Explicit Norm Research Articles

Implicit and Explicit Norm in Contemporary Russian Verbal Stress by Elisabeth Marklund Sharapova (review)

Reviews Eriksen, Pal Kristian. On the Semanticsof the Russian CopularVerb'Byt". Meddeleleser, 84. Slavisk-BaltiskAvdeling, Universitetet i Oslo, 2000. vi + I30 pp. Notes. References. Priceunknown. THIS slim volume derives from a doctoral thesis so it is not surprisingthat a half of its pages are taken up with what are in effectpreliminariessuch as the perfective properties of byt',the copular as a vehicle for location and tense, and so on. We have no hints of 'semantic' in the narrow sense of the word until page 49 where the dual natureof the copular,referentialand existential, comes into focus. In a large numberof theworld'slanguagesit can show up as a strong form 'exist'. With or without an actual change of form it can be the 'copular',linkinga noun to an expressionof time or place; in this mode it can take the form of zero. There is nothing uniquely Russian in all this, or even Slavonicor Indo-European.Frompage 62 onwardswe arearegiven examples of existential byt'which is simply the other interpretationof the same form. There is no doubt that the verb byt'is awkward:it can be replaced, especially in negative contexts, by the verb 'have' in many Slavonic languages (e.g. Macedonian 'HeMa'); it has a future that conjugates as a present, a present that is defective with only 3rd person singular,a formal iterative (byvat') that does not allow a durativeor progressivereading (p. I2I). The authorhas put all possible forms in context and analysed the variety of meanings, citing authoritiesand comparingRussianwith otherlanguagesbut in the end he has to follow the many authoritiesnotably Chvany (Cambridge,MA, I975) who investigatedthe verb 'to be' on a universalscale and concluded that 'the true meaning of byt'is 'existence' and 'it has no semanticsof itsown' (p. I25). This search for the phantom copular is interestingenough but has yielded no new insights. Leamington Spa VERONICA Du FEU Sharapova, Elisabeth Marklund. Implicitand ExplicitNormin Contemporary RussianVerbal Stress.Studia Slavica Upsaliensia, 40. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis,Uppsala, 2000. 305 pp. Tables.Key. Bibliography.Appendices . Priceunknown. WORD stressin Russian, as in English, is free (it can fall on any syllableof a word) and mobile (it can change its position within a word or relatedwords). In both languages the position of the word stressand the effect it has on nonstressedsyllablesare coped with as part of the expertiseof the native speaker. But in Russian it is not so straightforward.There are areas of the lexicon where the speaker may choose the position for the stress. Only certain categories are liable to be affected: the masculine nominative and genitive pluralsof nouns, the past tense of verbs and the present tense of -it' verbs. In chapter one the author trawls through the dictionaries and the principal authorities to set the somewhat chaotic scene. Finally, she specificallystates REVIEWS 71 I that her goal is 'to investigate variation and norms in stress, not to find the reasonsfor this variation' (p. 35). In chapterstwo and three she discussesthe notion of norm and lists many examples of the non-normativity of so-called orthoepic works. On page 94 we get down to the multi-dimensional survey wherethe subjectswere askednot only to readthe stressedwordbut to express opinions: 'I say it likethat and I know that is right/and I thinkthat it is right/ but I knowit is not right';'I don't sayit likethat and I don't knowif it is right/ I thinkit is not right/I know it is not right'.The wordschosen forthisexercise were all verbs that are noted with alternative stresses in standard works. Altogether the surveyincluded 292 verbs. The IO9 subjectswere Moscovites born andbred.Their agesrangedbetween seventeen and sixtywith secondary education as a minimum. Appendices 4-7 give the reportedpercentageusage of stressescodified as normative; from these we are to conclude that over a half of the normative stressesare ignored. Hence the author's'implicit'norm and herconclusionthat 'thecodificationof Russianverbalstressisperfunctory and frequently does not reflect the actual norms. The explicit norm is in certain cases not perceived as the prestige variant. This discrepancy is most likely a result of subjectivism and conservatism, the hallmarks of Russian normativisation,which in their turn are partly linked to normative tradition and politics' (p. 252). The dictionary makers have a very...

The New Russia. Readings on Russian Culture by Nijole s> White (review)

REVIEWS 71 I that her goal is 'to investigate variation and norms in stress, not to find the reasonsfor this variation' (p. 35). In chapterstwo and three she discussesthe notion of norm and lists many examples of the non-normativity of so-called orthoepic works. On page 94 we get down to the multi-dimensional survey wherethe subjectswere askednot only to readthe stressedwordbut to express opinions: 'I say it likethat and I know that is right/and I thinkthat it is right/ but I knowit is not right';'I don't sayit likethat and I don't knowif it is right/ I thinkit is not right/I know it is not right'.The wordschosen forthisexercise were all verbs that are noted with alternative stresses in standard works. Altogether the surveyincluded 292 verbs. The IO9 subjectswere Moscovites born andbred.Their agesrangedbetween seventeen and sixtywith secondary education as a minimum. Appendices 4-7 give the reportedpercentageusage of stressescodified as normative; from these we are to conclude that over a half of the normative stressesare ignored. Hence the author's'implicit'norm and herconclusionthat 'thecodificationof Russianverbalstressisperfunctory and frequently does not reflect the actual norms. The explicit norm is in certain cases not perceived as the prestige variant. This discrepancy is most likely a result of subjectivism and conservatism, the hallmarks of Russian normativisation,which in their turn are partly linked to normative tradition and politics' (p. 252). The dictionary makers have a very long haul before them but thisstudyofferspointerson the way. Leamington Spa VERONICA Du FEU White, Nijole. TheNewRussia.Readings onRussian Culture. BristolClassicalPress and Duckworth, London, 2000. I58 pp. Notes. ?9.99 (paperback). WITH Nijole White's collection of reading passages from the Russian press, Russian language teachersare being done a good service. The taskof finding useful,interestingand intellectuallystimulatingtextsis cumbersome.Not only is it time-consuming,but it is also fairlydifficultto find textswhich will not be out of date in an instant and are written in good language. The texts in this volume present 'a snapshot of political discoursein the late I99OS' (P. 2) and arecarefullychosen to give an impressionof and insightinto Russiathatraises them above yesterday'soutdated newspaper. They are taken from the daily Jiezavisimaia gazetaand the two weekliesMoskovskie novosti andArgumenty ifakty. TheNewRussianot only provides linguistic fodder but also introduces the student to the culture of the country whose language he or she is acquiring. Apart frompresentinga good overviewof the countryand its society it moves language learning into a different sphere. And one would hope also that it would encourage students of Russian politics, history, sociology and social sciences to use primarysourcematerial. The texts are divided into six chapters covering the subject areas of selfidentification ,political culture, family, men and women, the socio-economic sphere, and culture and the market. The book gives the student an unusual opportunity to examine Russian culture by zooming in on the specifics that make up post-Soviet society. What does it mean to be a Russian? How do people acquirewealth or cope with poverty?Is Russianhigh cultureon a low? 7I2 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 What makes these texts even more intriguing and relevant is that they were written by Russians for Russians. In other words, the student gets a contemporary insider'sperspective and is exposed to issues in current social and culturaldiscourse. In her introduction, the author provides a helpful synopsisof the chapters and some of the articles and gives some necessary background information, explaining why the topics concerned are both important and engaging. And, as the preface describes,the subjectsare varied, as are the respectiveauthors' points of view. The reader is usefullyintroduced to some of the writersof the texts and their position within Russia's political, cultural and journalistic establishments. Although perhaps not the most pressingconcern of a language book, what would give this publication an even greater strengthwould be annotation of all texts according to academic conventions, i.e. proper dating of the papers from which they are extracted and names of authors. As it is we get the occasional mention of the author(s),either in the footnotes of a section or in the book's introduction, sometimes in both: dates are less frequently mentioned . More exact annotation would not only put the extracts...

An explicit norm representation for the analysis of multilevel methods

In the present paper we develop a representation of a norm frequently used in the analysis of multilevel methods. This allows us to examine the convergence of additive Schwarz schemes also in the case of non-nested subspaces. We demonstrate the usefulness of the given norm representation by studying in detail the stability of sparse grid splittings due to Griebel and Oswald, which turns out to be a special case of our unified theory. Further applications concerning approximation spaces and non-nested finite element spaces are given.

Norm estimates of product operators with application to domain decomposition

In this paper, we consider norm estimates for operators of the product form E=( I− T j )⋯( I− T 1)( I− T 0) in an abstract Hilbert space. By imposing appropriate assumptions on T j , explicit norm estimates for E are established. We then apply the abstract theory to convergence analysis of domain decomposition for nonsymmetric and indefinite second order elliptic problems.

Explicit Norm Structuring Process: A Strategy for Increasing Task-Group Effectiveness

Recent data and experience have shown apparent increased individ ual frustration with involvement in group work in a learning set ting. A major source of frustration was found in apparent ineffec tiveness of work groups to secure individual member compliance and control for deviant behavior. This research defines, develops, and demonstrates application of an explicit norm structuring proce dure designed to increase group influence over individual member and reduce frustration with group work.

Development of a Procedure to Increase Course Related Task Group Efficiency: Explicit Norm Structuring

Development of a Procedure to Increase Course Related Task Group Efficiency: Explicit Norm Structuring

The Effect of Urban Life on Traditional Values

Three models predict an association between urbanism and nontraditional behavior: (1) that it is a function of the characteristics of individuals found in cities; (2) that it is due to the anomie of cities; (3) that it is due to the generation of and consequent influence of innovative subcultures. Secondary analysis of American survey data on religiosity, church attendance, attitudes toward alcohol and birth control confirm the general urbanism-deviance association. Controlling for covariates suggests that Model 1 is inadequate for there remains an independent effect of residence-albeit a quite small one-unaccounted for by individual traits. Some suggestive data point to Model 3 as the more accurate one. The common observation that cities harbor unconventional behavior has been fundamental to theories relating urbanism to the individual. As many reviewers have noted, the Chicago School's understanding of life was largely founded on interpreting these nontraditional behaviors as evidence of the social disorganization intrinsic to cities. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate, first, whether that common observation is empirically so, and most importantly, why it is so. Understanding the mechanism is crucial to understanding urbanism itself. This paper will therefore address the question: What is the effect of residence on the individual's adherence to values? Our meanings should be made explicit: by urban, we refer to the size of population concentrated at a place of settlement-a demographically defined rural to continuum. We know that there is great disagreement over the definitions of and urban (cf. Dewey, 1960). This reductionist demographic definition is preferred for at least three reasons: (1) size is explicitly or implicitly an adjunct to most other definitions of the city and thus has the advantage of commonality; (2) rather than closing it off by definitional fiat, this approach leaves for empirical observation the proposition that size is generally related to other social phenomena (e.g., to heterogeneity, impersonality, etc.); (3) The models discussed below which depict urbanism as the cause of unconventionality derive the consequences largely from size. (For further argumentation, see Fischer, 1972a; 1972b.) We also know that operational definitions of cities are often arbitrary and vary greatly. Yet, if the general patterns we are discussing here actually exist, they should be revealed in spite of such vagaries. Previous research indicates precisely that. By traditional value, we refer to an explicit norm dominant in a society, or, when in flux and ambiguous, previously dominant in a society. (The usage of traditionalism here is loosely equivalent to the notion of conservatism.) When referring to nonadherence, we will use the term, deviance, meaning deviation from dominant cultural standards.' * The research reported here was supported largely by a fellowship from the Joint Center for Urban Studies of Harvard University and M.I.T. It represents a portion of dissertation work submitted to the Department of Sociology, Harvard University. The survey data used were obtained from the Roper Public Opinion Research Center, the Inter-University Consortium, for Political Research and the Institute for Social Research. Neither these-institutions nor the original investigators are responsible for the present use and interpretation of the data. Supplementary research funds were provided by Public Health Service Grant MH-1 8625 to Lee Rainwater, an Office of Education grant to Thomas F. Pettigrew and the Center for the Behavioral Sciences, Harvard. Thanks are rendered to Lee Rainwater, Barbara L. Heyns, David J. Armor, Andre Modigliani, Paul Burstein, Karl Dierup, and Ronald Abeles for helpful comments and assistance. 'We recognize the complexity involved in the concepts of tradition and deviance. There is no intention of referring to tradition in any of its usages in theories of unilineal evolution, or in theories of psychological dimensions of modernism. It refers here merely to a norm adhered to by a plurality of a society (or, when changing, previously so adhered to). Similarly, deviance is not meant to connote negative sanctioning; nor do we ignore subcultural variations. It is simply deviation from that central norm. Though the theoretical fogs around these terms are dense (Armer and

Conditions for Positive and Nonnegative Definiteness in Terms of Pseudoinverses

Matrix pseudoinverses producing necessary and sufficient conditions for positive and nonnegative definiteness