Journal of Contemporary Philology

MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE AND ITS AUSBAU AND ABSTAND DIMENSION APPLIED TO CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Barbora Tomečková — 2024-06-13

The article discusses the concepts of Ausbau and Abstand languages and their application to the Macedonian language. It outlines the instances when Macedonian can be seen as Ausbau or Abstand language. At the same time, it also deals with the level of law, specifically with the branch of constitutional law, and shows that the five main reasons for enshrining the language in the Constitution of North Macedonia (national identity, dominance of language, protection of language, consolidation of sovereignty and consolidation of the language in international relations, and foreign policy) correlate precisely with these sociolinguistic concepts. It therefore concludes that it is possible to link certain reasons for enshrining a language as a norm of constitutional law to whether Macedonian is viewed as an Ausbau or Abstand language. The paper contains a classification of these reasons for constitutional regulation based on these two concepts.

RHETORICAL STRATEGIES IN POLAND’S WOMEN’S STRIKE: THE DIFFUSION OF SEMIOTIC DISOBEDIENCE THROUGH PROTEST BANNERS AND SIGNAGE

Olga O'Toole — 2024-06-13

This paper presents an exploration of the dynamics of contemporary protest movements in the digital age, focusing specifically on the Women’s Strike protests in Poland. Through its application of sociological diffusion theory, the study investigates the ways in which these movements adopt and adapt protest strategies through the lens of semiotics, language, and cultural references in the context of the Internet's influence. By drawing on various sources, including social media, the paper examines the role of hashtag activism, metaphor, profanity, and cultural tropes in shaping the discourse and symbolic expression of dissent. The globalisation of protest, particularly through the use of English as a lingua franca, is highlighted as a significant aspect of the evolving protest rhetoric in the Polish Women’s Strikes that took place in the years 2016, 2020, and 2021. The analysis reveals a new wave of semiotic disobedience that utilises the linguistic strategies of expressions in English, pejorative language and metaphor to communicate a socially significant message, symbolizing a broader, global political discourse of equality and solidarity that transcends geographical boundaries. This study contributes to the understanding of contemporary protest formations and their diffusion in the digital age, emphasizing the transformative quality that language has in the face of national protest.

SELF-MENTIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE DISCOURSE BY KING CHARLES III

Oleksandr Kapranov — 2024-06-13

Climate change discourse provides a fertile ground for research in communication, linguistics, and discourse studies (Grist 2008; Isopp 2024; Nerlich et al. 2010). Anchored in a quantitative linguistic paradigm, the article presents a mixed-methods study on the use of self-mentions (for instance, I, we, etc.) in a corpus of speeches on the topic of climate change delivered by King Charles III. The study aims at establishing the frequencies of the occurrence of self-mentions and learning about their pragmatic roles in the corpus. To that end, the corpus of King Charles III’s speeches on climate change was collected and analysed. The results of the corpus analysis indicated that I was the most frequent self-mention, which King Charles III utilised in order to impart a personalised dimension to his discourse on climate change. The findings and their discussion are further presented in the article.

THE EFFECT OF PHONETIC TRAINING ON THE PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS

Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova — 2024-06-13

This study aims to explore the effect of phonetic training on the perception of English vowels /iː, ɪ, e, æ/ by Macedonian learners of English. The training is perceptual and combines traditional and communicative-cognitive pronunciation teaching techniques focusing on raising learners’ awareness by exposing them to authentic speech and not requiring them to practice pronunciation. Sixty-two participants were divided into two groups: experimental (n= 31) and control (n= 31). Only the participants in the experimental group received the perceptual training. All participants completed four tests for vowel identification: one pre-test, one post-test and two generalisation tests. The data were analysed for the effect of training on participants’ vowel perception. The results show indicative improvement of the perception of the tested phenetic contrasts, suggesting that the learners’ L2 phonological system is still unstable and developing.

ENHANCING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN INTERPRETING STUDENTS: POSSIBILITIES AND PERSPECTIVES

Katarina Gjurchevska Atanasovska — 2024-06-13

Being defined as a concept which entails awareness of one’s own and other people’s emotions and ability to manage those emotions as well as to interpret them in various interpersonal engagements (Goleman, 1998), emotional intelligence (EI) is found to correlate with academic performance, especially with professions with an affective component, including translation and interpreting (Bontempo, 2009; Hubscher-Davidson, 2007). Relying on the results received from the bilateral project “Possibilities for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence as a Generic Competence in Translation and Interpreting Students” (Popovska et al. 2019: 263–276), this paper aims at exploring the possibilities for EI skills enhancement in interpreting students with a view to raising the awareness of the benefits of EI for both teachers and students and adopting new perspectives on career advancement. The results show that the development of EI skills in interpreting students is very important and provides an opportunity for teachers to gain an invaluable insight into the professional development of students and to get inspired to be more creative in improving teaching methodology.

ART OR AMUSEMENT? THE COMEDIES OF YASMINA REZA BEYOND THE LABELS

Despina Angelovska — 2024-06-13

Yasmina Reza (1959) is one of the most important and most staged contemporary playwrights. Her plays, translated into more that 35 languages, are produced in the most famous theatres worldwide. The object of analysis of this paper is “Art” (1994), the most performed French play in the World, right after Molière’s plays. Paradoxically, the very popularity and success of the play has for long been the reason for the French theatre critique considering it an entertainment theatre or boulevard theatre. Today, however, “Art” and Reza’s approach to playwriting are subjects of a number of theatrical analyses and re-readings that recognize their multi-layered qualities and formal innovation, seeing them as a continuation of the avant-garde theatre. This paper focuses on the deconstruction of the traditional dramatic categories, as well as on undermining the division between “amusement” and “art”, which are in the hearth of this “comedy” that impresses with its complex and refined dramatic construction, with the universality and the

seriousness of the topics that it treats under the veil of lightness.

ON THE “SMALL” ANTOLOGY OF MACEDONIAN POETRY IN THE BOOK “WARSAW DRAWS SKOPJE”

Vesna Mojsova Čepiševska — 2024-06-13

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the selection of Macedonian poetry in Kinga Netman-Multanovska’s book Warsaw Draws Skopje. In addition to exceptional documentary prose, the book provides a literary topographic map of the city. 23 authors from different generations with a total of 39 selected fragments of different poems are portrayed, from authors who worked in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, authors who show the more archaic layer of the already standardized Macedonian language, to the youngest authors. By analysing the literary topographic map of the city through the verses of the Macedonian poets, prose works and published anthological and other works, the paper aims at providing a broad view of Skopje as a theme in contemporary Macedonian literature. The analysis of Netman-Multanovska’s book shows that it is precisely the verses of Macedonian poets that contribute to building the image of Skopje as an ideal place that has managed to bring the East and the West together architecturally, as well as politically, sociologically and culturally.

TEACHING IN PANDEMIC TIMES, INSPIRATION FOR CHANGE

Sonja Kitanovska-Kimovska — 2024-06-13

(Елена Oнчевска-Агер и Руска Иванова-Наскова, Настава во пандемија: искутва и поуки од истражувањето на ставовите на студентите и наставниците на Филолошкиот факултет „Блаже Конески“, Скопје, 2023, 120 стр.)

DANGEROUS AND SEDUCTIVE STORIES

Vedran Dizdarevikj — 2024-06-13

Николовска, Н. Кристина. Национални митови од маргините: Факти и фикции во предмодерните црковнословенски записи, Сигмапрес, Скопје, 2023 и Талевска, И. Антисемитизам и холокауст: политика, општество, книжевност, култура, Сигмапрес, Скопје, 2023