Emotional Self-Disclosure in Online Breast Cancer Support Groups: Examining Theme, Reciprocity, and Linguistic Style Matching.

Science.gov (United States)

Malloch, Yining Z; Taylor, Laramie D

2018-02-05

The present study investigated emotional self-disclosure (ESD) patterns and their effects in online support groups specific to different stages of breast cancer. Linguistic features of messages posted to an online breast cancer support group were analyzed. ESD was common, and was consistent across four stage forums. Emotional talk was linked to a variety of themes, but most prominently in the context of discussions about social connections rather than health or death. Linguistic style matching mediated the relationship between ESD in posts and reciprocal ESD in comments, suggesting a key role for mutual understanding and engagement between posters and commenters. Implications for health communication theory and practice were discussed.

Evaluating automatically annotated treebanks for linguistic research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bloem, J.; Bański, P.; Kupietz, M.; Lüngen, H.; Witt, A.; Barbaresi, A.; Biber, H.; Breiteneder, E.; Clematide, S.

2016-01-01

This study discusses evaluation methods for linguists to use when employing an automatically annotated treebank as a source of linguistic evidence. While treebanks are usually evaluated with a general measure over all the data, linguistic studies often focus on a particular construction or a group

Rapid Linguistic Ambiguity Resolution in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Eye Tracking Evidence for the Limits of Weak Central Coherence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Noemi; Snedeker, Jesse; Rabagliati, Hugh

2015-12-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have often been reported to have difficulty integrating information into its broader context, which has motivated the Weak Central Coherence theory of ASD. In the linguistic domain, evidence for this difficulty comes from reports of impaired use of linguistic context to resolve ambiguous words. However, recent work has suggested that impaired use of linguistic context may not be characteristic of ASD, and is instead better explained by co-occurring language impairments. Here, we provide a strong test of these claims, using the visual world eye tracking paradigm to examine the online mechanisms by which children with autism resolve linguistic ambiguity. To address concerns about both language impairments and compensatory strategies, we used a sample whose verbal skills were strong and whose average age (7; 6) was lower than previous work on lexical ambiguity resolution in ASD. Participants (40 with autism and 40 controls) heard sentences with ambiguous words in contexts that either strongly supported one reading or were consistent with both (John fed/saw the bat). We measured activation of the unintended meaning through implicit semantic priming of an associate (looks to a depicted baseball glove). Contrary to the predictions of weak central coherence, children with ASD, like controls, quickly used context to resolve ambiguity, selecting appropriate meanings within a second. We discuss how these results constrain the generality of weak central coherence. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genetic and linguistic coevolution in Northern Island Melanesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunley, Keith; Dunn, Michael; Lindström, Eva; Reesink, Ger; Terrill, Angela; Healy, Meghan E; Koki, George; Friedlaender, Françoise R; Friedlaender, Jonathan S

2008-10-01

Recent studies have detailed a remarkable degree of genetic and linguistic diversity in Northern Island Melanesia. Here we utilize that diversity to examine two models of genetic and linguistic coevolution. The first model predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed following population splits and isolation at the time of early range expansions into the region. The second is analogous to the genetic model of isolation by distance, and it predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed through continuing genetic and linguistic exchange between neighboring populations. We tested the predictions of the two models by comparing observed and simulated patterns of genetic variation, genetic and linguistic trees, and matrices of genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. The data consist of 751 autosomal microsatellites and 108 structural linguistic features collected from 33 Northern Island Melanesian populations. The results of the tests indicate that linguistic and genetic exchange have erased any evidence of a splitting and isolation process that might have occurred early in the settlement history of the region. The correlation patterns are also inconsistent with the predictions of the isolation by distance coevolutionary process in the larger Northern Island Melanesian region, but there is strong evidence for the process in the rugged interior of the largest island in the region (New Britain). There we found some of the strongest recorded correlations between genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. We also found that, throughout the region, linguistic features have generally been less likely to diffuse across population boundaries than genes. The results from our study, based on exceptionally fine-grained data, show that local genetic and linguistic exchange are likely to obscure evidence of the early history of a region, and that language barriers do not particularly hinder genetic exchange. In contrast, global patterns may

Genetic and linguistic coevolution in Northern Island Melanesia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keith Hunley

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Recent studies have detailed a remarkable degree of genetic and linguistic diversity in Northern Island Melanesia. Here we utilize that diversity to examine two models of genetic and linguistic coevolution. The first model predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed following population splits and isolation at the time of early range expansions into the region. The second is analogous to the genetic model of isolation by distance, and it predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed through continuing genetic and linguistic exchange between neighboring populations. We tested the predictions of the two models by comparing observed and simulated patterns of genetic variation, genetic and linguistic trees, and matrices of genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. The data consist of 751 autosomal microsatellites and 108 structural linguistic features collected from 33 Northern Island Melanesian populations. The results of the tests indicate that linguistic and genetic exchange have erased any evidence of a splitting and isolation process that might have occurred early in the settlement history of the region. The correlation patterns are also inconsistent with the predictions of the isolation by distance coevolutionary process in the larger Northern Island Melanesian region, but there is strong evidence for the process in the rugged interior of the largest island in the region (New Britain. There we found some of the strongest recorded correlations between genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. We also found that, throughout the region, linguistic features have generally been less likely to diffuse across population boundaries than genes. The results from our study, based on exceptionally fine-grained data, show that local genetic and linguistic exchange are likely to obscure evidence of the early history of a region, and that language barriers do not particularly hinder genetic exchange. In contrast

Linguistic dating of biblical texts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Young, Ian; Rezetko, Robert; Ehrensvärd, Martin Gustaf

Since the beginning of critical scholarship biblical texts have been dated using linguistic evidence. In recent years this has become a controversial topic, especially with the publication of Ian Young (ed.), Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology (2003). However, until now there has...... been no introduction and comprehensive study of the field. Volume 1 introduces the field of linguistic dating of biblical texts, particularly to intermediate and advanced students of biblical Hebrew who have a reasonable background in the language, having completed at least an introductory course...... in this volume are: What is it that makes Archaic Biblical Hebrew archaic , Early Biblical Hebrew early , and Late Biblical Hebrew late ? Does linguistic typology, i.e. different linguistic characteristics, convert easily and neatly into linguistic chronology, i.e. different historical origins? A large amount...

Evidence-based Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaharia, Cătălin; Reiner, Melita; Schütz, Peter

2015-12-01

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Framework has enjoyed enormous popularity in the field of applied psychology. NLP has been used in business, education, law, medicine and psychotherapy to identify people's patterns and alter their responses to stimuli, so they are better able to regulate their environment and themselves. NLP looks at achieving goals, creating stable relationships, eliminating barriers such as fears and phobias, building self-confidence, and self-esteem, and achieving peak performance. Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy (NLPt) encompasses NLP as framework and set of interventions in the treatment of individuals with different psychological and/or social problems. We aimed systematically to analyse the available data regarding the effectiveness of Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy (NLPt). The present work is a meta-analysis of studies, observational or randomized controlled trials, for evaluating the efficacy of Neuro Linguistic Programming in individuals with different psychological and/or social problems. The databases searched to identify studies in English and German language: CENTRAL in the Cochrane Library; PubMed; ISI Web of Knowledge (include results also from Medline and the Web of Science); PsycINFO (including PsycARTICLES); Psyndex; Deutschsprachige Diplomarbeiten der Psychologie (database of theses in Psychology in German language), Social SciSearch; National library of health and two NLP-specific research databases: one from the NLP Community (http://www.nlp.de/cgi-bin/research/nlprdb.cgi?action=res_entries) and one from the NLP Group (http://www.nlpgrup.com/bilimselarastirmalar/bilimsel-arastirmalar-4.html#Zweig154). From a total number of 425 studies, 350 were removed and considered not relevant based on the title and abstract. Included, in the final analysis, are 12 studies with numbers of participants ranging between 12 and 115 subjects. The vast majority of studies were prospective observational. The actual paper represents the first

A responsible agenda for applied linguistics: Confessions of a philosopher

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Weideman

2011-08-01

Full Text Available When we undertake academic, disciplinary work, we rely on philosophical starting points. Several straightforward illustrations of this can be found in the history of applied linguistics. It is evident from the history of our field that various historically influential approaches to our discipline base themselves upon different academic confessions. This paper examines the effects of basing our applied linguistic work on the idea that applied linguistics is a discipline concerned with design. Such a characterisation does justice to both modernist and postmodernist emphases in applied linguistics. Conceptualisations of applied linguistics that came with the proposals for communicative language teaching (CLT some thirty to forty years ago propelled the discipline squarely into postmodern times. To account for this, we need to develop a theory of applied linguistics which shows what constitutive and regulative conditions exist for doing applied linguistic designs. A responsible agenda for applied linguistics today has as its first responsibility to free the users of its designs from toil and drudgery, as well as from becoming victims of fashion, ideology or theory. Secondly, it should design solutions to language problems in such a way that the technical imagination of the designer is not restricted but supported by theory and empirical investigation, and that the productive pedagogical fantasy of the implementers of such plans is set free. Thirdly, it must seek to become accountable by designing theoretically and socially defensible solutions to language problems, solutions that relieve some of the suffering, pain, poverty and injustice in our world.

Culturally and linguistically diverse population health social marketing campaigns in Australia: a consideration of evidence and related evaluation issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Milat, Andrew J; Carroll, Tom E; Taylor, Jennifer J

2005-04-01

This paper describes a review of population health social marketing campaigns targeting culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) communities in Australia in order to identify characteristics of effective CLD campaigns. Literature on CLD population health social marketing was identified from electronic searches of databases in August 2004. At the same time, the grey literature was examined by searching the Internet and talking to Australian experts in the fields of CLD social marketing and CLD research. Eight studies met the search criteria, four from the published literature. Two studies that employed prepost evaluation designs provided tentative support for the potential efficacy of CLD social marketing strategies. The remaining studies did not allow for causal attribution as they used post-campaign only or process evaluations. Studies did, however, show that CLD communities access campaign-related information from both mainstream and ethnic media channels. In addition, Vietnamese respondents were more likely to access campaign messages through ethnic radio and Chinese respondents through ethnic press. There is insufficient evidence to clearly identify the characteristics of effective CLD campaigns. Campaign evaluation designs used to evaluate social marketing strategies targeting CLD communities in Australia are generally weak, but there is tentative evidence supporting the potential efficacy of these strategies in some Australian settings.

English linguistic purism: history, development, criticism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grishechko Ovsanna Savvichna

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Linguistic purism as an area of linguistic analysis describes the practices of identification and acknowledgement of a certain language variety as more structurally advanced as compared to its other varieties. Linguistic protection is associated with preservation of some abstract, classical, conservative linguistic ideal and performs the regulatory function, above all. The puristic approach to the development of the English language has been subjected to heated debate for several centuries and is reflected in both scientific research and literary texts. Supporters of purification of the English language champion the idea of protection of “pure language”. The idea, however, is actively criticized by opponents.

Development of patient-centric linguistically tailored psychoeducational messages to support nutrition and medication self-management in type 2 diabetes: a feasibility study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ellis RJB

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Rebecca J Bartlett Ellis,1 Ulla Connor,2 James Marshall21Indiana University School of Nursing, 2Indiana University School of Liberal Arts, International Center for Intercultural Communication, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA Purpose: This study evaluated the feasibility of developing linguistically tailored educational messages designed to match the linguistic styles of patients segmented into types with the Descriptor™, and to determine patient preferences for tailored or standard messages based on their segments. Patients and methods: Twenty patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM were recruited from a diabetes health clinic. Participants were segmented using the Descriptor™, a language-based questionnaire, to identify patient types based on their control orientation (internal/external, agency (high/low, and affect (positive/negative, which are well studied constructs related to T2DM self-management. Two of the seven self-care behaviors described by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (healthy eating and taking medication were used to develop standard messages and then linguistically tailored using features of the six different construct segment types of the Descriptor™. A subset of seven participants each provided feedback on their preference for standard or linguistically tailored messages; 12 comparisons between standard and tailored messages were made. Results: Overall, the tailored messages were preferred to the standard messages. When the messages were matched to specific construct segment types, the tailored messages were preferred over the standard messages, although this was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Linguistically tailoring messages based on construct segments is feasible. Furthermore, tailored messages were more often preferred over standard messages. This study provides some preliminary evidence for tailoring messages based on the linguistic features of control orientation, agency, and affect

Applied Linguistics: The Challenge of Theory

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Tim

2015-01-01

Language has featured prominently in contemporary social theory, but the relevance of this fact to the concerns of Applied Linguistics, with its necessary orientation to practical issues of language in context, represents an ongoing challenge. This article supports the need for a greater engagement with theory in Applied Linguistics. It considers…

Linguistic Engineering and Linguistic of Engineering: Adaptation of Linguistic Paradigm for Circumstance of Engineering Epoch

OpenAIRE

Natalya Halina

2014-01-01

The article is devoted to the problems of linguistic knowledge in the Engineering Epoch. Engineering Epoch is the time of adaptation to the information flows by knowledge management, The system of adaptation mechanisms is connected with linguistic and linguistic technologies, forming in new linguistic patterns Linguistic Engineering and Linguistic of Engineering.

"It's worth our time": a model of culturally and linguistically supportive professional development for K-12 STEM educators

Science.gov (United States)

Charity Hudley, Anne H.; Mallinson, Christine

2017-09-01

Professional development on issues of language and culture is often separate from professional development on issues related to STEM education, resulting in linguistic and cultural gaps in K-12 STEM pedagogy and practice. To address this issue, we have designed a model of professional development in which we work with educators to build cultural and linguistic competence and to disseminate information about how educators view the relevance of language, communication, and culture to STEM teaching and learning. We describe the design and facilitation of our model of culturally and linguistically responsive professional development, grounded in theories of multicultural education and culturally supportive teaching, through professional development workshops to 60 K-12 STEM educators from schools in Maryland and Virginia that serve African American students. Participants noted that culturally and linguistically responsive approaches had yet to permeate their K-12 STEM settings, which they identified as a critical challenge to effectively teaching and engaging African-American students. Based on pre-surveys, workshops were tailored to participants' stated needs for information on literacy (e.g., disciplinary literacies and discipline-specific jargon), cultural conflict and mismatch (e.g., student-teacher miscommunication), and linguistic bias in student assessment (e.g., test design). Educators shared feedback via post-workshop surveys, and a subset of 28 participants completed in-depth interviews and a focus group. Results indicate the need for further implementation of professional development such as ours that address linguistic and cultural issues, tailored for K-12 STEM educators. Although participants in this study enumerated several challenges to meeting this need, they also identified opportunities for collaborative solutions that draw upon teacher expertise and are integrated with curricula across content areas.

Gelada vocal sequences follow Menzerath’s linguistic law

Science.gov (United States)

Gustison, Morgan L.; Semple, Stuart; Ferrer-i-Cancho, Ramon; Bergman, Thore J.

2016-01-01

Identifying universal principles underpinning diverse natural systems is a key goal of the life sciences. A powerful approach in addressing this goal has been to test whether patterns consistent with linguistic laws are found in nonhuman animals. Menzerath’s law is a linguistic law that states that, the larger the construct, the smaller the size of its constituents. Here, to our knowledge, we present the first evidence that Menzerath’s law holds in the vocal communication of a nonhuman species. We show that, in vocal sequences of wild male geladas (Theropithecus gelada), construct size (sequence size in number of calls) is negatively correlated with constituent size (duration of calls). Call duration does not vary significantly with position in the sequence, but call sequence composition does change with sequence size and most call types are abbreviated in larger sequences. We also find that intercall intervals follow the same relationship with sequence size as do calls. Finally, we provide formal mathematical support for the idea that Menzerath’s law reflects compression—the principle of minimizing the expected length of a code. Our findings suggest that a common principle underpins human and gelada vocal communication, highlighting the value of exploring the applicability of linguistic laws in vocal systems outside the realm of language. PMID:27091968

Translating Linguistic Jokes for Dubbing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena ALEKSANDROVA

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study has attempted to establish the possible ways of translating linguistic jokes whendubbing. The study is also intended to identify the most problematic cases of screen translation andthe factors which cause these problems. In order to support such an approach a corpus of 7American and British films has been compiled, including as many as 16 as their various dubbingtranslations into Russian. In the films, almost 12 instances of original linguistic jokes have beenidentified.

Non-linguistic Conditions for Causativization as a Linguistic Attractor.

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, Johanna

2017-01-01

An attractor, in complex systems theory, is any state that is more easily or more often entered or acquired than departed or lost; attractor states therefore accumulate more members than non-attractors, other things being equal. In the context of language evolution, linguistic attractors include sounds, forms, and grammatical structures that are prone to be selected when sociolinguistics and language contact make it possible for speakers to choose between competing forms. The reasons why an element is an attractor are linguistic (auditory salience, ease of processing, paradigm structure, etc.), but the factors that make selection possible and propagate selected items through the speech community are non-linguistic. This paper uses the consonants in personal pronouns to show what makes for an attractor and how selection and diffusion work, then presents a survey of several language families and areas showing that the derivational morphology of pairs of verbs like fear and frighten , or Turkish korkmak 'fear, be afraid' and korkutmak 'frighten, scare', or Finnish istua 'sit' and istutta 'seat (someone)', or Spanish sentarse 'sit down' and sentar 'seat (someone)' is susceptible to selection. Specifically, the Turkish and Finnish pattern, where 'seat' is derived from 'sit' by addition of a suffix-is an attractor and a favored target of selection. This selection occurs chiefly in sociolinguistic contexts of what is defined here as linguistic symbiosis, where languages mingle in speech, which in turn is favored by certain demographic, sociocultural, and environmental factors here termed frontier conditions. Evidence is surveyed from northern Eurasia, the Caucasus, North and Central America, and the Pacific and from both modern and ancient languages to raise the hypothesis that frontier conditions and symbiosis favor causativization.

Diminutives facilitate word segmentation in natural speech: cross-linguistic evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Kempe, Vera; Brooks, Patricia J; Gillis, Steven; Samson, Graham

2007-06-01

Final-syllable invariance is characteristic of diminutives (e.g., doggie), which are a pervasive feature of the child-directed speech registers of many languages. Invariance in word endings has been shown to facilitate word segmentation (Kempe, Brooks, & Gillis, 2005) in an incidental-learning paradigm in which synthesized Dutch pseudonouns were used. To broaden the cross-linguistic evidence for this invariance effect and to increase its ecological validity, adult English speakers (n=276) were exposed to naturally spoken Dutch or Russian pseudonouns presented in sentence contexts. A forced choice test was given to assess target recognition, with foils comprising unfamiliar syllable combinations in Experiments 1 and 2 and syllable combinations straddling word boundaries in Experiment 3. A control group (n=210) received the recognition test with no prior exposure to targets. Recognition performance improved with increasing final-syllable rhyme invariance, with larger increases for the experimental group. This confirms that word ending invariance is a valid segmentation cue in artificial, as well as naturalistic, speech and that diminutives may aid segmentation in a number of languages.

A kindergarten experiment in linguistic e-learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

2006-01-01

As part of the BlaSq project, we are developing a set of linguistic games to be used in kindergartens. The first of these games is Crazipes, that we are currently testing in a Danish kindergarten, with the support of the local teachers. Here we discuss the architecture of the game, its potentials...... as a linguistic e-learning tool, together with the design and methodology adopted for the study. Some early results are also discussed.......As part of the BlaSq project, we are developing a set of linguistic games to be used in kindergartens. The first of these games is Crazipes, that we are currently testing in a Danish kindergarten, with the support of the local teachers. Here we discuss the architecture of the game, its potentials...

Evidence in clinical reasoning: a computational linguistics analysis of 789,712 medical case summaries 1983-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Seidel, Bastian M; Campbell, Steven; Bell, Erica

2015-03-21

Better understanding of clinical reasoning could reduce diagnostic error linked to 8% of adverse medical events and 30% of malpractice cases. To a greater extent than the evidence-based movement, the clinical reasoning literature asserts the importance of practitioner intuition—unconscious elements of diagnostic reasoning. The study aimed to analyse the content of case report summaries in ways that explored the importance of an evidence concept, not only in relation to research literature but also intuition. The study sample comprised all 789,712 abstracts in English for case reports contained in the database PUBMED for the period 1 January 1983 to 31 December 2012. It was hypothesised that, if evidence and intuition concepts were viewed by these clinical authors as essential to understanding their case reports, they would be more likely to be found in the abstracts. Computational linguistics software was used in 1) concept mapping of 21,631,481 instances of 201 concepts, and 2) specific concept analyses examining 200 paired co-occurrences for 'evidence' and research 'literature' concepts. 'Evidence' is a fundamentally patient-centred, intuitive concept linked to less common concepts about underlying processes, suspected disease mechanisms and diagnostic hunches. In contrast, the use of research literature in clinical reasoning is linked to more common reasoning concepts about specific knowledge and descriptions or presenting features of cases. 'Literature' is by far the most dominant concept, increasing in relevance since 2003, with an overall relevance of 13% versus 5% for 'evidence' which has remained static. The fact that the least present types of reasoning concepts relate to diagnostic hunches to do with underlying processes, such as what is suspected, raises questions about whether intuitive practitioner evidence-making, found in a constellation of dynamic, process concepts, has become less important. The study adds support to the existing corpus of

A responsible agenda for applied linguistics: Confessions of a philosopher

OpenAIRE

Albert Weideman

2011-01-01

When we undertake academic, disciplinary work, we rely on philosophical starting points. Several straightforward illustrations of this can be found in the history of applied linguistics. It is evident from the history of our field that various historically influential approaches to our discipline base themselves upon different academic confessions. This paper examines the effects of basing our applied linguistic work on the idea that applied linguistics is a discipline concerned with design. ...

Forensic linguistics: Applications of forensic linguistics methods to anonymous letters

OpenAIRE

NOVÁKOVÁ, Veronika

2011-01-01

The title of my bachelor work is ?Forensic linguistics: Applications of forensic linguistics methods to anonymous letters?. Forensic linguistics is young and not very known branch of applied linguistics. This bachelor work wants to introduce forensic linguistics and its method. The bachelor work has two parts ? theory and practice. The theoretical part informs about forensic linguistics in general. Its two basic aspects utilized in forensic science and respective methods. The practical part t...

Applied Linguistics and the "Annual Review of Applied Linguistics."

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Robert B.; Grabe, William

2000-01-01

Examines the complexities and differences involved in granting disciplinary status to the role of applied linguistics, discusses the role of the "Annual Review of Applied Linguistics" as a contributor to the development of applied linguistics, and highlights a set of publications for the future of applied linguistics. (Author/VWL)

Right Lateral Cerebellum Represents Linguistic Predictability.

Science.gov (United States)

Lesage, Elise; Hansen, Peter C; Miall, R Chris

2017-06-28

Mounting evidence indicates that posterolateral portions of the cerebellum (right Crus I/II) contribute to language processing, but the nature of this role remains unclear. Based on a well-supported theory of cerebellar motor function, which ascribes to the cerebellum a role in short-term prediction through internal modeling, we hypothesize that right cerebellar Crus I/II supports prediction of upcoming sentence content. We tested this hypothesis using event-related fMRI in male and female human subjects by manipulating the predictability of written sentences. Our design controlled for motor planning and execution, as well as for linguistic features and working memory load; it also allowed separation of the prediction interval from the presentation of the final sentence item. In addition, three further fMRI tasks captured semantic, phonological, and orthographic processing to shed light on the nature of the information processed. As hypothesized, activity in right posterolateral cerebellum correlated with the predictability of the upcoming target word. This cerebellar region also responded to prediction error during the outcome of the trial. Further, this region was engaged in phonological, but not semantic or orthographic, processing. This is the first imaging study to demonstrate a right cerebellar contribution in language comprehension independently from motor, cognitive, and linguistic confounds. These results complement our work using other methodologies showing cerebellar engagement in linguistic prediction and suggest that internal modeling of phonological representations aids language production and comprehension. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The cerebellum is traditionally seen as a motor structure that allows for smooth movement by predicting upcoming signals. However, the cerebellum is also consistently implicated in nonmotor functions such as language and working memory. Using fMRI, we identify a cerebellar area that is active when words are predicted and

Non-linguistic Conditions for Causativization as a Linguistic Attractor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johanna Nichols

2018-01-01

Full Text Available An attractor, in complex systems theory, is any state that is more easily or more often entered or acquired than departed or lost; attractor states therefore accumulate more members than non-attractors, other things being equal. In the context of language evolution, linguistic attractors include sounds, forms, and grammatical structures that are prone to be selected when sociolinguistics and language contact make it possible for speakers to choose between competing forms. The reasons why an element is an attractor are linguistic (auditory salience, ease of processing, paradigm structure, etc., but the factors that make selection possible and propagate selected items through the speech community are non-linguistic. This paper uses the consonants in personal pronouns to show what makes for an attractor and how selection and diffusion work, then presents a survey of several language families and areas showing that the derivational morphology of pairs of verbs like fear and frighten, or Turkish korkmak ‘fear, be afraid’ and korkutmak ‘frighten, scare’, or Finnish istua ‘sit’ and istutta ‘seat (someone’, or Spanish sentarse ‘sit down’ and sentar ‘seat (someone’ is susceptible to selection. Specifically, the Turkish and Finnish pattern, where ‘seat’ is derived from ‘sit’ by addition of a suffix—is an attractor and a favored target of selection. This selection occurs chiefly in sociolinguistic contexts of what is defined here as linguistic symbiosis, where languages mingle in speech, which in turn is favored by certain demographic, sociocultural, and environmental factors here termed frontier conditions. Evidence is surveyed from northern Eurasia, the Caucasus, North and Central America, and the Pacific and from both modern and ancient languages to raise the hypothesis that frontier conditions and symbiosis favor causativization.

Birth order and mortality in two ethno-linguistic groups: Register-based evidence from Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Saarela, Jan; Cederström, Agneta; Rostila, Mikael

2016-06-01

Previous research has documented an association between birth order and suicide, although no study has examined whether it depends on the cultural context. Our aim was to study the association between birth order and cause-specific mortality in Finland, and whether it varies by ethno-linguistic affiliation. We used data from the Finnish population register, representing a 5% random sample of all Finnish speakers and a 20% random sample of Swedish speakers, who lived in Finland in any year 1987-2011. For each person, there was a link to all children who were alive in 1987. In total, there were 254,059 siblings in 96,387 sibling groups, and 9797 deaths. We used Cox regressions stratified by each siblings group and estimated all-cause and cause-specific mortality risks during the period 1987-2011. In line with previous research from Sweden, deaths from suicide were significantly associated with birth order. As compared to first-born, second-born had a suicide risk of 1.27, third-born of 1.35, and fourth- or higher-born of 1.72, while other causes of death did not display an evident and consistent birth-order pattern. Results for the Finnish-speaking siblings groups were almost identical to those based on both ethno-linguistic groups. In the Swedish-speaking siblings groups, there was no increase in the suicide risk by birth order, but a statistically not significant tendency towards an association with other external causes of death and deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Our findings provided evidence for an association between birth order and suicide among Finnish speakers in Finland, while no such association was found for Swedish speakers, suggesting that the birth order effect might depend on the cultural context. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Linguistics deviation, a tool for teaching English grammar: evidence ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We have always advocated that those teaching the Use of English must seek out novel ways of teaching the grammar of English to take out the drudgery of the present approach. Here, we proposed using Linguistic deviation as a tool for teaching English grammar. This approach will produce students who are both strong in ...

Words Get in the Way: Linguistic Effects on Talker Discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayan, Chandan R; Mak, Lorinda; Bialystok, Ellen

2017-07-01

A speech perception experiment provides evidence that the linguistic relationship between words affects the discrimination of their talkers. Listeners discriminated two talkers' voices with various linguistic relationships between their spoken words. Listeners were asked whether two words were spoken by the same person or not. Word pairs varied with respect to the linguistic relationship between the component words, forming either: phonological rhymes, lexical compounds, reversed compounds, or unrelated pairs. The degree of linguistic relationship between the words affected talker discrimination in a graded fashion, revealing biases listeners have regarding the nature of words and the talkers that speak them. These results indicate that listeners expect a talker's words to be linguistically related, and more generally, indexical processing is affected by linguistic information in a top-down fashion even when listeners are not told to attend to it. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Cognitive Systematicity of Semantic Change: Cross-Linguistic Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baseel A. AlBzour

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Banking on intrinsic generative assumptions of cognitive semantics, this paper is a humble attempt that specifically sheds light on some major aspects of overtly intricate yet covertly systematic interaction that steers our conceptual processing of inherent semantic and pragmatic changes. The basic premises of such cognitive operations stem from yet may exceed the limitations of Elizabeth Traugott’s and Eve Sweetser’s historical pragmatic approach that elaborately envisages such lexical changes as meaning relations with their metaphorically polysemous progress in light of relevant epistemic constraints that can help us decode ambiguous components of some functional and lexical categories. Therefore, this paper examines in principle how schematic lexical meaning can be cross-linguistically and cross-culturally traced, handled and perceived in order to cater for an optimal matrix and some rule-governed clues and rules that may explain the internal universal design and flow of semanticity and pragmaticity in charge of such linguistic behavior. The data this study exploits and explores draw on some English and Arabic representative examples that can satisfactorily exhibit an interesting well-established cognitive mechanism that can reveal the role of Homo sapiens’ encyclopedic and collective faculty vis-à-vis such word processing; the data primarily encompass the English words silly, simple, innocent and naïve as well as their Arabic counterparts.

Crossing the Line in Quebec and Catalonia: The Consequences of the Linguistically "Mixed" Marriage.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Paul E.

2000-01-01

The linguistically mixed marriage stands at he crossroads of important factors in the future of French in North American and Catalan in Europe: reversing language shift. While Quebec and Catalonia appear strikingly similar, strong evidence indicates that demographic, linguistic, socioeconomic, and even lifestyle factors may make linguistic exogamy…

On Linguistic Abilities, Multilingualism, and Linguistic Justice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iannàccaro Gabriele

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The notion of linguistic justice should be related to the concept of linguistic ease, by which we mean the full social and communicative freedom of concern of the speaker in a given social interaction involving the use of language(s present in the society, according to the social norms of use. To acquire an acceptable degree of linguistic ease, the knowledge of at least one L2 is considered important. But the acquisition of a L2 is interfered by the previous linguistic skills of the learner/speaker who, in many cases, does not have a suitable competence even of the languages of the society in which he/she lives.

Linguistic Polyphony

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nølke, Henning

on the Scandinavian variant of polyphony, ScaPoLine. ScaPoLine is a formal linguistic theory whose main purpose is to specify the instructions conveyed through linguistic form for the creation of polyphonic meaning. The theoretical introduction is followed by polyphonic analyses of linguistic phenomena...

A Linguistic Analysis of Suicide-Related Twitter Posts.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Dea, Bridianne; Larsen, Mark E; Batterham, Philip J; Calear, Alison L; Christensen, Helen

2017-09-01

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Identifying those at risk and delivering timely interventions is challenging. Social media site Twitter is used to express suicidality. Automated linguistic analysis of suicide-related posts may help to differentiate those who require support or intervention from those who do not. This study aims to characterize the linguistic profiles of suicide-related Twitter posts. Using a dataset of suicide-related Twitter posts previously coded for suicide risk by experts, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and regression analyses were conducted to determine differences in linguistic profiles. When compared with matched non-suicide-related Twitter posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by a higher word count, increased use of first-person pronouns, and more references to death. When compared with safe-to-ignore suicide-related posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by increased use of first-person pronouns, greater anger, and increased focus on the present. Other differences were found. The predictive validity of the identified features needs further testing before these results can be used for interventional purposes. This study demonstrates that strongly concerning suicide-related Twitter posts have unique linguistic profiles. The examination of Twitter data for the presence of such features may help to validate online risk assessments and determine those in need of further support or intervention.

A kindergarten experiment in linguistic e-learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

2006-01-01

As part of the BlaSq project, we are developing a set of linguistic games to be used in kindergartens. The first of these games is Crazipes, that we are currently testing in a Danish kindergarten, with the support of the local teachers. Here we discuss the architecture of the game, its potentials...... as a linguistic e-learning tool, together with the design and methodology adopted for the study. Some early results are also discussed....

Lexicography and Linguistic Creativity | Moon | Lexikos

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract: Conventionally, dictionaries present information about institutionalized words, phrases, and senses of words; more creative formations and usages are generally ignored. Yet text and corpus data provide ample evidence of creativity in language, showing that it is part of ordinary linguistic behaviour and indeed ...

Earliest Ga-Dangme culture from a linguistic point of view | Dakubu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper explores what linguistic research can tell us about the earliest history of the Ga and the Dangme languages: how they came to develop as separate languages, and where their early speakers may have come from. Hypotheses proposed in earlier writings by this author are refined. In addition, linguistic evidence is ...

A Fuzzy Linguistic Methodology to Deal With Unbalanced Linguistic Term Sets

OpenAIRE

Herrera, F.; Herrera-Viedma, Enrique; Martinez, L.

2008-01-01

Many real problems dealing with qualitative aspects use linguistic approaches to assess such aspects. In most of these problems, a uniform and symmetrical distribution of the linguistic term sets for linguistic modeling is assumed. However, there exist problems whose assessments need to be represented by means of unbalanced linguistic term sets, i.e., using term sets that are not uniformly and symmetrically distributed. The use of linguistic variables implies processes of computing with words...

The evidence-policy divide: a 'critical computational linguistics' approach to the language of 18 health agency CEOs from 9 countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Erica; Seidel, Bastian M

2012-10-30

There is an emerging body of literature suggesting that the evidence-practice divide in health policy is complex and multi-factorial but less is known about the processes by which health policy-makers use evidence and their views about the specific features of useful evidence. This study aimed to contribute to understandings of how the most influential health policy-makers view useful evidence, in ways that help explore and question how the evidence-policy divide is understood and what research might be supported to help overcome this divide. A purposeful sample of 18 national and state health agency CEOs from 9 countries was obtained. Participants were interviewed using open-ended questions that asked them to define specific features of useful evidence. The analysis involved two main approaches 1)quantitative mapping of interview transcripts using Bayesian-based computational linguistics software 2)qualitative critical discourse analysis to explore the nuances of language extracts so identified. The decision-making, conclusions-oriented world of policy-making is constructed separately, but not exclusively, by policy-makers from the world of research. Research is not so much devalued by them as described as too technical- yet at the same time not methodologically complex enough to engage with localised policy-making contexts. It is not that policy-makers are negative about academics or universities, it is that they struggle to find complexity-oriented methodologies for understanding their stakeholder communities and improving systems. They did not describe themselves as having a more positive role in solving this challenge than academics. These interviews do not support simplistic definitions of policy-makers and researchers as coming from two irreconcilable worlds. They suggest that qualitative and quantitative research is valued by policy-makers but that to be policy-relevant health research may need to focus on building complexity-oriented research methods for

Corpus linguistics and statistics with R introduction to quantitative methods in linguistics

CERN Document Server

Desagulier, Guillaume

2017-01-01

This textbook examines empirical linguistics from a theoretical linguist’s perspective. It provides both a theoretical discussion of what quantitative corpus linguistics entails and detailed, hands-on, step-by-step instructions to implement the techniques in the field. The statistical methodology and R-based coding from this book teach readers the basic and then more advanced skills to work with large data sets in their linguistics research and studies. Massive data sets are now more than ever the basis for work that ranges from usage-based linguistics to the far reaches of applied linguistics. This book presents much of the methodology in a corpus-based approach. However, the corpus-based methods in this book are also essential components of recent developments in sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, computational linguistics, and psycholinguistics. Material from the book will also be appealing to researchers in digital humanities and the many non-linguistic fields that use textual data analysis and t...

The Prague Linguistic Circle and Dialectics

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sládek, Ondřej

-, č. 19 (2017), s. 352-357 E-ISSN 2037-2426 Institutional support: RVO:68378068 Keywords : The Prague Linguistic Circle * Jan Mukařovský * Structuralism * Structural Poetics * Dialectics Subject RIV: AJ - Letters, Mass-media, Audiovision OBOR OECD: Specific literatures

Applied Linguistics in the Philippines.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, G. Richard

This paper traces the three major developmental strands that converged to contribute to the definition of the applied linguistics field in the Philippines: the institution and capacity-building work supported by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations; the forging of a vibrant consortium among three Filipino institutions of higher education to offer…

Probabilistic Linguistic Power Aggregation Operators for Multi-Criteria Group Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agbodah Kobina

2017-12-01

Full Text Available As an effective aggregation tool, power average (PA allows the input arguments being aggregated to support and reinforce each other, which provides more versatility in the information aggregation process. Under the probabilistic linguistic term environment, we deeply investigate the new power aggregation (PA operators for fusing the probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs. In this paper, we firstly develop the probabilistic linguistic power average (PLPA, the weighted probabilistic linguistic power average (WPLPA operators, the probabilistic linguistic power geometric (PLPG and the weighted probabilistic linguistic power geometric (WPLPG operators. At the same time, we carefully analyze the properties of these new aggregation operators. With the aid of the WPLPA and WPLPG operators, we further design the approaches for the application of multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM with PLTSs. Finally, we use an illustrated example to expound our proposed methods and verify their performances.

Acquisition of Social Support and Linguistic Characteristics of Social Media Posts About Young Adult Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, Echo L; Ellington, Lee; Kirchhoff, Anne C; Cloyes, Kristin G

2018-04-01

Social media (SM) is a burgeoning source of social support for young adults (YAs). We explored the language used to communicate about YA cancer on Instagram and for indicators of social support (i.e., number of likes and comments). Instagram posts using #youngadultcancer were randomly selected (N = 50). Text and hashtags were collected, and posts were coded for gender (female and male), treatment status (active treatment and survivorship), type of user (individual and organization), and caregiver status (yes and no). Indicators of social support, valence (e.g., positive vs. negative terms), and lexical content (e.g., emotional terms and pronouns) were measured using Yoshikoder and Linguistic Inquiry Word Count and compared by gender, treatment status, type of user, and caregiver status. Survivors' posts had more likes compared to those in active treatment (mean: 54.5 vs. 32.3, p = 0.03). Individuals' posts had more comments than those of organizations (mean: 5.3 vs. 1.2, p = 0.01). More positive (30%) than negative (13%) terms were used by survivors (p Instagram users communicate about YA cancer and whether the language they use garners social support. Studying online language use may help YA patients, caregivers, and organizations use SM to gain social support.

Linguistic Structure Prediction

CERN Document Server

Smith, Noah A

2011-01-01

A major part of natural language processing now depends on the use of text data to build linguistic analyzers. We consider statistical, computational approaches to modeling linguistic structure. We seek to unify across many approaches and many kinds of linguistic structures. Assuming a basic understanding of natural language processing and/or machine learning, we seek to bridge the gap between the two fields. Approaches to decoding (i.e., carrying out linguistic structure prediction) and supervised and unsupervised learning of models that predict discrete structures as outputs are the focus. W

Conceptual and Pragmatic Motivation as an Explanatory Concept in Linguistics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Klaus-Uwe Panther

2008-01-01

The concept of motivation has been rejected by many formalist linguists as irrelevant, or at least, negligible. It isargued in this article that motivation deserves a place of honor in linguistic theorizing. After an introduction to variousperception verbs in English and Spanish are analyzed. These constructions provide evidence for the hypothesis thatlexicogrammatieal form is often motivated conceptually. Consequently, contrary to the dogma of autonomous syntax,semantic and pragmatic information has to be built into the formulation of lexicogrammatical regularities.

SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 3: Setting priorities for supporting evidence-informed policymaking.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavis, John N; Oxman, Andrew D; Lewin, Simon; Fretheim, Atle

2009-12-16

This article is part of a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers. Policymakers have limited resources for developing--or supporting the development of--evidence-informed policies and programmes. These required resources include staff time, staff infrastructural needs (such as access to a librarian or journal article purchasing), and ongoing professional development. They may therefore prefer instead to contract out such work to independent units with more suitably skilled staff and appropriate infrastructure. However, policymakers may only have limited financial resources to do so. Regardless of whether the support for evidence-informed policymaking is provided in-house or contracted out, or whether it is centralised or decentralised, resources always need to be used wisely in order to maximise their impact. Examples of undesirable practices in a priority-setting approach include timelines to support evidence-informed policymaking being negotiated on a case-by-case basis (instead of having clear norms about the level of support that can be provided for each timeline), implicit (rather than explicit) criteria for setting priorities, ad hoc (rather than systematic and explicit) priority-setting process, and the absence of both a communications plan and a monitoring and evaluation plan. In this article, we suggest questions that can guide those setting priorities for finding and using research evidence to support evidence-informed policymaking. These are: 1. Does the approach to prioritisation make clear the timelines that have been set for addressing high-priority issues in different ways? 2. Does the approach incorporate explicit criteria for determining priorities? 3. Does the approach incorporate an explicit process for determining priorities? 4. Does the approach incorporate a communications strategy and a monitoring and evaluation plan?

Flexible and fast: linguistic shortcut affects both shallow and deep conceptual processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Louise; Lynott, Dermot

2013-06-01

Previous research has shown that people use linguistic distributional information during conceptual processing, and that it is especially useful for shallow tasks and rapid responding. Using two conceptual combination tasks, we showed that this linguistic shortcut extends to the processing of novel stimuli, is used in both successful and unsuccessful conceptual processing, and is evident in both shallow and deep conceptual tasks. Specifically, as predicted by the ECCo theory of conceptual combination, people use the linguistic shortcut as a "quick-and-dirty" guide to whether the concepts are likely to combine into a coherent conceptual representation, in both shallow sensibility judgment and deep interpretation generation tasks. Linguistic distributional frequency predicts both the likelihood and the time course of rejecting a novel word compound as nonsensical or uninterpretable. However, it predicts the time course of successful processing only in shallow sensibility judgment, because the deeper conceptual process of interpretation generation does not allow the linguistic shortcut to suffice. Furthermore, the effects of linguistic distributional frequency are independent of any effects of conventional word frequency. We discuss the utility of the linguistic shortcut as a cognitive triage mechanism that can optimize processing in a limited-resource conceptual system.

Online cancer communication: meeting the literacy, cultural and linguistic needs of diverse audiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhauser, Linda; Kreps, Gary L

2008-06-01

This article provides an analysis of issues and empirical evidence related to literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in online health and cancer communication, and recommendations to improve cancer communication for diverse audiences. We examined English-language online literature and selected books and policy documents related to literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in health and cancer communication. Studies about literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in online cancer communication for diverse audiences are limited, but have increased during the past 15 years. Empirical evidence and theoretical guidance describe the critical importance of these factors, significant unmet needs among low-literate, multicultural and non-English-speaking populations, and strategies to improve communication. Overall, online cancer communication has not met the literacy, cultural, and linguistic needs of diverse populations. The literature offers valuable recommendations about enhancing research, practice, and policy for better cancer communication. Practitioners should understand the strengths and weaknesses of online cancer communication for vulnerable groups, guide patients to better Websites, and supplement that information with oral and tailored communication.

Interface of Linguistic and Visual Information During Audience Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumura, Kumiko

2015-08-01

Evidence suggests that speakers can take account of the addressee's needs when referring. However, what representations drive the speaker's audience design has been less clear. This study aims to go beyond previous studies by investigating the interplay between the visual and linguistic context during audience design. Speakers repeated subordinate descriptions (e.g., firefighter) given in the prior linguistic context less and used basic-level descriptions (e.g., man) more when the addressee did not hear the linguistic context than when s/he did. But crucially, this effect happened only when the referent lacked the visual attributes associated with the expressions (e.g., the referent was in plain clothes rather than in a firefighter uniform), so there was no other contextual cue available for the identification of the referent. This suggests that speakers flexibly use different contextual cues to help their addressee map the referring expression onto the intended referent. In addition, speakers used fewer pronouns when the addressee did not hear the linguistic antecedent than when s/he did. This suggests that although speakers may be egocentric during anaphoric reference (Fukumura & Van Gompel, 2012), they can cooperatively avoid pronouns when the linguistic antecedents were not shared with their addressee during initial reference. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Exploratory Factor Analysis as a Construct Validation Tool: (Mis)applications in Applied Linguistics Research

Science.gov (United States)

Karami, Hossein

2015-01-01

Factor analysis has been frequently exploited in applied research to provide evidence about the underlying factors in various measurement instruments. A close inspection of a large number of studies published in leading applied linguistic journals shows that there is a misconception among applied linguists as to the relative merits of exploratory…

Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Sue, Ed.; McCartney, Elspeth, Ed.

2011-01-01

Modern primary teachers must adapt literacy programmes and ensure efficient learning for all. They must also support children with language and literacy difficulties, children learning English as an additional language and possibly teach a modern foreign language. To do this effectively, they need to understand the applied linguistics research…

Neural organization of linguistic short-term memory is sensory modality-dependent: evidence from signed and spoken language.

Science.gov (United States)

Pa, Judy; Wilson, Stephen M; Pickell, Herbert; Bellugi, Ursula; Hickok, Gregory

2008-12-01

Despite decades of research, there is still disagreement regarding the nature of the information that is maintained in linguistic short-term memory (STM). Some authors argue for abstract phonological codes, whereas others argue for more general sensory traces. We assess these possibilities by investigating linguistic STM in two distinct sensory-motor modalities, spoken and signed language. Hearing bilingual participants (native in English and American Sign Language) performed equivalent STM tasks in both languages during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Distinct, sensory-specific activations were seen during the maintenance phase of the task for spoken versus signed language. These regions have been previously shown to respond to nonlinguistic sensory stimulation, suggesting that linguistic STM tasks recruit sensory-specific networks. However, maintenance-phase activations common to the two languages were also observed, implying some form of common process. We conclude that linguistic STM involves sensory-dependent neural networks, but suggest that sensory-independent neural networks may also exist.

Native Speakers in Linguistic Imperialism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phillipson, Robert

2016-01-01

An investigation of Native English Speaking Teachers’ performance in schemes in six Asian contexts, commissioned by the British Council, and undertaken by three British academics, is subjected to critical evaluation. Key issues for exploration are the issue of a monolingual approach to English le...... the economic and geopolitical agenda behind this English teaching business, there is clear evidence of linguistic imperialism in the functions of this global professional service. These activities serve to strengthen Western interests.......An investigation of Native English Speaking Teachers’ performance in schemes in six Asian contexts, commissioned by the British Council, and undertaken by three British academics, is subjected to critical evaluation. Key issues for exploration are the issue of a monolingual approach to English...... learning and teaching, and the inappropriate qualifications of those sent to education systems when they are unfamiliar with the learners’ languages, cultures, and pedagogical traditions. Whether the schemes involved constitute linguistic imperialismis analysed. Whereas the need for multilingual competence...

A New Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic TOPSIS Method for Group Multi-Criteria Linguistic Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fangling Ren

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Hesitant fuzzy linguistic decision making is a focus point in linguistic decision making, in which the main method is based on preference ordering. This paper develops a new hesitant fuzzy linguistic TOPSIS method for group multi-criteria linguistic decision making; the method is inspired by the TOPSIS method and the preference degree between two hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs. To this end, we first use the preference degree to define a pseudo-distance between two HFLTSs and analyze its properties. Then we present the positive (optimistic and negative (pessimistic information of each criterion provided by each decision maker and aggregate these by using weights of decision makers to obtain the hesitant fuzzy linguistic positive and negative ideal solutions. On the basis of the proposed pseudo-distance, we finally obtain the positive (negative ideal separation matrix and a new relative closeness degree to rank alternatives. We also design an algorithm based on the provided method to carry out hesitant fuzzy linguistic decision making. An illustrative example shows the elaboration of the proposed method and comparison with the symbolic aggregation-based method, the hesitant fuzzy linguistic TOPSIS method and the hesitant fuzzy linguistic VIKOR method; it seems that the proposed method is a useful and alternative decision-making method.

BEASTling: A software tool for linguistic phylogenetics using BEAST 2

Science.gov (United States)

Forkel, Robert; Kaiping, Gereon A.; Atkinson, Quentin D.

2017-01-01

We present a new open source software tool called BEASTling, designed to simplify the preparation of Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of linguistic data using the BEAST 2 platform. BEASTling transforms comparatively short and human-readable configuration files into the XML files used by BEAST to specify analyses. By taking advantage of Creative Commons-licensed data from the Glottolog language catalog, BEASTling allows the user to conveniently filter datasets using names for recognised language families, to impose monophyly constraints so that inferred language trees are backward compatible with Glottolog classifications, or to assign geographic location data to languages for phylogeographic analyses. Support for the emerging cross-linguistic linked data format (CLDF) permits easy incorporation of data published in cross-linguistic linked databases into analyses. BEASTling is intended to make the power of Bayesian analysis more accessible to historical linguists without strong programming backgrounds, in the hopes of encouraging communication and collaboration between those developing computational models of language evolution (who are typically not linguists) and relevant domain experts. PMID:28796784

BEASTling: A software tool for linguistic phylogenetics using BEAST 2.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luke Maurits

Full Text Available We present a new open source software tool called BEASTling, designed to simplify the preparation of Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of linguistic data using the BEAST 2 platform. BEASTling transforms comparatively short and human-readable configuration files into the XML files used by BEAST to specify analyses. By taking advantage of Creative Commons-licensed data from the Glottolog language catalog, BEASTling allows the user to conveniently filter datasets using names for recognised language families, to impose monophyly constraints so that inferred language trees are backward compatible with Glottolog classifications, or to assign geographic location data to languages for phylogeographic analyses. Support for the emerging cross-linguistic linked data format (CLDF permits easy incorporation of data published in cross-linguistic linked databases into analyses. BEASTling is intended to make the power of Bayesian analysis more accessible to historical linguists without strong programming backgrounds, in the hopes of encouraging communication and collaboration between those developing computational models of language evolution (who are typically not linguists and relevant domain experts.

Psychometrics in Support of a Valid Assessment of Linguistic Minorities: Implications for the Test and Sampling Designs

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveri, María Elena; von Davier, Alina A.

2016-01-01

In this study, we propose that the unique needs and characteristics of linguistic minorities should be considered throughout the test development process. Unlike most measurement invariance investigations in the assessment of linguistic minorities, which typically are conducted after test administration, we propose strategies that focus on the…

Linguistic Imperialism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phillipson, Robert

2013-01-01

The study of linguistic imperialism focuses on how and why certain languages dominate internationally, and attempts to account for such dominance in a theoretically informed way.......The study of linguistic imperialism focuses on how and why certain languages dominate internationally, and attempts to account for such dominance in a theoretically informed way....

What Is Applied Linguistics?

Science.gov (United States)

James, Carl

1993-01-01

Ostensive and expository definitions of applied linguistics are assessed. It is suggested that the key to a meaningful definition lies in the dual articulation of applied linguistics: it is an interface between linguistics and practicality. Its role as an "expert system" is suggested. (45 references) (Author/LB)

Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse children with speech, language and communication needs: Overarching principles, individual approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Verdon, Sarah; McLeod, Sharynne; Wong, Sandie

2015-01-01

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are working with an increasing number of families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as the world's population continues to become more internationally mobile. The heterogeneity of these diverse populations makes it impossible to identify and document a one size fits all strategy for working with culturally and linguistically diverse families. This paper explores approaches to practice by SLPs identified as specialising in multilingual and multicultural practice in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts from around the world. Data were obtained from ethnographic observation of 14 sites in 5 countries on 4 continents. The sites included hospital settings, university clinics, school-based settings, private practices and Indigenous community-based services. There were 652 individual artefacts collected from the sites which included interview transcripts, photographs, videos, narrative reflections, informal and formal field notes. The data were analysed using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987). From the analysis six overarching Principles of Culturally Competent Practice (PCCP) were identified. These were: (1) identification of culturally appropriate and mutually motivating therapy goals, (2) knowledge of languages and culture, (3) use of culturally appropriate resources, (4) consideration of the cultural, social and political context, (5) consultation with families and communities, and (6) collaboration between professionals. These overarching principles align with the six position statements developed by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech (2012) which aim to enhance the cultural competence of speech pathologists and their practice. The international examples provided in the current study demonstrate the individualised ways that these overarching principles are enacted in a range of different organisational, social, cultural and political contexts

The Study of Critical Eco-Linguistic in Green Discourse: Prospective Eco-Linguistic Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tommi Yuniawan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Eco-linguistic studies are influenced by one of the other interdisciplinary sciences, namely critical discourse analysis. The combination of these two sciences is called critical eco-linguistic studies. Critical eco-linguistic examines the discourse about the environment and various forms of discourse and their ideology which concerns people and the environment. The environmental discourse with all its manifestations (oral text, written text is called green discourse. To that end, critical eco-linguistic dictates the linguistic aspects contained in the green discourse. Utilization of lingual units in green discourse will affect the sense and logic of people involved in the discourse, ie the writers and readers or the speakers and the speakers. What is recorded in their cognition, will affect their attitudes and actions to the environment. If green discourse is constructive, then their attitude and actions to the environment are constructive. Conversely, if green discourse is more destructive and exploitative, then their attitudes and actions towards the environment will also be affected towards destruction and exploitation. For this reason, critical eco-linguistic studies in green discourse deserve to be given space as a form of prospective eco-linguistic analysis.

Color categories are not universal: new evidence from traditional and western cultures

Science.gov (United States)

Roberson, Debi D.; Davidoff, Jules; Davies, Ian R. L.

2002-06-01

Evidence presented supports the linguistic relativity of color categories in three different paradigms. Firstly, a series of cross-cultural investigations, which had set out to replicate the seminal work of Rosch Heider with the Dani of New Guinea, failed to find evidence of a set of universal color categories. Instead, we found evidence of linguistic relativity in both populations tested. Neither participants from a Melanesian hunter-gatherer culture, nor those from an African pastoral tribe, whose languages both contain five color terms, showed a cognitive organization of color resembling that of English speakers. Further, Melanesian participants showed evidence of Categorical Perception, but only at their linguistic category boundaries. Secondly, in native English speakers verbal interference was found to selectively remove the defining features of Categorical Perception. Under verbal interference, the greater accuracy normally observed for cross-category judgements compared to within-category judgements disappeared. While both visual and verbal codes may be employed in the recognition memory of colors, participants only make use of verbal coding when demonstrating Categorical Perception. Thirdly, in a brain- damaged patient suffering from a naming disorder, the loss of labels radically impaired his ability to categorize colors. We conclude that language affects both the perception of and memory for colors.

Changes in the Linguistic Confidence of Primary and Secondary Students in Catalonia: A Longitudinal Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bretxa, Vanessa; Comajoan, Llorenç; Ubalde, Josep; Vila, F. Xavier

2016-01-01

Previous research in first (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition has provided evidence that linguistic confidence is a key construct that can explain linguistic behaviour. In this paper, we apply previous research in the socio-contextual model of L2 learning to data from Catalonia. More specifically, the paper investigates linguistic…

Linguistic and Psycho-Linguistic Principles of Linguadidactics (theoretical interpretation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liudmila Mauzienė

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This article considers linguadidactics being closely related to linguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics and didactics and applies their theoretical statements and regularities in its scientific studies. Methodology refers to linguistics which investigates the language as a teaching subject. Methodology is linked to psychology in two ways. First of all, it is based on psychology as the teaching process is an intellectual psychical act and its regularities are necessary to know. On the other hand, methodology applies rules of pedagogy that predicts ways of learning and development of language skills. The article emphasizes that sustainable work experience and analysis of scientific research show that teaching process is more effective if consistent patterns of linguistics and psychology are appropriately applied.

First Steps into Language? Examining the Specific Longitudinal Relations between Walking, Exploration and Linguistic Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Volman, M Chiel J M; Leseman, Paul P M

2016-01-01

Recent empirical evidence demonstrates relationships between motor and language development that are partially mediated by exploration. This is in line with the embodied cognition approach to development that views language as grounded in real-life sensorimotor interactions with the environment. This view implies that the relations between motor and linguistic skills should be specific. Moreover, as motor development initially changes the possibilities children have to explore the environment, initial relations between motor and linguistic skills should become weaker over time. Empirical evidence pertaining to the duration and specificity of these relations is still lacking. The current study investigated longitudinal relations between attainment of walking and the development of several linguistic skills, and tested whether exploration through self-locomotion mediated these relations. Linguistic skills were measured at age 43 months, which is later than the age used in previous studies. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) the relations between walking and language found at younger ages will decrease over time (2) exploration through self-locomotion will remain an important predictor of spatial language (3) no relation will be found between walking, exploration and the use of grammatical and lexical categories and between exploration and general vocabulary. Thirty-one Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. Parents reported about age of attainment of walking. Exploration through self-locomotion was measured using observations of play with a standard set of toys at age 20 months. Receptive vocabulary, spatial language and use of grammatical and lexical categories were measured at age 43 months using (standard) tests. Results reveal that age of walking does not directly predict spatial language at age 43 months. Exploration through self-locomotion does significantly and completely mediate the indirect effect of age of walking on spatial language. Moreover

First steps into language? Examining the specific longitudinal relations between walking, exploration and linguistic skills

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Recent empirical evidence demonstrates relationships between motor and language development that are partially mediated by exploration. This is in line with the embodied cognition approach to development that views language as grounded in real-life sensorimotor interactions with the environment. This view implies that the relations between motor and linguistic skills should be specific. Moreover, as motor development initially changes the possibilities children have to explore the environment, initial relations between motor and linguistic skills should become weaker over time. Empirical evidence pertaining to the duration and specificity of these relations is still lacking. The current study investigated longitudinal relations between attainment of walking and the development of several linguistic skills, and tested whether exploration through self-locomotion mediated these relations. Linguistic skills were measured at age 43 months, which is later than the age used in previous studies. Three hypotheses were tested: (1 the relations between walking and language found at younger ages will decrease over time (2 exploration through self-locomotion will remain an important predictor of spatial language (3 no relation will be found between walking, exploration and the use of grammatical and lexical categories and between exploration and general vocabulary. Thirty-one Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. Parents reported about age of attainment of walking. Exploration through self-locomotion was measured using observations of play with a standard set of toys at age 20 months. Receptive vocabulary, spatial language and use of grammatical and lexical categories were measured at age 43 months using (standard tests. Results reveal that age of walking does not directly predict spatial language at age 43 months. Exploration through self-locomotion does significantly and completely mediate the indirect effect of age of walking on spatial

Fuzzy-valued linguistic soft set theory and multi-attribute decision-making application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aiwu, Zhao; Hongjun, Guan

2016-01-01

In this work, we propose the theory of fuzzy linguistic soft set (FLSS) to represent the uncertainty and multi-angle of view when decision makers evaluate an object during decision-making. FLSS integrates fuzzy set theory, linguistic variable and soft set theory. It allows decision makers to utilize linguistic variables to evaluate an object and utilize fuzzy values to describe the corresponding grade of their support of their decisions. Meanwhile, because of the flexibility of soft set, decision makers can use more than one pair of fuzzy-linguistic evaluations to express their opinions from multiple perspectives directly, if necessary. Therefore, it is more flexible and practical than traditional fuzzy set or 2-dimension uncertainty linguistic variable. We also develop a generalized weighted aggregation operator for FLSSs to solve corresponding decision-making issues. Finally, we give a numerical example to verify the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Perceptual effects of linguistic category priming: the Stapel and Semin (2007) paradigm revisited in twelve experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

IJzerman, Hans; Regenberg, Nina F E; Saddlemyer, Justin; Koole, Sander L

2015-05-01

Linguistic category priming is a novel paradigm to examine automatic influences of language on cognition (Semin, 2008). An initial article reported that priming abstract linguistic categories (adjectives) led to more global perceptual processing, whereas priming concrete linguistic categories (verbs) led to more local perceptual processing (Stapel & Semin, 2007). However, this report was compromised by data fabrication by the first author, so that it remains unclear whether or not linguistic category priming influences perceptual processing. To fill this gap in the literature, the present article reports 12 studies among Dutch and US samples examining the perceptual effects of linguistic category priming. The results yielded no evidence of linguistic category priming effects. These findings are discussed in relation to other research showing cultural variations in linguistic category priming effects (IJzerman, Saddlemyer, & Koole, 2014). The authors conclude by highlighting the importance of conducting and publishing replication research for achieving scientific progress. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semantics, contrastive linguistics and parallel corpora

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Violetta Koseska

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Semantics, contrastive linguistics and parallel corpora In view of the ambiguity of the term “semantics”, the author shows the differences between the traditional lexical semantics and the contemporary semantics in the light of various semantic schools. She examines semantics differently in connection with contrastive studies where the description must necessary go from the meaning towards the linguistic form, whereas in traditional contrastive studies the description proceeded from the form towards the meaning. This requirement regarding theoretical contrastive studies necessitates construction of a semantic interlanguage, rather than only singling out universal semantic categories expressed with various language means. Such studies can be strongly supported by parallel corpora. However, in order to make them useful for linguists in manual and computer translations, as well as in the development of dictionaries, including online ones, we need not only formal, often automatic, annotation of texts, but also semantic annotation - which is unfortunately manual. In the article we focus on semantic annotation concerning time, aspect and quantification of names and predicates in the whole semantic structure of the sentence on the example of the “Polish-Bulgarian-Russian parallel corpus”.

Evidence and Obesity Prevention: Developing Evidence Summaries to Support Decision Making

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Clark, Rachel; Waters, Elizabeth; Armstrong, Rebecca; Conning, Rebecca; Allender, Steven; Swinburn, Boyd

2013-01-01

Public health practitioners make decisions based on research evidence in combination with a variety of other influences. Evidence summaries are one of a range of knowledge translation options used to support evidence-informed decision making. The literature relevant to obesity prevention requires synthesis for it to be accessible and relevant to…

Evidence from Neurolinguistic Methodologies: Can It Actually Inform Linguistic/Language Acquisition Theories and Translate to Evidence-Based Applications?

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Roberts, Leah; González Alonso, Jorge; Pliatsikas, Christos; Rothman, Jason

2018-01-01

This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language…

Cross-Linguistic Evidence and the Licensing of Implicit Arguments

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Eva Kardos

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the occurrence and the licensing of implicit object arguments, also referred to in the literature as null complements or understood arguments. Functionalist accounts (such as those by Groefsema and Németh T. which are couched in a relevance-theoretic framework have repeatedly claimed that this phenomenon is fundamentally dependent on dis-course-interpretational factors. In particular, it has been stated that implicit arguments can be used in Hungarian in a rather unrestricted way, and their occurrence is only limited by considerations of interpretability. We argue against both of these positions and try to show that cross-linguistic data can assist in revealing the circular nature and ultimate inadequacy of existing functional accounts of implicit argument licensing.

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

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Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L.-S.

2018-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions.

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Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L-S

2017-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leticia Pablos

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005 which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of

Sample Undergraduate Linguistics Courses. Linguistics in the Undergraduate Curriculum, Appendix 5.

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Linguistic Society of America, Washington, DC.

Thirty-six nontraditional undergraduate courses in linguistics are described. Course topics include: animal communication, bilingualism, sociolinguistics, introductory linguistics, language and formal reasoning, language and human conflict, language and power, language and sex, language and the brain, language planning, language typology and…

Non-linguistic learning and aphasia: Evidence from a paired associate and feedback-based task

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Vallila-Rohter, Sofia; Kiran, Swathi

2013-01-01

Though aphasia is primarily characterized by impairments in the comprehension and/or expression of language, research has shown that patients with aphasia also show deficits in cognitive-linguistic domains such as attention, executive function, concept knowledge and memory (Helm-Estabrooks, 2002 for review). Research in aphasia suggests that cognitive impairments can impact the online construction of language, new verbal learning, and transactional success (Freedman & Martin, 2001; Hula & McNeil, 2008; Ramsberger, 2005). In our research, we extend this hypothesis to suggest that general cognitive deficits influence progress with therapy. The aim of our study is to explore learning, a cognitive process that is integral to relearning language, yet underexplored in the field of aphasia rehabilitation. We examine non-linguistic category learning in patients with aphasia (n=19) and in healthy controls (n=12), comparing feedback and non-feedback based instruction. Participants complete two computer-based learning tasks that require them to categorize novel animals based on the percentage of features shared with one of two prototypes. As hypothesized, healthy controls showed successful category learning following both methods of instruction. In contrast, only 60% of our patient population demonstrated successful non-linguistic category learning. Patient performance was not predictable by standardized measures of cognitive ability. Results suggest that general learning is affected in aphasia and is a unique, important factor to consider in the field of aphasia rehabilitation. PMID:23127795

Impact of the linguistic environment on speech perception : comparing bilingual and monolingual populations

OpenAIRE

Roessler, Abeba, 1981-

2012-01-01

The present dissertation set out to investigate how the linguistic environment affects speech perception. Three sets of studies have explored effects of bilingualism on word recognition in adults and infants and the impact of first language linguistic knowledge on rule learning in adults. In the present work, we have found evidence in three auditory priming studies that bilingual adults, in contrast to monolinguals have developed mechanisms to effectively overcome interference from irrelevant...

Linguistics and the digital humanities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kim Ebensgaard

2014-01-01

Corpus linguistics has been closely intertwined with digital technology since the introduction of university computer mainframes in the 1960s. Making use of both digitized data in the form of the language corpus and computational methods of analysis involving concordancers and statistics software......, corpus linguistics arguably has a place in the digital humanities. Still, it remains obscure and figures only sporadically in the literature on the digital humanities. This article provides an overview of the main principles of corpus linguistics and the role of computer technology in relation to data...... and method and also offers a bird's-eye view of the history of corpus linguistics with a focus on its intimate relationship with digital technology and how digital technology has impacted the very core of corpus linguistics and shaped the identity of the corpus linguist. Ultimately, the article is oriented...

A kindergarten experiment in linguistic e-learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

2006-01-01

As part of the BlaSq project, we are developing a set of linguistic games to be used in kindergartens. The first of these games is Crazipes, that we are currently testing in a Danish kindergarten, with the support of the local teachers. Here we discuss the architecture of the game, its potentials...

The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader

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Wei, Li, Ed.

2011-01-01

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…

Measuring Linguistic Empathy: An Experimental Approach to Connecting Linguistic and Social Psychological Notions of Empathy

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Kann, Trevor

2017-01-01

This dissertation investigated the relationship between Linguistic Empathy and Psychological Empathy by implementing a psycholinguistic experiment that measured a person's acceptability ratings of sentences with violations of Linguistic Empathy and correlating them with a measure of the person's Psychological Empathy. Linguistic Empathy…

LANGUE AND PAROLE IN AMERICAN LINGUISTICS.

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LEVIN, SAMUEL R.

THE PROBLEM OF THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE STRUCTURE IS CONSIDERED AND THE FORM WHICH ANY LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION SHOULD TAKE. THE AUTHOR EXAMINES THE INFLUENCE OF THE SWISS LINGUIST, FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS. THE QUESTION OF "MENTALISM" IN LINGUISTICS IS REDUCED TO THE PROBLEM OF WHETHER LINGUISTIC…

Structural similarities between brain and linguistic data provide evidence of semantic relations in the brain.

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Colleen E Crangle

Full Text Available This paper presents a new method of analysis by which structural similarities between brain data and linguistic data can be assessed at the semantic level. It shows how to measure the strength of these structural similarities and so determine the relatively better fit of the brain data with one semantic model over another. The first model is derived from WordNet, a lexical database of English compiled by language experts. The second is given by the corpus-based statistical technique of latent semantic analysis (LSA, which detects relations between words that are latent or hidden in text. The brain data are drawn from experiments in which statements about the geography of Europe were presented auditorily to participants who were asked to determine their truth or falsity while electroencephalographic (EEG recordings were made. The theoretical framework for the analysis of the brain and semantic data derives from axiomatizations of theories such as the theory of differences in utility preference. Using brain-data samples from individual trials time-locked to the presentation of each word, ordinal relations of similarity differences are computed for the brain data and for the linguistic data. In each case those relations that are invariant with respect to the brain and linguistic data, and are correlated with sufficient statistical strength, amount to structural similarities between the brain and linguistic data. Results show that many more statistically significant structural similarities can be found between the brain data and the WordNet-derived data than the LSA-derived data. The work reported here is placed within the context of other recent studies of semantics and the brain. The main contribution of this paper is the new method it presents for the study of semantics and the brain and the focus it permits on networks of relations detected in brain data and represented by a semantic model.

Linguistic Communications 1.

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Monash Univ., Clayton, Victoria (Australia).

The present compilation of papers on linguistics is the result of joint efforts by the Classical Studies, French, Japanese, Linguistics, and Russian Departments of Monash University. Selections in the Pre-Prints and Articles section include: "For/Arabic Bilingualism in the Zalingei Area," by B. Jernudd; "Prosodic Problems in a Generative Phonology…

The Deaf Child as a Linguistic Minority.

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Charrow, Veda R.; Wilbur, Ronnie B.

The author offers support for viewing the deaf child as a member of a linguistic minority and considers how this situation affects education of the deaf. Deaf persons are discussed in terms of their intellectual abilities, educational achievement, English competence, and the sociolinguistic factors which point to the existence of a deaf community.…

LINGUISTICS AND SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING: AN ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The relationship between linguistics and second language teaching has always been a controversial one. Many linguists have argued that linguistics has nothing to say to the teacher. Sampson (1980, p.10), for example, says: ·"1 do not believe that linguistics has any contribution to make to the teaching of English or the.

On the concept of a linguistic variable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kerre, E.

1996-01-01

The concept of a linguistic variable plays a crucial role in the representation of imprecise knowledge in information sciences. A variable is called linguistic as soon as its values are linguistic terms rather than numerical ones. The power of daily communication and common sense reasoning lies in the use of such linguistic values. Even when exact numerical values are available, experts tend to transform these values into linguistic ones. A physician will usually translate a numerical measurement of a blood pressure into linguistic specifications such as normal, very high, too low... Zadeh has argued that the set of values for a linguistic variable assumes a more-or-less fixed structure. Starting from an atomic value and its antonym all remaining values are constructed using logical connectives on the one hand and linguistic hedges on the other hand. In this paper we will describe how to represent the value set of a linguistic variable in general and of linguistic hedges in particular

Clinical Linguistics--Retrospect and Prospect.

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Grunwell, Pamela

In the past 20 years, linguistics has gained a prominent position in speech and language pathology in Britain, evolving into a new field, clinical linguistics. It includes three related areas of activity: training of speech pathologists/therapists; professional practice; and research. Linguistics and speech/language pathology have developed as…

Etymology and Modern Linguistics

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Malkiel, Yakov

1975-01-01

Discusses the estrangement between etymology and modern linguistics, and concludes that a reconciliation between spatio-temporal linguistics and etymology must occur, because without it, both disciplines are doomed to inanition. (Author/AM)

Corpora and historical linguistics Corpora e linguística histórica

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Merja Kytö

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The present article aims to survey and assess the current state of electronic historical corpora and corpus methodology, and attempts to look into possible future developments. It highlights the fact that within the wide spectrum of corpus linguistic methodology, historical corpus linguistics has emerged as a vibrant field that has significantly added to the appeal felt for the study of language history and change. In fact, according to a historical linguist with more than fifty years of experience, "[w]e could even go as far as to say that without the support and new impetus provided by corpora, evidence-based historical linguistics would have been close to the end of its life-span in these days of rapid-changing life and research, increasing competition on the academic career track and the methodological attractions offered to young scholars" (RISSANEN, forthcoming. Historical corpora and other electronic resources have also made the study of language history attractive: working on them engages students in an individual and interactive way that they find appealing (CURZAN 2000, p. 81.Este artigo objetiva fazer um levantamento e avaliar o estado da arte dos corpora históricos eletrônicos e da metodologia de estudos de corpora, assim como sugerir possíveis desenvolvimentos futuros na área. Destaca-se que dentro do espectro metodológico da linguística de corpus, a linguística de corpus histórica emergiu como um campo de investigação vibrante que tem adicionado interesse ao estudo da história e da mudança linguística. De acordo com um pesquisador da área com mais de cinqüenta anos de experiência, "pode-se dizer que sem o apoio e o novo ímpeto trazidos pelos corpora, a linguística histórica baseada em evidências teria estado próxima ao fim de sua vida nesses tempos de rápidas mudanças de vida e de pesquisa, aumentando a competição na carreira acadêmica e nas atrações metodológicas oferecidas aos jovens pesquisadores

Linguistic Corpora and Language Teaching.

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Murison-Bowie, Simon

1996-01-01

Examines issues raised by corpus linguistics concerning the description of language. The article argues that it is necessary to start from correct descriptions of linguistic units and the contexts in which they occur. Corpus linguistics has joined with language teaching by sharing a recognition of the importance of a larger, schematic view of…

A Linguistic Study of Courtship as a Rule-Bound Social Institution in Pride and Prejudice

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Akram Pouralifard

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The focus of this research is in the area of the relationship between linguistics and the Victorian literature. Such a study is important in order to demonstrate how the masterpieces of Victorian literature possess the potential to be studied according to the principles of linguistics and how the motives behind many characters’ activities can be determined by recourse to linguistics. The findings from this research provide evidence that all human activities follow the same rules which all the human languages are based on and according to which they all function due to their common root in the human mind. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that linguistic principles can constitute a great methodology for determining the real motives behind many activities done by the humans. This paper recommends that linguistic principles can be an excellent methodology by means of which the researchers can study the literary works of other eras in the English literature.

Relations Between Self-Reported and Linguistic Monitoring Assessments of Affective Experience in an Extreme Environment.

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Smith, Nathan

2018-03-01

Approaches for monitoring psychosocial health in challenging environments are needed to maintain the performance and safety of personnel. The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationship between 2 candidate methods (self-reported and linguistics) for monitoring affective experience during extreme environment activities. A single-subject repeated-measures design was used in the present work. The participant was a 46-year-old individual scheduled to complete a self-supported ski expedition across Arctic Greenland. The expedition lasted 28 days, and conditions included severe cold, low stimulation, whiteouts, limited habitability, and threats to life and limb. During the expedition, the participant completed a daily self-report log including assessment of psychological health (perceptions of control and affect) and a video diary (emotion). Video diary entries were subjected to linguistic inquiry and word count analyses before the links between self-report and linguistic data across the expedition period were tested. Similarities in the pattern of self-reported and linguistic assessments emerged across the expedition period. A number of predictable correlations were identified between self-reported and linguistic assessments of affective/emotional experience. Overall, there was better agreement between self-reports and linguistic analytics for indicators of negative affect/emotion. Future research should build on this initial study to further test the links between self-reported affect and emotional states monitored via linguistics. This could help develop methods for monitoring psychological health in extreme environments and support organizational decision making. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Speaking under pressure: low linguistic complexity is linked to high physiological and emotional stress reactivity.

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Saslow, Laura R; McCoy, Shannon; van der Löwe, Ilmo; Cosley, Brandon; Vartan, Arbi; Oveis, Christopher; Keltner, Dacher; Moskowitz, Judith T; Epel, Elissa S

2014-03-01

What can a speech reveal about someone's state? We tested the idea that greater stress reactivity would relate to lower linguistic cognitive complexity while speaking. In Study 1, we tested whether heart rate and emotional stress reactivity to a stressful discussion would relate to lower linguistic complexity. In Studies 2 and 3, we tested whether a greater cortisol response to a standardized stressful task including a speech (Trier Social Stress Test) would be linked to speaking with less linguistic complexity during the task. We found evidence that measures of stress responsivity (emotional and physiological) and chronic stress are tied to variability in the cognitive complexity of speech. Taken together, these results provide evidence that our individual experiences of stress or "stress signatures"-how our body and mind react to stress both in the moment and over the longer term-are linked to how complex our speech under stress. Copyright © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Representation in School Psychology Intervention Research

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Villarreal, Victor

2014-01-01

An understanding of the current intervention research is critical to the adoption of evidence-based practices in the delivery of psychological services; however, the generalizability and utility of intervention research for culturally and linguistically diverse youth may be limited by the types of research samples utilized. This study addresses…

The linguistic repudiation of Wundt.

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Nerlich, B; Clarke, D D

1998-08-01

Wilhelm Wundt's influence on the development of linguistics and psychology was pervasive. The foundations for this web of influence on the sciences of mind and language were laid down in Wundt's own research program, which was quite different from other attempts at founding a new psychology, as it was deeply rooted in German philosophy. This resulted in certain gaps in Wundt's conception of mind and language. These gaps provoked a double repudiation of Wundt's theories, by linguists and psychologists. The psychological repudiation has been studied by historians of psychology, and the linguistic repudiation has been studied by historians of linguistics. The intent of this article is to bring the linguistic repudiation to the attention of historians of psychology, especially the one outlined by two important figures in the history of psychology: Karl Buhler and George Mead.

Peace linguistics for language teachers

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Francisco GOMES DE MATOS

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This text aims at presenting the concept of Peace Linguistics - origins and recent developments -- as being implemented in the author's ongoing work in that emerging branch of Applied Linguistics. Examples of applicational possibilities are given, with a focus on language teaching-learning and a Checklist is provided, of topics for suggested linguistic-educational research, centered on communicative peace.

Legal Linguistics as a Mutual Arena for Cooperation: Recent Developments in the Field of Applied Linguistics and Law

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Engberg, Jan

2013-01-01

This article reports on some of the recent projects and individual works in the field of Legal Linguistics as examples of cooperation between Applied Linguistics and law. The article starts by discussing relevant prototypical concepts of Legal Linguistics. Legal Linguistics scrutinizes interactions between human beings in the framework of legal…

Measuring the diffusion of linguistic change.

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Nerbonne, John

2010-12-12

We examine situations in which linguistic changes have probably been propagated via normal contact as opposed to via conquest, recent settlement and large-scale migration. We proceed then from two simplifying assumptions: first, that all linguistic variation is the result of either diffusion or independent innovation, and, second, that we may operationalize social contact as geographical distance. It is clear that both of these assumptions are imperfect, but they allow us to examine diffusion via the distribution of linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. Several studies in quantitative linguistics have examined this relation, starting with Séguy (Séguy 1971 Rev. Linguist. Romane 35, 335-357), and virtually all report a sublinear growth in aggregate linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. The literature from dialectology and historical linguistics has mostly traced the diffusion of individual features, however, so that it is sensible to ask what sort of dynamic in the diffusion of individual features is compatible with Séguy's curve. We examine some simulations of diffusion in an effort to shed light on this question.

Estimating valence from the sound of a word : Computational, experimental, and cross-linguistic evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Louwerse, Max; Qu, Zhan

2017-01-01

It is assumed linguistic symbols must be grounded in perceptual information to attain meaning, because the sound of a word in a language has an arbitrary relation with its referent. This paper demonstrates that a strong arbitrariness claim should be reconsidered. In a computational study, we showed

Organisational support for evidence-based practice: occupational therapists perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Sally; Allen, Shelley; Caldwell, Elizabeth; Whitehead, Mary; Turpin, Merrill; Fleming, Jennifer; Cox, Ruth

2016-02-01

Barriers to the use of evidence-based practice extend beyond the individual clinician and often include organisational barriers. Adoption of systematic organisational support for evidence-based practice in health care is integral to its use. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of occupational therapy staff regarding the influence of organisational initiatives to support evidence-based practice on workplace culture and clinical practice. This study used semi-structured interviews with 30 occupational therapists working in a major metropolitan hospital in Brisbane, Australia regarding their perceptions of organisational initiatives designed to support evidence-based practice. Four themes emerged from the data: (i) firmly embedding a culture valuing research and EBP, (ii) aligning professional identity with the Research and Evidence in Practice model, (iii) experiences of change: pride, confidence and pressure and (iv) making evidence-based changes to clinical practices. Organisational initiatives for evidence-based practice were perceived as influencing the culture of the workplace, therapists' sense of identity as clinicians, and as contributing to changes in clinical practice. It is therefore important to consider organisational factors when attempting to increase the use of evidence in practice. © 2016 Occupational Therapy Australia.

M.Yu. Lermontov’s linguistic/literary personality through perspective of linguistic personality perception by philologist V.V. Vinogrado

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Larisa N. Kuznetsova

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The article considers M.Yu. Lermontov’s linguistic / literary personality through perspective of linguistic personality perception by Great Russian scientist-philologist and linguist, Academician V.V. Vinogradov.

Unravelling the influence of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) on cognitive-linguistic processing: a comparative group analysis.

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Barwood, Caroline H S; Murdoch, Bruce E

2013-06-01

Cognitive-linguistic deficits often accompany traumatic brain injury (TBI) and can negatively impact communicative competency. The linguistic sequelae underpinning mild TBI (MTBI) remain largely unexplored in contemporary literature. The present research methods aim to provide group evidence pertaining to the influence of MTBI on linguistic and higher-level language processing. Extrapolating on the findings of recent case reports, it is hypothesized that performance of the MTBI patients will be significantly reduced compared to normal controls performance on the employed high-level linguistic tasks. Sixteen patients with MTBI and 16 age- and education-matched normal control participants were assessed using a comprehensive battery of cognitive-linguistic assessments. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences between MTBI and normal control group performance across a number of higher-level linguistic, general cognitive and general language tasks. MTBI group performance was significantly lower than the normal control group on tasks requiring complex lexical semantic operations and memory demands, including: Recall, organization, making inferences, naming and perception/discrimination. These outcomes confer that post-MTBI, cognitive, high-level language and isolated general language performance (e.g. naming) is significantly reduced in MTBI patients, compared to normal controls. Furthermore, the detailed cognitive-linguistic profile offered provides a necessary direction for the identification of areas of linguistic decline in MTBI and targets for therapeutic intervention of impaired cognitive-linguistic processes to ultimately improve communicative outcomes in MTBI.

Teaching Hispanic Linguistics: Strategies to Engage Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Knouse, Stephanie M.; Gupton, Timothy; Abreau, Laurel

2015-01-01

Even though many post-secondary institutions offer a variety of Hispanic linguistics classes (Hualde 2006; Lipski 2006), research on the pedagogy of Hispanic linguistics is an underdeveloped or non-existent area of the discipline. Courses in Hispanic linguistics can present not only linguistic challenges for non-native speakers of Spanish, but…

Mathematics and linguistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landauer, C.; Bellman, K.L.

1996-12-31

In this paper, we study foundational issues that we believe will help us develop a theoretically sound approach to constructing complex systems. The two theoretical approaches that have helped us understand and develop computational systems in the past are mathematics and linguistics. We describe some differences and strengths of the approaches, and propose a research program to combine the richness of linguistic reasoning with the precision of mathematics.

OF SOCIAL NETWORKS AND LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE: THE LANGUAGE OF ROBERT LOWTH AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Analysing the unpublished correspondence of Robert Lowth, author of A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762, this article attempts to find evidence of linguistic influence between people belonging to the same social network. Such evidence is used to try and determine where Lowth found the linguistic norm he presented in his grammar. Adding to the data presented by Nevalainen and Raumolin Bmnberg (2003 on the basis of their study of fourteen morphosyntactic items in the Corpus of Early English Correspondence, a detailed analysis is presented of eighteenth-century English. One of the results is an explanation for the presence in Lowth's grammar of the stricture against double negation at a time when double negation was no longer in current use.

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics (SPiL) is an annual/biannual open access, peer-reviewed international journal, published by the Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University. The papers published in SPiL are ... Poetry in South African Sign Language: What is different? EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL ...

"Voices of the people": linguistic research among Germany's prisoners of war during World War I.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Judith

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the history of the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission, a body that collected and archived linguistic, ethnographic, and anthropological data from prisoners-of-war (POWs) in Germany during World War I. Recent literature has analyzed the significance of this research for the rise of conservative physical anthropology. Taking a complementary approach, the essay charts new territory in seeking to understand how the prison-camp studies informed philology and linguistics specifically. I argue that recognizing philological commitments of the Phonographic Commission is essential to comprehending the project contextually. My approach reveals that linguists accommodated material and contemporary evidence to older text-based research models, sustaining dynamic theories of language. Through a case study based on the Iranian philologist F. C. Andreas (1846-1930), the paper ultimately argues that linguistics merits greater recognition in the historiography of the behavioral sciences. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Enhancing international medical graduates' communication: the contribution of applied linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Dahm, Maria R; Yates, Lynda; Ogden, Kathryn; Rooney, Kim; Sheldon, Brooke

2015-08-01

International medical graduates (IMGs) make up one-third of the Australian medical workforce. Those from non-English-language backgrounds can face cultural and communication barriers, yet linguistic support is variable and medical educators are often required to provide feedback on both medical and communication issues. However, some communication difficulties may be very specific to the experiences of IMGs as second language users. This interdisciplinary study combines perspectives from applied linguistics experts and clinical educators to address IMGs' difficulties from multiple dimensions and to enhance feedback quality. Five video-recorded patient encounters with five IMGs were collected at Launceston General Hospital. Three clinical educators gave quantitative and qualitative feedback using the Rating Instrument for Clinical Consulting Skills, and two applied linguistics experts analysed the data for language, pragmatic and communication difficulties. The comparison of the educators' language-related feedback with linguistic analyses of the same interactions facilitated the exploration of differences in the difficulties identified by the two expert groups. Although the clinical educators were able to use their tacit intuitive understanding of communication issues to identify IMG difficulties, they less frequently addressed the underlying issues or suggested specific remedies in their feedback. This pilot study illustrates the effectiveness of interdisciplinary collaboration in highlighting the specific discourse features contributing to IMG communication difficulties and thus assists educators in deconstructing their intuitive knowledge. The authors suggest that linguistic insights can therefore improve communications training by assisting educators to provide more targeted feedback. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Dutch Linguistic Intraoperative Protocol: a valid linguistic approach to awake brain surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

De Witte, E; Satoer, D; Robert, E; Colle, H; Verheyen, S; Visch-Brink, E; Mariën, P

2015-01-01

Intraoperative direct electrical stimulation (DES) is increasingly used in patients operated on for tumours in eloquent areas. Although a positive impact of DES on postoperative linguistic outcome is generally advocated, information about the neurolinguistic methods applied in awake surgery is scarce. We developed for the first time a standardised Dutch linguistic test battery (measuring phonology, semantics, syntax) to reliably identify the critical language zones in detail. A normative study was carried out in a control group of 250 native Dutch-speaking healthy adults. In addition, the clinical application of the Dutch Linguistic Intraoperative Protocol (DuLIP) was demonstrated by means of anatomo-functional models and five case studies. A set of DuLIP tests was selected for each patient depending on the tumour location and degree of linguistic impairment. DuLIP is a valid test battery for pre-, intraoperative and postoperative language testing and facilitates intraoperative mapping of eloquent language regions that are variably located. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Unbalanced Linguistic Aggregation Operator in Group Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Zou

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Many linguistic aggregation methods have been proposed and applied in the linguistic decision-making problems. In practice, experts need to assess a number of values in a side of reference domain higher than in the other one; that is, experts use unbalanced linguistic values to express their evaluation for problems. In this paper, we propose a new linguistic aggregation operator to deal with unbalanced linguistic values in group decision making, we adopt 2-tuple representation model of linguistic values and linguistic hierarchies to express unbalanced linguistic values, and moreover, we present the unbalanced linguistic ordered weighted geometric operator to aggregate unbalanced linguistic evaluation values; a comparison example is given to show the advantage of our method.

Quantitative Research in Systemic Functional Linguistics

Science.gov (United States)

He, Qingshun

2018-01-01

The research of Systemic Functional Linguistics has been quite in-depth in both theory and practice. However, many linguists hold that Systemic Functional Linguistics has no hypothesis testing or experiments and its research is only qualitative. Analyses of the corpus, intelligent computing and language evolution on the ideological background of…

Introduction to Nordlyd 31: The Proceedings of the 19th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics

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Peter Svenonius

2004-01-01

Full Text Available This special five-volume edition is both Nordlyd number 31 and the Proceedings for the Nineteenth Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics. Here I provide a little background for the conference and the Proceedings. SCL 19 was held in Tromsø on January 10–12, 2002, under the auspices of the Nordic Association of Linguists (NAL and with support from the Nordic Academy for Advanced Study (NorFA, the University of Tromsø, the Faculty of Humanities, and the English Department at the University of Tromsø. The Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics (CASTL also contributed to the production of this Proceedings.

Linguistic fuzzy selection of liquid levelmeters in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghyym, S. H.

1999-01-01

In this work, a selection methodology of liquid levelmeters, especially, level sensors in non-nuclear category, to be installed in nuclear facilities is developed using a linguistic fuzzy approach. Depending on defuzzification techniques, the linguistic fuzzy methodology leads to either linguistic (exactly, fully-linguistic) or cardinal (i.e., semi-linguistic) evaluation. In the case of the linguistic method, for each alternative, fuzzy preference index is converted to linguistic utility value by means of a similarity measure determining the degree of similarity between fuzzy index and linguistic ratings. For the cardinal method, the index is translated to cardinal overall utility value. According to these values, alternatives of interest are linguistically or numerically evaluated and a suitable alternative can be selected. Under given selection criteria, the suitable selections out of some liquid levelmeters for nuclear facilities are dealt with using the linguistic fuzzy methodology proposed. Then, linguistic fuzzy evaluation results are compared with numerical results available in the literature. It is found that as to a suitable option the linguistic fuzzy selection is in agreement with the crisp numerical selection. In addition, this comparison shows that the fully-linguistic method facilitates linguistic interpretation regarding evaluation results

Linguistic fuzzy selection of liquid levelmeters in nuclear facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghyym, S. H. [KEPRI, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1999-10-01

In this work, a selection methodology of liquid levelmeters, especially, level sensors in non-nuclear category, to be installed in nuclear facilities is developed using a linguistic fuzzy approach. Depending on defuzzification techniques, the linguistic fuzzy methodology leads to either linguistic (exactly, fully-linguistic) or cardinal (i.e., semi-linguistic) evaluation. In the case of the linguistic method, for each alternative, fuzzy preference index is converted to linguistic utility value by means of a similarity measure determining the degree of similarity between fuzzy index and linguistic ratings. For the cardinal method, the index is translated to cardinal overall utility value. According to these values, alternatives of interest are linguistically or numerically evaluated and a suitable alternative can be selected. Under given selection criteria, the suitable selections out of some liquid levelmeters for nuclear facilities are dealt with using the linguistic fuzzy methodology proposed. Then, linguistic fuzzy evaluation results are compared with numerical results available in the literature. It is found that as to a suitable option the linguistic fuzzy selection is in agreement with the crisp numerical selection. In addition, this comparison shows that the fully-linguistic method facilitates linguistic interpretation regarding evaluation results.

Logic Programming for Linguistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning

2010-01-01

This article gives a short introduction on how to get started with logic pro- gramming in Prolog that does not require any previous programming expe- rience. The presentation is aimed at students of linguistics, but it does not go deeper into linguistics than any student who has some ideas of what...

Functional MR imaging of cerebral auditory cortex with linguistic and non-linguistic stimulation: preliminary study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Su Jin; Kim, Jae Hyoung; Shin, Tae Min

1999-01-01

To obtain preliminary data for understanding the central auditory neural pathway by means of functional MR imaging (fMRI) of the cerebral auditory cortex during linguistic and non-linguistic auditory stimulation. In three right-handed volunteers we conducted fMRI of auditory cortex stimulation at 1.5 T using a conventional gradient-echo technique (TR/TE/flip angle: 80/60/40 deg). Using a pulsed tone of 1000 Hz and speech as non-linguistic and linguistic auditory stimuli, respectively, images-including those of the superior temporal gyrus of both hemispheres-were obtained in sagittal plases. Both stimuli were separately delivered binaurally or monoaurally through a plastic earphone. Images were activated by processing with homemade software. In order to analyze patterns of auditory cortex activation according to type of stimulus and which side of the ear was stimulated, the number and extent of activated pixels were compared between both temporal lobes. Biaural stimulation led to bilateral activation of the superior temporal gyrus, while monoaural stimulation led to more activation in the contralateral temporal lobe than in the ipsilateral. A trend toward slight activation of the left (dominant) temporal lobe in ipsilateral stimulation, particularly with a linguistic stimulus, was observed. During both biaural and monoaural stimulation, a linguistic stimulus produced more widespread activation than did a non-linguistic one. The superior temporal gyri of both temporal lobes are associated with acoustic-phonetic analysis, and the left (dominant) superior temporal gyrus is likely to play a dominant role in this processing. For better understanding of physiological and pathological central auditory pathways, further investigation is needed

The Generic Style Rules for Linguistics

OpenAIRE

Haspelmath, Martin

2014-01-01

The Generic Style Rules for Linguistics provide a style sheet that can be used by any linguistics journal or edited book, or for teaching purposes. They regulate aspects of text-structure style such as typographic highlighting, citation style, use of capitalization, and bibliographic style (based on the LSA's Unified Stylesheet for linguistics).

Play games to grow up bilingual: The BlaSquare linguistic game

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Valente

2008-10-01

Full Text Available A new kind of computer game is proposed, to support the linguistic development of primary school children, growing in multilingual environments: with it players will be able to simultaneously learn multiple languages. The novel idea is to treat words in different languages as physical items, that the player can collect and exchange for other words or for concrete objects. A prototype is currently under development, and it will be tested in cooperation with local schools. By design this linguistic game will also be extensible, so parents and teachers can tailor it with respect to languages and learning contexts.

Having Linguistic Rules and Knowing Linguistic Facts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Ludlow

2010-11-01

Full Text Available

'Knowledge' doesn't correctly describe our relation to linguistic rules. It is too thick a notion (for example, we don't believe linguistic rules. On the other hand, 'cognize', without further elaboration, is too thin a notion, which is to say that it is too thin to play a role in a competence theory. One advantage of the term 'knowledge'-and presumably Chomsky's original motivation for using it-is that knowledge would play the right kind of role in a competence theory: Our competence would consist in a body of knowledge which we have and which we may or may not act upon-our performance need not conform to the linguistic rules that we know.

Is there a way out of the dilemma? I'm going to make the case that the best way to talk about grammatical rules is simply to say that we have them. That doesn't sound very deep, I know, but saying that we have individual rules leaves room for individual norm guidance in a way that 'cognize' does not. Saying we have a rule like subjacency is also thicker than merely saying we cognize it. Saying I have such a rule invites the interpretation that it is a rule for me-that I am normatively guided by it. The competence theory thus becomes a theory of the rules that we have. Whether we follow those rules is another matter entirely.

Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 2001. Linguistics, Language, and the Real World: Discourse and Beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Tannen, Deborah, Ed.; Alatis, James E., Ed.

This book contains papers from the 2001 Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics, "Linguistics, Language, and the Real World: Discourse and Beyond." Papers include: "Introduction" (Deborah Tannen); "A Brief History of the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics" (James E.…

Conversation Analysis and Applied Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Schegloff, Emanuel A.; Koshik, Irene; Jacoby, Sally; Olsher, David

2002-01-01

Offers biographical guidance on several major areas of conversation-analytic work--turn-taking, repair, and word selection--and indicates past or potential points of contact with applied linguistics. Also discusses areas of applied linguistic work. (Author/VWL)

How fifth grade Latino/a bilingual students use their linguistic resources in the classroom and laboratory during science instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Alma R.

2013-12-01

This qualitative, sociolinguistic research study examines how bilingual Latino/a students use their linguistic resources in the classroom and laboratory during science instruction. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States serving an economically depressed, predominantly Latino population. The object of study was a fifth grade science class entirely comprised of language minority students transitioning out of bilingual education. Therefore, English was the means of instruction in science, supported by informal peer-to-peer Spanish-language communication. This study is grounded in a social constructivist paradigm. From this standpoint, learning science is a social process where social, cultural, and linguistic factors are all considered crucial to the process of acquiring scientific knowledge. The study was descriptive in nature, examining specific linguistic behaviors with the purpose of identifying and analyzing the linguistic functions of students' utterances while participating in science learning. The results suggest that students purposefully adapt their use of linguistic resources in order to facilitate their participation in science leaning. What is underscored in this study is the importance of explicitly acknowledging, supporting, and incorporating bilingual students' linguistic resources both in Spanish and English into the science classroom in order to optimize students' participation and facilitate their understanding.

Lancaster Summer School in Corpus Linguistics

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Jaka Čibej

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Med 12. in 15. julijem je na Univerzi v Lancastru potekala poletna šola korpusnega jezikoslovja Lancaster Summer Schools in Corpus Linguistics and Other Digital Methods. Poletno šolo so organizirali UCREL (University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language, ERC (Evropski svet za raziskave – European Research Council, CASS (ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science in ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council, razdeljena pa je bila na šest programov, prilagojenih različnim področjem: Korpusno jezikoslovje za proučevanje jezikov (Corpus Linguistics for Language Studies, Korpusno jezikoslovje za družbene vede (Corpus Linguistics for Social Science, Korpusno jezikoslovje za humanistiko (Corpus Linguistics for Humanities, Statistika za korpusno jezikoslovje (Statistics for Corpus Linguistics, Geografski informacijski sistemi za digitalno humanistiko (Geographical Information Systems for the Digital Humanities in Korpusno podprta obdelava naravnih jezikov (Corpus-based Natural Language Processing.

Predicting panel scores by linguistic analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van den Besselaar, P.; Stout, L.; Gou, X

2016-07-01

In this paper we explore the use of text analysis for deriving quality indicators of project proposals. We do full text analysis of 3030 review reports. After term extraction, we aggregate the term occurrences to linguistic categories. Using thse linguistic categories as independent variables, we study how well these predict the grading by the review panels. Together, the different linguistic categories explain about 50% of the variance in the grading of the applications. The relative importance of the different linguistic categories inform us about the way the panels work. This can be used to develop altmetrics for the quality of the peer and panel review processes. (Author)

Writing, Literacy, and Applied Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Leki, Ilona

2000-01-01

Discusses writing and literacy in the domain of applied linguistics. Focus is on needs analysis for literacy acquisition; second language learner identity; longitudinal studies as extensions of identity work; and applied linguistics contributions to second language literacy research. (Author/VWL)

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics: Contact

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mailing Address. Editors SPiL. Department of General Linguistics University of Stellenbosch Private Bag X1 Matieland, 7602. Stellenbosch South Africa. Principal Contact. Dr Kate Huddlestone Journal Manager Department of General Linguistics. University of Stellenbosch. Private Bag X1. Matieland, 7602. Stellenbosch.

Linguistica matematica, statistica linguistica e linguistica applicata. Una nota storica sui lessici di frequenza e l'educazione linguistica (Mathematical Linguistics, Linguistic Statistics, and Applied Linguistics. An Historical Note on Word Frequencies and Linguistic Education)

Science.gov (United States)

Elia, Annibale

1977-01-01

This article traces the history of several themes in applied linguistics and to show the relationships between linguistic theory and the sciences concerned with the learning and teaching of languages. Interest in word frequency statistics is discussed in particular. (Text is in Italian.) (CFM)

A Bayesian phylogenetic approach to estimating the stability of linguistic features and the genetic biasing of tone.

Science.gov (United States)

Dediu, Dan

2011-02-07

Language is a hallmark of our species and understanding linguistic diversity is an area of major interest. Genetic factors influencing the cultural transmission of language provide a powerful and elegant explanation for aspects of the present day linguistic diversity and a window into the emergence and evolution of language. In particular, it has recently been proposed that linguistic tone-the usage of voice pitch to convey lexical and grammatical meaning-is biased by two genes involved in brain growth and development, ASPM and Microcephalin. This hypothesis predicts that tone is a stable characteristic of language because of its 'genetic anchoring'. The present paper tests this prediction using a Bayesian phylogenetic framework applied to a large set of linguistic features and language families, using multiple software implementations, data codings, stability estimations, linguistic classifications and outgroup choices. The results of these different methods and datasets show a large agreement, suggesting that this approach produces reliable estimates of the stability of linguistic data. Moreover, linguistic tone is found to be stable across methods and datasets, providing suggestive support for the hypothesis of genetic influences on its distribution.

Literacy in Somali: Linguistic Consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Biber, Douglas; Hared, Mohamed

1991-01-01

Linguistic consequences of literacy in Somalia are examined in a review of the literature and through a study of five dimensions of variation among Somali registers and the expansion of linguistic variation in Somali resulting from the introduction of written registers. (36 references) (LB)

Functional categories in comparative linguistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, Jan

, Roger M. 1979. Linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge: some doubts and speculation. American Anthropologist 81-1, 14-36. Levinson, Stephen C. 1997. From outer to inner space: linguistic categories and non-linguistic thinking. In J. Nuyts and E. Pederson (eds.), Language and Conceptualization, 13......). Furthermore certain ‘ontological categories’ are language-specific (Malt 1995). For example, speakers of Kalam (New Guinea) do not classify the cassowary as a bird, because they believe it has a mythical kinship relation with humans (Bulmer 1967).       In this talk I will discuss the role of functional...

"Knowing Your Students" in the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Moloney, Robyn; Saltmarsh, David

2016-01-01

The population movement of globalization brings greater cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD) to communities and education systems. To address the growing diversity in school classrooms, beginning teachers need an expanded set of skills and attitudes to support effective learning. It is an expectation today that teachers know their students and…

On the Diversity of Linguistic Data and the Integration of the Language Sciences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberta D’Alessandro

2017-11-01

Full Text Available An integrated science of language is usually advocated as a step forward for linguistic research. In this paper, we maintain that integration of this sort is premature, and cannot take place before we identify a common object of study. We advocate instead a science of language that is inherently multi-faceted, and takes into account the different viewpoints as well as the different definitions of the object of study. We also advocate the use of different data sources, which, if non-contradictory, can provide more solid evidence for linguistic analysis. Last, we argue that generative grammar is an important tile in the puzzle.

Machine Learning and Applied Linguistics

OpenAIRE

Vajjala, Sowmya

2018-01-01

This entry introduces the topic of machine learning and provides an overview of its relevance for applied linguistics and language learning. The discussion will focus on giving an introduction to the methods and applications of machine learning in applied linguistics, and will provide references for further study.

Ontological problems of contemporary linguistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А В Бондаренко

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The article studies linguistic ontology problems such as evolution of essential-existential views of language, interrelation within Being-Language-Man triad, linguistics gnosiological principles, language essence localization, and «expression» as language metalinguistic unit as well as architectonics of language personality et alia.

Concise Lexicon for Sign Linguistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

dr. Jan Nijen Twilhaar; Dr. Beppie van den Bogaerde

2016-01-01

This extensive, well-researched and clearly formatted lexicon of a wide variety of linguistic terms is a long overdue. It is an extremely welcome addition to the bookshelves of sign language teachers, interpreters, linguists, learners and other sign language users, and of course of the Deaf

Heritage language and linguistic theory

Science.gov (United States)

Scontras, Gregory; Fuchs, Zuzanna; Polinsky, Maria

2015-01-01

This paper discusses a common reality in many cases of multilingualism: heritage speakers, or unbalanced bilinguals, simultaneous or sequential, who shifted early in childhood from one language (their heritage language) to their dominant language (the language of their speech community). To demonstrate the relevance of heritage linguistics to the study of linguistic competence more broadly defined, we present a series of case studies on heritage linguistics, documenting some of the deficits and abilities typical of heritage speakers, together with the broader theoretical questions they inform. We consider the reorganization of morphosyntactic feature systems, the reanalysis of atypical argument structure, the attrition of the syntax of relativization, and the simplification of scope interpretations; these phenomena implicate diverging trajectories and outcomes in the development of heritage speakers. The case studies also have practical and methodological implications for the study of multilingualism. We conclude by discussing more general concepts central to linguistic inquiry, in particular, complexity and native speaker competence. PMID:26500595

The Politics of Language Policies: Hungarian Linguistic Minorities in Central Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marácz, L.

2015-01-01

The paper will adopt the position that language is an intrinsic and largely non‑negotiable part of individual culture and identity. The recognition of one’s own language receives more and more support in international political and institutional frameworks. The promotion of linguistic diversity is

The Extension of Quality Function Deployment Based on 2-Tuple Linguistic Representation Model for Product Design under Multigranularity Linguistic Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Li

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Quality function deployment (QFD is a customer-driven approach for product design and development. A QFD analysis process includes a series of subprocesses, such as determination of the importance of customer requirements (CRs, the correlation among engineering characteristics (ECs, and the relationship between CRs and ECs. Usually more than group of one decision makers are involved in the subprocesses to make the decision. In most decision making problems, they often provide their evaluation information in the linguistic form. Moreover, because of different knowledge, background, and discrimination ability, decision makers may express their linguistic preferences in multigranularity linguistic information. Therefore, an effective approach to deal with the multi-granularity linguistic information in QFD analysis process is highly needed. In this study, the QFD methodology is extended with 2-tuple linguistic representation model under multi-granularity linguistic environment. The extended QFD methodology can cope with multi-granularity linguistic evaluation information and avoid the loss of information. The applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated with a numerical example.

New Conceptualizations of Linguistic Giftedness

Science.gov (United States)

Biedron, Adriana; Pawlak, Miroslaw

2016-01-01

This state-of-the art paper focuses on the issue of linguistic giftedness, somewhat neglected in the second language acquisition (SLA) literature, attempting to reconceptualize, expand and update this concept in response to latest developments in the fields of psychology, linguistics and neurology. It first discusses contemporary perspectives on…

Critical and Alternative Directions in Applied Linguistics

Science.gov (United States)

Pennycook, Alastair

2010-01-01

Critical directions in applied linguistics can be understood in various ways. The term "critical" as it has been used in "critical applied linguistics," "critical discourse analysis," "critical literacy" and so forth, is now embedded as part of applied linguistic work, adding an overt focus on questions of power and inequality to discourse…

On Redundancy in Describing Linguistic Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Borissov Pericliev

2015-12-01

Full Text Available On Redundancy in Describing Linguistic Systems The notion of system of linguistic elements figures prominently in most post-Saussurian linguistics up to the present. A “system” is the network of the contrastive (or, distinctive features each element in the system bears to the remaining elements. The meaning (valeur of each element in the system is the set of features that are necessary and jointly sufficient to distinguish this element from all others. The paper addresses the problems of “redundancy”, i.e. the occurrence of features that are not strictly necessary in describing an element in a system. Redundancy is shown to smuggle into the description of linguistic systems, this infelicitous practice illustrated with some examples from the literature (e.g. the classical phonemic analysis of Russian by Cherry, Halle, and Jakobson, 1953. The logic and psychology of the occurrence of redundancy are briefly sketched and it is shown that, in addition to some other problems, redundancy leads to a huge and unresolvable ambiguity of descriptions of linguistic systems (the Buridan’s ass problem.

Linguistic Theory and Actual Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Segerdahl, Par

1995-01-01

Examines Noam Chomsky's (1957) discussion of "grammaticalness" and the role of linguistics in the "correct" way of speaking and writing. It is argued that the concern of linguistics with the tools of grammar has resulted in confusion, with the tools becoming mixed up with the actual language, thereby becoming the central…

Linguistic embodiment and verbal constraints: human cognition and the scales of time

Science.gov (United States)

Cowley, Stephen J.

2014-01-01

Using radical embodied cognitive science, the paper offers the hypothesis that language is symbiotic: its agent-environment dynamics arise as linguistic embodiment is managed under verbal constraints. As a result, co-action grants human agents the ability to use a unique form of phenomenal experience. In defense of the hypothesis, I stress how linguistic embodiment enacts thinking: accordingly, I present auditory and acoustic evidence from 750 ms of mother-daughter talk, first, in fine detail and, then, in narrative mode. As the parties attune, they use a dynamic field to co-embody speech with experience of wordings. The latter arise in making and tracking phonetic gestures that, crucially, mesh use of artifice, cultural products and impersonal experience. As observers, living human beings gain dispositions to display and use social subjectivity. Far from using brains to “process” verbal content, linguistic symbiosis grants access to diachronic resources. On this distributed-ecological view, language can thus be redefined as: “activity in which wordings play a part.” PMID:25324799

The Perilous Life of a Linguistic Genre Convention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borchmann, Simon

2014-01-01

, the descriptions are more informative than the structures hitherto described by text linguistics. Secondly, as historical norms, they are a testimony to the development and change of language use. Thirdly, the descriptions contribute to language users’ awareness of the origin of standards, their understanding......The primary, theoretical aim of the article is to present a linguistic text analysis that differs from standard text linguistic approaches by being informative with regard to the linguistic choices and textual organisation that characterise a text as a social act. The analysis is exemplified...... by using texts of a relatively new Danish journalistic genre nyhedsanalyse (news analysis). The secondary, empirical aim of the article is to present a corpus-based, linguistic analysis of central elements of the genre nyhedsanalyse within the Danish system of newspaper genres. Text linguistics is based...

The Development of Bimodal Bilingualism: Implications for Linguistic Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lillo-Martin, Diane; de Quadros, Ronice Müller; Pichler, Deborah Chen

2016-01-01

A wide range of linguistic phenomena contribute to our understanding of the architecture of the human linguistic system. In this paper we present a proposal dubbed Language Synthesis to capture bilingual phenomena including code-switching and 'transfer' as automatic consequences of the addition of a second language, using basic concepts of Minimalism and Distributed Morphology. Bimodal bilinguals, who use a sign language and a spoken language, provide a new type of evidence regarding possible bilingual phenomena, namely code-blending, the simultaneous production of (aspects of) a message in both speech and sign. We argue that code-blending also follows naturally once a second articulatory interface is added to the model. Several different types of code-blending are discussed in connection to the predictions of the Synthesis model. Our primary data come from children developing as bimodal bilinguals, but our proposal is intended to capture a wide range of bilingual effects across any language pair.

Keeping Our Cultural and Linguistic Heritage Alive: A Canadian Literary Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Mylopoulos, Chryssafi

1992-01-01

Describes how multicultural library services have contributed to the promotion, support, and preservation of the cultural and linguistic identity of the community being served, using the Public Library of Scarborough in Ontario (Canada) as a case study. Observation reveals the importance of commitment, planning, and methodology. (SLD)

Language Works. Linguistic Journal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartling, Anna Sofie; Nørreby, Thomas Rørbeck; Skovse, Astrid Ravn

2016-01-01

Language works! – and with this initiative and this journal we want to give the opportunity to many more students to present their linguistic research to each other, to the scientific community and to all interested.......Language works! – and with this initiative and this journal we want to give the opportunity to many more students to present their linguistic research to each other, to the scientific community and to all interested....

Collective Variables in Apphed Linguistics Research

OpenAIRE

ヘンスリー, ジョール; HENSLEY, Joel

2011-01-01

This paper focuses on the key dynamic(al)systems theory concept of collective variables as it relates to developmental research in applied linguistics. Dynamic(al) systems theory is becoming prevalent in linguistic research and in the past two decades has jumped to the forefront of cutting edge in the field. One key concept in dynamic(al) systems theory is that of collective variables. In order to help properly orient this concept in the field of applied linguistics, this paper discusses the ...

Civil Support Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-01

marijuana eradication; linguist support; air and ground transportation; intelligence analysis; tunnel detection; engineering support; and...optical, infra-red and synthetic aperture radar imagery, as well as full motion video. Incident awareness and assessment requirements are based on the

Linguistics and the TEFL Teacher.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Bruce

This paper asserts the "unquestionable" relevance of linguistic insights in the training of and subsequent use by teachers of English as a foreign language. Although the author agrees with Chomsky's view that linguistics has nothing to offer the teacher in the form of specific proposals for language teaching methodology, he argues that linguistics…

How Linguistic Metaphor Scaffolds Reasoning.

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Thibodeau, Paul H; Hendricks, Rose K; Boroditsky, Lera

2017-11-01

Language helps people communicate and think. Precise and accurate language would seem best suited to achieve these goals. But a close look at the way people actually talk reveals an abundance of apparent imprecision in the form of metaphor: ideas are 'light bulbs', crime is a 'virus', and cancer is an 'enemy' in a 'war'. In this article, we review recent evidence that metaphoric language can facilitate communication and shape thinking even though it is literally false. We first discuss recent experiments showing that linguistic metaphor can guide thought and behavior. Then we explore the conditions under which metaphors are most influential. Throughout, we highlight theoretical and practical implications, as well as key challenges and opportunities for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Linguistics and the Literary Text.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrar, Madeleine

1984-01-01

Discusses the opposing viewpoints of the two most influential linguists of this century--Saussure and Chomsky--suggesting that while both are interested in form as opposed to substance, Saussure sees linguistics as a branch of semiotics and Chomsky sees it as part of cognitive psychology. Evaluates the relevance of these two viewpoints to the…

Mentors' competence in mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students during clinical placement.

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Oikarainen, Ashlee; Mikkonen, Kristina; Tuomikoski, Anna-Maria; Elo, Satu; Pitkänen, Salla; Ruotsalainen, Heidi; Kääriäinen, Maria

2018-01-01

To describe mentors' competence in mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students during clinical placement and identify the factors that affect mentoring. Healthcare education is confronted by several challenges in a time characterized by globalization and increasing international migration. Nursing students from diverse backgrounds continue to experience difficulties during clinical placement. Students can overcome these difficulties and assume responsibility for their learning when mentored by supportive and competent mentors. A cross-sectional, descriptive explorative study design was used. Data were collected during spring 2016 through a survey sent to mentors (n = 3,355) employed at five university hospitals in Finland. Mentors' competence in mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students was measured with the self-assessment Mentors' Competence Instrument and the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Mentoring scale. The analysis included descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests and binary logistic regression analysis. Mentors with experience mentoring nursing students from diverse backgrounds rated their overall competence in mentoring as good. However, the results show continued challenges related to competence in linguistic diversity in mentoring. Seven factors that affect mentors' competence in linguistic diversity were identified. Despite high evaluations by mentors of competence related to cultural diversity in mentoring, there are still opportunities for improvement in this area. Innovative and effective strategies are needed to develop mentors' competence in mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students. Educational and healthcare organizations should strive to enhance collaboration and increase the competence of both mentors and nursing students to work in increasingly diverse healthcare environments. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Clinical linguistics: its past, present and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, Michael R

2011-11-01

Historiography is a growing area of research within the discipline of linguistics, but so far the subfield of clinical linguistics has received virtually no systematic attention. This article attempts to rectify this by tracing the development of the discipline from its pre-scientific days up to the present time. As part of this, I include the results of a survey of articles published in Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics between 1987 and 2008 which shows, for example, a consistent primary focus on phonetics and phonology at the expense of grammar, semantics and pragmatics. I also trace the gradual broadening of the discipline from its roots in structural linguistics to its current reciprocal relationship with speech and language pathology and a range of other academic disciplines. Finally, I consider the scope of clinical linguistic research in 2011 and assess how the discipline seems likely develop in the future.

Applied linguistics - a science of culture?

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Benke, Gertraud

2003-01-01

Full Text Available In this article, the status of applied linguistics as discipline is questioned and problems of establishing it - and other newly formed scientific enterprises like cultural science - as disciplines are discussed. This discussion is contextualized using the author's own experience as applied linguist working in (the institutional structure of Austria. Secondly, applied linguistics is presented as complementing cultural science, with both exploring at times the same phenomena albeit under different perspectives and focussing on different levels of experience. Two examples of research involving such a joint interest with different foci are discussed.

Linguistic fire and human cognitive powers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cowley, Stephen

2012-01-01

To view language as a cultural tool challenges much of what claims to be linguistic science while opening up a new people-centred linguistics. On this view, how we speak, think and act depends on, not just brains (or minds), but also cultural traditions. Yet, Everett is conservative: like others...... theory, bodily dynamics themselves act as cues to meaning. Linguistic exostructures resemble tools that constrain how people concert acting-perceiving bodies. The result is unending renewal of verbal structures: like artefacts and institutions, they function to sustain a species-specific cultural ecology...

Precedent Phenomena in Quebecois Linguistic World View

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Ксения Эдуардовна Болотина

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to the linguocultural analysis of precedent phenomena as parts of Quebecois’ cognitive base. Precedent phenomena being cultural facts are one of the key issues in modern linguistic and cognitive studies. By precedent phenomena we mean, according to Y.E. Prohorov, such entities when verbalized in discourse that refer to a certain cultural fact behind them. In the article the precedent phenomena such as precedent text, precedent situation, precedent utterance, and precedent name are analyzed. The main theses of the precedence theory given in the article (Y.N. Karaulov, Y.E. Prohorov, V.V. Krasnyh, D.B. Gudkov are at the heart of precedence studies on the basis of different languages. However, a complex analysis of precedent phenomena in the Quebec national variant of French is new to Russian linguistics. The study of precedent phenomena enables us to elicit features of their functioning in ethnospecific discourse and determine cultural dominants existing in Quebecois’ linguistic world view. Given the fact that the size of the article is limited, we undertooke the analysis of eight phenomena precedent of the bearers of Quebec linguoculture. The choice of phenomena is determined by the frequency of their use in discourse. The facts analyzed are of national character, i.e. known to all members of the linguocultural community. A certain cultural fact is at the very core of each precedent phenomenon given in the article. To get the whole picture we analysed historic, political, and cultural context connected to the precedent phenomena in question. The study enables us to elicit distinctive features that are at the core of each phenomenon. The results are backed with the supportive material drawn from analysis of different types of discourse. The analysis of precedent phenomena undertaken in this article allows us to reconstruct, to a certain extent, Quebec cultural space and is a stepping stone to the reconstruction of the

Cloud decision model for selecting sustainable energy crop based on linguistic intuitionistic information

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Peng, Hong-Gang; Wang, Jian-Qiang

2017-11-01

In recent years, sustainable energy crop has become an important energy development strategy topic in many countries. Selecting the most sustainable energy crop is a significant problem that must be addressed during any biofuel production process. The focus of this study is the development of an innovative multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method to handle sustainable energy crop selection problems. Given that various uncertain data are encountered in the evaluation of sustainable energy crops, linguistic intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (LIFNs) are introduced to present the information necessary to the evaluation process. Processing qualitative concepts requires the effective support of reliable tools; then, a cloud model can be used to deal with linguistic intuitionistic information. First, LIFNs are converted and a novel concept of linguistic intuitionistic cloud (LIC) is proposed. The operations, score function and similarity measurement of the LICs are defined. Subsequently, the linguistic intuitionistic cloud density-prioritised weighted Heronian mean operator is developed, which served as the basis for the construction of an applicable MCDM model for sustainable energy crop selection. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the proposed method, and its feasibility and validity are further verified by comparing it with other existing methods.

Relations between Formal Linguistic Insecurity and the Perception of Linguistic Insecurity: A Quantitative Study in an Educational Environment at the Valencian Community (Spain)

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Baldaqui Escandell, Josep M.

2011-01-01

What is the relationship between the awareness of linguistic prestige and the security or insecurity in the use of minoritised languages? Is formal linguistic insecurity (as initially described by Labov) the same as the speakers' perception of linguistic insecurity? Which are the variables related to the various types of linguistic insecurity in…

Supporting decision-making processes for evidence-based mental health promotion.

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Jané-Llopis, Eva; Katschnig, Heinz; McDaid, David; Wahlbeck, Kristian

2011-12-01

The use of evidence is critical in guiding decision-making, but evidence from effect studies will be only one of a number of factors that will need to be taken into account in the decision-making processes. Equally important for policymakers will be the use of different types of evidence including implementation essentials and other decision-making principles such as social justice, political, ethical, equity issues, reflecting public attitudes and the level of resources available, rather than be based on health outcomes alone. This paper, aimed to support decision-makers, highlights the importance of commissioning high-quality evaluations, the key aspects to assess levels of evidence, the importance of supporting evidence-based implementation and what to look out for before, during and after implementation of mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention programmes.

Psychological and Linguistic Portrait of Criminals. Introduction to Discussion

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Jadwiga Stawnicka

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article concerns one aspect of forensic linguistics, which concerns determination by the challenged statements. This is done in collaboration with linguist – creating a profile linguistic songwriter – and a psychologist – that creates a psychological profile. The cooperation of specialists can be used at the level of assessment, which is used for the purposes of investigation and legal proceedings. Expertise in the field of forensic linguistics (forensic linguistics, German. Forensische Linguistik include setting by/performance of speech based on the content of spoken or written (eg. The farewell letters, threatening letters, ransom demands; the possibility of setting texts by anonymous on the Internet, to determine the characteristics of linguistic stalkers and cyberstalkerów that can identify the sender of the message sender identification of the origin country, constructing linguistic profile anonymous author, the linguistic profile of the author of the well-known text. It should be added that the analysis of the content in content-language document contains emotional component, which is related to our knowledge about the determinants of language to express emotions, both negative and positive. An important element of the text is a matter of psychological portrait of the sender (author and / or performer of the text based on the identified linguistic features.

What can literature do for linguistics?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard, Nina

2007-01-01

  Through analyses of selected passages from James Joyce's Ulysses, this article demonstrates how the challenging of the boundaries between linguistics and literary studies can be more than a one-way process aimed at uncovering linguistic patterns of literary texts. The theoretical basis...

Towards a theoretical framework for analyzing complex linguistic networks

CERN Document Server

Lücking, Andy; Banisch, Sven; Blanchard, Philippe; Job, Barbara

2016-01-01

The aim of this book is to advocate and promote network models of linguistic systems that are both based on thorough mathematical models and substantiated in terms of linguistics. In this way, the book contributes first steps towards establishing a statistical network theory as a theoretical basis of linguistic network analysis the boarder of the natural sciences and the humanities.This book addresses researchers who want to get familiar with theoretical developments, computational models and their empirical evaluation in the field of complex linguistic networks. It is intended to all those who are interested in statisticalmodels of linguistic systems from the point of view of network research. This includes all relevant areas of linguistics ranging from phonological, morphological and lexical networks on the one hand and syntactic, semantic and pragmatic networks on the other. In this sense, the volume concerns readers from many disciplines such as physics, linguistics, computer science and information scien...

LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AT PORTUGUESE TEXTBOOK: SOME CONSIDERATIONS

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Paula Gaida Winch

2013-12-01

Full Text Available It is analyzed how linguistic diversity is dealt with in a Portuguese textbook, where two chapters are designated to it. In these, it is pointed out that speaker ethnic origin can be manifested differently by: morphological changes; use of foreign expressions; accent in oral language. In synthesis, the linguistic diversity is dealt with through activities of identification and reproduction of linguistic varieties to be carried out by the students.

Cognitive linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Vyvyan

2012-03-01

Cognitive linguistics is one of the fastest growing and influential perspectives on the nature of language, the mind, and their relationship with sociophysical (embodied) experience. It is a broad theoretical and methodological enterprise, rather than a single, closely articulated theory. Its primary commitments are outlined. These are the Cognitive Commitment-a commitment to providing a characterization of language that accords with what is known about the mind and brain from other disciplines-and the Generalization Commitment-which represents a dedication to characterizing general principles that apply to all aspects of human language. The article also outlines the assumptions and worldview which arises from these commitments, as represented in the work of leading cognitive linguists. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012, 3:129-141. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1163 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Linguistic Characteristics of Advertising English

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

易高燕

2010-01-01

Advertising language takes form under the influence of linguistics,psychology and sociology,etc,and its way of choosing words and building sentences are quite different from normal English.And as a practical language,advertising English has its specific functions,and it has been distinguished from normal English as an independent language,and it has plentiful values.This paper aims to discuss some linguistic characteristics of advertising English.

Are Prospective English Teachers Linguistically Intelligent?

Science.gov (United States)

Tezel, Kadir Vefa

2017-01-01

Language is normally associated with linguistic capabilities of individuals. In the theory of multiple intelligences, language is considered to be related primarily to linguistic intelligence. Using the theory of Multiple Intelligences as its starting point, this descriptive survey study investigated to what extent prospective English teachers'…

Linguistic Recycling and the Open Community.

Science.gov (United States)

Dasgupta, Probal

2001-01-01

Examines linguistic recycling in the context of domestic Esperanto use. Argues that word-meaning recycling reflects the same fundamental principles as sentential recursion, and that a linguistics theoretically sensitive to these principles strengthens practical efforts towards the social goal of an open speech community. (Author/VWL)

Formal linguistics as a cue to demographic history.

Science.gov (United States)

Longobardi, Giuseppe; Ceolin, Andrea; Ecay, Aaron; Ghirotto, Silvia; Guardiano, Cristina; Irimia, Monica-Alexandrina; Michelioudakis, Dimitris; Radkevich, Nina; Pettener, Davide; Luiselli, Donata; Barbujani, Guido

2016-06-20

Beyond its theoretical success, the development of molecular genetics has brought about the possibility of extraordinary progress in the study of classification and in the inference of the evolutionary history of many species and populations. A major step forward was represented by the availability of extremely large sets of molecular data suited to quantitative and computational treatments. In this paper, we argue that even in cognitive sciences, purely theoretical progress in a discipline such as linguistics may have analogous impact. Thus, exactly on the model of molecular biology, we propose to unify two traditionally unrelated lines of linguistic investigation: 1) the formal study of syntactic variation (parameter theory) in the biolinguistic program; 2) the reconstruction of relatedness among languages (phylogenetic taxonomy). The results of our linguistic analysis have thus been plotted against data from population genetics and the correlations have turned out to be largely significant: given a non-trivial set of languages/populations, the description of their variation provided by the comparison of systematic parametric analysis and molecular anthropology informatively recapitulates their history and relationships. As a result, we can claim that the reality of some parametric model of the language faculty and language acquisition/transmission (more broadly of generative grammar) receives strong and original support from its historical heuristic power. Then, on these grounds, we can begin testing Darwin's prediction that, when properly generated, the trees of human populations and of their languages should eventually turn out to be significantly parallel.

Data Acquisition and Linguistic Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Strassel, Stephanie; Christianson, Caitlin; McCary, John; Staderman, William; Olive, Joseph

All human language technology demands substantial quantities of data for system training and development, plus stable benchmark data to measure ongoing progress. While creation of high quality linguistic resources is both costly and time consuming, such data has the potential to profoundly impact not just a single evaluation program but language technology research in general. GALE's challenging performance targets demand linguistic data on a scale and complexity never before encountered. Resources cover multiple languages (Arabic, Chinese, and English) and multiple genres -- both structured (newswire and broadcast news) and unstructured (web text, including blogs and newsgroups, and broadcast conversation). These resources include significant volumes of monolingual text and speech, parallel text, and transcribed audio combined with multiple layers of linguistic annotation, ranging from word aligned parallel text and Treebanks to rich semantic annotation.

Verbal Working Memory Is Related to the Acquisition of Cross-Linguistic Phonological Regularities.

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Bosma, Evelyn; Heeringa, Wilbert; Hoekstra, Eric; Versloot, Arjen; Blom, Elma

2017-01-01

Closely related languages share cross-linguistic phonological regularities, such as Frisian -âld [ͻ:t] and Dutch -oud [ʱut], as in the cognate pairs kâld [kͻ:t] - koud [kʱut] 'cold' and wâld [wͻ:t] - woud [wʱut] 'forest'. Within Bybee's (1995, 2001, 2008, 2010) network model, these regularities are, just like grammatical rules within a language, generalizations that emerge from schemas of phonologically and semantically related words. Previous research has shown that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of grammar, but not vocabulary. This suggests that verbal working memory supports the acquisition of linguistic regularities. In order to test this hypothesis we investigated whether verbal working memory is also related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. For three consecutive years, 5- to 8-year-old Frisian-Dutch bilingual children ( n = 120) were tested annually on verbal working memory and a Frisian receptive vocabulary task that comprised four cognate categories: (1) identical cognates, (2) non-identical cognates that either do or (3) do not exhibit a phonological regularity between Frisian and Dutch, and (4) non-cognates. The results showed that verbal working memory had a significantly stronger effect on cognate category (2) than on the other three cognate categories. This suggests that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. More generally, it confirms the hypothesis that verbal working memory plays a role in the acquisition of linguistic regularities.

Protein linguistics - a grammar for modular protein assembly?

Science.gov (United States)

Gimona, Mario

2006-01-01

The correspondence between biology and linguistics at the level of sequence and lexical inventories, and of structure and syntax, has fuelled attempts to describe genome structure by the rules of formal linguistics. But how can we define protein linguistic rules? And how could compositional semantics improve our understanding of protein organization and functional plasticity?

On Norms and Linguistic Categories in Linguistic Diversity Management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marácz, L.

2014-01-01

Due to globalization there is an increase in the appearances of languages in the multilingual linguistic landscape in urban spaces. Commentators have described this state of affairs as super-, mega- or complex diversity. Mainstream sociolinguists have argued that languages have no fixed boundaries

Publication Voting Power (PVP): method of finding Evidence-Support

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Extracting the best evidence that support a procedure is a difficult, time consuming task that needs expert statistical knowledge. A way to make weighting evidence more simple and straight for busy clinicians is needed. Methods: The publications about the procedure under question are lined in an ascending ...

Constructing and validating readability models: the method of integrating multilevel linguistic features with machine learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Yao-Ting; Chen, Ju-Ling; Cha, Ji-Her; Tseng, Hou-Chiang; Chang, Tao-Hsing; Chang, Kuo-En

2015-06-01

Multilevel linguistic features have been proposed for discourse analysis, but there have been few applications of multilevel linguistic features to readability models and also few validations of such models. Most traditional readability formulae are based on generalized linear models (GLMs; e.g., discriminant analysis and multiple regression), but these models have to comply with certain statistical assumptions about data properties and include all of the data in formulae construction without pruning the outliers in advance. The use of such readability formulae tends to produce a low text classification accuracy, while using a support vector machine (SVM) in machine learning can enhance the classification outcome. The present study constructed readability models by integrating multilevel linguistic features with SVM, which is more appropriate for text classification. Taking the Chinese language as an example, this study developed 31 linguistic features as the predicting variables at the word, semantic, syntax, and cohesion levels, with grade levels of texts as the criterion variable. The study compared four types of readability models by integrating unilevel and multilevel linguistic features with GLMs and an SVM. The results indicate that adopting a multilevel approach in readability analysis provides a better representation of the complexities of both texts and the reading comprehension process.

Are computers effective lie detectors? A meta-analysis of linguistic cues to deception.

Science.gov (United States)

Hauch, Valerie; Blandón-Gitlin, Iris; Masip, Jaume; Sporer, Siegfried L

2015-11-01

This meta-analysis investigates linguistic cues to deception and whether these cues can be detected with computer programs. We integrated operational definitions for 79 cues from 44 studies where software had been used to identify linguistic deception cues. These cues were allocated to six research questions. As expected, the meta-analyses demonstrated that, relative to truth-tellers, liars experienced greater cognitive load, expressed more negative emotions, distanced themselves more from events, expressed fewer sensory-perceptual words, and referred less often to cognitive processes. However, liars were not more uncertain than truth-tellers. These effects were moderated by event type, involvement, emotional valence, intensity of interaction, motivation, and other moderators. Although the overall effect size was small, theory-driven predictions for certain cues received support. These findings not only further our knowledge about the usefulness of linguistic cues to detect deception with computers in applied settings but also elucidate the relationship between language and deception. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics: Journal Sponsorship

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Publisher. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics (SPiL) is published by the Department of General Linguistics of Stellenbosch University. Publisher contact person: Mrs Christine Smit. Email: linguis@sun.ac.za. Phone: 021 808 2052. Fax: 021 808 2009. Mailing address: Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602. Department of General ...

Applied Linguistics in Its Disciplinary Context

Science.gov (United States)

Liddicoat, Anthony J.

2010-01-01

Australia's current attempt to develop a process to evaluate the quality of research (Excellence in Research for Australia--ERA) places a central emphasis on the disciplinary organisation of academic work. This disciplinary focus poses particular problems for Applied Linguistics in Australia. This paper will examine Applied Linguistics in relation…

Questions of Logic, Philosophy, and Linguistics

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Marcio Chaves-Tannús

2011-04-01

Full Text Available There were in the past, just as there are in the present, several diverse attempts to establish a unique theory capable of identifying in all natural languages a similar, invariable basic structure of a logical nature. If such a theory exists, then there must be principles that rule the functioning of these languages and they must have a logical origin. Based on a work by the French linguist, Oswald Ducrot, entitled D’un mauvais usage de la logique, this paper aims to present in a concise manner two of the above mentioned attempts. They were elaborated in diverse epochs and different arguments were put forward to support them. The first attempt was in XVII century France and its theoretic basis was the renowned ‘Port-Royal Logic’. The second attempt is recent and its theoretic support comes from Contemporary Logic.

Ninth international conference on computational linguistics Coling 82

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1983-01-01

This paper presents the summary reports presented at the concluding session and evaluating the state of the art, trends and perspectives as reflected in the papers presented at Coling 82 in six domains: machine translation, grammatico-semantic analysis, linguistics in its relations to computational linguistics, question answering, artificial intelligence and knowledge representation, and information retrieval and linguistic data bases.

A phylogenetic and cognitive perspective on linguistic complexity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In recent years a growing interest in the nature of linguistic complexity has emerged in linguistic circles. A striking feature of this interest is that linguistic complexity is taken to be a phenomenon in its own right. In fact, an extreme construal of the inherent complexity of language is represented in the notion of universal ...

Ideologeme "Order" in Modern American Linguistic World Image

Science.gov (United States)

Ibatova, Aygul Z.; Vdovichenko, Larisa V.; Ilyashenko, Lubov K.

2016-01-01

The paper studies the topic of modern American linguistic world image. It is known that any language is the most important instrument of cognition of the world by a person but there is also no doubt that any language is the way of perception and conceptualization of this knowledge about the world. In modern linguistics linguistic world image is…

Staff views on supporting evidence based practice for children with ASD.

Science.gov (United States)

Trembath, David; Sulek, Rhylee; Paynter, Jessica; Simpson, Kate; Keen, Deb

2017-11-22

A variety of empirically supported interventions are available for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but previous research suggests that their selection and use within an evidence-based practice (EBP) framework in clinical settings is challenging. To date, research has primarily focused on identifying individual, organisational, and contextual barriers to EBP rather than identifying collaborative solutions to these barriers through consultation with staff. The aim of our study was to explore staff views on supporting EBP in their work with children with ASD. We conducted five focus groups involving 29 professional (e.g., speech pathologists, teachers), paraprofessional (e.g., childcare workers), and managerial staff to explore their views. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Two central themes, comprising six categories, emerged to account for the participants' views. Initiative and Effort accounted for the range of creative strategies staff had developed to support their engagement in EBP. They also expressed the need for A Better Way involving organisational-wide support such as this engagement, including peer-to-peer mentoring. The findings suggest that an organisational-wide model to support engagement in EBP, with peer-to-peer mentoring at its foundation, may provide a desirable, ecologically valid, and acceptable model. Implications for Rehabilitation Clinicians and educators recognise the importance of evidence-based practice. Efforts to support evidence-based practice have focused mostly on access to research evidence. Clinicians and educators in this study were developing their own strategies based on intuition. They identified a need for organisation-wide approaches to supporting evidence-based practice. Peer-to-peer mentoring appears to be an acceptable and viable strategy.

A Survey on the Exchange of Linguistic Resources: Publishing Linguistic Linked Open Data on the Web

Science.gov (United States)

Lezcano, Leonardo; Sanchez-Alonso, Salvador; Roa-Valverde, Antonio J.

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of the principal formats and frameworks that have been used in the last 20 years to exchange linguistic resources. It aims to give special attention to the most recent approaches to publishing linguistic linked open data on the Web. Design/methodology/approach: Research papers…

Twelve evidence-based principles for implementing self-management support in primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Battersby, Malcolm; Von Korff, Michael; Schaefer, Judith; Davis, Connie; Ludman, Evette; Greene, Sarah M; Parkerton, Melissa; Wagner, Edward H

2010-12-01

Recommendations to improve self-management support and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions in primary care settings are provided on the basis of expert opinion supported by evidence for practices and processes. Practices and processes that could improve self-management support in primary care were identified through a nominal group process. In a targeted search strategy, reviews and meta-analyses were then identifed using terms from a wide range of chronic conditions and behavioral risk factors in combination with Self-Care, Self-Management, and Primary Care. On the basis of these reviews, evidence-based principles for self-management support were developed. The evidence is organized within the framework of the Chronic Care Model. Evidence-based principles in 12 areas were associated with improved patient self-management and/or health outcomes: (1) brief targeted assessment, (2) evidence-based information to guide shared decision-making, (3) use of a nonjudgmental approach, (4) collaborative priority and goal setting, (5) collaborative problem solving, (6) self-management support by diverse providers, (7) self-management interventions delivered by diverse formats, (8) patient self-efficacy, (9) active followup, (10) guideline-based case management for selected patients, (11) linkages to evidence-based community programs, and (12) multifaceted interventions. A framework is provided for implementing these principles in three phases of the primary care visit: enhanced previsit assessment, a focused clinical encounter, and expanded postvisit options. There is a growing evidence base for how self-management support for chronic conditions can be integrated into routine health care.

Using linguistic descriptions with multi-criteria decision aid approaches in urban energy systems

OpenAIRE

Afsordegan, Arayeh; Sánchez Soler, Monica; Agell Jané, Núria; Gamboa Jimenez, Gonzalo; Cremades Oliver, Lázaro Vicente

2015-01-01

Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) methods include various collections of mathematical techniques related to decision support systems in non-deterministic environments to support such applications as facility management, disaster management and urban planning. This paper applies MCDA approaches based on qualitative reasoning techniques with linguistic labels assessment. The aim of this method is ranking multi-attribute alternatives in group decision-making with qualitative labels. Finally ...

MODERN LINGUISTICS, ITS DEVELOPMENT AND SCOPE.

Science.gov (United States)

LEVIN, SAMUEL R.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN LINGUISTICS STARTED WITH JONES' DISCOVERY IN 1786 THAT SANSKRIT IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE CLASSICAL, GERMANIC, AND CELTIC LANGUAGES, AND HAS ADVANCED TO INCLUDE THE APPLICATION OF COMPUTERS IN LANGUAGE ANALYSIS. THE HIGHLIGHTS OF LINGUISTIC RESEARCH HAVE BEEN DE SAUSSURE'S DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE DIACHRONIC AND THE…

Automated Linguistic Personality Description and Recognition Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danylyuk Illya

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: The relevance of our research, above all, is theoretically motivated by the development of extraordinary scientific and practical interest in the possibilities of language processing of huge amount of data generated by people in everyday professional and personal life in the electronic forms of communication (e-mail, sms, voice, audio and video blogs, social networks, etc.. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to describe the theoretical and practical framework of the project "Communicative-pragmatic and discourse-grammatical lingvopersonology: structuring linguistic identity and computer modeling". The description of key techniques is given, such as machine learning for language modeling, speech synthesis, handwriting simulation. Results: Lingvopersonology developed some great theoretical foundations, its methods, tools, and significant achievements let us predict that the newest promising trend is a linguistic identity modeling by means of information technology, including language. We see three aspects of the modeling: 1 modeling the semantic level of linguistic identity – by means of the use of corpus linguistics; 2 sound level formal modeling of linguistic identity – with the help of speech synthesis; 3 formal graphic level modeling of linguistic identity – with the help of image synthesis (handwriting. For the first case, we suppose to use machine learning technics and vector-space (word2vec algorithm for textual speech modeling. Hybrid CUTE method for personality speech modeling will be applied to the second case. Finally, trained with the person handwriting images neural network can be an instrument for the last case. Discussion: The project "Communicative-pragmatic, discourse, and grammatical lingvopersonology: structuring linguistic identity and computer modeling", which is implementing by the Department of General and Applied Linguistics and Slavonic philology, selected a task to model Yuriy Shevelyov (Sherekh�

Non-Linguistic Vocal Event Detection Using Online Random

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abou-Zleikha, Mohamed; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll

2014-01-01

areas such as object detection, face recognition, and audio event detection. This paper proposes to use online random forest technique for detecting laughter and filler and for analyzing the importance of various features for non-linguistic vocal event classification through permutation. The results...... show that according to the Area Under Curve measure the online random forest achieved 88.1% compared to 82.9% obtained by the baseline support vector machines for laughter classification and 86.8% to 83.6% for filler classification....

Language Choices by Teachers in EFL Classrooms in Cyprus: Bidialectism Meets Bilingualism with a Call for Teacher Training Programmes in Linguistic Variation

Science.gov (United States)

Yiakoumetti, Androula; Mina, Marina

2013-01-01

This study focuses on the interface between bidialectism and bilingualism and provides empirical support for the call for language educators to be trained in issues relating to linguistic variation. Drawing on the sociolinguistic setting of Cyprus, the study investigates the linguistic behaviour of bidialectal teachers in the English…

Computational Linguistics Applications

CERN Document Server

Piasecki, Maciej; Jassem, Krzysztof; Fuglewicz, Piotr

2013-01-01

The ever-growing popularity of Google over the recent decade has required a specific method of man-machine communication: human query should be short, whereas the machine answer may take a form of a wide range of documents. This type of communication has triggered a rapid development in the domain of Information Extraction, aimed at providing the asker with a  more precise information. The recent success of intelligent personal assistants supporting users in searching or even extracting information and answers from large collections of electronic documents signals the onset of a new era in man-machine communication – we shall soon explain to our small devices what we need to know and expect valuable answers quickly and automatically delivered. The progress of man-machine communication is accompanied by growth in the significance of applied Computational Linguistics – we need machines to understand much more from the language we speak naturally than it is the case of up-to-date search systems. Moreover, w...

Ghana Journal of Linguistics: Editorial Policies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Focus and Scope. The Ghana Journal of Linguistics is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal appearing twice a year, published by the Linguistics Association of Ghana. Beginning with Volume 2 (2013) it is published in electronic format only, open access, at www.ajol.info. However print-on-demand copies can be made ...

Physical Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tice, Bradley S.

Physical linguistics is defined as the use of treatments from the field of speech pathology to enhance first and second language production in healthy individuals, resulting in increased quality and strength of phonation and articulation. A series of exercises for treating dysarthria (weakness, paralysis, discoordination, primary and secondary…

LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL STUDIES: THE QUEST FOR NEW IDEAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vitalii Kononenko

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The article highlights the principles of researching into text from the interdisciplinary linguistic and cultural perspective. Cognitological analysis of linguistic and extralinguistic cultural meanings reveals that there exist of specific linguistic and aesthetic formations best presented through the ‘language – culture – identity’ triad. One of the components of literary discourse is monocultural layer, which secures the continuity of national cultural tradition; researching into it, one should take into account mental and historical, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and other factors. Linguistic and aesthetic analysis helps to establish the system of linguistic and cultural means (metaphorization, imagery, verbal symbols, linguistic conceptualization, connotative meanings, which reveals its potential in literary texts. The lingual identity as a general notional category shows its nationally-oriented characteristics through the dichotomies of ‘addresser-addressee’ , ‘author-reader’, ‘narrator-narratee’ and is presented in the author’s idiolect.

Scientific Evidence on the Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William CS CHO

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Complementary and alternative medicine has been increasingly utilized by cancer patients in developed countries. Among the various forms of complementary and alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine is one of the few that has a well constructed theoretical framework and established treatment approaches for diseases including cancer. Recent research has revealed growing evidence suggesting that Traditional Chinese Medicine is effective in the supportive care of cancer patients during and after major conventional cancer treatments. This paper succinctly summarizes some published clinical evidence and meta-analyses which support the usage of various Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment strategies including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and Qigong in supportive cancer care.

Role of linguistic skills in fifth-grade mathematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleemans, Tijs; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-03-01

The current study investigated the direct and indirect relations between basic linguistic skills (i.e., phonological skills and grammatical ability) and advanced linguistic skills (i.e., academic vocabulary and verbal reasoning), on the one hand, and fifth-grade mathematics (i.e., arithmetic, geometry, and fractions), on the other, taking working memory and general intelligence into account and controlling for socioeconomic status, age, and gender. The results showed the basic linguistic representations of 167 fifth graders to be indirectly related to their geometric and fraction skills via arithmetic. Furthermore, advanced linguistic skills were found to be directly related to geometry and fractions after controlling for arithmetic. It can be concluded that linguistic skills directly and indirectly relate to mathematical ability in the upper grades of primary education, which highlights the importance of paying attention to such skills in the school curriculum. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aspects of conversational style-linguistic versus behavioral analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, G A

1992-01-01

Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior has been contrasted with formal linguistic analysis which studies the grammatical structure and "meaning" of verbal response-products, regardless of the circumstances under which they are produced. Nevertheless, it appears that certain areas of linguistic analysis are not entirely structural. In her recent books That's Not What I Meant (1986) and You Just Don't Understand (1990), the linguist Deborah Tannen purports to explain how people exhibit different "conversation styles"-that is, how they speak and achieve effects on listeners in different ways. There are indications, however, that the linguistic model may not be the most functional and precise one that could be used in analyzing conversational style. This paper takes concepts presented in Deborah Tannen's book That's Not What I Meant (1986), analyzes them from a linguistic and a behavioral perspective, and compares the relative utility of the two approaches.

Wittgenstein and the linguistic turn in social theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hermansen, Jens Christian

of Winch in social theory, the wider and more recent influence of Wittgenstein in areas such as technology and science studies, social theory, feminist and gender studies and conversation and discourse analysis is also considered. Historically, the readings of Wittgenstein in the social sciences have taken...... of the linguistic turn in social theory, the linguistic turn is a double-edged sword of both profound insights and limits; the claim is that the limits of the linguistic turn are the strengths of functionalist, structuralist and materialist approaches to the social sciences. The approach of the critical turn...... is to develop a more comprehensive social theory that is sensitive to these strengths and thus supersedes the limits of the linguistic turn. This paper suggests a different approach. Against the critical turn, the paper argues that the limits of the linguistic turn are identical with the very assumptions...

Statistical Measures for Usage-Based Linguistics

Science.gov (United States)

Gries, Stefan Th.; Ellis, Nick C.

2015-01-01

The advent of usage-/exemplar-based approaches has resulted in a major change in the theoretical landscape of linguistics, but also in the range of methodologies that are brought to bear on the study of language acquisition/learning, structure, and use. In particular, methods from corpus linguistics are now frequently used to study distributional…

Educational language planning and linguistic identity

Science.gov (United States)

Sutton, Peter

1991-03-01

There are cases in which a "high" form of a language is taught and used in formal situations, but linguistic variation is also caused by geography, ethnicity and socioeconomic class. Certain variants are regarded as inferior and restricted in expressive capacity, and are disadvantageous. The paper suggests that it is possible to map each person's linguistic identity in two dimensions: the number of languages spoken, and the situation-specific variants of each language. Further, it is argued that the distance between a "low" variant and a "high" standard form of a language may present to the "low" learner of a standardized mother tongue a barrier just as great as that posed by the learning of a related foreign language to a speaker of the high variant. It is proposed that greater tolerance be exercised in acceptance of variation and in recognition of linguistic identity, so that this can be built on in the necessary and desirable expansion of linguistic competence, rather than being devalued. The relevance of the communicative approach to language teaching is touched on.

Language support for linguistic minority chronic hepatitis B/C patients: an exploratory study of availability and clinicians' perceptions of language barriers in six European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Falla, Abby M; Veldhuijzen, Irene K; Ahmad, Amena A; Levi, Miriam; Richardus, Jan Hendrik

2017-02-20

Language support for linguistic minorities can improve patient safety, clinical outcomes and the quality of health care. Most chronic hepatitis B/C infections in Europe are detected among people born in endemic countries mostly in Africa, Asia and Central/Eastern Europe, groups that may experience language barriers when accessing health care services in their host countries. We investigated availability of interpreters and translated materials for linguistic minority hepatitis B/C patients. We also investigated clinicians' agreement that language barriers are explanations of three scenarios: the low screening uptake of hepatitis B/C screening, the lack of screening in primary care, and why cases do not reach specialist care. An online survey was developed, translated and sent to experts in five health care services involved in screening or treating viral hepatitis in six European countries: Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK). The five areas of health care were: general practice/family medicine, antenatal care, health care for asylum seekers, sexual health and specialist secondary care. We measured availability using a three-point ordinal scale ('very common', 'variable or not routine' and 'rarely or never'). We measured agreement using a five-point Likert scale. We received 238 responses (23% response rate, N = 1026) from representatives in each health care field in each country. Interpreters are common in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain but variable or rare in Germany, Hungary and Italy. Translated materials are rarely/never available in Hungary, Italy and Spain but commonly or variably available in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. Differing levels of agreement that language barriers explain the three scenarios are seen across the countries. Professionals in countries with most infrequent availability (Hungary and Italy) disagree strongest that language barriers are explanations. Our findings show pronounced

Teachers' Use of Linguistic Scaffolding to Support the Academic Language Development of First-Grade Emergent Bilingual Students

Science.gov (United States)

Lucero, Audrey

2014-01-01

Research suggests that teachers need to scaffold emergent bilingual students as they develop the complex language associated with school success. This may especially be true in dual language settings, where children are learning two languages simultaneously. In this study, therefore, I investigate the linguistic scaffolding practices of…

Plenary Speeches: Applied Linguists without Borders

Science.gov (United States)

Tarone, Elaine

2013-01-01

Until 1989, the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) could have been viewed as an interest group of the Linguistics Society of America (LSA); AAAL met in two designated meeting rooms as a subsection of the LSA conference. In 1991, I was asked to organize the first independent meeting of AAAL in New York City, with the help of…

Educational Linguistics and College English Syllabus Design

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Ji-xin

2016-01-01

The direct application of linguistic theories to syllabus design gives rise to frequent change of syllabus type in the histo-ry of syllabus development, which makes language teachers feel difficult to adapt to, to adopt and to implement. The recognition and popularization of the new-born discipline educational linguistics servers as a method to ease the situation, especially in the college English syllabus design in China. The development and application of the fruitful achievements in educational linguis-tics is bound to provide us with a more scientific approach to syllabus design in the future.

Verbal Working Memory Is Related to the Acquisition of Cross-Linguistic Phonological Regularities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evelyn Bosma

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Closely related languages share cross-linguistic phonological regularities, such as Frisian -âld [ͻ:t] and Dutch -oud [ʱut], as in the cognate pairs kâld [kͻ:t] – koud [kʱut] ‘cold’ and wâld [wͻ:t] – woud [wʱut] ‘forest’. Within Bybee’s (1995, 2001, 2008, 2010 network model, these regularities are, just like grammatical rules within a language, generalizations that emerge from schemas of phonologically and semantically related words. Previous research has shown that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of grammar, but not vocabulary. This suggests that verbal working memory supports the acquisition of linguistic regularities. In order to test this hypothesis we investigated whether verbal working memory is also related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. For three consecutive years, 5- to 8-year-old Frisian-Dutch bilingual children (n = 120 were tested annually on verbal working memory and a Frisian receptive vocabulary task that comprised four cognate categories: (1 identical cognates, (2 non-identical cognates that either do or (3 do not exhibit a phonological regularity between Frisian and Dutch, and (4 non-cognates. The results showed that verbal working memory had a significantly stronger effect on cognate category (2 than on the other three cognate categories. This suggests that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. More generally, it confirms the hypothesis that verbal working memory plays a role in the acquisition of linguistic regularities.

COGNITIVE METAPHOR IN MODERN LINGUISTICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonina KARTASHOVA

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The article outlines the basic notions connected with cognitive metaphor which has lately undergone a thorough examination. The contribution made by linguists resulted in the rise of cognitive linguistics. This science regards metaphor not as a linguistic phenomenon but as a mental one that establishes connection between language and mind in the form of understanding new notions in terms of notions and categories known due to the previously gained experience. The interaction of new and previous experience can generate three main types of metaphors: structural metaphors which imply the structuring of target domain in terms of source domain, ontological metaphors which view abstract notions as concrete objects with clear outlines and orientational metaphors which represent the ways to fix the experience of spatial orientation. The classification of metaphors complemented with examples is presented below along with some controversial cases of determining the type of metaphor.

The Transition from Animal to Linguistic Communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Harry

2016-01-01

Darwin's theory predicts that linguistic behavior gradually evolved out of animal forms of communication (signaling). However, this prediction is confronted by the conceptual problem that there is an essential difference between signaling and linguistic behavior: using words is a normative practice.

Aspects of conversational style—linguistic versus behavioral analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Genae A.

1992-01-01

Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior has been contrasted with formal linguistic analysis which studies the grammatical structure and “meaning” of verbal response-products, regardless of the circumstances under which they are produced. Nevertheless, it appears that certain areas of linguistic analysis are not entirely structural. In her recent books That's Not What I Meant (1986) and You Just Don't Understand (1990), the linguist Deborah Tannen purports to explain how people exhibit different “conversation styles”—that is, how they speak and achieve effects on listeners in different ways. There are indications, however, that the linguistic model may not be the most functional and precise one that could be used in analyzing conversational style. This paper takes concepts presented in Deborah Tannen's book That's Not What I Meant (1986), analyzes them from a linguistic and a behavioral perspective, and compares the relative utility of the two approaches. PMID:22477048

Citation Analysis and Authorship Patterns of Two Linguistics Journals

Science.gov (United States)

Ezema, Ifeanyi J.; Asogwa, Brendan E.

2014-01-01

This article analyzes the sources cited in articles published in two linguistics journals, "Applied Linguistics and Journal of Linguistics," from 2001 to 2010. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted using bibliometric indicators, such as types of cited sources, timeliness of cited sources, authorship patterns, rank lists of the…

Australia and New Zealand Applied Linguistics (ANZAL): Taking Stock

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinsasser, Robert C.

2004-01-01

This paper reviews some emerging trends in applied linguistics in both Australia and New Zealand. It sketches the current scene of (selected) postgraduate applied linguistics programs in higher education and considers how various university programs define applied linguistics through the classes (titles) they have postgraduate students complete to…

Historical Trajectory of the Quechuan Linguistic Family and its Relations to the Aimaran Linguistic Family

OpenAIRE

Adelaar, Willem

2012-01-01

This article seeks to present the principal stages of the prehistory and history of the Quechuan language family in its interaction with the Aimaran family. It reconstructs a plausible scenario for a unique, intensive process of linguistic convergence that underlies the protolanguages of both families. From there on, it traces the principal developments that characterize the history of the Quechuan linguistic family, such as the initial split in two main branches, Quechua I and Quechua II (fo...

Proposal of a Holistic Model to Support Local-Level Evidence-Based Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Said Shahtahmasebi

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In response to a central drive for evidence-based practice, there have been many research support schemes, setups, and other practices concentrating on facilitating access to external research, such as the Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare Aotearoa, the Cochrane Collaboration, and the York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Very little attention has been paid to supporting internal research in terms of local evidence and internal research capabilities. The whole evidence-based practice movement has alienated internal decision makers and, thus, very little progress has been made in the context of evidence informing local policy formation. Health and social policies are made centrally based on dubious claims and often evidence is sought after implementation. For example, on record, most health care practitioners appear to agree with the causal link between depression and mental illness (sometimes qualified with other social factors with suicide; off the record, even some psychiatrists doubt that such a link is applicable to the population as a whole. Therefore, be it through misplaced loyalty or a lack of support for internal researchers/decision makers, local evidence informing local decision making may have been ignored in favour of external evidence. In this paper, we present a practical holistic model to support local evidence-based decision making. This approach is more relevant in light of a new approach to primary health care of “local knowledge” complementing external evidence. One possible outcome would be to network with other regional programmes around the world to share information and identify “best” practices, such as the “Stop Youth Suicide Campaign”(www.stopyouthsuicide.com.

Good-enough linguistic representations and online cognitive equilibrium in language processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi, Hossein; Ferreira, Fernanda

2016-01-01

We review previous research showing that representations formed during language processing are sometimes just "good enough" for the task at hand and propose the "online cognitive equilibrium" hypothesis as the driving force behind the formation of good-enough representations in language processing. Based on this view, we assume that the language comprehension system by default prefers to achieve as early as possible and remain as long as possible in a state of cognitive equilibrium where linguistic representations are successfully incorporated with existing knowledge structures (i.e., schemata) so that a meaningful and coherent overall representation is formed, and uncertainty is resolved or at least minimized. We also argue that the online equilibrium hypothesis is consistent with current theories of language processing, which maintain that linguistic representations are formed through a complex interplay between simple heuristics and deep syntactic algorithms and also theories that hold that linguistic representations are often incomplete and lacking in detail. We also propose a model of language processing that makes use of both heuristic and algorithmic processing, is sensitive to online cognitive equilibrium, and, we argue, is capable of explaining the formation of underspecified representations. We review previous findings providing evidence for underspecification in relation to this hypothesis and the associated language processing model and argue that most of these findings are compatible with them.

Implicit learning of non-linguistic and linguistic regularities in children with dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Nigro, Luciana; Jiménez-Fernández, Gracia; Simpson, Ian C; Defior, Sylvia

2016-07-01

One of the hallmarks of dyslexia is the failure to automatise written patterns despite repeated exposure to print. Although many explanations have been proposed to explain this problem, researchers have recently begun to explore the possibility that an underlying implicit learning deficit may play a role in dyslexia. This hypothesis has been investigated through non-linguistic tasks exploring implicit learning in a general domain. In this study, we examined the abilities of children with dyslexia to implicitly acquire positional regularities embedded in both non-linguistic and linguistic stimuli. In experiment 1, 42 children (21 with dyslexia and 21 typically developing) were exposed to rule-governed shape sequences; whereas in experiment 2, a new group of 42 children were exposed to rule-governed letter strings. Implicit learning was assessed in both experiments via a forced-choice task. Experiments 1 and 2 showed a similar pattern of results. ANOVA analyses revealed no significant differences between the dyslexic and the typically developing group, indicating that children with dyslexia are not impaired in the acquisition of simple positional regularities, regardless of the nature of the stimuli. However, within group t-tests suggested that children from the dyslexic group could not transfer the underlying positional rules to novel instances as efficiently as typically developing children.

Does cultural and linguistic diversity affect health-related outcomes for people with stroke at discharge from hospital?

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Sarah E; Dodd, Karen J; Hill, Keith D

2017-04-01

Primary purpose to determine if cultural and linguistic diversity affects health-related outcomes in people with stroke at discharge from hospital and secondary purpose to explore whether interpreter use alters these outcomes. Systematic search of: Cochrane, PEDro, CINAHL, Medline, Pubmed, Embase, PsycINFO and Ageline databases. Publications were classified into whether they examined the impact of diversity in culture, or language or culture and language combined. Quality of evidence available was summarized using Best Evidence Synthesis. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Best Evidence Synthesis indicated conflicting evidence about the impact of culture alone and language barriers alone on health-related outcomes. There was strong evidence that hospital length of stay does not differ between groups when the combined impact of culture and language was investigated. Conflicting evidence was found for other outcomes including admission, discharge and change in FIM scores, and post-hospital discharge living arrangements. It is unknown if interpreter use alters health-related outcomes, because this was infrequently reported. The current limited research suggests that cultural and linguistic diversity does not appear to impact on health-related outcomes at discharge from hospital for people who have had a stroke, however further research is needed to address identified gaps. Implications for Rehabilitation The different language, culture and beliefs about health demonstrated by patients with stroke from minority groups in North America do not appear to significantly impact on their health-related outcomes during their admission to hospital. It is not known whether interpreter use influences outcomes in stroke rehabilitation because there is insufficient high quality research in this area. Clinicians in countries with different health systems and different cultural and linguistic groups within their communities need to view the results with caution

Aspects of conversational style—linguistic versus behavioral analysis

OpenAIRE

Hall, Genae A.

1992-01-01

Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior has been contrasted with formal linguistic analysis which studies the grammatical structure and “meaning” of verbal response-products, regardless of the circumstances under which they are produced. Nevertheless, it appears that certain areas of linguistic analysis are not entirely structural. In her recent books That's Not What I Meant (1986) and You Just Don't Understand (1990), the linguist Deborah Tannen purports to explain how people exhibi...

Language and Family Dispersion: North Korean Linguist Kim Su-gyŏng and the Korean War

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryuta Itagaki

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the unpublished memoir of Kim Su-gyŏng (1918–2000, a linguist who was active in North Korea from the mid-1940s until the late 1960s, and situates his account of his experience of the Korean War within the context of his linguistic essays and correspondence. In doing so, the article considers the role that the personal and the social play in language, utilizing Saussure’s theoretical framework, with which Kim himself was well versed. Kim wrote his memoirs in the 1990s to his family, from whom he had become separated during the Korean War and who now lived in Toronto. In this text, he writes in “personal” language that reveals his uncertainty and his feelings for his family, but then immediately negates these feelings through the use of “social” language, which resonates with his interpretation of the linguistic thesis that Josef Stalin developed during the Korean War on language and national identity. For Kim, the relationship between language and nation was not at all self-evident, but something that he idealized in response to the dispersal of his family. By offering a reflexive reading of a memoir written by a North Korean linguist, this article makes a breakthrough in the investigation of North Korean wartime academic history, which has not risen above the level of analyzing articles in the field of linguistics that were published at the time.

Supporting Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices through Practice-Based Coaching

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Patricia A.; Hemmeter, Mary Louise; Fox, Lise

2015-01-01

In active implementation science frameworks, coaching has been described as an important competency "driver" to ensure evidence-based practices are implemented as intended. Empirical evidence also has identified coaching as a promising job-embedded professional development strategy to support implementation of quality teaching practices.…

Social network size can influence linguistic malleability and the propagation of linguistic change.

Science.gov (United States)

Lev-Ari, Shiri

2018-07-01

We learn language from our social environment, but the more sources we have, the less informative each source is, and therefore, the less weight we ascribe its input. According to this principle, people with larger social networks should give less weight to new incoming information, and should therefore be less susceptible to the influence of new speakers. This paper tests this prediction, and shows that speakers with smaller social networks indeed have more malleable linguistic representations. In particular, they are more likely to adjust their lexical boundary following exposure to a new speaker. Experiment 2 uses computational simulations to test whether this greater malleability could lead people with smaller social networks to be important for the propagation of linguistic change despite the fact that they interact with fewer people. The results indicate that when innovators were connected with people with smaller rather than larger social networks, the population exhibited greater and faster diffusion. Together these experiments show that the properties of people's social networks can influence individuals' learning and use as well as linguistic phenomena at the community level. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

La politique linguistique en Europe The Linguistic Policy in Europe

OpenAIRE

Jan GOES

2010-01-01

The starting point of this text is the wonder, amazement before a fact which seems so to say “natural”: the French speak French, the Germans speak German, Spanish … speak Spanish, the Polish, the Polish, but exception that proves the rule, the Belgians does not speak Belgian … (even if some French people think). Whence came this evidence? How is it thatEurope is almost the only continent where one thinks this way? For all other continents, the linguistic situation is different: the Cameroonia...

When Is Statistical Evidence Superior to Anecdotal Evidence in Supporting Probability Claims? The Role of Argument Type

Science.gov (United States)

Hoeken, Hans; Hustinx, Lettica

2009-01-01

Under certain conditions, statistical evidence is more persuasive than anecdotal evidence in supporting a claim about the probability that a certain event will occur. In three experiments, it is shown that the type of argument is an important condition in this respect. If the evidence is part of an argument by generalization, statistical evidence…

Culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of learning in a clinical environment: A systematic review of qualitative studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mikkonen, Kristina; Elo, Satu; Kuivila, Heli-Maria; Tuomikoski, Anna-Maria; Kääriäinen, Maria

2016-02-01

Learning in the clinical environment of healthcare students plays a significant part in higher education. The greatest challenges for culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students were found in clinical placements, where differences in language and culture have been shown to cause learning obstacles for students. There has been no systematic review conducted to examine culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of their learning in the clinical environment. This systematic review aims to identify culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of learning in a clinical environment. The search strategy followed the guidelines of the Centre of Reviews and Dissemination. The original studies were identified from seven databases (CINAHL, Medline Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premiere, Eric and Cochrane Library) for the period 2000-2014. Two researchers selected studies based on titles, abstracts and full texts using inclusion criteria and assessed the quality of studies independently. Twelve original studies were chosen for the review. The culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' learning experiences were divided into three influential aspects of learning in a clinical environment: experiences with implementation processes and provision; experiences with peers and mentors; and experiences with university support and instructions. The main findings indicate that culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students embarking on clinical placements initially find integration stressful. Implementing the process of learning in a clinical environment requires additional time, well prepared pedagogical orientation, prior cultural and language education, and support for students and clinical staff. Barriers to learning by culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students were not being recognized and individuals were not considered motivated; learners experienced the

A lattice-valued linguistic decision model for nuclear safeguards applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruan, D.; Liu, J.; Carchon, R.

2001-01-01

In this study, we focus our attention on decision making models to process uncertainty-based information directly without transforming them into any particular membership function, i.e., directly using linguistic information (linguistic values) instead of numbers (numerical values). By analyzing the feature of linguistic values ordered by their means of common usage, we argue that the set of linguistic values should be characterized by a lattice structure. We propose the lattice structure based on a logical algebraic structure i.e., lattice implication algebra. Finally, we obtain a multi-objective decision-making model by extending Yager's multi-objective model from the following aspects: (1) extension of linguistic information: from a set of linear ordered linguistic labels (values) to that of lattice-valued linguistic labels; (2) extension of the combination function M, which is used to combine the individual ratings with the weights of criteria. We propose an implication operation form of M. The implication operation can be drawn from lattice implication algebra. As an illustration, we will finally apply this decision model to the evaluation problem in safeguard relevant information. (orig.)

Chomsky and Wittgenstein on Linguistic Competence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas McNally

2012-11-01

Full Text Available In his Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, Saul Kripke presents his influential reading of Wittgenstein’s later writings on language. One of the largely unexplored features of that reading is that Kripke makes a small number of suggestive remarks concerning the possible threat that Wittgenstein’s arguments pose for Chomsky’s linguistic project. In this paper, we attempt to characterise the relevance of Wittgenstein’s later work on meaning and rule-following for transformational linguistics, and in particular to identify the potentially negative impact it has on that project. Although we use Kripke’s remarks to articulate some of the pertinent issues, we return to Wittgenstein’s later writings to address them. We argue that Wittgenstein’s main target in the relevant sections of the Philosophical Investigations is the notion of ‘logical compulsion’, which involves assuming that there is more to applying a word or rule than how we are naturally or “psychologically” compelled to apply. We characterise two of the main lines of argument in the Investigations in terms of the rejection of logical compulsion. We thus propose to address the relevance of Wittgenstein’s writings for Chomsky by considering whether Chomsky’s linguistics presupposes the targeted notion of logical compulsion. We argue that Chomsky’s conception of linguistic competence in terms of successive states of the “language faculty” (containing the principles of universal grammar does presuppose this problematic notion. Chomsky responded to Kripke by devoting a chapter of his Knowledge of Language to defending this conception of linguistic competence against the Wittgensteinian arguments. We evaluate his response and argue that he has misidentified the threat to his linguistic project as consisting in the attack on its ‘individual psychology’ standpoint, rather than its commitment to logical compulsion. We conclude by arguing that Chomsky�

Linguistic complex networks as a young field of quantitative linguistics. Comment on "Approaching human language with complex networks" by J. Cong and H. Liu

Science.gov (United States)

Köhler, Reinhard

2014-12-01

We have long been used to the domination of qualitative methods in modern linguistics. Indeed, qualitative methods have advantages such as ease of use and wide applicability to many types of linguistic phenomena. However, this shall not overshadow the fact that a great part of human language is amenable to quantification. Moreover, qualitative methods may lead to over-simplification by employing the rigid yes/no scale. When variability and vagueness of human language must be taken into account, qualitative methods will prove inadequate and give way to quantitative methods [1, p. 11]. In addition to such advantages as exactness and precision, quantitative concepts and methods make it possible to find laws of human language which are just like those in natural sciences. These laws are fundamental elements of linguistic theories in the spirit of the philosophy of science [2,3]. Theorization effort of this type is what quantitative linguistics [1,4,5] is devoted to. The review of Cong and Liu [6] has provided an informative and insightful survey of linguistic complex networks as a young field of quantitative linguistics, including the basic concepts and measures, the major lines of research with linguistic motivation, and suggestions for future research.

[An essay about science and linguistics].

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Cugini, P

2011-01-01

Both the methodology and epistemology of science provided the criteria by which the scientific research can describe and interpret data and results of its observational or experimental studies. When the scientist approaches the conclusive inference, it is mandatory to think that both the knowledge and truth imply the use of words semantically and etymologically (semiologically) appropriate, especially if neologisms are required. Lacking a vocabulary, there will be the need of popularizing the inference to the linguistics of the context to which the message is addressed. This could imply a discrepancy among science, knowledge, truth and linguistics, that can be defined "semiologic bias". To avoid this linguistic error, the scientist must feel the responsibility to provide the scientific community with the new words that are semantically and etymologically coherent with what it has been scientifically discovered.

Political Liberalism, Linguistic Diversity and Equal Treatment

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Bonotti, Matteo

2017-01-01

This article explores the implications of John Rawls' political liberalism for linguistic diversity and language policy, by focusing on the following question: what kind(s) of equality between speakers of different languages and with different linguistic identities should the state guarantee under political liberalism? The article makes three…

Child Participant Roles in Applied Linguistics Research

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Pinter, Annamaria

2014-01-01

Children's status as research participants in applied linguistics has been largely overlooked even though unique methodological and ethical concerns arise in projects where children, rather than adults, are involved. This article examines the role of children as research participants in applied linguistics and discusses the limitations of…

Term Bases and Linguistic Linked Open Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

for pursuing their work. The theme of this year’s TKE is ‘Term Bases and Linguistic Linked Open Data’. Mono- and multi-lingual term bases, which contain information about concepts (terms, definitions, examples of use, references, comments on equivalence etc.), have always made up valuable linguistic resources...

Linguistic approaches to the study of Persian Literature

OpenAIRE

محمد امین ناصح

2010-01-01

Since the start of the last century, along with those literary men who took a literary approach to the study of literary texts, there has been another group who has taken a linguistic approach. The ancient and ever flourishing tradition of literary studies of translation can no doubt take benefit from linguistic methods and tools in the investigations of literary texts. As a result of this we come across linguistic terms in three high school textbooks of Persian language and literature. In f...

Ideology, Linguistic Capital and the Medium of Instruction in Hong Kong.

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Morrison, Keith; Lui, Icy

2000-01-01

Examines the links between linguistic capital, cultural capital, linguistic imperialism, and the use of English as the medium of instruction (MOI) in Hong Kong. Suggests that the notion of linguistic imperialism in Hong Kong is superceded by the notion of linguistic capital, although neither presents a complete analysis of the MOI issue in Hong…

Exploring Linguistic Identity in Young Multilingual Learners

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Dressler, Roswita

2014-01-01

This article explores the linguistic identity of young multilingual learners through the use of a Language Portrait Silhouette. Examples from a research study of children aged 6-8 years in a German bilingual program in Canada provide teachers with an understanding that linguistic identity comprises expertise, affiliation, and inheritance. This…

Youth Culture, Language Endangerment and Linguistic Survivance

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Wyman, Leisy

2012-01-01

Detailing a decade of life and language use in a remote Alaskan Yup'ik community, Youth Culture, Language Endangerment and Linguistic Survivance provides rare insight into young people's language brokering and Indigenous people's contemporary linguistic ecologies. This book examines how two consecutive groups of youth in a Yup'ik village…

Improving English Instruction through Neuro-Linguistic Programming

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Helm, David Jay

2009-01-01

This study examines the background information and numerous applications of neuro-linguistic programming as it applies to improving English instruction. In addition, the N.L.P. modalities of eye movement, the use of predicates, and posturing are discussed. Neuro-linguistic programming presents all students of English an opportunity to reach their…

Understanding Online Health Groups for Depression: Social Network and Linguistic Perspectives.

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Xu, Ronghua; Zhang, Qingpeng

2016-03-10

Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade. With the advance of Web 2.0 technologies, social media present a novel platform for Web users to form online health groups. Members of online health groups discuss health-related issues and mutually help one another by anonymously revealing their mental conditions, sharing personal experiences, exchanging health information, and providing suggestions and support. The conversations in online health groups contain valuable information to facilitate the understanding of their mutual help behaviors and their mental health problems. We aimed to characterize the conversations in a major online health group for major depressive disorder (MDD) patients in a popular Chinese social media platform. In particular, we intended to explain how Web users discuss depression-related issues from the perspective of the social networks and linguistic patterns revealed by the members' conversations. Social network analysis and linguistic analysis were employed to characterize the social structure and linguistic patterns, respectively. Furthermore, we integrated both perspectives to exploit the hidden relations between them. We found an intensive use of self-focus words and negative affect words. In general, group members used a higher proportion of negative affect words than positive affect words. The social network of the MDD group for depression possessed small-world and scale-free properties, with a much higher reciprocity ratio and clustering coefficient value as compared to the networks of other social media platforms and classic network models. We observed a number of interesting relationships, either strong correlations or convergent trends, between the topological properties and linguistic properties of the MDD group members. (1) The MDD group members have the characteristics of self-preoccupation and negative thought content, according to Beck's cognitive theory of depression; (2) the social structure

Linguistic Theory in the Practical Lexicography of the African Languages

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Emmanuel Chabata

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract: In this article, we look at the relationship between linguistics and lexicography. We specifically look at the relevance of data derived from theoretical linguistic investigations to the compilation of diction-aries in African languages. Our point of departure is that since it is language description that lies at the core of both lexicography and linguistic theory, lexicographers can improve their work by using insights from theoretically-guided linguistic investigations. Our view is that as long as lexicographers focus on words and their existence in the linguistic system, they cannot work effectively without referring to linguistic theory, consciously or unconsciously. Lexicography is not only concerned with dictionary creation, that is, with the collection of lexical units and their proper description in dictionary entries, but also with the theoretical aspects concerning the lexicon. It is necessary for dictionaries to capture all lexical interrelationships of a phonetic, morphological, syntactic or semantic nature. Drawing examples from a few dictionaries on African languages, we try to show how dictionary compilers have benefited from specific theoretical investigations in general linguistics. We look at how the different linguistic theories have contributed to the improvement in the quality of the contents of some dictionaries of African languages. Our conclusion is that there is a stronger bond between linguistic theory and lexicographic practice than is generally assumed. Ways must therefore be found to understand the various links between the two disciplines. There should be a deliberate move from mutual neglect to collaboration between the two disciplines.

"New linguistic issues", by Pier Pasolini, is causing scandal among linguists, philologists, writers, critics and intellectuals

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Teodoro Negri

1993-12-01

Full Text Available Pasolini departs from the diagnosis of a problem: the critical quest stage in contemporary literature, centered on the 1950s; he points out the author´s inability to create the design for a national language. He goes on to analyze the deep mutation in Italian Society, which determineted a new socio-linguistic outlook; to wit, a language clearly marked by strong technicality and instrumentation. Drawing examples from newspapers, TV features, official political speeches and commercials, Pasolini demonstrates that factual communication takes precedence over formal expression. This is ascribed to one principle which sets both rules and approvals for all forms of national language. This fact, according to Pasolini, is the result of an industrial and technological transformation process, which would  permite advent of a new linguistic bourgeoisie. The linguistic unification caused by such approving  principle would, therefore, imply the social manifestation of the bourgeoisie.

Design Features for Linguistically-Mediated Meaning Construction: The Relative Roles of the Linguistic and Conceptual Systems in Subserving the Ideational Function of Language.

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Evans, Vyvyan

2016-01-01

Recent research in language and cognitive science proposes that the linguistic system evolved to provide an "executive" control system on the evolutionarily more ancient conceptual system (e.g., Barsalou et al., 2008; Evans, 2009, 2015a,b; Bergen, 2012). In short, the claim is that embodied representations in the linguistic system interface with non-linguistic representations in the conceptual system, facilitating rich meanings, or simulations, enabling linguistically mediated communication. In this paper I build on these proposals by examining the nature of what I identify as design features for this control system. In particular, I address how the ideational function of language-our ability to deploy linguistic symbols to convey meanings of great complexity-is facilitated. The central proposal of this paper is as follows. The linguistic system of any given language user, of any given linguistic system-spoken or signed-facilitates access to knowledge representation-concepts-in the conceptual system, which subserves this ideational function. In the most general terms, the human meaning-making capacity is underpinned by two distinct, although tightly coupled representational systems: the conceptual system and the linguistic system. Each system contributes to meaning construction in qualitatively distinct ways. This leads to the first design feature: given that the two systems are representational-they are populated by semantic representations-the nature and function of the representations are qualitatively different. This proposed design feature I term the bifurcation in semantic representation. After all, it stands to reason that if a linguistic system has a different function, vis-à-vis the conceptual system, which is of far greater evolutionary antiquity, then the semantic representations will be complementary, and as such, qualitatively different, reflecting the functional distinctions of the two systems, in collectively giving rise to meaning. I consider the

Reconciliation of ontology and terminology to cope with linguistics.

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Baud, Robert H; Ceusters, Werner; Ruch, Patrick; Rassinoux, Anne-Marie; Lovis, Christian; Geissbühler, Antoine

2007-01-01

To discuss the relationships between ontologies, terminologies and language in the context of Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications in order to show the negative consequences of confusing them. The viewpoints of the terminologist and (computational) linguist are developed separately, and then compared, leading to the presentation of reconciliation among these points of view, with consideration of the role of the ontologist. In order to encourage appropriate usage of terminologies, guidelines are presented advocating the simultaneous publication of pragmatic vocabularies supported by terminological material based on adequate ontological analysis. Ontologies, terminologies and natural languages each have their own purpose. Ontologies support machine understanding, natural languages support human communication, and terminologies should form the bridge between them. Therefore, future terminology standards should be based on sound ontology and do justice to the diversities in natural languages. Moreover, they should support local vocabularies, in order to be easily adaptable to local needs and practices.

Genre Analysis in the Frame of Systemic Functional Linguistics

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Najih Imtihani

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Systemic Functional Linguistics is a linguistics approach which cop-siders not only the structure of the language but also its social context. In the Systemic Functional Linguistics the concept of genre is defined as a step-by-step activity to reach the goal. The concept of genre is used to describe the cultural context in a language. According to this view, text should be seen and observed in its interaction with the context and social background. For that, the genre analysis will constantly involve the linguistic social context in the forms of field, tenor, mode, schematic structure and its realization in the text.

Using the Linguistic Landscape to Bridge Languages

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Mari, Vanessa

2018-01-01

In this article Vanessa Mari describes how she uses the linguistic landscape to bridge two or more languages with students learning English. The linguistic landscape is defined by Landry and Bourhis (1997, 25) as "the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on…

Evidence-informed health policy 2 - survey of organizations that support the use of research evidence.

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Lavis, John N; Paulsen, Elizabeth J; Oxman, Andrew D; Moynihan, Ray

2008-12-17

Previous surveys of organizations that support the development of evidence-informed health policies have focused on organizations that produce clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) or undertake health technology assessments (HTAs). Only rarely have surveys focused at least in part on units that directly support the use of research evidence in developing health policy on an international, national, and state or provincial level (i.e., government support units, or GSUs) that are in some way successful or innovative or that support the use of research evidence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We drew on many people and organizations around the world, including our project reference group, to generate a list of organizations to survey. We modified a questionnaire that had been developed originally by the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation in Europe (AGREE) collaboration and adapted one version of the questionnaire for organizations producing CPGs and HTAs, and another for GSUs. We sent the questionnaire by email to 176 organizations and followed up periodically with non-responders by email and telephone. We received completed questionnaires from 152 (86%) organizations. More than one-half of the organizations (and particularly HTA agencies) reported that examples from other countries were helpful in establishing their organization. A higher proportion of GSUs than CPG- or HTA-producing organizations involved target users in the selection of topics or the services undertaken. Most organizations have few (five or fewer) full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. More than four-fifths of organizations reported providing panels with or using systematic reviews. GSUs tended to use a wide variety of explicit valuation processes for the research evidence, but none with the frequency that organizations producing CPGs, HTAs, or both prioritized evidence by its quality. Between one-half and two-thirds of organizations do not collect data systematically about

Can delusions be understood linguistically?

Science.gov (United States)

Hinzen, Wolfram; Rosselló, Joana; McKenna, Peter

2016-07-01

Delusions are widely believed to reflect disturbed cognitive function, but the nature of this remains elusive. The "un-Cartesian" cognitive-linguistic hypothesis maintains (a) that there is no thought separate from language, that is, there is no distinct mental space removed from language where "thinking" takes place; and (b) that a somewhat broadened concept of grammar is responsible for bestowing meaning on propositions, and this among other things gives them their quality of being true or false. It is argued that a loss of propositional meaning explains why delusions are false, impossible and sometimes fantastic. A closely related abnormality, failure of linguistic embedding, can additionally account for why delusions are held with fixed conviction and are not adequately justified by the patient. The un-Cartesian linguistic approach to delusions has points of contact with Frith's theory that inability to form meta-representations underlies a range of schizophrenic symptoms. It may also be relevant to the nature of the "second factor" in monothematic delusions in neurological disease. Finally, it can inform the current debate about whether or not delusions really are beliefs.

Formal monkey linguistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schlenker, Philippe; Chemla, Emmanuel; Schel, Anne M.; Fuller, James; Gautier, Jean Pierre; Kuhn, Jeremy; Veselinović, Dunja; Arnold, Kate; Cäsar, Cristiane; Keenan, Sumir; Lemasson, Alban; Ouattara, Karim; Ryder, Robin; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2016-01-01

We argue that rich data gathered in experimental primatology in the last 40 years can benefit from analytical methods used in contemporary linguistics. Focusing on the syntactic and especially semantic side, we suggest that these methods could help clarify five questions: (i) what morphology and

Are advertisements in dental journals supported by an appropriate evidence-base?

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Chestnutt, Ivor G; Hardy, Robert

2013-09-01

Dental professionals are constantly exposed to advertisements in the dental literature. These promote products, either for use in the operatory or to recommend to patients. In an era of evidence-based practice, what references are provided to support claims made by the advertisers? This study aimed to determine if advertisements in four major dental journals, whose target audience is general dental practitioners, were supported by an appropriate evidence-base, readily accessible to readers. The 2010 printed volumes of the Australian Dental Journal, British Dental Journal, Dental Update and the Journal of the American Dental Association were hand searched to identify advertisements which made a claim of clinical benefit or superiority to competing products. Advertisements were categorized according to type of product being promoted and the availability, nature and number of any supporting references was recorded. Repeated advertisements were analyzed only once. A total of 390 advertisements were identified and 369 made a claim of benefit or superiority. When the 222 duplicates of the same advertisement were removed, 147 unique advertisements remained. Of these: 54 (37%) were advertisements related to dental devices for in-surgery use; 44 (30%) for dental materials, and 27 (18%) for dentifrices/medicaments. 113 (76.9%) advertisements offered no evidential support for claims made. Of the 34 advertisements that provided evidential support, only 20 provided a complete reference that could readily be sourced by an interested reader: 15 articles in refereed journals; 5 data on file; 3 in-house studies and combinations thereof. Four references were not accessible due to incomplete referencing. Two advertisements provided evidence that was not relevant to the product being advertised. The majority of advertisements in the dental literature do not provide an adequate evidence-base, readily available to readers, to support the claims being made. If evidence-based practice is

Infant auditory short-term memory for non-linguistic sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross-Sheehy, Shannon; Newman, Rochelle S

2015-04-01

This research explores auditory short-term memory (STM) capacity for non-linguistic sounds in 10-month-old infants. Infants were presented with auditory streams composed of repeating sequences of either 2 or 4 unique instruments (e.g., flute, piano, cello; 350 or 700 ms in duration) followed by a 500-ms retention interval. These instrument sequences either stayed the same for every repetition (Constant) or changed by 1 instrument per sequence (Varying). Using the head-turn preference procedure, infant listening durations were recorded for each stream type (2- or 4-instrument sequences composed of 350- or 700-ms notes). Preference for the Varying stream was taken as evidence of auditory STM because detection of the novel instrument required memory for all of the instruments in a given sequence. Results demonstrate that infants listened longer to Varying streams for 2-instrument sequences, but not 4-instrument sequences, composed of 350-ms notes (Experiment 1), although this effect did not hold when note durations were increased to 700 ms (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 replicates and extends results from Experiments 1 and 2 and provides support for a duration account of capacity limits in infant auditory STM. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Capturing socially motivated linguistic change: how the use of gender-fair language affects support for social initiatives in Austria and Poland.

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Formanowicz, Magdalena M; Cisłak, Aleksandra; Horvath, Lisa K; Sczesny, Sabine

2015-01-01

Gender-fair language consists of the symmetric linguistic treatment of women and men instead of using masculine forms as generics. In this study, we examine how the use of gender-fair language affects readers' support for social initiatives in Poland and Austria. While gender-fair language is relatively novel in Poland, it is well established in Austria. This difference may lead to different perceptions of gender-fair usage in these speech communities. Two studies conducted in Poland investigate whether the evaluation of social initiatives (Study 1: quotas for women on election lists; Study 2: support for women students or students from countries troubled by war) is affected by how female proponents (lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, and academics) are referred to, with masculine forms (traditional) or with feminine forms (modern, gender-fair). Study 3 replicates Study 2 in Austria. Our results indicate that in Poland, gender-fair language has negative connotations and therefore, detrimental effects particularly when used in gender-related contexts. Conversely, in Austria, where gender-fair language has been implemented and used for some time, there are no such negative effects. This pattern of results may inform the discussion about formal policies regulating the use of gender-fair language.

Detecting depression stigma on social media: A linguistic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ang; Jiao, Dongdong; Zhu, Tingshao

2018-05-01

Efficient detection of depression stigma in mass media is important for designing effective stigma reduction strategies. Using linguistic analysis methods, this paper aims to build computational models for detecting stigma expressions in Chinese social media posts (Sina Weibo). A total of 15,879 Weibo posts with keywords were collected and analyzed. First, a content analysis was conducted on all 15,879 posts to determine whether each of them reflected depression stigma or not. Second, using four algorithms (Simple Logistic Regression, Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest), two groups of classification models were built based on selected linguistic features; one for differentiating between posts with and without depression stigma, and one for differentiating among posts with three specific types of depression stigma. First, 967 of 15,879 posts (6.09%) indicated depression stigma. 39.30%, 15.82%, and 14.99% of them endorsed the stigmatizing view that "People with depression are unpredictable", "Depression is a sign of personal weakness", and "Depression is not a real medical illness", respectively. Second, the highest F-Measure value for differentiating between stigma and non-stigma reached 75.2%. The highest F-Measure value for differentiating among three specific types of stigma reached 86.2%. Due to the limited and imbalanced dataset of Chinese Weibo posts, the findings of this study might have limited generalizability. This paper confirms that incorporating linguistic analysis methods into online detection of stigma can be beneficial to improve the performance of stigma reduction programs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

THE ARABIC ORIGINS OF ENGLISH AND INDO-EUROPEAN "URBAN TERMS": A RADICAL LINGUISTIC THEORY APPROACH

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Zaidan Ali Jassem

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper traces the Arabic origins of English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit "urban terms" from a radical linguistic (or lexical root theory perspective. The data comprises 130 such terms like abide, building, city, construction, courtyard, hotel, house, live, mansion, mason, palace, metropolis, residence, road, rural, sedentary, sojourn, stay, structure, tent, town, urban, villa, village, zoo, and so on. The results clearly show that all such words have true Arabic cognates with the same or similar forms and meanings, whose differences are due to natural and plausible causes and different routes of linguistic change. Moreover, the results support the adequacy of the radical linguistic theory according to which, unlike the Comparative Method and/or Family Tree Model, Arabic, English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit are dialects of the same language or family, renamed Eurabian or Urban family, with Arabic being their origin all for sharing the whole cognates with them and for its huge phonetic, morphological, grammatical, and lexical variety and wealth. Also, they indicate that there is a radical language from which all human languages stemmed and which has been preserved almost intact in Arabic as the most conservative and productive language, without which it is impossible to interpret its linguistic richness and versatility on all levels.

Linguistic Variability and Intellectual Development. Miami Linguistics Series No. 9.

Science.gov (United States)

von Humboldt, Wilhelm

Although this edition of Wilhelm von Humboldt's "Linguistic Variability and Intellectual Development" is based entirely on the original German edition, the translators (George C. Buck and Frithjof A. Raven) and the publisher have attempted to clarify certain aspects of this work for the modern-day reader. These features include the addition of…

Mathematical Approaches to Cognitive Linguistics

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Chuluundorj Begz

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Cognitive linguistics, neuro-cognitive and psychological analysis of human verbal cognition present important area of multidisciplinary research. Mathematical methods and models have been introduced in number of publications with increasing attention to these theories. In this paper we have described some possible applications of mathematical methods to cognitive linguistics. Human verbal perception and verbal mapping deal with dissipative mental structures and symmetric/asymmetric relationships between objects of perception and deep (also surface structures of language. In that’s way methods of tensor analysis are ambitious candidate to be applied to analysis of human verbal thinking and mental space.

Linguistics, human communication and psychiatry.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, P; Fraser, W

1994-11-01

Psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics have extended our understanding of the abnormal communication seen in psychosis, as well as that of people with autism and Asperger's syndrome. Psycholinguistics has the potential to increase the explanatory power of cognitive and neuropsychological approaches to psychosis and new methods of assessment and therapy are now being developed, based on linguistic theory. A MEDLINE literature search was used. Of 205 relevant articles identified, 65 were selected for review. Greater familiarity with linguistic theory could improve psychiatrists' assessment skills and their understanding of the relevance of human communication to the new cognitive models of psychosis.

Untangling Linguistic Salience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boswijk, Vincent; Coler, Matt; Loerts, Hanneke; Hilton, Nanna

2018-01-01

The concept of linguistic salience is broadly used within sociolinguistics to account for processes as diverse as language change (Kerswill & Williams, 2002) and language acquisition (Ellis, 2016) in that salient forms are e.g. more likely to undergo change, or are often acquired earlier than other

Linguistics and Literacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kindell, Gloria

1983-01-01

Discusses four general areas of linguistics studies that are particularly relevant to literacy issues: (1) discourse analysis, including text analysis, spoken and written language, and home and school discourse; (2) relationships between speech and writing, the distance between dialects and written norms, and developmental writing; (3)…

Saussure and Linguistic Geography.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Roy

1993-01-01

Discusses Saussures's "Cours de linguistique generale," which was published in 1916, and devotes specific attention to the significance of Part VI, which is devoted to linguistic geography. (16 references) (Author/VWL)

What Does Corpus Linguistics Have to Offer to Language Assessment?

Science.gov (United States)

Xi, Xiaoming

2017-01-01

In recent years, continuing advances in technology have increased the capacity to automate the extraction of a range of linguistic features of texts and thus have provided the impetus for the substantial growth of corpus linguistics. While corpus linguistic tools and methods have been used extensively in second language learning research, they…

Organizational Supports for Research Evidence Use in State Public Health Agencies: A Latent Class Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Hengrui; Allen, Peg; Yan, Yan; Reis, Rodrigo S; Jacob, Rebekah R; Brownson, Ross C

2018-05-30

Use of research evidence in public health decision making can be affected by organizational supports. Study objectives are to identify patterns of organizational supports and explore associations with research evidence use for job tasks among public health practitioners. In this longitudinal study, we used latent class analysis to identify organizational support patterns, followed by mixed logistic regression analysis to quantify associations with research evidence use. The setting included 12 state public health department chronic disease prevention units and their external partnering organizations involved in chronic disease prevention. Chronic disease prevention staff from 12 US state public health departments and partnering organizations completed self-report surveys at 2 time points, in 2014 and 2016 (N = 872). Latent class analysis was employed to identify subgroups of survey participants with distinct patterns of perceived organizational supports. Two classify-analyze approaches (maximum probability assignment and multiple pseudo-class draws) were used in 2017 to investigate the association between latent class membership and research evidence use. The optimal model identified 4 latent classes, labeled as "unsupportive workplace," "low agency leadership support," "high agency leadership support," and "supportive workplace." With maximum probability assignment, participants in "high agency leadership support" (odds ratio = 2.08; 95% CI, 1.35-3.23) and "supportive workplace" (odds ratio = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.10-2.74) were more likely to use research evidence in job tasks than "unsupportive workplace." The multiple pseudo-class draws produced comparable results with odds ratio = 2.09 (95% CI, 1.31-3.30) for "high agency leadership support" and odds ratio = 1.74 (95% CI, 1.07-2.82) for "supportive workplace." Findings suggest that leadership support may be a crucial element of organizational supports to encourage research evidence use. Organizational supports such

Linguistic Policies, Linguistic Planning, and Brazilian Sign Language in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

de Quadros, Ronice Muller

2012-01-01

This article explains the consolidation of Brazilian Sign Language in Brazil through a linguistic plan that arose from the Brazilian Sign Language Federal Law 10.436 of April 2002 and the subsequent Federal Decree 5695 of December 2005. Two concrete facts that emerged from this existing language plan are discussed: the implementation of bilingual…

Hemispheric lateralization of linguistic prosody recognition in comparison to speech and speaker recognition.

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Kreitewolf, Jens; Friederici, Angela D; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2014-11-15

Hemispheric specialization for linguistic prosody is a controversial issue. While it is commonly assumed that linguistic prosody and emotional prosody are preferentially processed in the right hemisphere, neuropsychological work directly comparing processes of linguistic prosody and emotional prosody suggests a predominant role of the left hemisphere for linguistic prosody processing. Here, we used two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments to clarify the role of left and right hemispheres in the neural processing of linguistic prosody. In the first experiment, we sought to confirm previous findings showing that linguistic prosody processing compared to other speech-related processes predominantly involves the right hemisphere. Unlike previous studies, we controlled for stimulus influences by employing a prosody and speech task using the same speech material. The second experiment was designed to investigate whether a left-hemispheric involvement in linguistic prosody processing is specific to contrasts between linguistic prosody and emotional prosody or whether it also occurs when linguistic prosody is contrasted against other non-linguistic processes (i.e., speaker recognition). Prosody and speaker tasks were performed on the same stimulus material. In both experiments, linguistic prosody processing was associated with activity in temporal, frontal, parietal and cerebellar regions. Activation in temporo-frontal regions showed differential lateralization depending on whether the control task required recognition of speech or speaker: recognition of linguistic prosody predominantly involved right temporo-frontal areas when it was contrasted against speech recognition; when contrasted against speaker recognition, recognition of linguistic prosody predominantly involved left temporo-frontal areas. The results show that linguistic prosody processing involves functions of both hemispheres and suggest that recognition of linguistic prosody is based on

Guatemalan Linguistics Project

Science.gov (United States)

Linguistic Reporter, 1974

1974-01-01

The general goals of the Guatemalan technical institution, the Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin, are to: create a national technical resource institution in linguistics and Mayan languages; enable Indians to influence programs for their communities; and stimulate the study of Mayan languages and their use as communication medium. (SW)

Are claims made in orthodontic journal advertisements evidence-supported?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Livas, Christos; Kouskoura, Thaleia; Ren, Yijin; Katsaros, Christos; Pandis, Nikolaos

Objective: To examine the supporting evidence of advertisements published in six leading orthodontic journals. Materials and Methods: The 2012-2013 printed issues of American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Australian Orthodontic Journal, Journal of Orthodontics, European

Cross-Linguistic Transfer among Iranian Learners of English as a Foreign Language

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Talebi, Seyed Hassan

2014-01-01

Cross-linguistic transfer studies began from linguistic aspects of language learning and moved to non-linguistic aspects. The intriguing question is whether students are aware of the nature of these cross-linguistic interactions in their minds. For this purpose, a semi-structured interview was conducted with four Iranian university students. It…

Functional Grammar in the Context of Linguistic Applications in Turkish Language Teaching

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Epcacan, Cahit

2013-01-01

In the last century, language researches adopted the scientific method and linguistics became an autonomous discipline. Linguistics is a framework concept that analyzes all languages in the world in various contexts according to its own rules and draws conclusions using the systematic approach. Functional linguistics is a linguistic trend that…

Cognitive and linguistic sources of variance in 2-year-olds’ speech-sound discrimination: a preliminary investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2014-02-01

This preliminary investigation explored potential cognitive and linguistic sources of variance in 2-year-olds’ speech-sound discrimination by using the toddler change/ no-change procedure and examined whether modifications would result in a procedure that can be used consistently with younger 2-year-olds. Twenty typically developing 2-year-olds completed the newly modified toddler change/no-change procedure. Behavioral tests and parent report questionnaires were used to measure several cognitive and linguistic constructs. Stepwise linear regression was used to relate discrimination sensitivity to the cognitive and linguistic measures. In addition, discrimination results from the current experiment were compared with those from 2-year-old children tested in a previous experiment. Receptive vocabulary and working memory explained 56.6% of variance in discrimination performance. Performance was not different on the modified toddler change/no-change procedure used in the current experiment from in a previous investigation, which used the original version of the procedure. The relationship between speech discrimination and receptive vocabulary and working memory provides further evidence that the procedure is sensitive to the strength of perceptual representations. The role for working memory might also suggest that there are specific subject-related, nonsensory factors limiting the applicability of the procedure to children who have not reached the necessary levels of cognitive and linguistic development.

The Actualization of Literary Learning Model Based on Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence

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Nur Ihsan Halil

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This article is inspired by Howard Gardner's concept of linguistic intelligence and also from some authors' previous writings. All of them became the authors' reference in developing ideas on constructing a literary learning model based on linguistic intelligence. The writing of this article is not done by collecting data empirically, but by developing and constructing an existing concept, namely the concept of linguistic intelligence, which is disseminated into a literature-based learning of verbal-linguistic intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question of how to apply the literary learning model based on the verbal-linguistic intelligence. Then, regarding Gardner's concept, the author formulated a literary learning model based on the verbal-linguistic intelligence through a story-telling learning model with five steps namely arguing, discussing, interpreting, speaking, and writing about literary works. In short, the writer draw a conclusion that learning-based models of verbal-linguistic intelligence can be designed with attention into five components namely (1 definition, (2 characteristics, (3 teaching strategy, (4 final learning outcomes, and (5 figures.

A General Overview of Motivation in Linguistics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王航

2014-01-01

In recent years, the term of motivation in linguistics study has aroused the interests of scholars. Different studies of mo -tivation have been produced by different scholars. In this paper, the writer organizes the recent studies on motivation in linguistics. the paper is divided into three parts, the introduction of the term motivation, different types of motivation, and theories of moti -vation.

A note on statistical methods in comparative linguistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cowan, H.K.J.

1959-01-01

It is desirable to distinguish between lexicostatistics as a means of proving relationships between languages or linguistic groups not previously known to be related, and glottochronology as a means of measuring the time depths of separations between languages or linguistic groups already known to

Genre and Literacy-Modeling Context in Educational Linguistics.

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Martin, James R.

1992-01-01

Complements review in previous volume concerning Australian literacy (in first- and second-language) initiatives that drew on systemic functional linguistics, highlights ongoing research within the same theoretical framework, and focuses on the question of modeling context in educational linguistics. The discussion includes modeling context as…

Linguistic Ethnography, Literacy Teaching and Teacher Training

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dolmer, Grete; Nielsen, Henrik Balle

in current attempts to research-base teacher education. Lefstein, A. & J. Snell. 2014. Better than best practice. Developing teaching and learning through dialogue. London: Routledge. Keywords: literacy teaching classroom dialogue teacher feedback linguistic ethnography research-based teacher education...... material consists of field notes and video observations from the literacy classroom combined with reflective interviews with the literacy teacher and analyses of pupils’ oral and written texts. Taking a linguistic ethnographic approach, the case study investigates the interplay between teacher, pupil...... eclecticism, openness and systematicity characteristic of a linguistic ethnographic analysis (Lefstein & Snell 2014, 185-86). In the poster, we will focus on emergent data analysis. Our main points of interest are 1) the classroom dialogue between teacher and pupils and 2) the literacy teacher’s assessment...

Linguistic Culture and Essentialism in South Africa

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Stephanie Rudwick

2008-10-01

Full Text Available This paper explores how language and culture are intertwined and often regarded as “invariable fixed properties” in contemporary South Africa by focusing on one particular indigenous African language group, i.e. isiZulu-speakers. Drawing from general theoretical sociolinguistic approaches to language and culture and considering South Africa’s socio-political history, the paper demonstrates the significance and saliency of Zulu linguistic culture to Zulu people in the post-apartheid state. It is examined, how Zulu linguistic culture is regarded a resource in the isiZulu-speaking community and as one of the most salient tools of in-group identification in the larger contemporary South African society. Zulu people’s culture is profoundly language-embedded and Zulu linguistic culture often based on essentialism.

Image schemas and mimetic schemas in cognitive linguistics and gesture studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cienki, A.J.

2013-01-01

Image schemas have been a fundamental construct in cognitive linguistics, providing grounds for psychological, philosophical, as well as linguistic research. Given the focus in cognitive linguistics on embodied experience as a fundamental basis for language structure and meaning, the employment of

Linguistic Barriers and Bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thuesen, Frederik

2016-01-01

The influence of language on social capital in low-skill and ethnically diverse workplaces has thus far received very limited attention within the sociology of work. As the ethnically diverse workplace is an important social space for the construction of social relations bridging different social...... groups, the sociology of work needs to develop a better understanding of the way in which linguistic diversity influences the formation of social capital, i.e. resources such as the trust and reciprocity inherent in social relations in such workplaces. Drawing on theories about intergroup contact...... and intercultural communication, this article analyses interviews with 31 employees from two highly ethnically diverse Danish workplaces. The article shows how linguistic barriers such as different levels of majority language competence and their consequent misunderstandings breed mistrust and hostility, whilst...

Functional specificity for high-level linguistic processing in the human brain.

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Fedorenko, Evelina; Behr, Michael K; Kanwisher, Nancy

2011-09-27

Neuroscientists have debated for centuries whether some regions of the human brain are selectively engaged in specific high-level mental functions or whether, instead, cognition is implemented in multifunctional brain regions. For the critical case of language, conflicting answers arise from the neuropsychological literature, which features striking dissociations between deficits in linguistic and nonlinguistic abilities, vs. the neuroimaging literature, which has argued for overlap between activations for linguistic and nonlinguistic processes, including arithmetic, domain general abilities like cognitive control, and music. Here, we use functional MRI to define classic language regions functionally in each subject individually and then examine the response of these regions to the nonlinguistic functions most commonly argued to engage these regions: arithmetic, working memory, cognitive control, and music. We find little or no response in language regions to these nonlinguistic functions. These data support a clear distinction between language and other cognitive processes, resolving the prior conflict between the neuropsychological and neuroimaging literatures.

Can delusions be understood linguistically?

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Hinzen, Wolfram; Rosselló, Joana; McKenna, Peter

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Delusions are widely believed to reflect disturbed cognitive function, but the nature of this remains elusive. The “un-Cartesian” cognitive-linguistic hypothesis maintains (a) that there is no thought separate from language, that is, there is no distinct mental space removed from language where “thinking” takes place; and (b) that a somewhat broadened concept of grammar is responsible for bestowing meaning on propositions, and this among other things gives them their quality of being true or false. It is argued that a loss of propositional meaning explains why delusions are false, impossible and sometimes fantastic. A closely related abnormality, failure of linguistic embedding, can additionally account for why delusions are held with fixed conviction and are not adequately justified by the patient. The un-Cartesian linguistic approach to delusions has points of contact with Frith’s theory that inability to form meta-representations underlies a range of schizophrenic symptoms. It may also be relevant to the nature of the “second factor” in monothematic delusions in neurological disease. Finally, it can inform the current debate about whether or not delusions really are beliefs. PMID:27322493

Linguistic Features of Humor in Academic Writing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Skalicky

2016-06-01

Full Text Available A corpus of 313 freshman college essays was analyzed in order to better understand the forms and functions of humor in academic writing. Human ratings of humor and wordplay were statistically aggregated using Factor Analysis to provide an overall Humor component score for each essay in the corpus. In addition, the essays were also scored for overall writing quality by human raters, which correlated (r = .195 with the humor component score. Correlations between the humor component scores and linguistic features were examined. To investigate the potential for linguistic features to predict the Humor component scores, regression analysis identified four linguistic indices that accounted for approximately 17.5% of the variance in humor scores. These indices were related to text descriptiveness (i.e., more adjective and adverb use, lower cohesion (i.e., less paragraph-to-paragraph similarity, and lexical sophistication (lower word frequency. The findings suggest that humor can be partially predicted by linguistic features in the text. Furthermore, there was a small but significant correlation between the humor and essay quality scores, suggesting a positive relation between humor and writing quality. Keywords: humor, academic writing, text analysis, essay score, human rating

Preprocessing Greek Papyri for Linguistic Annotation

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Vierros, Marja

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Greek documentary papyri form an important direct source for Ancient Greek. It has been exploited surprisingly little in Greek linguistics due to a lack of good tools for searching linguistic structures. This article presents a new tool and digital platform, “Sematia”, which enables transforming the digital texts available in TEI EpiDoc XML format to a format which can be morphologically and syntactically annotated (treebanked, and where the user can add new metadata concerning the text type, writer and handwriting of each act of writing. An important aspect in this process is to take into account the original surviving writing vs. the standardization of language and supplements made by the editors. This is performed by creating two different layers of the same text. The platform is in its early development phase. Ongoing and future developments, such as tagging linguistic variation phenomena as well as queries performed within Sematia, are discussed at the end of the article.

A Python Library for Historical Comparative Linguistics

OpenAIRE

Moran , Steven; List , Johann-Mattis

2012-01-01

Awarded best paper award; International audience; In this talk we will discuss a European Research Council funded collaborative effort to build a Python library for undertaking academic research in historical-comparative linguistics. Our aim of implementing quantitative methods, specifically in Python, is to transform historical-comparative linguistics from a primarily handcrafted scientific scholarly endeavor, performed by individual researchers, into a quantitative and collaborative field o...

Palenque de San Basilio in Colombia: genetic data support an oral history of a paternal ancestry in Congo.

Science.gov (United States)

Ansari-Pour, Naser; Moñino, Yves; Duque, Constanza; Gallego, Natalia; Bedoya, Gabriel; Thomas, Mark G; Bradman, Neil

2016-03-30

The Palenque, a black community in rural Colombia, have an oral history of fugitive African slaves founding a free village near Cartagena in the seventeenth century. Recently, linguists have identified some 200 words in regular use that originate in a Kikongo language, with Yombe, mainly spoken in the Congo region, being the most likely source. The non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) and mitochondrial DNA were analysed to establish whether there was greater similarity between present-day members of the Palenque and Yombe than between the Palenque and 42 other African groups (for all individuals,n= 2799) from which forced slaves might have been taken. NRY data are consistent with the linguistic evidence that Yombe is the most likely group from which the original male settlers of Palenque came. Mitochondrial DNA data suggested substantial maternal sub-Saharan African ancestry and a strong founder effect but did not associate Palenque with any particular African group. In addition, based on cultural data including inhabitants' claims of linguistic differences, it has been hypothesized that the two districts of the village (Abajo and Arriba) have different origins, with Arriba founded by men originating in Congo and Abajo by those born in Colombia. Although significant genetic structuring distinguished the two from each other, no supporting evidence for this hypothesis was found. © 2016 The Author(s).

A core avenue for transcultural research on dementia: on the cross-linguistic generalization of language-related effects in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Noelia; Ibáñez, Agustín; Muñoz, Edinson; García, Adolfo M

2018-06-01

Language is a key source of cross-cultural variability, which may have both subtle and major effects on neurocognition. However, this issue has been largely overlooked in two flourishing lines of research assessing the relationship between language-related neural systems and dementia. This paper assesses the limitations of the evidence on (i) the neuroprotective effects of bilingualism in Alzheimer's disease and (ii) specific language deficits as markers of Parkinson's disease. First, we outline the rationale behind each line of research. Second, we review available evidence and discuss the potential impact of cross-linguistic factors. Third, we outline ideas to foster progress in both fields and, with it, in cross-cultural neuroscience at large. On the one hand, studies on bilingualism suggest that sustained use of more than one language may protect against Alzheimer's disease symptoms. On the other hand, insights from the embodied cognition framework point to syntactic and action-verb deficits as early (and even preclinical) markers of Parkinson's disease. However, both fields share a key limitation that lies at the heart of cultural neuroscience: the issue of cross-linguistic generalizability. Relevant evidence for both research trends comes from only a handful of (mostly Indo-European) languages, which are far from capturing the full scope of structural and typological diversity of the linguistic landscape worldwide. This raises questions on the external validity of reported findings. Greater collaboration between linguistic typology and cognitive neuroscience seems crucial as a first step to assess the impact of transcultural differences on language-related effects across neurodegenerative diseases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Linguistic and Embodied Nature of Conceptual Processing

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Louwerse, Max M.; Jeuniaux, Patrick

2010-01-01

Recent theories of cognition have argued that embodied experience is important for conceptual processing. Embodiment can be contrasted with linguistic factors such as the typical order in which words appear in language. Here, we report four experiments that investigated the conditions under which embodiment and linguistic factors determine…

Breaking Classroom Silences: A View from Linguistic Ethnography

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Rampton, Ben; Charalambous, Constadina

2016-01-01

This paper addresses potentially problematic classroom episodes in which someone foregrounds a social division that is normally taken for granted. It illustrates the way in which linguistic ethnography can unpack the layered processes that collide in the breaking of silence, showing how linguistic form and practice, individual positioning, local…

Gradual linguistic summaries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wilbik, A.M.; Kaymak, U.; Laurent, A.; Strauss, O.; Bouchon-Meunier, xx

2014-01-01

In this paper we propose a new type of protoform-based linguistic summary – the gradual summary. This new type of summaries aims in capturing the change over some time span. Such summaries can be useful in many domains, for instance in economics, e.g., "prices of X are getting smaller" in eldercare,

Perspectives in Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Waterman, John T.

Intended for the student of linguistics or the structural grammarian, who must develop an awareness of their intellectual heritage, the present work surveys the study of language in ancient times, the medieval and early modern periods, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century to 1950. (This second edition includes additional material on…

Evidence-informed health policy 2 – Survey of organizations that support the use of research evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oxman Andrew D

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous surveys of organizations that support the development of evidence-informed health policies have focused on organizations that produce clinical practice guidelines (CPGs or undertake health technology assessments (HTAs. Only rarely have surveys focused at least in part on units that directly support the use of research evidence in developing health policy on an international, national, and state or provincial level (i.e., government support units, or GSUs that are in some way successful or innovative or that support the use of research evidence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs. Methods We drew on many people and organizations around the world, including our project reference group, to generate a list of organizations to survey. We modified a questionnaire that had been developed originally by the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation in Europe (AGREE collaboration and adapted one version of the questionnaire for organizations producing CPGs and HTAs, and another for GSUs. We sent the questionnaire by email to 176 organizations and followed up periodically with non-responders by email and telephone. Results We received completed questionnaires from 152 (86% organizations. More than one-half of the organizations (and particularly HTA agencies reported that examples from other countries were helpful in establishing their organization. A higher proportion of GSUs than CPG- or HTA-producing organizations involved target users in the selection of topics or the services undertaken. Most organizations have few (five or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE staff. More than four-fifths of organizations reported providing panels with or using systematic reviews. GSUs tended to use a wide variety of explicit valuation processes for the research evidence, but none with the frequency that organizations producing CPGs, HTAs, or both prioritized evidence by its quality. Between one-half and two-thirds of organizations

Cross-linguistic perspectives on speech assessment in cleft palate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Willadsen, Elisabeth; Henningsson, Gunilla

2012-01-01

. Finally, the influence of different languages on some aspects of language acquisition in young children with cleft palate is presented and discussed. Until recently, not much has been written about cross linguistic perspectives when dealing with cleft palate speech. Most literature about assessment......This chapter deals with cross linguistic perspectives that need to be taken into account when comparing speech assessment and speech outcome obtained from cleft palate speakers of different languages. Firstly, an overview of consonants and vowels vulnerable to the cleft condition is presented. Then......, consequences for assessment of cleft palate speech by native versus non-native speakers of a language are discussed, as well as the use of phonemic versus phonetic transcription in cross linguistic studies. Specific recommendations for the construction of speech samples in cross linguistic studies are given...

The Role of Oral Output in Noticing and Promoting the Acquisition of Linguistic Forms

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dan

2013-01-01

Many empirical studies carried out to test the three major functions of the Comprehensible Output Hypothesis proposed by Swain lend some support to the Hypothesis in one way or another. This study aims to investigate whether giving the Chinese EFL learners an opportunity for oral output encourages them to notice their linguistic problems in oral…

What evidence and support do state-level public health practitioners need to address obesity prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Leeman, Jennifer; Teal, Randall; Jernigan, Jan; Reed, Jenica Huddleston; Farris, Rosanne; Ammerman, Alice

2014-01-01

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Public health practitioners are distinctly positioned to promote the environmental changes essential to addressing obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other entities provide evidence and technical assistance to support this work, yet little is known about how practitioners use evidence and support as they intervene to prevent obesity. The study's purpose was to describe how practitioners and CDC project officers characterized the obesity prevention task, where practitioners accessed support and evidence, and what approaches to support and evidence they found most useful. APPROACH OR DESIGN: Mixed-methods, cross-sectional interviews, and survey. State-level public health obesity prevention programs. Public health practitioners and CDC project officers. We conducted 10 in-depth interviews with public health practitioners (n = 7) and project officers (n = 3) followed by an online survey completed by 62 practitioners (50% response rate). We applied content analysis to interview data and descriptive statistics to survey data. Practitioners characterized obesity prevention as uncertain and complex, involving interdependence among actors, multiple levels of activity, an excess of information, and a paucity of evidence. Survey findings provide further detail on the types of evidence and support practitioners used and valued. We recommend approaches to tailoring evidence and support to the needs of practitioners working on obesity prevention and other complex health problems.

A Brief History of the 19th-century Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

郭丽娟

2016-01-01

In a broad sense Linguistics boasts a history as long as the history of writing. Knowledge of linguistics involves its history. And a history of linguistics is related to the origin of human language. Language is one of the most wonderful phenomena in human ’s social life. This paper introduce a brief history of historical and comparative linguistics in 19th–century.

The Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (12th, Santa Cruz, California, April 2-4, 1993).

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Erin, Ed.; And Others

Papers on phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics from a conference on formal linguistics include: "Major Class Alternations" (Young-Mee Yu Cho, S. Inkelas); "On Defining Complex Templates (R. Kager); "Sandhi and Syllables in Classical Sanskrit" (B. Kessler); "Catalexis in Word Stress: Evidence from Spanish and…

An Analysis of Social Class Classification Based on Linguistic Variables

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

QU Xia-sha

2016-01-01

Since language is an influential tool in social interaction, the relationship of speech and social factors, such as social class, gender, even age is worth studying. People employ different linguistic variables to imply their social class, status and iden-tity in the social interaction. Thus the linguistic variation involves vocabulary, sounds, grammatical constructions, dialects and so on. As a result, a classification of social class draws people’s attention. Linguistic variable in speech interactions indicate the social relationship between people. This paper attempts to illustrate three main linguistic variables which influence the social class, and further sociolinguistic studies need to be more concerned about.

Building "Applied Linguistic Historiography": Rationale, Scope, and Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Richard

2016-01-01

In this article I argue for the establishment of "Applied Linguistic Historiography" (ALH), that is, a new domain of enquiry within applied linguistics involving a rigorous, scholarly, and self-reflexive approach to historical research. Considering issues of rationale, scope, and methods in turn, I provide reasons why ALH is needed and…

As we fall asleep we forget about the future: A quantitative linguistic analysis of mentation reports from hypnagogia.

Science.gov (United States)

Speth, Jana; Schloerscheidt, Astrid M; Speth, Clemens

2016-10-01

We present a quantitative study of mental time travel to the past and future in sleep onset hypnagogia. Three independent, blind judges analysed a total of 150 mentation reports from different intervals prior to and after sleep onset. The linguistic tool for the mentation report analysis grounds on established grammatical and cognitive-semantic theories, and proof of concept has been provided in previous studies. The current results indicate that memory for the future, but not for the past, decreases in sleep onset - thereby supporting preliminary physiological evidence at the level of brain function. While recent memory research emphasizes similarities in the cognitive and physiological processes of mental time travel to the past and future, the current study explores a state of consciousness which may serve to dissociate between the two. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drawing upon Lessons Learned: Effective Curriculum and Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Gifted Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, Julie Dingle

2016-01-01

Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program has provided a wealth of knowledge on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) gifted learners and how to support teachers in their work with CLD students. This study examined five impactful Javits projects through qualitative inquiry centered on how innovative practice takes root or not. Using…

Knowing linguistic conventions | Robinson | South African Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

These are three standard accounts of the epistemic status of linguistic conventions, which all play into the first camp: (1) knowledge by intuition, (2) inferential a priori knowledge and (3) a posteriori knowledge. I give reasons why these accounts should be rejected. I then argue that linguistic conventions, if conceived of as ...

Resources on Quantitative/Statistical Research for Applied Linguists

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, James Dean

2004-01-01

The purpose of this review article is to survey and evaluate existing books on quantitative/statistical research in applied linguistics. The article begins by explaining the types of texts that will not be reviewed, then it briefly describes nine books that address how to do quantitative/statistical applied linguistics research. The review then…

Abnormal motor cortex excitability during linguistic tasks in adductor-type spasmodic dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Suppa, A; Marsili, L; Giovannelli, F; Di Stasio, F; Rocchi, L; Upadhyay, N; Ruoppolo, G; Cincotta, M; Berardelli, A

2015-08-01

In healthy subjects (HS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied during 'linguistic' tasks discloses excitability changes in the dominant hemisphere primary motor cortex (M1). We investigated 'linguistic' task-related cortical excitability modulation in patients with adductor-type spasmodic dysphonia (ASD), a speech-related focal dystonia. We studied 10 ASD patients and 10 HS. Speech examination included voice cepstral analysis. We investigated the dominant/non-dominant M1 excitability at baseline, during 'linguistic' (reading aloud/silent reading/producing simple phonation) and 'non-linguistic' tasks (looking at non-letter strings/producing oral movements). Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the contralateral hand muscles. We measured the cortical silent period (CSP) length and tested MEPs in HS and patients performing the 'linguistic' tasks with different voice intensities. We also examined MEPs in HS and ASD during hand-related 'action-verb' observation. Patients were studied under and not-under botulinum neurotoxin-type A (BoNT-A). In HS, TMS over the dominant M1 elicited larger MEPs during 'reading aloud' than during the other 'linguistic'/'non-linguistic' tasks. Conversely, in ASD, TMS over the dominant M1 elicited increased-amplitude MEPs during 'reading aloud' and 'syllabic phonation' tasks. CSP length was shorter in ASD than in HS and remained unchanged in both groups performing 'linguistic'/'non-linguistic' tasks. In HS and ASD, 'linguistic' task-related excitability changes were present regardless of the different voice intensities. During hand-related 'action-verb' observation, MEPs decreased in HS, whereas in ASD they increased. In ASD, BoNT-A improved speech, as demonstrated by cepstral analysis and restored the TMS abnormalities. ASD reflects dominant hemisphere excitability changes related to 'linguistic' tasks; BoNT-A returns these excitability changes to normal. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John

ADDIS: A decision support system for evidence-based medicine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G. van Valkenhoef (Gert); T. Tervonen (Tommi); T. Zwinkels (Tijs); B. de Brock (Bert); H.L. Hillege (Hans)

2013-01-01

textabstractClinical trials are the main source of information for the efficacy and safety evaluation of medical treatments. Although they are of pivotal importance in evidence-based medicine, there is a lack of usable information systems providing data-analysis and decision support capabilities for

Vocabulary used by ethno-linguistically diverse South African toddlers: a parent report using the language development survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonasillan, A; Bornman, J; Harty, M

2013-12-01

The primary aim of this study was to ascertain the relevance of the vocabulary of the Language Development Survey (LDS) for typically developing South African toddlers who attend ethno-linguistically diverse early childhood development centres. The need for exploration of the expressive vocabulary of this population stems from the diverse linguistic contexts to which toddlers are exposed on a day-to-day basis in South Africa. Many parents prefer English as the language of learning and teaching for their child. As a result, toddlers interact with ethno-linguistically diverse peers from a young age, usually within their early childhood development centres. An adapted version of the LDS was presented to 40 middle-class parents in Mpumalanga. Vocabulary commonly used by toddlers was determined and a comparison of parent responses made between the present study and the original American-based survey. Results revealed that nouns were used most often by toddlers, in keeping with research on vocabulary acquisition. Significant correlations between the two groups were evident in 12 of the 14 categories. Parents reported that nouns, verbs, adjectives and words from other word classes were used similarly by toddlers, despite differences in their linguistic exposure. These findings suggest that the LDS is a valuable clinical screening tool for speech-language therapists who deliver services to toddlers within the South African context.

LINGUISTIC FEATURES ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH ELECTRONIC COMMERCE WEBSITES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Nurani

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This research aims at identifying linguistic features used in the English electronic commerce websites used in correlation with the field, tenor and mode of discourse as parts of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL approach. Findings have shown that in the field of discourse, the linguistic features are largely appeared in the experiential domain analysis which shows that all terms of registers function as technical terms, of which the two major forms of nouns and verbs were the most frequent categories among other kinds of technical terms. The goal orientation is considered to be as a long term and the social activity is exchange. In the tenor of discourse, the linguistic features are highly appeared in the social distance analysis which shows that the social distance between participants is considered minimal. The agentive role is said to be equal and the social role is considered as non-hierarchic. In the mode of discourse, the linguistic features are excessively occurred in the language role analysis which exists equally of both constitutive and ancillary. The channel is in graphic mode. The medium is in written with a visual contact as its device.

The Linguistic Landscape as a Learning Space for Contextual Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Aladjem, Ruthi; Jou, Bibiana

2016-01-01

One of the challenges of teaching and learning a foreign language is that students are not being sufficiently exposed to the target language. However, it is quite common to find linguistic and cultural exponents of different foreign languages in authentic contexts (termed the "Linguistic landscape"). Using the Linguistic landscape as a…

Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of Athens: The Case of Shop Signs

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolaou, Alexander

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the linguistic composition of commercial signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Athens, Greece. Previous studies have mainly been carried out in officially multilingual and multi-ethnic areas [Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., & Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). "Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of…

Early Detection of Cognitive-Linguistic Change Associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Valarie B.

2014-01-01

Individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may present with subtle declines in linguistic ability that go undetected by tasks not challenging enough to tax a relatively intact cognitive-linguistic system. This study was designed to replicate and extend a previous study of cognitive-linguistic ability in MCI using a complex discourse…

Capturing socially motivated linguistic change. How the use of gender-fair language afffects support for social initiatives in Austria and Poland.

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Magdalena Maria Formanowicz

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Gender-fair language consists of the symmetric linguistic treatment of women and men instead of using masculine forms as generics. In this study, we examine how the use of gender-fair language affects readers’ support for social initiatives in Poland and Austria. While gender-fair language is relatively novel in Poland, it is well established in Austria. This difference may lead to different perceptions of gender-fair usage in these speech communities. Two studies conducted in Poland investigate whether the evaluation of social initiatives (Study 1: quotas for women on election lists; Study 2: support for women students or students from countries troubled by war is affected by how female proponents (lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, and academics are referred to, with masculine forms (traditional or with feminine forms (modern, gender-fair. Study 3 replicates Study 2 in Austria. Our results indicate that in Poland, gender-fair language has negative connotations and therefore, detrimental effects particularly when used in gender-related contexts. Conversely, in Austria, where gender-fair language has been implemented and used for some time, there are no such negative effects. This pattern of results may inform the discussion about formal policies regulating the use of gender-fair language.

Is recursion language-specific? Evidence of recursive mechanisms in the structure of intentional action.

Science.gov (United States)

Vicari, Giuseppe; Adenzato, Mauro

2014-05-01

In their 2002 seminal paper Hauser, Chomsky and Fitch hypothesize that recursion is the only human-specific and language-specific mechanism of the faculty of language. While debate focused primarily on the meaning of recursion in the hypothesis and on the human-specific and syntax-specific character of recursion, the present work focuses on the claim that recursion is language-specific. We argue that there are recursive structures in the domain of motor intentionality by way of extending John R. Searle's analysis of intentional action. We then discuss evidence from cognitive science and neuroscience supporting the claim that motor-intentional recursion is language-independent and suggest some explanatory hypotheses: (1) linguistic recursion is embodied in sensory-motor processing; (2) linguistic and motor-intentional recursions are distinct and mutually independent mechanisms. Finally, we propose some reflections about the epistemic status of HCF as presenting an empirically falsifiable hypothesis, and on the possibility of testing recursion in different cognitive domains. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A primer in macromolecular linguistics.

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Searls, David B

2013-03-01

Polymeric macromolecules, when viewed abstractly as strings of symbols, can be treated in terms of formal language theory, providing a mathematical foundation for characterizing such strings both as collections and in terms of their individual structures. In addition this approach offers a framework for analysis of macromolecules by tools and conventions widely used in computational linguistics. This article introduces the ways that linguistics can be and has been applied to molecular biology, covering the relevant formal language theory at a relatively nontechnical level. Analogies between macromolecules and human natural language are used to provide intuitive insights into the relevance of grammars, parsing, and analysis of language complexity to biology. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reflections on Mixing Methods in Applied Linguistics Research

Science.gov (United States)

Hashemi, Mohammad R.

2012-01-01

This commentary advocates the use of mixed methods research--that is the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods in a single study--in applied linguistics. Based on preliminary findings from a research project in progress, some reflections on the current practice of mixing methods as a new trend in applied linguistics are put forward.…

Linguistic Error Analysis on Students' Thesis Proposals

Science.gov (United States)

Pescante-Malimas, Mary Ann; Samson, Sonrisa C.

2017-01-01

This study identified and analyzed the common linguistic errors encountered by Linguistics, Literature, and Advertising Arts majors in their Thesis Proposal classes in the First Semester 2016-2017. The data were the drafts of the thesis proposals of the students from the three different programs. A total of 32 manuscripts were analyzed which was…

Linguistic Legitimation of Political Events in Newspaper Discourse

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Marwah Kareem Ali

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the discursive structures employed in legitimizing the event of U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq and identifies them in relation to linguistic features. It attempts to describe the relation between language use and legitimation discursive structures in depicting political events. The paper focuses on the political event of U.S. forces’ withdrawal from Iraq in the English newspaper issued in Iraq. The study shows the way in which journalists express their values and attitudes concerning this critical event. Consequently, this requires a critical discourse analysis (henceforth, CDA to analyse news articles in the Iraqi English newspaper: The Kurdish Globe (henceforth, KG newspaper. Accordingly, the study presents a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles to identify the legitimation discursive structures and their linguistic features. It is found that the main discursive structures of legitimation employed in the KG newspaper are: authorization, rationalization, and moral evaluation. Besides, there were five verb processes used to represent this legitimation, including material, verbal, relational, mental, and existential. Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, legitimation discursive structures, linguistic features, newspaper discourse, systemic functional linguistics

OCCASIONAL ADNOMINAL IDIOM MODIFICATION - A COGNITIVE LINGUISTIC APPROACH

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Andreas Langlotz

2006-06-01

Full Text Available occasional Adnominal Idiom Modification - A Cognitive Linguistic Approach From a cognitive-linguistic perspective, this paper explores alternative types of adnoniinal modification in occasional variants of English verbal idioms. Being discussed against data extracted from the British National Corpiis (BNC, the model claims that in idioni-production idiomatic constructions are activated as complex linguistic schemas to code a context-specific target-conceptualisation. Adnominal pre- and postmodifications are one specific form of creative alteration to adapt the idiom for this purpose. Semantically, idiom-interna1 NPextension is not a uniforni process. It is necessary to distinguish two systematic types of adnominal modification: external and internal modification (Ernst 1981. While external NPmodification has adverbial function, ¡.e. it modifies the idiom as a unit, internal modification directly applies to the head-noun and thus depends on the degree of motivation and analysability of a given idiom. Following the cognitive-linguistic framework, these dimensions of idiom-transparency result from the language user's ability to remotivate the bipartite semantic structure by conceptual metaphors and metonymies.

The Effects of Linguistic Labels Related to Abstract Scenes on Memory

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Kentaro Inomata

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Boundary extension is the false memory beyond the actual boundary of a picture scene. Gagnier (2011 suggested that a linguistic label has no effect on the magnitude of boundary extension. Although she controlled the timing of the presentation or information of the linguistic label, the information of stimulus was not changed. In the present study, the depiction of the main object was controlled in order to change the contextual information of a scene. In experiment, the 68 participants were shown 12 pictures. The stimulus consisted pictures that depicted the main object or did not depict the main object, and half of them were presented with linguistic description. Participants rated the object-less pictures more closely than the original pictures, when the former were presented with linguistic labels. However, when they were presented without linguistic labels, boundary extension did not occur. There was no effect of labels on the pictures that depicted the main objects. On the basis of these results, the linguistic label enhances the representation of the abstract scene like a homogeneous field or a wall. This finding suggests that boundary extension may be affected by not only visual information but also by other sensory information mediated by linguistic representation.

Opening Minds or Changing Them? Some Observations on Teaching Introductory Linguistics.

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Milambiling, Joyce

2001-01-01

Analyzes the teaching of linguistics and ethics of representing linguistic issues in a persuasive way, examining tensions between telling it like it is and telling it in a way that students will listen. The paper highlights persuasion, the introduction of linguistic concepts, the importance of understanding dialects and their role in education,…

Processing demands upon cognitive, linguistic, and articulatory functions promote grey matter plasticity in the adult multilingual brain: Insights from simultaneous interpreters.

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Elmer, Stefan; Hänggi, Jürgen; Jäncke, Lutz

2014-05-01

Until now, considerable effort has been made to determine structural brain characteristics related to exceptional multilingual skills. However, at least one important question has not yet been satisfactorily addressed in the previous literature, namely whether and to which extent the processing demands upon cognitive, linguistic, and articulatory functions may promote grey matter plasticity in the adult multilingual brain. Based on the premise that simultaneous interpretation is a highly demanding linguistic task that places strong demands on executive and articulatory functions, here we compared grey matter volumes between professional simultaneous interpreters (SI) and multilingual control subjects. Thereby, we focused on a specific set of a-priori defined bilateral brain regions that have previously been shown to support neurocognitional aspects of language control and linguistic functions in the multilingual brain. These regions are the cingulate gyrus, caudate nucleus, frontal operculum (pars triangularis and opercularis), inferior parietal lobe (IPL) (supramarginal and angular gyrus), and the insula. As a main result, we found reduced grey matter volumes in professional SI, compared to multilingual controls, in the left middle-anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral pars triangularis, left pars opercularis, bilateral middle part of the insula, and in the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Interestingly, grey matter volume in left pars triangularis, right pars opercularis, middle-anterior cingulate gyrus, and in the bilateral caudate nucleus was negatively correlated with the cumulative number of interpreting hours. Hence, we provide first evidence for an expertise-related grey matter architecture that may reflect a composite of brain characteristics that were still present before interpreting training and training-related changes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ling An: Linguistic analysis of NPP instructions

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Karlsson, F.; Salo, L. (Helsingfors Univ., Institutionen foer allmaen spraakvetenskap (Finland)); Wahlstroem, B. (VTT (Finland))

2008-07-15

The project consists of two sub-projects, 1) to find out whether the available linguistic method SWECG (Swedish Constraint Grammar) might be used for analyzing the safety manuals for Forsmark nuclear power plant, and 2) to find out whether it is possible to create a working system based on the SWECG method. The conclusion of the project is that an applicable linguistic analysis system may be realized by the company Lingsoft Inc., Aabo, Finland. (ln)

Ling An: LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF NPP INSTRUCTIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karlsson, F.; Salo, L.; Wahlstroem, B.

2008-07-01

The project consists of two sub-projects, 1) to find out whether the available linguistic method SWECG (Swedish Constraint Grammar) might be used for analyzing the safety manuals for Forsmark nuclear power plant, and 2) to find out whether it is possible to create a working system based on the SWECG method. The conclusion of the project is that an applicable linguistic analysis system may be realized by the company Lingsoft Inc., Aabo, Finland. (ln)

The Multi/Plural Turn, Postcolonial Theory, and Neoliberal Multiculturalism: Complicities and Implications for Applied Linguistics

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Kubota, Ryuko

2016-01-01

In applied linguistics and language education, an increased focus has been placed on plurality and hybridity to challenge monolingualism, the native speaker norm, and the modernist view of language and language use as unitary and bounded. The multi/plural turn parallels postcolonial theory in that they both support hybridity and fluidity while…

GEOLINGUISTICS: THE LINGUISTIC ATLAS OF PARANÁ

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Rosa Evangelina de Santana BELLI RODRIGUES

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work is to analyze the methodology adopted by the Linguistic Atlas of Paraná – APLR (AGUILERA, 1990 and to describe its results in relation to other Brazilian atlas. To meet this objective, we first present the modifications, mainly methodological, under gone by Geolinguistics towards a more complete and in depth description of linguistic variation. The Pluridimensional Geolinguistics and Contractual model of Harald Thun (1998 and the Linguistics Atlas of Brazil – ALiB (CARDOSO et all, 2014, published in October, 2014, are presented. It was also necessary to describe, although briefly, the most traditional Geolinguistics research method, characteristic of the ALPR, before referring the text back to Aguilera’s Atlas. After discussing the criteria on which the ALPR was constructed, from choice of informers to the Geolinguistics charts that compose it, as well as its complementation by the ALPR II (ALTINO, 2007, it was possible to analyze the results and relate them to the hypotheses posed by the thesis which gave origin to it.

Music playschool enhances children's linguistic skills.

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Linnavalli, Tanja; Putkinen, Vesa; Lipsanen, Jari; Huotilainen, Minna; Tervaniemi, Mari

2018-06-08

Several studies have suggested that intensive musical training enhances children's linguistic skills. Such training, however, is not available to all children. We studied in a community setting whether a low-cost, weekly music playschool provided to 5-6-year-old children in kindergartens could already affect their linguistic abilities. Children (N = 66) were tested four times over two school-years with Phoneme processing and Vocabulary subtests, along with tests for Perceptual reasoning skills and Inhibitory control. We compared the development of music playschool children to their peers either attending to similarly organized dance lessons or not attending to either activity. Music playschool significantly improved the development of children's phoneme processing and vocabulary skills. No such improvements on children's scores for non-verbal reasoning and inhibition were obtained. Our data suggest that even playful group music activities - if attended to for several years - have a positive effect on pre-schoolers' linguistic skills. Therefore we promote the concept of implementing regular music playschool lessons given by professional teachers in early childhood education.

Grammatical Gender Trouble and Hungarian Gender[lessness]. Part I: Comparative Linguistic Gender

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Louise O. Vasvári

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to define linguistic gender[lessness], with particular reference in the latter part of the article to Hungarian, and to show why it is a feminist issue. I will discuss the [socio]linguistics of linguistic gender in three types of languages, those, like German and the Romance languages, among others, which possess grammatical gender, languages such as English, with only pronominal gender (sometimes misnamed ‘natural gender’, and languages such as Hungarian and other Finno-Ugric languages, as well as many other languages in the world, such as Turkish and Chinese, which have no linguistic or pronomial gender, but, like all languages, can make lexical gender distinctions. While in a narrow linguistic sense linguistic gender can be said to be afunctional, this does not take into account the ideological ramifications in gendered languages of the “leakage” between gender and sex[ism], while at the same time so-called genderless languages can express societal sexist assumptions linguistically through, for example, lexical gender, semantic derogation of women, and naming conventions. Thus, both languages with overt grammatical gender and those with gender-related asymmetries of a more covert nature show language to represent traditional cultural expectations, illustrating that linguistic gender is a feminist issue.

Lexicography and Linguistic Creativity*

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rbr

It could be argued that lexicography has little business with linguistic creativ- ...... The forms in which traditional proverbs are found can also vary greatly: many ... BoE has examples of the proverb every cloud has a silver lining but many more ...

On possible linguistic correlates to brain lateralization

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Tania Kouteva/Kuteva

2014-04-01

The present paper compares the two modes of processing proposed by Van Lancker Sidtis (2009 in her dual process model and the two domains of discourse organization distinguished in the framework of Discourse Grammar (Heine et al. 2013; Kaltenböck et al. 2011. These two frameworks were developed on different kinds of data. In the dual process model it is observations on patients with left or right hemisphere damage that marked the starting point of analysis. Central to the dual process model is the distinction between novel speech (or novel language, or newly created language, or propositional speech and formulaic speech (or formulaic expressions or automatic speech. Easily identified instances of formulaic speech are swear words, interjections, pause fillers, discourse elements, non-literal lexical meanings for idioms, proverbs. Unlike the dual process model, in the Discourse Grammar model it is linguistic discontinuities that provided the basis of analysis. Discourse grammar in this model is understood as all the linguistic resources that are available for constructing spoken and written (and signed texts. We argue that Discourse Grammar can be divided into two distinct domains, namely Sentence Grammar and Thetical Grammar. Whereas Sentence Grammar has been at the centre of interest in mainstream linguistics, Thetical Grammar encompasses linguistic phenomena – such as formulae of social exchange, imperatives, vocatives, interjections, including hesitation markers and pause fillers and what is traditionally known as “parenthetical” constructions – that pose a problem to orthodox grammatical analysis. We show that the findings made within the two frameworks are largely compatible with one another: both models converge on claiming that there is a significant correlation between linguistic categorization and hemisphere-based brain activity. In the dual process model it is hypothesized that there is a significant correlation between certain kinds of speech

Translating extra-linguistic culture-bound concepts in Mofolo: a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Academic work on translation issues abounds, carried out by linguists and trans- .... to linguistics as they are cultural, social, literary, etc. (615–6). In other ..... places the term in italics on page 95 and makes a brief translator's note, “council.

Text Linguistics in the Context of the Communication Sciences

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Silviu Serban

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This paper tries to analyse the conditions of emerging of text linguistics, taking into consideration the rootsof the preoccupations in its domain, originated in the framework of the communication studies. Thus, the change ofthe perspective on communication, from the mechanistic transmission to interactivity and the exchange of themeanings, led to the pragmatic orientation of the linguistic researches, not just to the message itself, but also to theelements of the communicative act and to the context where the exchange of the meanings takes place. As a result,text linguistics defines the text as communicational occurrence, involving both the members of the communicationand the conditions of the production and the reception of the message, unlike conventional linguistics which studiesthe text in abstracto, just the message itself, ignoring the world that the text refers to, or the users of the message, thetransmitter and the receiver.

Non-linguistic Conditions for Causativization as a Linguistic Attractor

OpenAIRE

Johanna Nichols; Johanna Nichols; Johanna Nichols

2018-01-01

An attractor, in complex systems theory, is any state that is more easily or more often entered or acquired than departed or lost; attractor states therefore accumulate more members than non-attractors, other things being equal. In the context of language evolution, linguistic attractors include sounds, forms, and grammatical structures that are prone to be selected when sociolinguistics and language contact make it possible for speakers to choose between competing forms. The reasons why an e...

Corpus methods and their reflection in linguistic theories of the 20th century

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Simon Krek

2013-05-01

Full Text Available In the 20th century structuralism established itself as the central linguistic theory, in the first half mainly through its originator Ferdinand de Saussure, and in the second half with the figure of Noam Chomsky. The latter consistently refused to acknowledge analysis of extensive quantity of texts as a valuable method, and favoured linguistic intuition of a native speaker instead. In parallel with structuralism other trends in linguistics emerged which pointed to the inadequateness of the prevailing linguistic paradigm and to theoretical insights which were only possible after the systematic analysis of large quantities of texts. The paper discusses some of the dilemmas stemming from this dichotomy and places corpus linguistics in a broader linguistic context.

NICU nurse educators: what evidence supports your teaching strategies?

Science.gov (United States)

Pilcher, Jobeth

2013-01-01

One of our roles as nurse educators is to teach best practices related to patient care. However, have you ever stopped to think about what evidence supports your teaching strategies? Just as our patients deserve care that is based on the best available evidence, our learners also deserve education that is based on evidence.1-3 With so many advances in knowledge, technology, and even life itself, it is interesting that education has changed very little over the past 100 years. A study among 946 nurse educators documented that most teach the way they were taught.4 In addition, even after learning new strategies, educators often continue teaching in the manner they are most comfortable. However, this trend is beginning to change. Nurse educators are becoming increasingly aware of and willing to try new and innovative teaching strategies. Educators are also seeking out evidence-based teaching strategies and are becoming more involved in nursing education research.

Promoting linguistic complexity, greater message length and ease of engagement in email writing in people with aphasia: initial evidence from a study utilizing assistive writing software.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiel, Lindsey; Sage, Karen; Conroy, Paul

2017-01-01

that assistive writing technologies can support people with aphasia in email writing across a range of important performance parameters. However, more research is needed to measure the effects of these technologies on the writing of people with aphasia, and to determine the optimal compensatory mechanisms for specific people given the linguistic-strategic resources they bring to the task of email writing. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Text genres and registers the computation of linguistic features

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Fang, Chengyu Alex

2015-01-01

This book is a description of some of the most recent advances in text classification as part of a concerted effort to achieve computer understanding of human language. In particular, it addresses state-of-the-art developments in the computation of higher-level linguistic features, ranging from etymology to grammar and syntax for the practical task of text classification according to genres, registers and subject domains. Serving as a bridge between computational methods and sophisticated linguistic analysis, this book will be of particular interest to academics and students of computational linguistics as well as professionals in natural language engineering.

Explaining the Linguistic Diversity of Sahul Using Population Models

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Reesink, Ger; Singer, Ruth; Dunn, Michael

2009-01-01

The region of the ancient Sahul continent (present day Australia and New Guinea, and surrounding islands) is home to extreme linguistic diversity. Even apart from the huge Austronesian language family, which spread into the area after the breakup of the Sahul continent in the Holocene, there are hundreds of languages from many apparently unrelated families. On each of the subcontinents, the generally accepted classification recognizes one large, widespread family and a number of unrelatable smaller families. If these language families are related to each other, it is at a depth which is inaccessible to standard linguistic methods. We have inferred the history of structural characteristics of these languages under an admixture model, using a Bayesian algorithm originally developed to discover populations on the basis of recombining genetic markers. This analysis identifies 10 ancestral language populations, some of which can be identified with clearly defined phylogenetic groups. The results also show traces of early dispersals, including hints at ancient connections between Australian languages and some Papuan groups (long hypothesized, never before demonstrated). Systematic language contact effects between members of big phylogenetic groups are also detected, which can in some cases be identified with a diffusional or substrate signal. Most interestingly, however, there remains striking evidence of a phylogenetic signal, with many languages showing negligible amounts of admixture. PMID:19918360

Paradigm Changes in Linguistics: From Reductionism to Holism

Science.gov (United States)

Weigand, Edda

2011-01-01

Linguistics like any science has undergone a series of paradigm changes, one of the most important being the change from the view of language as a sign system to that of language-in-use. In the face of the progress made in the natural and social sciences in recent years, from biology to economics, the question has to be posed where linguistics and…

SCHOOL LINGUISTIC CREATIVITY BASED ON SCIENTIFIC GEOGRAPHICAL TEXTS

OpenAIRE

VIORICA BLÎNDĂ

2012-01-01

The analysis and observation of the natural environment and of the social and economic one, observing phenomena, objects, beings, and geographical events are at the basis of producing geographical scientific texts. The symbols of iconotexts and cartotexts are another source of inspiration for linguistic interpretation. The linguistic creations that we selected for our study are the scientific analysis, the commentary, the characteriz...

Resources on quantitative/statistical research for applied linguists

OpenAIRE

Brown , James Dean

2004-01-01

Abstract The purpose of this review article is to survey and evaluate existing books on quantitative/statistical research in applied linguistics. The article begins by explaining the types of texts that will not be reviewed, then it briefly describes nine books that address how to do quantitative/statistical applied linguistics research. The review then compares (in prose and tables) the general characteris...

Formation of new linguistic competences in education space: naming examination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Remchukova Elena

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The naming examination is a new kind of linguistic examination. The article deals with linguistic aspects of teaching this course in higher school for the special training of experts. In order to form professional competence on naming examination in the process of teaching special attention is paid to studies of theory of nomination and onomastics, to examination of language units from the point of view of component analysis, semantic-stylistic analysis and others, as well as the formation of the skills of work with different lexicographic sources and digital resources and database. In the laboratory course “Applied and mathematical linguistics,” the skills of lexico-semantic, morphological, etymological, morphemic, word-formation, phonetic analysis of concrete names are practiced. We focus on the studies of artificial naming patterns, including advertising names, which bring out the creative potential of the Russian language. Creative trends dominate in this area of nomination. Naming examination as a new kind of forensic linguistic examination is taught within the course ”Forensic linguistic examination” which accomplishes technical education of students

Linguistic adaptation between mothers and children in ASD

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fusaroli, Riccardo; Weed, Ethan; Fein, Deborah

We investigate mother-child linguistic adaptation in 33 ASD and 33 matched TD children at two time-scales: conversational match and longitudinal development. We employ a longitudinal corpus (6 visits over 2 years) consisting of controlled playful activities between mothers and their children...... (Goodwin et al. 2012). We quantified amount (number of words and utterances) and complexity (lexical repertoire and utterance length) of linguistic behavior in both mother and child. We used mixed-effects growth curve models to quantify i)match within-conversation and ii)longitudinal impact between visits....... Child and mother are strongly correlated in their linguistic behaviors (R2 between .07 and .62, pMother-child pairs in the ASD group, however, show a shallower increase in match. Amount and complexity...

'Chicken’ in Somali class. Unbounded use of linguistic resources across a compartmentalised language curriculum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daugaard, Line Møller

impact on what counts as desirable language(s), apt linguistic norms and ideals, relevant activities and appropriate ways of managing linguistic diversity in the classroom. A linguistic ethnographic analysis of Abdullahi’s skilfully calibrated linguistic performances in the language classroom at the same...

Statistical Techniques Used in Three Applied Linguistics Journals: "Language Learning,""Applied Linguistics" and "TESOL Quarterly," 1980-1986: Implications for Readers and Researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Teleni, Vicki; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.

A study investigated the statistical techniques used by applied linguists and reported in three journals, "Language Learning,""Applied Linguistics," and "TESOL Quarterly," between 1980 and 1986. It was found that 47% of the published articles used statistical procedures. In these articles, 63% of the techniques used could be called basic, 28%…

Sleepless in Seoul: Neoliberalism, English Fever, and Linguistic Insecurity among Korean Interpreters

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Jinhyun

2015-01-01

This article examines the socially constructed nature of significant linguistic insecurity with regard to the English language in Korean society as informed by neoliberalism. It specifically explores how linguistic insecurity leads to the pursuit of linguistic perfectionism under the popular discourse of neoliberal personhood. Participants are…

Pairwise Comparison and Distance Measure of Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Sets

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Han-Chen Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS, allowing experts using several possible linguistic terms to assess a qualitative linguistic variable, is very useful to express people’s hesitancy in practical decision-making problems. Up to now, a little research has been done on the comparison and distance measure of HFLTSs. In this paper, we present a comparison method for HFLTSs based on pairwise comparisons of each linguistic term in the two HFLTSs. Then, a distance measure method based on the pairwise comparison matrix of HFLTSs is proposed, and we prove that this distance is equal to the distance of the average values of HFLTSs, which makes the distance measure much more simple. Finally, the pairwise comparison and distance measure methods are utilized to develop two multicriteria decision-making approaches under hesitant fuzzy linguistic environments. The results analysis shows that our methods in this paper are more reasonable.

Linguistic analysis of discourse in aphasia: A review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryant, Lucy; Ferguson, Alison; Spencer, Elizabeth

This review examined previous research applications of linguistic discourse analysis to assess the language of adults with aphasia. A comprehensive literature search of seven databases identified 165 studies that applied linguistic measures to samples of discourse collected from people with aphasia. Analysis of methodological applications revealed an increase in published research using linguistic discourse analysis over the past 40 years, particularly to measure the generalisation of therapy outcomes to language in use. Narrative language samples were most frequently subject to analysis though all language genres were observed across included studies. A total of 536 different linguistic measures were applied to examine language behaviours. Growth in the research use of linguistic discourse analysis and suggestions that this growth may be reflected in clinical practice requires further investigation. Future research directions are discussed to investigate clinical use of discourse analysis and examine the differences that exist between research and clinical practice.

On Research Methodology in Applied Linguistics in 2002-2008

Science.gov (United States)

Martynychev, Andrey

2010-01-01

This dissertation examined the status of data-based research in applied linguistics through an analysis of published research studies in nine peer-reviewed applied linguistics journals ("Applied Language Learning, The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, Current Issues in Language Planning, Dialog on Language…

Variation and Linguistic Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Charles-James N.

This volume presents principles and models for describing language variation, and introduces a time-based, dynamic framework for linguistic description. The book first summarizes some of the problems of grammatical description encountered from Saussure through the present and then outlines possibilities for new descriptions of language which take…

Siblings as Mediators of Literacy in Linguistic Minority Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Eve

1998-01-01

Argues for need to move beyond model of "parental" involvement in reading, which presently informs home/school reading programmes for linguistic-minority children in UK. First examines literature informing current model showing marked absence of studies on role played by siblings as mediators of literacy in new linguistic and cultural…

Native-Speakerism, Stereotyping and the Collusion of Applied Linguistics

Science.gov (United States)

Kabel, Ahmed

2009-01-01

Although, in recent years there have been several advances in critical applied linguistics which have attempted to problematize the ideological underpinnings of language practices, there have in parallel been resistances mounted on the part of traditional applied linguistics that adamantly oppose any form of coming to terms with the political and…

Conversation Analysis in Applied Linguistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kasper, Gabriele; Wagner, Johannes

2014-01-01

on applied CA, the application of basic CA's principles, methods, and findings to the study of social domains and practices that are interactionally constituted. We consider three strands—foundational, social problem oriented, and institutional applied CA—before turning to recent developments in CA research...... on learning and development. In conclusion, we address some emerging themes in the relationship of CA and applied linguistics, including the role of multilingualism, standard social science methods as research objects, CA's potential for direct social intervention, and increasing efforts to complement CA......For the last decade, conversation analysis (CA) has increasingly contributed to several established fields in applied linguistics. In this article, we will discuss its methodological contributions. The article distinguishes between basic and applied CA. Basic CA is a sociological endeavor concerned...

Learning Concepts, Language, and Literacy in Hybrid Linguistic Codes: The Multilingual Maze of Urban Grade 1 Classrooms in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Henning, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

From the field of developmental psycholinguistics and from conceptual development theory there is evidence that excessive linguistic "code-switching" in early school education may pose some hazards for the learning of young multilingual children. In this article the author addresses the issue, invoking post-Piagetian and neo-Vygotskian…

Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Preference Utility Set and Its Application in Selection of Fire Rescue Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Si, Guangsen; Xu, Zeshui

2018-01-01

Hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set provides an effective tool to represent uncertain decision information. However, the semantics corresponding to the linguistic terms in it cannot accurately reflect the decision-makers’ subjective cognition. In general, different decision-makers’ sensitivities towards the semantics are different. Such sensitivities can be represented by the cumulative prospect theory value function. Inspired by this, we propose a linguistic scale function to transform the semantics corresponding to linguistic terms into the linguistic preference values. Furthermore, we propose the hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference utility set, based on which, the decision-makers can flexibly express their distinct semantics and obtain the decision results that are consistent with their cognition. For calculations and comparisons over the hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference utility sets, we introduce some distance measures and comparison laws. Afterwards, to apply the hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference utility sets in emergency management, we develop a method to obtain objective weights of attributes and then propose a hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference utility-TOPSIS method to select the best fire rescue plan. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is verified by some comparisons of the method with other two representative methods including the hesitant fuzzy linguistic-TOPSIS method and the hesitant fuzzy linguistic-VIKOR method. PMID:29614019

Language learning, language use and the evolution of linguistic variation

Science.gov (United States)

Perfors, Amy; Fehér, Olga; Samara, Anna; Swoboda, Kate; Wonnacott, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Linguistic universals arise from the interaction between the processes of language learning and language use. A test case for the relationship between these factors is linguistic variation, which tends to be conditioned on linguistic or sociolinguistic criteria. How can we explain the scarcity of unpredictable variation in natural language, and to what extent is this property of language a straightforward reflection of biases in statistical learning? We review three strands of experimental work exploring these questions, and introduce a Bayesian model of the learning and transmission of linguistic variation along with a closely matched artificial language learning experiment with adult participants. Our results show that while the biases of language learners can potentially play a role in shaping linguistic systems, the relationship between biases of learners and the structure of languages is not straightforward. Weak biases can have strong effects on language structure as they accumulate over repeated transmission. But the opposite can also be true: strong biases can have weak or no effects. Furthermore, the use of language during interaction can reshape linguistic systems. Combining data and insights from studies of learning, transmission and use is therefore essential if we are to understand how biases in statistical learning interact with language transmission and language use to shape the structural properties of language. This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’. PMID:27872370

Language learning, language use and the evolution of linguistic variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Kenny; Perfors, Amy; Fehér, Olga; Samara, Anna; Swoboda, Kate; Wonnacott, Elizabeth

2017-01-05

Linguistic universals arise from the interaction between the processes of language learning and language use. A test case for the relationship between these factors is linguistic variation, which tends to be conditioned on linguistic or sociolinguistic criteria. How can we explain the scarcity of unpredictable variation in natural language, and to what extent is this property of language a straightforward reflection of biases in statistical learning? We review three strands of experimental work exploring these questions, and introduce a Bayesian model of the learning and transmission of linguistic variation along with a closely matched artificial language learning experiment with adult participants. Our results show that while the biases of language learners can potentially play a role in shaping linguistic systems, the relationship between biases of learners and the structure of languages is not straightforward. Weak biases can have strong effects on language structure as they accumulate over repeated transmission. But the opposite can also be true: strong biases can have weak or no effects. Furthermore, the use of language during interaction can reshape linguistic systems. Combining data and insights from studies of learning, transmission and use is therefore essential if we are to understand how biases in statistical learning interact with language transmission and language use to shape the structural properties of language.This article is part of the themed issue 'New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'. © 2016 The Authors.

Cultural adaptation: translatability assessment and linguistic validation of the patient-reported outcome instrument for irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delgado-Herrera L

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Leticia Delgado-Herrera,1 Kathryn Lasch,2 Ana Popielnicki,3 Akito Nishida,4 Rob Arbuckle,5 Benjamin Banderas,6 Susan Zentner,1 Ingrid Gagainis,1 Bernhardt Zeiher1 1Astellas Pharma Global Development, Northbrook, IL, 2Pharmerit International, Newton, MA, USA; 3TransPerfect, Linguistic Validation Group, Boston, MA, USA; 4Development Project Management, Astellas Pharma Inc, Tokyo, Japan; 5Patient-Centered Outcomes Adelphi Values, Bollington, UK; 6Patient-Centered Outcomes Adelphi Values, Boston, MA, USA Background and objective: Following a 2009 US Food and Drug Administration guidance, a new patient-reported outcome (PRO instrument was developed to support end points in multinational clinical trials assessing irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D symptom severity. Our objective was to assess the translatability of the IBS-D PRO instrument into ten languages, and subsequently perform a cultural adaptation/linguistic validation of the questionnaire into Japanese and US Spanish. Materials and methods: Translatability assessments of the US English version of the IBS-D PRO were performed by experienced PRO translators who were native speakers of each target language and currently residing in target-language countries. Languages were Chinese (People’s Republic of China, Dutch (the Netherlands, French (Belgium, German (Germany, Japanese (Japan, Polish (Poland, Portuguese (Brazil, Russian (Russia, Spanish (Mexico, and Spanish (US. The project team assessed the instrument to identify potential linguistic and/or cultural adaptation issues. After the issues identified were resolved, the instrument was translated into Spanish (US and Japanese through a process of two forward translations, one reconciled translation, and one backward translation. The project team reviewed the translated versions before the instruments were evaluated by cognitive debriefing interviews with samples of five Spanish (US and five Japanese IBS-D patients. Results

Reconstructive Recall of Linguistic Style. Technical Report No. 286.

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, William F.; Hay, Anne E.

A study investigated reconstructive recall for linguistic style. It was hypothesized that (1) features of linguistic style would be more difficult to recall than underlying content, (2) reconstructive errors would include stylistic forms recalled as standard forms when subjects lacked productive control of a particular feature of a style, and (3)…

Effective management of construction company in terms of linguistic communication

Science.gov (United States)

Shirina, Elena; Gaybarian, Olga; Myasischev, Georg

2017-10-01

The research presented here has been made over the years in the field of increasing the effectiveness of management in a construction company in terms of applied linguistics. The aim of this work is to share with the scientific community some practical findings of applying the technology of process management of the company, in particular the methods of linguistic efficiency considering the factors of the linguistic personality of the employee. The study deals with the description of applied linguistic and managerial models, views, practical results of their application in the applied field in order to assess production sustainability and minimize losses. The authors applied the developed technology to practical use, and the article presents the results of this application. The authors continue the research in this direction aiming at improving the production effectiveness of the proposed technologies and eliminating some identified drawback.

Linguistics in Language Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Rajesh; Yunus, Reva

2014-01-01

This article looks at the contribution of insights from theoretical linguistics to an understanding of language acquisition and the nature of language in terms of their potential benefit to language education. We examine the ideas of innateness and universal language faculty, as well as multilingualism and the language-society relationship. Modern…

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 42 (2013) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 27 (1995) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Linguistics: evolution and language change.

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Bowern, Claire

2015-01-05

Linguists have long identified sound changes that occur in parallel. Now novel research shows how Bayesian modeling can capture complex concerted changes, revealing how evolution of sounds proceeds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is Rorty a linguistic idealist?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Marvan, Tomáš

2011-01-01

Roč. 21, č. 3 (2011), s. 272-279 ISSN 1210-3055 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90090514 Keywords : Rorty * linguistic idealism * internal realism * intrinsic structure of reality * representation Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

A Systematic Review of the Economic Evidence for Home Support Interventions in Dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarkson, Paul; Davies, Linda; Jasper, Rowan; Loynes, Niklas; Challis, David

2017-09-01

Recent evidence signals the need for effective forms of home support to people with dementia and their carers. The cost-effectiveness evidence of different approaches to support is scant. To appraise economic evidence on the cost-effectiveness of home support interventions for dementia to inform future evaluation. A systematic literature review of full and partial economic evaluations was performed using the British National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database supplemented by additional references. Study characteristics and findings, including incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, when available, were summarized narratively. Study quality was appraised using the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database critical appraisal criteria and independent ratings, agreed by two reviewers. Studies were located on a permutation matrix describing their mix of incremental costs/effects to aid decision making. Of the 151 articles retrieved, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria: 8 concerning support to people with dementia and 6 to carers. Five studies were incremental cost-utility analyses, seven were cost-effectiveness analyses, and two were cost consequences analyses. Five studies expressed incremental cost-effectiveness ratios as cost per quality-adjusted life-year (£6,696-£207,942 per quality-adjusted life-year). In four studies, interventions were dominant over usual care. Two interventions were more costly but more beneficial and were favorable against current acceptability thresholds. Occupational therapy, home-based exercise, and a carers' coping intervention emerged as cost-effective approaches for which there was better evidence. These interventions used environmental modifications, behavior management, physical activity, and emotional support as active components. More robust evidence is needed to judge the value of these and other interventions across the dementia care pathway. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and

Linguistic and Perceptual Mapping in Spatial Representations: An Attentional Account.

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Valdés-Conroy, Berenice; Hinojosa, José A; Román, Francisco J; Romero-Ferreiro, Verónica

2018-03-01

Building on evidence for embodied representations, we investigated whether Spanish spatial terms map onto the NEAR/FAR perceptual division of space. Using a long horizontal display, we measured congruency effects during the processing of spatial terms presented in NEAR or FAR space. Across three experiments, we manipulated the task demands in order to investigate the role of endogenous attention in linguistic and perceptual space mapping. We predicted congruency effects only when spatial properties were relevant for the task (reaching estimation task, Experiment 1) but not when attention was allocated to other features (lexical decision, Experiment 2; and color, Experiment 3). Results showed faster responses for words presented in Near-space in all experiments. Consistent with our hypothesis, congruency effects were observed only when a reaching estimate was requested. Our results add important evidence for the role of top-down processing in congruency effects from embodied representations of spatial terms. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Binding and Unfolding: Towards the Linguistic Construction of Narrative Discourse.

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Bamberg, Michael; Marchman, Virginia

1991-01-01

Explores the relationship between linguistic and conceptual structuring of narratives, focusing on linguistic devices used by German and U.S. narrators to identify transitions in text structure. Identifies and outlines two types of narrative orientation: differentiating events and integrating events. (SR)

Rhetorical and Linguistic Analysis of Bush's Second Inaugural Speech

Science.gov (United States)

Sameer, Imad Hayif

2017-01-01

This study attempts to analyze Bush's second inaugural speech. It aims at investigating the use of linguistic strategies in it. It resorts to two models which are Aristotle's model while the second is that of Atkinson's (1984) to draw the attention towards linguistic strategies. The analysis shows that Bush's second inaugural speech is successful…

A MODEL OF THE CONFLICT LINGUISTIC PERSONALITY IN EVERYDAY CONFLICT DISCOURSE

OpenAIRE

Belova E. V.

2015-01-01

The aim of the study is to describe the concept of conflict linguistic personality and construct a model of linguistic identity. By summing up common features of the individual personalities we have created the model of conflict linguistic personality, based on three levels: verbal-semantic, cognitive and pragmatic. 1. Verbal - semantic level. Unlike other subtypes of conflict discourse, everyday conflict discourse is characterized by slang, invective, obscene vocabulary. Another feature of e...

Symbol Grounding Without Direct Experience: Do Words Inherit Sensorimotor Activation From Purely Linguistic Context?

Science.gov (United States)

Günther, Fritz; Dudschig, Carolin; Kaup, Barbara

2018-05-01

Theories of embodied cognition assume that concepts are grounded in non-linguistic, sensorimotor experience. In support of this assumption, previous studies have shown that upwards response movements are faster than downwards movements after participants have been presented with words whose referents are typically located in the upper vertical space (and vice versa for downwards responses). This is taken as evidence that processing these words reactivates sensorimotor experiential traces. This congruency effect was also found for novel words, after participants learned these words as labels for novel objects that they encountered either in their upper or lower visual field. While this indicates that direct experience with a word's referent is sufficient to evoke said congruency effects, the present study investigates whether this direct experience is also a necessary condition. To this end, we conducted five experiments in which participants learned novel words from purely linguistic input: Novel words were presented in pairs with real up- or down-words (Experiment 1); they were presented in natural sentences where they replaced these real words (Experiment 2); they were presented as new labels for these real words (Experiment 3); and they were presented as labels for novel combined concepts based on these real words (Experiment 4 and 5). In all five experiments, we did not find any congruency effects elicited by the novel words; however, participants were always able to make correct explicit judgements about the vertical dimension associated to the novel words. These results suggest that direct experience is necessary for reactivating experiential traces, but this reactivation is not a necessary condition for understanding (in the sense of storing and accessing) the corresponding aspects of word meaning. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Linguistic Corpora and Lexicography.

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Meijs, Willem

1996-01-01

Overviews the development of corpus linguistics, reviews the use of corpora in modern lexicography, and presents central issues in ongoing work aimed at broadening the scope of lexicographical use of corpus data. Focuses on how the field has developed in relation to the production of new monolingual English dictionaries by major British…

Applied Linguistics in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Bot, Kees

2004-01-01

In this contribution developments in Applied Linguistics in Europe are linked to major social changes that have taken place over the last decades. These include: The decline of the USSR and the end of the cold war; The development of the EEC and the EU and fading of borders; The economic growth of

Linguistic aspects of eponymic professional endocrinologic terminology

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N.I. Bytsko

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Background. Special linguistic researches of terminological units of different branches of medicine allow analyzing in details the ways of creating the systems of clinical terminology from different aspects: historical, scientific, cultural, linguistic and semantic. There is a wide area of terminology related to the clinical and experimental endocrino­logy within general medical terminological system. The purpose of the study: to demonstrate the structure of endocrine medical terms — eponyms through the prism of systematization of methodological researches on eponymic vocabulary. Materials and methods. The actual material received as a result of a total choice of eponyms (there were 296 terms from the “Reference dictionary for endocrinologist”, which was composed by the scientists of V. Danilevsky Institute of Endocrine Pathology Problems and Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate education — A.V. Kozakov, N.A. Kravchun, I.M. Ilyina, M.I. Zubko, O.A. Goncharova, I.V. Cherniavska has 10,000 endocrine terms, the authors successfully streamlined medical terms of the clinical and experimental endocrinology into the vocabulary. The method of total choice of terms from professional literature, the descriptive method and distributive method were used in the study that allowed distinguishing lexical and semantic features of eponymic terms in the branch of endocrinology. Results. The obtained results point out to the modernity of studies in the field of clinical and experimental endocrinology, which is due to the fact that this is the oldest terminology, by the example of which it is possible to trace the ways of formation, development and improvement of terms, the realization of semantic processes, certain trends, ways and means of word formation. Conclusions. The results of the research on the above mentioned sublanguage of clinical medicine at the level of linguistic observations of the functio­ning in dictionaries and scientific works will

Why metaphor and other tropes? Linguistic approaches to analysing policies and the political

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yanow, D.; Cienki, A.

2013-01-01

The articles in this special issue on linguistic approaches to analysing policies and the political share the goal of taking language seriously, achieved through detailed attention to linguistic usage in its respective contexts. They reflect a stance common to both cognitive linguistic and

Gesture Modelling for Linguistic Purposes

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Olivrin, GJ

2007-05-01

Full Text Available The study of sign languages attempts to create a coherent model that binds the expressive nature of signs conveyed in gestures to a linguistic framework. Gesture modelling offers an alternative that provides device independence, scalability...

Linguistic and Cultural Barriers to Intercultural Communication in Foreign Subsidiaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peltokorpi, Vesa; Clausen, Lisbeth

2011-01-01

This study examines the causes and consequences of linguistic and cultural barriers to inter-cultural communication in Nordic subsidiaries in Japan. Interviews with 30 Nordic (Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden) expatriates and 29 Japanese employees show that the main linguistic barriers to inte...

Assessing Confidence in Performance Assessments Using an Evidence Support Logic Methodology: An Application of Tesla

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egan, M.; Paulley, A.; Lehman, L.; Lowe, J.; Rochette, E.; Baker, St.

2009-01-01

The assessment of uncertainties and their implications is a key requirement when undertaking performance assessment (PA) of radioactive waste facilities. Decisions based on the outcome of such assessments become translated into judgments about confidence in the information they provide. This confidence, in turn, depends on uncertainties in the underlying evidence. Even if there is a large amount of information supporting an assessment, it may be only partially relevant, incomplete or less than completely reliable. In order to develop a measure of confidence in the outcome, sources of uncertainty need to be identified and adequately addressed in the development of the PA, or in any overarching strategic decision-making processes. This paper describes a trial application of the technique of Evidence Support Logic (ESL), which has been designed for application in support of 'high stakes' decisions, where important aspects of system performance are subject to uncertainty. The aims of ESL are to identify the amount of uncertainty or conflict associated with evidence relating to a particular decision, and to guide understanding of how evidence combines to support confidence in judgments. Elicitation techniques are used to enable participants in the process to develop a logical hypothesis model that best represents the relationships between different sources of evidence to the proposition under examination. The aim is to identify key areas of subjectivity and other sources of potential bias in the use of evidence (whether for or against the proposition) to support judgments of confidence. Propagation algorithms are used to investigate the overall implications of the logic according to the strength of the underlying evidence and associated uncertainties. (authors)

Unity and disunity in evolutionary sciences: process-based analogies open common research avenues for biology and linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

List, Johann-Mattis; Pathmanathan, Jananan Sylvestre; Lopez, Philippe; Bapteste, Eric

2016-08-20

For a long time biologists and linguists have been noticing surprising similarities between the evolution of life forms and languages. Most of the proposed analogies have been rejected. Some, however, have persisted, and some even turned out to be fruitful, inspiring the transfer of methods and models between biology and linguistics up to today. Most proposed analogies were based on a comparison of the research objects rather than the processes that shaped their evolution. Focusing on process-based analogies, however, has the advantage of minimizing the risk of overstating similarities, while at the same time reflecting the common strategy to use processes to explain the evolution of complexity in both fields. We compared important evolutionary processes in biology and linguistics and identified processes specific to only one of the two disciplines as well as processes which seem to be analogous, potentially reflecting core evolutionary processes. These new process-based analogies support novel methodological transfer, expanding the application range of biological methods to the field of historical linguistics. We illustrate this by showing (i) how methods dealing with incomplete lineage sorting offer an introgression-free framework to analyze highly mosaic word distributions across languages; (ii) how sequence similarity networks can be used to identify composite and borrowed words across different languages; (iii) how research on partial homology can inspire new methods and models in both fields; and (iv) how constructive neutral evolution provides an original framework for analyzing convergent evolution in languages resulting from common descent (Sapir's drift). Apart from new analogies between evolutionary processes, we also identified processes which are specific to either biology or linguistics. This shows that general evolution cannot be studied from within one discipline alone. In order to get a full picture of evolution, biologists and linguists need to

The politics and semiotics of sounds--Mayan linguistics and nation-building in Guatemala.

Science.gov (United States)

French, Brigittine M

2004-01-01

This paper discusses the development Mayan linguistics as an authoritative field of knowledge in Guatemala. In particular, it links missionary linguists' and Maya linguists' activities with shifting nationalist agendas from the 1920s in to the late 1980s. It is argued that during the historical and intellectual moment that linguistics becomes an authoritative epistemology, phonetic analysis functions as a creative index that constitutes "expert" knowledge for particular semiotic and ideological reasons tied to competing versions of the Guatemalan imagined community.

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus

African Journals Online (AJOL)

). The SPiL Plus series has two main aims. Firstly, it serves as a vehicle for the distribution of new and relatively inaccessible information in the field of modern linguistics. Secondly, it aims to stimulate critical discussion in Southern African ...

Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands 2004 : Selected papers from the fifteenth CLIN meeting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouden, Ton van der; Poß, Michaela; Reckman, Hilke; Cremers, Crit

2005-01-01

This volume contains a selection of the papers presented at the fifteenth installment of Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands, held at Leiden University on Friday, December 17th, 2004. Organized by the computational linguists of what was at that time called the Leiden Centre for Linguistics

Enhancing rigour in the validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs: bridging linguistic and psychometric testing

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Roberts Gwerfyl

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A strong consensus exists for a systematic approach to linguistic validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs and discrete methods for assessing their psychometric properties. Despite the need for robust evidence of the appropriateness of measures, transition from linguistic to psychometric validation is poorly documented or evidenced. This paper demonstrates the importance of linking linguistic and psychometric testing through a purposeful stage which bridges the gap between translation and large-scale validation. Findings Evidence is drawn from a study to develop a Welsh language version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II and investigate its psychometric properties. The BDI-II was translated into Welsh then administered to Welsh-speaking university students (n = 115 and patients with depression (n = 37 concurrent with the English BDI-II, and alongside other established depression and quality of life measures. A Welsh version of the BDI-II was produced that, on administration, showed conceptual equivalence with the original measure; high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90; 0.96; item homogeneity; adequate correlation with the English BDI-II (r = 0.96; 0.94 and additional measures; and a two-factor structure with one overriding dimension. Nevertheless, in the student sample, the Welsh version showed a significantly lower overall mean than the English (p = 0.002; and significant differences in six mean item scores. This prompted a review and refinement of the translated measure. Conclusions Exploring potential sources of bias in translated measures represents a critical step in the translation-validation process, which until now has been largely underutilised. This paper offers important findings that inform advanced methods of cross-cultural validation of PROMs.

Computing with Words in Decision support Systems: An overview on Models and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Martinez

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Decision making is inherent to mankind, as human beings daily face situations in which they should choose among different alternatives by means of reasoning and mental processes. Many of these decision problems are under uncertain environments with vague and imprecise information. This type of information is usually modelled by linguistic information because of the common use of language by the experts involved in the given decision situations, originating linguistic decision making. The use of linguistic information in decision making demands processes of Computing with Words to solve the related decision problems. Different methodologies and approaches have been proposed to accomplish such processes in an accurate and interpretable way. The good performance of linguistic computing dealing with uncertainty has caused a spread use of it in different types of decision based applications. This paper overviews the more significant and extended linguistic computing models due to its key role in linguistic decision making and a wide range of the most recent applications of linguistic decision support models.

"It's Worth Our Time": A Model of Culturally and Linguistically Supportive Professional Development for K-12 STEM Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Hudley, Anne H. Charity; Mallinson, Christine

2017-01-01

Professional development on issues of language and culture is often separate from professional development on issues related to STEM education, resulting in linguistic and cultural gaps in K-12 STEM pedagogy and practice. To address this issue, we have designed a model of professional development in which we work with educators to build cultural…

Are claims made in orthodontic journal advertisements evidence-supported?

Science.gov (United States)

Livas, Christos; Kouskoura, Thaleia; Ren, Yijin; Katsaros, Christos; Pandis, Nikolaos

2015-03-01

To examine the supporting evidence of advertisements published in six leading orthodontic journals. The 2012-2013 printed issues of American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Australian Orthodontic Journal, Journal of Orthodontics, European Journal of Orthodontics, Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, and Journal of Orofacial Orthopedics were screened for advertisements implying superior performance compared with competitor products. Advertisements were classified according to type of product, availability, and currency of supporting references. A total of 99 unique advertisements claiming clinical benefit or superiority were identified. The overwhelming majority of the identified advertisements promoted appliance products (62.6%), orthodontic materials (14.1%), and dental operatory equipment, including imaging systems (12.1%). Advertisements were found to provide references or not regardless of the product type. Half of the advertisements referred to at least one peer-reviewed publication, whereas unpublished studies were cited by 25% of the advertisements. Most of the referenced articles were published within the past 5 years. The scientific background of advertisements in the orthodontic literature appears limited. While surveillance of journal advertising needs to be regulated, clinicians are urged to critically appraise the claims being made in orthodontic print advertisements by consulting the associated existing evidence.

Voicing Solidarity: Linguistic Hospitality and Poststructuralism in the Real World

Science.gov (United States)

Phipps, Alison

2012-01-01

Structuralism has dominated the field of applied linguistics, which has consequences for the positioning of applied linguistics "vis-a-vis" policy makers, educational practice, and also theoretical and methodological innovations. These consequences pertain to how the field advocates, takes sides, balances its descriptive modes with its discursive…

Representation of linguistic form and function in recurrent neural networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kadar, Akos; Chrupala, Grzegorz; Alishahi, Afra

2017-01-01

We present novel methods for analyzing the activation patterns of recurrent neural networks from a linguistic point of view and explore the types of linguistic structure they learn. As a case study, we use a standard standalone language model, and a multi-task gated recurrent network architecture

Perceptions of Linguistically Responsive Teaching in Teacher Candidates/Novice Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Tandon, Madhavi; Viesca, Kara Mitchell; Hueston, Colin; Milbourn, Tamara

2017-01-01

This qualitative study examined data from 36 teacher candidates and novice teachers to explore their perceptions and understandings of linguistic responsiveness. The findings illustrate the challenge of demonstrating linguistically responsive teaching practices in the early and initial stages of entering the teaching profession, and more research…

Is the evidence supporting dental procedures strong? A survey of Cochrane systematic reviews in oral health.

Science.gov (United States)

Faggion, Clovis Mariano

2012-09-01

Every day a large number and variety of dental procedures are performed in clinical dental practice. There is, however, no information on the overall quality of evidence supporting these procedures. The objective of this study was to assess whether several common dental procedures are based on sound evidence. All Cochrane systematic reviews (CSR) published in dentistry were surveyed. The authors' conclusions about the quality of evidence supporting a specific clinical treatment were used as the measure of outcome. The evidence was considered adequate if the authors did not clearly state the evidence was weak in the conclusions while also suggesting some evidence of the effectiveness of the therapy. Of 120 CSRs assessed, in only 26 (22.0% of the reviews) was the quality of evidence regarded as adequate for supporting clinical decisions, although some methodological limitations were identified in the full text of these reviews. Moreover, the authors of most reviews reported weak or unavailable evidence. On the basis of CSRs, the overall quality of evidence can be regarded as low or nonexistent for most of the dental procedures assessed. The information reported may guide future research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Prague Linguistic Circle and Dialectics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ondřej Sládek

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The study deals with dialectics in the context of the Prague Linguistic Circle, particularly in the context of Jan Mukařovský’s thinking. The essay presents 1 main sources of Mukařovský’s dialectics, and outlines 2 Mukařovský’s dialectical method. The notion of dialectics appears in Mukařovský’s scholarly work in a set of connections. He applied dialectics as a method, manner or form of rationality. It served as a means of gaining knowledge about the world, specific phenomena and objects, their essence, interconnectedness as well as development. Mukařovský also used it as a procedure for resolving contradictions (antinomies that he encountered in his scientific explorations and in ordinary practical activities. He understood dialectical thinking as dynamic, open, and pluralist thinking striving to reflect reality as a constant process. Gradual coming together of dialectics and materialism, evident in Mukařovský’s scholarly works from the mid-1930s, resulted, ten years later, in a public adoption of dialectical materialism.

Development of a model of dementia support and pathway for culturally and linguistically diverse communities using co-creation and participatory action research.

Science.gov (United States)

Goeman, Dianne; King, Jordan; Koch, Susan

2016-12-07

To develop an inclusive model of culturally sensitive support, using a specialist dementia nurse (SDN), to assist people with dementia from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and their carers to overcome barriers to accessing health and social care services. Co-creation and participatory action research, based on reflection, data collection, interaction and feedback from participants and stakeholders. An SDN support model embedded within a home nursing service in Melbourne, Australia was implemented between October 2013 and October 2015. People experiencing memory loss or with a diagnosis of dementia from CALD backgrounds and their carers and family living in the community setting and expert stakeholders. Reflections from the SDN on interactions with participants and expert stakeholder opinion informed the CALD dementia support model and pathway. Interaction with 62 people living with memory loss or dementia from CALD backgrounds, carers or family members receiving support from the SDN and feedback from 13 expert stakeholders from community aged-care services, consumer advocacy organisations and ethnic community group representatives informed the development and refinement of the CALD dementia model of care and pathway. We delineate the three components of the 'SDN' model: the organisational support; a description of the role; and the competencies needed. Additionally, we provide an accompanying pathway for use by health professionals delivering care to consumers with dementia from CALD backgrounds. Our culturally sensitive model of dementia care and accompanying pathway allows for the tailoring of health and social support to assist people from CALD backgrounds, their carers and families to adjust to living with memory loss and remain living in the community as long as possible. The model and accompanying pathway also have the potential to be rolled out nationally for use by health professionals across a variety of health services. Published

Saussurean structuralism and cognitive linguistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Elffers, E.

2012-01-01

Cognitive linguistics (CL) is often regarded as a continuation of Saussurean structuralism. This paper explores the relationship between the two paradigms, focussing on the connection between semantics and views on the language-thought relationship. As it turns out, the similarity in this respect

In Few Words: Linguistic Gap but Adequate Narrative Structure in Preschool Bilingual Children

Science.gov (United States)

Bonifacci, Paola; Barbieri, Margherita; Tomassini, Marta; Roch, Maja

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare linguistic and narrative skills of monolingual and bilingual preschoolers and to estimate linguistic predictors of the macro-structural level of narratives. A battery of linguistic measures in Italian was administered to sixty-four Monolinguals and sixty-four Early Bilinguals; it included Vocabulary,…

Applied Linguistics Research in Australia as Represented through ARAL: Changing Diet or Smorgasbord?

Science.gov (United States)

Curnow, Timothy Jowan; Kohler, Michelle

2017-01-01

From its inception in 1977 until its last year of publication by an Australian publisher in 2015, the "Australian Review of Applied Linguistics" featured over 700 articles related to applied linguistics. This publication history provides a unique resource for tracing the scope and change of the applied linguistics landscape in Australia…

Ethnocultural features of a linguistic persona: the specifics of the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ethnocultural features of a linguistic persona: the specifics of the representation of universal emotional concepts. ... The paper pays special attention to the ethnocultural content of emotional and lexical units, which indicate the ethnic identity of a linguistic persona and reflect typical, historically developed signs of the ethnic ...

Statistical Literacy among Applied Linguists and Second Language Acquisition Researchers

Science.gov (United States)

Loewen, Shawn; Lavolette, Elizabeth; Spino, Le Anne; Papi, Mostafa; Schmidtke, Jens; Sterling, Scott; Wolff, Dominik

2014-01-01

The importance of statistical knowledge in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) research has been emphasized in recent publications. However, the last investigation of the statistical literacy of applied linguists occurred more than 25 years ago (Lazaraton, Riggenbach, & Ediger, 1987). The current study undertook a partial…

Fuzzy Linguistic Optimization on Surface Roughness for CNC Turning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian-Syung Lan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Surface roughness is often considered the main purpose in contemporary computer numerical controlled (CNC machining industry. Most existing optimization researches for CNC finish turning were either accomplished within certain manufacturing circumstances or achieved through numerous equipment operations. Therefore, a general deduction optimization scheme is deemed to be necessary for the industry. In this paper, the cutting depth, feed rate, speed, and tool nose runoff with low, medium, and high level are considered to optimize the surface roughness for finish turning based on L9(34 orthogonal array. Additionally, nine fuzzy control rules using triangle membership function with respective to five linguistic grades for surface roughness are constructed. Considering four input and twenty output intervals, the defuzzification using center of gravity is then completed. Thus, the optimum general fuzzy linguistic parameters can then be received. The confirmation experiment result showed that the surface roughness from the fuzzy linguistic optimization parameters is significantly advanced compared to that from the benchmark. This paper certainly proposes a general optimization scheme using orthogonal array fuzzy linguistic approach to the surface roughness for CNC turning with profound insight.

Power Versus Affiliation in Political Ideology: Robust Linguistic Evidence for Distinct Motivation-Related Signatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Fetterman, Adam K; Boyd, Ryan L; Robinson, Michael D

2015-09-01

Posited motivational differences between liberals and conservatives have historically been controversial. This motivational interface has recently been bridged, but the vast majority of studies have used self-reports of values or motivation. Instead, the present four studies investigated whether two classic social motive themes--power and affiliation--vary by political ideology in objective linguistic analysis terms. Study 1 found that posts to liberal chat rooms scored higher in standardized affiliation than power, whereas the reverse was true of posts to conservative chat rooms. Study 2 replicated this pattern in the context of materials posted to liberal versus conservative political news websites. Studies 3 and 4, finally, replicated a similar interactive (ideology by motive type) pattern in State of the State and State of the Union addresses. Differences in political ideology, these results suggest, are marked by, and likely reflective of, mind-sets favoring affiliation (liberal) or power (conservative). © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Effects of Two Linguistically Proximal Varieties on the Spectral and Coarticulatory Properties of Fricatives: Evidence from Athenian Greek and Cypriot Greek

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Charalambos Themistocleous

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Several studies have explored the acoustic structure of fricatives, yet there has been very little acoustic research on the effects of dialects on the production of fricatives. This article investigates the effects of two linguistically proximal Modern Greek dialects, Athenian Greek and Cypriot Greek on the temporal, spectral, and coarticulatory properties of fricatives and aims to determine the acoustic properties that convey information about these two dialects. Productions of voiced and voiceless labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal, and velar fricatives were extracted from a speaking task from typically speaking female adult speakers (25 Cypriot Greek and 20 Athenian Greek speakers. Measures were made of spectral properties, using a spectral moments analysis. The formants of the following vowel were measured and second degree polynomials of the formant contours were calculated. The findings showed that Athenian Greek and Cypriot Greek fricatives differ in all spectral properties across all places of articulation. Also, the co-articulatory effects of fricatives on following vowel were different depending on the dialect. Duration, spectral moments, and the starting frequencies of F1, F2, F3, and F4 contributed the most to the classification of dialect. These findings provide a solid evidence base for the manifestation of dialectal information in the acoustic structure of fricatives.

A new linguistic aggregation operator and its application to multiple attribute decision making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jibin Lan

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new linguistic aggregation operator in linguistic environment is established and the desirable properties: monotonic, focus effect, idempotent, commutative and bounded are studied. Then, a new restricted ordering relation on the n-dimensional linguistic scales is proposed which satisfies strict pareto-dominance and is restricted by a weighting vector. A practical multiple attribute decision making methodology for an uncertain linguistic environment is proposed based on the proposed operator. An example is given to illustrate the rationality and validity of the new approach to decision making application.

Genre analysis of linguistics research introductions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony Porras

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The emergence of exploring genre analysis has been a trend in Applied Linguistics, not only for its interesting factor, but also because of its pedagogical implications. This study aimed to determine the overall structure, specifically the presence and conformity of moves and steps of the research introductions in the field of Linguistics. Twelve (12 available research introductions were analyzed using Create-A-Research-Space (CARS model. The findings revealed that moves and steps across the research introductions are present. Majority of the research introductions conformed to the CARS model, but did not necessarily follow the suggested sequence. Results imply that teachers of research writing should acknowledge and introduce the CARS model as a basis for teaching the method of writing research introductions effectively.

A New Bi-Directional Projection Model Based on Pythagorean Uncertain Linguistic Variable

OpenAIRE

Huidong Wang; Shifan He; Xiaohong Pan

2018-01-01

To solve the multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problems with Pythagorean uncertain linguistic variable, an extended bi-directional projection method is proposed. First, we utilize the linguistic scale function to convert uncertain linguistic variable and provide a new projection model, subsequently. Then, to depict the bi-directional projection method, the formative vectors of alternatives and ideal alternatives are defined. Furthermore, a comparative analysis with projection model is co...

Cross-linguistic Influence in Bilingualism : In honor of Aafke Hulk

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blom, E.; Cornips, L.; Schaeffer, J.

2017-01-01

This book presents a current state-of-affairs regarding the study of cross-linguistic influence in bilingualism. Taking Hulk and Müller’s (2000) and Müller and Hulk’s (2001) hypotheses on cross-linguistic influence as a starting point, the book exemplifies the shift from the original focus on syntax

The history of research on the filled pause as evidence of the written language bias in linguistics (Linell, 1982).

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connell, Daniel C; Kowal, Sabine

2004-11-01

Erard's (2004) publication in the New York Times of a journalistic history of the filled pause serves as the occasion for this critical review of the past half-century of research on the filled pause. Historically, the various phonetic realizations or instantiations of the filled pause have been presented with an odd recurrent admixture of the interjection ah. In addition, the filled pause has been consistently associated with both hesitation and disfluency. The present authors hold that such a mandatory association of the filled pause with disfluency is the product of The written language bias in linguistics [Linell, 1982] and disregards much cogent evidence to the contrary. The implicit prescriptivism of well formedness--a demand derived from literacy--must be rejected; literate well formedness is not a necessary or even typical property of spontaneous spoken discourse; its structures and functions--including those of the filled pause--are very different from those of written language The recent work of Clark and Fox Tree (2002) holds promise for moving the status of the filled pause not only toward that of a conventional word, but also toward its status as an interjection. This latter development is also being fostered by lexicographers. Nonetheless, in view of ongoing research regarding the disparate privileges of occurrence and functions of filled pauses in comparison with interjections, the present authors are reluctant to categorize the filled pause as an interjection.

140 CIRCULAR INTERACTION BETWEEN LINGUISTIC ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

economy. Although a country or administrative district should have one or more official languages for obvious reasons, Nelde (1991) proposes that the ... circular interaction between linguistic departments and language departments. Finding an answer to' Plato's abovementioned problem entails that as many languages as ...

Early language delay phenotypes and correlation with later linguistic abilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Petinou, Kakia; Spanoudis, George

2014-01-01

The present study focused on examining the continuity and directionality of language skills in late talkers (LTs) and identifying factors which might contribute to language outcomes at the age of 3 years. Subjects were 23 Cypriot-Greek-speaking toddlers classified as LTs and 24 age-matched typically developing peers (TDs). Participants were assessed at 28, 32 and 36 months, using various linguistic measures such as size of receptive and expressive vocabulary, mean length of utterance (MLU) of words and number of consonants produced. Data on otitis media familial history were also analyzed. The ANOVA results indicated parallel developmental profiles between the two groups, with a language lag characterizing LTs. Concurrent correlations between measures showed that poor phonetic inventories in the LT group at 28 months predicted poor MLU at the ages of 32 and 36 months. Significant cross-lagged correlations supported the finding that poor phonetic inventories at 28 months served as a good predictor for MLU and expressive vocabulary at the age of 32 and for MLU at 36 months. The results highlight the negative effect of early language delay on language skills up to the age of 3 years and lend support to the current literature regarding the universal linguistic picture of early and persistent language delay. Based on the current results, poor phonetic inventories at the age of intake might serve as a predictive factor for language outcomes at the age of 36 months. Finally, the findings are discussed in view of the need for further research with a focus on more language-sensitive tools in testing later language outcomes. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

How Age and Linguistic Competence Affect Memory for Heard Information.

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Schneider, Bruce A; Avivi-Reich, Meital; Leung, Caterina; Heinrich, Antje

2016-01-01

The short-term memory performance of a group of younger adults, for whom English was a second language (young EL2 listeners), was compared to that of younger and older adults for whom English was their first language (EL1 listeners). To-be-remembered words were presented in noise and in quiet. When presented in noise, the listening situation was adjusted to ensure that the likelihood of recognizing the individual words was comparable for all groups. Previous studies which used the same paradigm found memory performance of older EL1 adults on this paired-associate task to be poorer than that of their younger EL1 counterparts both in quiet and in a background of babble. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the less well-established semantic and linguistic skills of EL2 listeners would also lead to memory deficits even after equating for word recognition as was done for the younger and older EL1 listeners. No significant differences in memory performance were found between young EL1 and EL2 listeners after equating for word recognition, indicating that the EL2 listeners' poorer semantic and linguistic skills had little effect on their ability to memorize and recall paired associates. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that age-related declines in memory are primarily due to age-related declines in higher-order processes supporting stream segregation and episodic memory. Such declines are likely to increase the load on higher-order (possibly limited) cognitive processes supporting memory. The problems that these results pose for the comprehension of spoken language in these three groups are discussed.

Evoking and Measuring Identification with Narrative Characters - A Linguistic Cues Framework.

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van Krieken, Kobie; Hoeken, Hans; Sanders, José

2017-01-01

Current research on identification with narrative characters poses two problems. First, although identification is seen as a dynamic process of which the intensity varies during reading, it is usually measured by means of post-reading questionnaires containing self-report items. Second, it is not clear which linguistic characteristics evoke identification. The present paper proposes that an interdisciplinary framework allows for more precise manipulations and measurements of identification, which will ultimately advance our understanding of the antecedents and nature of this process. The central hypothesis of our Linguistic Cues Framework is that identification with a narrative character is a multidimensional experience for which different dimensions are evoked by different linguistic cues. The first part of the paper presents a literature review on identification, resulting in a renewed conceptualization of identification which distinguishes six dimensions: a spatiotemporal, a perceptual, a cognitive, a moral, an emotional, and an embodied dimension. The second part argues that each of these dimensions is influenced by specific linguistic cues which represent various aspects of the narrative character's perspective. The proposed relations between linguistic cues and identification dimensions are specified in six propositions. The third part discusses what psychological and neurocognitive methods enable the measurement of the various identification dimensions in order to test the propositions. By establishing explicit connections between the linguistic characteristics of narratives and readers' physical, psychological, and neurocognitive responses to narratives, this paper develops a research agenda for future empirical research on identification with narrative characters.

The Role of Linguistic Modification in Nursing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Brenda S; Clark, Michele C

2016-06-01

English-as-a-second-language (ESL) nursing students fail to graduate from programs at alarming rates. For many of these students, academic failure results from poor performance on multiple choice examinations, which frequently contain linguistic errors. A remedy for these errors is to linguistically modify examination questions. This study assessed the effects of linguistic modification on examination scores. Scores of ESL and non-ESL nursing students were compared on an experimental multiple choice examination and a control examination. After exclusion, 67 ESL and 252 non-ESL students completed the experimental examination; 68 ESL and 257 non-ESL students completed the control examination. Both ESL and non-ESL students scored higher on the experimental examination than on the control examination. For ESL students, the increase in observed means between the experimental and control examination was 0.6%; for non-ESL students, the increase was 0.48%. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(6):309-315.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW ON LINGUISTIC APPROACHES OF IDENTITY INVESTIGATION

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Meinarni Susilowati

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Identity has been a blossoming issue in different fields. The intensity of investigating identity has stimulated the diverse methods and approaches to study identity from different angles. This paper discusses the how identity can be investigated from three different linguistic approaches, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and sociocultural linguistics approach. The practicality of these three approaches is explored to detect the nature of identity which is fluid, multiple, fragmented, socially, culturally, historically, religiously, and politically constructed and emerges within interactions. More space, however, is invested for elaborating the five principles of sociocultural linguistic approach due to its flexibility and multidimension of the approach. Empirical data is provided for proving its practicality for identity investigation. Further areas of investigation is given at the last part of the paper.

Linguistic diversity and English language use in multicultural organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauring, Jakob; Selmer, Jan

2013-01-01

Two great human resource management challenges face organizations in many parts of the world. The workforce is aging leaving fewer young people to take over. At the same time, globalization leads to a pressure for internationalization with great consequences for internal collaboration in many...... organizations. Accordingly, the link between employee age and language use is of increasing importance. In this study, we report on the findings of a survey using responses from 489 members of Danish multicultural organizations. We studied the effect of linguistic diversity on English language communication...... as well as the moderating effect of respondents’ age.Wefound linguistic diversity to have positive associations with the two English language communication variables. We also found age to moderate the relationship between linguistic diversity and perceived use of English language by management. Since...

Evidence-Based Literacy Support: The "Literacy Octopus" Trial. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Lord, Pippa; Rabiasz, Adam; Roy, Palak; Harland, Jennie; Styles, Ben; Fowler, Katherine

2017-01-01

The Evidence-based Literacy Support-"Literacy Octopus" Trial tested a range of dissemination interventions and resources, all of which aimed to engage schools in using evidence-based materials to improve teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 literacy. Four delivery partners provided interventions. These included light-touch,…

'On Light and Sound'. Johan Huizinga and nineteenth-century Linguistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noordegraaf, J.

1996-01-01

Not many of his admirers are aware of the fact that the great Dutch historian Johan Huizinga (1872-1945), whose works include The Waning of the Middle Ages, was originally a linguist. As a student, he wanted to follow a career in oriental studies and comparative linguistics. In 1896, he sought to

Second Language Acquisition in Applied Linguistics: 1925-2015 and Beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Tarone, Elaine

2015-01-01

Taking 1925, the founding year of "Language", the journal of the Linguistics Society of America, as a benchmark for "the past", and 2015 as benchmark for "the present", the author considers what was known then and what is known now about second language acquisition in applied linguistics. The field has grown more…

Bootstrapping in Applied Linguistics: Assessing Its Potential Using Shared Data

Science.gov (United States)

Plonsky, Luke; Egbert, Jesse; Laflair, Geoffrey T.

2015-01-01

Parametric analyses such as t tests and ANOVAs are the norm--if not the default--statistical tests found in quantitative applied linguistics research (Gass 2009). Applied statisticians and one applied linguist (Larson-Hall 2010, 2012; Larson-Hall and Herrington 2010), however, have argued that this approach may not be appropriate for small samples…

Linguistic coding deficits in foreign language learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, R; Ganschow, L; Pohlman, J

1989-01-01

As increasing numbers of colleges and universities require a foreign language for graduation in at least one of their degree programs, reports of students with difficulties in learning a second language are multiplying. Until recently, little research has been conducted to identify the nature of this problem. Recent attempts by the authors have focused upon subtle but ongoing language difficulties in these individuals as the source of their struggle to learn a foreign language. The present paper attempts to expand upon this concept by outlining a theoretical framework based upon a linguistic coding model that hypothesizes deficits in the processing of phonological, syntactic, and/or semantic information. Traditional psychoeducational assessment batteries of standardized intelligence and achievement tests generally are not sensitive to these linguistic coding deficits unless closely analyzed or, more often, used in conjunction with a more comprehensive language assessment battery. Students who have been waived from a foreign language requirement and their proposed type(s) of linguistic coding deficits are profiled. Tentative conclusions about the nature of these foreign language learning deficits are presented along with specific suggestions for tests to be used in psychoeducational evaluations.

Congenital Amusia in linguistic and non-linguistic pitch perception - What behavior and reaction times reveal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pfeifer, J.; Hamann, S.; Exter, M.; Campbell, N.; Gibbon, D.; Hirst, D.

2014-01-01

Congenital Amusia is a developmental disorder that has a negative influence on pitch perception. While it used to be described as a disorder of musical pitch perception, recent studies indicate that congenital amusics also show deficits in linguistic pitch perception. This study investigates the

The magic spell of language. Linguistic categories and their perceptual consequences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stapel, D.; Semin, G.R.

2007-01-01

Language is a tool that directs attention to different aspects of reality. Using participants from the same linguistic community, the authors demonstrate in 4 studies that metasemantic features of linguistic categories influence basic perceptual processes. More specifically, the hypothesis that

Formal monkey linguistics : The debate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schlenker, Philippe; Chemla, Emmanuel; Schel, Anne M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/413333450; Fuller, James; Gautier, Jean Pierre; Kuhn, Jeremy; Veselinović, Dunja; Arnold, Kate; Cäsar, Cristiane; Keenan, Sumir; Lemasson, Alban; Ouattara, Karim; Ryder, Robin; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2016-01-01

We explain why general techniques from formal linguistics can and should be applied to the analysis of monkey communication - in the areas of syntax and especially semantics. An informed look at our recent proposals shows that such techniques needn't rely excessively on categories of human language:

Linguistic culture – active attitude toward (standard) language norm

OpenAIRE

Nikolovska, Violeta

2013-01-01

Ever since the respectable Prague School of Linguistics the issues of standard language have been getting serious treatment in linguistics. These issues are addressed in sociolinguistics, language policy and language planning - domains that are receiving the treatment of specific scientific disciplines today. This paper deals with one segment of the language standard functioning, and that is its cultivation. This segment of the functioning of the language standard begins with its codification...

A Linguistic Overview of the Nigel Text Generation Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-10-01

guag speifedby oes ais*tothiesW ratherthanusinglthe stle ofa person . Pesarc of 96 adr has been gead In in scattered helulon foramr a decade, general... charateristics of a syntactic unit, formally termed grammatical features. Each syntactic unit is fira developed sea set of grammatical features, which realization...Fawcett 80] Fawcett, R. P., Exeter Linguistic Studies. Volume 3: Cognitive Linguistics and Social Interaction, Julius Groos Vedag Heidelberg and Exeter

A critical review of qualitative interviews in applied linguistics

OpenAIRE

Mann, Steve J.

2011-01-01

This article asks what applied linguistics can learn from related disciplines with regard to the collection, analysis and representation of qualitative interviews. It assesses the contributions of qualitative sociology, anthropology, discursive psychology and outlines four ‘discourse dilemmas’ which might provide the basis for a more critical and reflective dimension to the use of qualitative interviews in applied linguistics. Summarizing important contributions that have already been made in...

Formal monkey linguistics

OpenAIRE

Schlenker, Philippe; Chemla, Emmanuel; Schel, Anne M.; Fuller, James; Gautier, Jean-Pierre; Kuhn, Jeremy; Veselinović, Dunja; Arnold, Kate; Cäsar, Cristiane; Keenan, Sumir; Lemasson, Alban; Ouattara, Karim; Ryder, Robin; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2016-01-01

Zuberbühler: The research leading to these results received funding from the European Research Council under ERC grant ‘Prilang 283871’ and also from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant ‘FN 310030_143359/1’. We argue that rich data gathered in experimental primatology in the last 40 years can benefit from analytical methods used in contemporary linguistics. Focusing on the syntactic and especially semantic side, we suggest that these methods could help clarify five questions:...

Induced Unbalanced Linguistic Ordered Weighted Average and Its Application in Multiperson Decision Making

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Lucas Marin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Linguistic variables are very useful to evaluate alternatives in decision making problems because they provide a vocabulary in natural language rather than numbers. Some aggregation operators for linguistic variables force the use of a symmetric and uniformly distributed set of terms. The need to relax these conditions has recently been posited. This paper presents the induced unbalanced linguistic ordered weighted average (IULOWA operator. This operator can deal with a set of unbalanced linguistic terms that are represented using fuzzy sets. We propose a new order-inducing criterion based on the specificity and fuzziness of the linguistic terms. Different relevancies are given to the fuzzy values according to their uncertainty degree. To illustrate the behaviour of the precision-based IULOWA operator, we present an environmental assessment case study in which a multiperson multicriteria decision making model is applied.

Analysis of Idiom Variation in the Framework of Linguistic Subjectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhengyuan

2012-01-01

Idiom variation is a ubiquitous linguistic phenomenon which has raised a lot of research questions. The past approach was either formal or functional. Both of them did not pay much attention to cognitive factors of language users. By putting idiom variation in the framework of linguistic subjectivity, we have offered a new perspective in the…

Interpretations of linguistic identity in contemporary social and humanitarian knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. V. Liakhovich

2015-03-01

Despite the existence of a plurality of options interpreting linguistic identity, the symbolic, real and imagined projection of categories on language problems can be an innovative approach to the study of linguistic phenomena, as it allows to shift the emphasis from standardized methods to reflective identifying meanings and codes of the phenomenon or process.

Research Article Abstracts in Two Related Disciplines: Rhetorical Variation between Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

Science.gov (United States)

Suntara, Watinee; Usaha, Siriluck

2013-01-01

The previous studies on abstracts (e.g., Santos, 1996; Samraj, 2002; Pho, 2008) illustrate that disciplinary variation in research article abstracts is discernible. However, the studies of abstracts from two related disciplines are still limited. The present study aimed to explore the rhetorical moves of abstracts in the fields of linguistics and…

Effect of Parkinson's Disease on the Production of Structured and Unstructured Speaking Tasks: Respiratory Physiologic and Linguistic Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, Jessica E.; Darling, Meghan

2011-01-01

Purpose: To examine the effects of cognitive-linguistic deficits and respiratory physiologic changes on respiratory support for speech in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) using two speech tasks: reading and extemporaneous speech. Method: Five women with PD, 9 men with PD, and 14 age- and sex-matched control participants read a passage and…

Some Implications of Linguistic Theory for Applied Linguistics. Collection d'"Etudes linguistiques," No. 19. Papers from the Neuchatel Colloquium in Applied Linguistics in collaboration with AIMAV, AILA, CILA, and the University of Neuchatel (3rd, May 30-June 1, 1974).

Science.gov (United States)

Corder, S. P., Ed.; Roulet, E., Ed.

Papers that address implications of linguistic theory for applied linguistics are presented. In "Some Semantic Properties of Some Conjunctions," W. Abraham is concerned with the function of "but" and its translation equivalents in German and other languages. In "Is It Possible and Necessary to Write Text Grammars?," T. P. Krzeszowski examines the…

Loyalty and Disavowal in Holy Qur’an Descriptive linguistic study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iman Kanani

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This research aims to clarify the meaning of loyalty and disavowal from linguistic point of view, between the views of linguists, and the exegetes in the Lexicons and exegeses with analysis and debate. First of all, the researcher Indicates definition of loyalty as stated in the dictionaries, with bringing the examples from the Holy Qur’an and the views of the commentators about this issue, then analysis and discussion. Second, he defines Disavowal in the language, with a point of view from linguists, and interpreters, by analyzing and discussion the examples from the Noble Qur’an. Finally, it illustrates the application of the legal and practical concept of loyalty and disavowal, to enhance the significance of language. The importance of the current study is- according to researcher’s information- due to its doctrinal and sociological matter and nobody precede such a linguistic study of Loyalty. This research approaches the issue, using the method of descriptive and analytical, based on the description and analysis of the phenomenon.

Cognitive-Linguistic Deficit and Speech Intelligibility in Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Science.gov (United States)

Mackenzie, Catherine; Green, Jan

2009-01-01

Background: Multiple sclerosis is a disabling neurological disease with varied symptoms, including dysarthria and cognitive and linguistic impairments. Association between dysarthria and cognitive-linguistic deficit has not been explored in clinical multiple sclerosis studies. Aims: In patients with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis, the…

Subtypes of written expression in elementary school children: a linguistic-based model.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakely, Melissa B; Hooper, Stephen R; de Kruif, Renee E L; Swartz, Carl

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to provide a reliable and valid classification scheme for written expression that captured the linguistic variability present in a typical elementary school sample. This empirically derived classification model was based on the following linguistic-based writing skills: (a) understandability of discourse, (b) grammar, (c) semantics, (d) spelling, and (e) reading comprehension. The sample included 257 fourth-grade (n = 142) and fifth-grade (n = 115) students (46.3% boys, 79.4% White, age range = 8;3-11;7 years; M = 10.10). All of the students were receiving their writing instruction in the regular education setting, with approximately one third receiving some type of educational assistance. The sample fell in the middle socioeconomic stratum. Cluster analytic techniques derived different possible solutions. Results of a series of internal validity studies provided strong evidence that the six-cluster solution was both stable and interpretable, with subtypes reflecting normal as well as writing disability variants. Further, the writing disability subtypes ranged from global impairment to more specific linguistic impediments. Based on their characteristics, the clusters were named (a) Average Writers (n = 102), (b) Low Semantics (n = 31), (c) Low Grammar (n = 18), (d) Expert Writers (n = 33), (e) Low Spelling-Reading (n = 13), and (f) Poor Text Quality (n = 60). Subtypes differed on the percentages of children in selected subtypes manifesting specific writing deficits as well as on selected aspects of measures of metacognition, self-efficacy, and self-regulation of the writing process. Results provide researchers with a foundation to further investigate the underlying neurolinguistic and neurocognitive processes that may strengthen or undermine students' ability to produce a quality written product and to design and implement intervention techniques to address the various subtype patterns inherent in a regular elementary school classroom.

The development of perceptual grouping biases in infancy: a Japanese-English cross-linguistic study.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Katherine A; Iversen, John R; Patel, Aniruddh D; Mazuka, Reiko; Nito, Hiromi; Gervain, Judit; Werker, Janet F

2010-05-01

Perceptual grouping has traditionally been thought to be governed by innate, universal principles. However, recent work has found differences in Japanese and English speakers' non-linguistic perceptual grouping, implicating language in non-linguistic perceptual processes (Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Two experiments test Japanese- and English-learning infants of 5-6 and 7-8 months of age to explore the development of grouping preferences. At 5-6 months, neither the Japanese nor the English infants revealed any systematic perceptual biases. However, by 7-8 months, the same age as when linguistic phrasal grouping develops, infants developed non-linguistic grouping preferences consistent with their language's structure (and the grouping biases found in adulthood). These results reveal an early difference in non-linguistic perception between infants growing up in different language environments. The possibility that infants' linguistic phrasal grouping is bootstrapped by abstract perceptual principles is discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pairing Linguistic and Music Intelligences

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DiEdwardo, MaryAnn Pasda

2005-01-01

This article describes how music in the language classroom setting can be a catalyst for developing reading, writing, and understanding skills. Studies suggest that pairing music and linguistic intelligences in the college classroom improves students' grades and abilities to compose theses statements for research papers in courses that emphasize…

Interdisciplinarity in pragmatics and linguistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mey, Jacob L.

2017-01-01

At the Second International Conference ‘Zeichen und System der Sprache’ (Magdeburg, September 1964), a certain East German professor took the floor during a discussion of one of the linguistic presentations. He started his comments by saying: ‘Als Mathematiker weiß ich zwar von der Sache nichts...

Linguistic expressions and semantic processing a practical approach

CERN Document Server

Butler, Alastair

2015-01-01

This book introduces formal semantics techniques for a natural language processing audience. Methods discussed involve: (i) the denotational techniques used in model-theoretic semantics, which make it possible to determine whether a linguistic expression is true or false with respect to some model of the way things happen to be; and (ii) stages of interpretation, i.e., ways to arrive at meanings by evaluating and converting source linguistic expressions, possibly with respect to contexts, into output (logical) forms that could be used with (i). The book demonstrates that the methods allow w

Exploring Nurse Manager Support of Evidence-Based Practice: Clinical Nurse Perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Caramanica, Laura; Spiva, LeeAnna

2018-05-01

The study identifies what constitutes nurse manager (NM) support and other resources that enable clinical nurses (CNs) to engage in evidence-based practice (EBP). Clinical nurses report that NM support enables them to use EBP but what constitutes NM support is still unclear. Nurse managers, CNs, and EBP mentors received specialized education and use a team approach for EBP. Data were collected preintervention, mid-intervention, and postintervention from observations, interviews, journaling, and surveys. Results demonstrate how NMs can perform their role responsibilities and still engage CNs to develop a spirit of inquiry, seek answers to their clinical questions using EBP, and advance their clinical performance to improve patient outcomes. Four NM supportive behaviors emerged: cultivating a shared EBP vision, ensuring use of EBP, communicating the value of EBP, and providing resources for EBP. Through education and support, NMs describe supportive behaviors necessary for the successful conduction of EBP by CNs.

Ethno linguistic material regarding Christmas rituals among the Serbs in Bela Krajina

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Petrović Tanja

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at presenting the current ethno linguistic situation in four Orthodox Serbian villages in the Bela Krajina region of Slovenia. Ethno linguistic material collected in these villages enables the synchronic state of traditional culture to be established. Special attention is payed to the way the interviewees describe Christmas rituals and interpret and evaluate then-present state; apart from description of Christmas interviewees' statements (here named ethno linguistic texts also carry precious information about attitudes of carriers of a certain culture towards its values, and indicate in- and out-group relations, establishing oppositions such as then vs. now, me vs. them, us vs. them. These subjective comments provided by the interviewees help obtain a complete, multilevel picture of a traditional culture, with all interactions that characterize it, both within the ethno linguistic community and in relation to other communities. It is especially important that these interactions be taken into account for isolated ethnic and linguistic groups such as the Orthodox Serbs in Bela Krajina.

Exploring interdisciplinary relationships between linguistics and information retrieval from the 1960s to today

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Engerer, Volkmar Paul

2017-01-01

This article explores how linguistics has influenced information retrieval (IR) and attempts to explain the impact of linguistics through an analysis of internal developments in information science generally, and IR in particular. It notes that information science/IR has been evolving from a case...... science into a fully fledged, “disciplined”/disciplinary science. The article establishes correspondences between linguistics and information science/IR using the three established IR paradigms—physical, cognitive, and computational—as a frame of reference. The current relationship between information...... science/IR and linguistics is elucidated through discussion of some recent information science publications dealing with linguistic topics and a novel technique, “keyword collocation analysis,” is introduced. Insights from interdisciplinarity research and case theory are also discussed. It is demonstrated...

Design and Practice: Enacting Functional Linguistics.

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Martin, James R.

2000-01-01

Draws on experience with a transdisciplinary literacy project in writing development at the secondary level to address the sub-field of "writing-literacy," writing as a linguist working across an applied versus theoretical frontier. (Author/VWL)

Cross-linguistic scope ambiguity: When two systems meet

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Gregory Scontras

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Accurately recognizing and resolving ambiguity is a hallmark of linguistic ability. English is a language with scope ambiguities in doubly-quantified sentences like 'A shark ate every pirate'; this sentence can either describe a scenario with a single shark eating all of the pirates, or a scenario with many sharks—a potentially-different one eating each pirate. In Mandarin Chinese, the corresponding sentence is unambiguous, as it can only describe the single-shark scenario. We present experimental evidence to this effect, comparing native speakers of English with native speakers of Mandarin in their interpretations of doubly-quantified sentences. Having demonstrated the difference between these two languages in their ability for inverse scope interpretations, we then probe the robustness of the grammar of scope by extending our experiments to English-dominant adult heritage speakers of Mandarin. Like native speakers of Mandarin, heritage Mandarin speakers lack inverse scope in Mandarin. Crucially, these speakers also lack inverse scope in English, their dominant language in adulthood. We interpret these results as evidence for the pressure to simplify the grammar of scope, decreasing ambiguity when possible. In other words, when two systems meet—as in the case of heritage speakers—the simpler system prevails. This article is part of the special collection: Quantifier Scope

Toward a Pedagogy of Linguistic Diversity: Understanding African American Linguistic Practices and Programmatic Learning Goals

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Perryman-Clark, Staci M.

2012-01-01

The relationship between cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, and composition has been a topic that has received much attention in rhetoric and composition's disciplinary conversations, even if current pedagogical practices used to address these matters lag behind in progress. In this essay, the author focuses on how to address linguistic…

A Way of Teaching English Based on Various Fields of English Linguistics

OpenAIRE

小倉, 美津夫

2018-01-01

　The aim of this paper is to analyze the present situation of English teaching in senior high schools in Aichi prefecture, clarify the problems English teachers have had since the 2010 reform of the Course of Study, and suggest that they should take in and use in their classrooms the perspectives of English linguistics. They had learned the introduction of English linguistics at their university before they became teachers, but they haven't noticed how the knowledge of English linguistics is ...

LINGUISTICS AND SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING: AN ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

methods, the cognitive code method and the cognitive anti-method, emerged, both drawing on .... sciences; he must have some knowledge of linguistics. ... much as the nature of the organising power that is capable of handling such data.

Linguistic summaries of categorical time series for septic shock patient data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Almeida, R.J.; Lesot, M.-J.; Bouchon-Meunier, B.; Kaymak, U.; Moyse, G.

2013-01-01

Linguistic summarization is a data mining and knowledge discovery approach to extract patterns and sum up large volume of data into simple sentences. There is a large research in generating linguistic summaries which can be used to better understand and communicate about patterns, evolution and long

Curious parallels and curious connections--phylogenetic thinking in biology and historical linguistics.

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Atkinson, Quentin D; Gray, Russell D

2005-08-01

In The Descent of Man (1871), Darwin observed "curious parallels" between the processes of biological and linguistic evolution. These parallels mean that evolutionary biologists and historical linguists seek answers to similar questions and face similar problems. As a result, the theory and methodology of the two disciplines have evolved in remarkably similar ways. In addition to Darwin's curious parallels of process, there are a number of equally curious parallels and connections between the development of methods in biology and historical linguistics. Here we briefly review the parallels between biological and linguistic evolution and contrast the historical development of phylogenetic methods in the two disciplines. We then look at a number of recent studies that have applied phylogenetic methods to language data and outline some current problems shared by the two fields.

Microsyntactic Annotation of Corpora and its Use in Computational Linguistics Tasks

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Iomdin Leonid

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Microsyntax is a linguistic discipline dealing with idiomatic elements whose important properties are strongly related to syntax. In a way, these elements may be viewed as transitional entities between the lexicon and the grammar, which explains why they are often underrepresented in both of these resource types: the lexicographer fails to see such elements as full-fledged lexical units, while the grammarian finds them too specific to justify the creation of individual well-developed rules. As a result, such elements are poorly covered by linguistic models used in advanced modern computational linguistic tasks like high-quality machine translation or deep semantic analysis. A possible way to mend the situation and improve the coverage and adequate treatment of microsyntactic units in linguistic resources is to develop corpora with microsyntactic annotation, closely linked to specially designed lexicons. The paper shows how this task is solved in the deeply annotated corpus of Russian, SynTagRus.

Describing linguistic information in a behavioural framework: Possible or not?

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De Cooman, G. [Universiteit Gent, Zwijnaarde (Belgium)

1996-12-31

The paper discusses important aspects of the representation of linguistic information, using imprecise probabilities with a behavioural interpretation. We define linguistic information as the information conveyed by statements in natural language, but restrict ourselves to simple affirmative statements of the type {open_quote}subject-is-predicate{close_quote}. Taking the behavioural stance, as it is described in detail, we investigate whether it is possible to give a mathematical model for this kind of information. In particular, we evaluate Zadeli`s suggestion that we should use possibility measures to this end. We come to tile conclusion that, generally speaking, possibility measures are possibility models for linguistic information, but that more work should be done in order to evaluate the suggestion that they may be the only ones.

Costs and Benefits of Orthographic Inconsistency in Reading: Evidence from a Cross-Linguistic Comparison.

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Chiara Valeria Marinelli

Full Text Available We compared reading acquisition in English and Italian children up to late primary school analyzing RTs and errors as a function of various psycholinguistic variables and changes due to experience. Our results show that reading becomes progressively more reliant on larger processing units with age, but that this is modulated by consistency of the language. In English, an inconsistent orthography, reliance on larger units occurs earlier on and it is demonstrated by faster RTs, a stronger effect of lexical variables and lack of length effect (by fifth grade. However, not all English children are able to master this mode of processing yielding larger inter-individual variability. In Italian, a consistent orthography, reliance on larger units occurs later and it is less pronounced. This is demonstrated by larger length effects which remain significant even in older children and by larger effects of a global factor (related to speed of orthographic decoding explaining changes of performance across ages. Our results show the importance of considering not only overall performance, but inter-individual variability and variability between conditions when interpreting cross-linguistic differences.

Recommendations for Policy and Practice of Physical Education in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australian Secondary Schools Based on a Two-Year Prospective Cohort Study

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Dudley, Dean A.; Pearson, Phil; Okely, Anthony D.; Cotton, Wayne G.

2015-01-01

Physical activity affords a host of physical and cognitive benefits for children. Physical education classes are one such venue where children can reap recommended amounts of physical activity. However, little research has explored evidence-based physical education instruction, particularly in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. No…

Unraveling the linguistic nature of specific autobiographical memories using a computerized classification algorithm.

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Takano, Keisuke; Ueno, Mayumi; Moriya, Jun; Mori, Masaki; Nishiguchi, Yuki; Raes, Filip

2017-06-01

In the present study, we explored the linguistic nature of specific memories generated with the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) by developing a computerized classifier that distinguishes between specific and nonspecific memories. The AMT is regarded as one of the most important assessment tools to study memory dysfunctions (e.g., difficulty recalling the specific details of memories) in psychopathology. In Study 1, we utilized the Japanese corpus data of 12,400 cue-recalled memories tagged with observer-rated specificity. We extracted linguistic features of particular relevance to memory specificity, such as past tense, negation, and adverbial words and phrases pertaining to time and location. On the basis of these features, a support vector machine (SVM) was trained to classify the memories into specific and nonspecific categories, which achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of .92 in a performance test. In Study 2, the trained SVM was tested in terms of its robustness in classifying novel memories (n = 8,478) that were retrieved in response to cue words that were different from those used in Study 1. The SVM showed an AUC of .89 in classifying the new memories. In Study 3, we extended the binary SVM to a five-class classification of the AMT, which achieved 64%-65% classification accuracy, against the chance level (20%) in the performance tests. Our data suggest that memory specificity can be identified with a relatively small number of words, capturing the universal linguistic features of memory specificity across memories in diverse contents.

Conversation, characterisation and corpus linguistics: Dialogue in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

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E.H. Hubbard

2002-08-01

Full Text Available This article reports on a corpus-based exploration of the role that fictional dialogue plays in characterisation. The focus is on the two main characters of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and (a the extent to which certain features of their dialogue can be said to tie in with general perceptions that Elinor represents the “sense” and Marianne the “sensibility” of the novel’s title; and (b the extent to which Austen can be said to have exploited these features to enable the sisters to speak with subtly differing voices. The features themselves were drawn from two linguistic frameworks, namely cohesion in text linguistics (specifically, the category of conjunctive cohesion as originated by Halliday and Hasan (1976, and the category of “involvement” in register analysis (most prominently, Biber 1988. The density of these features in each dialogue was calculated, compared statistically and salient differences considered in relation to the focal issues of the study. Although two of the five hypotheses formulated were not supported, the results overall provided strong indications that Austen successfully distinguishes between the sisters through their dialogue, and often in ways that link with less subtle, more explicit cues to their character that are given in the text. The study thus reveals how certain text-linguistic and register features can underpin characterisation in fiction, and in so doing explicates aspects of what it is that readers and literary critics respond to when they comment on characterisation in a novel.

The acute mania of King George III: A computational linguistic analysis.

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Vassiliki Rentoumi

Full Text Available We used a computational linguistic approach, exploiting machine learning techniques, to examine the letters written by King George III during mentally healthy and apparently mentally ill periods of his life. The aims of the study were: first, to establish the existence of alterations in the King's written language at the onset of his first manic episode; and secondly to identify salient sources of variation contributing to the changes. Effects on language were sought in two control conditions (politically stressful vs. politically tranquil periods and seasonal variation. We found clear differences in the letter corpus, across a range of different features, in association with the onset of mental derangement, which were driven by a combination of linguistic and information theory features that appeared to be specific to the contrast between acute mania and mental stability. The paucity of existing data relevant to changes in written language in the presence of acute mania suggests that lexical, syntactic and stylometric descriptions of written discourse produced by a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of acute mania will be necessary to support the diagnosis independently and to look for other periods of mental illness of the course of the King's life, and in other historically significant figures with similarly large archives of handwritten documents.

A forgotten social science? Creating a place for linguistics in the historical dialogue.

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Martin-Nielsen, Janet

2011-01-01

The post-World War II era was one of great triumph for American linguists-and yet linguistics is all but absent from the historical literature on postwar social science. This paper aims to illuminate this curious situation: to understand its provenance, evaluate its merits, and contextualize it broadly. I argue that the historiographic lacuna results from two factors: (1) the opt-out of linguists from the wider American social science community, and (2) historical-developmental and -orientational factors that stand linguistics apart from the social science mainstream. The resultant isolation of linguistics has led to a parallel isolation in the historical literature. Ultimately, this paper poses a pivotal and timely question: How is the postwar social science space construed within the existing historiographic framework, and how should it be construed in order to maximize understanding? I propose a rethink of the received historiography centered on intellectual transformations and cross-disciplinary integration. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

“Hindi Bayani/Not a Hero”: The Linguistic Landscape of Protest in Manila

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Jennifer Monje

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article examines the linguistic landscape of Manila during a protest march in November 2016 in response to the burial of deposed president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery. This article is situated among linguistic landscape of protest research (Kasanga, 2014; Seals, 2011; Shiri, 2015 where data is composed of mobile posters, placards, banners, and other ‘unfixed’ signs, including texts on bodies, t-shirts, umbrellas, and rocks. Following Sebba (2010, this article argues that both ‘fixed’ linguistic landscape and ‘mobile’ public texts are indices of the linguistic composition of cities, linguistic diversity, and ethnolinguistic vitality (Landry & Bourhis, 1997. Through a qualitative analysis of selected pictures produced during the protest march and uploaded onto social media, the multilingual nature of Manila is rendered salient and visible, albeit temporarily, and strategies of dissent are reflective of the language of the millennials who populated the protests.

The Territory of Language: Linguistics, Stylistics, and the Teaching of Composition.

Science.gov (United States)

McQuade, Donald A.

Intended to chart the interconnections of linguistics, stylistics, and the teaching of composition, this book encourages a productive collective effort to cultivate linguistics among teachers of writing. Chapter titles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Grammar in American College Composition: An Historical Overview" (R. J. Connors);…

Research in the School of Languages and Linguistics at Griffith University

Science.gov (United States)

Fenton-Smith, Ben; Walkinshaw, Ian

2014-01-01

Griffith University is set across five campuses in south-east Queensland, Australia, and has a student population of 43,000. The School of Languages and Linguistics (LAL) offers programs in linguistics, international English, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, as well as English language enhancement courses. Research strands reflect the…

Language dominance shapes non-linguistic rhythmic grouping in bilinguals.

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Molnar, Monika; Carreiras, Manuel; Gervain, Judit

2016-07-01

To what degree non-linguistic auditory rhythm perception is governed by universal biases (e.g., Iambic-Trochaic Law; Hayes, 1995) or shaped by native language experience is debated. It has been proposed that rhythmic regularities in spoken language, such as phrasal prosody affect the grouping abilities of monolinguals (e.g., Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Here, we assessed the non-linguistic tone grouping biases of Spanish monolinguals, and three groups of Basque-Spanish bilinguals with different levels of Basque experience. It is usually assumed in the literature that Basque and Spanish have different phrasal prosodies and even linguistic rhythms. To confirm this, first, we quantified Basque and Spanish phrasal prosody (Experiment 1a) and duration patterns used in the classification of languages into rhythm classes (Experiment 1b). The acoustic measurements revealed that regularities in phrasal prosody systematically differ across Basque and Spanish; by contrast, the rhythms of the two languages are only minimally dissimilar. In Experiment 2, participants' non-linguistic rhythm preferences were assessed in response to non-linguistic tones alternating in either intensity (Intensity condition) or in duration (Duration condition). In the Intensity condition, all groups showed a trochaic grouping bias, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law. In the Duration Condition the Spanish monolingual and the most Basque-dominant bilingual group exhibited opposite grouping preferences in line with the phrasal prosodies of their native/dominant languages, trochaic in Basque, iambic in Spanish. The two other bilingual groups showed no significant biases, however. Overall, results indicate that duration-based grouping mechanisms are biased toward the phrasal prosody of the native and dominant language; also, the presence of an L2 in the environment interacts with the auditory biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Actualization of Categories Linguonationalism and Linguopatriotism in Modern Linguistics

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Kosmeda Tetiana

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: In modern linguistics E. Sepir’s-B. Warf’s theory of a language relativity attracts attention of many scientists, the essence of which some linguists negate as well as they don’t agree to a traditional system of the methodological bases of linguoculturology because this theory «approves» linguonationalism. Purpose: The purpose of the analysis is to illustrate the fact of implementation of the linguonationalism ideology concerning the Ukrainian language by the Russian Empire; the very fact is observed nowadays and the linguopatriotism of the Ukrainians is negated and disrespected by the Russian linguists. Results: Linguonationalism is the ideologization of the very language and a language as a means of a collective self-identification, as a realization of a certain language policy of totalitarian states and modelling of myths in different language forms (discourses. The status of the Ukrainian language, its functions, ontology in Ukraine is considered by modern Russian linguists untruthfully, certain facts are falsified. The system of O. Potebnya’s views represents the objective points of view on the actualized in this research notions of «linguonationalism» and «linguopatriotism». O. Potebnya singled out the task to keep to a reasonable linguopatriotism, which is mentioned in his quotation: «a gradual nationalism – is internationalism». O. Potebnya emphasizes that a nation can be understood only through its language. It is the language that gives the opportunity to see and to feel a nation’s seeing of the world. The scientist actualizes the problem of a modern culturology and the language must be considered as «a certain means of creation and thought refining». Discussion: Modern Ukrainian linguists must elaborate a certain perspective programme aimed at the explanation of the problem of linguonationalism and linguopatriotism.

Applied Linguistics Research on Asianness

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Yoko

2011-01-01

As China is increasingly occupying the world's attention, its explosively expanding economical and political clout has also been felt in the applied linguistics domain, with the discussion on China's/Chinese language issues growing by leaps and bounds (e.g. China's English education policies, Chinese language classes in the West). Amid the world's…

Mentalist vs Behaviorist : Chomsky`s Linguistic Theory

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Solehah Yaacob

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The research emphasizes on the relationship between linguistics and logic according modern views and approaches. However, linguistic argumentation is needed for analyzing a language system that uses the meaning of expressions in a sentence to provide the complete meaning of the sentence, as there lies a dependence between expressions. In fact, the connection between expressions enhances the overall meaning from the fundamentals of the sentence structure in the logical relationship between ideas; where there lies a relation between words and thought, which is dependent on the logic of combined utterances. In order to signify the above concept of thinking, the researcher has reviewed the theory of the early system of Arabic grammar that focuses more on an analogical approach rather than anomaly. The analogical approach in the system is based on the underlying theory that implies the aforementioned relationship, even though some modern views may disagree on the interpretation of this issue. To add to the discussion, the researcher has included similar existing theories on Chomsky`s approaches, which have shown the logical approach as a result from the connection between linguistic argumentation and logic. As a result of this discussion, the connection between words and logic is shown to be a universal concept.

Linguistik und Didaktik (Linguistics and Didactics)

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Mollay, Karl

1974-01-01

Briefly summarizes the papers presented at the 10th annual convention of the German Language Institute in Mannheim. The relationship between linguistic research and its applicability in the area of language instruction is discussed. (Text is in German.) (DS)

Glossematik und Linguistik (Glossematics and Linguistics)

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Hoger, Alfons

1974-01-01

Provides a short summary on the background, current development and future perspectives of the glossematic theory of language and linguistics, as developed by Hjelmslev and those associated with him (Loosely called "the Danish school"). (Text is in German.) (DS)

Comprehensive assessment of firm financial performance using financial ratios and linguistic analysis of annual reports

OpenAIRE

Renáta Myšková; Petr Hájek

2017-01-01

Indicators of financial performance, especially financial ratio analysis, have become important financial decision-support information used by firm management and other stakeholders to assess financial stability and growth potential. However, additional information may be hidden in management communication. The article deals with the analysis of the annual reports of U.S. firms from both points of view, a financial one based on a set of financial ratios, and a linguistic one based on the anal...

Quantifying linguistic coordination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fusaroli, Riccardo; Tylén, Kristian

task (Bahrami et al 2010, Fusaroli et al. 2012) we extend to linguistic coordination dynamical measures of recurrence employed in the analysis of sensorimotor coordination (such as heart-rate (Konvalinka et al 2011), postural sway (Shockley 2005) and eye-movements (Dale, Richardson and Kirkham 2012......). We employ nominal recurrence analysis (Orsucci et al 2005, Dale et al 2011) on the decision-making conversations between the participants. We report strong correlations between various indexes of recurrence and collective performance. We argue this method allows us to quantify the qualities...

Evoking and Measuring Identification with Narrative Characters – A Linguistic Cues Framework

Science.gov (United States)

van Krieken, Kobie; Hoeken, Hans; Sanders, José

2017-01-01

Current research on identification with narrative characters poses two problems. First, although identification is seen as a dynamic process of which the intensity varies during reading, it is usually measured by means of post-reading questionnaires containing self-report items. Second, it is not clear which linguistic characteristics evoke identification. The present paper proposes that an interdisciplinary framework allows for more precise manipulations and measurements of identification, which will ultimately advance our understanding of the antecedents and nature of this process. The central hypothesis of our Linguistic Cues Framework is that identification with a narrative character is a multidimensional experience for which different dimensions are evoked by different linguistic cues. The first part of the paper presents a literature review on identification, resulting in a renewed conceptualization of identification which distinguishes six dimensions: a spatiotemporal, a perceptual, a cognitive, a moral, an emotional, and an embodied dimension. The second part argues that each of these dimensions is influenced by specific linguistic cues which represent various aspects of the narrative character’s perspective. The proposed relations between linguistic cues and identification dimensions are specified in six propositions. The third part discusses what psychological and neurocognitive methods enable the measurement of the various identification dimensions in order to test the propositions. By establishing explicit connections between the linguistic characteristics of narratives and readers’ physical, psychological, and neurocognitive responses to narratives, this paper develops a research agenda for future empirical research on identification with narrative characters. PMID:28751875

Classification and linguistic characterization of non-deterministic data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lopez De Mantaras, R; Aguilar Martin, J

1983-10-01

Sequential classification is here a problem of estimation of a fuzzy partition. Parameters of membership functions can be estimated recursively by a learning or selflearning mechanism. Classes can be described by multivariable possibility distributions. The marginal possibility distribution for one of the components describing an object can be matched to a possibility distribution, defined in (0,1) chosen among a set corresponding to linguistic labels as low, high, very high, ..., and a label can be associated with this component. A higher level learning may be introduced to modify the semantics of the linguistic labels. 11 references.

The linguistic thought of J. R. Firth | Love | Stellenbosch Papers in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 15 (1986) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. The linguistic thought of J. R. Firth. N Love. Abstract.

41 Pragmatics: The Cornerstone of Linguistic Exploration in the 21st ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

2010-10-17

Oct 17, 2010 ... This study investigates into the relevance of context in the interpretation of linguistic entities. ... processes can be attributed to the works of Morris (1938; 1946) and Carnap. (1942). .... overall framework of the pragmatic perspective. This is ... new kind of theory of linguistic communication, has to rely on.

New evidence: data documenting parental support for earlier sexuality education.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Elissa M; Moore, Michele J; Johnson, Tammie; Forrest, Jamie; Jordan, Melissa

2014-01-01

Numerous studies document support for sexuality education to be taught in high school, and often, in middle school. However, little research has been conducted addressing support for sexuality education in elementary schools. As part of the state Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Survey administration, the Florida Department of Health conducted the Florida Child Health Survey (FCHS) by calling back parents who had children in their home and who agreed to participate (N = 1715). Most parents supported the following sexuality education topics being taught specifically in elementary school: communication skills (89%), human anatomy/reproductive information (65%), abstinence (61%), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (53%), and gender/sexual orientation issues (52%). Support was even greater in middle school (62-91%) and high school (72-91%) for these topics and for birth control and condom education. Most parents supported comprehensive sexuality education (40.4%), followed by abstinence-plus (36.4%) and abstinence-only (23.2%). Chi-square results showed significant differences in the type of sexuality education supported by almost all parent demographic variables analyzed including sex, race, marital status, and education. Results add substantial support for age-appropriate school-based sexuality education starting at the elementary school level, the new National Sexuality Education Standards, and funding to support evidence-based abstinence-plus or comprehensive sexuality education. © 2013, American School Health Association.

Desiderata for Linguistic Software Design

Science.gov (United States)

Garretson, Gregory

2008-01-01

This article presents a series of guidelines both for researchers in search of software to be used in linguistic analysis and for programmers designing such software. A description of the intended audience and the types of software under consideration and a review of some relevant literature are followed by a discussion of several important…

IMPACT OF POLY-LINGUISTIC LOAD ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND MONITORING QUALITY

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Volodymyr Kharchenko

2012-09-01

Full Text Available  We have defined the structure and basic characteristics of the poly-linguistic audio-acoustic channel within the framework of controller – pilot communication, and set limits of poly-linguistic load impact on air traffic control.

Historical linguistics in Australia: trees, networks and their implications.

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Bowern, Claire

2010-12-12

This paper presents an overview of the current state of historical linguistics in Australian languages. Australian languages have been important in theoretical debates about the nature of language change and the possibilities for reconstruction and classification in areas of intensive diffusion. Here are summarized the most important outstanding questions for Australian linguistic prehistory; I also present a case study of the Karnic subgroup of Pama-Nyungan, which illustrates the problems for classification in Australian languages and potential approaches using phylogenetic methods.

Evidence-informed health policy 1 - synthesis of findings from a multi-method study of organizations that support the use of research evidence.

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Lavis, John N; Oxman, Andrew D; Moynihan, Ray; Paulsen, Elizabeth J

2008-12-17

Organizations have been established in many countries and internationally to support the use of research evidence by producing clinical practice guidelines, undertaking health technology assessments, and/or directly supporting the use of research evidence in developing health policy on an international, national, and state or provincial level. Learning from these organizations can reduce the need to 'reinvent the wheel' and inform decisions about how best to organize support for such organizations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We undertook a multi-method study in three phases - a survey, interviews, and case descriptions that drew on site visits - and in each of the second and third phases we focused on a purposive sample of those involved in the previous phase. We used the seven main recommendations that emerged from the advice offered in the interviews to organize much of the synthesis of findings across phases and methods. We used a constant comparative method to identify themes from across phases and methods. Seven recommendations emerged for those involved in establishing or leading organizations that support the use of research evidence in developing health policy: 1) collaborate with other organizations; 2) establish strong links with policymakers and involve stakeholders in the work; 3) be independent and manage conflicts of interest among those involved in the work; 4) build capacity among those working in the organization; 5) use good methods and be transparent in the work; 6) start small, have a clear audience and scope, and address important questions; and 7) be attentive to implementation considerations, even if implementation is not a remit. Four recommendations emerged for the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations and networks: 1) support collaborations among organizations; 2) support local adaptation efforts; 3) mobilize support; and 4) create global public goods. This synthesis of

The Actualization of Literary Learning Model Based on Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence

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Hali, Nur Ihsan

2017-01-01

This article is inspired by Howard Gardner's concept of linguistic intelligence and also from some authors' previous writings. All of them became the authors' reference in developing ideas on constructing a literary learning model based on linguistic intelligence. The writing of this article is not done by collecting data empirically, but by…

Word on the Street: Investigating Linguistic Landscapes with Urban Canadian Youth

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Burwell, Catherine; Lenters, Kimberly

2015-01-01

This article reports on a case study inspired by the concept of "linguistic landscapes." We collaborated with a group of Humanities teachers to design and implement the "Word on the Street" project, in which Grade 10 students took on the role of researchers to explore the linguistic, visual and spatial texts of their…

Linguistic Multi-Competence of Fiji School Students and Their Conversational Partners

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Hopf, Suzanne C.; McLeod, Sharynne; McDonagh, Sarah H.

2018-01-01

This study explored linguistic multi-competence in Fiji students and their conversational partners through a description of linguistic diversity in one school community. Students' caregivers (n = 75), teachers (n = 25) and year 4 students (n = 40) in an urban school of Fiji completed paper-based questionnaires regarding: 75 students, 75 mothers,…

Linguistic Features of English and Russian Dictionaries (A Comparative Study

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Robert Leščinskij

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to establish differences and similarities between linguistic characteristics of English and Russian dictionaries. Two dictionaries were selected for the study – electronic version of the 8th edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD and the online version of Ozhegov’s explanatory dictionary. The methods chosen for the study were descriptive, comparative and contrastive analysis. Linguistic characteristics of the dictionaries were analysed and compared. The research showed that both reference books provided different linguistic information on the headwords. OALD provided exhaustive phonetic information, which Ozhegov’s dictionary lacked. The two dictionaries provided different orthographic information. OALD disclosed semantic information via various tools available in the electronic version; these were unavailable in Ozhegov’s dictionary. Both dictionaries used similar stylistic labels.

Organizational supports used by private child and family serving agencies to facilitate evidence use: a mixed methods study protocol.

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Chuang, Emmeline; Collins-Camargo, Crystal; McBeath, Bowen

2017-04-08

Challenges to evidence use are well documented. Less well understood are the formal supports-e.g., technical infrastructure, inter-organizational relationships-organizations may put in place to help overcome these challenges. This study will identify supports for evidence use currently used by private child and family serving agencies delivering publicly funded behavioral health and/or human services; examine contextual, organizational, and managerial factors associated with use of such supports; and determine how identified supports affect evidence use by staff at multiple levels of the organization. We will use a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, with study activities occurring in two sequential phases: In phase 1, quantitative survey data collected from managers of private child and family serving agencies in six states (CA, IN, KY, MO, PA, and WI) and analyzed using both regression and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) will identify organizational supports currently being used to facilitate evidence use and examine the contextual, organizational, and managerial factors associated with the use of such supports. In phase 2, data from phase 1 will be used to select a purposive sample of 12 agencies for in-depth case studies. In those 12 agencies, semi-structured interviews with key informants and managers, focus groups with frontline staff, and document analysis will provide further insight into agencies' motivation for investing in organizational supports for evidence use and the facilitators and barriers encountered in doing so. Semi-structured interviews with managers and focus groups with frontline staff will also assess whether and how identified supports affect evidence use at different levels of the organization (senior executives, middle managers, frontline supervisors, and frontline staff). Within- and between-case analyses supplemented by QCA will identify combinations of factors associated with the highest and lowest levels of staff

LINGUISTIC LANDSCPAE OF TBILISI: A CASE STUDY OF GRAFFITI

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Jūratė Radavičiūtė

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article investigates graffiti of Tbilisi, Georgia, as a part of the linguistic landscape of the city. The research is carried out within the theoretical framework of linguistic landscape, based on the works by Landry and Bourhis (1997, Gorter (2006, Jaworski and Thurlow (2010, etc. The aspects of multimodality, multilingualism and sociality are focused on in the research. The graffiti analysed displays the features of multimodality where visual images are used alongside with written texts, thus, adding the element of complexity to the discourse investigated. It must be pointed out that the use of English language for graffiti making prevails. Regarding the social aspect of the linguistic landscape, Tbilisi graffiti shows the engagement of street artists in a socially-relevant discussion tackling both local and state-level problems. The display of Tbilisi graffiti demonstrates the fluidity of this type of narrative: older graffiti are covered with new ones in addition to being cleaned or covered with official or commercial signage.

A Linguistic Multigranular Sensory Evaluation Model for Olive Oil

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Luis Martinez

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Evaluation is a process that analyzes elements in order to achieve different objectives such as quality inspection, marketing and other fields in industrial companies. This paper focuses on sensory evaluation where the evaluated items are assessed by a panel of experts according to the knowledge acquired via human senses. In these evaluation processes the information provided by the experts implies uncertainty, vagueness and imprecision. The use of the Fuzzy Linguistic Approach 32 has provided successful results modelling such a type of information. In sensory evaluation it may happen that the panel of experts have more or less degree knowledge of about the evaluated items or indicators. So, it seems suitable that each expert could express their preferences in different linguistic term sets based on their own knowledge. In this paper, we present a sensory evaluation model that manages multigranular linguistic evaluation framework based on a decision analysis scheme. This model will be applied to the sensory evaluation process of Olive Oil.

York Papers in Linguistics, Volume 17.

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Local, J. K., Ed.; Warner, A. R., Ed.

1996-01-01

These 14 articles on aspects of linguistics include the following: "Economy and Optionality: Interpretations of Subjects in Italian" (David Adger); "Collaborative Repair in EFL Classroom Talk" (Zara Iles); "A Timing Model for Fast French" (Eric Keller, Brigitte Zellner); "Another Travesty of Representation:…