Plural Research Articles

The Men and the Monks

Abstract This article explores how young novice monks, studying at a Buddhist monastic school in a rural province of northern Thailand, come to understand their developing masculinities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2021, the article considers the plural forms of masculinity that novice monks are exposed to. In line with dominant strands of theory in gender studies, masculinity here is understood as taking on several potential forms. Forms adhering to normative understandings of how masculinity should be expressed are examined, with a focus on monastic masculinity as it has been described in Buddhist contexts, alongside local Thai lay-masculinities. By examining how novice monks interpret idealized archetypes conforming to each of these masculine forms, the article argues for the value of analyzing youth masculinities in light of normative frameworks.

VOCABULARY OF THE LEXICAL MINIMUM WHEN LEARNING UKRAINIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (LEVEL A1) (A review of the textbook by Ksenia Borodin and Oksana Turkevych “1000 and 1 Words. Lexical minimum in Ukrainian (A1)” – Slavic Language Education 3 (LANGUAGE-LAB), 2023. – 58 p.)

The review characterizes the first edition of the lexical minimum for Ukrainian as a foreign language at the A1 level in accordance with the “Standardized Requirements: Levels of Proficiency in Ukrainian as a Foreign Language A1-C2” (Kyiv, 2020). The structure, grammatical description, and examples of the use of language units contained in the textbook are analyzed. The author explains the criteria used to form the content of the A1 lexical minimum. The lexical material is organized and described with grammatical comments on the alternation of vowels or consonants, the formation of plural forms from other bases, the use of dative and accusative forms of personal pronouns, personal or imperative verb forms, etc. The authors also see this as an element of self-testing for knowledge of the relevant word forms, as well as in the case of forming a context for each vocabulary unit, which demonstrates to users – both students and teachers and scholars in the field of linguistics – the practical application of the lexical minimum. Also noteworthy are the didactic tips on how to work with this educational material (translation tasks, making word cards by topic group, creating tests to check the acquired knowledge at A1 level, etc.) The textbook is an extremely important and relevant work that has been prepared in accordance with modern requirements, didactic achievements and scientific research in the study and teaching of Ukrainian as a foreign language. Undoubtedly, this work will help beginner students, teachers, and all those interested in mastering the Ukrainian language to develop the lexical skills necessary for the realization of communicative activities as soon as possible and in a structured way. Key words: Ukrainian as a foreign language, lexical minimum, beginner level A1, Standardized requirements for levels of proficiency in Ukrainian as a foreign language.

A Study of Some Morphological Problems of Chadian Learners of English

The study of new Englishes has been the focus of many researchers who evaluate the spoken and written quality of non-native English in different parts of the globe. This study investigates morphological errors made by Chadian learners of English in their written and oral production. 250 essays by Première and Terminale learners of Lycée Pascal Yoadimnadji and 300 ones by students of the University of Doba were scrutinised. This was completed with oral presentations and free conversations on topics of general interest by 30 secondary school learners and 50 university students. The paper particularly looked at their production of plural forms, third person singular markers, omission/addition, and the production of the -ed morpheme of the simple past tense and past participle. The results show that irrespective of their levels of education, Chadian learners of English generally omit or mispronounce the inflection morphemes in their various forms. The findings also reveal that some of the errors found are general features of non-native English, while others are specific to Chadian setting where English varieties from Cameroon (CamFE), Nigeria (NigE & Pidgin English), and from Sudan lead to a real mixture in classrooms.

Konsep Uban dalam Tafsir Al Munir

This research was conducted to find out what is meant by gray hair and what is the concept of gray hair in Tafsir Al-Munir, gray hair comes from the words شَابَ - يَشِيْبُ - شَيْب, which means white hair on the top of the head, either a little or a lot. The plural form of the word شَيْب is شيُوْب. The word شَيْب in the Koran is found in three suras, including surah Maryam [19] verse 4 with the pronunciation شَيْبا surah al-Rûm [30] verse 54 with the pronunciation شَيْبةَ, and surah al-Muzzammil [73] verse 17 with the pronunciation شِيْب ا. Gray hair is hair that is white or starting to turn white. Gray hair is described in the Koran as a biological signal indicating that a person is old, as well as a theological signal that a person will soon be returned to his Lord. This research examines what is meant by gray hair and the concept of gray hair in Al Munir's interpretation. This research uses qualitative research methods and library research. From the results of this research, it can be concluded that the concept of gray hair in Wahba Al-Zuhaili's Tafsir Al-Munir is a reminder for those of us who will have gray hair to introspect ourselves about the message of its growth and implies obedience, even for every gray hair that grows in between. Between our hair there is a pile of wise advice to equip us to follow the path of life, to strengthen our beliefs, give birth to wisdom, make the sad happy, dispel despair, and give birth to a million hopes.

Walking through our differences

In this commentary, I respond to Shawn Bodden’s (2023) work ‘Working Through Our Differences’, which discusses the limits of ontology in critical geographical theories. I build upon Bodden's invitation to bring attention to ordinary voices and acts to understand how people place themselves instead of pointing people to their proper place. I echo the proposal and at the same time, suggest that we might want to even follow how people walk with places rather than to places with respect to Indigenous methodologies and critical geographies. To extend the discussion, I suggest a deeper engagement with the potential of walking as an embodied form of working and to see walking in its plural forms. I also found Bodden's critical writing, in line with Clive Barnett and others, offering an opportunity for us to review some of the classical writings on/against cities. Last but not the least, a reconsideration of ‘invitation and hospitality as situated political acts and embodied ethics could prevent us from enclosing politics with particular ontological experimentation’. I conclude by suggesting that not only do we want to work through our differences, as Bodden suggests, but also we wish to walk through our differences.

شُهُورُ السَّنَةِ: دراسةٌ لُغويةٌ

The months of the year had names in pre-Islamic era that were replaced by the emergence of Islam. The order of the months is from the month of Muharram to the month of Dhul-Hijjah. Ramadan is the only month the wording and semantic meaning of which are mentioned in the Qur’an. Months are reduced, and attributed to, as in the case with names. In addition, months can come in dual and plural forms, and all months are linguistically masculine except for Jumada which is linguistically feminine. All months are genitive except for Shaban and Ramadan due to them being nouns and them including 'alif' and 'noon' letters. All of this lead to this study which is presented in an introduction with two foci points that include the definition of the months, and the definition of the year and its synonyms. Following this, a lexical-morphological study of the months of the year is presented. After that, a semantic study of the months of the year is presented. To end with, a conclusion is drawn and is followed up by the list of references.

A Study of Some Morphological Problems of Chadian Learners of English

The study of new Englishes has been the focus of many researchers who evaluate the spoken and written quality of non-native English in different parts of the globe. This study investigates morphological errors made by Chadian learners of English in their written and oral production. 250 essays by Première and Terminale learners of Lycée Pascal Yoadimnadji and 300 ones by students of the University of Doba were scrutinised. This was completed with oral presentations and free conversations on topics of general interest by 30 secondary school learners and 50 university students. The paper particularly looked at their production of plural forms, third person singular markers, omission/addition, and the production of the -ed morpheme of the simple past tense and past participle. The results show that irrespective of their levels of education, Chadian learners of English generally omit or mispronounce the inflection morphemes in their various forms. The findings also reveal that some of the errors found are general features of non-native English, while others are specific to Chadian setting where English varieties from Cameroon (CamFE), Nigeria (NigE & Pidgin English), and from Sudan lead to a real mixture in classrooms.

Modelling the developmental path in the acquisition of /l/-final irregular plurals by Portuguese children

ABSTRACT Previous empirical research has shown that Portuguese children aged 4;0 to 6;0 are sensitive to the quality of stem-final vowels when acquiring the irregular plural forms of /l/-final words (acquisition order: plurals of /al, ɛl, ɔl, ul/ > plurals of /il/). This study presents a formal account of this emergent pattern. We first construct an initial-state grammar that arguably instantiates Portuguese children’s grammatical knowledge at the onset of morpho-phonological acquisition. We then simulate morpho-phonological learning using two constraint-based models (Stochastic Optimality Theory and Noisy Harmonic Grammar) and their associated Gradual Learning Algorithm. The results of our learning simulations corroborate the experimental data, showing that the plural form of /il/-final words takes longer to master than that of other /l/-final words. In addition to replicating the empirical results, the learning simulation reveals two important implications. First, the raw frequency of individual forms cannot account for the attested patterns, suggesting that the input frequency is mediated by some principles of grammatical learning. Second, Harmonic Grammar outperforms Optimality Theory in simulating real acquisition data. Through the additive constraint interaction, Harmonic-Grammar learning is more restrictive, avoiding the generation of unobserved data in the course of morpho-phonological acquisition.

How to be a perspectival pluralist

AbstractThe temporal, first‐personal, and modal domains in metaphysics involve a range of perspectives on reality: the perspective of the present as opposed to those of other times, the perspective of one's own self as opposed to those of other subjects, and the perspective of the actual world as opposed to those of other possible worlds. In each case, we can ask about the metaphysical standing of these various perspectives with respect to one another: Is one perspective privileged above the rest? There is a tension at the heart of our intuitive conception of the phenomena in these domains, motivating (at least in some of these cases) a pluralist conception of reality — a stance which attempts to take seriously the absoluteness of the present‐tensed, first‐personal, or actual‐worldly facts, while also embracing the equal standing in reality of all perspectives of the relevant kind. My purpose in this paper is, first, to present an overview of recently popular forms of pluralism — or, what Fine (2005) calls non‐standard realism — with a particular focus on fragmentalism. I'll then raise a worry for fragmentalist views, and finally, present an alternative form of pluralism about the perspectival. We'll see that, while in some ways more radical, the alternative form of pluralism I present has some conceptual advantages over more familiar non‐standard realist views, and — more generally — can help illuminate the space of possible pluralist views about the perspectival.

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMONYMOUS NOUNS OF THE MODERN GERMAN LANGUAGE

The article explores the semantic features of homonyms and the methods used to differentiate them in speech. A comprehensive sampling from the explanatory dictionaries Duden (2023), Langenscheidt (2019), and Wahrig (2018) revealed 2,128 homonymous nouns, which were grouped into 1,018 homonymous series. A component analysis of these homonymous nouns indicated that the majority refer to people or groups of people, as well as artificial objects. Other significant lexical-semantic groups, in descending order, encompass human social status, place names, fauna, mechanisms and devices, food and drink, measurements, actions, flora, art, language, human attributes, buildings, abstract concepts, natural things, and spatial objects. Statistical analysis shows that concrete concepts are more likely to be listed as the first or second homonym in the dictionary, while abstract concepts typically appear in third to fifth positions. This pattern reflects a broader principle in human activity organization, including language, where development progresses from simple to complex, from familiar to unfamiliar, and from observable to abstract. It has been determined that, in the majority of cases (86%), homonyms belong to different lexical and semantic groups, providing a natural form of differentiation within the language system. Homonyms that belong to the same lexical-semantic group are distinguished by factors such as grammatical gender, different plural forms, and social, regional, stylistic, or chronological markers. These distinctions enable a clear understanding of their meanings, reducing the ambiguity traditionally associated with homonymy. This observation suggests that the common belief that homonymy is a significant obstacle to communication may be overstated, as the above-mentioned factors allow for effective differentiation, ensuring that the risk of misinterpretation is not as frequent as one might expect.

Europe is not a country: da Europa às europas nos estúdios literário

“Africa is not a Country” is a slogan that opposes reducing the African reality to an overly simplistic narration. Starting from the concept of Orientalism and its homonymous work from Said, I will try to tackle instances that tend to flatten the European reality into the exclusive perception of the colonial legacy. I want to reflect on the borders of the “abyssal line,” showing how Chakrabarty's discourse on provincializing Europe cannot be completed until we abandon this monolithic vision and manage to re-think Europe as europes, uncapitalized and in the plural form, to embrace the whole declination of European possibilities and taking off epistemic privileges from this area of the world and gaining a cultural province of the world-literary landscape.

The phonology morphology and syntax of Sundanese

Sundanese is an indigenous language that is spoken in West Java, Indonesia. This study considers the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Sundanese based on a corpus of more than two hundred words. It specifically aims to contribute to the literature of the language by providing some linguistic characteristics of Sundanese and comparing results to what has been previously introduced in the literature. Some previous studies of Sundanese have extensively covered the syntactic and some morphological structures of the language, but only a few studies have covered the phonological aspects. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the morphological, syntactic, and phonological aspects of Sundanese based on the production of a native speaker of the language. The participant translated all words into Sundanese and provided the singular and the plural forms for each word in the list. The participant also produced sentences using the same words in the corpus. Data were then observed, and patterns were grouped and categorized for analysis. Results showed some similarities and differences to the findings of previous work in the field. Conclusions were drawn and comparisons were made where appropriate.

<i>Skažem tak</i>: Discourse markers originating from verbs of speech in Russian

Based on data from the Russian National Corpus, first and foremost, from its multimedia corpus, we address two members of the family of discourse markers developed from the finite form of the verb of speech skažem (the first person plural present tense form of the verb ‘say’): isolated skažem and its combinations with an adverb or a pronominal adverb such as skažem prjamo ‘let’s put it bluntly’, skažem tak ‘let’s put it this way’, etc. We show that these markers demonstrate a typical pragmaticalization trajectory: unlike the original speech verb, they do not refer to a speech event, their main function is to express a fuzzy nomination, or hedging, i.e., these markers are used when the speaker disclaims responsibility for the possible inaccuracy of the propositional content or of the nomination used in relation to the fixed propositional content. We demonstrate the main shifts in the distribution of these markers, which occur due to the fact that they fall out of the rigid clausal structure and acquire the status of an operator which scopes over discourse segments of various (potentially any) length. We study the main prosodic properties of these markers instrumentally and perceptually and, in addition, discuss the use of markers of this family together with other means of signaling that the speaker needs additional efforts in choosing an adequate expression. These can be other lexical markers of fuzzy nomination, lexical and prosodic indicators of an open list, self-corrections, signals of hesitation (filled pauses, non-phonological lengthening of sounds), etc. The results obtained convincingly show: (1) that even within the same family of markers, the shift from a unit with propositional meaning to a discourse marker can follow different trajectories and lead to larger or smaller shifts in meaning and form; and (2) that the study of discourse markers that uses data on prosody and such specific phenomena of oral discourse as speech disfluencies makes it possible to get more comprehensive lexicographic portraits of single units and their families.

The Acquisition of Jordanian Arabic Plural Morphology by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Aim. This study investigates the acquisition of plural morphology by native Jordanian children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary objective of the study is to assess children’s capacity to use plural morphology in Jordanian Arabic, aiming to identify the most frequently utilized form of the plural and the reasons behind its prevalence. 
 Methods. The study involved a sample of 10 male and female children with ASD, averaging twelve years old, from Tawasul Center for Autism in Amman, Jordan. Utilizing twenty representative pictures featuring familiar plural items such as chairs, televisions, and children, the participants were tasked with identifying the depicted elements. 
 Results. The findings indicated that the children faced challenges in employing plurals in Arabic, with the feminine morpheme being the most consistently used. However, instances of overgeneralization in the use of the feminine morpheme were noted, leading to inaccuracies. Moreover, children avoided plural forms in several cases and resorted to singular forms paired with words that indicate duality or plurality.
 Conclusion. The research results indicate that, by the age of 12, individuals with ASD experience challenges in acquiring proficiency in plural forms in Jordanian Arabic. The study underscores the difficulties these individuals encounter in understanding linguistic elements related to plurality within the specific linguistic context. It also demonstrates that comprehending the complexities of how autistic children acquire plural morphemes is not solely an academic interest; it holds practical significance for designing interventions to enhance their language proficiency and improve overall communication skills.

Joseph Reményi and socialist world literature

Hungarian American scholar, Joseph Reményi’s concepts of “minority literature,” “small nation literature,” and “world literatures” highlight the shift from the singular forms Deleuze and Guattari’s “minor literature,” Pascale Casanova’s “small literature,” and Marx and Engels and Karl Radek’s “world literature” to their plural counterparts. In the discourse on “minor literature” and “small literature,” Reményi offers a nuanced categorization of Hungarian literary production following the First World War. He delineates it into three distinct strands: “literature in Hungary,” “literature of Hungarian exiles,” and “Hungarian literature in the Successor States.” This tripartite classification not only encapsulates the varied loci of Hungarian literary expression but also underscores the emerging literary dichotomy between Hungarian and Slavic & Soviet literatures in the aftermath of the Second World War. As for “world literature”, Reményi’s conceptual framework, which pivots on the axes of “regionalism” and “internationalism,” segments world literature into four stratified layers: minority and marginal → local → national → world. This theoretical model facilitates a repositioning of the intrinsic diversities inherent within each stratum, mapping them onto a spectrum of diverse nations, cultural groups, and minority populations. Furthermore, Reményi’s concept of “world literatures” represents a shift from the singular notion of Geothe’s “eine allemeine Weltliteratur”, Marx and Engels’ “eine Weltliteratur”, and Radek’s “contemporary world literature” to a pluralized understanding. For “socialist literature”, Reményi’s categorization of Hungarian literature within the Western European tradition, as opposed to Eastern European literature, signifies the multifaceted nature of socialist literature. This concept, initially introduced by Marx and Engels in 1848, further elaborated by Radek in 1934, is eventually expanded by Reményi into a more pluralistic form as socialist literatures in 1956. The fusion of Reményi’s concept of “world literatures” and “socialist literatures” provided a gateway to construct Socialist World Literature.

The Inability to Mourn: Representation of Collective Psychology in the “We”-Narrative of Yiyun Li’s “Immortality”

Abstract This paper sets out to examine how the first-person plural narration form is used in diasporic Chinese American writer Yiyun Li’s short story “Immortality” to represent the collective loss of subjectivity – namely how she represents the consequences of that loss from a psychological perspective as part of her experiment in artistic innovation. It explores Li’s characterization – especially her realistic depiction of the collective narrators’ psychology under totalitarianism and how she allows their psychology to affect the form of her representation. I argue that although through the ventriloquy in English, Li has given the “we”-narrators a discursive voice to articulate their hidden thoughts and feelings – something not possible in their mother tongue, the “we”-narrators are unable to exceed their existential limitations to speak a purely personal language immune from official appropriation. Li’s story also underlines the extreme form as well as the emotional consequences of that collective loss of subjectivity, namely the “we”-community’s avoidance of mass melancholia in reaction to the tragic end of their compatriot victim of the dictatorship in order to preserve their prevailing collective ego-ideal.1

Syntactic variation in Hong Kong English

Kirkpatrick and Lixun (2021) maintain that two significant morphosyntactic processes have been at play in early Englishes. These are simplification and regularization. Simplification refers to the relatively simplified inflectional morphology in English today. Kirkpatrick and Lixun (2021) provide an example for the word stan (i.e., stone in Old English) that showed great differences in the singular and plural form in nominative, accusative, genitive and dative case in Old English. Another process is regularization, through which some of the strong verb forms for past tense in English have changed to take the weak or the regular form. To illustrate, the past tense of work was wrought but over time, it has changed to worked.

Morphological processing across the adult lifespan: a tale of gains and losses

Despite increasing research on language in aging, age effects on morphological processing have received comparatively little attention. Some previous evidence suggests that while regular morphology (e.g., walk-walked) may remain relatively stable in older age, irregular morphology (e.g., bring-brought) shows signs of age-related decreases in processing efficiency. However, the underlying reasons for these declines are unclear. The current study sought to investigate the cognitive underpinnings of age-related effects on German noun plurals: default plurals (posited to follow a default rule [e.g., Zebra-Zebras 'zebra(s)']) and predictable and unpredictable non-default plurals (closed class plurals, in which the plural is either phonologically predictable from the singular [e.g., Flasche-Flaschen 'bottle(s)'] or unpredictable [e.g., Nest-Nester 'nest(s)']). In a cross-modal priming experiment, 283 healthy German native speakers (aged 18–91 years) performed lexical decisions on singular nouns which take different types of plural affixes, and which were primed by either their plural form ("morphological condition") or an unrelated noun ("unrelated condition"). Additionally, several cognitive abilities (declarative, procedural, and working memory, interference control, processing speed) were tested to assess their mediating role for morphological processing. The results revealed distinct developmental trajectories for default versus non-default plurals: priming effects (unrelated-morphological condition) for predictable and unpredictable non-default plurals decreased with increasing age, with age-related declines in declarative memory mediating these declines. In contrast, priming effects for default plurals increased with increasing age. Although the reasons for this increase remain to be clarified, we suggest lifelong experience with the computation of these forms as a possible mechanism.

A case of transdisciplinarity and collaborative decision making: the co-construction of Gendered Food Product Profiles.

Crop breeding in sub-Saharan Africa has made considerable gains; however, postharvest and food-related preferences have been overlooked, in addition to how these preferences vary by gender, social difference and context. This context is changing as participatory approaches using intersectional gender and place-based methods are beginning to inform how breeding programmes make decisions. This article presents an innovative methodology to inclusively and democratically prioritise food quality traits of root, tuber and banana crops based on engagement with food systems actors and transdisciplinary collaboration. The outcome of the methodology is the Gendered Food Product Profile (GFPP) - a list of prioritised food quality characteristics - to support breeders to make more socially inclusive decisions on the methods for trait characterisation to select genotypes closer to the needs of food system actors. This article reviews application of the methodology in 14 GFPPs, presents illustrative case studies and lessons learned. Key lessons are that the transdisciplinary structure and the key role of social scientists helped avoid reductionism, supported co-learning, and the creation of GFPPs that represented the diverse interests of food system actors, particularly women, in situ. The method partially addressed power dynamics in multidisciplinary decision making; however, effectiveness was dependent on equitable team relations and supportive institutions committed to valuing plural forms of knowledge. Actions to address power asymmetries that privilege particular types of knowledge and voices in decision making are crucial in techno-science projects, along with opportunities for co-learning and long-term collaboration and a transdisciplinary structure at higher level. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

The Greetings of Romans 16 and the Audience of Romans

AbstractThis short paper considers and critiques the view that the named people greeted in Romans 16.3–16 are not also among the recipients of the letter to ‘all God's beloved in Rome’ (Rom 1.7). Variants of this view spring from the work of Mullins (1968): that the second-person greeting involves the greeting of ‘a third party who is not intended to be among the immediate readership of the letter’ (Mullins, 1968: 420) and are found in Thorsteinsson (2003), Stowers (2015) and Campbell (2023). A series of arguments are made against this view. In particular, the plural form of the imperative (ἀσπάσασθɛ) and the open nature of the addressees mean that Mullins' simple principle does not apply. In addition, Paul's usage elsewhere (including in Romans 16.16) contradicts Mullins' principle.