Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 286-293).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-161).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-161).

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<p>The thesis attempts to explore and analyze the characteristics of the writing of death in Cioran' s texts. Living in France smce 1937, the Romanian-born French writer E.M.Cioran has established a significant position for himself in contemporary French literature. He has been considered one of the greatest French stylists while his contribution to the development of the contemporary essay has o~en been compared to Beckett's contribution to the renewal of the theater in postwar France. The first part of the study is an inquiry into the sense of death that oriented Cioran' s aphoristic writings from beginning to end. I try to describe the crisis of metaphysics and language that influenced Cioran' s -writing, as well as the possible links between his essays and a particular Romanian feeling for death. On the other hand, I also connect Cioran' s writings with the sense of death that characterizes contemporary examinations of discourse in the period after 1960, in France. In the second part of the thesis I attempt to formulate a typological description and analysis of Cioran' s essential modes of expression, the essay and the aphorism. My intention is to examine the feeling of death as a generator of style through an analysis of Cioran' s fundamental texts. The thesis ultimately suggests that in Emil Cioran's work, the feeling of death represents a direct challenge to the legitimacy of literature. Is Cioran a great metaphysician of death? Or is his writing in revolt against the sterile rationalism of the metaphysical revolution that followed the Enlightenment? Should we, then, reconsider his thought and style as a post-modernist expression of the feeling of the end? The present study does not claim to answer these questions, but merely to suggest a few paths that could lead to a better understanding of the writing of an important contemporary French writer.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Yes / Based on an empirical investigation in the context of Romania, this paper identifies a moderating role of neutralization techniques within ethically questionable consumer behavior. The quantitative study is based upon a synthesized model of Theory of Planned Behavior incorporating the factor of perceived unfairness and neutralization techniques. Significantly, neutralization techniques are shown to have a negative, but definite impact on the action to behave unethically. This leads to their consideration as a process of thinking, rather than as static judgement. As such, neutralization techniques are conceptually distinctive to the other factors. The paper analyses the results specific to the Romanian context, but noting implications for an understanding of the morality of markets with similar historical, political and economic conditions. Overall, the findings offer a more nuanced reading of consumer behavior. The paper places moral flexibility in terms of a specific cultural context, but also reveals how neutralization techniques can moderate ethically questionable behaviors beyond matters of self-interest, which in turn has implications for how companies can consider their responsibilities in relation to their customers.

This is a case study that examines the perception of identity shift in trilingual speakers. The participants were three females from Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe, that have moved to the U.S. Participants responded to open-ended questions during an individual interview and self-report. The questions were about (1) the way they think in their native language, (2) the way they feel in different situations while switching languages, and (3) their interactions with others, depending on their relationships with the participants, the situation, and the language they use at that moment. Primary findings suggest that trilingual speakers perceive a shift in their identity depending on the language they are speaking. The languages used for this case study are Romanian, Moldovan-Romanian, Russian, and English. These are the languages spoken by a people who have been in social, cultural, and political conflict for centuries, most recently throughout the Soviet Union era, and even up to recent post-Soviet conflicts. Studying the perception of identity shift in multilingual speakers allows linguists to understand fluidity in identity in additional language-acquisition contexts. Such findings may help in second-language acquisition research, language teaching, immigration-assimilation research or resistance-to-assimilation research. The results of this study support previous findings of people switching their personality according to the language used at that moment. In this case, personality is similar to identity.

(in English): The aim of this paper is to examine the role of Slavic substantive borrowings in Romanian vocabulary. Selected substantive loans are divided into five semantic areas. Analysis of each of them contains a series of synonyms, functional and stylistic inclusion in the Romanian vocabulary, idioms of which is part given lexical unit, and its derivatives. The result is a semantic classification of lexems of Slavic origin in the Romanian vocabulary, their stylistic stratification and position within the synonymic series.

A partir du moment où la Roumanie a introduit sa demande d'adhésion à !'Union européenne, a débuté un examen constant et approfondi de la part de l'Union au sujet des capacités du pays à s'intégrer. Pour que le pays corresponde aux exigences européennes, l'Union a imposé des critères à respecter et des obligations à remplir. Leur transposition concrète a provoqué la transformation du pays. Le système juridique roumain a été l'objet d'une refonte fondamentale et dans ce cadre, une évaluation de la législation roumaine avant et après l'adhésion fait ressortir un taux particulièrement élevé de transformations en matière pénale. Cette transformation du domaine pénal dans son ensemble n'a pas de meilleure illustration que le changement profond qu'a subi la législation en matière de criminalité transnationale organisée. Dans les conditions d'une absence quasi absolue de législation en matière de criminalité transnationale organisée au moment où ont commencé les négociations pour l'adhésion de la Roumanie à l’union européenne, intégration de l'acquis européen a eu pour conséquence un véritable «éclatement» de cette législation. Si te devoir des autorités roumaines pendant le processus d'intégration européenne du pays a été d'adopter une nouvelle législation en matière de lutte contre la criminalité transnationale organisée pour correspondre aux exigences européennes, le défi a été d'adapter cette nouvelle législation aux réalités roumaines afin de la faire fonctionner en pratique. / Romania's request for accession to the European Union launched a process of constant and extensive examination of its capacities to integrate. In order for the country to satisfy the European requirements, the European Union imposed a series of criteria to be respected and obligations to be fulfilled. The country found itself completely transformed after the transposition of the European acquis. The Romanian legal system was fundamentally reshaped and, in this context, an evaluation of the Romanian legislation before and after the accession displays a particular high rate of transformations in the criminal field. This transformation of the criminal field in its entirety is best expressed by the profound change of the legislation concerning the transnational organized crime. From a point of almost complete lack of rules in this field, the implementation of the European acquis caused a real “bursting” of the Romanian legislation concerning the fight against transnational organized crime. The duty of the Romanian authorities during the process of accession to the European Union to adopt a new legislation regarding the fight against transnational organized crime which satisfies the European requirements was followed by the challenge of adapting this legislation to the Romanian realities in order to make it function on daily basis.

This thesis focuses on the unusual phenomenon of exile from a frontier land, as it is explored by the work of the Istrian writer Fulvio Tomizza. It deals with the diaspora from Istria, a territory at the intersection of different civilizations – the Italian and the Croat-Slovenian – which has historically shaped a mixture of cultures and languages, remarkable for its hybridity. The massive exile which took place at the end of the Second World War, after the redefinition of the Italo-Yugoslav border, presents original features which, by taking advantage of the narrative tool, overturn traditional parameters attributed to exile. Focusing on Fulvio Tomizza’s novels Materada, La ragazza di Petrovia and L’albero dei sogni, and also on some of his most significant essays, I will seek to outline the specific traits that typify the detachment from one’s own native country. In particular, I shall suggest that identity and idioms are called into question even before characters have left their homeland. In addition, exile begins with a clarification of characters’ sense of belonging, which inevitably leads them to split, making the choice of whether to abandon the home country even more complicated. Once abroad, characters will develop a deep sense of estrangement, dictated by the impossibility of fitting into any other context, which will eventually drive them to a double, parallel, unsuccessful exile. In order to investigate fully the characteristics of Fulvio Tomizza’s exile, I will employ some linguistic postulates to examine the bilingualism and diglossia of the origins. The theoretical approaches of Edward Said, Sigmund Freud and Julia Kristeva will be used to inform my analysis of the more subtle mechanisms which rule exile, starting with doubleness and examining the dynamics which commonly characterize the exilic experience, including those in relation to the elaboration of the narrative itself. The novelty of this work lies in its approach to exile without preconceived arguments, which run the risk of limiting the analysis of the topic, and in the exploration of the most crucial aspects of a frontier land shaken by a territorial redefinition. This thesis also aims to reallocate the figure of Fulvio Tomizza, who has as yet not been investigated in any significant manner, most often being neglected or misunderstood. The aim is also to highlight one of the most European writers of the Italian second Novecento and his relationship with Eastern European languages and literatures.