Papers by Desi Cheshmedzhieva-Stoycheva
The European Journal of Humour Research
Times of trial require resorting to new methods for venting up the tension. Internet memes during... more Times of trial require resorting to new methods for venting up the tension. Internet memes during the first outbreak of the pandemic proved to be the necessary outlet, while, at the same time, provided a platform for the public to share their opinion, albeit in a humorous way, on the measures imposed, the people involved in the fight against the virus, and basically on everything that determined their everyday lives. The latter has been fostered greatly by the fact that humour is a generally relatable phenomenon. At the same time though, it can also be culture specific and some peculiarities of the embedded message can remain hidden for the general public. In order to trace these opposing aspects in the creation of internet memes, the paper analyses a corpus of 84 memes circulated on Facebook and Instagram in the period of 13 March 2020 – 30 May 2020. The subject in all these memes is General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, who was in charge of the struggle with COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgar...
Ideology and Intertextuality in Covid-19 Memes, 2022
The paper analyses the way in which Covid-19 memes were created during the first wave of the pand... more The paper analyses the way in which Covid-19 memes were created during the first wave of the pandemic, paying particular attention to the intertextual links employed and to the ideology that is being put forward through those pieces of digital humour. The corpus for this analysis comprises 180 memes circulated on Facebook and Instagram in the period 13 March 2020 30 May 2020. The memes were first thematically categorized into several groups and the specifics of each group were reviewed. As people experienced more or less similar feelings when placed in isolation/under quarantine, these states are considered universal, and this particular study focuses on a sample of 54 quarantine/isolation-related memes circulated in the social media during the first wave of the pandemic. Using CDA and Multimodal Discourse Analysis the paper presents the main trends in their creation along with the established intertextual links and the ideas transmitted. Some of the conclusions reached are that memes employing images of celebrities or popular characters, be they international or local, are easier to decode, while the resort to culture-specific codes and images from movies might prove challenging and, to a big extent, depends on the background knowledge and interests of the recipients.
Могилевский государственный университет имени А. А. Кулешова, 2021
A ssociate P rofessor at the D epartm ent o f E nglish Studies K onstantin P reslavsky U niversit... more A ssociate P rofessor at the D epartm ent o f E nglish Studies K onstantin P reslavsky U niversity o f Shum en (Shum en, B ulgaria) В статье рассматриваются причины и следствия появления неологизмов в болгарском языке и их заимствования из других языков. Ключевые слова: КОВИД-19, национальный язык, устный дискурс, медий ный дискурс. The paper is a p a rt o f a bigger research on the advent ofneologisms into the Bulgarian language as a result o f the pandemic. The fo cu s is on some o f the new linguistic choices that 133 М о г и л е в с к и й г о с у д а р с т в е н н ы й у н и в е р с и т е т и м е н и А. А. К у л е ш о в а appeared in Bulgaria mostly as a result ofthe global impact COVID-19 has. The neologisms encountered in conversation were listed and then compared with the linguistic entries in the reference books and their frequency o f use was checked through search engines. One o f the main conclusions reached is that despite the fa c t that the analysed neologisms are n o t p art o f the official lexicon they are widely used in the social and the mass media, which means they are an active pa rt o f the everyday life ofBulgarians.
Lyuboslovie, 2021
The focus of the paper is on the neologisms that have occurred in Bulgarian as a result of the pa... more The focus of the paper is on the neologisms that have occurred in Bulgarian as a result of the pandemic. The corpus of analysis comprises linguistic exchanges collected during some personal conversations of the author with a number of informants as well as occurrences of the encountered neologisms in the social and mainstream media. The neologisms were also compared with the linguistic entries in some reference books and their frequency of use was checked through search engines. One of the main conclusions reached is that despite the fact that some of the analysed neologisms are not part of the official lexicon they are widely used in the social and the mass media, which means they are an active part of everyday life of Bulgarians.
Analysing a corpus of articles published in national and nationalistic newspapers in Bulgaria and... more Analysing a corpus of articles published in national and nationalistic newspapers in Bulgaria and the UK, this paper looks, from a comparative perspective, at the linguistic techniques for the development and presentation of the identities of ethnic groups other than white Bulgarians in Bulgaria and white British in the UK.
В статье рассматриваются причины и следствия появления неологизмов в болгарском языке и их заимст... more В статье рассматриваются причины и следствия появления неологизмов в болгарском языке и их заимствования из других языков. The paper is a part of a bigger research on the advent of neologisms into the Bulgarian language as a result of the pandemic. The focus is on some of the new linguistic choices that appeared in Bulgaria mostly as a result of the global impact COVID-19 has. The neologisms encountered in conversation were listed and then compared with the linguistic entries in the reference books and their frequency of use was checked through search engines. One of the main conclusions reached is that despite the fact that the analysed neologisms are not part of the official lexicon they are widely used in the social and the mass media, which means they are an active part of the everyday life of Bulgarians
It is indubitable that globalization has led to exchange of people, falling of boundaries and a g... more It is indubitable that globalization has led to exchange of people, falling of boundaries and a greater variety of people on the territories of countries all over the world. At the same time globalization, apart from being a purely positive phenomenon has contributed to the increase in the shades of Otherness which in itself has led to the need of re-mapping and reassessing the image of the cultural Other. Islam, which is the second largest as well as the fastest growing religion covering about a quarter of the population, is getting more and more visible in Europe, mostly due to the worldwide media presentation of various Muslim terrorist attacks starting with the Twin Towers in New York and going through attacks by groups such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and most recently ISIS/ ISIL, but also through the influx of immigrants and refugees (African, Syrian, Iraqi) of Muslim background to Europe and reported cases of new converts. These processes have affected the religious mapping of the world and religious adherence, which used to be more or less a characteristic of a specific group, is no longer a constant. We are witnesses of second or third generation immigrants who identify with a specific ethnic group, while at the same time showing allegiance with the confessional group of their ancestors, which justifies the use of definitions like French Muslim, British Muslim, etc. The study aims at comparing the way British and Bulgarian media present the problem of home-grown terrorism, paying attention to the descriptors used in the development of the image of the terrorist, the references used to denote the perpetrator, his/ her profile and characteristics that can show the terrorist as part of Us or as part of Them. Analysing media language in both discourses will provide useful feedback on the similarities and differences in the thinking patterns of the two peoples as well as be indicative of the comprehensive character of the new threat posed by home-grown terrorism. The paper is part of a bigger study on the multifarious image of Muslims in the Bulgarian and British printed media. While the articles comprising the main corpus of the study have been collected based on a key word Muslim, the corpus of this paper comprises articles featuring key words Muslim, home-grown, and convert published over the span of a year, i.e. June 2014 July 2015. The general approach used in the analysis of the media texts is CDA. However, some elements of quantitative Content Analysis have also been applied in order to assess the frequency of occurrence of certain descriptors, references, and characteristics.
Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 2015
The paper analyses the way two broadsheets, i.e. the Bulgarian Dnevnik and the British The Indepe... more The paper analyses the way two broadsheets, i.e. the Bulgarian Dnevnik and the British The Independent present Muslim identity within the span of two months and over the influence of international events such as the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices. The focus is on the development of the positive image of Muslims through the refutal of the existing negative stereotypes. The study is done on a comparative basis using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis.
Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT, 2016
Being politically, economically, environmentally, and socially significant, the topic of nuclear ... more Being politically, economically, environmentally, and socially significant, the topic of nuclear power enjoys high interest in the media with its complex character. On the one hand, there is nuclear power used for civil purposes which is viewed as one of the most cost-efficient power generation ways, while on the other, there is nuclear power used for military purposes as a weapon of mass destruction. The focus of the paper is on the metaphors used in the presentation of issues associated with nuclear power. The main method of analysis is cDA and the corpus analysed is comprised of articles published in the American The New York Times, the British The independent and the Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik over the period of a month, i.e. March 2013. This study adds to current research on metaphors as it compares and contrasts the thinking patterns exhibited by three different cultures through their media discourse.
The paper analyses the way two broadsheets, i.e. the Bulgarian Dnevnik and the British The Indepe... more The paper analyses the way two broadsheets, i.e. the Bulgarian Dnevnik and the British The Independent present Muslim identity within the span of two months and over the influence of international events such as the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices. The focus is on the development of the positive image of Muslims through the refutal of the existing negative stereotypes. The study is done on a comparative basis using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis.
The paper presents some aspects of media presentations on a particular ethnic group which in the ... more The paper presents some aspects of media presentations on a particular ethnic group which in the western psyche brings up associations with Socialism, Cold War Era, wealth, as well as of criminals, and last but not least, as the deadliest secret agents. In particular, the paper dwells on the cases of poisoning of Russian ex-spies in the UK as reflected in the media. The focus is on the way a Bulgarian, a British and a Russian newspaper present the case of the attempted murder of Sergey and Yulia Skripal with Novichok in Salisbury paying attention to the main topics put forward in the media discourse on spies. Some of the coverage of the Bulgarian trace, i.e. Emilian Gebrev, in the case is also analysed. Using CDA as the main method of analysis, the paper looks into the language used to present the whole case, the voices that get heard on the case, the focus of presentation of each media discourse along with the effect all these have on the general population. The paper argues that a...
Analysing a corpus of articles published in national and nationalistic newspapers in Bulgaria and... more Analysing a corpus of articles published in national and nationalistic newspapers in Bulgaria and the UK, this paper looks, from a comparative perspective, at the linguistic techniques for the development and presentation of the identities of ethnic groups other than white Bulgarians in Bulgaria and white British in the UK.
This analysis is a part of a bigger study on the presentation of Muslim women in the media. The f... more This analysis is a part of a bigger study on the presentation of Muslim women in the media. The focus here is on Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim Somali-born woman in American Congress, and more specifically on the latest publications on Omar which delve into her personal family life and the alleged marriage she has entered into with her brother, so that she can provide him with a green card for the USA. The topic presents a cross-section of several major fields of study such as feminism, media studies, and culture studies as the emphasis is on the biased media representation intended to diminish the real worth of a woman politician who is a carrier of several different identities, namely: gender, religious, ethnic, and class. The corpus for this study consists of 42 articles published in various online media over a period of four months from January 2020 to April 2020. The paper argues that first, the presentation Ilhan Omar enjoys is gendered and second, that it is subjected to the st...
Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT
From the beginning of the year both Bulgarian and British printed media have flooded us with info... more From the beginning of the year both Bulgarian and British printed media have flooded us with information on conflicts between Roma and Bulgarians in Bulgaria (the latest ones being the events in the village of Katunitsa) and Gypsies and Travellers and British in the UK (Dalefarm).<br>The goal of this paper is not to analyse the linguistic devices employed in the coverage on said (inter)ethnic conflicts in mainstream media, but rather to analyse the ways ethnic publications view these events and the discourse they employ to present them.
Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT
Using a corpus comprised of examples from the Bulgarian and the British print media discourse on ... more Using a corpus comprised of examples from the Bulgarian and the British print media discourse on the topic of refugees, the paper aims at analyzing the stereotypes and prejudices that are formed and promoted at the encounter of the Other who is culturally and/or religiously different. In addition, the paper looks into the possible attitudes that these stereotypes can provoke towards refugees and the awareness of the image of the cultural Other that they contribute to. The main method of analysis is CDA and the aim is comparing and contrasting the linguistic devices used in both the Bulgarian and the British media on the topic in two different time periods.
ABSTRACT The paper reviews a corpus of articles from the Bulgarian and the British national press... more ABSTRACT The paper reviews a corpus of articles from the Bulgarian and the British national press in order to compare and analyze the linguistic devices used in stigmatizing Roma and Gypsies and afterwards justifying racist or discriminatory behaviour against them. Adapting S. Jäger’s (1992) research on the presentation of different ethnic groups in the German media and Van Dijk’s (1991) discursive practices used to justify racism, the paper studies the occurrence of similar devices in Bulgarian and British media discourse when talking about Roma in Bulgaria and Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. The focus is on the topics which media texts discuss in relation to the two groups, the usage of ethnonyms in the plural form when talking about criminals from the two ethnic groups, the presence of “Us” vs. “Them” dichotomy, the lexemes used to attribute negative features to “Them” and the constructions used to present the speakers in a positive light.
Being politically, economically, environmentally, and socially significant, the topic of nuclear ... more Being politically, economically, environmentally, and socially significant, the topic of nuclear power enjoys high interest in the media with its complex character. On the one hand, there is nuclear power used for civil purposes which is viewed as one of the most cost-efficient power generation ways, while on the other, there is nuclear power used for military purposes as a weapon of mass destruction. The focus of the paper is on the metaphors used in the presentation of issues associated with nuclear power. The main method of analysis is CDA and the corpus analysed is comprised of articles published in the American The New York Times, the British The Independent and the Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik over the period of a month, i.e. March 2013. This study adds to current research on metaphors as it compares and contrasts the thinking patterns exhibited by three different cultures through their media discourse.
Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT
The paper marks an intersection between previous studies conducted on the image of Muslims in the... more The paper marks an intersection between previous studies conducted on the image of Muslims in the media and a survey conducted among Bulgarian and international informants on their perception of Muslims and the way the media have influenced their opinion on that religious group.
The paper reviews a corpus of articles from the Bulgarian and the British national press in order... more The paper reviews a corpus of articles from the Bulgarian and the British national press in order to compare and analyze the linguistic devices used in stigmatizing Roma and Gypsies and afterwards justifying racist or discriminatory behaviour against them. Adapting S. Jäger’s (1992) research on the presentation of different ethnic groups in the German media and Van Dijk’s (1991) discursive practices used to justify racism, the paper studies the occurrence of similar devices in Bulgarian and British media discourse when talking about Roma in Bulgaria and Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. The focus is on the topics which media texts discuss in relation to the two groups, the usage of ethnonyms in the plural form when talking about criminals from the two ethnic groups, the presence of “Us” vs. “Them” dichotomy, the lexemes used to attribute negative features to “Them” and the constructions used to present the speakers in a positive light.
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Papers by Desi Cheshmedzhieva-Stoycheva
The subject at hand is such that it requires some preliminary knowledge in linguistics, text linguistics, discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis, that is why it is aimed primarily at students in English Studies or Applied Linguistics in their third or fourth year of study, presuming that they have already had lectures in syntax, lexicology, and text linguistics, so that they are familiar with the terminology used. The textbook, however, can be used by anyone interested in the topic as it provides guidelines into the conducting of CDA projects on one’s own.