Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
16504 papers
When encountering a potential threat, humans and animals engage in different strategic behaviours, such as orienting and defence, depending on the perceived threat imminence. Orienting has been associated with attentional immobility and heightened 'stimulus intake', while defence is linked to action preparation and 'sensory rejection'. First, we replicated previous findings showing that humans exhibit either heart rate (HR) acceleration or deceleration in response to the same threat-related picture content. Second, we provide direct evidence that orienting, as indexed by increased HR deceleration, leads to enhanced visuocortical processing of threat-related images, as measured by steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs). Excitation of motor-relevant cortical circuits, assessed by beta-band desynchronization, was reduced in relation to HR deceleration. Conversely, HR acceleration was associated with a reversed pattern: reduced visual processing and increased excitation of cortical motor circuits, as reflected in ssVEP and beta-band modulations. While self-reported measures of state and trait anxiety, along with valence, arousal and dominance ratings, did not account for variations in HR response patterns, shorter self-paced viewing time of looming threat pictures was linked to defensive HR changes, whereas orienting-like HR responses were associated with longer avoidance latencies.
This study explores the sociopragmatic functions of taboo language in two contrasting Balinese speech communities: Tenganan Pegringsingan Village and Denpasar City. Using a qualitative descriptive approach supported by non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and discourse documentation, the research examines how speakers employ taboo expressions to negotiate politeness, express emotion, and perform social identity. Grounded in Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory (1987), Locher and Watts’s concept of relational work (2005), and Culpeper’s notion of impoliteness (2011), the analysis reveals a clear sociocultural divergence. In Denpasar, taboo words function as expressive and relational tools that reinforce solidarity, humor, and affective intensity within peer-based interactions. In contrast, Tenganan’s linguistic norms constrain the use of taboo expressions to maintain ritual purity, respect, and social hierarchy. Componential analysis further uncovers that Denpasar’s taboo lexicon emphasizes emotional intensity and pragmatic versatility, while Tenganan’s reflects moral restraint and symbolic caution. The findings demonstrate that taboo language, far from being mere linguistic deviance, operates as a culturally situated pragmatic resource that mirrors each community’s values, power dynamics, and communicative ideologies.
This article explores the role of lexical stylistic devices in enhancing narrative depth in three seminal short stories: Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Great Stone Face," and Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace." Through qualitative textual and comparative analysis, the study investigates how these devices contribute to emotional resonance, characterization, thematic exploration, and reader engagement. The findings reveal that lexical choices significantly shape the emotional arcs and moral lessons of each narrative. Dickens employs metaphor and personification to illustrate transformation and redemption, while Hawthorne uses symbolism to probe the nature of true greatness. Maupassant’s ironic twist critiques societal norms surrounding wealth and status. The study concludes that lexical stylistic devices are essential for creating meaningful connections between readers and texts, highlighting their pivotal role in the literary landscape.
Abstract The legal language has been extensively studied due to its profound and far-reaching impact on society. Among the various research areas, the complexity of legal language has received particular attention due to its implications for legal practice and societal access to justice. Relevant studies seek to identify the factors contributing to the difficulty of legal language and explore potential methods of simplification. However, despite extensive qualitative research, a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of the essential linguistic features distinguishing legal language from everyday language remains underexplored. The present study fills this gap and quantitatively examines the key features of German legal language by comparing it to journalistic language as a benchmark for everyday discourse, providing a rigorous, corpus-based perspective on the lexical, syntactic, and typological features of legal texts. Using data from the HDT-UD and DGT-UD treebanks, the study analyzes 18 quantitative indicators across three linguistic domains – lexicon, syntax, and word-order typology. The results indicate that legal language is characterized by a limited vocabulary, a higher frequency of long words and dependent clauses, increased syntactic and structural complexity, and a predominance of SV and OV word order patterns. By providing a detailed comparison of legal and journalistic registers, this study advances the understanding of legal language through objective, empirical analysis. The findings have practical implications for legal communication, suggesting that greater attention to lexical simplification and syntactic clarity could improve accessibility and comprehension.
This study explores the use of slang words in the post and comment sections of the “Jual Beli Akun Mobile Legends Indonesia” Facebook community. The purpose of this research is to identify the types of slang and the types of meaning conveyed in the communication among users within this digital marketplace. Using a qualitative descriptive method, the data were collected through document analysis from 105 posts and 17 comments over the span of one week. The study applied Allan and Burridge’s classification of slang (Clipping, Acronym, Fresh and Creative, Imitative, and Flippant) and Leech’s theory of meaning (Conceptual, Connotative, Stylistic, and Affective). The findings revealed that Clipping was the most dominant slang type, indicating a preference for brevity and efficiency. Connotative meaning was also the most prevalent, showing how slang reflects not only linguistic function but also social and emotional context. The results suggest that slang in this online community is used not only to simplify communication but also to build shared identity, express sentiment, and reinforce group belonging. This study contributes to understanding how digital communities, especially those based on gaming and trading, develop and sustain their own informal linguistic norms. Types of Meaning
This manuscript proposes the S M Nazmuz Sakib Dependency-Focus Principle for Bengali sentence structure and introduces a derived scalar quantity, the Sakib constant, defined over dependency treebanks. Informally, the principle states that in attested Bengali usage, core arguments (subjects and objects) cluster closer to the verbal head than peripheral modifiers (adverbials and clausal adjuncts), and that the ratio between these average distances is numerically stable across corpora. Using real statistics from the UD Bengali-BRU treebank and the Bengali section of the Bengali-Magahi PUD treebank, we define the Sakib constant K Sakib as the ratio between average dependency lengths of core versus peripheral relations, and compute its value for UD Bengali-BRU. Ten figures based on genuine counts and averages illustrate tense and case distributions, relation frequencies, and core versus non-core dependency lengths for Bengali and, for comparison, Magahi. The proposal is presented as a precise hypothesis, mathematically well-defined and empirically grounded in existing treebank data, but still requiring broader testing for confirmation and cross-linguistic generalisation.
This study investigated the neurophysiological and affective responses elicited by nature-inspired indoor design elements, including curvilinear forms (CL), nature views (N), and wooden interiors (W), in a virtual environment, and their effects on cognitive performance. Thirty-six participants experienced one control and three experimental conditions in a within-subject design. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record neural activity, relaxation and valence ratings assessed affective states, and standardized tasks measured cognitive performance. The W condition elicited EEG patterns indicative of relaxed attentional engagement, including increased alpha-to-theta (ATR) and alpha-to-beta (ABR) ratios, and a decreased theta-to-beta (TBR) ratio. These neural patterns were associated with higher self-reported relaxation and positive affect, and with enhanced cognitive performance relative to the control condition. In contrast, the CL and N conditions did not improve cognitive performance, and the N condition showed elevated physiological arousal, likely due to heightened visual stimulation. Regression analysis identified ATR and relaxation as significant predictors of cognitive performance, emphasizing the role of emotional stability and neural balance in supporting task engagement. Overall, the findings highlight the potential of nature-inspired design to foster a synergy between psychological relaxation and cognitive attention, though further research is needed across diverse spatial typologies to isolate specific design parameters.
This study investigates the relationship between the affective response evoked by hearing upstairs neighbour footsteps in wooden residential buildings, the acoustic characteristics of those footsteps sounds, and the personal traits of participants. Sound recordings were analysed using parameters extracted from the autocorrelation function (ACF) and interaural cross-correlation function (IACF) to identify temporal and spatial features. A laboratory experiment involving 46 individuals assessed their affective responses in terms of arousal and valence after being exposed to a variety of footsteps sounds. The visual simulation of the living room scenario was generated by inviting participants to wear a head-mounted display (HMD) that showed a 360-degree image of a living room with natural or artificial lighting. Participants self-reported their non-acoustic traits before the test including noise sensitivity, attitude towards neighbours, and circadian rhythm type. Results showed significant correlations between affective responses and all acoustic parameters. Pitch-related parameters (ɸ 1 and τ 1 ) and sound pressure level (SPL) were good predictors of arousal and valence. Without SPL, spatial parameters (IACC and τ IACC ) also contributed to affective ratings. Furthermore, participants with low noise sensitivity and a Morning chronotype reported significantly lower arousal and higher valence compared to those with high noise sensitivity and an Evening chronotype. Finally, participants with a positive attitude towards neighbours exhibited higher valence than those with a negative attitude towards neighbours. This study uniquely explores emotional responses to neighbour sounds in lightweight wooden buildings integrating acoustic and non-acoustic factors and using immersive simulations for a more realistic and ecologically valid assessment. • Arousal and valence ratings were significantly correlated with SPL and parameters extracted from the ACF/IACF functions. • Pitch-related parameters and SPL were good predictors of arousal and valence. • Without SPL, spatial parameters also contributed to affective ratings. • Non-acoustic factors significantly impacted affective responses and their correlations with ACF/IACF parameters.
BACKGROUND: Emotion dysregulation is a central feature in trauma-associated disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, it remains unclear whether emotion dysregulation is a transdiagnostic phenomenon closely linked to childhood trauma, or if disorder-specific alterations in emotion processing exist. Following a multimethodological approach, we aimed to assess and compare the reactivity to and regulation of emotions between patients with BPD and PTSD, as well as healthy controls, and identify associations with childhood trauma. METHODS: A total of 135 women, 43 healthy controls, 43 with BPD and 49 with PTSD, took part in a multimethodological assessment of emotional reactivity and regulation. Self-report measures were used to assess childhood trauma and emotion dysregulation. Additionally, participants performed a classic emotion regulation (ER) paradigm. Subjective emotional valence ratings and neurophysiological responses (P3 and late positive potential, LPP) were measured in response to negative, positive, and neutral pictures (emotional reactivity) and during active regulation vs. passive viewing of negative pictures (ER). RESULTS: Regarding emotional reactivity, during the experimental paradigm both patient groups reported lower emotional valence after viewing positive or neutral pictures compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, P3 amplitudes in response to neutral pictures were reduced in both patient groups and in response to negative pictures, specifically in patients with PTSD. Regarding ER, while both patient groups self-reported significant disturbances in ER, neither valence ratings nor neurophysiological responses assessed during the ER task (P3, LPP) differed from healthy controls. Across groups, childhood trauma was related to decreased emotional valence ratings on neutral and positive pictures and higher self-reported emotion dysregulation. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with BPD and PTSD exhibited a reduced emotional reactivity in response to positive and neutral information. Specifically, patients with PTSD demonstrated hypo-reactivity to neutral and trauma-unrelated negative stimuli, which might be due to altered attentional resource allocation following trauma. Although patients reported using adaptive ER strategies less frequently in daily life, they effectively implemented them when instructed to, highlighting important clinical and theoretical implications.
Detection of out-of-distribution (OOD) samples is cru-cial for safe real-world deployment of machine learning models. Recent advances in vision language foundation models have made them capable of detecting OOD sam-ples without requiring in-distribution (ID) images. How-ever, these zero-shot methods often underperform as they do not adequately consider ID class likelihoods in their detection confidence scoring. Hence, we introduce CLIPScope, a zero-shot OOD detection approach that normalizes the confidence score of a sample by class likelihoods, akin to a Bayesian posterior update. Furthermore, CLIPScope incor-porates a novel strategy to mine OOD classes from a large lexical database. It selects class labels that are farthest and nearest to ID classes in terms of CLIP embedding distance to maximize coverage of OOD samples. We conduct ex-tensive ablation studies and empirical evaluations, demon-strating state of the art performance of CLIPScope across various OOD detection benchmarks. Code is available at https://github.com/ful001hao/CLIPScope.
BACKGROUND: Attentional bias to cannabis images is posited to drive loss of control over cannabis use and relapse in cannabis use disorder (CUD), but the literature is mixed and limited by inconsistent measurement of CUD and of confounders, including alcohol and nicotine use. This study examined attentional bias in moderate-to-severe CUD (n = 66) compared to controls (n = 42), and its relationship with cannabis/nicotine use, accounting for alcohol use. METHODS: We measured attentional bias using the visual probe task, as the difference in reaction times (RTs) for cannabis versus neutral images, in order to account for individual variability. Linear mixed effect models examined how RTs were affected by (i) group (CUD, control), image type (cannabis, neutral), group-by-image type, and group-by-image type-by-Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA, 200/500 milliseconds) in the whole sample; and (ii) by image type, SOA, and moderators in the CUD group only (i.e., Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised [CUDIT-R], subjective craving, arousal/valence ratings of the task's cannabis/neutral images, and nicotine). All models were adjusted for alcohol use. RESULTS: There were no significant group differences in attentional bias. In the CUD group, image type-by-CUDIT-R subgroups differed on RTs (β = -0.748, p =.014), whereby the high-CUDIT-R versus lower CUDIT-R subgroups had significantly faster RTs to cannabis versus neutral images (p =.034, d = -0.10), but this effect did not survive Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. No other results were significant. CONCLUSION: Attentional bias might not be a robust feature of CUD, though this notion requires validation in a larger sample using more direct measures of attentional bias.
With the rise of large language models, service providers offer language models as a service, enabling users to fine-tune customized models via uploaded private datasets. However, this raises concerns about sensitive data leakage. Prior methods, relying on differential privacy within device-cloud collaboration frameworks, struggle to balance privacy and utility, exposing users to inference attacks or degrading fine-tuning performance. To address this, we propose PrivTune, an efficient and privacy-preserving fine-tuning framework via Split Learning (SL). The key idea of PrivTune is to inject crafted noise into token representations from the SL bottom model, making each token resemble the $n$-hop indirect neighbors. PrivTune formulates this as an optimization problem to compute the optimal noise vector, aligning with defense-utility goals. On this basis, it then adjusts the parameters (i.e., mean) of the $d_χ$-Privacy noise distribution to align with the optimization direction and scales the noise according to token importance to minimize distortion. Experiments on five datasets (covering both classification and generation tasks) against three embedding inversion and three attribute inference attacks show that, using RoBERTa on the Stanford Sentiment Treebank dataset, PrivTune reduces the attack success rate to 10% with only a 3.33% drop in utility performance, outperforming state-of-the-art baselines.
Over the past two decades, quantitative models and statistical methods have been increasingly applied to syntax research, with treebanks emerging as a vital resource for this field. However, tools specifically designed for calculating syntactic metrics remain relatively scarce compared to traditional word frequency measures. This gap hinders the deeper integration of quantitative methods into syntax research. In response, we have developed a tool called QuanSyn, which is tailored for quantitative syntax analysis. Based on treebanks, QuanSyn can calculate metrics such as dependency distance, hierarchical distance, dependency direction, and valency-related syntactic metrics. Additionally, it facilitates the construction of linguistic networks and rapid fitting of functions. QuanSyn can help lower the barriers to accessing syntactic quantitative analysis, thereby promoting the broader application of quantitative methods in syntax research.
With the rise of large language models, service providers offer language models as a service, enabling users to fine-tune customized models via uploaded private datasets. However, this raises concerns about sensitive data leakage. Prior methods, relying on differential privacy within device-cloud collaboration frameworks, struggle to balance privacy and utility, exposing users to inference attacks or degrading fine-tuning performance. To address this, we propose PrivTune, an efficient and privacy-preserving fine-tuning framework via Split Learning (SL). The key idea of PrivTune is to inject crafted noise into token representations from the SL bottom model, making each token resemble the $n$-hop indirect neighbors. PrivTune formulates this as an optimization problem to compute the optimal noise vector, aligning with defense-utility goals. On this basis, it then adjusts the parameters (i.e., mean) of the $d_χ$-Privacy noise distribution to align with the optimization direction and scales the noise according to token importance to minimize distortion. Experiments on five datasets (covering both classification and generation tasks) against three embedding inversion and three attribute inference attacks show that, using RoBERTa on the Stanford Sentiment Treebank dataset, PrivTune reduces the attack success rate to 10% with only a 3.33% drop in utility performance, outperforming state-of-the-art baselines.
Formulaic Networks as Prototypical Categories: Combining the Ancient Greek Dependency Treebank with the Ancient Greek WordNet for a Pilot Study on the Iliad was published in Advances in Ancient Greek Linguistics on page 737.
Emotional experiences involve dynamic multisensory perception, yet most EEG research uses unimodal stimuli such as naturalistic scene photographs. Recent research suggests that realistic emotional videos reliably reduce the amplitude of a steady-state visual evoked potential (ssVEP) elicited by a flickering border. Here, we examine the extent to which this video-ssVEP measure compares with the well-established Late Positive Potential (LPP) that is reliably larger for emotional relative to neutral scenes. To address this question, 45 participants viewed 90 matched pairs of realistic videos and scenes. Consistent with prior work, reduced 7-8 Hz ssVEP amplitude was evident during emotional relative to neutral videos. However, this reduction in power was not specific to the driving frequency of 7.5 Hz, and in fact, Fourier transformation analyses limited to 7.5 Hz were not modulated by video content. Still, at the group level, the video-driven reductions in 7-8 Hz power and LPP modulation by scenes produced similarly large valence effects, and both measures strongly correlated with arousal ratings. Consistent with previous research, the scene-LPP was sensitive to specific emotional contents (erotica and gore) somewhat inconsistent arousal ratings. In contrast, the video-driven oscillation modulation did not show this content sensitivity and was better explained by individual arousal ratings per video clip. In sum, these results show that the 7.5 Hz flickering-border paradigm does not index emotional engagement with video stimuli, yet emotional videos do evoke robust decreases in 3-10 Hz oscillatory power that is somewhat distinct from emotional modulation of the scene-evoked LPP. Matched emotional video and scenes evoke large EEG responses compared with neutral content within-participant. Our findings align with previous research indicating that video modulation of power around the evoked 7.5 Hz ssVEP frequency (7-8 Hz) serves as a reliable emotional measure. However, further analyses reveal that this effect is attributable to a general decrease in power across the 3-10 Hz frequency range.
This study examines the interplay between sociolinguistic competence and language transfer in English as Second Language (ESL) learning within Omani higher education. With Arabic as the first language, Omani ESL learners navigate linguistic and cultural influences that shape their English proficiency. Grounded in transfer theory and sociocultural perspectives on second language acquisition, this research investigates how institutional and cultural contexts impact sociolinguistic competence and the extent to which Arabic linguistic norms contribute to language transfer. Using a comparative methodology, data was collected through surveys, interviews, and language use analysis from students across three distinct institutions: Sultan Qaboos University (public-urban), Muscat University (private-urban), and Sur University College (public-rural). Findings indicate that sociolinguistic competence varies based on institutional setting, exposure to English, and interactional norms, with Arabic exerting both positive and negative transfer effects. The study underscores the challenges of integrating sociolinguistic competence into ESL curricula and provides recommendations for enhancing pragmatic training, pedagogical strategies, and teacher professional development to mitigate negative transfer and improve communicative proficiency.
In an increasingly globalized and digitally mediated world, bilingual communication has become central to everyday interactions, particularly in linguistically diverse societies such as Saudi Arabia. English-Arabic code-mixing is widespread across generations; however, existing research has largely focused on younger speakers or specific contexts like education, leaving a gap in understanding how bilingual practices vary by age. This study investigates generational differences in English-Arabic code-mixing among bilingual speakers in Saudi Arabia and explores linguistic and social factors influencing younger speakers’ practices. Using a mixed-methods design, the study collected both quantitative and qualitative data from 89 participants across three age groups (16–30, 31–45, and 46–60) through a questionnaire. Findings revealed significant generational differences: older and middle-aged participants reported prevalent code-mixing in professional and peer settings, while younger speakers used it more selectively and contextually. Analysis of open-ended responses from younger participants highlighted identity expression, audience awareness, lexical gaps, and digital media as key drivers of code-mixing. These findings challenge assumptions that younger speakers code-mix more, suggesting instead a shift toward intentional, socially informed bilingual communication. The study contributes to sociolinguistic literature by emphasizing the evolving role of digital platforms, peer dynamics, and intergenerational norms in shaping bilingual practices across multilingual contexts.
Acceptability judgments are one of the major tools for (psycho)linguists to assess speakers’ preferences for specific utterances in a given language, shedding light on the grammar of the language under study. However, it is well known that factors that are not related to grammaticality, such as frequency of exposure, cognitive constraints, and others, can influence the perceived acceptability of an utterance. We will use the system of wh-interrogatives in French as an example to study the impact of linguistic norms on what is considered “good” French. In three experiments, we show that adult L1 French speakers have internalized the dichotomy between variants that are considered “good French”, according to the norms, and those that are suited to more informal daily life situations. Speakers can express these differences when given the appropriate tools, but not with a unique general acceptability scale. In line with previous work, we argue that acceptability judgments are a useful task, but that they need to be refined to account for sociolinguistic factors that constrain speakers’ assessments (i.e., linguistic norms, but also speaker group and formality of the context of interaction).
Abstract This study investigates the relationship between literature and poetry reading frequency and participants’ ratings of metaphors on key features: quality, aptness, familiarity, and comprehensibility. Using a set of Serbian poetic metaphors, we explored two main questions: how reading habits correlate with metaphor feature ratings, and whether the type of reading material (i.e., literature vs poetry) influences sensitivity to these features. The sample consisted of 140 native Serbian-speaking students from varied academic disciplines. Participants rated metaphors based on reading frequency (literature and poetry) using a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis showed that frequent readers generally gave higher overall metaphor ratings than infrequent readers, with significant differences noted particularly in familiarity and comprehensibility. Specifically, familiarity ratings yielded the most substantial differences between infrequent and frequent readers, which can indicate the influence of reading experience on the perceived recognition and understanding of metaphors. Aptness and quality ratings showed no significant differences, which suggests that familiarity and comprehensibility are more sensitive to variations in reading habits.
This article analyzes the phenomenon of semantic violence and discursive aggression against women, focusing on its critical and social implications in European and Romanian society. Semantic violence, defined as the use of language to undermine the identity and value of women, manifests in various contexts, from political and media discourse to everyday linguistic norms. In Romania, these phenomena are amplified by traditional stereotypes and the frequent use of sexist and degrading expressions. Discursive aggression affects women's participation in public spaces, perpetuating inequalities and limiting their access to equal opportunities. The article offers a critical analysis of these practices and proposes solutions such as promoting inclusive language, legislative regulations, and awareness campaigns to mitigate the impact of this type of violence and foster a fair and respectful society.
Abstract Standardized quantitative measurement of texts lies at the heart of digital approaches to humanities. Structure-based textual measures are known to be influenced by the choice of syntactic annotation schemes. Building on previous research, the present article further explores the relation between annotation schemes and the index of mean dependency distance (MDD) by comparing the treebanks of seventeen languages, respectively, within a tree representation (basic universal dependencies, BUD) and within a graphic representation (enhanced universal dependencies, EUD). Following the idea of decomposing annotation schemes into the combinations of analyses of specific constructions (coordinate structures, control constructions, and relative clauses), we design algorithms to identify them in the CoNLL-U format treebanks and explore their influences. It is found that the overall MDD of the EUD representation is statistically higher than that of BUD at corpus level, primarily affected by the coordinate structure due to its high frequency. At sentence level, all three constructions might contribute to either increased or decreased MDD, with stochastically intervening words and word order being two important determinants of the values of the measure. Finally, we propose and argue for the view that MDDs calculated under different annotation schemes should be regarded as different textual measures in nature. In sum, the present study provides another case study to deepen our understanding of the nature of syntactic annotation schemes and its relation with textual indices, which paves the way for standard measurement of texts in future humanities research.
Abstract In this paper, we analyze question-answer pairs and stand-alone questions within the spoken discourse of TED Talks, specifically focusing on the TED-Multilingual Discourse Bank. Our aim is to reveal various characteristics of questions through an annotation approach. We have developed a taxonomy, referred to as the TAQ-TED, to categorize types of questions and examine their information transfer and dialogue control functions, drawing on the Dynamic Interpretation Theory++ taxonomy of dialogue acts and their attribution in accordance with the Penn Discourse Treebank annotation guidelines. We outline the taxonomy, present our annotation results, and provide a preliminary cross-linguistic analysis comparing English questions with their Turkish and Portuguese translations. The TAQ-TED represents a promising initial framework for annotating questions in monologic discourse across multiple languages.
Music- and distraction-induced pain reduction have been investigated extensively, yet the main mechanism underlying music-induced analgesia remains unknown. In this study, to assess whether music-induced analgesia primarily operates through cognitive modulation, we used the cold pressor task and objectively compared the pain tolerances of participants in a four-group between-subjects design: a music group that listened to a music piece in the absence of any tasks, a music-and-attention-to-music group that listened to the same piece while also rating the arousal levels in the music, a music-and-attention-to-pain group that rated their pain levels while listening to the same piece, and a silence group as control. The group passively exposed to music playback did not show significantly higher pain tolerance compared to the silence group. However, pain tolerances in the music group negatively correlated with participants' self-reported arousal ratings of the music at the end of the experiment. The groups that engaged in an active task - whether evaluating the arousal levels in the music or reporting their experienced pain levels - demonstrated similarly higher pain tolerances compared to the silence group. These findings suggest that engaging in a task, regardless of whether it involves exteroceptive or interoceptive attention, can enhance pain tolerance.
As part of the reintegration of the traditional and computational lexical research and development activities at the University of Gothenburg, the Swedish Academy's lexical databases are being edited for greater consistency and included in the computational lexical infrastructure of Sprkbanken Text, which in turn is undergoing considerable development in order to meet the requirements of tradi tional lexicography.One aim of this work is to formally interlink these databases with Sprkbanken's Lexical Research Infrastructure.In this chapter we focus on the opportunities for diachronic lexical research offered by the inclusion of one such dataset in this infrastructure.SAOLhist Plus brings together digitized versions of successive editions of the SAOL dictionary, 10 editions covering a timespan of almost a century and a half.Together with some other historical and modern dictionaries and combined with large corpus-extracted vocabularies from the same time interval, we can make wide-ranging and detailed investigations of lexical change in relation to the history of lexicography in Late Modern and Contem porary Swedish.
Language is a reflection of cultural identity. Linguistic norms imposed by dominant cultures denigrate Chicanos’ way of speaking. As a result, these norms convey the inferiority of Chicano cultural identities. This essay explores the ways in which these oppressive norms are conveyed and enforced and identifies the impacts of linguistic oppression. It also celebrates the marginalized dialects within her culture and advocates for resistance to linguistic assimilation.
Tabiiy tilni qayta ishlashda (NLP) parsing, treebank usullari gaplarning sintaktik tahlili, gaplardagi birliklarning sintaktik aloqalari va gap tuzilmasini belgilash bilan shug‘ullanadi. O‘zbek tili morfoanalizatorida 35 000 ta turli uzunlikdagi gaplar POS teglangan bo‘lib, keyingi bosqich esa o‘zbek tilida sintaktik teglash tizimini ishlab chiqish, teglarni taklif etish hisoblanadi. Maqolada o‘zbek tilida sintaktik parsing masalasi, gap bo‘laklarini aniqlash modellari va o‘zbek tili matnlarini dependency parsing qilish muammolari, sintaktik teglar masalasi tadqiq qilindi. O‘zbek tilida sintaktik parsing va treebank masalasi boshqa agglyutinativ tillar bilan solishtirilgan holda tahlil qilindi.
Information on the relationship between facial thermal responses and emotional state is valuable for sensing emotion. Yet, previous research has typically relied on linear methods of analysis based on regions of interest (ROIs), which may overlook nonlinear pixel-wise information across the face. To address this limitation, we investigated the use of machine learning (ML) for pixel-level analysis of facial thermal images to estimate dynamic emotional arousal ratings. We collected facial thermal data from 20 participants who viewed five emotion-eliciting films and assessed their dynamic emotional self-reports. Our ML models, including random forest regression, support vector regression, ResNet-18, and ResNet-34, consistently demonstrated superior estimation performance compared to traditional simple or multiple linear regression models for the ROIs. To interpret the nonlinear relationships between facial temperature changes and arousal, saliency maps and integrated gradients were used for the ResNet-34 model. The results show nonlinear associations of arousal ratings in nose = tip, forehead, and cheek temperature changes. These findings imply that ML-based analysis of facial thermal images can estimate emotional arousal more effectively, pointing to potential applications of non-invasive emotion sensing for mental health, education, and human-computer interaction.
The frequency with which humans use words provides a window into the psychological representation of the corresponding concepts. Capitalizing on the availability of massive lexical databases, we evaluate the frequency with which specific number words and their combinations (e.g. "twenty-four", "quatre-vingt-douze") are used in six different languages. We use these data to probe the hypothesis that complex concepts arise as syntactic combinations of simpler ones in a language of thought. First, we confirm our previous report of a regular and reproducible profile of decrease in frequency with number size, with local peaks for round numbers. Second, we show that frequency varies with the simplicity of the decomposition of a number into small prime factors. Third, we demonstrate that the entire frequency profile, including its overall decrease and local peaks, can be modeled by a grammar of algebraic combinations, whereby each number arises from addition and multiplication operations on smaller numbers. Those findings strengthen the hypothesis that compositionality in a language of thought underlies the emergence of exact number concepts.
Music listening can evoke a wide range of thought types, including autobiographical memories, fictional stories, visual imagery, and mind-wandering. Previous studies have typically examined these thought types individually, which precludes investigation of why certain music evokes certain thought types over others. This study investigates the impact of musical genre, familiarity, enjoyment, contrast, and emotional expression on the occurrence of different thought types during music listening across 17 genres targeted towards UK and US listeners. We systematically selected 356 music excerpts and collected data from 701 participants from the United Kingdom and the United States, analysing the frequency of thoughts occurring during these excerpts and various excerpt ratings (e.g., familiarity, emotional expression). We found significant genre-specific effects on thought types, such as Film music primarily evoking media memories and fictional imaginings. Familiarity, contrast, enjoyment, valence, and arousal ratings all significantly influenced certain thought types, suggesting that both compositional features and one’s previous experiences of music affect listeners’ inner mental worlds. This study extends previous research by exploring a broader range of genres and musical features, offering new insights into the mental landscape of thoughts occurring during music listening.
Abstract Sentence length, defined by the number of words contained in a sentence, has always been of great concern in linguistic research. Many studies have been conducted on the distribution of sentence length in specific languages. To further explore the characteristics and patterns of sentence length and their relationship with dependency distance in Spanish, we use the SUD syntactic treebank and conduct a quantitative analysis within the theoretical framework of dependency grammar. It is found that the sentence length distribution of Spanish follows a positive negative binomial model, and there is no significant difference in sentence length distribution among different mean dependency distances (MDDs), but the distribution of the number of sentences in different sentence length intervals follows a normal distribution. In Spanish, sentence length and MDD interact with each other – the longer the sentence is, the greater the MDD is, and vice versa – which is consistent with previous research findings. Also, as sentence length increases in Spanish, short-distance dependencies decrease, but remain within a certain range of fluctuations, which confirms once again that language is a complex and self-adaptive system driven by humans.
BACKGROUND: Color plays a pivotal role in visual perception, shaping emotions, attention, and cognition, particularly in art-related contexts. However, the influence of artistic training on color perception and neural processing remains poorly understood. METHODS: This study examined differences in color perception between art and non-art groups using behavioral ratings and EEG data. Forty-four participants (22 art majors: 21.82 ± 1.56 years old; 22 non-art majors: 20.73 ± 1.67 years old) with an equal gender ratio were recruited. Participants completed color perception tasks involving cool, warm, and neutral hues while EEG data were recorded with a 65-electrode system. Behavioral ratings and ERP components (P2 and P3) were analyzed, supplemented by decoding analysis to uncover neural processing patterns. RESULTS: Behavioral data indicated that warm hues elicited higher emotional valence ratings than cool and neutral hues for both groups. EEG analysis revealed that warm and cool hues evoked larger P3 amplitudes compared to neutral hues. A group-hue interaction was observed in the P2 component, with the non-art group showing greater variability in P2 amplitudes across hues. Decoding analysis provided further evidence of distinct neural processing differences between the two groups. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that color perception differs between art and non-art groups, particularly in the neural processing of the P2 component. Warm and cool hues elicit stronger emotional and attentional responses, highlighting distinct cognitive mechanisms influenced by artistic expertise.
The current paper explores the translation of stylistic devices in psychological thrillers, focusing on the Ukrainian rendering of Colleen Hoover’s novel «Verity». Psychological thrillers rely heavily on suspense, emotional tension and internal character conflict to engage the reader. These effects in the novel under consideration are achieved through a variety of stylistic means such as metaphors, similes, personification, and syntactic constructions like repetition, rhetorical questions, parallel constructions, nominative sentences and aposiopesis. The study highlights the translator’s task not only to transfer meaning but also to preserve psychological depth, implicit information and emotional intensity. Using methods of continuous sampling, contextual analysis and comparative analysis, the research examines how key stylistic means function in both the source and target language texts. While many devices such as anaphora and parallel constructions were successfully adapted, others underwent shifts in tone and imagery. Similarly, emotionally intense metaphors and personifications were sometimes softened in translation. The findings demonstrate that grammatical and lexical translation transformations impact the suspense-building mechanisms of the target language text, influencing the reader’s emotional perception and cognitive engagement. Moreover, the analysis reveals that stylistic shifts often stem from the translator’s attempts to align the narrative with cultural and linguistic norms of the target audience. The study concludes that while the translator achieves a high degree of equivalence, subtle linguistic and cultural differences inevitably affect the preservation of stylistic nuances in the target language. Ultimately, the research emphasizes the delicate balance between fidelity to the source text and adaptation to the target culture in literary translation.
Acumular objectes és un símptoma que pot estar present en múltiples patologies com el trastorn psicòtic, la depressió, el deteriorament cognitiu, el consum d’alcohol i el trastorn d’acumulació (TA), entre altres. Tot i ser un problema freqüent, l’acumulació d’objectes és una conducta amb poca representació en la literatura científica. A més, la majoria d’estudis provenen de mostres de voluntaris i són pocs els que provenen de la pràctica clínica habitual. La tesi consta de 2 estudis de pacients extrets de la pràctica clínica habitual. Per valorar la gravetat de l’acumulació s’ha utilitzat l’escala Clutter Image Rating (CIR). Es van incloure en els estudis aquells individus amb una puntuació de l’escala CIR >= 4, que és la que es considera que és clínicament significativa. El primer dels estudis va incloure 243 subjectes i descriu que la conducta d’acumulació sovint passa desapercebuda en les seves etapes inicials, amb un retard mitjà en la seva detecció d’uns 10 anys. Tots els subjectes inclosos en aquest estudi presentaven acumulació greu i múltiples complicacions per acumulació, fins i tot aquells que no complien els criteris diagnòstics per a TA. El TA va ser el diagnòstic més comú en el 48,1% dels pacients. Els pacients en els quals l’acumulació era deguda a patologies diferents del TA, sovint tenien trastorn per consum d’alcohol. El segon estudi consta de 214 individus amb acumulació clínicament significativa (CIR >=4) seguits durant 2 anys. En aquest estudi es van avaluar i comparar tres enfocaments diferents per a la gestió de l’acumulació en pacients no col·laboradors: (1) enfocament de gestió de casos amb personal a temps complet i parcial, (2) enfocament de gestió de casos basat en la col·laboració en xarxa interprofessional i (3) atenció rutinària de serveis socials sense gestió específica d’acumulació dirigida per un treballador social. Es va aconseguir la resolució en el 84,5%, 36,4% i 36,6% dels casos gestionats per les estratègies (1), (2) i (3), respectivament. L’estudi conclou que la gestió de casos amb un equip a temps complet va ser la més efectiva per resoldre l’acumulació severa en pacients no voluntaris, suggerint que centralitzar la gestió de casos en un equip de professionals especialitzats i autònoms podria ser la millor estratègia per resoldre l’acumulació clínicament significativa en pacients no col·laboradors.
Many factors influence the language environment in preschool, for example, the language background and competence of the teachers, children's ages, language proficiency levels and language backgrounds, the access to play and learning materials and the composition of preschool groups. There is a lack of knowledge on how various aspects of the interactive language environment in preschool relate to children’s language use and language learning. The present thesis includes studies on various aspects of teachers’ and children’s interactional practices. The aim of the thesis is to highlight variation in reschoolers’ and teachers’ interaction and language use in monolingual and multilingual preschools in Sweden. The following research questions have guided the analysis: What characterizes children's and teachers’ verbal and embodied interaction and language use in preschools with monolingual and multilingual children? How do teachers’ and children’s interaction and language use contribute to the preschool language environment, and what does this signify for multilingual children's opportunities to acquire the language of education? The study builds on video ethnographic data. Teachers and children from eight preschool units situated in both high SES monolingual areas and low SES multilingual areas participate. Data was collected during nine months, and each group of teachers and children were video recorded during ordinary preschool activities such as play, mealtimes, teaching and storybook-reading. The video recorded data was transcribed and analyzed drawing on Conversation Analysis. As a complement to the video data, the participating children’s language production and language comprehension were assessed using The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Swedish version) and nonsense words. For paper 3 and 4, the transcriptions were also analyzed linguistically regarding word types, word tokens and decontextualized turns. The findings show that children use code-switching and crossing as interactional resources. Children are multilingual policy agents who create their own social and linguistic norms through multilingual practices, and they sometimes choose an alternative language as lingua franca in preschool (in this case English). Children’s play in both areas are characterized by interaction, joy, community, and joint attention, which create rich and stimulating social environments. However, children’s use of vocabulary differs between the areas, including both qualitative aspects (e.g. the use of decontextualized turns), and quantitative aspects (e.g. word types used). The vocabulary which children expose each other to during peer play talk is shaped and conditioned by their knowledge of the preschool lingua franca, in this case Swedish. L2 children in the multilingual preschools lack access to play with L1 speakers of the language of education, and their peer play talk is restricted by a joint low proficiency in Swedish. L1 children in monolingual preschools lack access to play with multilingual peer models. When children are allowed to take initiatives and act on their topics of interest during language teaching sessions, opportunities for concept development, abstract thinking, and cooperation arise. The preschool language teaching practices need to be dynamic and flexible in relation to children’s language backgrounds and their use of various language resources. A challenge arises when teachers and children have limited access to a lingua franca during language teaching. However, it is the role of the teacher to use a rich and varied language and to act responsively, and both follow and extend children’s contributions. Teacher's use of SSS might contribute to a language conducive context for children with special needs, but there is a risk that teachers’ focus on performance of SSS might constrain their responsivity. Teachers’ use of SSS therefore needs to be related to fundamental aspects of high-quality language interaction. The study concludes that children make strategic choices regarding which language to use in different contexts. All children have the right to participate, not only in socially rich and engaging play, but also in language conducive play where they can use and develop the curricular target languages. Teachers need to verbally support and enrich the play of children who are unable to act as sources of rich input to each other. Such support includes the use of a rich and diverse lexicon, advanced grammar and decontextualized language. Training preschool teachers how to improve their responsively oriented interactions with children might be a productive way of promoting the language learning environment of both monolingual and multilingual preschools.
The Mitochondrial Stress, Brain Imaging, and Epigenetics (MiSBIE) study (Kelly et al., 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2024.08.006) was designed to investigate how mitochondria regulate multisystemic processes involved in resilience and disease vulnerability across the lifespan. Specifically, the study assessed emotional, cognitive, neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune functioning in both healthy individuals (n = 70) and patients with Mitochondrial Disease (MitoD) (n = 40). Participants underwent both home-based assessments reflecting normative physiological conditions, and clinic-based protocols that included fasting and non-fasting baseline measurements as well as exposure to an acute psychological stressor. This dataset and documentation pertain to the MiSBIE Stress Reactivity Subproject, which focuses on responses to the acute stressor. In this arm of the study, we aimed to examine the reactivity and recovery of key stress response systems following a simplified, 5-minute version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, cf. Kelly et al., 2024, for details). Study Design and Measurements: Participants provided self-report affect ratings and biofluid samples (blood and saliva) over a 2-hour time period, beginning with a baseline measurement 5 minutes before stress exposure and continuing across seven post-stressor time points (at 5, 10, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes). Various affective states (i.e., Stressed, Nervous, Angry, Calm, Relaxed, Energetic, and Worn-out) were assessed on Likert scales. From the biofluids, we analyzed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hormones (ACTH and cortisol), and sympathetic-adreno-medullary (SAM) axis catecholamines (norepinephrine and epinephrine), as well as other steroids produced in the mitochondria (testosterone, cortisone, corticosterone, progesterone, DHEA, and DHEAs), and other catecholamines relevant to affect regulation (serotonin and dopamine). Additionally, physiological measures included peripheral body temperature (hand, tongue, and neck) and continuously assessed breathing rate (BR), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and electrodermal activity (EDA). At the time of data upload (Aug 2025), BR, HR, BP and EDA raw data are still undergoing technical pre-processing and will be made available for analysis later. Planned Analyses: Our main objective is to assess whether patients with mitochondrial disease (MitoD) differ from healthy controls in their emotional, hormonal, and physiological stress reactivity. To evaluate this, we will apply longitudinal mixed-effects models to model the time courses of each outcome variable. Therefore, models will include: (i) Fixed effects of interest for evaluating our research questions, i.e., main effects of Time, Group (MitoD vs. Control), and their interaction; (ii) random effects to map the study design, i.e., COVID-19 timing (i.e., pre vs. post pandemic visits), analytical batch (to map technical variance) and participant ID (to account for repeated within-subject measures), and (iii) potential fixed covariates, i.e., sex, BMI, and age. We will construct multiple candidate mixed-effects models that consistently include our hypothesis-relevant fixed effects and design-relevant random effects (i.e., Time x Group + (1|COVID19) + (1|Batch) + (1|Subject)) and vary in their inclusion of additional covariates. Model selection will be based on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). The model with the lowest criterion values will be selected for interpretation. Distributional Properties and Special Considerations: Due to the strictly positive and typically right-skewed nature of hormonal concentration data, we anticipate using log-normal distributions (or log-transformation of outcomes) in our modeling. In addition, many biofluid markers are also subject to technical detection limits, resulting in: (i) Left-censoring (values below the lower limit of detection, LLOD); (ii) Semi-quantitative measurements (values detectable but below the lower limit of quantification, LLOQ); and (iii) Ceiling effects (values above the upper limit of quantification, ULOQ). We plan to address these properties through: (i) Tobit mixed-effects models for left-censored outcomes; (ii) Generalized rank-based models (e.g., aligned rank transform (ART) mixed-effects models) for outcome with relevant proportions of semi-quantitative data; and (iii) more complex censoring-aware modeling approaches that account for the simultaneous presence of three tiers of data quality (LLOD-censored, semi-quantitative, fully quantitative). Model adequacy will be evaluated using standard criteria such as information criteria, posterior predictive checks, and assumption diagnostics. Post-Hoc Analysis and Interpretation: Significant main or interaction effects relevant to our hypotheses will be explored through post hoc comparisons, with correction for multiple testing where appropriate. Figures will visualize the model-derived estimates on the backdrop of individual data trajectories.
(1) Background: Phasic events in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep are a core feature of isolated REM behavior disorder (iRBD), which is often associated with emotion dysregulation. This study explores the relationship between sleep and the overnight habituation of emotional reactivity in healthy controls (HCs) and iRBD patients, focusing on the role of REM phasic events and a specific non-REM waveform, namely sleep spindles. (2) Methods: Participants underwent polysomnography and completed arousal rating tasks and mood scales before and after sleep. In total, eight HCs (4 M, mean age 60.62 ± 6.8) and eight iRBD patients (7 M, mean age 68.25 ± 5.12) were included in the analyses. (3) Results: In HCs, longer REM sleep duration correlated positively with overnight habituation. In the whole sample, overnight habituation negatively correlated with REM sleep latency and wake-after-sleep onset, and positively with N2 sleep. Higher overnight habituation was associated with fewer REM arousals and awakenings in the whole sample, and with greater N2 sleep spindle density in HCs. (4) Conclusions: Our preliminary results suggest that REM sleep and spindles in N2 play critical roles in emotional processing. The study confirms the relationship between emotion dysregulation and REM phasic events, enhancing our understanding of how sleep impacts emotional reactivity and also in the prodromal phase of neurodegenerative disease.
Being able to regulate emotions is critical to coping with stress. Stress has also been shown to reduce emotion regulation ability; specifically, stress-based HPA axis activation reduces top-down control of emotion regulation. Reducing HPA axis activation could therefore allow a person to better utilize emotion regulation strategies. Slow-paced breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system through increasing vagal tone. In this study, we examined whether a short bout of slow-paced breathing could acutely improve emotion regulation in young adults. Participants were asked to regulate their emotional reactions to negatively valenced images using cognitive reappraisal to either increase, decrease, or maintain the emotional intensity. In the experimental condition, participants completed a 3-minute voluntary breath control exercise prior to the experimental trials. In the control condition, participants completed the experimental trials without a breathing exercise. This was a within-subjects design. An acute bout of slow-paced breathing prior to the emotional experience reduced negative valence and arousal ratings in response to negative images. Participants also reported greater success at emotion regulation following the breathing compared to the control condition. Therefore, slow-paced breathing may be an effective tool to acutely enhance emotion regulation abilities, possibly through the increase in parasympathetic nervous system activation.
Exegesis is a pivotal topic in linguistic studies, explored across multiple levels: phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and semantic, in addition to its connections with other disciplines.This study focuses on exegesis at the morphological level, aiming to define its nature by examining its causes from the perspectives of both the speaker and the listener.It also seeks to establish essential guidelines, document its manifestations in nouns and verbs, and detail the methodologies employed in its analysis.The study's significance lies in its contribution to enhancing the understanding and construction of speech, as well as comprehending the linguistic norms adhered to by Arabs in their expressions.
The role of craving in opioid use disorder (OUD) has been well established with respect to heroin but less so with prescription opioids. This pilot study, conducted in 18 treatment-seeking patients with prescription OUD and 18 healthy volunteers, assessed spontaneous (in the moment) and cue-induced craving and their relationship to depression and anxiety. Patients (vs. healthy volunteers) exhibited increased spontaneous craving for prescription opioids. Relative to brief (10 s) random presentations of neutral and affective images, presented drug (prescription opioids) images elicited greater craving ratings in patients and were associated with higher valence and arousal ratings. Elevated depression and anxiety observed in patients (vs. healthy volunteers) were positively associated with spontaneous and cue-induced cravings. These findings tentatively support a role for drug craving and mental health comorbidity in prescription OUD and underscore the need for additional research to understand their causal relationships and their interactive dynamics during treatment and recurrence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
This paper introduces foundational resources and models for natural language processing (NLP) of historical Turkish, a domain that has remained underexplored in computational linguistics. We present the first named entity recognition (NER) dataset, HisTR, and the first Universal Dependencies treebank, OTA-BOUN, for a historical form of the Turkish language along with transformer-based models trained using these datasets for named entity recognition, dependency parsing, and part-of-speech tagging tasks. Furthermore, we introduce the Ottoman Text Corpus (OTC), a clean corpus of transliterated historical Turkish texts that spans a wide range of historical periods. Our experimental results demonstrate prominent improvements in the computational analysis of historical Turkish, achieving strong performance on tasks that require understanding of historical linguistic structures -- specifically, 90.29% F1 in named entity recognition, 73.79% LAS for dependency parsing, and 94.98% F1 for part-of-speech tagging. They also highlight existing challenges, such as domain adaptation and language variations between time periods. All the resources and models presented are available at https://hf.co/bucolin to serve as a benchmark for future progress in historical Turkish NLP.
Social relationships are central to well-being. A subgroup of afferent nerve fibers, C-tactile (CT) afferents, are primed to respond to affective, socially relevant touch and may mitigate the effects of stress. The endocannabinoid ligand anandamide (AEA) modulates both social reward and stress. We thus hypothesized that AEA levels would be associated with the perceived pleasantness of affective touch in humans. Across two studies, we explored perceptions of affective, socially relevant touch and general affective stimuli. In study 1, adult participants (N = 101) were recruited based on presence (CM+) or absence (CM-) of documented childhood maltreatment (N = 52 CM+; N = 49 CM-). In study 2, healthy individuals were randomized to receive an inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH; PF-04457845) to increase AEA levels (n = 16) or placebo (n = 29). Outcomes included self-report ratings of touch pleasantness and intensity, valence and arousal ratings of affective images, and plasma levels of endocannabinoids AEA and 2-AG, cortisol, and oxytocin. In study 1, higher AEA levels were associated with a reduced preference for affective, CT-optimal touch. In study 2, pharmacological elevation of AEA resulted in reduced preference for affective touch. These effects were specific to social processing, as AEA levels were not related to ratings of affective images. In contrast to our hypothesis, elevated AEA was associated with reduced pleasantness ratings of CT-optimal, affective touch. This provides novel, in-human data linking AEA to social processing, adding nuance to the rationale for its use as a potential novel therapeutic target in disordered in social processing.
This paper examines the rapid evolution of net slang and its consequential impact on Standard Mandarin, highlighting the interplay between net slang and traditional linguistic norms. The study begins by delineating three principal characteristics of net slang: multiformity, simplicity, and flexibility. Through a survey assessing Chinese attitudes towards net slang, both positive and negative viewpoints are revealed. Results indicate that while net slang can enhance communication with creative elements such as emoticons, it also risks grammatical divergence and semantic deviations. These impacts are particularly pronounced in the realm of Chinese language education, where net slang affects graphology and fosters misinterpretations. Despite these challenges, the paper advocates for a balanced approach, proposing the integration of beneficial aspects of net slang into Standard Mandarin following rigorous evaluation. Emphasizing language sustainability, the study underscores the role of educators and parents in promoting reading, thereby ensuring the harmonious coexistence of net slang and standard language while preserving linguistic integrity for future generations.
We use advertising billboards and posters of three mobile telecom giants to spotlight translanguaging spaces as marketing strategies in the multilingual and multicultural landscapes of Zambia (south-central Africa). We argue that telecommunications giants deploy, in their marketing discourses, an assemblage of various semiotic resources on translanguaging spaces. Consequently, we show that this occasions a breakdown of language ideologies and blurs boundaries between languages of different sociopolitical statuses, reach and appeal, much to the benefit of telecom giants who wish to grow their subscriber base. We show how the outcome of semiotic complementarity of resources in translanguaging spaces addresses multiple actors in one design by integrating linguistic resources formerly separated by different practices and places for marketing purposes. In this way, we conclude that arising from (semiotic) creativity and defiance of expected linguistic norms, the sociolinguistics of translanguaging spaces admit both amalgamated forms and full-fledged languages in unpredictable ways, enabling telecom giants to achieve their marketing objectives.
This article explores the theoretical foundations and practical implications of adequacy and equivalence in translation studies. Drawing upon the frameworks of prominent scholars such as Y.I. Retsker, L.S. Barkhudarov, the paper examines how different approaches define and apply the concepts of equivalence in relation to linguistic norms, functional correspondence, and communicative effect. The analysis highlights the distinction between formal, dynamic, and functional equivalence, and the roles they play in achieving accurate translation outcomes. Special attention is given to the translator’s linguistic and cultural competence and the inherent asymmetry in bilingualism, which significantly affects translation choices. Furthermore, the article discusses translation criticism as a tool for evaluating the quality and equivalence of translated texts.
The rapid expansion of digital media has significantly reshaped the ways in which language is used, adapted, and evolved in contemporary communication. This study explores how online platforms—ranging from social media networks to messaging applications—have influenced linguistic norms, introduced novel expressions, and reshaped traditional grammar and syntax. By analyzing communication patterns across diverse digital contexts, the research highlights how users creatively manipulate language to suit the immediacy, brevity, and interactive nature of online discourse. The findings reveal a dynamic linguistic environment where slang, emojis, abbreviations, and code-switching are not only prevalent but also indicative of broader cultural and generational shifts. This investigation contributes to the understanding of language as a fluid and evolving entity, driven increasingly by the participatory and fast-paced nature of digital interaction.
Abstract Background and Aims: Cannabis cue-reactivity paradigms are instrumental to study the behavioral and neurocognitive mechanisms of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders. However, image sets used for cannabis cue-reactivity paradigms vary between studies, and the lack of reliability and validity assessment hinders the quality of evidence they generate. The aim of this study was to create a novel, open access, standardized, and internationally representative database of cannabis use-related images including control images matched by resolution, luminosity, and complexity: The Cannabis Research Image Database (CRESIDA). We also examined the potential impact of cannabis use severity, image type, and cannabis-tobacco co-use on craving. Design: An online survey was administered to participants recruited via online platforms, community advertisement, and snowballing. Setting: USA, the Netherlands, and Australia. Participants/Cases: 689 participants who consumed cannabis monthly-to-daily (385 men, 298 women, 6 other) were recruited between January 2022 and May 2024. Measurements: Out of 93 cannabis images and 93 matched neutral images, participants each rated 31 image pairs for cannabis craving (the primary outcome), arousal, valence, and tobacco craving. Participants were characterized for socio-demographic data, level of cannabis use and related problems, and mixing cannabis and tobacco. A subset of 78 images was selected for further analysis based on cannabis craving results. Image ratings were evaluated for internal consistency (). Furthermore, we examined the association between cannabis cravings and cannabis use characteristics, and explored if cannabis craving ratings were affected by image type (i.e., product, paraphernalia, and actions), and by using cannabis alone vs. mixing cannabis and tobacco. Findings. The database showed excellent reliability ( =.995-.965). Cannabis craving, valence, and arousal discriminated cannabis and control images. More cannabis use days (β = 0.162, p < 0.001) and cannabis-related problems (β = 0.268, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with higher image-related cannabis craving. Mixing cannabis with tobacco, compared to using cannabis alone, was associated with the presence of tobacco craving in relation to cannabis images, and with greater cannabis craving in relation to cannabis images (β = -0.457, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Images part of the open access CRESIDA are reliable and valid for the scientific study of cue-reactivity internationally, providing a broad range of free to use cannabis and control images internationally.
The article explores comic discourse as a multifaceted phenomenon that forms at the intersection of linguistic and cultural aspects. The main purpose of the work is to analyze the specifics of comic utterance in the context of various cultural realities and language systems. Special attention is paid to the influence of cultural peculiarities on the processes of creating and interpreting humor, as well as linguistic tools that ensure the transmission of a comic effect. The analysis of the humorous language is carried out, aimed at studying the mechanisms of the generation and perception of humor within the framework of linguistic and cultural contexts. The key factors determining the originality of a humorous utterance are identified, as well as the interrelationships between linguistic means and cultural features in the process of comic communication are investigated. The results of the study indicate that comic discourse acts as a reflection of cultural traditions and social norms, and also serves as a tool for analyzing the dynamics of intercultural interaction. It is established that the perception of humor is determined not only by linguistic norms, but also by cultural values, stereotypes and contexts in which communication is carried out. Thus, comic discourse is a significant object of study for understanding the interrelationships between language and culture.
Computational linguists have long recognized the value of version control systems such as Git (and related platforms, e.g., GitHub) when it comes to managing and distributing computer code.However, the benefits of version control remain under-explored for a central activity within computational linguistics: the development of annotated natural language resources.We argue that researchers can employ version control practices to make development workflows more transparent, efficient, consistent, and participatory.We report a proof-of-concept, GitHub-based solution which facilitated the creation of a legal English treebank.
Abstract Background and Aims: Cannabis cue-reactivity paradigms are instrumental to study the behavioral and neurocognitive mechanisms of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders. However, image sets used for cannabis cue-reactivity paradigms vary between studies, and the lack of reliability and validity assessment hinders the quality of evidence they generate. The aim of this study was to create a novel, open access, standardized, and internationally representative database of cannabis use-related images including control images matched by resolution, luminosity, and complexity: The Cannabis Research Image Database (CRESIDA). We also examined the potential impact of cannabis use severity, image type, and cannabis-tobacco co-use on craving. Design: An online survey was administered to participants recruited via online platforms, community advertisement, and snowballing. Setting: USA, the Netherlands, and Australia. Participants/Cases: 689 participants who consumed cannabis monthly-to-daily (385 men, 298 women, 6 other) were recruited between January 2022 and May 2024. Measurements: Out of 93 cannabis images and 93 matched neutral images, participants each rated 31 image pairs for cannabis craving (the primary outcome), arousal, valence, and tobacco craving. Participants were characterized for socio-demographic data, level of cannabis use and related problems, and mixing cannabis and tobacco. A subset of 78 images was selected for further analysis based on cannabis craving results. Image ratings were evaluated for internal consistency (). Furthermore, we examined the association between cannabis cravings and cannabis use characteristics, and explored if cannabis craving ratings were affected by image type (i.e., product, paraphernalia, and actions), and by using cannabis alone vs. mixing cannabis and tobacco. Findings. The database showed excellent reliability ( =.995-.965). Cannabis craving, valence, and arousal discriminated cannabis and control images. More cannabis use days (β = 0.162, p &lt; 0.001) and cannabis-related problems (β = 0.268, p &lt; 0.001) were significantly associated with higher image-related cannabis craving. Mixing cannabis with tobacco, compared to using cannabis alone, was associated with the presence of tobacco craving in relation to cannabis images, and with greater cannabis craving in relation to cannabis images (β = -0.457, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: Images part of the open access CRESIDA are reliable and valid for the scientific study of cue-reactivity internationally, providing a broad range of free to use cannabis and control images internationally.