Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
18265 papers
Previous research has established that determining lexical sophistication (i.e., the percentage of sophisticated words in a text) through the judgment of teachers on a corpus of words is a more accurate method than relying on word frequency-based lists. However, this approach can be time-consuming. To overcome this drawback, a new method is proposed in this study, which involves rating specific words out of context. A list of 68 words that appeared in approved high-school textbooks of teaching Hebrew to Arabic speakers was given to six experienced Hebrew teachers, who then categorized the words into four levels of lexical sophistication: (1) very basic words to (4) very advanced words. From this, a list of 28 words was created, with seven words from each level, and the lexical sophistication level was agreed upon by two-thirds of the teachers. Nineteen Arabic-speaking learners of Hebrew were asked to define the chosen words (passive vocabulary) and compose a sentence including each (controlled-active vocabulary) in a test-retest study at two time-points: the 11th and 12th grade. The results indicated that although there was no significant increase in lexical sophistication over time, significant differences emerged between the four levels of lexical sophistication, with students’ accuracy decreasing as the level of lexical sophistication increased. Additionally, only in the 11th grade was passive vocabulary found to be significantly larger than controlledactive vocabulary. However, as acquisition time increased, the gap between these two vocabulary types narrowed, due to improved performance in the controlled-active task. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between passive and controlled-active vocabulary, which became stronger with more acquisition time.
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: The article starts with a characterization of Israeli Hebrew, and its development from a conglomeration of written sources going back to classical Hebrew, including ones from about 17 centuries when it was not spoken. As a result, what became accepted as Israeli Hebrew is a merged grammatical (and lexical) system, built upon written sources regarded as the normative standard that should dictate speech norms as well, and that any deviation from it would be detrimental. Some Hebraists question whether a language that was not spoken for so long can still be regarded as "Hebrew," or even as a Semitic language. The average Israeli fails to recognize the inevitability of change in language development through history, and the existence of multiple levels of language uses (registers) side-by-side, each of which is just as legitimate as the other. We follow with illustrations of the expansion of new word formation from existing bases through linear derivation by means of suffixes, a most transparent process, alongside discontinuous (root+pattern) derivation. We will also explore the changing treatment of possessive and existential sentences, the neutralization of numeral gender, the maintenance of fixed stress in certain classes of words, and a certain tendency towards rhythmic alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Some of these have precedents in earlier stages of Hebrew, and demonstrate that change is a natural result of Israeli Hebrew's being a living language, and should not be regarded as evidence of its deterioration, becoming non-Semitic, an artificial hybrid language, or creole.
This article introduces a new pragmatic framework for dual character concepts and their expressions, offering an alternative to the received lexical‐semantic view. On the prevalent lexical‐semantic view, expressions such as “philosopher” or “scientist” are construed as lexical polysemes, comprising both a descriptive and a normative dimension. Thereby, this view prioritizes established norms, neglecting normative expressions emerging in specific contexts. In contrast, the pragmatic view integrates pragmatic modulation as a central element in explaining context‐dependent dual character concepts and expressions. This not only accounts for a wider range of phenomena but also addresses several theoretical shortcomings of the lexical view.
This study investigated gender representation in English textbooks from Classes 6 to 10 in Bangladesh, using corpus analysis. AntConc, a textual analysis tool, was used to quantify the occurrence of gender-related lexical items in resources. The corpus comprises approximately 147,698 tokens distributed across the four textbooks. The results revealed significant disparities in the distribution of male- and female-associated lexical items. Here, male-related words occurred 1,958 times (1.33 %), whereas female-related words occurred 1,165 times (0.79 %). The highest imbalance ratio (0.94 %) was found in textbooks of class 6 having male represented words (1.95%) and female represented words (1.01%). This male-dominated gender disproportion appeared in the other three textbooks at different ratios, which may reflect Bangladesh’s cultural and societal norms. These distinctive and male-centred gender-biased textbooks may have an impact on students’ perceptions of gender roles and societal expectations. The findings of this corpus analysis predict how much textbook content may affect female students’ sense of inclusion and their collective consciousness of gender rights. Finally, it recommends ensuring gender equality and inclusion in the textbooks.
The article discusses the problem of detecting and interpreting the value components of Russian words in the Internet media discourse, which do not have an explicit language expression. The method of cognitive-and-discursive analysis of corpus data is applied. It is based on the research technique of identifying semantic auras (semantic prosody) of the word studied in its immediate contextual environment in texts. The material under study is comprised of contexts extracted from the newspaper corpus as part of the Russian National Corpus. The relative adjective progressivnyj (progressive, advanced), which does not have any evaluativeness in the lexical-semantic system of the Russian language, in its discursive realization demonstrates an implicit positive or negative evaluation, induced in the context, regularly arises. The author came to the conclusion that positive evaluation associated with the semantic components “promoting progress, advanced” and “imbued with advanced ideas, sentiments” is most often realized. However, in a number of uses, the immediate or further contextual environment contributes to implication and negative evaluation, which is caused by ideas about “excessive” progressiveness, i.e. exceeding the norm, from the speaker’s point of view, and that progress also concerns the negative aspects of social or cultural life.
This article is focused on the rules for stressing words in Ukrainian language. All stress tendencies of Ukrainian words are given by parts of speech. The article gathers the work of scientists who are mastering the Ukrainian accentual system. To demonstrate the rules of Ukrainian accent and the difficulty of determining the accent depending on the meaning of words for a foreign audience, we could take the story “Why” by Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska, whose work demonstrates a high level of culture of written speech and deserves consideration in the Ukrainian philology curriculum for foreigners, demonstrating the beauty and the power of the Ukrainian word, the philosophy of the heart and freedom of our people. The Ukrainian accentuation system is based on the Middle Transdnieper dialects in the South-East dialect, which have become accepted in Ukrainian literature. To study the Ukrainian accent effectively, it’s essential to outline the general regularities of the accent system for foreign speakers at the beginning stage. They need to explain that there is a literary standard to which we strive and whose rules we try to adhere to, and there are dialect features that sometimes differ from the literary norm and become identifiers of the speaker’s belonging to a certain social or dialect group. It is also important to teach the stress system of the Ukrainian language, analyzing as many texts as possible to distinguish between different lexical and grammatical forms, the forms of which are identified by stress. In addition, a foreigner should be aware that the normalization of the Ukrainian literary accent is ongoing, which is connected with the existence of parallel variants of the accentuation of words and the presence in everyday linguistic practice of developed and fixed national variants – doublets, which blur the accent system, because they do not show a tendency to distinguish meaning words, but only “encumber”.
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: Near-misses are a structural characteristic of gambling products that can be engineered within modern digital games. Over a series of preregistered experiments using an online slot machine simulation, we investigated the impact of near-miss outcomes on subjective ratings (motivation, valence) and two behavioral measures (speed of gambling, bet size). METHOD: = 172) measured bet size as a function of the previous trial outcome. RESULTS: In Study 1a, near-misses increased the motivation to continue gambling relative to full-misses, supporting Hypothesis 1. On valence ratings, near-misses were rated significantly more positively than full-misses, in the opposite direction to Hypothesis 2; this effect was confirmed in a close replication (Study 1b). In Study 2, participants gambled faster following near-misses relative to full-misses, supporting Hypothesis 3. In Study 3, participants significantly increased their bet size following near-misses relative to full-misses, supporting Hypothesis 4. CONCLUSION: Across all dependent variables, near-miss outcomes yielded statistically significant differences from objectively equivalent full-miss outcomes, corroborating the "near-miss effect" across both subjective and behavioral measures, and in the environment of online gambling. The unexpected findings on valence ratings are considered in terms of boundary conditions for the near-miss effect, and competing theoretical accounts based on frustration/regret, goal generalization, and skill acquisition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The topicality of undertaken research is determined by the constantly changing social norms in modern society, which are reflected in the cinematographic world. Cinematography provides a golden opportunity to consider and analyze a range of unique linguistic phenomena. The major purpose of the present paper is to study the phenomenon of dysphemisation in the English-speaking film space based on the set of the following films in English: Green Book by the American film director, Peter J. Farrelly, the screen adaptation of the autobiography 12 Years a Slave by Terrence S. McQueen, the well-known film The Help by Tate Taylor and the biographical drama Hidden Figures by Theodore Melfi. In the films the main storyline is generally based on the aspect of discrimination against persons of certain racial backgrounds and women, based on the policy of the United States of America during the infamous period of slavery (XVII–XIX centuries) and the historical era of segregation (XIX–XX centuries). During the study theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis) and empirical methods (observation and description) were used. As a result of the conducted study, the classification of dysphemistic lexical units was determined in terms of author’s intentions (dysphemisms with an emphasis on a different skin color; dysphemisms-comparisons with animals, plants and inanimate objects; dysphemisms-designations of social status; dysphemisms expressing gender discrimination), as well as their role and reason for use in the selected set of films – demonstration of a biased, cruel attitude towards recipients and also a reflection of the socio-cultural environment that encompassed US society during the historical time period under study.
This chapter seeks to illuminate hidden practices in simultaneous interpreting of xenophobic speeches in the European Parliament. While xenophobic rhetoric has become increasingly normalized in politics, the issue remains largely unaddressed in conference interpreter training and practice where norms such as the conduit model are still being adhered to. This is why, the chapter argues, xenophobic rhetoric poses specific challenges to conference interpreters, who use different sets of strategies that influence target texts. Taking a corpus of 22 xenophobic plenary speeches in German and their simultaneous interpretations into English, French, and Hungarian as case studies, this chapter explores hidden strategies employed by simultaneous interpreters in the face of xenophobic rhetoric. The speeches were given by right-wing extremist MEPs between 2014 and 2018. The integrative method used for the corpus analysis combines Jäger’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Hoey’s concept of lexical priming. Specifically, framing strategies pertinent to xenophobic discourse are triangulated with linguistic features elucidated from source-target text and target-target-text comparisons, most prominently vocabulary choices and collocations. The study shows that the interpreters use a variety of strategies that result in the xenophobic force of the utterance being toned down in some instances and strengthened in others. Two opposing trends emerge: the Hungarian booth’s tendency towards emphasizing the message and the French booth’s tendency towards mitigating it.
In this paper we present PARSEME-AR, the first openly available Arabic corpus manually annotated for Verbal Multiword Expressions (VMWEs). The annotation process is carried out based on guidelines put forward by PARSEME, a multilingual project for more than 26 languages. The corpus contains 4749 VMWEs in about 7500 sentences taken from the Prague Arabic Dependency Treebank. The results notably show a high degree of discontinuity in Arabic VMWEs in comparison to other languages in the PARSEME suite. We also propose analyses of interesting and challenging phenomena encountered during the annotation process. Moreover, we offer the first benchmark for the VMWE identification task in Arabic, by training two state-of-the-art systems, on our Arabic data.
Summary. Introduction. The formation of Ukraine as an independent state is associated with the sea and the maritime industry, and therefore the study of the maritime terminology system, its compliance with international terminological norms, acquires state significance. In this regard, the problem of a deep and comprehensive study of the term system of the maritime industry is not only an urgent and demanded scientific direction, but also a necessary condition for its development. Purpose. Substantiate certain processes of terminology of verbal and non-verbal parameters in Ukrainian maritime terminology. Methods. In order to comprehensively study the Ukrainian maritime terminology used: 1) the method of continuous sampling; 2) the method of component analysis, which is aimed at improving and refining vocabulary definitions of marine terms; 3) structural method, in combination with distributive analysis (used to define and describe the semantic structure of marine terms); 4) the method of word-formation analysis (used to establish the mechanism of word formation and its place in the vocabulary of the language); 5) structural-morphological approach (used to clarify the structure of derivative terms and to determine the basic models of term formation); 6) modeling method (used to determine the term formation of various structural models); 7) comparative method, which is based on the identification of common and distinctive features of verbal and nonverbal dimensions in the term formation of Ukrainian maritime terminology; 8) comparative-historical method, which is based on the history of the Ukrainian language and the development and formation of Ukrainian maritime terminology, determines the linguistic and cultural specifics of its formation; 9) general scientific methods are also used: observation, generalization, classification. Results. The study analyzes the functioning of the Ukrainian maritime terminology in terms of origin and use; the semantic meaning of the terms is highlighted; the semantic method of terminology is considered, in particular, the semantic transformations of metaphor and metonymy, as well as the processes of terminology, reterminology and determinology; the importance of the morphemic way of forming the term is noted; highlighted the structural features of the formation of one-component and multicomponent terms; substantiates the meaning of abbreviated processes in the functioning of terms; the terminological components of verbal and non-verbal components in the Ukrainian maritime terminology are considered. Originality. The novelty of the study is that for the first time the processes of creation of Ukrainian maritime terms are characterized at the structural and functional level; their verbal and nonverbal dimensions are thoroughly considered. Conclusion. Ukrainian maritime terminology is an integral part of the Ukrainian lexical system, and it is characterized by the same processes that occur in the literary language: some terms go out of use, new ones appear, some are radically changed, rethought. The maritime industry in Ukraine is constantly and dynamically developing, a large number of new maritime terms appear. Understanding the processes of formation of terms in Ukrainian maritime terminology is an indicator of the socio-economic, cultural and scientific development of society and indicates a high level of its development, its mobility and consistency.
ввиду высокой пластичности языковой нормы вопрос о способах перевода фразеологических, стилистически окрашенных и лексически сниженных речевых выражений всегда остаётся актуальным. Истоки таких средств языка находятся в области гносеологии, когда говорящему не только необходимо найти наименование вещи, но и выразить своё эмоционально-оценочное суждение. В процессе этого акта происходит образное переосмысление, т.е. отход от буквального значения в ходе семантического сдвига. Просторечные глагольные фразеологические единицы, образованные от нейтральных лексем литературного стандарта, обычно принадлежат к просторечной лексике. Зачастую имея аналог в литературном стандарте, они характеризуются стилистической сниженностью. Определение стилистической сниженности может быть осуществлено посредством комплексного метода стилистической идентификации. Также просторечные глагольные фразеологизмы могут обозначать процессы и действия, которые не имеют обозначения в литературном стандарте. Их можно квалифицировать как окказиональные, так как они не зафиксированы лексикографически и являются индивидуальными речевыми комплексами, образованными по тем же лексико-семантическим моделям, что и фразеологизмы, зафиксированные в словаре. Фразеологизмы субстандартного слоя лексики в качестве основной имеют экспрессивную функцию, а номинативная функция вторична. Окказиональные просторечные глагольные фразеологические единицы являются экспрессивным средством и отличаются более высокой степенью экспрессивности, чем узуальные. due to the high plasticity of the linguistic norm, the question of how to translate phraseological, stylistically colored and lexically reduced speech expressions always remains relevant. The origins of such means of language are in the field of epistemology, when the speaker not only needs to find the name of a thing, but also express his emotional and evaluative judgment. In the process of this act, there is a figurative reinterpretation, i.e. a departure from the literal meaning in the course of a semantic shift. Colloquial verbal phraseological units formed from neutral lexemes of the literary standard usually belong to the colloquial vocabulary. Often having an analogue in the literary standard, they are characterized by stylistic leniency. The definition of stylistic reduction can be carried out through a comprehensive method of stylistic identification. Also, colloquial verbal phraseological units can denote processes and actions that do not have a designation in the literary standard. They can be qualified as occasional, since they are not fixed lexicographically and are individual speech complexes formed according to the same lexico-semantic models as the phraseological units recorded in the dictionary. Phraseological units of the substandard vocabulary layer have an expressive function as the main one, and the nominative function is secondary. Occasional colloquial verbal phraseological units are an expressive means and have a higher degree of expressiveness than conventional ones.
Abstract Semantic dimensions such as context availability, imageability and valence, form core components of many theoretical accounts of lexical processing. Typically, normative data for such semantic dimensions are drawn from subjective ratings, however, questions have been raised regarding the reliability and validity of these ratings. In this paper, we discuss this issue with a focus on context availability norms. Using data collected for another study, we show that context availability ratings required significantly higher rates of data exclusions at the level of both participants and items compared to other variables. In addition, high standard deviations at the item level, indicated a substantial degree of disagreement between participants. This suggested that some participants may have had difficulty understanding the concept of context availability which hindered their ability to complete the ratings. We provide recommendations for future research focusing on context availability and for norm collection procedures more broadly in order that the validity of such norms can be improved. In particular, we suggest that clear guidelines are required for data cleaning in order that the reliability of such norms is maximised and to facilitate replication across studies.
International integration and globalization are among the decisive factors in increasing the demand for knowledge of foreign languages. International exams and tests provide the opportunity to confirm proficiency in foreign language communicative competencies. In particular, Russian as a foreign language can be difficult even for foreigners who speak it confidently. The object of scientific interest is lexical interference as a result of the imposition of the Russian and Spanish systems on each other due to the erroneous identification of units of the lexical fund by native speakers of Spanish, due to a lack of knowledge about accepted language norms and lexical compatibility, as well as due to insufficient methodological support for the maintenance and development of productive type of speech activity. Writing is one of the most difficult tasks when preparing for the TORFL, as it requires a large vocabulary and the ability to select and find words for a certain style and other speech conditions. Our study provides an analysis of written statements on various topics by foreign students, native Spanish speakers, of high levels in order to determine interference features at the lexical level. Based on the results obtained, primary methodological recommendations are provided for overcoming the issue under consideration and the development of lexical-semantic competencies of the target audience.
The issue of literacy challenges among dyslexic adults remains a significant concern. This study investigates spelling deficits among highly educated adults with dyslexia learning a transparent orthography. Thirty-eight Italian dyslexic university students were examined and compared to a group of age- and education-matched typical readers. Firstly, we analyzed spelling performance using a Passage Dictation Test. Additionally, lists of words varying in length and word frequency were dictated under two experimental conditions: a normal condition (NC) and an articulatory suppression condition (ASC). The ASC assessed the participants' ability to spell with interference to the phonological (sublexical) spelling procedure, i.e., the most likely compensated spelling strategy of Italian dyslexic spellers. The results clearly indicated that, in spelling the meaningful passage, dyslexic participants underperformed compared to the controls, with a prevalence of lexical errors, despite the comparison with the normative reference data showing only mild spelling difficulties. In spelling isolated words in normal conditions, dyslexic participants performed within the reference norms and as accurately as control participants across all stimuli (short words, high- and low-frequency words), except for long words, where their spelling difficulties were evident. Articulatory suppression significantly impaired dyslexics' performance on short stimuli, reducing the usual sublexical advantage associated with them, and exacerbated misspellings on long words. Additionally, articulatory suppression disproportionately affected dyslexics' performance on high-frequency words, diminishing the typical lexical advantage associated with these words. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical, clinical, and educational implications.
Meaning is a central concept in Translation Studies because translations are supposed to offer meaning. However, the notion of ‘meaning’ is not unambiguous. The reflection on how to deal with meaning in translation began during Roman times, when translation was used to enrich the Latin language on the level of words. Further on, the topics of precision in the rendering of meaning and the general bases of linguistics were discussed. Translation Studies as an academic discipline, with the development of a series of formalised translation theories, became established only after the Second World War, especially from the 1970s onwards. Looking at the development of translation theories, we can discern a movement of scholarly perspectives from observing language and linguistic units, over the pragmatic activity and social contexts of communication, towards the acting translators themselves. The analysis moved from the transfer of the language structure (lexical units, sentences, paragraphs), over form and style (genre, literal virtuosity, register) to pragmatics (rhetoric, text function, speech acts). Meaning in texts is determined by the content such as information, reference, technicality, and by the ideological setting, for example political positioning, discourses, values, cultural norms.
Currently, the main task of academic lyceum students in teaching English is to acquire the skills of speaking or participating in speech communication in accordance with the phonetic, grammatical, and lexical norms of the language. Along with orthography, correct pronunciation is also important in mastering la
The article deals with the study of terms and terminology in the modern linguistics. The process of terms studying is now in the stage of active development, since the integration processes in the world directly affect the penetration of lexical units from one language into another. The realization of the intellectual potential of the people in the field of industrial and professional communication is inextricably linked with the improvement of engineering and design thought. The study of specialized terminology, processes of scientific nomination in the engineering and technical sphere, reproduction of scientific and technical achievements by own word-forming resources will certainly contribute to the formation and maintenance of modern high-tech processes. Scientific and technical texts relate to the scientific style and find application in the fields of scientific activity, scientific and technological progress of society, education and training. The study is based on the use of materials of scientific and technical literature specialized in certain fields of science and technology. Terminology units are the object of study of terminology as a field of knowledge. In general, they can be described from three points of view. In terms of linguistics, terms are lexical units of language that carry specialized information when used in certain pragmatic and discursive contexts. This specialized information ensures the transmission of an accurate value that is generally accepted among a particular community of professionals in each industry. From the point of view of cognitive science, terms are conceptual units that represent the necessary and relevant nodes of knowledge in the content structure of a particular field, which are transmitted at the linguistic level by lexical units. The totality of all conceptual spheres forms the conceptual structure of the industry. For specialists, the concept is a starting point in terminological work, while for translators it is only an intermediate instance between the original term and its equivalent in the target language. Thus, the first function of terms is the representation of specialized knowledge. Linguistic, cognitive and communicative dimensions are inseparable in a holistic, holistic description of terms. At the present stage, it is possible to trace five approaches (formal; ethnographic; conservative; international; measured) to solving one of the key problems for the formation of Ukrainian terminology - the problem of classifying terminology. Terms should be marked by accuracy, motivation, uniformity, compliance with the rules and norms of a particular language etc. Each scientific term has a definition that clearly outlines, limits its meaning. Among the lexical transformations used in the translation of terms, it can also be effective to use the following methods: transcoding comprising transcription, transliteration, mixed transcoding, adaptive transcoding; compression; loan translation; explications i.e. descriptive translation; concretization or specification and generalization. Terminology should not be confused with translation studies; terminology work consists in establishing terminology equivalents, that is, lexical units, which are used by specialists, communicating in the target language; the essence of translation studies is the most accurate reproduction of the original units of text by means of the target language. The essence of translation studies is the most accurate reproduction of the original units of text by means of the target language. The term has its own "proper" invariant meaning and performs the function of a semantic differential in various terms. This function should be preserved and accurately transferred to the target language by using the translation tools and own creative initiative and ability of the translator.
This study explores the phonetic and lexical adaptations of German loanwords in English, emphasizing their role in enriching English vocabulary and fostering cultural exchange. By examining phonetic adjustments, such as changes in consonant and vowel sounds, and lexical transformations that include semantic shifts, the study highlights how loanwords adapt to align with English phonological and conceptual norms. This research underscores the significance of loanwords as agents of linguistic and cultural interconnectedness, showcasing how language evolves to reflect social and intellectual ties between English- and German-speaking communities.
The paper provides a semantic analysis of expressive vocabulary that reflects the ideas of the Russian-language speakers about drinking alcohol. The material of the study are colloquial words and idioms expressing emotional / psychological attitude of the speakers to different referents of the alcohol consumption situation (that is: the process of drinking, the drinker himself, the alcoholic beverage, the state of intoxication, etc.). The authors study expressive units used by representatives of different social strata, including such units found in fiction, colloquial language, slang, vulgar speech. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on the works of N. A. Lukyanova, T. V. Matveyeva, V. N. Teliya and other Russian linguists, where expressiveness is defined as a lexical category associated with the emotional-evaluative attitude of the speaker to the phenomena of reality and manifested in the connotative part of the lexical meaning of the expressive word. This study is the first to provide an analysis of the two semantic components of the ‘alcohol consumption’ vocabulary – intensity and emotional evaluation. It has been established that the intensity of the expressive vocabulary in question correlates with the deviation from the socially approved norm of drinking and the subsequent state of intoxication; this vocabulary manifests both negative and positive evaluation of the referents. The authors underline the influence of context on the emotional connotation of an expressive word and the consequent difficulty of interpreting expressive words (positively or negatively), describe the contextual means that make it possible to identify the emotional connotation of the used expressive. The authors come to a conclusion that a large number of expressive lexical units in narrations about drinking alcohol indicate their relevance to the speech behavior of native speakers of the Russian language. This confirms the expediency of further study of collective and individual perceptions of alcohol consumption present in the Russian-language linguistic worldview.
Infants' early words tend to be phonologically similar. This may reflect a systematic approach to early production, as they adapt newly acquired forms to fit familiar structures in the output. This "rich-get-richer" approach to phonological acquisition, known as preferential attachment in network science, proposes that new words cluster together with existing phonologically similar words in the lexicon (or network). This contrasts with recent work (e.g., Fourtassi et al., 2020) showing that the learning environment is the key predictor of learning (preferential acquisition). This study expands on previous analyses of vocabulary norm data to analyze naturalistic data, namely phonetic transcriptions of nine infants' word productions, from word onset to age 2;6. Network growth models test whether (a) acquisition is best modeled through preferential attachment or preferential acquisition, (b) the trajectory of network growth changes over time, and (c) there are any differences in network growth of adult target forms versus infants' actual productions. Results show that preferential attachment predicts acquisition of new words more convincingly than preferential acquisition: newly acquired words are phonologically similar to existing words in the network. Furthermore, systematicity becomes increasingly apparent over the course of acquisition, and infants produce their early words more systematically than we would expect from looking at target forms alone. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Do early effects of predictability in visual word recognition reflect prediction error? Electrophysiological research investigating word processing has demonstrated predictability effects in the N1, or first negative component of the event-related potential (ERP). However, findings regarding the magnitude of effects and potential interactions of predictability with lexical variables have been inconsistent. Moreover, past studies have typically used categorical designs with relatively small samples and relied on by-participant analyses. Nevertheless, reports have generally shown that predicted words elicit less negative-going (i.e., lower amplitude) N1s, a pattern consistent with a simple predictive coding account. In our preregistered study, we tested this account via the interaction between prediction magnitude and certainty. A picture-word verification paradigm was implemented in which pictures were followed by tightly matched picture-congruent or picture-incongruent written nouns. The predictability of target (picture-congruent) nouns was manipulated continuously based on norms of association between a picture and its name. ERPs from 68 participants revealed a pattern of effects opposite to that expected under a simple predictive coding framework.
While interest in intraindividual variation has grown in recent sociolinguistic research, relatively few studies tackle this type of variation from a historical perspective. This chapter expands on available approaches by focusing on a text type that is rarely studied in historical sociolinguistic research, namely, personal chronicles. Three linguistic variables (e-apocope in feminine nouns, e-apocope in plural nouns, and ge-aphaeresis in participles) in a handwritten, 19th-century chronicle by an Austrian winegrower are analysed with respect to sociolinguistic variationist patterns. These patterns of variation are contextualised with the wider norms of usage at the time as evidenced in printed texts, in which Upper German forms were typically avoided earlier. The results from the statistical analyses show that, apart from lexically conditioned variation, intraindividual differences in the chronicle are found primarily based on discourse mode, pointing to stylistic variation. Intralinguistic factors, by contrast, are relevant to a lesser extent.
Objectives The purpose of the paper was to analyze two speech acts (compliment and compliment response) in high school English textbooks and to find whether they were presented authentically and accurately according to L2 pragmatic norms. Methods Compliments in 8 differing textbooks were analyzed in terms of three aspects of compliment (syntactic structures, lexicals and topics), and compliment responses in textbooks were categorized according to four types of response (acceptance, amendment, rejection and non-acknowledgement). Then the analyzed compliments and compliment responses were compared with those acts made by English native speakers. Results Compliments in textbooks heavily relied on specific syntactic structures, used a variety of adjectives rather than a limited set of adjectives, and focused more on personality than physical appearance as compliment topics, which showed clear differences from what English native speakers do in their performance of compliments. Also unlike native speakers who prefer acceptance by responding positively to compliments, compliment responses in textbooks over-used non-acceptance strategies through refusal or non-acknowledgement. Conclusions Given these results, English textbooks should be developed based only on pragmatic norms of target language speakers, not intuitions or L1 knowledge of textbook developers.
Each language harbours historical, cultural, and social connotations, contributing to the layers of meaning within the narrative. Sociolinguistics studies how language and society interact, a topic covered in various literary works that examine dialects, the intricacies of communication, and the impact of language on individuals and groups. The study of language interacts with social factors, and sociolinguistics is the intersection of linguistics and sociology. Sociolinguistics, a multidisciplinary field, provides a rich framework for comprehending language dynamics in various social contexts. This study aims to investigate the representation of critical elements such as register, polyglossia, diglossia, code-switching, lexical borrowing, bilingualism, trilingualism, code-switching, and language planning in literary narratives. Through closely examining selected novels, this paper investigates how authors employ linguistic diversity as a narrative tool, mirroring societal norms, cultural identities, power dynamics, and intergroup communication. This research aims to contribute to a more in-depth understanding of language's role in shaping fictional worlds and reflecting real-world linguistic complexities by investigating the interplay between sociolinguistic concepts and literary expression.
While the concepts of ‘standard’ and ‘Koine’ have become central in current discussions of language variation and change in the Classical and especially Post-classical periods, they are surrounded by confusion. In this contribution, I propose to supplement a Koine/standard-based approach by focusing on linguistic norms: while linguistic norms have received some attention in current scholarly work, the different methods to retrieve them have not been explicitly compared, and they have not been based on a firm theoretical understanding of the concept of ‘norm’. On the basis of a new norm typology, I show that the different methods that can be used to retrieve linguistic norms do not overlap: they retrieve different types of norms. Rather than preferring one approach over the other, I suggest that future research may invest in a combined approach.
This paper aims to reflect the difficulties students have in spelling the vowels of the Albanian language. The unified spelling of a language, in our case the Albanian language, is an expression of the crystallization of the national literary norm in all the main links of the phonetic, grammatical, word-forming and lexical structure. It reflects the current state and general trends of the development of our literary language. Given that the basic principle of Albanian spelling is the phonetic principle and seeing the constant spelling errors of Albanian speakers in the use of vowels, we conducted research with primary school students in rural areas, to see the most common errors frequency in vowel spelling. Our goal was to see the differences between students whose parents have primary education and those with higher education. Through this research we have also seen the reasons that lead to the impossibility of writing correctly and how the vowels should be written in different words. Our hypothesis is that children of parents with primary education make more mistakes in vowel spelling than children of parents with high education. We have conducted the research through the theoretical, comparative method, distribution of questionnaires and data analysis. The results have shown that parents' education does not affect children's knowledge of spelling. Received: 27 August 2024 / Accepted: 28 October 2024 / Published: 05 November 2024
This sociolinguistic study explored the significance of language preservation through the use of indigenous forms of address by the Vhavenḓa in South Africa. Indigenous forms of address are integral to the language and cultural identity of a society. Furthermore, they are indispensable in the preservation of the language and culture of any society. Ignoring the use of these forms of address can lead to language shift or even extinction. This study utilised face-to-face semi-structured interviews to gather and analyse data. The researchers sampled 22 Tshivenḓa L1 participants, 14 youths, and eight elders. The study used the ethnopragmatic theory as its framework. This theory helped the researchers to understand the use of forms of address within the Tshivenḓa cultural scripts, such as cultural norms and values. The findings revealed that using forms of address is pivotal in preserving the Tshivenḓa language. The language will be preserved if lexical items, such as aa, nndaa, and mboloma, are used for greeting. The Vhavenḓa speech community is found in the Limpopo Province in South Africa; the term “Vhavenḓa” refers to people who speak Tshivenḓa, while Tshivenḓa refers to the language and culture of these people. The study recommends that Indigenous Tshivenḓa forms of address should be included in school syllabuses and aired on television and radio programmes. In this way, the Tshivenḓa language can be prevented from shifting or dying, as its disappearance may have dire consequences for its development as a language.
Introduction. The archived Oirat-language (in Clear Script) letters by Khan Ayuka are also available in their synchronic Russian translations. The seventeenth-eighteenth communication practices could involve oral messages to be transmitted to the addressee by the envoy, and such message would be openly indicated in the letter. To date, this aspect of correspondence has received no special attention, despite the specified structural and substantive element of official Kalmyk narratives — and related translations — is important enough as a marker of records management norms inherent to that era. Goals. The article seeks to identify peculiarities of certain linguistic patterns employed to express there are (were) additional data to be delivered orally — both in a Kalmyk text and its translation. The work shall also consider the practice of including such oral messages into synchronic Russian translations. Materials. The study examines a total of 236 letters (and their translations) by Khan Ayuka from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and Kalmykia’s National Archive dated between 1665 and 1724. The identified scope of official texts contains 41 mentions of oral messages. Results. In Clear Script texts and their synchronic Russian translations, mentions of additionally available messages to be delivered orally are articulated with standard formulas that however do not exclude some lexical and grammatical variability. Oral messages of Khan Ayuka would be regularly included into their Russian translations after 1716, which attests to a gradual change in standard procedures for Clear Script letters, further improvement of records management processes in general — and translation processes in particular. The recorded oral parts may repeat the data given in the letter, explain reasons behind the request contained therein, or essentially supplement the written message. The markers of such once oral fragments are the colloquial particle de, passive constructions, and set formulas that precede any written record of the messenger’s oral speech. Such written narratives may contain graphic indications of thematic sections, the latter’s numerical designations, and confirming signatures of the messenger proper.
This study investigates the intricate relationship between language and gender norms, exploring how linguistic structures reflect and reinforce societal gender expectations. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines quantitative analysis of linguistic corpora with qualitative insights from interviews and discourse analysis. Key findings reveal a growing acceptance of gender-neutral pronouns in English, particularly among younger generations, while entrenched gender biases persist in languages with grammatical gender systems, such as French and Spanish. The study also highlights how lexical choices often associate leadership and strength with male subjects, reinforcing traditional gender roles. Practical recommendations for promoting gender equality through language include advocating for gender-neutral language policies, increasing public awareness, and encouraging media to challenge gender stereotypes. The research concludes by suggesting further avenues for investigation, including cross-linguistic studies, historical analyses, and exploring the impact of language reforms on societal attitudes.
This article analyzes lexicosemantic processes in contemporary Ukrainian scientific texts against the backdrop of general Slavic trends in literary norms. It traces the activation of rarely used vocabulary, the reactivation of obsolete terms, determinologization, the broadening of the meaning of specialized terms, and the functioning of foreign language lexical units. The article highlights word-formation tendencies in scientific style, taking into account the internal laws and potential capabilities of the Ukrainian language. In terms of stylistic norms, the study has identified excessive expressivity in texts due to the use of linguistic elements that are atypical for scientific discourse, such as colloquialisms, neologisms, and slang.
The peculiarities of the Ukrainian translation of verbs that introduce direct speech in the texts of works of British fiction are clarified in the article. The texts of the Ukrainian translations of Jonathan Stroud’s «Lockwood & Co.» series of novels are analyzed by the author. It was found out that the problem of semantic and stylistic interpretation of direct speech and the selection of verbs that introduce direct speech when translating English works of fiction into Ukrainian is a constantly relevant one and causes active discussions among translation experts, linguists and critics. In particular, there are significant differences in the opinions of scientists regarding the expediency and legality of using lexical substitutions to specify verbs when translating into Ukrainian. While some researchers believe that translators do not sufficiently use the synonymous variety of the Ukrainian language in order to diversify it and emphasize the artistic text, other translation experts and critics are convinced that such translation substitutions are unacceptable changes to the original artistic text and demonstrate an incorrect the translator’s approach to their work. Thus, translation techniques, which some scholars consider to be successful and creative tools that help to align the original text with the norms of Ukrainian stylistics, others consider to be a serious violation and unlawful distortion of the original author’s artistic work. It has been proved that the second approach is typical for researchers from Western countries, which is largely caused by the peculiarities of cultures and, as a result, is reflected in the norms of western European languages.
This study adopts a multimodal approach to critical discourse analysis to unpack the discourses embedded in the performance of hyper-feminine bimbo identities on TikTok. Guided by a social semiotic approach to language, this study analyses a corpus of 16 short-form videos published by self-proclaimed ‘bimbos’ on TikTok, focusing on the lexical and iconographical choices of these texts and how they function contextually to signal broader discourses. This analysis reveals that TikTok influencers frequently reinforce hegemonic norms of gender by incorporating bodily signifiers of patriarchal Eurocentric ideals of femininity and linking signifiers of overconsumption and hyper-femininity in their performance of a bimbo identity. Simultaneously, they contest these hegemonic norms by juxtaposing hyper-feminine images with critiques of patriarchal, Eurocentric, and capitalist structures of inequality. Ultimately, the subversive potential of these representations is ambivalent; there is a marked tension between their stated aims of inclusion and empowerment and the intersection of hyper-femininity with privilege.
Philosophy traditionally deals with such lexicalized concepts as WISDOM, VIRTUE, REASON, WORLD VIEW, INFINITE UNIVERSE, and PHILOSOPHY. They trigger interest in philosophy particularly because they are hard to understand and explain. It is all the more surprising that many contemporary philosophers focus on such concepts as DOG, CHAIR, and FLIGHT to build their theories and provide examples. The article argues that to preserve topical equilibrium and avoid methodological problems, both classes of concepts should be involved in philosophical theorization and exemplification. The first part critically discusses attempts at identifying these classes as ordinary vs. big (Gauker), empirical vs. pure (Kant), and concrete vs. abstract (contemporary psycholinguistics). It introduces the opposite pair simple empirical vs. complex demanding concepts as an alternative heuristic tool to evaluate concepts. The second part elaborates on the concept of concept and structural similarities between the two classes of concepts in semantic and 'onomantic' perspectives. The third part shows that despite structural similarities, such factors as the availability of empirical data, identification of the referent, historical and theoretical loadedness, complexity, and demandingness indicate that simple empirical and complex demanding concepts should be addressed in different ways. The final part elaborates on the notion of topical equilibrium as a philosophical method and norm and discusses two further examples (COW and ARTHRITIS) from contemporary debates in conceptual engineering.
Abstract Background The recently designed Word-in-noise Perception (WINP) test is a new technique for examining lexical-semantic scores by homotonic-monosyllabic words (HMWs) and white noise, which assesses auditory brain function in speech consonant detection. It is necessary to have a test that creates the best competitive conditions for evaluating meaning perception. Therefore, this study aimed to design a WINP test for adults using HMWs and spectrum speech noise (SSN). Methodology: This study was a test-development type that was conducted in a cross-sectional-comparative way, it included 110 young Persian speakers (61 men and 49 women) with mean age of 20 (0.56) years. The evaluations included checking the state of general health, sleep and mental states, basic audiological evaluations, dichotic digit test and WINP test using HMWs and SNN. HMWs consisted of 6 lists of 25 words with a vowel/consonant/vowel pattern, the words in each list have the same vowel. The content validity of HMWs was confirmed by 20 Persian language experts and calculated using content and index validity ratios. Its reliability was measured based on repeatability in test times, intraclass correlation coefficient and the comparison of HMWs scores in two repetitions. To calculate the norm values, the number of correct responses in the mean measurements was multiplied by 4 and expressed as a percentage. Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the scores of the groups. Results The validity and reliability of WINP test using HMWs and SSN were determined. Mean CVR and mean CVI of the HMWs were equal to 0.99 and to 0.95 respectively. ICC in single and mean measurements were also calculated. An ICC close to 1 indicates greater validity of WPS and better consistency of HMWs across lists. The results showed that the obtained scores are stable and without measurement errors. Normal values of WINP test using HMWs and SSN were gotten, which were 54%, 69%, 82%, 90% and 94% at SNRs of -5, 0, + 5, +10, and + 15 dB, respectively. The variable of gender was not an effective factor for creating a difference in the mean scores of WINP test using HMWs and SSN (P = 0.989). There was no significant difference between WINP mean scores in SNR in different noises between the right and left ears. Also, there was significant difference between mean scores of WINP in SNRs from − 5 to + 15 for left and right ears. Conclusion Psychometric properties of the WINP test using HMWs and SNN have been confirmed for Persian speaking adults.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The conditioned-intrusion paradigm was designed to provide insight into the relationship between fear conditioning and intrusive memory formation, which is relevant to understanding posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and treatment. However, boundary conditions of this new paradigm have not been explored and it is currently not known whether findings from this work are valid in a clinical context. METHODS: In the current study, we explored the relationship between stress reactivity to trauma film clips, usual exposure to violent media, renewal of fear conditioning using skin conductance as well as subjective ratings, and the effect of shock versus film clip during conditioning on the frequency of intrusive memories. An adapted fear conditioning paradigm using trauma clips as unconditional stimuli was used, and participants subsequently reported intrusive memories of the trauma clips. RESULTS: Skin conductance responses to conditioned stimuli paired with shocks and film clips were significantly higher than conditioned stimuli paired with film clips alone. Subjective stress reactivity, previous exposure to violent media, and film valence rating were associated with the frequency of intrusive memories. No aspects of fear conditioning were associated with intrusive memories, and factor analysis suggested the fear conditioning and stress related to film clip viewing were mostly separate constructs. Similarly, content and triggers of intrusive memories were usually film-clip related rather than conditional stimulus related. LIMITATIONS: We did not observe strong conditioning effects of the unconditional stimuli to conditional stimuli, which were shapes rather than high frequency stimuli such as faces. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide potential boundary conditions for this paradigm and suggest multiple ways in which the validity of the paradigm can be tested in the future.
This paper aims to demonstrate that, like the original author, a translator of children’s literature (hereafter CH. L.) possesses a distinct style or idiolect, shaped by both linguistic and extralinguistic expectations. The study focuses on the first three books of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, translated into Albanian by Amik Kasoruho, who is renowned for his contributions to the translation of classic adult literature. Given the study’s scope, the analysis will concentrate exclusively on Kasoruho’s creative use of the lexicon in the Albanian translation. Both internal and external factors are considered to identify and analyze translator Kasoruho’s idiolect at the lexical level. Internally, sentences containing words and phrases with common patterns (e.g., archaic terms, dialectal expressions, phraseological units, substandard words) are selected from the target text. These are compared with their counterparts in the source text to determine whether such patterns reflect the author’s style or the translator’s linguistic preferences. Externally, these lexical clusters are assessed against the norms of children’s literature translation (Ch. L. T.) to ascertain whether the translator adhered to or deviated from these norms. The findings suggest that the translator’s linguistic idiosyncrasies significantly influence the translation process.
Although several studies have dealt with the use of derogatory terms on social media, only few compared the phenomenon across languages from a sociocultural aspect. This study used a mixed-method comparative analysis of 920 Arabic and English abusive tweets. The researchers used content analysis to annotate the tweets according to their type and severity. They also used qualitative thematic discourse analysis to interpret the linguistic themes. Furthermore, they used frequency analysis to statistically identify the most common targets and lexical items and to identify the sociolinguistic patterns behind them. The results reveal that Arabic tweets have higher frequencies of gender abusive terms, and they are more severe than the English ones. However, English showed greater reliance on vulgar terms because of cultural taboos. English communication was also dominated by implicit insults, while Arabic favored explicit offense in accordance with direct/indirect cultural values. Both languages used emojis intensively, but Arabic used more diverse registers within messages. Anonymity boosted prejudices for both languages. In conclusion, the difference in online toxicity between the languages is the result of linguistic differences and the cultural norms and the interaction between the two.
В статье ставится проблема анализа категории вежливости в лингвокультурном аспекте на материале учебной литературы. Коммуникативный подход в преподавании РКИ закономерно приводит к необходимости включения вежливых формул в базо- вый репертуар. Актуальность данного исследования обусловлена необходимостью проанализировать представленность категории вежливости на современном лексическом материале. Набор рече- вых клише, представленных в учебниках, для иностранных обу- чающихся стал материалом исследования. Проведенный анализ позволил отметить наиболее частотные речевые клише, а также выявить периферийные зоны, отличающиеся недостаточной сте- пенью экспликации категории вежливости. Отдельно отмечено отсутствие примеров невежливых формул, а также отсутствие комментариев, разъясняющих ошибкоопасные места, связанные с нарушением коммуникативных норм. This paper presents the problem of analyzing the category of politeness in the linguocultural aspect on the material of educational literature. The communicative approach in teaching Russian as a foreign language leads to include polite formulas in the textbooks. The relevance of this study connected with the need to analyze the representation of the category of politeness on the modern lexical material. The set of speech clichés presented in textbooks for foreign learners became the material of the study. The analysis made it possible to note the most frequent speech clichés, as well as to identify the peripheral zones characterized by an insufficient degree of politeness category expression. The absence of examples of impolite formulas, as well as the absence of comments explaining the error-prone places associated with the violation of communicative norms were also noted.
Through an historical overview beginning in the nineteenth century and running through the Cold War until the present, the chapter considers whether the Nordic Council of Ministers’ recent push to (re)package Nordic peace as a brand constitutes nothing more than terminological updating in line with contemporary lexical norms or whether it instead suggests potentially significant constitutive changes, in particular with respect to the role ideas of Nordic peace play in conceptions of Nordic self-identity. The chapter charts the emergence of Nordic self-understandings of the developing community as a ‘region of peace’ throughout the nineteenth century, to more projective ideas of Norden as a ‘region for peace’ during the Cold War and during which a discernible Nordic peace ‘brand’ emerged, through to the current period, increasingly characterised as it is by the overt, self-conscious and active ‘branding’ of Nordic peace. The chapter highlights that while Nordic peace has always had instrumentalist and geopolitical aspects to it, from the beginning, it has also had an emotional and affective component. It therefore explores the relationship between these elements and how the affective and emotional component has changed over time. At stake is not only whether ideas of Nordic peace are central to conceptions of Nordic self-identity but also how this relationship has evolved and may be in the process of transforming today.
In accordance with Article 35 of the Law on Languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), signs with the names of state and municipal institutions must contain information in the state languages of the republic: Russian and Yakut. The analysis of bilingual signs and the development of norms and rules for translating the nominations of the linguistic landscape in the Yakut language are especially relevant for the correct design of the texts of the signs of official authorities. The purpose of this article is to conduct a linguistic analysis of the texts of signs of state institutions of the Central District of Yakutsk. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were completed: 1) collection and processing of the material; 2) linguistic analysis of the texts of signs in the Yakut language to identify grammatical errors; 3) classification of errors into groups: a) graphic and spelling errors; b) lexical errors; c) syntactic errors and b) stylistic errors; 4) development of recommendations for correcting the texts of signs in the Yakut language. Research methods: data processing and analysis, comparison and description. The study showed that in the linguistic landscape of the Central District of Yakutsk, the main requirements of Article 35 of the Law on Languages of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) regarding the signs of official institutions are observed. Thus, most municipal educational institutions, government institutions, cultural, sports institutions, etc. of this district of Yakutsk have bilingual signs. The main reason for the mistakes made in the translation of official signs into the Yakut language is that the compilers of the Yakut texts do not observe the literary and usal norms of the modern Yakut language. The use of several variants of the names of institutions when translating the official signs of the Central District of Yakutsk shows the lack of a unified terminology in the Yakut language, which today is a problem of Yakut linguistics. The proposed correct translation can be used in the design or correction of bilingual signs of other institutions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
The article provides information about the norms of the Azerbaijani literary language, analyzes phonetic, lexical, grammatical and stylistic norms.It has been brought to attention that the literary language of Azerbaijan has a stable system of norms.National leader Heydar Aliyev said about the Azerbaijani language: "One of the main elements that determine the uniqueness of each nation is its language.The achievements of our nation in this field in the 20th century are highly commendable.We are proud that the Azerbaijani language, which is the state language of the independent Republic of Azerbaijan, has undergone great development over the past century, enriching its vocabulary, polishing its grammatical structure, and taking its rightful place among the languages of the world.Undoubtedly, as the culture of Azerbaijan develops, as the state of Azerbaijan improves and strengthens, the Azerbaijani language will become richer, become the language of more modern, more global, and more analytical thinking".