Projects
CelTA Projects
Identity construction in Romanian and European parliamentary discourse. A pragma-rhetorical approach
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0056
„Young Teams” Project funded by EAHERIF (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding)
Period: 2015-2017
Project director: Răzvan SĂFTOIU
Team: Mădălina MATEI, Stanca MĂDA, Adrian TOADER, Violeta RUS
Presentation: For more than twenty years, scholars in various fields – political sciences, history, sociology, and linguistics – have been involved in the analysis of parliamentary discourse and have conferred the topic an interdisciplinary perspective. Political scientists were mainly interested in the structure, changes, and evolution of the Parliament as an institution (Judge 1993, Copeland and Patterson 1997, Heidar and Koole 2000, Strøm et al. 2003) or in the comparative analysis of various parliamentary systems (Searing 1994, Döring 1995, Olson and Norton 1996, Esaiasson and Heidar 2000, Ionescu 2006). The linguistic, discursive or/and rhetorical characteristics of parliamentary discourse have also been approached: deliberative parliamentary argumentation (Steiner et al. 2004, Andone 2012), question-answer parliamentary patterns (Franklin and Norton 1993) or aspects related to the interlocutors’ gender (McDougall 1998, Shaw 2000, Gomard and Krogstad 2001, Christie 2002, Shaw 2013). In this project, the team was mainly interested in continuing the linguistic tradition (van Dijk 2000, 2010, Fairclough 2000, 2005, Fairclough and Fairclough 2012, Ilie 2003, 2010, Chilton 2004), but also in developing an interdisciplinary perspective on the research of parliamentary discourse, by means of a pragma-rhetorical analysis of discourse as a “form of talk” (Goffman 1981).
Reference in discourse: Processing pronouns and demonstrative
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-1241, PNCDI III
„Young Teams” Project funded by EAHERIF (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding)
Period: 2018-2020
Project director: Sofiana Lindemann
Team: Stanca Măda, Laura Sasu
Projects details: https://refdisc.unitbv.ro
Presentation: This project aims to shed light on the mechanisms involved in reference resolution by investigating the referential properties of two types underspecified forms in Romanian and German, namely personal pronouns and demonstratives. Contrary to previous research, we explore not only the backward-looking function of these expressions (i.e. the status previously occupied by the referents associated to these expressions in the previous discourse), but investigate their forward-looking function (e.g. signalling a probable topic shift) as well.
Implicit causality of verbs in relation to discourse structure
Project funded by Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania
Project director: Sofiana Lindemann
Presentation: The main aim of this project is to explore the semantic structure of verbs, which constraints next-mention biases (e.g. subject vs. object next-mentions), next-mention pronominalization and the use of particular sentence continuations (e.g. explanation vs. result continuations). To this end, we will elicit biases for verbs with a high frequency of occurrence in sentence-continuation studies.
An integrative approach to propositional adjuncts in contemporary media discourse of Romance languages
PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2019-0052
Postdoc Research” Project funded by EAHERIF (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding)
Period: 2020-2022
Project director: Alice-Magdalena Bodoc
Team: Răzvan Săftoiu (mentor)
Projects details: https://roamed.unitbv.ro/
Presentation: The project ROAMED aimed to identify syntactic and semantic features in Complex Sentences (CSs) with clausal adjuncts in Contemporary Romanian, extending this analysis to a comparative study across Romance Languages (Romanian, Italian, French, and Spanish). It utilized a corpus from online mainstream media, analyzing structures and providing arguments for Romanian's specificity in the Romance context. Focus areas included CS structures, connector inventory, constituent order, and discursive phenomena. Innovatively, it collected an original corpus from all four languages, constructed a comprehensive database, applied an integrative theoretical framework merging Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics, and employed a cross-linguistic perspective to emphasize similarities and differences. Addressing a gap in previous descriptive approaches, it brings comparative depth to Romanian data.
Responsibility and social entrepreneurship between equity, empowerment and usefulness - RESEAU (Responsabilité et entrepreneuriat social entre équité, appropriation et utilité - RESEAU)
Project director: Corina Silvia Micu
Period: 2020-2022
Presentation:
Proposed objectives:
- - Creating a social entrepreneurship support network;
- - Strengthening the social entrepreneurship and sustainable development skills of academics and students;
- - Developing elective courses and training programs in the field of social entrepreneurship;
- - Developing digital work tools for the field of social entrepreneurship;
- - Strengthening partnerships between universities and associations working in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Activities:
- Preparation of presentation materials on social entrepreneurship for the academic community ( outcome: PDF document in French: Les meilleurs pratiques de l'entrepreneuriat social).
- Creation of digital tools for use in social entrepreneurship ( outcomes: animations in Romanian and French, videos on social entrepreneurship activities).
- Training in social entrepreneurship ( outcome: training conducted by Mr. Omar Bendjelloun, FINETIC, France, November 2021)
- Summer school on social entrepreneurship in rural communities (outcome: Summer school on social entrepreneurship - field visit and round table - July 2021, Saschiz, Viscri )
- Hackaton on social entrepreneurship topics (January 2022, outcome: videos on successful social entrepreneurship activities)
Tracing the evolution of the Korean culture between 1900 and 2010 from a Romanian’s perspective
AKS-2020-R47
Project funded by the Academy of Korean Studies (South Korea)
Period: february 2020 – december 2021
Project director: Elena Buja
Team: Jinhee Kim (National Andong University, South Korea)
Presentation: The main objective of this research study was to trace the changes in the Korean society within a timespan of about 150 years. To this aim, three research methods were employed: 1) collecting data from novels authored by Korean writers, which covered the afore-mentioned period; 2) an online questionnaire, which was complemented by data collected from interviews with Korean people based both in Korea and in Romania. Our investigation focused on elements of culture such as “beliefs, attitudes, meanings, social hierarchies, religions, roles” (Samovar and Porter 2003: 8) in an attempt to offer an encompassing picture of the Korean culture. The findings indicate major changes in all the domains we have investigated.
Predictability in reference processing: Effects of implicit causality and coherence relations
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0731
Exploratory Research Project funded by EAHERIF (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding)
Period: 2022-2024
Project director: Sofiana Lindemann
Team: Mădălina Matei, Sonia Țîru, Vlăduț Minea, Marta Corcotoi
Projects details: https://refproc.unitbv.ro/
Presentation: We investigate reference resolution preferences for different types of referring expressions in Romanian and compare them to those attested for other languages. We intend to gain new insights into these issues, as well as more general questions concerning reference resolution and explore grammatical biases and coherence-driven biases from both the perspective of the speaker and from the perspective of the hearer. On a more general level, the project aims at developing a discourse model that will allow us to describe some key features of local and global discourse processing.
Gamification-based instruction in teaching Romanian as a foreign language
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0259
„Young Teams” Project funded by EAHERIF (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding)
Period: 2021-2023
Project director: Andreea Nechifor
Team: Răzvan Săftoiu, Georgiana Burbea, Ionuț Căpeneață
Project details: https://giro.unitbv.ro/
Presentation: The main objective of the project is represented by the intention of introducing the concept of "gamification" during Romanian language classes as a foreign language. The innovative factor consists not only in the fact that the approach itself is modern and officially unexplored in Romania from the perspective of foreign language teaching didactics, but also in the fact that it could have a significant international impact regarding the teaching of Romanian as a foreign language. All team members have extensive experience in teaching Romanian as a foreign language and the belief that "gamification" might be the best modern teaching method capable of polarizing and uniting candidates for learning a foreign language from extremely diverse cultures, religions, education systems, and social backgrounds. When communication in class is hindered by various sensitive topics or taboo words, when learning styles vary greatly, when motivation declines, especially in terms of learning Romanian as a foreign language since it is among the more challenging languages to learn, "gamification" can indeed offer a real solution.
LanGuide
Coordinator for Transilvania University: Cristina Dimulescu
Erasmus+ Projects
Period: 2019-2022
Team: Cristina Dimulescu, Andreea Nechifor
Presentation: The "LanGuide" project aimed to develop a digital language learning tool, focusing on internationalized education and flexible learning paths. It involved six European universities specializing in language acquisition and software development. The project created a universal methodology for language-specific purposes (LSP), implemented in a software and mobile app. This tool, catering to students, teachers, and administrative staff, offered resources in English and languages of the project partners, covering various difficulty levels and LSP fields. The project's impact includes its wide usage and the sustainable, freely accessible materials, software, app, and monograph on its website.
TeachME – The Art and Science of Teaching Host Country Language
Erasmus+ Projects
Period: 2022-2024
Coordinator for Transilvania University: Răzvan SĂFTOIU
Team: Georgiana BURBEA, Stanca MĂDA, Andreea NECHIFOR, Violeta RUS
Presentation: The project pioneers an innovative learning model, based on neurodidactics, meant to enrich students studying host-country languages in 5 European countries. Emphasizing immersion in language, culture, and civilization, it fosters proficiency in grammar, vocabulary, and real-life communication. Its goal is twofold: to entice more international students towards lesser-known European languages and to cultivate a robust framework for tailored language programs across partner universities. This initiative aims to enhance transnational collaboration, revamp education systems, and facilitate exchanges among policymakers, educators, and stakeholders, empowering students to integrate language skills into their broader life experiences.
