national newspapers in Bulgaria make some researches about the audience attitudes toward their content. In this way we can confirm or reject the thesis that there is a lack of profound studies of newspaper readers’ preferences.This can be achieved by data examination of the audience preferences of four national newspapers published on their Internet pages. This is a practical way to check what kind of information concerning their readers is disclosed. The examination also aims to check whether there is some data about the public preferences toward media content. The short research proves to what extend there is lack of profound surveys of the attitudes of newspaper audiences in Bulgaria.

Keywords: audience, attitudes, public opinion, media, communication chain, methods of measurement, characteristics, communication model.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The current article discusses the contemporary aspects of the pedagogical presentation conducted in a virtual environment. Screencasting is a new approach to online learning, which allows the presentation of educational material in a new, innovative way directly through the computer screen without the need for special expertise for creating multimedia products. The article approbates a method called cyberethnography, which observes the online educational field and content in the free version of the course proposed by the educational site www.coursera.org: “English Composition I: Achieving Expertise”. The presented conclusions provide a look on how cyberethongraphy is suitable for the analysis of this online learning experience.

Key words: screencasting, cyberethnography, pedagogical presentation, virtual rhetoric, online education.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The paper presents results of rhetorical analysis of film genres. This study’s focus is to analyse the relationship between rhetoric and films. The first task is to analyse monologues and dialogues used in the films from a rhetorical point of view. The second task is to make rhetorical analysis of trailers and teasers.

Keywords: cinema, media, rhetorical analysis, theatre monologue, cinema dialogue, trailer, teaser.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The idea of the following article is to describe the key elements of verbal and nonverbal communication, typical for the representatives of the Bulgarian business after the year 2010. The focus is on entrepreneurs working in the field of information technologies. The development of the IT sector could be observed in Bulgaria as well, where during the last decade a community of successful representatives of this business has been established. They are young, talented and they work under rules typical for most developed economies. Their achievements are comparable to the achievements of their colleagues who work in Europe and USA. The paper presents examples of communication techniques of prominent entrepreneurs such as Miroslav Miroslavov, founder of the technology company OfficeRnD, which develops a platform for organizing office space, Nicolays Yanev, creator of the platform for entrepreneurs Entrepreneur.bg, Lyuben Belov, co-founder of the first digital brand in Bulgaria – NetInfo and George Chipov, co-founder of Artezis – company for technological innovations in medicine.

Keywords: entrepreneur, Internet, high tech, verbal, non-verbal communication, business.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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