Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
16504 papers
Abstract Understanding other people’s emotions accurately (i.e., empathic accuracy) is thought to be critical for building and maintaining social connections. Past research suggests empathic skills change with age, but few studies examine age differences in empathic accuracy within the context of close relationships. We examined whether empathic accuracy is higher among middle-aged couples (ages 40-50) compared to older couples (ages 60-70) using a sample of 154 heterosexual long-term marriages. Husbands and wives visited the laboratory and engaged in a 15-minute conversation on a topic of disagreement in their marriage. Conversations were video-recorded. Husbands and wives watched a video playback of their conversation twice, each time continuously rating either their own or their spouse’s emotional valence during the conversation using a rating dial that ranged from “very negative” to “very positive”. These continuous valence ratings were used to compute each spouse’s empathic accuracy as the strength of the correlation between their ratings of their spouse’s emotions and their spouse’s own self- ratings. Results revealed that age was not associated with husbands’ empathic accuracy. In contrast, older wives had greater empathic accuracy compared to middle-aged wives (Mdiff =.19, p =.028). However, older adults had been married longer, and length of marriage also predicted women’s empathic accuracy. Findings suggest that older women are better able to track the changing valence of their husbands’ emotions, perhaps because they have more practice.
The aim of the research is to identify the mechanisms for translating occasional units (nonce formations) in the English version of A. Platonov’s dystopian novella “The Foundation Pit” (1930). The originality of the research lies in the differentiation of units of occasional syntagmatics, i.e., occasional words, phrases, and constructions, and the identification of methods for translating these units from Russian into English. As a result, the research revealed that occasional words in the analyzed work are primarily translated using loose and descriptive translation. Occasional phrases created through intentional violations of lexical-semantic compatibility are translated through contextual substitution, calquing, mixed, descriptive, and loose translation, as well as addition and grammatical substitution. Occasional constructions created based on intentional violations of grammatical compatibility of words are translated through calquing, mixed translation methods, and through grammatical and contextual substitution. In many analyzed contexts, more than one syntagmatic violation was identified, including violations of stylistic norms of the Russian language, which pose a particular challenge in translation.
Formation of linguistic, speech and communicative competences in the field of written speech of Korean students (levels A2-B1) is an important and labor-intensive process of foreign language teaching. The article describes the specifics of teaching written speech among other types of speech activities, examines the main approaches to teaching productive written speech, as well as types of exercises designed to teach written speech, defines the role of the teacher in the process of teaching Russian written speech to foreign students. The proposed educational lexical module “My Family” is a set of exercises and tasks aimed at the effective and consistent development of written speech skills in the Korean audience. The first type of exercises is language exercises, aimed at forming the language skills necessary for written speech, as well as their actualization. These are exercises to consolidate lexical material based on grammatical models aimed at studying various cases. The second type of exercises is speech exercises, serves to form speech skills, i.e. skills in working with written text (extracting the necessary information, transformation in accordance with a given setting, etc.). This group also includes communicative exercises that enable students to become familiar with some genres of written texts used in everyday communication (questionnaire, invitation, greeting card, etc.) that are accessible for a given level of language proficiency. In the educational lexical module “My Family” we applied a linguacultural approach, which involves systematic teaching of a “foreign” language and “foreign” culture through familiar Korean national images and concepts, which contributes to a gradual entry into the Russian foreign-language space and introduces to the culture of the studied language. The presented thematic module is aimed at developing the skills of writing texts of different types of speech and genres, independently producing the content of a written statement and formatting this content in accordance with the norms of the Russian literary language, the laws of text construction and the structural and functional features of written speech. In preparing the lexical module, we relied on the principles of awareness, clarity, accessibility and feasibility of the educational material, as well as the strength of consolidation of the acquired knowledge, developed skills and abilities. The methodological module can be used in teaching Russian as a foreign language in a foreign-language environment in order to update and effectively teach written speech to Korean students of the specified levels.
This paper investigates how linguistic norms are negotiated in German-speaking localities in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The aim of the article is to find out whether linguistic norms still play a role in a heterogeneous multilingual context in which German ceased to be used as a written language while still being transferred to children in spoken varieties. The data is based on 58 semi-structured interviews from ten locations. The analyses take their starting point in language labels, providing key words for identifying and contrasting varieties. The results show that different varieties of German are still clearly perceived and labeled, and that they are evaluated according to the vertical dimension. Norms are negotiated displaying an ideology of linguistic homogeneity and relating to speaker age, the value of written language, and norm instances like schools. Comparing the older and the younger generations, a tendency of norm varieties being less associated with written language and more and more based on surrounding spoken German varieties is perceived, with West Central German (Hunsrückisch) showing some dominance.
The paper presents and comments on different opinions and views on the activity of cultivating the Hungarian standard language, also with regard to the relationship between linguistics and speech culture in the Hungarian linguistic and educational tradition. Disagreements over the place of language culture in linguistic research, the role of linguists in language cultivation, the cult of the exemplary standard language, the evaluаtion of linguistic innovations, the unity of the literary-linguistic norm across the entire Hungarian linguistic territory, etc. reveal the complexity and intricacy of the issues related to language culture activity and codification practice, as well as the influence of political, ideological and cultural-historical factors. These discussion questions shed light on current problems concerning changes in the speech practice of the contemporary Hungarian language community, the state of the Hungarian national language and literary-linguistic norms, the need to introduce new methods and techniques into the education system, etc. in order to conduct an adequate and effective language policy. The success of the country’s overall language strategy depends on the correct formulation and solution of the outlined problems
The article deals with linguo-cultural and linguo-pragmatic characteristics of the substandard based on the material of artistic works of the mid XX - early XXI centuries. Substandard units (jargonisms, slangisms) are a necessary part of artistic space, without using them it is impossible to realistically recreate the signs of the time, describe the inner feelings of characters, verbalize the picture of the world. Lexical units of substandard express the intentions of the authors of artistic texts, their use allows to recreate the linguistic and conceptual picture of the world not only of the characters of the work, the system of their norms and values, but also to rise to the generalization and comprehension of the real reality. The main functions of substandard units are ideological and emotional-evaluative, as well as cognitive and, less often, nominative. The use of substandard units allows writers to express an implicit evaluation and at the same time to draw a conclusion about the worldview basis of Russian society in difficult periods of Russian history.
Social identities are created from the organisation of a series of coordinates that cross different areas in a community: the characteristics of the social group to which the individual belongs, the position that this individual has within the group, the social attitudes towards the own group and other groups, the type of activity that takes place (public or private), the linguistic policies existing in the community towards the different linguistic norms that coexist in it, etc. By incorporating all these (and other) aspects to the variationist analysis, we are admitting that neither the strictly structuralist nor the strictly interactional positions in Sociolinguistics allow us to properly explain the social dimension of language. The analysis of these relationships allows us to analyse with better criteria the different levels in which the sociocultural meaning that the forms of language acquire in specific social situations is organised. Within the framework of these ideas, this research analyses the way in which six radio broadcasters from the Canary Islands stylise their speech in order to achieve certain communicative purposes.
The modern marketing communication space needs, firstly, a profound study of the established techniques and, secondly, an adjustment of these techniques in the context of linguoecological ideas based not only on the interests of consumers, but also on the civilizational values of society as a whole. The aim of the article is to analyze one of the types of marketing communication - a promotional text in book publishing. This material, in contrast to the commercial advertising and even social advertising, has been studied insufficiently. Meanwhile, it has its own specifics and differs in many ways from standard commercial advertising. In modern conditions of book publishing commercialization, paratext becomes an integral component of book production. Based on the material of the paratext in book publishing, the article shows both optimal ways to present commercial information fully meeting the ecological criteria of communication and destructive phenomena in this area contradicting ethical and linguistic norms. The main purpose of publishing discourse is to attract attention to the publication, which can be achieved in different ways and with the help of different genres. The problem is that publishing discourse commercialization does not conflict with the linguoecological parameters of communication. Cultivation of marketing discursive practices in which commercialization does not contradict ethical and linguistic norms is one of the most urgent tasks. The emphasis on these parameters of marketing discourse will contribute to increasing the general linguoecological awareness of all the participants in the communicative process. Paratext is axiologically deterministic, which means that in some sense it educates readers, fixes certain value attitudes. The integration of linguoecological and communicative approaches to the analysis of the specifics of the promoting text in a particular linguaculture or its possible transformation in another linguaculture seems to be promising. On the basis of the combination of inductive and hypothetical-deductive methods, the article analyzes different forms of paratext, that is, promoting text in the book publishing system. The sociolinguistic analysis based on the method of correlation of social and linguistic phenomena is used to characterize it. At the same time, a pragmalinguistic study of the material is carried out in the parameters of the linguoecological approach, which assumes, primarily, compliance with ethical and linguistic norms of communication. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.
The comparability of morphological and syntactic annotations of multilingual corpora is a crucial aspect of Natural Language Processing (NLP). The Universal Dependencies (UD) platform, which aims to identify the universal features of languages by identifying dependencies, serves this purpose and has become one of the largest and continuously growing collections of such corpora, especially in the last decade. The UD framework has become a platform for building the UD_Armenian-ArmTDP and UD_Armenian-BSUT treebanks for modern Eastern Armenian. This article presents the types of syntactic relations selected for parsing verb complements in these treebanks from the cross-linguistically applicable set of relations in UD, together with their equivalents in Armenian grammar. Furthermore, we present some challenges associated with parsing Armenian verb complements and possible solutions within the UD taxonomy.
This article presents a synchronic analysis of English loanwords in French marketing blogs from 2018 to 2023. The aim is to identify and analyse trends in the orthographic adaptation of these borrowings. The study examines the conformity of these loanwords to the standards set by dictionaries and the orthographic rules of the Conseil supérieur de la langue française (1990). The concepts of linguistic borrowing, marketing language, and blogs as a discursive genre are first defined. From a corpus of 2,943 blogposts, comprising a total of 2,071,568 words, 458 distinct borrowings were found. These borrowings were classified into three categories: full borrowings (90.83%), adapted borrowings (6.33%), and hybrid borrowings (2.84%). Each group of borrowings was checked in FranceTerm, Larousse, and Le Robert, and compared with the official spelling rules. The results show a predominance of integral borrowings, with a minority of adapted and hybrid borrowings, illustrating current trends and the variable compliance of these borrowings with French linguistic norms.
This chapter explores Coetzee’s representations of silence and muteness in <italic>Foe</italic>. Referring to J. Rancière’s concept of “mute speech,” the discussion begins with an examination of the divide between the conceptual pairings of speech-writing and silence-muteness. The analysis considers how writing intersects with muteness, investigating the complex ways of giving voice to those who either refuse or are unable to engage within accepted linguistic norms, or those who have been denied access to dominant language and forms of writing. The chapter argues that Coetzee’s interlinking of the metaphysics of writing and the materiality of the disabled body challenges allegorical depictions of disability typical of traditional literary representations.
The aim of the study is to determine the characteristics of the phenomenon of feminization in the Moldavian variant of the Romanian language, manifested in the use of feminine forms for job titles and positions traditionally used in the masculine gender. The scientific novelty of the study lies in comparing the Moldavian and Romanian language variants in the context of feminization, demonstrating the different development of the same language depending on geopolitical and sociocultural conditions. In the modern Moldavian variant of the Romanian language, there is a trend towards an increased use of gender-specific job titles, indicating social, political, and economic changes in the region and a striving to adhere to European standards regarding gender balance. A key outcome of the study is identifying the trend of feminization in the Moldavian language, signaling a change in language standards. An analysis of lexical differences between the Moldavian and Romanian language variants has revealed significant semantic and morphological distinctions in the naming of professions, highlighting the influence of language standards and sociocultural aspects on professional terminology and gender norms.
Abstract Understanding the somatovisceral responses to auditory affective imagery has important implications in disorders like misophonia. The current study compared physiological responses to aversive and nonaversive states across three modalities: audiovisual, auditory, and auditory imagery. Electromyographic activity over corrugator supercilii (EMGc) and zygomaticus major (EMGz), electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate (HR), and finger skin temperature (SKT) were measured. There was significant differentiation in EMGc, EDA, and HR deceleration between aversive and nonaversive audiovisual stimuli. EMGc potentiation was the only physiological measure showing consistent differentiation across the three modalities. Cross-modal aversiveness classification results revealed a similar physiological response pattern between audiovisual and auditory modalities. The physiological response pattern during auditory affective imagery was useful for predicting the aversiveness in audiovisual modality but not the other way around. Vividness in auditory imagery correlated with subjective hedonic valence ratings, but not physiological responses. Taken together, the current data suggest that the aversiveness of auditory imagery is differentiable in subjective affective experience and facial muscle potentiation. These results of the physiological responses to imagined aversive sounds in nonclinical population would serve as a comparison baseline for the study of misophonia.
Abstract The presence of francos settlers in Navarre and Aragon left abundant administrative and legislative documentation in the Occitan language. This presence of settlers of different origins, both lengua d’oc and lengua d’oïl, with also differentiated dialectal modalities, who carried out commercial activities, produced intense linguistic contact between the different dialectal modalities. The paper tries to determine the type of language reflected in the aforementioned administrative and legal documents, which use the graphic system of the scriptae of Navarre and Aragon, conveying the romance varieties. Although the term koine has been used to define this language, the concept of koineization more adequately defines the dynamic process of leveling and blending of dialects, whose formation of a stabilized koine may be one stage. Thus, within the scriptae of Navarre and Aragon in the Occitan language, different linguistic norms and stable as well as diffuse language varieties can be identified.
Implementation intentions are if-then plans that create a mental link between a situational cue and a goal-directed response that people can form to help them achieve emotion regulation goals more effectively. The main goal of this study was to determine if forming the goal intention to not get disgusted together with a perspective taking implementation intention is more effective than forming the goal intention to not get disgusted that spells out the same perspective taking strategy but without linking it to the cue. Eighty-six female participants viewed disgusting, neutral, and pleasant pictures under four instructions: no emotion regulation instructions (CG), the goal intention to not get disgusted (GI), this goal intention furnished with the perspective taking regulation strategy (GI-PT), and this goal intention in tandem with the perspective taking implementation intention (PT-II). Compared with CG, GI, and GI-PT participants, PT-II participants showed a significantly larger decrease in disgust when seeing the disgusting pictures. This effect remained constant across repeated exposure to the critical contents and was larger among individuals who did not consciously try to reappraise the disgusting pictures than among individuals who consciously tried to reappraise them. Valence rating, arousal rating, and sympathetic activity did not significantly differ between conditions. We conclude that it is the if(situational cue)-then(goal-directed response) link created by forming the perspective taking implementation intention that accounts for the positive effect on disgust and not simply the information about the perspective taking behavior to adopt.
This chapter examines the urban vernaculars used by dancehall artists such as Soul Jah Love in their music as an innovative way of terminology development. Soul Jah Love (actual name, Soul Musaka) experiments with language by using colloquial or informal linguistic codes in ways which competently challenge the, rather, idealistic linguistic norms of purity. Through his personalised anti-language phrases, he manages to subvert conventional linguistic platitudes by fashioning and deploying a pragmatic diction intelligible to his audience. He articulates contemporary life struggles through a ‘condemnable’ but expedient linguistic novelty saleable to the youths. He stretches the fluidity and adaptability of the language to create popularly received new terms and resultantly expand the lexical and communicative dimensions of the Shona language. Using the communicative/functional approach, this study argues that, through this informal way of terminology development, some words would enter the Shona language as new words, but with time may settle and become acceptable terms. The study also noted that, when musicians employ new coinages ‘unofficially’, it is possible that their term-creation efforts may end up with new terms which will eventually stabilise and become part and parcel of the Shona language.
Background Many anti-obesity health promotion campaigns focus on physical activity as a means to lose weight. Organizations have created positive images of people living with obesity being physically active with the intention of normalizing people in larger bodies being active. However, it is not clear if using the images when taking a weight-neutral (compared to a weight-centric) approach will be more positively received, and thus more effective, in promoting physical activity to people living in larger bodies.Aims The primary purpose of the present research was to examine whether people in larger bodies preferred messages that featured images of people in larger bodies being active with weight-neutral (i.e., no mention of weight loss) compared to weight-centric (i.e., weight loss-focused) physical activity messages. Secondary purposes were to examine between condition differences on internalized weight bias and whether message ratings or internalized weight bias mediated effects of message type on objectively measured physical activity.Methods Adults of any self-identified gender who also self-identified as living in larger bodies were recruited through a variety of Obesity Canada channels including their newsletter and social media. The data from 54 adults (Mage = 49.9 years; 90.7% women) were analyzed. Participants completed pre-test measures (demographics and internalized weight bias), wore an accelerometer for one week then viewed eight images with condition-specific messages. This was followed with post-test measures (image ratings, thought listing, internalized weight bias) and one more week of accelerometer wear.Results The weight-neutral messages were rated more positively than the weight-centric messages but there were no between group differences in internalized weight bias nor in sedentary behavior, light physical activity, or moderate to vigorous physical activity.Discussion It is possible that participants were already interested in the topic of weight bias and possibly aware of the images used in this study, limiting the generalizability of the study. However, the results of this research, considered with the findings of other researchers who report health messages to be more motivating, indicate that focusing on weight is not recommended when promoting physical activity to people in larger bodies. Rather other benefits of being active should be highlighted.
Am 5. und 6. Dezember fand der "22. International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories" statt, auf welchem auch das SUB-Kooperationsprojekt "Edition des Ugaritischen Poetischen Textkorpus" (EUPT) vorgestellt wurde. Doch was sind "Treebanks" (z. Dt. "Baumbanken") überhaupt und welchen Nutzen haben sie für die Forschung und Entwicklung?
To investigate the benefits of utilising an AI system to enhance the efficiency of obstetric scan training. A randomised controlled study was conducted at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Residents were recruited and randomly assigned to either a AI-assisted training group or a conventional training group from September 2022 to April 2023. Each participant underwent a four-cycle practice scan training program, performing scans on 20 pregnant volunteers at gestational weeks 18-32 in each cycle, focusing on acquiring and interpreting specific standard views. At the end of each cycle, a test evaluated trainees' ability to obtain standard views without AI assistance, and image quality was rated by both trainees themselves and an expert (in a blind manner) based on local expert consensus. The primary outcome measured the number of cycles required for each trainee to meet standards (expert ratings of image quality ≥80%). Secondary outcomes included expert rating of image quality, disparity between trainees and expert ratings. A total of 32 residents with no prior obstetric ultrasound experience and 2720 pregnant volunteers were recruited. The AI-assisted group required significantly fewer training cycles than the non-AI-assisted group to meet quality requirements (p = 0.037). When comparing mean score differences, the AI-assisted training group exhibited superior ability in acquiring standard views compared to the conventional training group in the third (p = 0.012) and fourth (p < 0.001) stages. The disparity between trainees' self-acquired image ratings and expert ratings decreased with increasing training time. There was a significant difference in total rating disparity between trainees and expert between the two groups from the first to the fourth stage (p < 0.05). The utilisation of an AI-assisted system has the potential to improve training effectiveness, particularly for trainees without prior experience in acquiring and interpreting standard views during obstetric scans.
The article presents a study of the language of Serhiy Hrydin’s story “Not Like That”, dedicated to the personal, rather typical, story of our contemporary – a teenager who overcomes numerous situations of bullying in the school environment, among his peers. The subject of analysis are lexical and phraseological units that create a language model with two implementation plans. The first is the formation of a verbal image of the socio-cultural environment in which teenagers interact, revealing their identity. The second is an outline of the socio-psychological background that causes bullying of a teenager and generally the emergence and consolidation of bullying as a norm of behavior among school youth. The article emphasizes the special stylistic load of colloquial vocabulary and phraseology, elements of jargon (youth, criminal, subcultures), slang in the language of teenagers, teachers, and their parents. Examples of figurative and stylistic loading of lexical and phraseological communiques are given. Particular attention is paid to the intertextuality of quotes from the song lyrics of the “Boombox” group, in particular, key words reflecting the mood, language thinking of the main character who resists bullying while preserving his “self” are singled out. The writer argues for the preservation of personal identity first of all, since the main emphasis is on the provocative language behavior and activities of both representatives of school youth and mentors, which create the background for the generation and maintenance of bullying in the educational sphere.
The purpose of the study is to identify linguistic and extralinguistic factors that determine the dynamism and semantic derivation of the meanings of the word “beauty” as an evaluatively labeled unit of the lexical system of the English language. The article describes individual meanings, free and stable phrases and statements that characterize the value-oriented representation of the concept “beauty” from the perspective of aesthetic and ethical norms of the English-speaking ethnic group. The dynamism of the semantic structure of the word “beauty” is revealed through a comprehensive analysis of the contexts of its use. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the confirmation of the position of cognitive science based on specific linguistic material that the content of the concept “beauty” as a unit of linguistic consciousness is determined, on the one hand, by the universal conceptual basis, and, on the other hand, by the worldview of the corresponding ethnic group. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the historical development of the semantic structure of the name of the category of beauty in the English language – the word “beauty” – and the contextual variation of its evaluative meaning are due to the historically changing worldview of the English-speaking ethnic group and, in connection with this, the formation of new semantic connections in the linguistic consciousness, which was confirmed by a comprehensive analysis of individual meanings, free and stable phrases and sayings with the word “beauty”. The revealed facts of the dynamism and variability of the semantic connections of this verbalizer of the value-oriented concept of beauty of the English–speaking ethnic group are described and presented graphically in the form of an associative-verbal network.
Homophony (i.e, multiple meanings expressed by the same form) is ubiquitous across the world’s languages. Despite its pervasiveness, not all instances of homophony are equally likely, which suggests that homophony is unlikely to be accidental. There is a growing body of literature which aims to thoroughly examine cross-linguistic regularities in patterns of homophony and explain these from constraints in language learning and use, both at the lexical and morphosyntactic levels. Here, we examine a specific case of homophony in pronominal paradigms, that is, the lack of a number distinction (singular vs plural) for a given person value (first, second and third), a phenomenon coined as horizontal homophony. Cysouw (2003) suggested that a lack of number distinction is more likely to be found in third person (i.e., 3SG=3PL) than in second (i.e., 2SG=2PL), and it is least frequently found in first person (i.e., 1SG=1PL). We refer to this generalisation as the Horizontal Homophony Hierarchy: 3 &gt; 2 &gt; 1 (where &gt; represents frequency inequality). This generalisation was nevertheless only made via qualitative description and by raw counts, and merely described without motivated explanation. In this study we take a step back and present additional evidence sup- porting the Horizontal Homophony Hierarchy. First, we as- certain the robustness of this typological tendency through a statistical analysis using the largest cross-linguistic database of pronominal paradigms to date (926 languages from 229 different families). Next, we explore whether the Horizontal Homophony Hierarchy has a corresponding learning cor- relate, which would indicate that this asymmetry is at least partly rooted in a cognitive bias. Specifically, we examine asymmetries in how easily adult humans learn different types of horizontal homophony in an artificial language learning experiment. The results from our typological analysis corroborate a hierarchy of horizontal homophony 3 &gt; 2 &gt; 1 in the world’s languages. However, our experimental results provide evidence against a learning bias underlying the hierarchy, thus suggesting that motivated explanations of the typology (if any) are more likely to be found in alternative pressures such as communicative need and efficiency.
PURPOSE: Typically developing children assigned male at birth (AMAB) and children assigned female at birth (AFAB) produce the fricative /s/ differently: AFAB children produce /s/ with a higher spectral peak frequency. This study examined whether implicit knowledge of these differences affects speech-language pathologists'/speech and language therapists' (SLPs'/SLTs') ratings of /s/ accuracy, by comparing ratings made in conditions where SLPs/SLTs were blind to children's sex assigned at birth (SAB) to conditions in which they were told this information. METHODS: SLPs (n = 95) varying in clinical experience rated the accuracy of word-initial /s/ productions (n = 87) of eight children with speech sound disorder in one of four conditions: one in which no information about the children was revealed, one in which children's SAB was revealed, one in which children's age was revealed, and one in which both were revealed. RESULTS: Despite there being no statistically significant differences between AFAB and AMAB children's /s/ production in researcher-determined accuracy or in one acoustic characteristic, spectral centroid, SLPs in all four conditions judged the /s/ productions of AFAB children as more accurate than AMAB children. Listeners were significantly less likely to judge the productions of AMAB children to be inaccurate in the conditions in which age or age and SAB were revealed. These effects were consistent across SLPs with greatly varying levels of clinical experience. CONCLUSION: Knowing or imputing children's age and SAB can affect ratings of /s/ accuracy. Clinicians should be mindful of these potential effects. Future research should understand how expectations about sociolinguistic variation in speech affect appraisals of their speech and language. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Adult men and women produce /s/ differently. A consensus is that these differences reflect sociolinguistic gender marking, rather than being the passive consequence of vocal-tract differences. Recent studies have shown that children assigned female at birth (AFAB) and those assigned male at birth (AMAB) produce /s/ differently in ways that mirror the differences between adult men and women, and which presumably reflect gender marking. What this paper adds to existing knowledge We asked whether US-based speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) ratings of the accuracy of /s/ differ depending on whether they are rating an AFAB or an AMAB child, and whether these differences are greater in conditions in which people are told the sex assigned at birth of the child being rated. We found that SLPs were more likely to judge AFAB children's /s/ productions to be more accurate than AMAB children's, even though the productions from the AMAB and AFAB children that were used as stimuli were matched for accuracy as determined by trained researchers. What are the clinical implications of this work? SLPs/speech-language therapists should be sensitive to the influence of social variables when assessing /s/. SLPs/speech-language therapists might rate children's productions differently depending on whether they believe they are rating an AFAB or an AMAB child.
Abstract Purpose Previous discussions have characterized hookup culture as ambiguous by nature, but social psychological theory tells us people dislike ambiguity in practice. Meanwhile, a myriad of undefined relationship terms (e.g., talking to, hanging out, having a thing) arose and have remained in use. I examine (1) whether these different “situationship” labels have distinct affective meaning and (2) what that suggests for those occupying the concomitant identities (i.e., assess the behavioral and emotional consequences of being “someone in a _____ relationship”). Approach Using affect control theory and a sample of young adults in defined (N = 50) and undefined (N = 43) relationship types, I test if affective ratings of various relationship label identities are statistically distinct. I then computationally model social events with each relationship label as actor (X identity performs [behavior]), compare their differing levels of social discomfort, and empirically predict the emotions each identity would feel. Findings Undefined relationship labels are not synonymous. Correspondingly, the nature, emotions, and expected behaviors of the individuals with those labels' related relational identities are not equivalent. In cultural evaluation, all undefined relationship labels are lower than all defined relationship labels. In event simulations, predicted deflection levels and actor consequent emotions (how normative is it and how jarring does it feel) were patterned by the labels' cultural evaluation ratings, these correlate with relationship commitment level. Implications By interpersonal necessity, individuals make fine distinctions in shared meanings within a cultural context of constant redefinition. Physically and emotionally negative behaviors are culturally more expected and accepted in undefined contexts by the culturally-understood nature of – and shared perspectives of participants concerning – those relationships’ parameters.
In Kurdish, legal translation as a non-literary translation has received little attention in the field of translation studies. One genre of legal translation that is specifically under-studied is business contracts. This paper analyses and compares features of English and Kurdish business contracts from lexical and syntactic perspectives. It also addresses the issue of LSP lexical and syntactic precision used in the translated Kurdish contracts by translators. To this end, the paper attempts to identify the translation procedures and norms that manifest in translating business contracts from Kurdish into English. As a result, it scrutinizes a set of 20 Kurdish-English business contracts translated by professional licensed translators using Toury’s (2012) three-phase methodology. The translation direction is from Kurdish into English because it is the most practised direction by the translation service providers in Iraqi Kurdistan. The study demonstrates that both Kurdish and English legal languages use similar syntactic and lexical tools in drafting business contracts. It also reveals that initial norms, preliminary norms, and the law of interference are shown in the Kurdish- English translations. It further discloses that transposition, amplification, and couplets are prominently employed to deal with translation challenges. This paper is significant because it is the first attempt to scientifically investigate semantic features of originally written as well as translated Kurdish business contracts. For further research, it recommends a further focus on differences in legal systems and languages between Kurdish and English
Introduction Sleep loss is common during the perinatal period; however, few studies have assessed potential consequences of insufficient sleep for postnatal emotional responding, a key contributor to parenting behaviors with implications for parent-infant bonding and mental health. To generate hypotheses for future work assessing perinatal sleep and emotion-related outcomes, this pilot study explored whether prenatal sleep duration predicted postnatal emotional responding in a sample at risk for postpartum depression. Methods Participants were 9 birthing parents with a prior mood disorder who were not in a current episode at enrollment. We estimated sleep with actigraphy collected for one week at 33 weeks’ gestation and at 2 and 6 weeks postpartum. Following each week, participants completed an emotional evaluation task, rating the valence and arousal of standardized images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). We tested whether average prenatal (33 weeks) nighttime sleep duration predicted concurrent and future responsiveness to emotional images, quantified by participants’ reaction times and arousal/valence ratings. Results Shorter prenatal sleep duration predicted faster reaction times, both concurrently and at 2 weeks postpartum (ps≤.05), as well as lower arousal ratings for negative images at 2 and 6 weeks postpartum (ps≤.043). Conclusions In this small sample of birthing parents at risk for postpartum depression, shorter prenatal sleep duration predicted faster reactions to emotional stimuli and blunted arousal responses to negative images. Although preliminary, these findings justify further study of the role of prenatal sleep in postpartum emotional responses and how these factors may impact parent-infant outcomes.
Relevance of research. In today’s world, where information spreads at an incredible speed, the role of opinion leaders, people who have a significant influence on the audience and can shape their thoughts and behavior, becomes especially important. Despite the increase in Ukrainian-language content in the Internet space after the start of a full-scale invasion, the problem of the spread of language errors and non-compliance with language norms in the Ukrainian language, in particular, in the blogosphere and social networks, is gaining relevance. Young people are particularly susceptible to the influence of opinion leaders. Violation of language norms by these people can lead to the fact that young people will consider these mistakes as the norm, which determines the relevance of our research. This article is aimed at solving the problem and provides practical recommendations for both opinion leaders and every Ukrainian to prevent violations of language norms in the media space. The purpose. Conducting an analysis of violations of language norms that occur in the Ukrainian-language media space under the influence of opinion leaders, in particular TikTok and YouTube bloggers. Research methodology. A number of scientific approaches and methods were used in the research process: content analysis – to study the influence of opinion leaders in the media space on the language culture of Ukrainian society through social media classification method – for systematization of identified violations of language norms, which helped to understand the main problems of language culture and identify the main directions for further analysis and development of recommendations; methods of comparative and logical analysis – to identify cause-and-effect relationships between language disorders and their impact on the speech environment. The scientific novelty. A study of the influence of opinion leaders in the modern media space. The article reveals both the side effects of such influence and emphasizes the possible lowering of the status of the language and the degradation of linguistic culture due to the spread of linguistic errors and non-compliance with linguistic norms. The article contains specific practical recommendations for opinion leaders and the general public to prevent violations of language norms in the media space, which can contribute to raising the level of speech culture and preserving the linguistic identity of Ukrainian society. The conclusions. Violation of the language norms of the Ukrainian language by opinion leaders in the media space, among bloggers on the TikTok and YouTube platforms, is a rather serious problem that has many negative consequences: it can lead to distortion of content, incorrect perception of information by the audience and a decrease in the general level of linguistic culture among users, especially among young people. The recommendations provided in the article are aimed at improving the quality of bloggers’ speech and increasing the level of language literacy in the media space. All these factors highlight the importance of drawing attention to the issue of language literacy and adherence to language norms among opinion leaders in the media space, which may become a relevant topic for further research. The obtained conclusions should become the basis for the development of specific recommendations aimed at increasing the level of language culture in the media space and avoiding the negative impact of social media on Ukrainian society.
While browsing my Facebook feed on an early summer day in May 2017, a post with the trigger warning “inconsistent use of pronouns” grabbed my attention. The post, shared within a private Facebook group for (foreign) LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies living in Japan, featured an article recently published in The New York Times. Titled “Japanese Transgender Politician is Showing ‘I Exist Here’,” the article focuses on Hosoda Tomoya, a Japanese trans man who recently won a seat in the local city council in a suburb just outside of Tokyo (Rich, 2017). Hosoda made history as the first trans man in the world to be voted to public office, and the near-full-page article delved into Hosoda's life history, his journey into politics, and the challenges that he faced as a trans person living in Japan. What the author and the subsequent commenters of the Facebook post found “baffling” about the article was the use of the pronoun “she” when referring to Hosoda's childhood years as a girl named Mika, whereas throughout the remainder of the article, “he” was used to refer to Hosoda. This inconsistency was deemed by some as “poor etiquette,” particularly from a reputable outlet like The New York Times. What the readers were not aware of, however, was that Hosoda himself had approved the use of the pronoun “she” in that specific section of the report. The reason he provided was that it is an undeniable fact that he had “publicly lived as a woman before chiryo” (transition, literally medical treatment) and therefore did not see anything wrong with using the feminine third-person pronoun (private communication). If Hosoda himself did not find the pronouns “inconsistent” or offensive, should the general readers take issue with them? In the middle of 2020, I received an email from a graduate student based in the United States who had recently read one of my articles. The student took issue with my use of the term “FTM,” pointing out that by using it to refer to my research informants, I am perpetuating the “linguistic violence” associated with the term. In that article, I drew on my fieldwork in what I term the Japanese FTM community in Tokyo to show how seemingly mundane social events, such as drinking parties that are organized by and for trans men, can function as a site for my informants to negotiate inclusion and belonging as trans without undermining their male public selves. Within this community, “FTM” (the English acronym for female-to-male transgender) is the preferred term of self-reference, both in written form and in speech (transliterated as efu-tii-emu in Japanese). Although I was aware of the debates surrounding this term in English-speaking contexts, where it is considered outdated and criticized for emphasizing a notion of change that contradicts the experiences of many trans individuals who have always identified as such, I chose to use it to refer to my informants because they have consistently used it to describe themselves and others within the community. The term “FTM,” originally borrowed from English, is used in the Japanese context to describe individuals whose karada no sei (literally the sex/gender of the body) is female but whose kokoro no sei (literally the sex/gender of their heart) is male. Alongside its counterpart “MTF” (male-to-female transgender, transliterated as emu-tii-efu), these terms have gained prominence in both government publications and writings by transgender individuals as appropriate labels to reference toransujendā (the Japanese transliteration of the English term transgender). Toransujendā, as a new category of personhood, emerged in Japan in the late 1990s following the introduction of the medical condition seidōitsuseishōgai (Gender Identity Disorder, henceforth GID) along with the official recognition of seibetsutekigō shujutsu (gender affirming surgery, literally sex reassignment surgery) as the appropriate “treatment” for GID. Despite the recent global trend toward demedicalization, transgender in Japan remain predominantly understood in medical terms, and the “wrong body” narrative continues to be invoked by many trans individuals seeking access to hormones, surgery, and legal gender recognition. In that article, I should have explicitly acknowledged the potential harm that the term, along with notions of medicalization associated with the term, may inflict on certain trans individuals. I should have also pointed out that I recognize that not all trans men in Japan identify with and use the term “FTM.” Perhaps I could have used the Japanese transliteration efu-tii-emu instead. Nevertheless, based on my analysis of Japanese trans autobiographies (such as Sugiyama, 2006) and from my fieldwork, I observed that the medical discourse has played a significant role in providing a new and legitimate way for understanding gender non-normativity in Japan—an aspect traditionally associated with the realm of sex and entertainment (McLelland, 2005). The emergence of terms like “FTM” has empowered many Japanese trans individuals, enabling them to move from an unspeakable, “unacceptable and abominable existence” (Sugiyama, 2006, pp. 65–66) to one that is comprehensible and sanctioned by the authority of medicine. The enactment of a law in 2004—the Exceptional Treatment Law for People with Gender Identity Disorder (Seidōitsuseishōgaisha no seibetsu no toriatsukai no tokurei ni kansuru hōan)—that allows trans individuals who have received a GID diagnosis and who have undergone gender reassignment to legally change their gender further legitimizes their existence.i Most, if not all, of my informants—who come from diverse backgrounds and are at various stages of transition—identify with and embrace the label “FTM.” Many even prominently feature it on their social media profiles. Although some individuals may not identify exclusively with the term “FTM,” given the term's cultural significance within the Japanese context, would it not also be an act of violence if I were to adopt a different term for this community, thereby erasing its history and denying my informants of the subjectivity and empowerment that “FTM” affords them? Both episodes reminded me of an incident at the 2009 Netherlands Transgender Film Festival recounted in Leung (2016). During the screening of the documentary Transvestites Also Cry (2007), which follows the lives of two Ecuadorian migrant sex workers in Paris, several audience members walked out of the theater in protest. They were apparently upset by the filmmaker's use of the pronoun “he” to refer to the protagonist in the film, who identifies as female. They were also offended by the term “transvestite,” which the filmmaker used as the translation for the Spanish term travesti, a term that the subjects in the film used to refer to themselves and others in their community. As Leung (2016) rightly observed, the filmmaker could have avoided controversy by titling the film more “correctly,” albeit somewhat awkwardly, as Transgender People Also Cry. However, even with a more accurate title, the subjects’ use of pronouns was never consistent, and they also employed terms like “homosexual” and “tercer sexo” (third sex) alongside “travesti” to describe themselves and their friends. Other visual cues in the film further underscored the “noncoherence between categories, identities, and experiences” (ibid., p. 435). What we can glean from these examples is that although “correct” terminologies hold significance, they cannot fully capture the complexity of all trans lives and experiences. What may be considered acceptable or preferred terminology in one context may lack relevance or appropriateness in another. Yet, the dominance of Anglo-centric perspectives in public and academic discourses surrounding queer and trans issues has led to the widespread assumptions about the universal applicability of English terminologies and identity categories. As a result, local ways of understanding and articulating diverse gender identities and embodiment—which emerged out of historical, social, cultural, and political contexts that may differ significantly from those of the Anglo-West—may become overshadowed or replaced entirely by the ostensibly more “correct” terminology and the associated notions of trans identity that they convey (Leung, 2016). I certainly do not doubt the importance of using trans-affirming language. As Zimman (2017) observed, language is one significant site through which trans identities are negotiated, validated, and undermined. The advocacy for transgender language reform, a cornerstone of trans activism, has catalyzed a critical reevaluation of linguistic practices in many Anglo-Western societies in recent years. From the adoption of gender-neutral pronouns (such as singular they/them/theirs) to the development of new gender identity terms (such as the word “non-binary”), the push for trans-affirming and gender inclusive language has challenged the normalization of transphobia and cissexism in everyday language use, prompting better recognition and affirmation of trans people's self-identities (ibid). However, as Cameron (2012 [1995]) reminded us, “language is a highly variable and radically context-dependent phenomenon which may have effects on perception, but only in conjunction with other factors” (p. 142). Although language can perpetuate certain beliefs and assumptions, it alone does not create them. Terminologies and perspectives are inter-related, yet perspectives are not universal. Therefore, it is crucial to consider language within its broader sociocultural context. Returning to Hosoda's case, many English-speaking readers today might similarly find the use of a female third-person pronoun for someone identifying as male inappropriate. Although Japanese language is generally perceived to be gendered—an ideology often reinforced in school textbooks, media, and daily conversations—pronouns, in normative usage, do not solely index gender identity. As Morita (2003) highlighted, “Japanese personal pronouns always index a specific social relationship […] Japanese speakers must choose certain address and reference terms to locate themselves as well as their interlocutors in the entire speech community to which both of them belong, giving an acknowledged role in society to each other” (p. 371). As such, Japanese speakers may use different pronouns depending on the social context, taking into consideration factors like gender, age, and status in relation to their interlocutors, all while adhering to lexical items appropriate for their gender. Gender, within the ideology of gendered language, is treated as a singular, unified concept where various aspects of gender, such as gender identity, assigned gender, legal gender, and gender presentation, are conflated into one. As a result, for many Japanese-speaking trans individuals navigating these gendered language norms, the choice of pronouns may not always be straightforward, leading to situations where they switch between “masculine” and “feminine pronouns” depending on the context. In the community that I studied, many trans men use the vulgar first-person “masculine pronoun” ore when speaking to their peers or younger members in the community. Those from working class backgrounds also tend to favor ore over boku (a first-person “masculine pronoun” used by men in informal settings), which is more commonly used among middle-class trans men or when addressing older or senior members in the community. The choice of masculine pronouns by these trans men not only indexes male gender identity or male social gender but also conveys additional nuances. For instance, the use of ore indexes attributes such as coolness and assertiveness (see also Miyazaki, 2023), whereas boku carries connotations of youthfulness, approachability, and polite informality. However, in professional settings outside of the community and on social media platforms, some of these trans men, who use ore and boku within the community but who have not come out or undergone transition, opt for “feminine pronouns” like watashi (a first-person pronoun usually used by women, but also used by men in formal settings) and kanojo (she). This choice, akin to Hosoda's situation, aligns with gendered speech conventions in Japan, where individuals typically (or are expected to) choose “feminine pronouns” if their assigned/social/legal gender is female. If criticism is warranted here, it should not be directed at Hosoda or The New York Times for their use of female pronouns on someone who identifies as male, but rather at the gendered language ideology that perpetuates concepts of “men's speech” and “women's speech” in Japan. Trans language activism (TLA) has indeed spread far and wide, reshaping ways of thinking and speaking about trans beyond the Anglophone sphere. In line with developments in the West, some trans activists in Japan today are also advocating for the use of “toransu man” (trans man) and “toransu ūman” (trans woman) as the more accurate and modern equivalents of “FTM” and “MTF.” However, as Zimman pointed out in the discussion article, the advocacy around trans-affirming language has largely been influenced by the perspectives of trans individuals and allies who hold privilege along other axes of identity. These individuals often tend to be white, highly educated, employed in elite academic institutions, able-bodied, and native English speakers. Using terminologies and linguistic practices deemed “correct” by a small group of trans activists and language reformers in a blanket manner, without consideration of the underlying power dynamics, can be problematic in several ways. Not only does it hinder TLA's goal of achieving sociolinguistic justice, but it can also perpetuate other forms of marginalization, such as the devaluation of Black language, as highlighted by Zimman. Furthermore, it can (re)produce a “hierarchy of experiences and subjectivities” (Leung, 2016), which privileges Euro-American understandings of gender non-normativity as modern and progressive while dismissing other (local) ways of imagining and expressing gender non-normativity as traditional and outdated (Leung, 2016; Grewal & Kaplan, 2001). To effectively achieve sociolinguistic justice, we need to provincialize Western perspectives on trans and its associated vocabularies (Chiang et al., 2018). Trans activists, individuals, and allies must move beyond Eurocentric thinking and recognize that the “correct” terminologies and categories originating from the Western trans movement may not universally apply to trans and gender non-conforming individuals in other cultures. Real progress toward sociolinguistic justice begins when we move beyond simply policing language use or correcting instances of what some may perceive as misgendering without considering the broader context.
Objective This study aimed to assess the impact of the different concentrations of iodine contrast agents used on the quality of computed tomography (CT) images obtained intraindividually in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Methods In this retrospective study, data from a cohort of 29 patients diagnosed with primary hepatocellular carcinoma who had undergone two preoperative CT-enhanced examinations within a 3-month timeframe were analyzed. Each patient was randomly assigned to receive either a low-concentration contrast agent (300 mg I/mL iohexol) or a high-concentration contrast agent (350 mg I/mL iohexol) for the first scan and the alternative contrast agent for the second scan. CT images of different liver regions of each patient were compared between low-and high-concentration scans using their before-and-after control design. Subjective image quality scores for portal vein images were also assessed. Results The findings of this study indicate that patients in the high-concentration group presented significantly elevated CT values across various anatomical regions, including the liver parenchyma, abdominal aorta, and hepatic portal vein, compared to those in the low-concentration group ( p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, the high-concentration group demonstrated superior subjective image ratings ( p &lt; 0.05). Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant difference in the CT values observed in liver cancer parenchyma scans at different phases between the two groups ( p &gt; 0.05). Conclusion In summary, using a high-concentration iodine contrast agent is efficient in enhancing the visual clarity of the liver parenchyma, the aorta, and the portal vein in individuals diagnosed with primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Emotional experiences involve dynamic multi-sensory perception, yet most EEG research uses unimodal stimuli such as photographs. However, a recent study found that realistic emotional videos reliably reduce the amplitude of a steady state visual evoked potential (ssVEP) elicited by a flickering border. It is unknown how the video-ssVEP measure compares to the well-established Late Positive Potential (LPP) that is reliably larger for emotional scenes. To address this question, 45 participants viewed 90 matched pairs of realistic videos and scenes. Replicating the previous study, emotional videos reduced ssVEP amplitude more than neutral videos. At the group level, the video-ssVEP and scene-LPP measures produced similarly large differences per category (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant), and both measures strongly correlated with arousal ratings. However, trial-based Bayesian multilevel models suggest that the group-level results mask important differences. Consistent with previous research, the scene-LPP was sensitive to specific emotional contents (erotica and gore) more than would be predicted by arousal ratings. In contrast, the video-ssVEP did not show this specific sensitivity, and was better explained by individual arousal ratings collected for each stimulus trial. These results suggest that the 2 measures index partially distinct aspects of emotional perception, with the LPP reflecting the discrimination of emotional features, while the ssVEP indexes emotional engagement. Taken together, the results suggest that a video-ssVEP paradigm has comparable single-trial reliability and may better reflect a more diverse range of experienced emotional states relative to scene-LPP paradigms.
In many fields, such as language acquisition, neuropsychology of language, the study of aging, and historical linguistics, corpora are used for estimating the diversity of grammatical structures that are produced during a period by an individual, community, or type of speakers. In these cases, treebanks are taken as representative samples of the syntactic structures that might be encountered. Generalizing the potential syntactic diversity from the structures documented in a small corpus requires careful extrapolation whose accuracy is constrained by the limited size of representative sub-corpora. In this article, I demonstrate -- theoretically, and empirically -- that a grammar's derivational entropy and the mean length of the utterances (MLU) it generates are fundamentally linked, giving rise to a new measure, the derivational entropy rate. The mean length of utterances becomes the most practical index of syntactic complexity; I demonstrate that MLU is not a mere proxy, but a fundamental measure of syntactic diversity. In combination with the new derivational entropy rate measure, it provides a theory-free assessment of grammatical complexity. The derivational entropy rate indexes the rate at which different grammatical annotation frameworks determine the grammatical complexity of treebanks. I introduce the Smoothed Induced Treebank Entropy (SITE) as a tool for estimating these measures accurately, even from very small treebanks. I conclude by discussing important implications of these results for both NLP and human language processing.
Background: The extent of ischemic injury in acute stroke is assessed in clinical practice using the Acute Stroke Prognosis Early CT Score (ASPECTS) rating system. However, current ASPECTS semi-quantitative topographic scales assess only the middle cerebral artery (MCA) (original ASPECTS) and posterior cerebral (PC-ASPECTS) territories. For treatment decision-making in patients with anterior cerebral artery (ACA) occlusions and internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusions with large ischemic cores, measures of all hemispheric regions are desirable. Methods: In this cohort study, anatomic rating systems were developed for the anterior cerebral (AC-ASPECTS, 3 points) and anterior choroidal artery (ACh-ASPECTS, 1 point) territories. In addition, a total supratentorial hemisphere (H-ASPECTS, 16 points) score was calculated as the sum of the MCA ASPECTS (10 regions), supratentorial PC-ASPECTS (2 regions), AC-ASPECTS (3 regions), and ACh-ASPECTS (1 region). Three raters applied these scales to initial and 24 h CT and MR images in consecutive patients with ischemic stroke (IS) due to ICA, M1-MCA, and ACA occlusions. Results: Imaging ratings were obtained for 96 scans in 50 consecutive patients with age 74.8 (±14.0), 60% female, NIHSS 15.5 (9.25-20), and occlusion locations ICA 34%; M1-MCA 58%; and ACA 8%. Treatments included endovascular thrombectomy +/- thrombolysis in 72%, thrombolysis alone in 8%, and hemicraniectomy in 4%. Among experienced clinicians, inter-rater reliability for AC-, ACh-, and H-ASPECTS scores was substantial (kappa values 0.61-0.80). AC-ASPECTS abnormality was present in 14% of patients, and ACh-ASPECTS abnormality in 2%. Among patients with ACA and ICA occlusions, H-ASPECTS scores compared with original ASPECTS scores were more strongly associated with disability level at discharge, ambulatory status at discharge, discharge destination, and combined inpatient mortality and hospice discharge. Conclusion: AC-ASPECTS, ACh-ASPECTS, and H-ASPECTS expand the scope of acute IS imaging scores and increase correlation with functional outcomes. This additional information may enhance prognostication and decision-making, including endovascular thrombectomy and hemicraniectomy.
The language employed in matrimonial advertisements has a considerable impact on how people perceive marriage and gender roles. In addition to reflecting and reinforcing societal norms, values, and gender roles, the language used in matrimonial ads may have an impact on how individuals and families view themselves and one another in the setting of marriage. The current study explored linguistic choices in marriage ads to depict women in traditional gender roles and how they contribute to the representation of women. Matrimonial websites and social media platforms were used to compile a corpus of matrimonial ads. The current study utilized Systemic Functional Linguistics' appraisal theory to explore women representation in matrimonial ads. About 43 matrimonial ads were analyzed by using the ATLAS.ti software, for lexico-grammatical choices pertaining to judgment and appreciation. To identify the linguistic features and patterns, the textual content of matrimonial ads was analyzed linguistically. This analysis concentrated on lexical choices, linguistic structures, and presence of evaluative language, all of which align with appraisal theory concepts. The study determined that women are mostly categorized in terms of their physical attributes, such as beauty, height, weight, their age, occupation, education, character, and nature.
The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of eight digital radiography systems and to optimise the dose-image quality relationship for digital pelvis radiography. The study involved eight digital radiography systems used for general examinations at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos. An anthropomorphic pelvic phantom (CIRS, US) was used to simulate a patient undergoing clinical pelvis radiography. Dose quantities entrance surface dose, dose area product (DAP) and exposure parameters (kVp, mA, mAs) were measured and the effects on the images were evaluated, considering physical contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and observer-based evaluations as image quality metrics. Increasing the tube voltage by 5 kVp from standard protocol led to a reduction in radiation dose (DAP) by 12%-20% with a slight impact on image quality (CNR decreases by 2%-10%). There was an inter-observer variability in image rating across different equipment (kappa value between 0 and 0.3); however, both observers agreed that increasing kVp up to 85-90 kV had no effect on perceived image quality. The results indicate that optimisation strategies should be tailored specifically for each x-ray system since significant performance differences and wide variations in radiation dose exist across various digital radiography systems used in clinical settings. The use of high kVp can be used for dose optimisation in digital pelvis radiography without compromising image diagnostic accuracy.
The article focuses on translating the English three-component quantitative metaphor which consists of a metaphorised noun, preposition «of» and a noun denoting substance into Ukrainian. The paper aims to find out and explicate reasons of divergent grammatical forms of source and target nouns in quantitative structures. The study analyses cases of using target lexical units that are not considered to be equivalents for source metaphorised nouns in the English-Ukrainian translation and explains the necessity of applying such translation technique. The authors have noticed that the same semantic groups of nouns are metaphorised in the English and Ukrainian languages, apart from the group of animal names. The one and only English noun «whale» can be used in the three-component quantitative structure to denote indefinitely large quantity. It has been mentioned that English metaphorised nouns can be substituted with stylistically neutral lexical units while rendering into Ukrainian such as «багато», «величезний», etc. A metaphorised noun can be sometimes modified by the adjective «цілий» in the target text in order to emphasize the meaning of indefinitely large quantity. The English three-component quantitative metaphor is rendered into Ukrainian by means of the two-component metaphor which consists of a metaphorised noun and the genitive form of a noun denoting substance. Another twocomponent structure that consists of an adjective and a metaphorical noun can be used in the target text, but the latter structure acquires slightly different meaning from that of the former. Pursuant to the linguistic norms of the Ukrainian language a metaphorical noun is used in the singular and a noun denoting substance is used in the plural if the inflectional paradigm of a noun allows these number forms. As far as the English language is concerned, both nouns of the quantitative structure can obtain both number forms if their inflectional paradigm allows. The mentioned phenomenon can cause divergence between grammatical number of a source and a target noun in the English-Ukrainian translation. The authors highlight that usage of Ukrainian lexical units that are not equivalents for English metaphorised nouns is caused by the difference in the linguistic norms of combining metaphorised nouns and nouns denoting substance.
Language acts as a primary vehicle for transmitting cultural norms, values, and expectations, as well as thought paradigms, from one generation to another. This is despite language choices in Ekegusii proverbs being loaded with culturally stereotypical language choices about gender. This study investigated how power discourses are employed in Ekegusii proverbs. The study applied Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Fairclough (1989, 1993 and 2001) and Van Dijk (2001). This research adopted a descriptive qualitative research design. The target population was eighty (80) ekegusii proverbs. Purposive sampling procedures were used to select eighty power-related proverbs. The study adopted the three-dimensional discourse framework as a method of data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that power relations are embedded in Ekegusii proverbs. The lexicalization and level of meaning of proverbs showed that these proverbs obtain their sexist and obscene connotations, which are construed as being laden with an impertinent reference that derogates womanhood. The study further revealed that linguistic features such as metaphors, negative syntactic structures, and vocabulary are used to enact power between genders. The study recommends that gendered proverbs be consciously improved to portray gender neutrality, equality and contemporariness.
The article focuses on orographic appellatives and oronyms derived from anatomical terms in the Yakut language through metaphorization. Given that the Yakut oronymy is endangered due to several sociolinguistic and socio-economic reasons, collecting, systematizing, studying, and preserving this specific layer of the Yakut toponymic lexicon in linguistic databases is relevant. We have identified more than 80 anatomical terms that contributed to the Yakut oronymy development. We divided the Yakut anatomical vocabulary used as orographic appellatives into two groups: 1) lexemes denoting the external parts of human and animal bodies and 2) lexemes denoting the internal organs of humans and animals. The comparative analysis covered the following anatomical terms: atax ‘leg’, bas ‘head’, sürex ‘heart’, tumus ‘nose; beak’, kulgaax ‘ear’, töbö ‘head’, meyii ‘brain’, emiy ‘udder’. The comparison has demonstrated a substantial similarity in the anatomical vocabulary used as orographic appellatives in the Turkic languages. However, some Turkic languages feature divergence in terms of content, possibly resulting from the influence of contact languages (related and unrelated). The abundance and variety of metaphorical anatomical terms in different Turkic languages may also be due to the physical and geographical features of the terrain on which they function. Given the above, the anatomical vocabulary can be considered an additional source for understanding the formation patterns and features of the Turkic-Mongolian geographical vocabulary of Siberia.
the article analyzes the translation of popular science literature from the perspective of stylistic unique&#2;ness. Options for preserving the national-specific characteristics of a Finnish-language popular science text on the history of navigation in its Russian-language version are presented. Objective: to identify methods and techniques that ensure the preservation of the characteristic features of the popular science sub-style in translation from the Finnish to the Russian language, namely imitation of live dialogue with a reader, preservation of cultural and landscape realities, and stylistic features of an original text (repetition, introductory construc&#2;tions, modal and evaluative words). Research materials: the translated text of the Finnish-language popular science book on navigation by D. Johnson and J. Nurminen “The History of Seafaring: Navigating the World’s Oceans”. Results and novelty of the research: in the Russian-language text, the Finnish national color is maintained through the use of toponyms, anthroponyms, and ergonyms. The translator flexibly employed two strategies – domestication in transfor&#2;mation of the syntactic structures of the original, its morphological forms, stylistic features, and foreignization in conveying linguistic and cultural realities and accompanying them with explication. The measured rhythm of Finnish sentences in the Russian language is conveyed through lexical repetition with syntactic expansion, various types of introductory construc&#2;tions. A feature of the book’s style is the imitation of dialogue with a reader. In most cases, the stylistic norms of the Russian language allow the reproduction of the live contact between the authors and a reader, which is conveyed in the translation text through appropriate modal means. To convey emotional and evaluative content, grammatical and lexical means of ex&#2;pressing modality in the Russian language are used. The “dictum content” in the translated text is expanded, which is due to the intended purpose of popular science literature to present scientific information in an accessible form and popularize knowledge among a wide range of readers. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that it is devoted to a little-explored theme related to the transfer of lexical and stylistic features of popular scientific literature on the history of navigation into the Russian language. For the first time, the work implements an integrated approach to the study of the stylistics of the Finnish-language text and exam&#2;ines the possibilities of translation into the Russian epithets expressing an assessment or judgment about the object of the authors of the book, amplifying particles, in preserving the modality of the original text by using adverbs with the meaning of confidence, possibility and assumption. In the translation into the Russian, the dictum content of the Finnish text under&#2;goes some transformation. Morphological changes are caused by the requirement of stylistic norms of the Russian language.
Introduction: Gestalt perception refers to the cognitive ability to perceive various elements as a unified whole. In our study, we delve deeper into the phenomenon of Gestalt recognition in visual cubist art, a transformative process culminating in what is often described as an Aha moment. This Aha moment signifies a sudden understanding of what is seen, merging seemingly disparate elements into a coherent meaningful picture. The onset of this Aha moment can vary, either appearing almost instantaneously, which is in line with theories of hedonic fluency, or manifesting after a period of time, supporting the concept of delayed but more in-depth meaningful insight. Methods: We employed pupillometry to measure cognitive and affective shifts during art interaction, analyzing both maximum pupil dilation and average dilation across the trial. The study consisted of two parts: in the first, 84 participants identified faces in cubist paintings under various conditions, with Aha moments and pupil dilation measured. In part 2, the same 84 participants assessed the artworks through ratings in a no-task free-viewing condition. Results: Results of part 1 indicate a distinctive pattern of pupil dilation, with maximum dilation occurring at both trial onset and end. Longer response times were observed for high-fluent, face-present stimuli, aligning with a delayed but accurate Aha-moment through recognition. Additionally, the time of maximum pupil dilation, rather than average dilation, exhibited significant associations, being later for high-fluent, face-present stimuli and correct detections. In part 2, average, not the time of maximum pupil dilation emerged as the significant factor. Face-stimuli and highly accessible art evoked stronger dilations, also reflecting high clearness and negative valence ratings. Discussion: The study underscores a complex relationship between the timing of recognition and the Aha moment, suggesting nuanced differences in emotional and cognitive responses during art viewing. Pupil dilation measures offer insight into these processes especially for moments of recognition, though their application in evaluating emotional responses through artwork ratings warrants further exploration.
PURPOSE: Prior work has identified weaknesses in commonly used indices of lexical diversity in spoken language samples, such as type-token ratio (TTR) due to sample size and elicitation variation, we explored whether TTR and other diversity measures, such as number of different words/100 (NDW), vocabulary diversity (VocD), and the moving average TTR would be more sensitive to child age and clinical status (typically developing [TD] or developmental language disorder [DLD]) if samples were obtained from standardized prompts. METHOD: We utilized archival data from the norming samples of the Test of Narrative Language and the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. We examined lexical diversity and other linguistic properties of the samples, from a total of 1,048 children, ages 4-11 years; 798 of these were considered TD, whereas 250 were categorized as having a language learning disorder. RESULTS: TTR was the least sensitive to child age or diagnostic group, with good potential to misidentify children with DLD as TD and TD children as having DLD. Growth slopes of NDW were shallow and not very sensitive to diagnostic grouping. The strongest performing measure was VocD. Mean length of utterance, TNW, and verbs/utterance did show both good growth trajectories and ability to distinguish between clinical and typical samples. CONCLUSIONS: This study, the largest and best controlled to date, re-affirms that TTR should not be used in clinical decision making with children. A second popular measure, NDW, is not measurably stronger in terms of its psychometric properties. Because the most sensitive measure of lexical diversity, VocD, is unlikely to gain popularity because of reliance on computer-assisted analysis, we suggest alternatives for the appraisal of children's expressive vocabulary skill.
Abstract This paper deals with a corpus study of event-based time concepts. Here we investigate their use in time reckoning practices in modern Polish culture and language. The results presented here are based on a cognitive-conceptual and linguistic analysis of the Polish National Linguistic Corpus (NKJP). These results suggest that Polish has rich inventories of lexical and phrasal expressions for event-based time intervals based on environmental and celestial indices and social norms that have not previously been described from a cognitive, anthropological, and cultural perspective. Event-based time intervals found in domains of times of day and night, are here presented. We hypothesize that even when the Polish language employs conventional metric (calendar and clock) time units, the hybrid blends of day/night cycle and cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) could reveal an emergent form of time conceptualization. This conceptual and cultural hybridization is still common among the users of the Polish language and is indicative of complexity and dynamism in body-environment interactions. This interaction is schematized in twofold conceptual constructions of event-based and metric time, blending processes that may generate more creative enactions as an alternative to the mechanical 24-hour system.
This study introduces a pretrained large language model-based annotation methodology for the first dependency treebank in Ottoman Turkish.Our experimental results show that, iteratively, i) pseudo-annotating data using a multilingual BERT-based parsing model, ii) manually correcting the pseudo-annotations, and iii) fine-tuning the parsing model with the corrected annotations, we speed up and simplify the challenging dependency annotation process.The resulting treebank, that will be a part of the Universal Dependencies (UD) project, will facilitate automated analysis of Ottoman Turkish documents, unlocking the linguistic richness embedded in this historical heritage.
Footwear and its various models are primarily the subject of study in merchandising; however, for linguistics, it is an equally interesting object of research in synchronous and diachronic aspects. In particular, the grammatical characteristics of footwear nouns have not yet been the subject of separate research. The plural form of the noun ʻfootwearʼ is more commonly used in modern linguistic practice, determined by the significance, for human existence, of the semantics of a com- plete pair of footwear. The singular form of the noun name ʻfootwearʼ is less common, as it disrupts the integrity of the concept of a ʻfootwear pairʼ with the semantics of an ʻindi vi- dualizedʼ object. The choice of the number form of footwear nouns as a register is deter- mined by different principles of compiling lexicographical publications and their distinct purposes: explanatory dictionaries prioritize the meaning of an unanalyzed plural, while re- gis ters prioritize the plural form of the noun expressing the semantics of a type of footwear. In orthographic dictionaries, the indication of another numerical form represents the inflec- tional component of the number category of fixed nouns in this semantic group. The grammatical significance of the number in the core of footwear names consists of nouns with a numeral pair, where the codification of the singular form is conditioned by the proportional origin of lexemes and the completion of the grammatical assimilation of foreigh lexemes. Lexicographical sources inconsistently record the singular form of footwear nouns from the core sphere. The change in the grammatical qualification of some footwear names from ʻpluralia tantumʼ to ʻgrammatical significance of singular and pluralʼ attests to the dynamics of morphological norms in contemporary Ukrainian language in general and the process of grammatical adaptation of predominantly foreigh lexemes in particular. However, more often, discrepancies in the printed and ele ctronic dictionaries regarding the grammatical number of nouns from the core sphere of footwear (either plural nouns or nouns with a numeral pair) are caused by subjective factors. The periphery consists of ʻpluralia tantumʼ nouns, most of which are of foreign origin and only make up a part of the lexical composition of the Ukrainian language. The infre- quent functioning of singular forms of nouns from the peripheral sphere in modern speech indicates the incompleteness of their grammatical adaptation. Predominantly foreigh foot- wear names that are not represented in any of the analyzed dictionaries reside outside the delineated spheres, and their use in the plural form in the texts of the 16th version of the Ukrainian National Corpus (HRAK) and in advertising posts on the social network ʻInstagramʼ illustrate the beginning of grammatical adaptation to the morphological norms of the modern Ukrainian language. We see the perspective of research in studying the dynamics of grammatical assimila- tion primarily of those footwear names that are only included in the lexical system of the Ukrainian language and have the grammatical status of ʻpluralia tantumʼ nouns, predomi- nantly used in modern speech either exclusively or mostly in the plural form, with the sin- gular form of these nouns not recorded in any lexicographical publication. The observa- tion of changes in the grammatical number of those footwear names whose singular form is not codified, as it is inconsistently represented in dictionaries, also remains relevant. Keywords: number category, noun, footwear name, pluralia tantum, nu me ral pair, parsed plu- ral, unparsed plural, dynamics, dictionary.
Visual word recognition in developing readers is affected by several factors, many of which are important in the design of teaching and testing materials. Among these, one well-studied factor is word frequency: more frequent words are recognised more quickly than less frequent words. Another is the presence of consonant sequences, where words containing a consonant sequence (e.g. ‘tsh’) are recognised more slowly than non-consonant-sequence-containing words of equivalent letter and phoneme length. In isiXhosa, there are currently no publicly available word frequency norms that are based on children’s literacy materials and are thus appropriate for the testing of developing readers. Publicly available information on the frequencies of particular consonant sequences, which would be valuable in the design of classroom materials, is also lacking. To address these gaps, this paper reports on the creation of a corpus of isiXhosa texts aimed at children (321 texts, 125,447 tokens, and 31,216 types), which was subsequently processed to derive (i) word frequency measures, (ii) descriptive statistics about the characteristics of the most frequent words, and (iii) information on sublexical frequency, with a focus on two-, three-, and four-consonant sequences. The findings of the article are relevant to scholars and practitioners working on literacy development and language processing in isiXhosa.
Kljub porastu jezikoslovnih raziskav govorjene slovenščine, ki si prizadevajo za popis številnih doslej prezrtih posebnosti govorjenega jezika v primerjavi s pisnim, metodologija tovrstnih razprav večinoma temelji na kvalitativni analizi razmeroma majhnih ter zvrstno ali demografsko omejenih vzorcev jezikovne rabe, kar omejuje ponovljivost raziskav in možnost posploševanja spoznanj na govorjeno slovenščino kot celoto. Kot eno izmed možnosti za premostitev tega problema v prispevku predstavljamo drevesnico govorjene slovenščine SST (angl. Spoken Slovenian Treebank), prostodostopni oblikoslovno in skladenjsko označeni reprezentativni vzorec referenčnega korpusa govorjene slovenščine Gos, in ponazarjamo njen metodološki potencial za nadaljnje korpusne raziskave govorjene slovenščine. Na primeru treh tipično govorjenih pojavov (samopopravljanja, diskurzni členki in dodani ujemalni pridevniški prilastki) prikažemo uporabo drevesnice SST za enostaven priklic številnih avtentičnih primerov rabe, na primeru analize pogostosti samopopravljanj glede na različne sporazumevalne okoliščine pa ponazorimo tudi njeno uporabnost za raznolike statistične analize jezikovne rabe. Poleg najpomembnejših prednosti drevesnice SST, kot so uravnoteženost, odprta dostopnost, ročna slovnična označenost in neposredna primerljivost z drugimi tovrstnimi korpusi po svetu, v sklepnem delu izpostavimo tudi nekaj omejitev, kot sta razmeroma majhna velikost ter robustna, v pisni jezik usmerjena označevalna shema.
The sense of agency varies as a function of arousal in negative emotional contexts. As yet, it is unknown whether the same is true for positive affect, and how inter-individual characteristics might predict these effects. Temporal binding, an implicit measure of the sense of agency, was measured in 59 participants before and after watching either an emotionally neutral film clip or a positive film clip with high or low arousal. Analyses included participants' individual differences in subjective affective ratings, physiological arousal (pupillometry, skin conductance, heart rate), striatal dopamine levels via eye blink rates, and psychopathy. Linear mixed models showed that sexual arousal decreased temporal binding whereas calm pleasure had no facilitation effect on binding. Striatal dopamine levels were positively linked whereas subjective and physiological arousal may be negatively associated with binding towards actions. Psychopathic traits reduced the effect of high arousal on binding towards actions. These results provide evidence that individual differences influence the extent to which the temporal binding is affected by high arousing states with positive valence.
This study investigates the historical origins, linguistic diffusion, and socioeconomic impacts of cotton (Gossypium spp.) in the Indo-Pacific region. By reviewing secondary data from historical texts, linguistic databases, and archaeological reports, the research explores how Gossypium species, domesticated in both the Old and New Worlds, spread through complex trade networks and cultural exchanges. The study analyzes the dissemination patterns of cotton-related terminology across various language families and examines the socioeconomic effects of cotton cultivation and trade, including its influence on labor systems, economic structures, and cultural practices. While the findings highlight cotton’s significant role in shaping global markets and cultural inter-actions, the study’s limitations – such as its reliance on secondary sources, a two-month research duration, and a focus on a specific geographical area – warrant cautious interpretation. These constraints may limit the comprehensiveness and depth of the analysis, suggesting the need for future research to incorporate primary data collection, a broader geographical scope, and an extended study period. Despite these limitations, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of cotton’s historical, economic, and cultural significance, emphasizing the need for sustainable agricultural practices in contemporary cotton production.
The increasing volume of online reviews and tweets poses significant challenges for sentiment classification because of the difficulty in obtaining annotated training data. This paper aims to enhance sentiment classification of Twitter data by developing a robust model that improves classification accuracy and computational efficiency. The proposed method named Tree Hierarchical Deep Convolutional Neural Network optimized with Sheep Flock Optimization Algorithm for Sentiment Classification of Twitter Data (SCTD-THDCNN-SFOA) utilizes the Stanford Sentiment Treebank dataset. The process begins with pre-processing steps including Tokenization, Stop words Elimination, Filtering, Hashtag Removal, and Multiword Grouping. The Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix Window Adaptive Algorithm is employed to extract features, such as emoticon counts, punctuation counts, gazetteer word existence, n-grams, and part of speech tags. These features are selected using Entropy-Kurtosis-based Feature Selection approach. Finally, the Tree Hierarchical Deep Convolutional Neural Network enhanced by the Sheep Flock Optimization Algorithm is used to categorize the Twitter data as positive, negative, and neutral sentiments. The proposed SCTD-THDCNN-SFOA method demonstrates superior performance, achieving higher accuracy and lesser computation time than the existing models, respectively. The SCTD-THDCNN-SFOA framework significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of sentiment classification for Twitter data.
In the context of computational models of dependency syntax, most dependency treebanks have the restriction that any valid dependency tree must have exactly one edge coming out of the root node in addition to respecting the spanning tree constraints.Many algorithms for dependency tree sampling were recently proposed, both for sampling with and without replacement.In this paper we propose a new algorithm called Wilson Reject SWOR for the case of sampling without replacement by adapting the Wilson Reject algorithm originally created for sampling with replacement and combining it with a Trie data structure.Experimental results indicate the efficiency of our approach in the scenario of sampling without replacement from dependency graphs with random weights.