Name of Excellence: An Attempt to Conceptualise the Language of Insult in Bulgarian and French
Author: Prof. Albena Vassileva-Yordanova, PhD, Department of Romance Studies, Room 170
Research domain: French linguistics
| Prof. Albena Vassileva-Yordanova is a lecturer at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, Department of Romance Studies. She lectures at both BA and MA levels in different areas in the fields of linguistics and communication studies. Head of the Centre for Intercultural Communication and Mediation at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology. She initiated and managed the setting up of the Francophone Centre at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Her scientific research has been published in Bulgaria and abroad. Invited lecturer in France. Participated in various scientific forums in Canada, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Tunis, Gabon, Senegal, Armenia, and Georgia. “Knight of the National Order of Academic Palms” – a French government award. | |
| Prof. Albena Vassileva-Yordanova |
Central objective of the research is the detailed study of the mechanisms of language-based insult in two languages used as instruments, through which one can glean into the experiencing of insult by an individual, and the nature of insult to an individual in the context of public sensitivities.
The research is organised around three focal points: the nature of the language of insult, the objects of insult, and the structure of the language of insult. For research purposes the following analytical models and approaches have been used: semantic, semiotic, pragmatic, structural, and psycho-socio-pragmatic.
The research is based on data gathered by the author in sociolinguistic field studies or extracted from available electronic sources (chats and blogs in the two studied languages).
The results include:
- formulation of the author’s own understanding of insult as a modality regulating the relations between the insulting party, the insulted party, and possibly third parties – attendees/onlookers;
- establishment of a novel procedure for the identification of the contents of the emotional state of the participants in the insult scenario;
- a first ever attempt to disentangle the crossover points among the language of insult, the language of aggression, the language of hatred and free speech in Bulgarian and French;
- a semiotic, innovative classification of the elements of the language of insult in Bulgarian and French;
- a novel attempt for structural analysis of the language of insult in the two languages.
The study opens up new perspectives for further research. Its findings could be applied in the areas of translation and interpreting, and in foreign language education.
It entices the development of the Faculty Centre for Intercultural Communication and Mediation as a medium for teachers, students and researchers for sharing experiences and good practices in researching, experimenting with, and applying novel solutions and approaches to problems of multilingual and intercultural communication.
The author’s book dedicated to the present research was published by the University press “St.Kliment Ohridski” with the financial support of Sofia University, Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology.
