Plamen Atanasov

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Е–mail: atanasovp@abv.bg

Abstract: Nowadays, web sites and social online networks expand the communication space and enter the influence field, which some 20-30 years ago was occupied by the family, the close social entourage or the printed or electronic media. Communicational channels are now reorganised. In a research perspective, it is important to determine the tendencies in the development of interpersonal and of intergroup communication. The object of the research paper is young educated people and the subject encompasses their preferences for a communication channel, as well as the amplification of the threat, posed by rumours and errors in mass behaviour. The aim is to achieve at least partial scientific justification of the present changes and the degree of their completion. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used: a non-representative sociological research was conducted via a pool survey with voluntarily engaged participants – students from Bulgaria, Romania and France. The results show that young educated people trust traditional media the most, while at the same time they prefer social online networks and sites when looking for information about companies. When it comes to getting to know a particular person – direct communication is favoured. According to the data, only one half of educated young people are willing to engage in online surveys. The participants declare certainty that rumours are spread on the Internet.

Keywords: rumour, social online networks, family, traditional media, communication.

Viara Angelova

Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”

Email: vjaraaa@uni-sofia.bg

Abstract: The paper discusses the formation of the so-called “socialist nation” in Bulgaria through television between 1960 and 1980. During that time, television was seen as an important tool for education and propaganda. It was supposed to contribute to the unification of socialist’s states, but also to serve as an agent of patriotic education. Special attention was paid to the socialization of children. They were expected to be the “new face” of the socialist nation. The main task is to identify the different images of socialist childhood on the TV screen.

Keywords: socialist nation; television; Bulgaria, children.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Penka Hristova

Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”

Email: penka.d.hristova@gmail.com

Abstract: Over the recent years, English has more and more steadily established its role as an international language and its status as a lingua franca has been increasingly discussed (Hülmbauer, Böhringer, and Seidlhofer 2008; Jenkins 2000, 2009; Seidlhofer 2004, 2005, 2011; Wright 2009). Its universal use can be explained with the economy principle and is a typical example of the pragmatic (instrumental) function of language use. This article is focused on the attitudes towards the use of English as a lingua franca among students who have participated in language exchanges under the EU Comenius Programme (in comparison to their classmates who haven’t participated in the exchanges). It will also show the preferred combinations of languages of the students and the leading place of English among the preferred languages.The research methodology uses both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews) methods. The research itself has been carried out in schools in Bulgaria that participated in bilateral partnerships under the Comenius Programme in the period of 2010 – 2013.

Keywords: English, lingua franca, students, Comenius Programme, preferred combinations of languages.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The process of argumentation in the paper is connected to the usage of mixed clauses with an accumulation of causality. Different models of argumentative strategies will be analyzed in the paper. For example, in Spanish, causal, final and consecutive clauses can be postponed to intensify the argumentation and in this case they function as external modifiers. It is important that when organizing the text speakers use complex mechanisms of argumentation such as the combination of different types of causal modifiers (internal and external). Expressing causality in the clearest possible way leads to a higher perlocutionary effect. According to the argumentation theory the transition from cause to effect goes through one’s background knowledge; that is why it is applied to the analysis of causal clauses. The clauses that express causality play a very important role in the process of argumentation and they are a part of the discourse strategies for maintaining communication.

Key words: argumentation, cause, effect, consequence, causality, background knowledge.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Nikolina Tsvetkova

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Email: ntsvetkova@phals.uni-sofia.bg

Abstract: The paper focuses on a review of recent studies in the field of language education through the lens of developing intercultural communicative competence and active citizenship skills. It discusses the results of some recent research done by the author into the readiness of secondary English language teachers to implement EU-related topics and develop ICC and active citizenship skills and into the potential of the newly introduced educational standards, syllabi and just-published school books for teaching English at primary and secondary level to contribute to this process. It also argues the need to create the conditions for an educational continuum on a national level in order to utilize the potential of language education to contribute effectively to developing European citizenship skill at all levels (from primary to tertiary).

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, intercultural citizenship, language education.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The present paper explores how jokes depend on the social and cultural characteristics of the participants in communication. First, we shed light on the ways in which the teller of the joke influences its interpretation. In particular, we explore how the role of the subject speaker, the communicative intentions and information of the participants and their social characteristics can create a productive ambiguity of the punchline and influence the interpretation of the humorous text. In the second part of the paper we focus on the addressee of the joke. We show that, apart from the linguistic code and the general knowledge of the addressee, the teller of jokes should also take into consideration the social and cultural characteristics of the hearer in order to avoid communicative failures. All in all, from a semiotic point of view, jokes can be regarded as second-level signs, whose connotative potential can be used in different types of persuasive communication, including advertising strategies.

Keywords: inferential models of communication, human agency, pragmatic and social approaches to humour, joke types, semiotic potential of jokes.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Svitlana Lyubymova

National Polytechnic University, Odessa, Ukraine

Email: elurus2006@gmail.com

Abstract: The paper outlines a self-identity pattern of a professional stereotype “Programmer” based on the results of the survey, conducted at the Computer Technologies department of Polytechnic University (Ukraine). The survey design outlines the physical, mental, professional properties of a programmer. The stereotype cognitive core represents the notion of a young man, 20-30 years of age, creative, plodding and purposeful, but exhausted physically and often lonely.

Keywords: professional stereotype; categorization; autostereotype; social perception; empirical data; association experiment; survey; self-identity; verbal image; external and ethical characteristics.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Grzegorz Kowalski

Institute of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw, Poland

Email: g.kowalski@uw.edu.pl

Abstract: In this paper I examine the Problem-Solution pattern in start-up project presentations in terms of discursive means whereby subsequent steps of this pattern are expressed in different modalities (text, video, image). I also compare their use in project presentations of local and global-target start-ups in order to verify if addressing the project at either national or international context affects the discursive construction of the Problem and Solution pattern.

Keywords: Problem-Solution pattern; crowdfunding; start-up; start-up platform; discourse; Discourse

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Mariselda Tessarolo

University of Padua, Italy

Email: mariselda.tessarolo@unipd.it

Abstract: The moment when an interpersonal encounter takes place through dialogue is followed by either consent or dissent, but also by the blunting (or in any case diminution) of complexity. The juxtaposition of global and local is a compromise that is ambiguous in itself. On one hand, globalization seems capable of influencing democratic potential and therefore the inter-group relations that would be enacted through ‘globalized’ and/or localized encounters. On the other hand, the dissolution of boundaries counters the increase of democratic potential with new forms of power distribution, whose ambiguity should be overcome by the increase in communication ability. Globalization seems to provide a chance for greater entitlement to speak and therefore more certain access to the ‘truth’ in democratic contexts where discussion is envisaged. The word is a ‘wager of civilisation’ and it goes unfulfilled when it becomes an instrument of power: due to the simple fact of being ‘taken’, it is capable of changing the order of things and, above all, of human realities. The second issue relates to the autobiographical explosion, the fact of telling about oneself brought about by social pressure; since this is not new, the notion of parrhesia by Foucault will be referred to. Finally, the polemic concerning the democraticity of the net relating to the conditions of truth and circulating knowledge (local rumours turning into net rumours; both the first and the latter are difficult to control, the latter with greater diffusion and virulence).

Keywords: globalalized world, parrhesia, localized encounters, democratic contexts, autobiographical explosion.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 34, May 2018, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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