Synthetic considerations on the origin and emergence of human language

Human (vocal-articulated) language may be regarded both as a structure and organ, and as an instrument and biosocial behaviour. Its foundation is material and motor, and its development procedural-historical. Examining the relationship between the initial moment (gesture) and the actual result (vocal-articulated language)—at the motor and neural levels—reveals that mental activities occur and develop as a result of the biological organism’s interactions with its natural and social environment. Therefore, language appears not as a consequence of a revolution or of an evolutionary jump, but as a result of organic and gradual developments occurring in a biosocial environment and having the same kind of premises. The many structures contributing to its appearance (osseous, muscular, nervous, genetic) were directed by social events generating behaviours whose exercise led to certain developments. Having achieved structural and behavioral diversification, and in so far as it could benefit evolution, such a development was exploited by the biological and social organism, such that—irrespective of space, time, or the aspects of a particular context—above a certain level of evolution, the various human communities spread throughout the globe exhibited the intrinsic tendency of developing this ability.

The beginnings of Polish lexicography: How to present glosses in the medieval dictionary in the digital age?

The purpose of this paper is to show how this specific type of attestations—Polish glosses in Latin dictionaries—can be presented in the electronic form. The starting point for my considerations will be the online database Rozariusze z polskimi glosami (Rosarii with Polish glosses – rozariusze.ijp.pan.pl). The database collects Polish vocabulary written in the so-called rosarii, i.e. texts representing the Polish redaction of the Vocabularius Ex quo dictionary. The online tool allows users to view and search the collected resources in the following layouts: attestations, entries, concordance. The database was created to collect the elaboration of Polish glosses in the so-called rosarii, but it also may be an inspiration or a partial model for research of such attestations in the other vernacular languages.

Comments upon the sources of the Church Slavonic–Ruthenian Lexicon by Pamvo Berynda

The article examines some of the sources of Pamvo Berynda’s Church Slavonic–Ruthenian lexicon. Identifying the sources of the dictionary and all the hidden quotes is an important task for the correct presentation of the content of this lexicographical monument. The quoted content presented in the Lexicon is divided into two groups: material that did not indicate the source (an example is the Interpretation of words difficult to understand) and materials that indicated the source. For the second case, a non-exhaustive list of such examples is provided. Such quotations show that, for his Lexicon, Berynda mainly used works in the printing of which he himself participated. These are the Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Homilies on the 14 Epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul, both belonging to John Chrysostom, along with the Didactic Gospel. The use of dictionary entries in the Interpretation of words difficult to understand, a lexicon based on the vocabulary from the Ladder of Divine Ascent, and from Interpretation of words in alphabetical order by Maximus the Greek confirms Berynda’s interest, indicated by other researchers as well, for the previous lexicographic tradition.

The first mathematics textbook printed in Moldavia. Elementi aritmetice arătate firești (Iași, 1795)

The first mathematics textbook printed in Moldavia (Iași, 1795) was not sufficiently examined, although the translation offers us valuable information on the Italian influence on the Romanian language and a precious linguistic material as regards both the configuration of the Romanian literary language in Moldavia at the end of the 18th century and the constitution of mathematical terminology. The linguistic material excerpted reflects phonetic and morphologic norms specific of the author’s dialect, sometimes going beyond the criteria illustrated by the local tradition, especially in the morphosyntax field. The lack of a terminological tradition is to be observed in the high number of un-adapted terms, semantic loans and old terms. Amfilohie’s intense activity of translating from Italian (the scholar being a genuine forerunner of the Italianate movement in Moldavia) is proof of the depths of the cultural contacts with the western world, resulting in the intensification of the renewing of the Romanian vocabulary by assimilating Latin-Romance borrowings in general and Italian ones, in particular.

Electronic Research Infrastructure for Bulgarian Medieval Written Heritage: history and perspectives

The paper traces the history of the Histdict system, which turned into a basis for the new Electronic Research Infrastructure for Bulgarian Medieval Written Heritage, which was included into the National Research Roadmap at the end of 2020. Through this act the state declares its support to our resources, that have been so far created and supported by project funding. And of course, it is a big recognition of our efforts and achievements. On the other hand, this act coincided with two other events: the inclusion of RESILIENCE (Research Infrastructure on Religious Studies) in which Histdict is taking part, in the European Research Infrastructures Roadmap and the start of the updating and upgrading of the system. Given the situation the Infrastructure is now facing new challenges—not only the successful improvement of the services it offers, but also the inclusion of the Orthodox Cultural Heritage into European research exchange, which will promote and popularize the history and culture of Southeastern Europe.

A plea for teaching writing as an integrative process meant to serve a functional purpose

In the Romanian context, writing is in a paradoxical situation: it is claimed to be important though it is one of the skills that is little invested in and moreover it undergoes strong opposition from the parents who would opt for digitalization as a preventive opportunity for their children in the future. Mistreated by both school and society, writing is given meagre chances of proving its determining role in the intellectual formation of the young generation. In this line of thought this paper aims at mapping writing as a school-taught skill by first outlining the Romanian approach to school writing (as product or process) and secondly by carrying out an analysis of the writing tasks regularly assigned, with a view to emphasizing their ups and downs and to suggesting changes that might improve not only the perception on writing in the Romanian curriculum, but also the quality of the educational output. In order to obtain a good representation of how writing is viewed by the Romanian educational system, it is deemed as appropriate to analyse the school curriculum issued and approved by the Ministry of National Education and to evaluate the implementation of the official guidelines into school textbooks. The justification for the interest of the authors in writing is related to the high rates of functional illiteracy, to the preponderant evaluation type of the pupils (a written one) and to the largely acknowledged inability of pupils to successfully manage their written tasks.

Un apel pentru predarea scrierii ca proces integrativ cu scop funcțional

În România, situația scrierii ca disciplină școlară este una paradoxală: deși discursul general o declară importantă, se investește tot mai puțin în această abilitate; în plus, suferă o puternică opoziție din partea părinților, care ar opta pentru competențe de scriere digitale, considerate mai de perspectivă pentru copiii lor. Minată atît de școală, cît și de societate, scrierea are slabe șanse de a-și dovedi rolul determinant în formarea intelectuală a tinerei generații. În această linie, prezenta lucrare urmărește cartografierea scrierii ca abilitate predată la școală, prezentînd mai întîi abordarea românească a scrierii școlare (ca produs sau proces) și, în al doilea rînd, efectuînd o analiză a exercițiilor și cerințelor dedicate scrierii. Scopul este acela de a sublinia plusurile și minusurile acestora și de a sugera schimbări care ar putea îmbunătăți nu numai percepția asupra scrierii în programa școlară românească, ci și calitatea rezultatelor. Pentru a avea o bună înțelegere asupra modului în care scrierea este percepută de sistemul de învățământ românesc, am considerat că o abordare potrivită este să se analizeze programa școlară emisă și aprobată de Ministerul Educației Naționale și să se evalueze implementarea liniilor directoare oficiale în manualele școlare. Justificarea interesului autorilor pentru scriere este legată de ratele ridicate ale analfabetismului funcțional, de tipul preponderent de evaluare a elevilor (probele scrise) și de incapacitatea în mare măsură recunoscută a elevilor de a-și gestiona cu succes sarcinile de lucru scrise.

Dictionarium Valachico-Latinum, primul lexicon bilingv original din scrisul românesc

Dictionarium Valachico-Latinum, text scris în zona Banat-Hunedoara la mijlocul veacului al XVII-lea, ocupă o poziție aparte în rîndul vechilor scrieri lexicografice românești. Acest prim dicționar original al limbii române, realizat foarte probabil pentru prezentarea unui corpus reprezentativ din vocabularul limbii române prin intermediul echivalentelor din limba latină, utilizează pentru prima dată modelul latinesc de organizare și de prezentare a cuvintelor selectate. Autorul textului, foarte bun cunoscător al limbii române, deopotrivă în varianta sa literară și în cea vorbită, urmînd același model latinesc, creează grafeme pentru redarea unor sunete specifice limbii române și recomandă forme și grafii, ca formă incipientă de normare literară și ca modalitate de organizare lexicografică.

Slavona românească în Unicode: probleme și soluții

Editorii de texte slavone și slavo-române au la dispoziție numeroase instrumente (fonturi, aranjamente de tastaturi fizice și virtuale, procesoare de text, sisteme de operare) pentru transcrierea și digitalizarea acestora într-o manieră uniformă. Uniformitatea transcrierilor are la bază standardizarea Unicode. În articol ne propunem să explicăm locul slavonei în Unicode și să descriem succint instrumentele cele mai accesibile. În acest scop vom descrie instrumentele de lucru din perspectivă istorică și funcțională, apoi vom furniza exemple în care acele instrumente pot fi sau au fost deja utilizate pentru a obține o transcriere cît mai fidelă. Utilizatorul poate alege dintre metodele și instrumentele existente în funcție de scopuri, nevoi și mijloacele de care dispune. O înțelegere mai bună a datelor tehnice poate scurta timpul de lucru, poate îmbunătăți transcrierea, poate micșora timpii de învățare și, per ansamblu, ușurează munca editorului.