Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
18265 papers
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the English language proficiency of Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University students enrolled in the English Department. It primarily looks at the grammatical mistakes that impede kids' language development and how they affect their ability to communicate. A structured questionnaire was used in a quantitative survey with a sample of 120 students in order to collect data. The results show that improper application of linguistic norms, infrequent practice, and the effect of students' native language, which frequently interferes with English usage, are the primary causes of grammatical errors. The efficacy and clarity of students' speech are greatly impacted by these errors. According to the study's findings, English professors should implement specialized courses that emphasize communicative grammar instruction. It also recommends giving students regular chances to practice active language usage, which can improve their overall communication skills and grammatical precision, ultimately increasing their English proficiency.
Pshal P’shaw investigates the sonic instability of speech—where phonetic dissonance, vocal fragmentation, and gestural sound challenge structured linguistic norms. Developed during my residency at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, this work explores how speech patterns morph in response to unfamiliar dialects, sonic environments, and computational intervention. Inspired by Hermann Finsterlin’s fluid, dimensionally unbound architectural forms, I approach language as an unfixed structure, revealing phonetic articulation's unstable, adaptive nature. At its core, Pshal P’shaw is a multi-channel sculptural sound installation, neural instrument, and experimental phonetic composition that deconstructs oral adaptation and linguistic convergence. The project is based on 28 recorded voices engaging with a script designed to test the phonetic contours of a contemporary US Western dialect. Participants articulated words in controlled EEG lab settings, allowing for an analysis of phonetic deviation, mimicry, and emergent vocal patterns. I collaborated with Cornelius Abel, the Head of the EEG laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, to create a participant-based study. This study focuses on neural responses to phonetic adaptation and linguistic instability. It examines how the brain processes disrupted phonetics, prosodic shifts, and unfamiliar articulatory patterns, providing insights into cognitive processing beyond structured linguistic norms. By positioning phonetic instability as an expressive and cognitive site, this work aligns with my broader research on interstitial sonic spaces—the liminal areas between signal and noise, order and disruption, articulation and abstraction. The project extends into machine learning and human-machine interaction, where a neural algorithm dissects and reorganizes speech based on phonetic similarity and difference. The system works within a granular information base of over 3,000 phonetic variations, revealing the rhythmic, percussive, and spectral structures embedded in vocal articulation. Working with designer and Max/MSP specialist Matthew Ostrowski, I developed a custom Max/MSP script to explore how an AI-driven phonetic instrument can exist in a wandering state rather than optimization. Through sessions envisioning a system that resists linear progression, we designed a model that moves fluidly between pattern recognition and deviation, continually reorienting itself within the dataset rather than seeking a fixed resolution. This keeps the AI suspended in a process of recombination, allowing for unexpected phonetic proximities, spectral collisions, and recursive vocal transformations. The work employs Flucoma and MUBI as Max/MSP patches for phonetic and vocal analysis, mapping articulatory gestures through spectral decomposition, transient detection, and dynamic filtering. The script was developed in MATLAB by the EEG labs, enabling phonetic feature extraction and computational manipulation. A 12-channel sculptural sound installation hosts the generative algorithm, continuously reshaping the recordings based on vocal proximity and divergence. Simultaneously, a 5-channel raster video system maps the frequency data of each voice onto facial deconstructions, amplifying the inherent instability of articulation. A special edition record release with an accompanying booklet is available through Raster Media (Germany). This vinyl expands the project’s inquiries into a fixed yet fragmented format, extending the phonetic research into a sonic document. Side A, “Transients Script,” isolates the percussive elements of speech, revealing the microtonal instability of articulation as a rhythmic force. Side B examines spectral interplay across the 28 voices, exposing harmonic shifts, tonal variances, and dynamic resonances. Pshal P’shaw interrogates how language operates beyond fixed linguistic hierarchies, where vocal adaptation and sonic fragmentation become sites of expanded meaning-making by engaging with phonetic mimicry, algorithmic processing, and embodied sound. In doing so, the work contributes to larger conversations in experimental phonetics, accessibility in assistive sound technologies, and the role of noise in cognitive and communicative systems. Through historical research (on linguistic shifts in 19th-century US boomtowns) and contemporary computational modeling, this project reimagines how phonetic structures evolve, break apart, and reform—not as errors but as integral components of human interaction and cognition. Notes on Contributor Victoria Keddie is an artist whose work explores sound beyond structured language, investigating how communication fractures and reconstitutes through error, interference, and technological mediation. She has been Co-Director of E.S.P. TV for over a decade, using televisual media for performance. Her work has been performed and exhibited internationally, with recent fellowships at the NYSCA/NYFA, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Elektronmusikstudion, and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. Keddie’s video works are distributed by Lightcone (FR) and The Filmmakers Co-op (US), and her sound works are released with Raster Media (DE), Chaikin Records (US), and Fridman Gallery (NYC/US).
In the modern Ukrainian communicative space, speech culture and rhetoric appear as interconnected components that determine the quality, effectiveness, and ethicality of public expression.The rhetorical tradition, integrated with the norms of speech culture, is a powerful tool for influencing the audience's consciousness and emotions, contributing to the effective achievement of communicative goals in various spheres of social life.The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive examination of the relationship between speech culture and rhetorical practice, to define their common and distinctive features, to analyze the rhetorical aspects of speech culture, and to outline the problems and prospects for the development of rhetorical culture in contemporary Ukraine.An interdisciplinary approach combining descriptive, comparative, linguostylistic, and discourse-analytical methods was employed.The study established that speech culture forms the foundation of rhetoric, ensuring adherence to linguistic norms, logicality, structure, expressiveness, and communicative appropriateness of utterances.It was revealed that the rhetorical aspects of speech culture -harmonious combination of form and content, adaptation to the addressee and situation, and the ability to persuade through linguistic means -are key factors in communication effectiveness.The spheres of speech culture implementation were outlined: education, political discourse, journalism, blogging, social networks, legal, pedagogical, and business communication.Attention was drawn to the phenomena of simplification, democratization, and hybridization of styles in modern public speech.A number of problems were identified: the spread of surzhyk (mixed Ukrainian-Russian speech), vulgarization of language, communication standardization, and the decline of ethical standards in public discourse.The conclusions emphasize that the effective development of rhetorical culture in Ukraine is possible through the combination of systematic language education, preservation and adaptation of rhetorical tradition, cultivation of critical thinking, and enhancement of communication ethics.Speech culture, as a component of rhetoric, should be regarded not only as linguistic competence but also as a sociocultural tool influencing the democratization of society, national identity, and the quality of public discourse.
Building on evidence for experience-specific grounding of word meaning and assumed interindividual differences therein, this study investigates how specific aspects of empathy influence the processing and representation of abstract emotional words. We investigated single-trial N400 amplitudes as a measure of semantic retrieval in 78 healthy adults during a lexical decision task with emotion-label, emotion-laden, and neutral abstract words. We further measured the participants’ levels of empathic concern, fantasy, personal distress, and perspective taking. Additionally, ratings on valence, arousal, and emotional experience quantified the words’ emotional representational content. While direct comparison yielded no evidence for N400 differences between word types, N400 amplitudes in response to emotion-label words decreased with increasing fantasy scores, with this modulation being stronger than for emotion-laden and neutral words. Additionally, participants with higher fantasy rated emotional words higher in absolute valence. The observed N400 reductions thus seem to reflect fantasy-driven processing facilitation graded by the words’ emotionality level. In contrast, we found no evidence for N400 modulations by empathic concern, personal distress, or perspective taking while affective ratings on all scales increased with increasing empathic concern scores. Our findings suggest that fantasy facilitates especially emotion-label word processing and empathic concern enriches emotional word meaning representations, respectively, demonstrating interindividual differences in the experiential grounding of emotional abstract concepts.
This chapter synthesises the findings and discusses how sociomaterial processes shape languages. Challenging modernist linguistic paradigms, it examines how language categories emerge through diverse cultural, historical, and material practices. The chapter critiques binary linguistic models and universalist, teleological assumptions of standardisation, showing that stable linguistic systems are not ‘natural’, but result from specific sociopolitical and material conditions. In contrast, fluid linguistic practices in postcolonial and globalised contexts exhibit variability, innovation, and complex indexicality. Belize’s multilingual environment exemplifies a setting without a hegemonic linguistic centre, producing liquid linguistic norms. The chapter argues for decolonial approaches to linguistics that embrace heterogeneity and that challenge exclusionary, Eurocentric models. Ultimately, it positions fluid linguistic practices as a cultural avant-garde and understands postcolonial environments as inspiring insights into future global sociolinguistic orders shaped by digitalisation and transnationalism.
The article deals with the evolution of translation strategies, comparing traditional methods with contemporary machine translation technologies.The analysis encompasses a wide range of approaches, from direct and indirect translation to neural network-based models.The key theme is the examination of differences in decision-making processes during translation and the exploration of the advantages and limitations of each approach.The main challenge is the accuracy of content transmission and the consideration of context in translation.Human translators have the ability to adapt texts, taking into account not only grammatical and lexical norms, but also other factors such as emotional nuances, styles and tones, which is important for maintaining the appropriateness of the translation.At the same time, machine translation, even with the most advanced technologies, may struggle with texts that require a high level of cultural and stylistic context.For example, in the context of literary and fictional texts, machine translation systems have been observed to underperform with regard to capturing the nuances and depth of meaning that are characteristic of human translation.Moreover, the article discusses the potential for combining human and machine translation.It is important to note that for certain types of texts (e.g., technical or scientific ones), machine translation can be highly effective, especially when dealing with standardized terms and expressions.However, for more complex and creative texts, such as literary or marketing materials, human translation remains indispensable.In the future, the use of combined systems that integrate the advantages of both approaches may achieve high accuracy while preserving context in translation.Furthermore, the article focuses on the development of new machine translation methods aimed at improving accuracy and contextual understanding.At the same time, the limitations of existing technologies and the challenges faced by researchers in addressing issues related to context, style, and cultural adaptation of texts are discussed.One of the important topics is the role of cultural context in translation.Human translators are able to consider cultural differences and the specific characteristics of each language, which allows for more accurate and appropriate translations.Machine translation, on the other hand, often encounters difficulties in understanding cultural aspects and is not always able to adequately convey meaning when it has strong cultural ties.The article also emphasizes the importance of integrating cultural aspects into machine translation to ensure more accurate and relevant results.
This essay reimagines public speaking education through a culturally sustaining and transgressive lens that challenges dominant norms of language, professionalism, and communication competence. It critiques the ways in which public speaking courses often reinforce linguistic supremacy by privileging standardized English and marginalizing multilingual and culturally grounded speech practices. Drawing on concepts such as translanguaging, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP), and transgressive pedagogies, the author calls for a shift in pedagogy that centers students’ lived experiences, community-rooted knowledge, and linguistic norms. Rather than asking students to conform to hegemonic standards, this approach empowers them to speak on their own terms, resist assimilationist pressures, and use language as a tool for identity, resistance, and liberation. By transforming the public speaking classroom into a space for critical reflection and empowerment, educators can cultivate more inclusive and equitable models of communication instruction.
Kyrgyz remains a low-resource language with limited foundational NLP tools. To address this gap, we introduce KyrgyzBERT, the first publicly available monolingual BERT-based language model for Kyrgyz. The model has 35.9M parameters and uses a custom tokenizer designed for the language's morphological structure. To evaluate performance, we create kyrgyz-sst2, a sentiment analysis benchmark built by translating the Stanford Sentiment Treebank and manually annotating the full test set. KyrgyzBERT fine-tuned on this dataset achieves an F1-score of 0.8280, competitive with a fine-tuned mBERT model five times larger. All models, data, and code are released to support future research in Kyrgyz NLP.
People's language and behavior can be greatly influenced by gender differences.Female communication patterns have historically been characterized by tentative expressions and men use nonstandard language and more slang than women.However, with the development of society and the changes of cultural values, gender language develops and the language differences are not static.Women are asked to behave politely and humbly in the past but now they show more confidence.Gender differences in language manifest in many aspects, and literary works are no exception.In Little Women, Louisa May Alcott challenged traditional gender-based linguistic norms to present an independent and self-reliant girl Jo March who is fond of using slang, acts like a boy and treats herself as a boy.Jo uses masculine language and exhibits more male characteristics in communication.Jo 's unique character also reflects the profound exploration of female independence and freedom, and her thoughts and actions become a model for women to pursue self-worth and independent life.
In the middle of the summer of 2020, a group of journalists, academics, and self-styled thought leaders signed the now-infamous free speech letter in Harper's Magazine. The letter proclaimed a new epidemic: “a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open date and toleration.” Such forces of “illiberalism” were constraining the “free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society.” To oppose this rising tide of so-called cancel culture, the signatories insisted that all ideas, including bad ideas, deserve “exposure, argument, and persuasion” rather than “trying to silence or wish them away.”1 More recently, a number of universities faced condemnation for tolerating displays of antisemitism. Contrary to the earlier claims of Harper’s that we need more free speech on campus, think pieces and media personalities condemned anti-genocide protests as the wrong kind of speech. Most people broadly accept that free speech is a democratic value and good for democracy. But those signatories of Harper’s letter in the summer of 2020 and the more recent outcry against antisemitism both suggest that campus activists are practicing the value of free speech incorrectly. What is it about the liberal democratic notion of speech that seeks, on the one hand, to encourage a proliferation of some speech while, on the other hand, to limit other speech? What discursive legacy gives the current pejorative heirs of “political correctness”—“cancel culture,” “woke,” and “DEI”—their political salience in maintaining the boundaries of democratic speech? In looking at the demographics for whom these phrases are most valuable, we can glean an anti-egalitarian tendency in their invocations. To “cancel” does not mean “to silence.” Neither recent anti-Trans legislation in the United States nor opposition to queer book displays in public libraries has meaningfully been perceived as attempts to “cancel.” Relatedly, anti-Zionist Jews engaged in opposing the foreign policy situation in Gaza are also not legibly targets of “being canceled” when city councils and boards of trustees institutionally pressure them into silence. Instead, “canceling” seems only to occur when speech derived from traditional hierarchies and sources of authority is challenged. Refusing to host anti-abortion Christians is to “silence” them (Bruce 2021). To refuse an audience to trans-exclusionary feminists is to reject “civilized debate.”2 It is rejecting both the free market of ideas and “standards of moral judgement” to not hear out “an argument” against “same-sex marriage or transgenderism” (Arkes 2018). Tradition is entitled to free speech; challengers are not. The liberal democratic imaginary of speech lends itself to the preservation of hierarchies even while it theoretically insists on the power of critique. Herein, I want to frame respect for traditional authority as constitutive of the liberal democratic imaginary of free speech. The authority owed to speech can be seen by the way certain thinkers in the liberal canon have theorized the role of the listening audience. In tracing the role of speech and listening through Hobbes and Locke, we glean that speech is the entitled prerogative of the sovereign or of citizens constituting the sovereign; listening is the obedience owed to such persons. Listening is a passive position that is not merely a choice but a necessary function without which the speaker cannot exist. Mill, perhaps the patriarch of free speech, pushes the burden of listening further: it is active listening that all speech, even bad speech, is entitled to. For all three thinkers, speech expressed from a position of power is owed a receptive audience. The refusal to listen is tantamount to a disregard for either the sovereign or society at large. In what follows, I contextualize the politics of free speech in the present moment. I juxtapose the progressive and rightwing rhetoric around free speech before clarifying the crux of the issue: that certain rightwing actors demand institutional respect and legitimization of inegalitarian speech, which requires the presence of an audience to hear it. Refusing to listen is thus an act of disrespect and delegitimization. Such a perception of delegitimization follows from the way Western political theory traditionally conceives of the listener: as passive or effete in contrast to the assertive and authoritative role of the speaker. Excavating the position of the listener in our political discourse is therefore key to understanding the free speech invocations. this I the speech and listening in Locke, and I these three thinkers of their in Western political theory as as for the in liberal I not mean to that or I through the of the that we to whom that we and what kind of political listening society I Hobbes and I not only a of claims but also a that the refusal to listen is a political in a speech about the value of free speech have the actors that free speech in the is of a “free of speech against progressive on speech; that about speech politics in contrast to liberal of and speech one of the a rightwing the free speech, it the to that want to be to their when the free speech, it is for the to and that politics are a of rightwing in the of to rightwing speech on campus as of campus for the rightwing The the rightwing value of free speech as from the and progressive campus opposition 2021). this rhetoric an liberal and progressive attitudes free speech have the progressive commitments free speech or as a on political on inegalitarian speech and in the moral to the public good in to limit speech, a more in the way the United States has free speech the and actors this rightwing that the rightwing to free speech are not to a market ideas but are to institutionally for the that that speech be and liberal speech in that rightwing about free cannot in that to be but to the are of the this a rather both progressive and rightwing actors to the rhetoric of free speech to either or their political that and of about speech more of on the other But this lends itself to a that a more democratic The against which both have to democratic and by and on inegalitarian speech and speech against actors free speech at this to it as a to their inegalitarian speech. in the of a democratic a moral a of is the of the against and other of and speech. 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Abstract Older adults face heightened risks of depression and affective dysregulation, particularly in low-resource contexts. Reminiscence, involving the structured recall of autobiographical memories, has been shown to improve emotional well-being, but most evidence comes from multi-session interventions in Western populations. The immediate effects of single-session reminiscence and the influence of social context, including listener familiarity and sharing modality, remain underexplored. I conducted a quasi-randomized, mixed-design study with 91 community-dwelling older adults (mean age = 67.7 years, 54% female) in Jiujiang, China. Participants were assigned to online writing, offline writing, oral sharing with a relative, or oral sharing with an unfamiliar young adult listener. Mood was assessed before and after the session using the Brief Introspection Scale (16 items; alpha =.84) and a global affect rating. A two-by-four mixed ANOVA tested main and interaction effects, followed by item-level analyses. No significant time by group interaction was observed (p >.05). Item-level analyses revealed significant pre-post increases in positive affective states including lively, content, loving, and active (all ps <.05), with trends favoring oral sharing over writing. Brief reminiscence improved specific positive affect and proved feasible in a low-resource, non-Western context. These findings highlight its potential as an accessible, person-centered strategy for enhancing emotional well-being and underscore the importance of social context in optimizing intervention benefits.
Salient sexual cues (erect penis, attractive individuals) are thought to capture initial attention and automatically trigger genital arousal in women. Conscious appraisal activates subjective sexual arousal and further visual attention. The present study tested whether the attractiveness category (attractive/unattractive) and/or sexual arousal condition (in underwear, naked with flaccid penis, naked with erect penis) of male stimuli predicted female sexual responding and attentional patterns. Genital arousal, visual attention, and subjective ratings (subjective sexual arousal, pleasantness) of 26 predominantly heterosexual women (Mage = 31.2, SDage = 6.8) were measured while exposed to male stimuli across the experimental conditions. Neither attractiveness nor sexual arousal condition of male models significantly predicted genital arousal, subjective sexual arousal ratings or visual attention patterns of women. Results however showed high concordance between genital and subjective sexual arousal measures, and the pleasantness rating of the stimuli positively predicted subjective sexual arousal, suggesting a positive feedback loop of female sexual response.
We investigate the application of Neural Quantum Embedding and Quantum Neural Networks for sentiment analysis using the Stanford Sentiment Treebank dataset. We adapt the Neural Quantum Embedding framework, originally worked with image classification, to textual data by employing quantum embedding techniques that maximize trace distance for better data separability. Additionally, we incorporate advanced quantum feature maps and preprocessing techniques from recent quantum machine learning studies to enhance classification performance. Our experimental results demonstrate that the quantum models catch up with the classical baselines in sentiment classification accuracy, particularly in noisy intermediate-scale quantum settings. This work highlights the feasibility and potential of quantum-assisted sentiment analysis.
While Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown remarkable performance in various Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks, their effectiveness seems to be heavily biased toward high-resource languages.This proposal aims to address this gap by developing efficient training strategies for low-resource languages.We propose various techniques for efficient learning in simulated low-resource settings for English.We then plan to adapt these methods for lowresource languages.We plan to experiment with both natural language generation and understanding models.We evaluate the models on similar benchmarks as the BabyLM challenge for English.For other languages, we plan to use treebanks and translation techniques to create our own silver test set to evaluate the low-resource LMs.
У статті зазначено, що в сучасному глобалізованому світі, де міжкультурна комунікація набуває особливої актуальності, проблема адекватного перекладу ділових паперів постає як одна з ключових у сфері професійного перекладознавства. Зокрема, особливої уваги заслуговують процеси запозичення та калькування в міжмовному трансфері між українською та англійською мовами, оскільки вони суттєво впливають на якість і точність передачі офіційної, юридичної та комерційної інформації. Доведено, що ділова документація є складним і водночас чутливим жанром текстів, що вимагає від перекладача не лише високого рівня володіння мовами, а й глибокого розуміння правових, культурних і лінгвістичних норм обох країн. У цьому контексті особливої ваги набуває питання про доцільність використання запозичень та кальок як перекладацьких стратегій. Наголошено, що запозичення – це процес включення іншомовних елементів у текст без істотної зміни їхньої форми, який часто використовується для збереження термінологічної точності або коли у мові перекладу відсутній адекватний відповідник. Проте не завжди запозичення є виправданими. Іноді їхнє некритичне використання може призводити до плутанини, втрати змісту або стилістичних відхилень, особливо якщо існує усталений український еквівалент. Калькування, у свою чергу, передбачає буквальний або частковий переклад іншомовного вислову з збереженням структури або окремих його компонентів. У діловому перекладі кальки можуть виникати як результат прагнення зберегти формальну відповідність, однак часто вони порушують норми цільової мови. Крім того, перекладач повинен брати до уваги культурно-національні особливості: англомовний юридичний дискурс відзначається своїми лексико-синтаксичними моделями, які часто не мають прямого відповідника в українській мові, і навпаки. Саме тому іноді запозичення або калькування – це не просто перекладацький вибір, а необхідність, продиктована функціональною еквівалентністю. У підсумку вказано, що раціональне використання цих стратегій уможливлює створення точного, зрозумілого й правомірного перекладу, який відповідатиме як формальним вимогам, так і очікуванням реципієнта. The article notes that in today’s globalized world, where intercultural communication is becoming particularly relevant, the problem of adequate translation of business documents is one of the key issues in the fild of professional translation studies. In particular, the processes of borrowing and calquing in interlingual translation between Ukrainian and English deserve special attention, as they signifiantly affct the quality and accuracy of offial, legal and commercial information. It is proved that business documentation is a complex and at the same time sensitive genre of texts that requires not only a high level of language profiiency but also a deep understanding of the legal, cultural and linguistic norms of both countries. In this context, the question of the appropriateness of using borrowings and calques as translation strategies is of particular importance. It is emphasized that borrowing is the process of including foreign language elements into a text without signifiantly changing their form, which is often used to preserve terminological accuracy or when there is no adequate equivalent in the target language. However, borrowings are not always justifid. Sometimes their uncritical use can lead to confusion, loss of meaning, or stylistic deviations, especially if there is an established Ukrainian equivalent. Calculation, in turn, implies a literal or partial translation of a foreign language expression while preserving the structure or its individual components. In business translation, calques may arise as a result of the desire to maintain formal conformity, but they often violate the norms of the target language. In addition, the translator must take into account cultural and national peculiarities: Englishlanguage legal discourse is characterized by its lexical and syntactic models, which often have no direct equivalent in Ukrainian, and vice versa. That is why sometimes borrowing or calquing is not just a translation choice, but a necessity dictated by functional equivalence. The author concludes that the rational use of these strategies makes it possible to create an accurate, understandable and legitimate translation that meets both formal requirements and the expectations of the recipient.
The current study aimed to examine the effects of topic familiarity and language proficiency on linguistic complexity, accuracy, and fluency of argumentative essays in an EFL context. This study involved 64 college freshmen, who were divided into two groups according to a TOEIC score of 700, which corresponds to the B1 level on the CEFR scale: a high group (n = 31) and an intermediate group (n = 33). Participants were asked to write two argumentative essays on different topics, controlling for order effects through counterbalancing: one familiar (driving) and the other unfamiliar (smoking). They also completed a questionnaire that included background information and a topic familiarity rating on a 10-point Likert scale. The participants’ writing samples were analyzed in terms of lexical complexity, syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The results indicated that, in terms of topic familiarity, EFL learners tended to produce texts with lower levels of lexical and syntactic complexity, as well as reduced accuracy, when writing about unfamiliar topics. With regard to language proficiency, advanced learners demonstrated a broader vocabulary range, employed longer and more complex sentence structures, and produced more accurate and extensive texts compared to their intermediate-level peers. In-depth analysis and pedagogical implications are discussed.
The incorporation of real-world contexts into mathematical problems has become increasingly significant on a global scale, which is also reflected in Vietnamese education reform. This emphasis has resulted in the development of different series of textbooks designed to enhance student engagement and foster active learning through real-world problem contexts. In particular, the geometry and measurement strand presents substantial opportunities for the integration of contexts. In this study, we investigate the theoretical foundations of contexts, context familiarity, and context authenticity in mathematics education, with a focus on the plane geometry content in ninth-grade Vietnamese textbooks. The analysis is supported by four illustrative examples drawn from three reformed textbook series, demonstrating how context familiarity and authenticity are represented. A 5-point Likert-type survey of 109 students (72 males and 37 females) revealed that the soccer context was rated as less familiar than the airplane context overall, with no significant difference in familiarity ratings between boys and girls. Both the bike-riding and tripod contexts were rated as moderately authentic but not highly so. The authors also acknowledge several limitations and offers certain recommendations for future research in the area of contextual mathematics education.
Food preferences differ among individuals, and these variations reflect underlying personalities or mental tendencies. However, capturing and predicting these individual differences remains challenging. Here, we propose a novel method to predict individual food preferences by using CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training), which can capture both visual and semantic features of food images. By applying this method to food image rating data obtained from human subjects, we demonstrated our method's prediction capability, which achieved better scores compared to methods using pixel-based embeddings or label text-based embeddings. Our method can also be used to characterize individual traits as characteristic vectors in the embedding space. By analyzing these individual trait vectors, we captured the tendency of the trait vectors of the high picky-eater group. In contrast, the group with relatively high levels of general psychopathology did not show any bias in the distribution of trait vectors, but their preferences were significantly less well-represented by a single trait vector for each individual. Our results demonstrate that CLIP embeddings, which integrate both visual and semantic features, not only effectively predict food image preferences but also provide valuable representations of individual trait characteristics, suggesting potential applications for understanding and addressing food preference patterns in both research and clinical contexts.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Seeking Proxies for Internal States (SPIS) model of OCD posits that reduced access to internal states plays a key role in the development and maintenance of the disorder. The current work sought to provide further support for the model's central claim that obsessive-compulsive tendencies are associated with reduced access to internal states. METHOD: Participants (N = 170) listened to 60 sound stimuli, rated how each one made them feel, and completed a measure of obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Following past procedure, we compared participants' ratings to each sound's normative valence rating, such that higher deviations between the ratings reflect a noisier perception of affective internal states. RESULTS: As hypothesized, higher obsessive-compulsive tendencies predicted greater deviations for both normatively-positive and normatively-negative sounds. CONCLUSIONS: The current work provides additional, novel support for the SPIS model, showing that with increasing obsessive-compulsive tendencies, people exhibited reduced attunement to how auditory stimuli made them feel.
As it is well known, sociolinguistics is based on the idea that language is a social institution and an acquired phenomenon, established by members of society through mutual agreement to fulfill their needs and desires. Ibn Jinni defines language as "sounds through which each group expresses its purposes." One of the main reasons for the emergence of Arabic grammar was the social motivation of pride in the Arabic language and the need to preserve it from those who entered Islam, as they required learning Arabic to study and memorize the Qur’an. Since this interaction had an impact on the language, I found it necessary to explore this interdisciplinary sociolinguistic approach in the phenomenon of lahn (linguistic errors). The study is structured into an introduction, two main sections, a conclusion, and a bibliography. The introduction discusses the interdisciplinary study within sociolinguistics. The first section examines the impact of societies during the Islamic conquests on the Arabic language. The second section addresses the dangers of lahn and its effects on Arabic linguistic norms. The conclusion summarizes the key findings of the study.
In ”Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Herman Melville presents a character whose passive refusal, encapsulated in the repeated phrase “I would prefer not to,” challenges power, agency, and social norms. This essay examines how Bartleby’s refrain acts as both an assertion of autonomy and a critique of the violence inherent in language. By rejecting his employer’s commands, Bartleby disrupts the rational, efficiency-driven logic of the workplace, exposing the violence embedded in linguistic norms. Slavoj Žižek’s concept of language as inherently violent—through its imposition of norms and standards— illuminates how Bartleby’s refusal goes beyond protest, creating a space of resistance that defies interpretation and subverts power dynamics. Bartleby’s language, neither a clear denial nor an expression of desire, becomes a radical negation that questions the very nature of meaning. Ultimately, Bartleby’s refusal does not propose a new order but disrupts the structures of meaning and authority, forcing us to confront the limits of language itself.
In response to widespread leadership crises that favor popularity over competence, undermining strategic decision‑making and ethical standards, this study articulates the Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) communication and diplomatic principles in his royal correspondence as a leadership archetype grounded in justice, meritocracy, meticulous composition, and mutual respect. Employing a qualitative literature approach with historical content and comparative analysis, it examines primary manuscripts of prophetic letters and their contexts alongside classical sirah texts and peer-reviewed studies. The analysis uncovers four pivotal elements: concentrated da'wah message summaries; the "Muhammad Rasul Allah" seal for authentication; envoy selection tailored to each court's linguistic norms; and Qur'anic citations for spiritual authority. These elements demonstrate a synergistic blend of prophetic legitimacy and diplomatic courtesy, offering a framework for religious rhetoric and ethical leadership development. The study also recommends rigorous comparative diplomacy across global traditions and innovative, strategic interdisciplinary collaboration for future scholarly inquiry.
This research aims to analyze the Politeness and Speech Acts of the Community (Ojol Community). This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive method. Data were obtained through direct observation and recording of conversations between online ojek drivers and customers in real situations. Recording is done naturally without intervention to reflect authentic speech acts. The audio data is then transcribed and analyzed using Searle's speech act theory. The analysis is done descriptively qualitative by classifying and interpreting the form and function of utterances in the context of the conversation. The results show that nonstandard language is more dominantly used in informal communication, such as conversations between online ojek drivers and passengers, because it is considered more familiar, relaxed, and efficient. However, mastery of standardized language is still important, especially in official contexts, to maintain clarity and politeness. People are expected to be able to adjust the use of language according to the context so that communication remains effective and in accordance with linguistic norms. Keywords:,,,,.
The study of linguistic variation within the administrative structures of small-town America reveals a complex intersection between language, social identity, and institutional behavior. When approaching the linguistic environment of these communities from a purely academic perspective, without relying on personal immersion narratives or experiential accounts, one must begin with the foundational premise that English in the United States is profoundly regionalized. This regionalization is not a superficial matter of accent or vocabulary; it is a system of deeply embedded linguistic norms that shape how communication occurs, how authority is interpreted, and how institutional legitimacy is constructed. My interest as a researcher lies not in documenting local flavor or collecting curiosities from rural life but in understanding the mechanisms by which language operates as a structural force within governance. This requires an examination of sociolinguistic corpora, regional dialect research, institutional discourse studies, and the extensive literature on American dialect geography that has accumulated since the mid-twentieth century.
Inflection of Belarusian surnames is a topic of nationwide importance in Belarus. To this day, there is a great diversity in reference literature, and the standardization of surname inflection has not been established. The article describes the declension variations of Belarusian surnames in the Belarusian language, influenced by Russian patterns that are incompatible with standard practices of Belarusian speakers. Discussion includes the formation of the Belarusian linguistic norm, which has experienced historical and continuing influence by extra-linguistic factors. Complex instances of declension of Belarusian surnames in both Belarusian and Polish as well as of Polish surnames in both Polish and Belarusian are thoroughly discussed. On the one hand, comparative analysis shows the subtle similarities and differences between the two Slavic languages, from which interference errors can result. On the other hand, there are noticeable tendencies for 1) Belarusian surnames to decline according to the Russian models, as well as 2) Belarusians living in Poland to express preferences to decline Belarusian surnames used in the Polish language, according to the rules of Belarusian language.
Emotional states are fundamentally embodied, emerging from the dynamic interplay between central neural processing and peripheral physiological adjustments orchestrated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). While ANS outputs like heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA) reflect emotional arousal and valence, understanding the precise temporal coordination between brain activity and these peripheral signals is crucial for elucidating brain-body interactions. This study investigates neural-autonomic phase synchrony during the conscious processing of distinct emotional states (positive, negative, neutral) by quantifying the temporal alignment between cortical and physiological rhythms. We employ a multimodal approach, simultaneously recording high-temporal-resolution electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG) for HRV analysis (specifically Root Mean Square of Successive Differences, RMSSD), EDA, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while participants view validated emotional video clips. Our primary analysis quantifies the Phase Locking Value (PLV) between frontal EEG oscillations (Alpha, Beta bands) and continuous signals derived from HRV (reflecting parasympathetic influence) and phasic EDA (reflecting sympathetic influence). EEG channel selection for PLV analysis was informed by task-related hemodynamic activity measured via fNIRS to focus on functionally relevant cortical areas. We hypothesize that PLV, indicating brain-body temporal integration, will be significantly modulated by emotional content compared to neutral conditions. We further expect synchrony strength to correlate with subjective arousal ratings. By examining the phase synchrony between brain signals and ANS-mediated physiological outputs, this research provides novel insights into the dynamic, embodied mechanisms underlying emotional experience. Understanding this temporal binding is critical for models of psychophysiological function and may inform assessments of cognitive load or stress regulation capacity, potentially impacting performance monitoring and optimization in demanding operational environments.
Chinese word segmentation is a foundational task in natural language processing (NLP), with far-reaching effects on syntactic analysis. Unlike alphabetic languages like English, Chinese lacks explicit word boundaries, making segmentation both necessary and inherently ambiguous. This study highlights the intricate relationship between word segmentation and syntactic parsing, providing a clearer understanding of how different segmentation strategies shape dependency structures in Chinese. Focusing on the Chinese GSD treebank, we analyze multiple word boundary schemes, each reflecting distinct linguistic and computational assumptions, and examine how they influence the resulting syntactic structures. To support detailed comparison, we introduce an interactive web-based visualization tool that displays parsing outcomes across segmentation methods.
Kyrgyz, a Turkic language with over 4.4 million speakers concentrated primarily in Kyrgyzstan and adjacent regions of Central Asia, faces a significant disparity in computational linguistic resources compared to languages with similar or even smaller speaker populations. Despite its status as a government language and cultural cornerstone, Kyrgyz remains underrepresented in the digital linguistic landscape. This investigation examines the application of the Universal Dependencies (UD) framework – an annotation system engineered to facilitate cross-linguistic syntactic comparability – to the structural complexities of Kyrgyz. We endeavor to identify optimal annotation strategies that faithfully represent Kyrgyz-specific syntactic phenomena while adhering to the principled constraints of the UD paradigm. The establishment of standardized syntactic resources for Kyrgyz carries dual significance: it advances linguistic typology by incorporating data from an underrepresented language family, while simultaneously laying groundwork for practical natural language processing applications crucial for Kyrgyz speakers’ participation in the digital sphere. Our methodological approach encompasses rigorous analysis of nascent Kyrgyz treebanks, comparative evaluation of annotation strategies employed for genetically related Turkic languages, and systematic examination of four fundamental annotation challenges: the representation of Kyrgyz’s defective copula system, the classification of multifunctional grammatical particles, the annotation of constructions with implicit heads, and the demarcation between inflectional and derivational morphology in this highly agglutinative language. Our analysis reveals that achieving the dual objectives of linguistic fidelity and cross-linguistic consistency necessitates judicious adaptation of UD guidelines to accommodate Kyrgyz-specific structures. We advance unified annotation solutions that preserve the integrity of Kyrgyz linguistic patterns while facilitating meaningful cross-linguistic comparison. This research not only contributes substantively to computational resources for Kyrgyz but also establishes annotation principles with broader applicability to typologically similar agglutinative languages. The practical implications extend to enhanced guidelines for Kyrgyz treebank development, which will consequently improve parser accuracy and catalyze the development of essential language technology tools for Kyrgyz speakers.
This study investigates differences in artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and adoption between engineering students and faculty in a Middle Eastern higher-education institution. Parallel surveys were administered to undergraduate engineering students (N = 73) and faculty members (N = 20), each rating their familiarity with 20 AI tools covering learning, coding, productivity, and engineering applications. An AI Literacy Index was computed by assigning numerical values to familiarity ratings (A = 2, B = 1, C = 0) and normalizing the total to a 0–1 scale. Results from Welch’s t-test indicated that students demonstrated significantly higher literacy than faculty (0.454 vs. 0.356, p ≈ 0.042). Students also reported strong AI adoption for academic tasks (71.2%) and high perceived learning benefits (83.6%). Conversely, faculty expressed substantial concern about student over-reliance on AI (90%) while indicating readiness for professional development through AI training workshops (75%) and reporting assessment redesign efforts (75%). Overall, the findings highlight a meaningful literacy and perception gap with implications for engineering pedagogy, curriculum development, and assessment practices. Recommendations are provided to support the alignment of student and faculty AI competencies within engineering programs.
The article systematizes and comprehensively analyzes the phenomena of the phonetic level of the Internet vocabulary of the modern Kazakh language. Instagram, Facebook, social networks (Threads, Instagram, Facebook), and instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram), which have been actively used in recent years, were chosen as the object of the study. The research used methods of observation, generalization, comparative and descriptive analysis. As a result, it is revealed that new forms of linguistic usage are being formed in the Internet space, characterized by a mixture of elements of spoken and written speech. At the phonetic level, phenomena such as sound compression of words and, conversely, the repetition of graphemes to convey emotions in writing are widespread. The active use of Latin graphics and the development of foreign-language sounds indicate a new stage of phonetic adaptation in the Kazakh-speaking Internet space. The article provides specific examples of these phenomena, reveals their causes and impact on the modern linguistic norm and writing culture. According to the results of the study, it was found that the phonetic features of the Internet vocabulary reflect the natural development and adaptability of the Kazakh language.
Uncertainty of scientific findings are typically reported through statistical metrics such as $p$-values, confidence intervals, etc. The magnitude of this objective uncertainty is reflected in the language used by the authors to report their findings primarily through expressions carrying uncertainty-inducing terms or phrases. This language uncertainty is a subjective concept and is highly dependent on the writing style of the authors. There is evidence that such subjective uncertainty influences the impact of science on public audience. In this work, we turned our focus to scientists themselves, and measured/analyzed the subjective uncertainty and its impact within scientific communities across different disciplines. We showed that the level of this type of uncertainty varies significantly across different fields, years of publication and geographical locations. We also studied the correlation between subjective uncertainty and several bibliographical metrics, such as number/gender of authors, centrality of the field's community, citation count, etc. The underlying patterns identified in this work are useful in identification and documentation of linguistic norms in scientific communication in different communities/societies.
This paper explores the integration of sound files into wordnets, transforming them from static lexical databases into multimodal tools for linguistics, language learning and maintenance.Traditionally, wordnets focus on textual representations.Adding sound improves usability for language learners and linguists, especially in less-documented or endangered languages.We extracted sound data for basic vocabulary in 24 languages from the TUFS Basic Vocabulary Modules, link them to senses and make them available as small wordnets.We also discuss the issues involved with merging the data into an existing wordnet, looking at the Open English Wordnet.In addition, this paper outlines the process of integrating audio, discusses potential use cases, and evaluates the technical challenges involved.Finally we suggest an extension to the wordnet formats to allow sound for examples and definitions as well.
The increasing use of English in many professional and academic contexts has played a pivotal role not only in expanding the teaching of English at universities worldwide but also in determining the growth of teaching in English. This has heightened the need to teach thesis writing in many English-medium contexts. Focusing on the tension between individuality – expressing an individual point of view – and commonality – adopting the rhetorical and linguistic norms of the specific discourse community addressed, we discuss our experience of designing an introduction to thesis writing for an EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) multidisciplinary MA programme in Italy. The chapter begins by exploring the interplay between commonality and individuality, then proceeds to describe the course’s context and its educational underpinnings. The general principles are illustrated through an analysis of activities meant to teach the students how to engage with the discourse community of their choice and to express their stance: from engaging with discourse communities to finding relevant sources, incorporating other voices into a literature review, and working collaboratively on the conclusion section. The chapter closes with a brief summing up of the issues raised.
This chapter explores how linguistic, cultural, and ethnic identities are displayed, intertwined, and negotiated by YouTube creators in their reaction videos on BTS content. The reaction video, “a meta-video that documents in real-time individuals watching another video usually for the first time,” has emerged as a popular genre of user-generated content and a venue for online participation on YouTube for K-pop. Employing multimodal analysis, the chapter focuses on one YouTube channel run by a Korean American reactor and the comments and interactions made by the reactors and viewers on various aspects of BTS content. The analysis focuses on how reactors construct and perform their fan identity and position themselves vis-à-vis BTS in terms of language, culture, and ethnicity, including the hybrid language use of Korean and English and cultural aspects observed in BTS content. It is argued that reaction videos function as a new third space, in which the reactors’ different identities are (re)constructed and mediated as developing YouTubers and Korean American fans, and linguistic norms and cultural hierarchies are reordered and renegotiated.
This article offers a reflection on the meaning effects produced by the use of foreign languages in contemporary playwriting, taking as a starting point Henri Meschonnic’s notion of rhythm, which displaces language beyond signification and code. In dialogue with Marion Chénetier-Alev, who identifies the use of other languages as a critical and political tool in the European stage context, the text turns to the work of Brazilian playwrights who mobilize foreignness as a poetic operation. The focus then shifts to the contemporary Brazilian stage, observing experiences in which the foreign—through language, through rhythm—crosses the text. These practices challenge the hegemony of linguistic norms and activate Brazilian Portuguese as a sensitive matter, embedded in histories, violence, and translation. Playwriting is thus conceived as an operation that constructs new meanings in the passage between languages, establishing a zone of contagion where language no longer recognizes itself in a stabilized form. The article ultimately proposes the idea of a theatrical language—unstable, rhythmic, continuous, ephemeral—that invents and reconfigures the relations between language, body, and world.
The article examines the word-formation competence of artificial intelligence in translating German feminatives into Ukrainian, with a focus on competing suffix models and compliance with contemporary linguistic norms. The object of the study is feminatives as a component of the Ukrainian word-formation system, while the subject is the translation strategies used by different versions of the ChatGPT language model. The research material includes German official texts containing feminatives denoting professions, positions, and social status. The methodology is based on contrastive and quantitative analysis of German feminatives with the suffix -in/-innen and their Ukrainian equivalents generated by three ChatGPT versions (GPT-4.0, GPT-5.1, and GPT-5.2), correlated with data from the General Ukrainian Language Corpus (HRAK). The results reveal clear differences in word-formation strategies. GPT-5.2 shows the highest sensitivity to modern Ukrainian tendencies, while GPT-5.1 demonstrates a transitional pattern and GPT-4.0 prefers traditional forms. The findings confirm the increasing sensitivity of language models to word-formation variability and corpus-based data.
The article investigates the role of language and accent in the United Kingdom as instruments of social stratification and as carriers of ideological constructs. It traces the historical development of the linguistic landscape, from the Celtic languages and the formative period of English to the contemporary situation of minority (Celtic) languages and the languages of migrant communities. Particular attention is devoted to accents as powerful social markers: the standard variety, Received Pronunciation, has traditionally been associated with high social status and elitism, whereas regional and ethnic accents may be subject to prejudice and function as indicators of class and group affiliation. The study highlights how the education system and the media reinforce the hierarchy of accent prestige, thereby shaping opportunities for social mobility. It also examines the discourse surrounding migrant languages and the role of English as both a vehicle of integration and a tool of social control. The article concludes that language in British society operates not only as a medium of communication but also as a mechanism intrinsically linked to ideology: linguistic norms, accents, and social varieties both reflect and reproduce existing hierarchies.
This article examines the social and cultural factors that shape individual linguistic style in the German language. Drawing on sociolinguistic, stylistic, and intercultural communication research, it explores how regional variation, social class, education, digital media, migration, and identity practices influence personal language use. German’s rich dialect landscape provides speakers with diverse stylistic resources, while contemporary mobility and regiolect formation further expand these options. Social structures—including occupational norms and educational expectations—guide stylistic choices in formal and informal contexts. Digital communication and youth culture accelerate stylistic innovation, fostering hybrid forms that transcend traditional boundaries. Multilingual environments and migration contribute additional layers of diversity, reshaping linguistic norms and challenging monolithic views of German. The findings highlight individual style as a dynamic, context-dependent construct negotiated through social meaning and identity performance. Understanding these factors offers insight into linguistic variation in modern German-speaking societies and informs broader theories of style.
Walking is known to be good for mental and physical health. However, its effects on neural activity remain unclear. To investigate the neural effects of walking, we utilized whole-brain fMRI-based predictive models (“emotion decoders”) for valence and arousal, trained with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). Decoder development comprised a discovery phase (model training and internal validation) and a validation phase (external cohort and confirmatory tests). Data collection for the discovery phase is complete; this preregistration specifies the validation-phase acquisition and analyses. In 2024, we completed the fMRI data collection for 32 healthy participants, forming the discovery cohort. In the discovery-phase experiment, participants completed two tasks: an emotional rating task and a one-back task. In the rating task, fMRI data were collected during picture viewing and the emotional rating process. The picture-viewing data period was used to train each valence and arousal neural decoder. Specifically, participants underwent an fMRI paradigm in which they were presented with four types of emotional pictures (pleasant-high arousal; pleasant-calm; unpleasant-high arousal; unpleasant-calm). Following each picture, participants were asked to rate the level of each valence and arousal on a continuous scale of 1 to 100 (from unpleasant [-50] to pleasant [50], and from calm [-50] to arousal [50]). For the brain data analysis, we performed pre-processing of the fMRI data using the SPM default pipeline. Specifically, functional images were realigned to the mean image of the series, slice-time corrected, motion corrected, co-registered to the structural image, normalized to MNI space, and spatially smoothed with a 6-mm FWHM Gaussian kernel. In addition, potential outlier scans were identified from the resulting subject-motion estimates and from BOLD signal indicators using default thresholds in the CONN toolbox preprocessing pipeline (5 standard deviations above the mean in the global BOLD signal change, or framewise displacement values above 0.9 mm). Then, the single-trial first-level fMRI analysis was performed to obtain beta images for each picture rating per participant. We used GLMsingle (Prince et al., 2022) to estimate single-trial beta maps per picture at the individual-subject level. After that, we applied whole-brain MVPA to obtain patterns that predict participants’ valence and arousal ratings from single-trial beta maps for each picture. The brain mask was restricted to the gray matter. For the decoding method, we employed the LASSO-PCR algorithm (Wager et al., 2013), based on individual beta maps for each picture, as features to predict participants’ emotional experience. We used a 10-fold participant cross-validation procedure to evaluate the decoder's performance. In the discovery cohort (N=32), the neural valence and arousal decoders predicted participants’ ratings with mean within-subject trial-wise Pearson correlations exceeding r = 0.45 for valence and r = 0.35 for arousal. Next, participants performed a one-back task on emotional pictures in the fMRI scanner after either walking or reading. We applied the valence and arousal decoders to fMRI data time-locked to picture viewing to obtain decoder-derived neural emotion scores. We then compared these neural emotion scores between the walking and the reading control conditions in a within-subject design. In the walk condition, participants walked on a treadmill at a self-selected comfortable pace. Whereas in the reading control condition, participants read a book while seated. After 20 minutes of walking or reading, participants entered the fMRI scanner. The order of conditions was counterbalanced across participants. During the one-back task, participants viewed a picture at a time and pressed a button when they identified a repetition of an image presented in a previous trial. The procedure ensures that their attention is sustained. To demonstrate the neural effects of walking, we fitted the neural emotion decoder on the fMRI data collected during the picture-viewing period. We obtained and compared the neural emotion score for each walking and reading condition. As a result, we found that decoder-derived neural valence scores for pleasant-high arousal pictures were higher after walking than after reading. A crucial next validation phase for pre-registration will (i) externally evaluate decoder performance and (ii) replicate and extend the findings that walking increases decoder-derived neural valence score relative to reading for pleasant-high arousal pictures. We will acquire fMRI and behavioral data from an independent validation cohort (planned N=30) under a similar experimental paradigm. The validation phase includes a one-back task and a picture-rating task identical to those in the discovery phase. In this phase, the one-back task will be performed initially. The rating task will be used to assess decoder generalization both after walking and after reading conditions (within-subject, counterbalanced). In the discovery cohort, we did not investigate whether subjective evaluations differed between walking and reading conditions, so in the validation cohort, we plan to have participants evaluate under both conditions. Furthermore, we will investigate whether the decoder's predictions hold up even when the same emotional images are shown multiple times. All preprocessing and first-level modeling will follow the analysis pipeline in the discovery phase, yielding single-trial beta maps. The valence and arousal decoders trained by the discovery dataset will be applied to the validation data. We expect that, if the neural emotion decoders in the discovery phase can be generalized to out-of-sample participants, statistically significant prediction-outcome correlations will be observed in the validation phase for individuals in the cohort. Moreover, decoder-derived neural valence scores will be compared between walking and reading conditions, with a focus on pleasant and high-arousal pictures. We expect higher neural pleasure scores and subjective pleasure ratings after walking than after reading, providing robust evidence for a neural effect of walking.
Idioms are undoubtedly important for second language (L2) learners, who encounter them in instructed learning, textbooks/resources and in out-of-class language use. While research on first language (L1) and L2 idiom comprehension shows how well L1/L2 speakers understand various idioms and the role of different predictors, important questions remain about how knowledge varies with more difficult task types and stimuli, how well L1 ‘norms’ serve L2 learners, how subjective and objective predictors of idiom knowledge interact and how L2 learner inferencing works in learning idioms. To address these issues, university-age L1 and L2 English (L1 German) participants provided meaning descriptions and familiarity ratings for 100 challenging idioms from learner resources, and each idiom was assigned an OpenAI-generated transparency rating, corpus-based frequency and to one of six cross-language overlap (CLO) types. Descriptive statistics showed lower and more varied idiom meaning knowledge than might be expected, especially for the L1ers, who were some way off ceiling level. Mixed-effects regression revealed familiarity and transparency as positive L1 and L2 knowledge predictors, but groups differed in sensitivity to idiom frequency, which only mattered for the L1ers and CLO, which (as expected) only mattered for the L2ers, who mistook false friends as genuine allies.
Concreteness and valence ratings are frequently controlled for in psycholinguistic experiments. Associated valence and concreteness effects appear to be well-established phenomena within psycholinguistic research. However, recent studies indicated replication difficulties (e.g., Kousta et al., 2009; Yap & Seow, 2014; Brysbaert et al., 2016; Kousta et al., 2011). Considering that some approaches to valence and concreteness effects such as the Dual Coding Theory or the Affective Priming Approach would suggest that additional embodied information could be responsible for the processing advantage associated with concrete and positive lexical items, individual differences could partially explain why these effects could be found in some studies but not others: For instance, the temperament trait of Sensory Processing Sensitivity has been associated with a deeper and more detailed processing of sensory and affective information and could therefore influence how likely the effects could be found in a particular study considering the respective participant sample. Specifically, certain explanations at the lexico-semantic level such as the Dual Coding Theory, the LASS account, and the Affective Priming Approach would suggest stronger valence and concreteness effects in individuals with high Sensory Processing Sensitivity. Other lexico-semantic approaches that explain these effects in a disembodied manner, would predict no differences between sensitivity groups. Finally, the automatic vigilance approach as well as a general tendency to pause and check before engaging in a response would predict reduced concreteness and valence effects for individuals with high SPS. These predictions will be tested in a lexical decision task on four lists of 12 words each that differ in terms of their valence and concreteness (2 x 2) but are matched for number of syllables, number of letters, frequency, and arousal. In addition, distractor items and an equal number of nonwords will be included. After the lexical decision task, participants will complete the SPS measure.
Background: Cleft lip and /or palate affects speech production skills. To enable uniformity in reporting the speech outcomes in individuals with cleft lip and/. or palate, universal parameters were formulated. Aim: To develop and validate test (word) stimuli in Malayalam, for the evaluation of speech outcomes (hypernasality, audible nasal air emission, and/or turbulence and consonant production errors) in children with cleft palate based on the guidelines reported by Henningsson et al. Materials and Method: The study was carried out in two phases. The first phase involved the development of the word list and content validation by parents, primary school teachers, and speech-language pathologists. The second phase involved establishing the construct validity of the word list by administering it to children with cleft lip and palate. Results: From the 351 words chosen from textbooks, storybooks, and picture books of children; 170 words had obtained a familiarity rating of greater than 80%. However, the word list desired to be used during clinical practice can be restricted to 44 words with 10 words representing high vowels, three words representing low/mid vowels, and 31 words representing pressure consonants. Conclusions: Developing test stimuli in the vernacular language, Malayalam for describing speech outcomes in children with cleft palate would aid in designing a customized management plan and effectively delivering it.
Abstract Idioms are undoubtedly important for second language (L2) learners, who encounter them in instructed learning, textbooks/resources and in out-of-class language use. While research on first language (L1) and L2 idiom comprehension shows how well L1/L2 speakers understand various idioms and the role of different predictors, important questions remain about how knowledge varies with more difficult task types and stimuli, how well L1 ‘norms’ serve L2 learners, how subjective and objective predictors of idiom knowledge interact and how L2 learner inferencing works in learning idioms. To address these issues, university-age L1 and L2 English (L1 German) participants provided meaning descriptions and familiarity ratings for 100 challenging idioms from learner resources, and each idiom was assigned an OpenAI-generated transparency rating, corpus-based frequency and to one of six cross-language overlap (CLO) types. Descriptive statistics showed lower and more varied idiom meaning knowledge than might be expected, especially for the L1ers, who were some way off ceiling level. Mixed-effects regression revealed familiarity and transparency as positive L1 and L2 knowledge predictors, but groups differed in sensitivity to idiom frequency, which only mattered for the L1ers and CLO, which (as expected) only mattered for the L2ers, who mistook false friends as genuine allies.
Abstract This study investigates linguistic variation within the Rakhine community in Chattogram, Bangladesh, with a focus on age, exploring how language use shifts across generations. It examines generational differences in language proficiency, domain of use, and attitudes to ward the Rakhine language. The findings reveal a significant generational gap: older speakers demonstrate the highest proficiency in Rakhine and use it across nearly all domains, serving as custodians of traditional linguistic norms. In contrast, younger speakers exhibit greater bilingualism in Rakhine and Bangla, influenced by education, media, and technology. This exposure leads to code-switching, borrowing from Bangla and English, and a reluctance to use Rakhine in formal settings. The adult generation occupies a transitional position, balancing traditional language practices with the demands of a multilingual society. The study concludes that while the family remains a key site for language transmission, the increasing dominance of Bangla in public spheres poses challenges to the long-term vitality of Rakhine. To preserve the language’s heritage and its continued use in formal and public life, institutional support and community-led initiatives are important.
This study explores how pitch, dynamics, vibrato levels, and their interactions influence the emotional perception of violin tones. Using 32 violin notes, 62 participants provided valence and arousal ratings on a 9-point Likert scale and binary responses for 16 emotional categories. Results show that pitch was the most influential factor, with higher pitches increasing arousal. Vibrato levels had multifaceted effects, enhancing arousal while reducing valence. Dynamics played a less prominent role but revealed that louder sounds increased valence and unexpectedly decreased arousal. Interaction effects demonstrated that vibrato extent's influence on arousal was moderated by both pitch and dynamics. Additionally, an analysis of low-level acoustic features, such as loudness and vibrato rate, revealed significant correlations with emotional responses. For instance, higher vibrato rates were associated with increased arousal, while attack time had subtle effects on valence. Observations across the 16 emotional categories highlighted distinct quadrant-specific trends. For example, high-arousal emotions were primarily influenced by loudness and vibrato, while low-valence emotions were more sensitive to attack and decay times. These findings provide nuanced insights into the interplay of acoustic features in shaping emotional experiences, contributing to research in music cognition and emotional processing.
The article describes intra- and extra-linguistic factors that influence the stability of the onymic space of the Ukrainian language. Intra-linguistic factors are the creation of a certain proper name according to its inherent derivational model; the correspondence of a particular onymic to the formed linguistic norm. Extra-linguistic factors are the level of linguistic, spiritual and political culture of society and its national consciousness. This influence is most pronounced on two classes of onymic vocabulary — anthroponyms and toponyms, as well as on toponymic derivatives — the names of the inhabitants of the corresponding settlement (katoikonyms) and derived adjectives (adjectonyms). It is specially noted of the three-component anthroponymic formula (first name, patronymic, surname) in modern Ukrainian official speech; the elimination of variation in the declension of Ukrainian surnames of the masculine gender with the possessive suffix -iB. It is shown that main means of creating katoikonyms in the Ukrainian language are the suffixes -u-i (plural), -eub, -K-a (singular). Possible functioning of parallel catoikonymic forms with suffixes -a-i (-eab, -K-a) h -aH-H / -hh-h (-aH-HH, -aH-K-a / -hh-hh, -HH-K-a). The paper deals with problem of establishing derivational models of adjectonyms and their normalization. The author considers that it is necessary to carefully study the historical patterns of the creation and use of adjectonyms in the Ukrainian language, as well as to take into account local traditions. The destructive impact on the Ukrainian oikonymic space of numerous unmotivated ideological renamings of the Soviet era and artificial formations with a Russian-language structure is analyzed. The author shows that it is necessary to cleanse the Ukrainian oikonomika and urbanonymika of such names.
This article examines contemporary studies of the Russian orthographic system. The relevance of this research is underscored by the necessity for theoretical reflection on existing scientific approaches to orthographic material. The diversity of directions, positions, and methods employed by authors in their approaches to the orthographic system is characterized. A theoretical analysis of sources, selected based on keywords from scientometric databases, has been utilized. An increasing interest in linguistic norms in the current linguistic situation of recent years is noted. Attention is given to the issues of standardization of the orthographic system during periods of social change. It is observed that recent years have seen a focus on studying the orthographic identity of the average language user. The emergence of “spontaneous” (natural) orthography is discussed. The necessity for writing to meet the demands of modern information technologies is emphasized. The influence of virtual communication on orthographic norms is identified. Overall, a synthesized overview of contemporary perspectives on Russian orthography is presented. As a result, the author concludes that there is a multifaceted nature to the directions in the study of current issues in Russian orthography. The potential for further research in the theory and history of Russian orthography, as well as methodologies for teaching it in schools and universities, is highlighted.