Language Corpora Research Articles

Геоинформационный веб-ресурс «Диалектный корпус бурятского языка»

The study aims to provide open access to structured and annotated sound data of the dialect corpus of the Buryat language. It was decided to present the corpus on the Web in the form of a geoinformation system with data binding to a digital map, since the territorial principle plays one of the leading roles in the classification of Buryat dialects. First, the programme of the speech corpus was compiled and sound recordings performed by informants - speakers of the dialects were obtained. The recorded material was segmented and annotated in the ELAN programme. The next step was to develop a programme that allows transferring data from ELAN format files to a relational database. To present data on the Internet, a web application was developed in the form of an interactive digital map based on Google Maps Platform. As a result, a web resource was created that provides users with access to audio dialect data presented in an annotated and structured form and displayed according to the geographic principle. Scientific novelty lies in introducing into scientific and public use materials of a fundamentally new type that make it possible to obtain information about the modern sound of Buryat dialects, as well as to conduct research on modern Buryat dialect speech.

Ритуальные приговоры и импровизированные возгласы-призывы джегуако в контексте свадебной обрядности адыгов (в рамках корпусных исследований адыгейского языка)

The collaborative team of the authors of the Adyghe State University created a folklore subcorpus of the Adyghe linguistic corpus, comprising more than 3000 words and word combinations drawn from archival sources and expeditionary materials recorded in the Republic of Adyghea and among the Circassians of Turkey. The Adyghe ritual incantations used in various ritual situations, weddings, and clan and family festivals, have been compiled into a separate collection. Here we consider two poetic forms of musically intoned and non- toned genres of the ritual folklore of the Adyghes: dzhegoklo tepch”ekher “ritual incantations of dzheguako” and dzheguako kladzhekher “extemporaneous invocation of dzheguako.” The formulas of ritual incantations are found to feature at least five thematic clichés. The invocations are systematized according to several criteria: by the addressee, semantic content, and structure (verbal and musical) by the concordance with the folk tune. The paper describes the subethnic differences in using invocations and their names. The semantic and construction formulas are identified, allowing non-intonated and musical-poetic exclamations to be transmitted to a new generation. The materials of the folklore sub-corpus of the linguistic corpus of the Adyghe language allowed new terms and concepts to be introduced into folklore studies: tepch”ekher “ritual incantation, ritual appeal to participants of the ceremony”; kladzhekher “improvisational invocations and appeals”; kledzheguakh’ “final coda of wedding ceremony”; k1ekuuakh’ (Bzhedughe, literally: “accompany with shouts”) “short rhythmic verbal cues, humorous remarks.” High ideals of traditional culture, especially the etiquette norms of interaction in the society, manifest themselves through dzhegoklo tepch”ekher and kladzhekher.

Сочетания в потоке + Р. п. и быть в потоке в современной русской речи

The article deals with the problem of metaphorical verbalization of the inner state of a person using the example of a non-predicative combination в потоке + Genitive and a predicative combination быть в потоке. Attention to the semantics of the lexeme поток (flow) and to the connotative features of these combinations is due to the high frequency of metaphorical use of the word поток and combinations like “Я в потоке” in the texts of modern media and social networks. The purpose of the article is to identify semantic features and connotative signs of combinations в потоке + Genitive and быть в потоке in the modern Russian speech. The research relies on component and contextual analysis. The work explicates the connotative semes of the noun поток, which are presented in its dictionary definitions; connotative semes that are actualized when using combinations в потоке + Genitive and быть в потоке in specific types of contexts are identified and analyzed on the data from the National Corpus of the Russian language. It is shown that the phenomenon поток in the Russian language consciousness is evaluated mainly negatively, which is expressed by certain lexical-semantic and morphological-syntactic language means that are regularly encountered in contexts.

Десемантизация как специфика обиходного общения

Introduction. The problem of desemantization in linguistics is considered from different sides: as a consequence of the development of the meaning of a word, as a phenomenon caused by the weakening of the nominative function, as a result of the influence of its lexical compatibility on the development of the meaning of a word. The relevance of the article is based on the lack of works devoted to various manifestations of the process of noun desemantization in modern colloquial speech. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of the semantic structure of names, the significativedenotative component of which is reduced in colloquial speech. Materials and methods. Russian dictionary definitions of a number of lexemes and a selection of texts including these nominations from the National Corpus of the Russian language served as the material. The following methods were used: component analysis, the method of definitional analysis of dictionary entries, the comparative method, and the method of contextual analysis. Analysis. Based on the collected material, the author identifies three groups of nouns with different types of desemantization, as a result of which special meanings are formed: a) a pronominal meaning, b) an independent evaluative meaning, on the basis of which a homonymous interjection can arise, c) a numerological meaning acting in unity with an emotional-evaluative one. The author reveals that the pronominal meaning or use is characterized by accentuation of the blurred designation of the subject of reality, attention to its general generic affiliation, indication of the subject, the presence of an antecedent or postcedent. In the second type of the desemantization process, the name has a pragmatic component as the apex of its meaning, and its significative-denotative component is located on the periphery. In the third form of the process of desemantization, a noun that has in its main meaning a component “a significant excess of standard characteristics” acquires diffuse semantics, in which both numerological and pragmatic components are present at the same time. Results. In general, the material allows the author to conclude that colloquial everyday communication is based on superficial knowledge, which is reflected in the various types and results of the desemantization process in the content of the presented noun groups.

МЕТАФОРИЧНІ СПОЛУКИ З КОМПОНЕНТОМ ВПАДАТИ В УКРАЇНСЬКІЙ ХУДОЖНІЙ ПРОЗІ XXI СТ.

The paper is devoted to the research of metaphorical compounds with the component “fall into” + X. The metaphorical expressions with the component “fall into” are classified according to the target sphere, and their frequency of use is determined. The research material consists of a subcorpus of Ukrainian fiction texts of the 21st century, created basing on the General Regionally Annotated Corpus of the Ukrainian language. The research methodology includes corpus-based methods, structural and semantic modelling, and quantitative/qualitative analysis. The research concludes that treating emotional concepts as containers is the way to categorize affects and emotional states. For example, REDUNDANCY, EXCITEMENT, and DELIGHT ARE CONTAINERS. Among the states, such emotional concepts as ANGER, DEPRESSION, HYSTERIA, PANIC, and INSANITY alongside with the concept HOPELESSNESS are also verbalised with the help of words denoting container. Based on quantitative frequency indicators, it was found out that the concept HOPELESSNESS is most frequently verbalized with the help of structural and semantic model FEAR – IS DEEP CONTAINER. The author also observed individual metaphorical verbalisations of the concepts FEAR, ANXIETY, HYPOCHONDRIA, MADNESS, CATATONIA, MANIA, DELUSION, and PARANOIA. It is concluded that not all of the phraseological units found in lexicographic sources have a high frequency in the subcorpus. Considering the frequency of the researched metaphorical compounds, it can be argued that dictionaries do not consistently record metaphorizations, including new ones. The quantitative data on the use of such compounds in the corpus texts provide valuable information for lexicographic practice.

Russian participle and its functional homonyms in the texts of modern Russian mass media about science and technology

In modern Russian media, Russian participles and participial adjectives, nouns and pronouns, which are functional homonyms (similar-sounding etymologically related words), are widely used. In the present paper, based on 3,462 examples selected from the National Corpus of the Russian language, we analyze the prerequisites and the specifics of the transition of participles to other parts of speech, and show the differences between participles and their functional homonyms. The main prerequisite for adjectivation, substantiation and pronominalization of the participle is the attribute of the adjective contained in it, while the semantics of the participle, its position in the sentence and context play an important role. The transition of the participle to other parts of speech is of a gradual nature. Syncretic grammatical character, semantic compression and variability of syntactic functions make the participle one of the priority means of expressing such characteristic features of scientific texts as accuracy, consistency, conciseness and informativeness. In scientific texts, participles and their functional homonyms have different functions: substantive participles mainly perform a nominative function, adjectivated participles — a characterizing function, and pronominalized participles — deictic and other text-forming functions. Studying Russian participles is very difficult for Chinese students due to the fact that Chinese, unlike Russian, is the language of the analytical system, there is no form of participle in it. The division into parts of speech in Chinese is a special problem, since there are no specific morphological indicators in Chinese that characterize each part of speech. The results of the study can be useful when considering complex grammatical issues of the Russian language in the Chinese audience.

Yurt as a value of Kalmyk linguistic culture

The paper analyzes the linguistic culture associated with the ger ‘yurt’ – the Kalmyk house, objectively determined by the historically established traditional type of the nomad housing. A new approach to comprehending the sphere of ger ‘yurt’ is undertaken. The selected object is studied not only as a dwelling, but as a sacred, inhabited, developed space, the semantic dominant of the Kalmyk worldview, which determines people's ideas about “insider/outsider”, “honorary/profane”, “male/female”, “right/left”, “forbidden/permitted”, “happy/unhappy”, as well as the norms of behavior of insiders and outsiders in the living space of a Kalmyk dwelling. The existence of the “ishka ger” concept sphere in the Kalmyks’ linguistic culture is proved through the analysis of lexico-semantic field within mental area associated with ger, in terms of their value in material and spiritual culture, from the standpoint of its categories such as quantity, color, space, and behavior. It is established that every element of ishka ger, its size, weight, shape, material, and placement is designated not just by Kalmyk nomadic lifestyle, the stock-raising type of labor activity, and social organization features of the Kalmyks, but mental features of the Kalmyk nomad worldview. The yurt details, the objects of its interior are characterized from the point of view of symbolism, axiology in connection with the status of the ger as a “microworld of a nomad, a model of the universe.” The main research method is linguo-culturological: analysis of conceptual, figurative and value components of mental formations associated with the ger sphere. Lexico-phraseological, paremiological means extracted from lexicographic sources, as well as fragments from the texts of Kalmyk fiction, extracted by continuous sampling from the national corpus of the Kalmyk language are used as the material.

Belt and Road Initiative in View of the Polish Press

This study analysed how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is presented in the Polish press through language use in media discourse based on Jef Verschueren’s Language Adaptation Theory and corpus analysis. Antconc software has been used to distinguish the frequency of lexemes and expressions. The complexity of the Polish language and contexts require manual verification of the results. The number of writings about Belt and Road projects is fairly small. The sample consists of 103 articles categorised into four groups: general press, political press, education institution press, and business press. Articles refer to the period of 2015–2019, as the recent three years of the COVID-19 and war in Ukraine took the press’ focus away from the BRI. Corpus analysis shows a positive approach to the Best and Road Initiative dominates all press groups. Most lexemes are equally dispersed among all press categories with a slight predominance of caution suggested by authors in education institution press. The hypothesis was further confirmed in the light of Verschueren’s Theory, where the study presents examples of press language as a dynamic process of mutual adaptation between linguistic structure and context, at different levels of salience.

Hungarizmi u sičanskome govoru

The work will show the representation of Hungarians in the Sičan speech. The Sičan language is the first protected language in the territory of Slavonia. It was protected by the Decision of the Ministry of Culture in 2008. Since then, systematic work has been carried out on all prescribed measures to protect and popularize this very important speech for the Croatian language and Croatian dialectology. The Sičan language belongs to the Old Štokavian languages and preserves the old linguistic state with all the features of the Slavonic dialect of the Posavina subdialect: a five-accent system that includes acute, the absence of the h sound, the softening of the l and n sounds, reduction of vowels in all places (front, middle and back), the existence of secondary vowels, the absence of the consonant group tk, pt, mn, specificity on the morphological, syntactic and formation level. The aim of this paper is to give a lexical overview of the Siče dialect based on the dictionary of the Siče dialect of Sičanske riči. Hungarianisms will be singled out from the lexical corpus and an overview of words of Hungarian origin that entered this protected speech and that remain in active use to this day will be given. The methodology of working on the text, that is, on the language corpus of the published dictionary of Sičanske riči, will be applied. The purpose of the paper is to make a dialectological contribution to the study of the Old Štokavian languages, and especially to the relations and influences of the Hungarian and Croatian languages with regard to the common history of coexistence in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

A Data Mining Approach to Detecting Bias and Favoritism in Public Procurement

In a public procurement process, corruption can occur at each stage, favoring a participant with a previous agreement, which can result in over-pricing and purchases of substandard products, as well as gender discrimination. This paper’s aim is to detect biased purchases using a Spanish Language corpus, analyzing text from the questions and answers registry platform by applicants in a public procurement process in Ecuador. Additionally, gender bias is detected, promoting both men and women to participate under the same conditions. In order to detect gender bias and favoritism towards certain providers by contracting entities, the study proposes a unique hybrid model that combines Artificial Intelligence algorithms and Natural Language Processing (NLP). In the experimental work, 303,076 public procurement processes have been analyzed over 10 years (since 2010) with 1,009,739 questions and answers to suppliers and public institutions in each process. Gender bias and favoritism were analyzed using a Word2vec model with word embedding, as well as sentiment analysis of the questions and answers using the VADER algorithm. In 32% of cases (96,984 answers), there was favoritism or gender bias as evidenced by responses from contracting entities. The proposed model provides accuracy rates of 88% for detecting favoritism, and 90% for detecting gender bias. Consequently one-third of the procurement processes carried out by the state have indications of corruption and bias. In Latin America, government corruption is one of the most significant challenges, making the resulting classifier useful for detecting bias and favoritism in public procurement processes.

ОБ ОЦЕНКЕ ВЛИЯНИЯ АЛКОГОЛЬНОЙ ИНТОКСИКАЦИИ НА ПАРАМЕТРЫ ГОЛОСА В СИСТЕМАХ БИОМЕТРИЧЕСКОЙ АУТЕНТИФИКАЦИИ

Changing the voice characteristics of a person under the influence of alcohol intoxication affects the effectiveness of the identification procedure. From which it follows that the determination of the level of alcohol in the blood remotely is important for ensuring information security in computer systems. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the existing voice authentication methods and approaches to improve accuracy, analyze existing data sets, and evaluate the influence of the psychophysiological state of the speaker on the parameters of his speech. The focus of this study is on exploring different approaches to recognizing alcohol intoxication and evaluating their effectiveness. The study includes a comparative analysis of these methods, emphasizing the importance of using a comprehensive and representative data set that takes into account factors such as gender, age, stage of intoxication, recording quality, and ambient noise levels. Based on the analysis of scientific publications, the study identifies the random forest method as one of the most effective machine learning methods, demonstrating an accuracy of 95.3% for all speech datasets and 80% for the widely used Alcohol Language Corpus.

INTRODUCING PRAGMATICS IN USE (2ND EDITION)

Among the array of textbooks on linguistics in general and of pragmatics in particular, Introducing Pragmatics in Use (2nd edition) has emerged as a user-friendly guide to the field of pragmatics as it has been described as “a lively and accessible introduction to pragmatics” (O’Keeffe, Clancy & Adolphs, 2020). As its name suggests, the book is designed with the combination of theoretical and practical aspects of pragmatics by not only introducing theories but also guiding the employment of the theories to examine real or naturally-occurring data in spoken and written forms. Introducing Pragmatics in Use (2nd edition) makes systematic use of several language corpora and related software programs. The adoption of the corpus technique to investigate key component areas, namely reference, speech acts, linguistic politeness, language variety, and register is its central focus. By analyzing various language settings offered by spoken and written corpora, the book aims at contextualizing pragmatics in linguistic study as well as making suggestions concerning applying pragmatics to teaching languages. It seeks to provide an introduction to the key theoretical and methodological issues in the study of Pragmatics; therefore, it is a good choice for senior undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in the courses of TESOL, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, or research methods in applied linguistics so that they can enhance their understanding of corpus pragmatics and apply its methodology to serve their researching and teaching purposes.

Pedagogical and research potential of a digital humanities laboratory: Language corpora as open educational resources (OER)

Digital humanities (DH) brings together the study and teaching of the humanities using digital technology, and the use of concepts and methodologies from within the humanities to study the digital. DH laboratories are therefore ideally suited to address the needs of the ‘Born Digital’ generation – the current generation of students who are very comfortable when navigating digital spaces and who process information differently and more quickly than their predecessors. In spite of this, however, DH laboratories are relatively unknown in Sri Lanka. This article, outlining the potential of a DH laboratory as a concept and site for teaching, learning and research, illustrates as a case study, the Sri Lanka English Newspaper Corpus (SLENC). This is a 31.8 million word corpus of Sri Lankan English newspaper articles under the aegis of the DH Lab of the Department of English, University of Colombo, funded by the AHEAD project of the World Bank. Corpora fit in well with the principles of digital humanities, particularly if they are hosted as open educational resources (OERs). We highlight the research potential of the SLENC, and affirm that DH laboratories are spaces that permit the exploration of the intersection between English Studies and the digital and promote research collaboration and community building.

Language Policy and Planning in Algeria: Case Study of Berber Language Planning

This paper discusses the Berber language situation in Algeria in a language policy and planning context. It comprises two main parts. The first provides a general account of the linguistic profile of Algeria coupled with a historical context of the Berber language and Algerian Arabic. In order to develop a deeper understanding of the present issue, the second section is devoted to the Berber language planning, and the socio-political context of its recognition as the second official language alongside Arabic. In accordance with Hornberger’s (2006) Integrative Framework, the study provides a critical examination of the Berber language planning process, i.e., corpus and acquisition planning, and explores the challenges language planners are facing.

Objective Methods in the Assessment of Child Language Development in Natural Settings and Using Testing

The authors describe the application of various approaches to the assessment of child language development reviewing the methods most widely used in research and clinical practice. The review outlines the benefits and some limitations of longitudinal method of assessment using language recordings, language corpus analysis and transcripts of speech samples. Technical aspects of the linguistic environment recordings using LENA technology, which allows to achieve ecologic validity in the assessment of children’s language environment, are considered. Analysis of the corpus data through the transcription of the dialogues between children and adults are discussed, as well as the study of linguistic parameters of child speech in comparison to a normative group of peers. The authors offer a review of the most widely known parent reports, questionnaires, and maximum performance testing of children’s language development. Among the assessment tools available for Russian-speaking populations McArthur-Bates CDI and PLS-5 are reviewed. The authors note an importance of integration of Russian research into the international scientific knowledgebase through the adaptation of methods for assessment of language development in children.

Investigation into the linguistic category membership of the Finnish planning particle tota

Abstract Even though hesitations (e.g., um/uh) were historically perceived as involuntary non-linguistic items (e.g., Maclay & Osgood 1959), more recently, a number of scholars have suggested that hesitations can behave like (a) lexical items (e.g., Clark & Fox Tree 2002), and (b) at least in some contexts and with some functions as grammatical items like suffixes/clitics (Kirjavainen, Crible & Beeching 2022; Tottie 2017). The current study contributes to this body of work and presents two spoken language corpus analyses (frequency analysis; network analysis) investigating the nature of the Finnish planning particle tota. Our results suggest that tota is more similar to grammatical items than lexical items.

Mechanics of Linguistic Mobility in COVID-19 Pandemic: Lexical innovation and richness

This small-scale study investigates ‘Mechanics of Linguistic Mobility in COVID-19 Pandemic: Lexical innovation and richness’. Thus, it generally studies the language native speakers of English have innovated and developed during the ongoing global crisis. In particular, it aims to quantify these terms, identify the morphological processes that facilitate the derivation of these phrases, and explain the reasons lying behind their selection and uses. Methodologically, the study fits into the qualitative research. For data collection, the study benefits from corpus linguistics, i.e. studies of large bodies of texts. Therefore, a concordance of key words in context (KWIC) has been carried out on the British National Corpora (BNC) and other lexicographic sites to build a corpus of corona language. Analytically, the study builds on critical discourse analysis (CDA) at the semantic, morphological and schematic, i.e. discourse level of words and phrases used during the crisis. It has been found that the terms and expressions used during the crisis are either coined to convey new senses or altered to satisfy certain meanings related to the pandemic. The morphological processes vary considerably between compounding, clipping, inflection and coining. The social domains in which the invented terms are used include family, education, health, psychology, sociology, business, politics, and religion.

Czy czas to pieniądz? Koncepcja czasu w mentalności współczesnego dorosłego Polaka

The aim of the paper is to enquire how a modern Polish man comprehends time . Taken from the cognitive linguistics perspective, the study evolves around time metaphors, extracted from the definitions and the language corpus in Polish. Metaphor is recognised as a useful tool within Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) to learn about motives, believes and ideologies. The results obtained in the research yield quantitative data. The metaphors Time is money, Time is a value and Time is a doctor and the best cure can be called ‘shared metaphors’, since they underlie both the dictionary definitions and corpus discourse. We may conclude that these metaphors are conventional, well-grounded in the awareness of contemporary Poles and inspire their ideological motives. Other time metaphors refer to moral and religious values (within the MORALITY and RELIGION frame) and an identity search (within the IDENTITY and PSYCHOLOGY frame). Finally, a few time metaphors derive from everyday functioning and duties of present people (within the DAILY LIFE frame).

The problem of parameterization of auxiliary words in the database of the national corpus of the Uzbek language and providing them in the interface

The problem of parameterization of auxiliary words in the database of the national corpus of the Uzbek language and providing them in the interface

Usvajanje jezika kod djece uzrasta dvije i tri godine / Language Acquisition in Children Aged Two and Three

This paper discusses language acquisition in children aged two and three. The analysis was carried out on a corpus of child language compiled during research conducted at a kindergarten in Sarajevo among children aged two and three who acquire their native language in the area of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied in the corpus analysis. The development of child language production was measured by the Mean Length of Utterance, based on the number of words per utterance (MLUw). The distribution of parts of speech was established for both age groups. A special emphasis was placed on the ratio between the number of nouns and the number of verbs. The results have confirmed the nativist natural partitions hypothesis, according to which nouns are predominant in children’s early speech over verbs and other parts of speech. MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) was applied in the semantic analysis of nouns. The analysis confirmed the hypothesis that nouns denoting animate beings have a higher prevalence over nouns denoting inanimate objects at the early stages of language acquisition. In addition, the presence of complex and abstract concepts was detected, which supports the theory of the existence of an innate language acquisition device in humans. The creative aspect of child language was also analysed, along with differences between the language of children and the language of adult speakers.