Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
18265 papers
This study explores the linguistic phenomenon of code-mixing between Indonesian and English among Generation Z teenagers. It aims to analyze how the integration of English into daily conversations influences their speaking manners, including lexical choices, sentence structures, and sociolinguistic implications. A qualitative case study approach was employed, involving interviews, discourse analysis, and surveys among teenagers in urban areas. The findings indicate that code-mixing is used for stylistic expression, social identity formation, and digital communication adaptation. While it enhances bilingual proficiency, it also raises concerns about language shift and cultural identity. The study provides insights into the evolving linguistic patterns of Generation Z and their implications for language education and communication norms.
Modern lifestyles demonstrably influence language as a social construct. The Russian language is not exempt from the constant evolution of its lexical units; some terms lose their original meanings and acquire new ones, while others become obsolete, replaced by newer vocabulary. Certain situations may necessitate deviations from established linguistic conventions, potentially creating legal grounds for subsequent litigation. The purpose of the study is to analyze some challenging issues of spelling and using words in the Russian language that are reflected in judicial practice. The present study was carried out based on traditional general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, etc.) and methods of legal science (system analysis, formal-legal, etc.). Analysis of regular and irregular spelling and using words, including foreign ones, in the Russian language tellingly reveals the complexity of linguistic issues facing courts. Notably, challenges arise from the lack of a unified legal and linguistic definition of the word “obscene”, hindering its subsequent legislative consolidation, and from misuse of technology in drafting court documents, leading to repeated mistakes. It is concluded that it is necessary to expand the List of grammars, dictionaries and reference books approved by Order of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation No. 195 dated 8 June 2009, containing the norms of the modern Russian literary language when used as the state language of the Russian Federation, including because of the need to legislatively consolidate the new vocabulary appearing in the reference literature.
Despite their potential as sustainable protein sources, insect-based food products are facing slow acceptance by European consumers. The study investigated societal attitudes toward insect-based foods according to a survey of Italian consumers. Employing the Theory of Social Representation (SR) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) the study adopted a quali-quatitative approach to identify the interplay between cultural factors and determinants of behavioral intentions to consume insect-based foods. The study sample ( N = 380) responded to a two-part online survey: a free word association task to the stimulus “insect-based food” and a structured questionnaire of TPB variables (attitude toward insect-based food, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention) and its pertinent extensions, i.e., disgust, food neophobia, and positive moral attitudes. The lexical corpus derived from free associations was analyzed with ALCESTE and the resulting lexical classes were illustrated by means of quantitative measures. Three social representations of insect-based food, varying in their degree of abstraction/concreteness and perceived safety and effectiveness, were identified and labeled as “Simply Disgusting,” “Nutritious and Sustainable,” and “Curiosity and Caution.” Each representation was associated with a well-defined profile of participants and was clearly linked to participants' beliefs about insect-based food, the moral implications of these dietary choices, and consumers' intentions to purchase such products. The study suggests the need for targeted interventions to address societal misconception and foster a more favorable perception of insect-based food products as viable food options in European diets. Our findings provide insights for policymakers and producers seeking to promote sustainable dietary choices. • Social Representations of Insect-Based Foods and the Theory of Planned Behavior. • Consumer Perspectives on Insect-Based Foods: Curiosity and Positive Moral Attitudes Beyond Disgust. • Targeted Interventions to Overcome Societal Skepticism Toward Insect-Based Foods. • From Free Associations to Social Representations: How Consumers Perceive Insect-Based Food.
This study is the first to scrutinize the rates of, and the lexical diversity in, adjective intensification in second language (L2) German. We additionally attend to the issue concerning whether sociodemographic variables (i.e., length of residence, age, and gender) and individual learner differences (i.e., L2 proficiency, intensity of exposure to the L2, and L2 socioaffect) can predict (a) the inter-individual variation in syntactic adjective intensification, and (b) the observed intra-individual variation based on a weighted measure of intensifier lexical diversity. We analyzed spoken data collected via virtual reality (VR) elicitation tasks from 40 learners of L2 German (first language [L1] English). We found that learners engaged in adjective intensification at similar rates as those reported in the literature, despite some cases of overshooting the target; learners also preferred markers of intensification consistent with the lexical choices of L1 German speakers. Sociodemographic variables did not predict different rates of adjective intensification; rather, individual learner differences such as those relating to L2 proficiency and L2 exposure correlated with more target-like use of intensifiers, though the correlations were weak. The diversity in adjective intensification was also only marginally related to demographic factors and individual learner differences. Our findings suggest that L2 learners indeed engage in similar intensification practices as do L1 speakers; however, systematically predicting more ‘successful’ adoption of target-like sociopragmatic norms among L2 learners remains challenging.
Stress in interpreting has been well researched over the last few decades. This study takes a multimodal approach to investigate the distinct effects of emotional and cognitive load on interpreter stress. 20 student interpreters consecutively interpreted four first-person mental healthcare narratives from Turkish to English that varied in emotional content and difficulty, within a 2×2 factorial design. Cognitive and emotional responses were captured using galvanic skin response (GSR), prosodic features (pitch and intensity), and three self-report measures (PANAS, STAI, and NASA-TLX). The stimuli were normed using traditional readability indices, expert ratings, and novel natural language processing techniques to control emotional valence and linguistic complexity. The results showed that physiological arousal, as measured by GSR, was primarily driven by cognitive load, particularly during the later stages of interpreting. Emotional load, on the other hand, was more clearly reflected in prosodic markers (especially pitch) and negative affect ratings. The results also hinted at a convergence in pitch between the source speaker and the interpreter. Notably, emotional and cognitive load began to take its toll from the latter stages of the listening phase onwards. However, none of the objective or subjective stress measures predicted interpreting accuracy, suggesting that performance may be mediated by individual coping strategies. The findings are expected to have implications for interpreting pedagogy and the development of cognitive and emotional support strategies in high-stakes interpreting contexts.
Hoarding Disorder (HD) is defined by the inability to discard objects until clutter becomes functionally impairing. A DSM-5 specifier for HD is lack of insight. A recent study found links between insight (using an objective clutter proxy) and inhibitory/cognitive control in HD. We aimed to explore associations between insight (using the same clutter proxy) and symptom severity, functioning, and cognition in Veterans with HD. 122 Veterans seeking treatment for HD completed pre-treatment assessments, including home-based assessments of clutter volume using the Clutter Imaging Rating Scale (CIR), HD severity measures, self-reported functioning, and neuropsychological testing. Insight was defined as the difference between the assessor and self-rating of the CIR (i.e., CIR-error). T-tests and regressions were used to evaluate the relationships between measures. The majority of the Veterans were older (m = 62), male (61 %), and White (57 %), with some college education. On clinical interview, only 10 % of the sample were rated with impaired insight. The mean CIR-error score was in the impaired range, with 47 % of the Veterans underreporting clutter. Lower HD severity and higher self-reported functioning were related to lower insight. Neuropsychological test performance was related to insight, but with small effects in varying directions. Nearly half of treatment-seeking Veterans demonstrated impairment in insight into levels of clutter, similar to previous work. Objective insight ratings demonstrated better sensitivity than clinician interviews for insight impairments. Lower insight was related to lower self-reported HD severity and higher self-reported functioning, raising the question of a potential insight paradox in HD.
In this paper I will discuss the experience of teaching the culture of the Polish language and its norms to active translators who enrolled in the postgraduate course Poprawna polszczyzna dla tłumaczy, weryfikatora i postedytorów (Correct Polish for translators, proofreaders and post‑editors). My aim is to discuss the linguistic problems faced by the translators, which they expected to be clarified during the postgraduate studies. I will also draw on the experience of teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students of neophilology in classes on cultural and linguistic issues, i.e. on the experience gained in training adepts of the art of translatology, i.e. future translators, post‑editors and proofreaders, in the Polish language norm. I will conclude the whole with a theoretical and teleological postulate: a new philosophy of the linguistic norm (in teaching) and a proposal for a probabilistic conception of the linguistic norm.
Abstract In many fields, such as language acquisition, neuropsychology of language, the study of aging, and historical linguistics, corpora are used for estimating the diversity of grammatical structures that are produced during a period by an individual, community, or type of speakers. In these cases, treebanks are taken as representative samples of the syntactic structures that might be encountered. Generalizing the potential syntactic diversity from the structures documented in a small corpus requires careful extrapolation whose accuracy is constrained by the limited size of representative sub-corpora. In this article, I demonstrate—both theoretically and empirically—that a grammar’s derivational entropy and the mean length of the utterances (MLU) it generates are fundamentally linked, giving rise to a new measure, the derivational entropy rate. The mean length of utterances becomes the most practical index of syntactic complexity; I demonstrate that MLU is not a mere proxy, but a fundamental measure of syntactic diversity. In combination with the new derivational entropy rate measure, it provides a theory-free assessment of grammatical complexity. The derivational entropy rate indexes the rate at which different grammatical annotation frameworks determine the grammatical complexity of treebanks. I evaluate the Smoothed Induced Treebank Entropy (SITE) as a tool for estimating these measures accurately, even from very small treebanks. I conclude by discussing important implications of these results for both NLP and human language processing.
Although aerobic exercise modulates self-experienced pain, its impact on empathy for pain remains unclear. Moreover, whether exergaming, which combines exercise with interactive gaming, influences empathy-related neural responses is unknown. The present study investigated the effects of exergaming on the neural mechanisms underlying empathy for pain, comparing them with those of conventional aerobic exercise (cycling) and a non-active control condition. A total of ninety-one participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exergaming (Nintendo Fitness Ring Adventure), moderate intensity cycling, or rest. After a 30-min intervention, participants completed a pain judgement task while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Behavioral outcomes (reaction time, accuracy, pain intensity, and emotional valence ratings) and ERP components (N1, P2, N2, P3, LPP) were analyzed. Results revealed that both exergaming and cycling enhanced emotional valence ratings for painful images relative to the control condition. ERP analyses demonstrate that exergaming significantly amplified late-stage components (P3 and LPP) in response to painful stimuli, indicating enhanced cognitive appraisal processes associated with empathy for pain, while early components (N1, P2, N2) remain unaffected across conditions. These findings suggest that exergaming, through its combination of multisensory and cognitive engagement, uniquely enhances cognitive empathy for pain.
In this study, we first tested the performance of the TreeTagger English model developed by Helmut Schmid with test files at our disposal, using this model to analyze relative clauses and noun complement clauses in English. We distinguished between the two uses of "that," both as a relative pronoun and as a complementizer. To achieve this, we employed an algorithm to reannotate a corpus that had originally been parsed using the Universal Dependency framework with the EWT Treebank. In the next phase, we proposed an improved model by retraining TreeTagger and compared the newly trained model with Schmid's baseline model. This process allowed us to fine-tune the model's performance to more accurately capture the subtle distinctions in the use of "that" as a complementizer and as a nominal. We also examined the impact of varying the training dataset size on TreeTagger's accuracy and assessed the representativeness of the EWT Treebank files for the structures under investigation. Additionally, we analyzed some of the linguistic and structural factors influencing the ability to effectively learn this distinction.
This research investigates the linguistic features of phraseological units in the Uzbek and Russian languages. The study analyzes their structural, semantic, and functional characteristics, focusing on similarities and differences in formation, imagery, and usage. Special attention is given to national-cultural elements reflected in idioms and set expressions of both languages. By comparing phraseological units across Uzbek and Russian, the research highlights how cultural background, historical development, and linguistic norms influence their meaning and stylistic value. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of cross-linguistic phraseology and the role of phraseological units in intercultural communication.
This research paper examines the sociological significance of dialects and accents, analyzing their role in shaping social identities, reinforcing hierarchies, and influencing systemic biases. Grounded in sociological theories, particularly those of Pierre Bourdieu, Erving Goffman, Max Weber, and Michel Foucault, the study explores how language functions as a form of symbolic capital that dictates access to social mobility and power. Through a critical analysis of language as a site of inclusion and exclusion, the paper highlights how dominant linguistic norms marginalize non-standard dialects, perpetuating social stratification. Additionally, the study investigates the role of media, globalization, and cultural representation in shaping linguistic perceptions and maintaining or challenging linguistic hegemony. While dialects and accents often serve as markers of discrimination, they are also powerful tools for cultural identity and resistance. This paper underscoresthe need for greater linguistic inclusivity in institutional, educational, and social contextsto combat entrenched biases and promote equitable linguistic representation.
The obligatory use of third-person honorifics is a distinctive feature of several South Asian languages, encoding nuanced socio-pragmatic cues such as power, age, gender, fame, and social distance. In this work, (i) We present the first large-scale study of third-person honorific pronoun and verb usage across 10,000 Hindi and Bengali Wikipedia articles with annotations linked to key socio-demographic attributes of the subjects, including gender, age group, fame, and cultural origin. (ii) Our analysis uncovers systematic intra-language regularities but notable cross-linguistic differences: honorifics are more prevalent in Bengali than in Hindi, while non-honorifics dominate while referring to infamous, juvenile, and culturally exotic entities. Notably, in both languages, and more prominently in Hindi, men are more frequently addressed with honorifics than women. (iii) To examine whether large language models (LLMs) internalize similar socio-pragmatic norms, we probe six LLMs using controlled generation and translation tasks over 1,000 culturally balanced entities. We find that LLMs diverge from Wikipedia usage, exhibiting alternative preferences in honorific selection across tasks, languages, and socio-demographic attributes. These discrepancies highlight gaps in the socio-cultural alignment of LLMs and open new directions for studying how LLMs acquire, adapt, or distort social-linguistic norms. Our code and data are publicly available at https://github.com/souro/honorific-wiki-llm
This paper examines the vital role context plays in Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) especially as it relates to cross-cultural miscommunications exemplified in British/American and Nigerian data. This study, therefore, critically investigates the intricate dynamics of how context shapes interactional communication, highlighting how cross-cultural differences, linguistic norms and societal expectations and contextualization cues often lead to semantic misrepresentation, misunderstandings and miscommunications. Drawing on empirical data from complex and linguistically diverse cultural background, the study demonstrates how Gumperz IS and contextualization theories can lighten-up the complex interplay between language, culture and context in cross-cultural sociolinguistic interactions. The study drew from purposively selected structured interviews involving electricians, bricklayers, teacher/pupils exchange and Head of Department/staff conversations, which were subjected to discourse analysis. The data reflect work environment across different regions, including USA, UK and Nigeria. The findings reveal that language is consequential in sociocultural context in which communication takes place, and also brings to the fore that effective cross-cultural communication requires not only linguistic competence but also a deep understanding of the cultural nuances and contextual factors that shape interactional dynamics. This paper also contributes to the unburdening of age-long perception that pragmatic context alone rather than cross-cultural differences often lead to miscommunication and distortion of intended meaning in interactional communication in an increasingly globalized world. Keywords: Interactional Sociolinguistics, Cross-Cultural Miscommunication, Contextualization Cues, Context, Cultural Differences.
Modern trends in digital communication exacerbate the problem of changing language norms under the influence of social networks, making the investigation of this issue particularly relevant. The purpose of the preset study was to identify and analyse transformations in language norms and usage as a result of the active use of social networks as the primary means of everyday communication. The study employed methods of linguistic observation, content analysis, and comparative analysis. The study revealed stable changes in written and oral communication caused by Internet communication: active use of slang, emojis, abbreviations, and Anglicisms; the study recorded an expansion of usage due to norms formed within online communities. The linguistic features of popular platforms (WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram) were analysed, as well as differences in the speech behaviour of users depending on their age and social context. The study found that the norms of online communication often contradict conventional literary norms, thereby influencing the formation of linguistic norms among young people. The data obtained also indicated the development of specific communication strategies driven by technical limitations and the functionality of various platforms, which leads to unique linguistic manifestations in each online community. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the intensity and nature of language changes directly correlated with the level of user involvement in interactive forms of communication, such as commenting and taking part in discussions. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying its findings in educational and media teaching practice – in the development of training courses on modern linguistics, media literacy, as well as in the field of editing and translation
Background and objective Navigating interprofessional team dynamics is essential for high-quality patient care in pediatric settings. This study involved medical students on a pediatric clerkship who explored the characteristics of high- and low-performing clinical teams by considering drivers and barriers to effective team performance. By analyzing these reflections, the study aimed to identify key facilitators and barriers to effective team-based care. Methods Survey evaluations and narrative reflections were completed by third-year students (M3s) at a single US allopathic medical school during their pediatric clerkship after receiving training in TeamSTEPPS® and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Open School, two programs that support quality improvement (QI) in healthcare. Descriptive statistical and inductive thematic analyses were conducted on the resulting 183 narratives. A valence rating system was employed to quantify narrative responses as positive/attractive or negative/aversive, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.958 between two independent reviewers. Results Inductive thematic analysis generated 40 themes that we grouped under the five TeamSTEPPS® skill domains (situation monitoring, communication, leadership, team structure, mutual support) into thematic conceptual models. High-performing teams demonstrated open communication, role clarity, shared understanding, and organized task delegation. Low-performing teams displayed a lack of information exchange, uncertain team roles, unhealthy power dynamics, and disorganized task delegation. Conclusions After instruction in QI methods, pediatric clerkship students identified consistent drivers of and barriers to effective team performance. The themes within the narrative reflections can provide insights into improving patient care delivery, specifically around situation monitoring, communication, and team structure.
Understanding the nuances in everyday language is pivotal for advancements in computational linguistics & emotions research. Traditional lexicon-based tools such as LIWC and Pattern have long served as foundational instruments in this domain. LIWC is the most extensively validated word count based text analysis tool in the social sciences and Pattern is an open source Python library offering functionalities for NLP. However, everyday language is inherently spontaneous, richly expressive, & deeply context dependent. To explore the capabilities of LLMs in capturing the valences of daily narratives in Flemish, we first conducted a study involving approximately 25,000 textual responses from 102 Dutch-speaking participants. Each participant provided narratives prompted by the question, "What is happening right now and how do you feel about it?", accompanied by self-assessed valence ratings on a continuous scale from -50 to +50. We then assessed the performance of three Dutch-specific LLMs in predicting these valence scores, and compared their outputs to those generated by LIWC and Pattern. Our findings indicate that, despite advancements in LLM architectures, these Dutch tuned models currently fall short in accurately capturing the emotional valence present in spontaneous, real-world narratives. This study underscores the imperative for developing culturally and linguistically tailored models/tools that can adeptly handle the complexities of natural language use. Enhancing automated valence analysis is not only pivotal for advancing computational methodologies but also holds significant promise for psychological research with ecologically valid insights into human daily experiences. We advocate for increased efforts in creating comprehensive datasets & finetuning LLMs for low-resource languages like Flemish, aiming to bridge the gap between computational linguistics & emotion research.
Grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) conversion for Persian presents unique challenges due to its complex phonological features, particularly homographs and Ezafe, which exist in formal and informal language contexts. This paper introduces an intermediate language specifically designed for Persian language processing that addresses these challenges through a multi-faceted approach. Our methodology combines two key components: Large Language Model (LLM) prompting techniques and a specialized sequence-to-sequence machine transliteration architecture. We developed and implemented a systematic approach for constructing a comprehensive lexical database for homographs with multiple pronunciations disambiguation often termed polyphones, utilizing formal concept analysis for semantic differentiation. We train our model using two distinct datasets: the LLM-generated dataset for formal and informal Persian and the B-Plus podcasts for informal language variants. The experimental results demonstrate superior performance compared to existing state-of-the-art approaches, particularly in handling the complexities of Persian phoneme conversion. Our model significantly improves Phoneme Error Rate (PER) metrics, establishing a new benchmark for Persian G2P conversion accuracy. This work contributes to the growing research in low-resource language processing and provides a robust solution for Persian text-to-speech systems and demonstrating its applicability beyond Persian. Specifically, the approach can extend to languages with rich homographic phenomena such as Chinese and Arabic
The POS tagging task is a sequence tagging task, where the goal is to predict the correct part-of-speech for each token in a sentence. For training data, we use the Gimpel dataset from [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0323064#pone.0323064.ref022" target="_blank">22</a>] with the crowd-sourced labels provided by [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0323064#pone.0323064.ref023" target="_blank">23</a>] mapped to the universal POS tag set in [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0323064#pone.0323064.ref024" target="_blank">24</a>]. The dataset consists of 1000 tweets (17,503 tokens) labeled with Universal POS tags and annotated by 177 annotators. Each token received at least 5 annotations. The IAA is 0.725 and the average annotator accuracy with respect to the gold labels is 67.81%. We use the publicly available sample of the Penn Treebank POS dataset [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0323064#pone.0323064.ref025" target="_blank">25</a>] accessed from NLTK [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0323064#pone.0323064.ref026" target="_blank">26</a>] as our out-of-domain test set, which consists of 3,914 sentences from Wall Street Journal articles (100,676 tokens). Distribution shift on this task is based on the data distribution (source: tweets, target: news). (PDF)
This article is dedicated to the analysis of the phenomenon of language play used in the names of Telegram channels and podcasts specializing in the true crime genre. The relevance of the study is due to the rapid growth in popularity of this genre and the increasing competition for audience attention, which stimulates content creators to use creative and memorable titles. The aim of the research is to identify the main types and functions of language play in names, which implies the systematization of the techniques used and determining their role in attracting audiences and shaping a specific image of the content. The article discusses the theoretical foundations of language play, emphasizing the understanding of language play as a conscious violation of linguistic norms aimed at creating an expressive, comic, or other stylistic effect. Special attention is paid to defining language play as linguistic creative thinking, based on breaking associative stereotypes and requiring active interpretation from the recipient. The choice of research methods (method of complete sampling, descriptive method, method of linguistic and contextual analysis) is determined by the aim of a comprehensive analysis of language play in the names of true crime Telegram channels and podcasts, including the identification, systematization, and interpretation of linguistic features, as well as determining their functional role. The novelty of the work lies in the comprehensive analysis of language play specifically in the context of the names of true crime Telegram channels and podcasts, which has not yet been the subject of close linguistic study. Preliminary results indicate a wide use of techniques such as allusions, metaphors, contrasts, and puns. Their role in creating a unique image, attracting attention, establishing a connection with the audience, and setting the tone for the narrative is analyzed. The genre of "true crime" represents a relatively new area for scientific research, opening up wide prospects for interdisciplinary analysis from literary, linguistic, cultural, psychological, and other perspectives. Further research may also focus on comparative analysis of language play in the titles of true crime content in different languages and cultural contexts.
The goal of this research is to provide a new computational framework for analyzing morphological patterns, designed for use in digital philology courseware. There is a computer framework called MorphoScribe, an accessible computer program that utilizes deep learning to identify patterns and segment data based on predefined rules. Using Universal Dependencies (UD) Treebanks makes this possible. MorphoScribe is the parts that make it possible. The software was tested on UD datasets with ten different languages, achieving an average morphological parsing accuracy of 94.2%. The testing that was done made this possible. Another thing to consider is that its precision and recall rates were higher than 93% and 92%, respectively, compared to other products. When it came to the error rates for morpheme boundary recognition, the system was able to lower them by 37% compared to the baseline models. According to the results of educational trials with 120 pupils, parsing activities were finished 32% faster, and morphological analysis abilities were 42% better. It was clear that both changes were for the better. Ninety-five percent of the students who took MorphoScribe's interactive courses reported being satisfied with the platform, as indicated by their responses. The findings presented in this research demonstrate that MorphoScribe not only enhances morphological parsing but also improves the learning experience in digital philology courseware. This is demonstrated by the fact that MorphoScribe helps children learn more effectively.
This article deals with the specific features of English adaptation in new ethnic, social and cultural conditions. The purpose of the article is to identify the degree of lexical and semantic accommodation of English in the context of Anglo-Nigerian interaction on the example of idioms. The research material is Nigerian English online platform “Legit News”, whose media space provides readers and viewers with relevant information and entertainment content. It is established that news blocks in the form of written publications and video materials, TV shows, interactive videos form a media discourse, the specific features of which are the reflection of significant social aspects of Nigerian society in a short form, English nativisation process in the context of bilingualism and multiculturalism. It has been proved that English nativisation process is manifested by lexico-semantic variation. Based on a comparative analysis of British English and American English and Nigerian English idioms functioning in Nigerian English media discourse it has been proved that Nigerian English idioms can be identified as fully complying the norm, those partially corresponding to the norms and idioms which do not completely correspond to the norm in form and meaning. The method of quantitative analysis allowed determining that highly productive idioms include those partially not complying with the norm, while deviations relate to the inverted word order in idioms formation, morphological transformations, and the use of lexical synonyms. Idioms that are completely appropriate and inconsistent with the norm in form and meaning belong to unproductive ones in Nigerian English media discourse. Lexical and semantic changes in Nigerian English idioms functioning in Nigerian English media discourse are dictated by the influence of local languages and the need to follow the norms of native languages and cultures.
Large language models (LLMs) are widely deployed in settings where both reliability and efficiency matter. We present a calibrated, seed‑robust empirical comparison of an encoder fine‑tuned model (bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT)‑base) and a decoder in‑context model (generative pre-trained transformer (GPT)‑2 small) across Stanford question answering dataset v2.0 (SQuAD v2.0) and general language understanding evaluation (GLUE)-multi-genre natural language inference (MNLI), Stanford sentiment treebank 2 (SST‑2). Beyond accuracy, we assess reliability (expected calibration error with reliability diagrams and confidence–coverage analysis) and efficiency (latency, memory, throughput) under matched conditions and three fixed seeds. BERT‑base yields higher accuracy and lower calibration error, while GPT‑2 narrows gaps under few‑shot prompting but remains more sensitive to prompt design and context length. Efficiency benchmarks show that decoder‑only prompting incurs near‑linear latency/memory growth with k‑shot exemplars, whereas fine‑tuned encoders maintain stable per‑example cost. These findings offer practical guidance on when to prefer fine‑tuning versus prompting and demonstrate that reliability must be evaluated alongside accuracy for risk‑aware deployment.
This study analyzes the current state of the Nigerian variety of English within the English-language media landscape of Nigeria. The primary objective of the article is to assess the degree of creolization of the English language at the phonetic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic levels in the Nigerian online newspaper “Punch.” Unique characteristics of English-language Nigerian media discourse are identified, including a limited range of topics and publication volume, a predominance of analytical and informational article genres, and the creolization of English. It is demonstrated that phonetic creolization is associated with highly productive transformational processes such as assimilation and epenthesis. Morphological creolization is observed through deviations from standard norms in the formation of tense aspects of verbs, the conversion of direct speech into indirect speech, and the omission of prepositions. The article reports that lexical creolization in English-language Nigerian media discourse is linked to frequent borrowings from both European and local languages, as well as the adaptation of idiomatic expressions to local linguistic and cultural contexts. It is asserted that syntactic creolization manifests as inverted word order in sentences.
Introduction Music is an effective medium for eliciting and regulating emotions and has been increasingly applied in therapeutic contexts. Yet the absence of standardized and validated music stimulus databases limits reproducibility and application in psychological and clinical research. This study aimed to develop a culturally inclusive therapeutic music database and to examine its affective validity and reliability. Methods A total of 234 participants rated 87 instrumental excerpts from Chinese and Western traditions, spanning classical, traditional, and popular genres, along six dimensions: valence, arousal, expressiveness, familiarity, liking, and perceived tempo. Results Descriptive analyses indicated moderate to high ratings across dimensions, and reliability testing confirmed strong internal consistency across repeated evaluations (test–retest rs = 0.74–0.89, p s &lt; 0.001). Correlation analyses demonstrated a coherent internal structure among the six dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis further supported a unidimensional affective–perceptual factor (KMO = 0.75, p &lt; 0.001), explaining 79.2% of the variance. Cluster analysis yielded three distinct categories: Positive–Energizing ( n = 27), Neutral–Relaxing ( n = 19), and Negative–Reflective ( n = 14), which aligned significantly with expert-defined classifications [χ 2 (4) = 55.9, p &lt; 0.001, Cramér’s V = 0.57]. Discussion Based on these results, a final set of 60 validated excerpts was retained to form a standardized therapeutic music library. This resource offers a multidimensional, cross-culturally grounded, and empirically validated tool to advance emotion research, support cross-cultural comparisons, and guide the design of evidence-based music interventions in psychological and clinical practice.
This article explores the peculiarities of how euphemistic and dysphemistic expressions function as tools in the author’s strategy of linguistic play within the narrative space of contemporary French writer Bernard Werber’s short prose. The research is based on the collection “L’Arbre des possibles et autres histoires”, where each story unfolds as a speculative scenario set in an alternative spatiotemporal dimension. Linguistic play is understood as a deliberate deviation from linguistic norms, a playful manipulation of linguistic resources to achieve a particular pragmatic resonance. In Bernard Werber’s works, euphemistic and dysphemistic substitutes manifest as linguistic entities drawn from diverse discursive domains – media, administrative, juridical, and scientific domains, particularly medical, biological, psychological, and philosophical, as well as lexemes and expressions from diverse linguistic registers interacting within a single context. Such stylistic heterogeneity, coupled with the contamination of usual media euphemisms with substitutes forged through alternative stylistic figures, generates not merely humorous, ironic, and satirical effects, but also cultivates an atmosphere of absurdity and, occasionally, cognitive dissonance within the reader’s consciousness. The synthesis of euphemisms and dysphemisms within unified contextual boundaries precipitates an effect of semantic and stylistic flickering – a peculiar oscillation between the veiling and illumination of an object’s negative attributes in a 'veil–spotlight' mode (in line with D. Jamet’s metaphors). This phenomenon induces cognitive tension in the reader, thereby activating their interpretative engagement. Through this mechanism, the author not only constructs possible worlds but also engages the reader in an active game of meaning decipherment – a manifestation that simultaneously embodies postmodernist literary practice and reflects the distinctive features of the writer’s individual stylistic signature.
This study aims to explore decolonised strategies for challenging hegemonic assessment practices in teacher education, which often equate academic quality with dominant English-language writing conventions. It confronts the perception that effective assessment inherently privileges specific linguistic norms, arguing instead for a social justice approach that reconceptualises evaluation to empower all students. The purpose is to propose how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be harnessed within a decolonised framework to develop inclusive assessment methods that assess for learning at the Department of Educational Foundations ‘ B.Ed. Honours programme at the University of South Africa. The methodology involved a systematic literature review across major academic databases (ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar) and specialised journals. Initial searches using terms related to decolonised pedagogy, inclusive assessment, and AI in education yielded approximately 100 papers. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts for theoretical depth and conceptual relevance, 24 publications were selected for in-depth analysis based on strict criteria of relevance, rigour, and contribution to the synthesis of a decolonised AI approach. The discussion synthesises the literature to argue that AI strategies, when guided by a decolonial ethos, may provide innovative models for supporting academic writing and reframing assessment. This approach may help dismantle repressive structures by moving away from a deficit model and towards one that values diverse student voices and backgrounds. The study recommends that academics intentionally integrate prescribed AI tools into Honours-level assessments to promote learning and equity. The conclusion asserts that a decolonised approach to assessment, augmented by AI, may transform standard practices to advantage historically underrepresented students, ultimately aligning assessment with the goals of social justice and inclusive education.
This paper presents a new version of the Spoken Slovenian Treebank (SST), a balanced and representative collection of transcribed spontaneous speech with manually annotated lemmas, part-of-speech tags, morphological features, and syntactic dependencies, recently expanded with over 3,000 newly annotated utterances. After a brief overview of the data sampling, annotation, and consolidation processes—presented in detail in previous work—we evaluate the significance of this new language resource for both linguistic research and natural language processing by first highlighting its distinctive lexical and morphosyntactic features in comparison to writing, and then assessing their impact on the performance of tools for automatic grammatical annotation. Finally, we reflect on the methodological insights gained during treebank creation, discuss the potential of SST for advancing spoken language research, and argue for the necessity of such resources in supporting linguistic diversity in language technology.
Most words in a language are lexically ambiguous and are associated with multiple meanings that vary in their frequency and relatedness. Although ambiguity is a fundamental property of language, there are extensive issues with existing measures of this construct. For instance, dictionary-based classifications and subjective ratings of meaning number and frequency struggle to capture the graded nature of ambiguity and, by proxy, its impact on cognition and performance in experimental tasks. It is also difficult to scale subjective measures to the full lexicon. We introduce a novel, automated framework to measure lexical ambiguity based on word association data from the Small World of Words (SWOW) project. We apply community detection algorithms to association graphs to quantify both the number and distribution of semantic communities for each word. This in turn allows us to derive graded representations of meaning frequency and relatedness. To better understand our new metrics, we compare them to previously published subjective norms, and establish their validity by showing that they predict lexical decision performance in English and Rioplatense Spanish. Furthermore, our results reveal cross-linguistic differences in lexical ambiguity—Spanish is less ambiguous than English overall—which we hypothesize is due to typological differences between the languages. Our validated framework contributes novel insights for computational and psycholinguistic models of semantic processing, and offers a scalable, automated, and language-independent framework for quantifying different facets of lexical ambiguity. We provide all of our code and ambiguity measures for approximately 7000 words in both languages to facilitate their use by other researchers.
This article examines ethnocultural identity in the artistic space of the postcolonial novel from the perspective of literary translation. Based on Abraham Verghese’s “Cutting for Stone” and its Russian translation by S. Sokolov, the study identifies and systematizes the specific difficulties involved in rendering the linguistic markers of identity. The object of the research is the linguistic and stylistic means of expressing ethnocultural identity in the original text of the novel, while the subject comprises the strategies and methods for translating these elements into Russian. The central argument is that recognizing the distinct genre-stylistic conventions of postcolonial literature is essential for developing effective translation strategies and achieving textual adequacy. The research employs a comprehensive methodological approach, integrating semantic, contextual, comparative, stylistic and translation analysis. The analysis reveals that the most significant challenges for a translator are posed by passages conveying cultural and linguistic polyphony, hybridity, and the fundamental oppositions that shape both character identity and the text’s conceptual space. The study highlights how elements such as foreign-language inclusions, erratives, graphons, and other deviations from linguistic norms act as manifestations of linguistic and cultural hybridity and as means of character self-identification. Furthermore, culture-specific items (realia) are used not only to embody cultural memory but also often acquire metaphorical and symbolic meanings, highlighting central narrative conflicts and functioning as markers of individual and collective identity. The novelty of this research lies in its endeavor to formulate practical recommendations for more authentically recreating the effects of linguistic and cultural hybridity and internal identity conflict in translation. The study concludes that while translating culturally marked units in a postcolonial novel, it is essential to consider its genre specificity, thematic and ideological content and macro-context.
The research paper is devoted to a comprehensive consideration of the mediative function of language in traditional Kazakh culture. The main purpose of the work is to identify the specifics of the use of language in the historical and cultural practice of Kazakh society as a means of coordinating interests, settling disputes and harmonizing social relations. In accordance with this goal, the article defines the following tasks: cultural and social foundations of linguistic mediation in traditional Kazakh society; description of linguistic structures and pragmatic strategies of institutions that ensure dispute resolution through speech; identification of semantic features of linguistic norms aimed at maintaining social harmony in national culture. In the course of solving these tasks, the oral oratorical heritage of the Kazakhs is analyzed from linguistic and pragmatic positions. The conducted research allowed us to establish that the mediative function of language in traditional Kazakh culture goes beyond simple communication. It forms the basis of mechanisms for maintaining social harmony, regulating the moral code of the community and the peaceful settlement of conflict situations. It is also proved that the speech culture of leaders and bi-speakers contributed to the formation of a specific national model of mediation, and its language strategies (forms of etiquette, indirect ways of expression, metaphorical and symbolic structures and pragmatic means of mitigation) are consonant with modern theories of mediation. The scientific significance of the study lies in the fact that the phenomenon of mediation in Kazakh culture is being systematically examined for the first time in a linguistic and pragmatic perspective, which makes it possible to identify the contribution of traditional speech experience to the development of the general theory of mediation. The practical value of the work is determined by the possibility of using the results obtained in mediation training programs, in the development of ethno-cultural models of negotiation practices, as well as in projects aimed at updating the culture of Kazakh oral speech.
В святилище Матери богов Вегины и речного бога Эвримедонта в Зиндан Магарасы в 1972 г. К. Бриш нашел и скопировал надпись с алфавитным оракулом. Это святилище было расположено в северной Писидии на землях города Тимбриады. Подробный рассказ об истории его изучения и разбор найденных там надписей был представлен в первой части данной работы. Надпись с алфавитным оракулом была опубликована в 1988 г., но уже С. Митчелл и Д. Кайа, изучавшие руины святилища в 1982 г., этой надписи не видели. Нет информации о ней и во всех более поздних публикациях, излагающих результаты археологических раскопок, проведенных в святилище в 2002–2005 гг. В статье высказывается предположение, что блок с надписью был уничтожен при прокладке водного туннеля в 1977–1982 гг. Текст алфавитного оракула из Тимбриад полностью отличался от основной группы алфавитных оракулов. Во второй части работы автор проводит детальный лексический и синтаксический анализ 12 изречений этого оракула. Каждый стих был составлен из обычных употребительных слов, но их синтаксическое соединение во многих случаях нарушало нормы синтаксиса древнегреческого языка. Это свидетельствует о том, что поэт из Тимбриад не был носителем древнегреческого языка. Все эти синтаксические неологизмы не были составлены сознательно, а возникли как результат незнания определенных правил сочетания слов и калькирования конструкций писидийского языка. Это доказывает, что алфавитные оракулы были созданы в той среде, где древнегреческий язык еще окончательно не вытеснил местный анатолийский язык и в соединении с местами обнаружения надписей с алфавитными оракулами указывает на Писидию как на родину этого вида мантики. In 1972, Cl. Brixhe discovered and copied an inscription containing an alphabetical oracle at the sanctuary of the Meter Theon Veginos and the river god Eurymedon at Zindan Mağarası. This sanctuary was located in northern Pisidia, within the territory of the city of Timbriada. A detailed account of its study and the interpretation of the inscriptions found there was presented in the first part of this paper. The inscription with the alphabetical oracle was published in 1988. However, S. Mitchell and D. Kaya, who examined the sanctuary ruins in 1982, had not encountered this inscription. Furthermore, no mention of it appears in later publications presenting the results of archaeological excavations conducted at the sanctuary between 2002 and 2005. This article suggests that the inscribed block was likely destroyed during the excavation of a water tunnel between 1977 and 1982. The text of this alphabetical oracle differed significantly from the main group of alphabetical oracles. In the second part of this paper, the author conducts an extensive lexical and syntactic analysis of 12 prophecies of this oracle. Each verse was composed of common words, but their syntactic arrangement in many cases violated the norms of syntax of the Ancient Greek language. This indicates that the Timbriada’s poet was not a native speaker of Ancient Greek. All these syntactic neologisms were not created consciously, but emerged as a result of ignorance of certain word-combination rules and calques of Pisidian language structures. This proves that alphabetical oracles originated in an environment where Ancient Greek had not yet fully replaced the local Anatolian language. Combined with the findspots of alphabetical oracle inscriptions, this points to Pisidia as the place of origin of this type of divination.
The article offers a comprehensive analysis of the burlesque metalinguistic communicative personality (BMCP) in contemporary networked discourse, contrasted with the elite metalinguistic communicative personality (EMCP). The object of the study is modern network discourse as an environment for constructing and performing communicative personalities. The subject of the study is the burlesque metalinguistic communicative personality in network discourse, its structural and functional parameters, and the communicative effects arising from them (audience engagement, reframing, delegitimisation/repositioning, etc.) in comparison with EMCP. The purpose of the research is to theoretically conceptualise and empirically model the BMCP phenomenon and to develop criteria for distinguishing it from EMCP. In line with this purpose, the following objectives are formulated: to refine the terminology and definition of BMCP; to identify the theoretical and methodological framework of the study; to describe the structural, linguistic, sociocultural and psychomental characteristics of BMCP; to compare them with the parameters of EMCP; to outline ethical risks (manipulation, hate speech, privacy) and provide recommendations for further research. The empirical data include approximately 40,000 texts from 1,000 accounts across multiple platforms (X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram). The study employs a combination of discourse-analytic, pragmalinguistic, context-interpretative, network, and quantitative methods. The findings demonstrate that BMCP represents a new and unstable type of linguistic behaviour that disrupts established cultural codes, employs burlesque, irony, and linguistic chaos, and foregrounds material and globalisation-related factors. This contrasts with EMCP, which fulfils norm-setting and educational functions. The prospects for further research involve expanding the classification of network communicative personalities, modelling their discursive strategies, and analysing the influence of burlesque practices on the formation of new linguistic norms and ethical standards in the digital environment.
The study of the linguistic representation of the "human character" concept in Russian and Arabic linguocultures is determined by insufficient research on the lexical layer. The aim is a comparative analysis of adjectives denoting human character in the Russian and Arabic languages to identify linguocultural specificity. Research was conducted using componential analysis, paradigmatic and syntagmatic identification within linguoculturology and contrastive semantics. The Russian language possesses a developed system of negative descriptors, while Arabic demonstrates predominance of positive evaluations conditioned by religious-ethical norms. Significant differences were revealed in axiological marking of intellectual, social, and emotional characteristics between linguocultural communities. Research results are significant for intercultural communication and language teaching.
Russians Russian Language Virtual World: Technologies and their Impact on Modern Communication explores the impact of digital technologies, the Internet and mobile devices on the Russian language in the context of virtual communication. The changes that have occurred in vocabulary and grammar, as well as in forms and styles of communication with the development of platforms such as social networks and messengers are considered. Special attention is paid to the dissemination of new words and expressions, abbreviations, as well as visual and multimedia communication elements such as emojis, memes and GIF-animated images. The impact of the virtual environment on public speech and cyber-activism is also considered, the importance of preserving language norms when using new technologies is emphasized, and the challenges associated with language manipulation and the spread of disinformation on the Internet are discussed. The article examines how modern technologies affect the Russian language, transforming it both lexically and grammatically, as well as what consequences this has for our communication.
The present article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of lexical and semantic peculiarities of diplomatic lexicon of modern Persian language. Diplomatic vocabulary is considered as a special layer of socio-political language formed under the influence of historical, cultural, religious and political factors. It serves as a tool for expressing the official position of the state in international dialog, diplomatic negotiations, political statements and interstate correspondence. The author emphasizes the role of borrowed vocabulary, primarily Arabic and French, in the formation of diplomatic vocabulary. Arabic loanwords, which have penetrated the Persian language since Islamization, cover religious, political and administrative terms that have become an integral part of the official style. The author emphasizes the role of borrowed vocabulary, primarily Arabic and French, in the formation of diplomatic vocabulary. Arabic loanwords, which have penetrated the Persian language since Islamization, cover religious, political and administrative terms that have become an integral part of the official style. European borrowings, especially those of French origin, have been in active use since the 19th century. The article pays considerable attention to the stylistic characteristics of diplomatic speech. Persian diplomatic vocabulary is characterized by a high level of politeness, the use of stable expressions, complex verb constructions and traditional forms of address. Such elements of speech contribute to the observance of the norms of protocol and create an atmosphere of formality and respect. An important component is euphemization - the use of soft and veiled expressions instead of direct or potentially conflicting language. Euphemisms allow to smooth out confrontational accents and observe the norms of diplomatic etiquette. In addition, the role of Latin expressions which are used both in the original and in translation, giving the speech universality and compliance with international standards, is analyzed. Thus, the Persian diplomatic vocabulary is a multi-layered, formally organized system reflecting both national specifics and global trends in international communication.
The article examines the case forms of nouns in Ulas Samchuk’s novel «Maria» from the perspective of modern linguistic norms. In recent decades, we have observed significant variability in the use of case endings of nouns in the modern Ukrainian language, due to the restoration or activation of many ancient forms. The novel «Maria» by the prominent Ukrainian writer Ulas Samchuk, written in 1933 was chosen exactly for confirmation of the continuity of the grammatical tradition. The proposed study examines the case forms of the dative, accusative, locative, and vocative cases. It was found that the most of the case forms of nouns recorded in the novel are normative even today: the ending of the dative case of masculine nouns -ові, -еві (-єві), which actively displacе the ending -у(-ю), are increasingly penetrating the system of neuter nouns; a significant spread of genitive case forms in the function of the accusative in nouns – names of non-beings; variant forms of the local case (masculine and neuter nouns) in -у and -і in constructions with the preposition по; consistent use of vocative case forms in appeals; alternation of consonants г, к, х in the local and vocative cases. Some case forms of nouns observed in the analyzed novel are used less frequently in modern linguistic practice, while others are qualified as dialectal. It is concluded that the case forms of nouns used in Ulas Samchuk's novel «Maria» reflect the grammatical norms of the Ukrainian language of the first half of the 20th century, many of which were artificially brought closer to the norms of the Russian language in the following decades or relegated to the periphery of the language system due to the socio-political situation. «Ukrainian Spelling» 2019, by bringing back to life some features of the spelling of 1928, renewed the Ukrainian orthographic tradition, which is clearly evidenced by the work of Ulas Samchuk.
OBJECTIVES: Stressor appraisals are a transaction between the environment and the individual, such that individuals may appraise a situation as stressful when the problem is greater than the resources available to address it. Stressors appraised as threatening to the way one feels about themselves, their plans for the future, or their own physical health and safety are known to increase negative affect. Appraisal theory frames our predictions regarding the importance of daily contexts and aging processes to understand how stressor appraisals and feelings of aging may be associated with daily affective ratings. We investigated the potential interaction of daily stressors appraisals and daily subjective age on daily negative affect. METHODS: 101 younger adults (aged 18-36, M = 19.4, SD = 2.05) and 73 older adults (aged 60-90, M = 65.2, SD = 4.66) participated in an online 8-day daily diary study. RESULTS: Our results indicated a significant 2-way interaction between daily stressor appraisals and daily subjective age on daily negative affect, such that on days when participants reported low stress appraisals and younger subjective ages, participants also reported lower negative affect. DISCUSSION: The dynamic nature of stressor appraisals, in light of daily aging experiences and daily affective ratings, suggests potential benefits and boundaries associated with subjective aging experiences.
We focus on lexical ambiguity to convene two frameworks – embodied cognition and models of representation of ambiguous words. In the first of the two studies, we collected sensorimotor ratings for separate meanings/senses of ambiguous words and compared homonyms (words with multiple unrelated meanings; e.g. bank) and polysemes (words with multiple related senses; e.g. paper) for the similarity of the obtained profiles on the 12 scales to demonstrate that the linguistic categorization was mirrored in the sensorimotor experience with the referents. We then collected subjective ratings of semantic similarities between pairs of meanings/senses within a word and investigated their relation with the similarity of the sensorimotor profiles to corroborate that the sensorimotor-based similarity was semantic in nature. Our results speak in favour of sensorimotor information as a component of representations of polysemous senses / homonymous meanings, and advise future norming studies to take into account lexical ambiguity.
This paper investigates semantic extension models and evaluative potential development of the Russian adjective zdorovyj as a linguistic representation of the HEALTH concept within contemporary Russian media discourse practices. The study is based on an analysis of 400 word occurrences extracted from the newspaper corpus of the Russian National Corpus. Eleven basic lexical meanings are identified through lexicographic definitions. Features of non-standard meaning or evaluative transformations of dictionary-based values for the adjective zdorovyj are examined. It is demonstrated that metonymic and metaphorical extensions activate implicatures such as ‘beneficial to health > leading to health > intended for healthy lifestyle or healing’, ‘not spoiled, not decayed; normal > functioning appropriately without violation of relevant requirements and norms, having growth and development potential’. The evaluative capacity of the lexeme zdorovyj expands due to contexts where different types of partial evaluation emerge, including qualitative assessment (zdorovyj = complete), normative judgment (zdorovyj = correct), intellectual appraisal (zdorovyj = reasonable), and utilitarian valuation (zdorovyj = useful).
Previous research regarding verb production deficits in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) primarily concentrated on either the quantity of verbs (inflections) or verb-related semantic units, with little consideration given to verb production within syntactic contexts, i.e., verb collocations. This study explored verb collocations in the connected speech of Chinese AD patients within the framework of dependency syntax. The findings include: (1) The frequency distribution of verb collocation patterns in AD follows the Mixed-Poisson function similar to that in the healthy control elderly (HCE) and healthy control young (HCY) groups, but it differs in the use of low- and high-collocation patterns; (2) In the static aspect, the AD patients exhibit the lowest overall mean collocation pattern (MCP) among the three treebanks, followed by the HCE group. In the dynamic aspect, the MCP and sentence length in the three groups show a similar synergistic relation, but differences exist in the quadratic regression parameters; (3) Based on the probabilistic distribution of verb-governed dependencies, the AD patients exhibit the lowest syntactic proficiency, followed by the HCE group. The differences between the AD patients and the HCE group confirm the presence of verb production deficits and a decline in syntactic proficiency in AD. Although the HCE group also shows mild language deterioration compared to the HCY group, the extent of these changes is considerably smaller than that observed in the AD patients. These findings suggest that while aging may contribute to a partial decline in language abilities, AD markedly exacerbates and accelerates this deterioration process, following a pathological trajectory distinct from normal aging.
“Pictures are worth a thousand words," yet most platforms like Yelp, Google Maps, Instagram, Walmart, and Amazon require users to provide text, ratings, and images. Images often capture a user's intent, and the features within the images typically correlate with that intent. In this paper, we extract various features from images (such as edge distribution, color distribution, text within the image, focus, etc.) and compare simple vs. complex models to predict the ratings associated with these images. We find that features such as brightness and contrast significantly explain the rating at image-level, and models such as random forest and logistic regression provide a 0.84 F-1 score when predicting the rating. In the era of generative AI, we anticipate that sharing an image will allow platforms to auto-generate user intent and image ratings, thereby simplifying the dissemination of information.
Learner Handover (LH) involves sharing information about learners between faculty supervisors, aligning with a growth mindset. Previous studies, however, demonstrate LH can bias subsequent ratings. Most of these studies collect ratings after a single encounter but faculty often have multiple interactions with learners potentially mitigating LH-related bias. This study explored if LH influences faculty ratings, entrustment decisions and feedback after observing several encounters of the same learner. Internal medicine faculty (n = 57) from five medical schools were randomly assigned to one of three study groups. Each group received either positive, negative or no LH prior to watching five simulated resident-patient encounter videos of the same white male resident. Participants rated each video using an entrustment scale, the Mini-CEX and provided written feedback. Feedback was assigned a valence score (-3 to + 3). There were no statistically significant differences between the mean ratings across the LH conditions (positive, control, negative) for entrustment [3.42, 3.26, 3.62], Mini-CEX [6.00, 5.90, 6.28] or feedback valence ratings [-0.34, -0.99, -0.74]. In the post-study questionnaire, most raters reported the LH had minimal effect on their decisions. Only 29% of raters guessed the true purpose of the study. Unlike previous studies, LH had no effect on ratings, entrustment decisions, or feedback after one encounter, nor over subsequent encounters with the same resident. These findings suggest LH's influence may vary and highlight the need for replication under different conditions, including diverse genders and equity-deserving groups, to identify factors that contribute to or mitigate bias.
Pragmatic competence involves understanding and applying sociocultural norms in communication, which is essential for effective language use. Despite grammatical and lexical proficiency, Libyan EFL learners often face challenges in real-life communication due to limited exposure to pragmatic language use, as English functions as a foreign language in Libya. Textbooks serve as key sources of pragmatic input, yet prior research has largely focused on secondary-level materials, overlooking preparatory textbooks. This study investigates the representation of speech acts and language functions in Libyan public preparatory English textbooks for Grades 7, 8, and 9, comprising three coursebooks and three workbooks. All dialogues from these textbooks were transcribed and compiled to reflect a range of communicative contexts and linguistic structures. Drawing on Searle’s (1976) speech act theory and Halliday’s (1978) language function theory, a mixed-methods approach was used. Quantitative data were obtained through systematic content analysis and analysed using SPSS, followed by qualitative interpretation. Findings showed a disproportionate emphasis on representative and directive speech acts, with minimal use of expressive and commissive acts and a complete absence of declarative acts. Similarly, language functions were largely limited to representational and personal uses, while instrumental, imaginative, and regulatory functions were scarcely represented. These imbalances may hinder the development of learners’ pragmatic competence. The study highlights the need for curricular reform and professional development to support the integration of a broader range of pragmatic elements. It emphasizes aligning textbook content with real-world communicative demands to better equip Libyan students for effective language use.
This study explores how Donald Trump’s political language operated as a tool of power in shaping international relations and diplomatic discourse during his presidency. Against the backdrop of a global rise in populist discourse, Trump’s rhetoric marked by an emphasis on national sovereignty, binary oppositions, and emotionally charged slogans offers a compelling case for linguistic and ideological scrutiny. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to conduct a nuanced examination of selected texts: key political speeches and strategic public communications (including those delivered at the United Nations General Assembly, NATO Summits, the Presidential Inaugural Address, State of the Union addresses, press conferences, and relevant tweets). These data were chosen for their explicit focus on foreign policy, diplomatic themes, and the construction of American identity in global contexts. The analysis is grounded in Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model, which addresses the interaction between language (textual features), discursive practices (production and reception), and social practices (ideological and institutional context). To deepen the investigative lens, the study also integrates van Dijk’s socio-cognitive framework, which illuminates underlying mental models and group cognition, particularly in relation to populist “us vs. them” narratives. Findings reveal that Trump’s rhetoric consistently employs strong evaluative adjectives (“great”, “tremendous”, “strong”), modal markers of certainty (“we will”, “we must”), and binary pronoun constructions (“we” vs. “they”) to reinforce American exceptionalism and delineate adversarial identities. His speeches frequently adopted repetitive, conversational structures and intertextual references to past rhetorical frames, aligning with his “America First” agenda. These linguistic strategies disrupted conventional diplomatic norms replacing ambiguity with assertiveness and cooperation with confrontation resulting in strained alliances, heightened global polarization, and altered perceptions of U.S. leadership on the international stage. The significance of this research lies in its interdisciplinary contribution to English linguistics, political communication, and international relations. It demonstrates how linguistic analysis can reveal the ways discourse not only reflects but actively shapes foreign policy narratives. For researchers, the study offers a methodological blueprint for integrating CDA with socio-cognitive analysis in examining political rhetoric. For teachers and students of English linguistics, it presents a robust case study in applying discourse theory to real-world political texts, highlighting the tangible impact of lexical and structural choices on global diplomacy.
The Ukrainian language, as the language of the people enslaved for several centuries, has always been subject to negative colonial influence. The policies of the Russian imperial and later Soviet reigns were particularly detrimental to it. One of the consequences of such actions is the mixed Ukrainian-Russian speech created on the territory of Ukraine, which is also called “surzhyk”. Negative changes have even affected the sphere of transitional units of the language system, among which there are also actively formed in dynamics adverbial equivalents of the word – differently formed combinations that approach the adverbial lexical-grammatical class of words in the Ukrainian language system. These findings, based on the material of Sashko Stolovyiʼs “Orynyn. Roman pro stelepnoho cholovika” (2024), raise intriguing questions regarding the nature and extent of the gradual, targeted destruction of the Ukrainian language system by the Russian colonial regime, which led, in particular, to a distorted perception of their language by Ukrainians. Despite his obvious mastery of the norms of the Ukrainian literary language, the author of the analysed novel actively uses mixed Ukrainian-Russian speech forms, mistakenly considering them elements of the local dialect. In one text, only within the adverbial equivalents of the word, dialectal or uncodified and literary Ukrainian speech units interact with mixed Ukrainian-Russian speech forms with varying degrees of activity. On the one hand, there are significantly more literary Ukrainian units than mixed Ukrainian-Russian forms (28 vs. 16). However, on the other hand, there are considerably more mixed Ukrainian-Russian forms than distinctly dialectal (16 vs. 3) and uncodified Ukrainian forms (16 vs. 2). In mixed Ukrainian-Russian forms, phonetic, lexical, lexical-phonetic, lexical-morphological, and lexical-phonetic-morphological interference is observed.
Within the framework of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), lexical competence is considered more crucial thannative-like grammatical accuracy. ELF learners require a flexible, expandable, and function-oriented lexicon that ensuresintelligibility, communicative efficiency, and effective intercultural interaction. However, traditional vocabulary teachingmodels, predominantly grounded in native-speaker norms, fail to capture the dynamic and adaptive nature of ELF communication.This study proposes a Lexicon Expansion Model (LEM) specifically designed for ELF learners, integratingprinciples of cognitive linguistics, usage-based theory, and pedagogical scaffolding. The model conceptualizes lexicaldevelopment as a multidimensional process involving semantic networking, pragmatic adaptability, frequency-basedexposure, and learner agency. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study investigates the effectiveness ofthe proposed model through experimental implementation with university-level ELF learners. Quantitative data obtainedfrom pre-test and post-test results, together with qualitative evidence from learner reflections and discourse samples,demonstrate significant improvements in lexical diversity, contextual appropriateness, and communicative confidence.The findings indicate that the Lexicon Expansion Model represents a viable alternative to traditional vocabulary instructionby aligning lexical development with real-world ELF communicative demands. The study contributes both theoretically toELF pedagogy and practically to curriculum design, teacher education, and sustainable language learning
Large Language Models (LLMs) employ deep learning algorithms to generalize patterns in data. Applying these LLMs to classification tasks can reduce the required labor and time. The research aims to fine-tune the LLM Llama 3.1 to correctly identify whether a chosen text message exhibits a positive or negative emotion. The goal of this procedure is to apply the fine-tuned LLM to large databases of text messages and locate users whose recent texts contain a large proportion of negative samples. This way, I can alert the users and direct them to help very early on. I chose the Stanford Sentiment Treebank v2 (SST-2) dataset. It mimics the emotional polarity of real texts with its even positive-negative sample distribution and its contextless format. I used the Unsloth framework and LoRa to significantly reduce the resources required during the fine-tuning process. I tested the model by taking SST-2’s train split and inputting them individually into the trained model. Using this method, I found the Llama model to be highly accurate, with an accuracy of 94.8%. Interestingly, it had a high average Binary Cross-Entropy (BCE) Loss of 0.782 but achieved high accuracy. The testing against other models shows that the BCE Loss for sentiment analysis is not correlated to the actual accuracy of the model. From the results, I determined Llama 3.1 was the most suitable LLM for the sentiment analysis of large text databases.
When stimuli are retained in visual working memory (VWM), external stimuli which overlap this representation capture attention when performing a visual task. It has not been determined whether this mechanism can partly account for attentional capture by categories of real-world affective stimuli. Across five dual-task visual search and VWM change detection experiments (4/5 pre-registered; total N = 119) participants had to detect the change in either positive (kitten) or threat-related (spider) animal exemplars, whilst performing an intervening visual search task with peripheral distractors from these affective categories. Affective stimulus associations were confirmed by self-reported arousal and valence ratings in all samples, and confirmed in an independent sample (n = 82). It was hypothesised that threat-related and positive distractors would capture attention more, versus a neutral (bird or no distractor) baseline, when matching the contents of VWM. Experiments 1 - 3, however, found no evidence of increased capture by VWM-matching affective stimuli, though there was cumulative evidence of goal-independent capture by threat-related distractors. When, however, the trial structure became unpredictable, requiring constant preparation for the VWM task response (Experiment 4), or advanced action preparation to the VWM task was enabled (Experiment 5), then VWM-matching threat-related distractors caused greater attentional capture. This VWM-driven capture, however, was not found for positive distractors in any experiments. The results probe the boundary conditions when VWM contents drive attentional capture by entirely task-irrelevant affective categories, and suggests that background memory representations may not influence attention unconditionally, and instead may depend partly on their current prioritisation.