Formal Features Research Articles

“Can I Tell What It Is that I Really Want?”: The Formation of Multiple and Unintelligible Selves in Ding Ling’s “Miss Sophia’s Diary”

Abstract “Miss Sophia’s Diary” 莎菲女士的日記, Ding Ling’s 丁玲 (1904–1986) debut on the literary stage in 1928, made her a nationally recognized figure. The first-person narrative and diary form of this iconic text is most representative of May Fourth intellectuals’ incessant quest for modernity and a modern selfhood through self-conscious experimentation with forms and genres.Yet previous scholarship on “Miss Sophia’s Diary” paid little attention to the use of “I” as well as the formal and generic characteristics of the diary form. Drawing on the sociolinguistic theory on the intersubjective, social and performative nature of the “I,” existing discussions of formal features of the diary, and a poststructualist reading of autobiography as a figure that precedes and produces the self, this paper examines the use of “I” and the formal and generic features of the diary form. It is my contention that the formal and generic multiplicity of the diary narrative written in the first-person perspective problematizes subject formation and attests to the difficulty and even impossibility of representing the self and rendering it intelligible. The formal and generic multiplicity produces a performative, fragmented and contradictory selfhood, which in turn resists any fixed subject position. This paper reveals not only the limits of the autonomous, bounded selfhood modeled on Western Enlightenment epistemology but also the complicated processes of how the concepts of the self and subjectivity, as discursive constructs, are contested and negotiated in particular historical and social conditions.

Real and Presumed Categories: A Formal Approach

Categorization is fundamental to any scientific pursuit, posing the question of what categories themselves amount to. Are categories absolute or mere linguistic constructs? If the latter, are they to be trusted? Otherwise, what can one use to ground categories? The present piece reminds us that one can go about this substantively or formally. Substantive, for beings with a neuro-physiological nature, boils down to how we happen to be “wired” or how our brain “works”, whatever that means. Formal ought to be grounded on some abstract system, of the sort that logic and arithmetic represent — given “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics”. In this context, I consider whether primitive linguistic (distinctive) features are substantive or formal. In the end, I suggest that this depends on the nature of the feature, and that in some fundamental sense there is ample space for foundational formal features, which has a variety of technical and philosophical consequences worth pursuing.

Mapping nature burial in the Netherlands (2003–2023)

ABSTRACT Natural burial has become a popular burial practice in the 21st century. Initially developed in the UK, this practice has since spread to various countries. Despite its growing adoption, comprehensive academic studies exploring the country-specific governance, cultural meanings, and developmental trajectories of natural burial remain scarce. Specifically for the Netherlands, there is a notable absence of systematic research detailing the development and current state of natural burial, or ‘nature burial’, as it is understood and practiced within this context. This paper addresses these gaps by presenting the first comprehensive overview of nature burial in the Netherlands. Through a systematic mapping of the existing nature burial sites, this study examines the concept and landscape of nature burial as it has emerged in the Dutch context between 2003 and 2023. It provides insights into the increasing demand for nature burial; the geographical distribution of sites; and the formal characteristics, rules, and regulations of different types of nature-oriented burial sites. By doing so, this research offers insights into an emerging funerary innovation and provides directions for future international comparisons in the study of natural burial.

Features of the use of the aorist in the Persian Language

Examines the features of the use of the aorist tense in the Persian language. It analyzes its role in the morphosyntactic system, functions in speech, temporal and modal meanings, as well as its use in various types of sentences. Through examples, the semantic and formal characteristics of the aorist are highlighted. In Persian, the subjunctive mood is employed in complex sentences to express logical, conditional, probabilistic, or cause-and-effect relationships between multiple components. In complex sentences, the subjunctive mood, with the help of auxiliary words, establishes a semantic connection between the main and subordinate parts of the sentence. Below, the application of the subjunctive mood in complex sentences and its specific features are discussed. This study provides a scientific basis for an in-depth exploration of the Persian language.

VisuaLies: Towards a Classification of Misinfovis Situations

This paper presents VisuaLies, a workshop designed to engage citizens in identifying misleading information visualisations (Misinfovis). The workshop aims to validate and enhance the Classification of Misinfovis Situations (CMiS), a classification system for lay citizens to spot the formal characteristics of Misinfovis, which we call ‘Misinfovis Situations’. Conducted with participants of varying educational backgrounds, VisuaLies included activities to assess pre-existing knowledge, familiarise with Misinfovis concepts, classify Misinfovis examples and lead to an updated version of CMiS featuring fewer Situations with more accessible language. This study underscores the importance of involving lay people in recognising and describing Misinfovis with their own words to support the development of inclusive knowledge societies. Future iterations of VisuaLies aim to involve diverse audiences and refine feedback collection methods to further enhance the classification’s effectiveness.

Coziness in Games: Second Homes, Audiences, and Esthetics

The “Cozy” game has gained traction as a concept in contemporary game culture as a set of formal generic features. While we examine the way that Cozy Games are often now defined as a genre, we demonstrate that “coziness in games” has widespread formal and engagement functions and can be experienced in a whole range of games, not simply those defined by the Cozy genre. In focusing on the player–text relationship, and in using a literary model, we seek to widen the discourse and range of meanings of coziness in, as well as of, games. This approach enables us to think about our own lived experience of playing games in terms of the generation of affect, as well as opening the way for renewed analysis of representation, ideology, and cognition.

Конструювання реальності в літературному репортажі: фікційний вимір документального

The article analyzes the methods of constructing reality in literary reportage, using examples from German-language literary reportage texts of the 19th–21st centuries. It is noted that, given the hybrid nature of this text type, it is characterised by documentariness, which implies the depiction of reality through artistic means through the prism of the author's own experience. This feature justifies the consideration of fictional and documentary components in it not in opposition, but in their complementarity as components of a single textual space. It is established that such a combination contributes to a deeper disclosure of the topic, creates an emotionally rich narrative, while maintaining a connection with reality, which makes the text both reliable and artistically expressive. In order to identify the strategy of constructing reality and establish the relationship between the fictional and the documentary, the analysis was carried out within three categories: text structure, formal features and internal characteristic elements (level of direct presence, character level, documentary level). It was found that the presence of photographs and maps in the text, accurate descriptions of the place of action, chronological narration with time specification, detailing of audio elements, direct speech of characters and integration of reference information into the text enhance the documentary nature and reliability of the depicted. The fictional nature of literary reportage is represented by the level of experience, which, although indicating the author’s direct presence, is formed through the author’s reflection, supplemented by stylistic devices. Thus, it is established that the documentary and fictional components engage in a productive interaction, facilitated in particular by the mediality of the text. This mediality is expressed through multichannel elements (such as text, visual imagery, and sound) and intermediality, resulting in a holistic and multidimensional narrative capable of effectively conveying both informational and emotional content.

OPTIMIZATION OF THE DESIGN OF THICK MAGAZINES AS A UNIQUE TYPE OF DOMESTIC PERIODICALS

The authors of the article analyzed the main trends of media design from the point of view of theory and practice; gave historical and cultural, meaningful, formal characteristics to thick magazines. In the process of comparing the data, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary and possible to optimize the design of this unique journalistic product, taking into account its typological specifics. The result of the scientific design work was the author’s versions of the modernized design of the thick magazines Novy Mir and Yunost, based on a number of parameters. At the same time, the original, author’s versions have varying degrees of innovation. Visual interference in the design of relatively “new”, thick youth magazines, in particular “Youth”, turned out to be minimal, larger-scale changes were required in working with “old” publications, in particular “New World”, which will celebrate its centennial next year.

The Human and the Non-Human in the Prose of László Krasznahorkai and Film of Béla Tarr

László Krasznahorkai and Béla Tarr are contemporary Hungarian authors known for their long-lasting collaboration. In the late stage of his film-directing career (1988 – 2011), Tarr adapted several Krasznahorkai's novels, while the screenplay of his last film – The Turin Horse (A torinói ló, 2011) – was written by Krasznahorkai himself. The traces of Krasznahorkai's style are evident in Tarr's films not only on the level of themes and motives, but also on the level of form. Some of the main characteristics of their collaborative work include setting up an apocalyptic tone, slow flow of time, and frequent animalistic motives (e.g. cow herds grazing in the opening scene of Sátántangó, a taxidermied whale as the central motif in Werckmeister Harmonies, a horse as a character in The Turin Horse). What makes both of these authors distinctive is their interest in nonhuman subjects, namely the animals. Therefore, this article will focus on their two apocalyptic works – Krasznahorkai’s novella Animalinside (2011) and Tarr’s The Turin Horse – starting from the assumption that Krasznahorkai uses “animal narrators” in Animalinside, while Tarr aims to depict the inner life of an animal in The Turin Horse (Bernaerts et al. 2014). Their shared stylistic and formal characteristics result in similar effects for the reader/viewer and are the product of a “double dialectic”: empathy with non-human subject and estrangement, that is, a subversion of assumptions and expectations about animal subjects on one hand, and the subversion of human “experientiality” on the other (Bernaerts et al. 2014; Fludernik 1996). Starting from these assumptions, the article will consist of comparative analysis of narrative techniques in these two media, i.e., in the aforementioned novella and film, which generate similar effects and serve the same idea: challenging anthropocentric worldviews.

Francesco Placidi and Ludwig Ladislaus. On architect and sculptor partnership in the 1740s and 1750s

Two artists, Francesco Placidi from Rome and sculptor Ludwig Ladislaus from Opava, played a significant role in Krakow artistic circles of the 1740s and 1750s. Placidi was brought to Poland by another Roman architect, Gaetano Chiaveri, under whose guidance he directed the construction of the court church in Dresden, and was active in Kraków since 1742. Ladisalus was first recorded in the records of the city of Krakow in 1741. The two lived in the same parishes, first All Saints’ and then St Mary’s, and were connected both socially and professionally. Following the study of sources and styles, it was determined that Placidi designed and Ladilaus executed the interior furnishings of the parish church in Morawica (c. 1748–55) funded by Aleksander August and Maria Zofia Czartoryski, the main altar in the Sanctuary of the Crucified Christ in Kobylanka (c. 1750) funded by Jan Wielopolski, and the main altar in the former collegiate church in Sandomierz (1756–57). A detailed investigation outlined the origin of architectural solutions defined by Placidi and captured the stylistic and formal features that Ladislaus’s sculptures share. The case is but a contribution to further research on the mutual relations between designers and makers of architecture and sculptures. Especially with respect to the roles of both the Italian architect imposing (or not) the general and/or detailed concept of the work, and the sculptor following (or not) the designer’s ideas, yet also contributing his own formal and stylistic solutions resulting from his individual artistic path of development (in the case of Ladislaus: in the Austrian Silesia). Beyond doubt, with his extensive contacts with ecclesiastical and secular aristocracy and the royal court, Placidi played an important role in Kraków, providing a link between artists of various professions, and maintaining familial and social contacts with some.

Evaluating Chatbot Assistance in Historical Document Analysis

The article explores the potential of PDFGear Copilot, a chatbot-based PDF editing tool, in assisting with the analysis of historical documents. We evaluated the chatbot's performance on a document relating to the Slovenian War of Independence. We included 25 factual and 5 interpretative questions to address its formal characteristics and content details, assess its capacity for in-depth interpretation and contextualized critical analysis, and evaluate the chatbot’s language use and robustness. The chatbot exhibited some ability to answer factual questions, even though its performance varied. It demonstrated proficiency in navigating document structure, named entity recognition, and extracting basic document information. However, performance declined significantly in tasks such as document type identification, content details, and tasks requiring deeper text analysis. For interpretative questions, the chatbot's performance was notably inadequate, failing to link cause-and-effect relationships and provide the depth and nuance required for historical inquiries.

Sacred and Profane Love in the Early Work of Titian

The famous canvas in the Galleria Borghese known commonly as Sacred and Profane Love is merely one work among many in which Titian sought to explore the moral nature of love. His preoccupation with this theme manifests itself, I believe, in several works of his early maturity – works whose puzzling and unprecedented formal characteristics have yet to be adequately interpretated. After introducing my argument with a brief look at two highly problematic pictures, the Sacred and Profane Love itself and the so-called Three Ages of Man in the National Gallery, Edinburgh, I focus on two of Titian’s works that articulate the relation between divine and earthly love particularly clearly: the Noli me tangere in the National Gallery, London, and the Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari, Venice. The Noli me tangere contrasts the divine love of Christ with the human love of the Magdalen, whose inappropriately sensuous state of mind is figured in the pastoral landscape round about. Similarly, the Assumption of the Virgin is carefully composed in order to draw out a contrast between the intesely spiritual love of the Virgin, which fuels her visionary ascent, and the earth-bound affections of the apostles. The paper thus traces the imprint of the idea of sacred and profane love on the formal qualities of these two compositions, initiating a line of interpretation that may further illuminate Titian’s work in general.

THE ARTISTIC PURPOSE OF ALISHER NAVOIY'S RHYME

Rhyme is not merely an element based on repetitions at the end of lines, but one of the crucial components in conveying the essence of a poem. Navoiy's works are distinguished by their remarkable diversity in all aspects. They include events, characters, nature, objects, grandeur, buildings, places, and times, as well as descriptions and narratives. Metrics, rhyme, saj’ (rhymed prose), and artistic devices vary in each chapter, section, couplet, and verse of a work. Moreover, there is not a single chapter, section, couplet, or verse, nor a single word, meaning, or sound that lacks a unique aspect. The artistic role of rhyme in poetry is of significant importance, as the chosen rhyme determines the poem's artistic value through its core essence, depth, melodic quality, artistic value, and even the harmony of sounds, functioning as an entire system. The poet’s poetic thought is vividly apparent in this. The poetic genres and their substantive and formal characteristics influence how rhyme is presented in lines and stanzas. Even within a single ghazal (lyric poem), the rhyme varies according to the thematic and formal requirements of each type. Through rhyme, the essence and spirit of the ghazal are defined. Thus, rhyme is not merely a melodic element but one of the crucial poetic units that define the essence of the poem. Below, the impact of rhyme on the essence of the ghazal in Navoiy's lyrical legacy is examined.

Los mercados de alimentos en la ciudad de Rosario

Since the mid-19th century, Rosario was supported by agro-export production, where the countryside, railways, ports and its utilitarian buildings played key roles in its development. To date, at the local level, the cultural and heritage value of the latter has been barely studied, disseminated and/or preserved. In this context, the present work has proposed to record the urban architectural characteristics of the different food markets, with the aim of recognizing their heritage importance. From what was observed, two types of proposals were identified: those that are developed in open spaces and those that are in closed spaces. The latter presented distinctive typological and formal characteristics of the industrial architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, differing from each other according to the available lots. Among the paradigmatic cases, the Model Fair and the Food Producers Market stand out, both built in the 1960s, where some of the ideas of the Modern Movement were incorporated.

Remnants of Eternal Possibility

This article presents a new way of considering the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938) by arguing that Iqbal's lyric poetry, particularly the ghazal, should be read as a mode of expression that sets out its own methodology for negotiating the new demands colonial modernity made of the Muslim subject's relationship to tradition. Through a close reading and analysis of a Persian ghazal from Iqbal's 1923 Payām-i Mashriq (Message of/from the East), this article proposes that Iqbal's ghazals offer a lyric method in which the resources of the Persianate poetic tradition navigate these demands on the self and its representation. With an analysis of formal and rhetorical features, mainly apostrophe and the imperative voice, as well as a consideration of Iqbal's philosophy of time and the representation of temporality in the lyric, one can see how the poem reorients the connection between tradition and modernity not as historical trajectory, but as co-constituted in lyric time in an ambivalent, mutually generative relationship.

ANALYSIS OF FORMALISM IN THE POEM “AKU” BY CHAIRIL ANWAR

Chairil Anwar's poem "Aku" is a seminal work in Indonesian literature that demonstrates fundamentalshifts in modern poetic style. Chairil Anwar, one of the main poets of the '45 Generation, is recognizedfor his creative style and method. Formalism analysis offers a framework for studying how formalstructures and poetic approaches influence the meaning and aesthetics of poetry. This study willexamine features of formalism in the poem "Aku," with a focus on meter structure, rhythm, rhymepattern, and the use of figurative language. This study employs a qualitative approach and a textanalysis method. The basic data is the poem "Aku" text, which is examined using literary formalismtheory. Identifying the structure of meter and rhythm, evaluating rhyme patterns, and investigating theusage of metaphorical language are some of the analysis tools. Secondary data, such as literature andextra references, are employed to support the analysis and interpretation. The results of the analysisdemonstrate that the meter and rhythm structure in the poem "Aku" have a major impact on the reader'saesthetic experience and strengthen the message that Chairil Anwar wishes to communicate. The rhymepattern in this poem is vital for creating a harmonious impression and reinforcing the overall structure.The use of figurative language, such as metaphor and symbolism, enhances the poem's depth of meaningand emotional power. The formalism analysis of Chairil Anwar's poetry "Aku" illustrates how formaltechniques enhance the poem's beauty and emotional potency. The structure of meter, rhythm, andrhyme pattern, as well as the usage of metaphorical language, all contribute to the poem's content andaesthetic experience. The study's findings contribute to a better understanding of Chairil Anwar'scontribution to the creation of modern Indonesian poetry, as well as new insights into poetic approachesin Indonesian literature

Conversations in early childhood education and care centres

Abstract The present study describes the use of recasts by early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals in five ECEC centres in France, and their effects on children’s language production – particularly on the phonological and morphosyntactic levels. We adopt a multimodal approach, taking into account recasts conveyed by vocal and visual modalities. The ECEC setting offers a complex interaction framework with more multiple and intertwined conversations than dyadic interactions. We aim to answer two questions: to what extent do the recasts of ECEC professionals contribute to the co-construction of meaning and discourse, and how do they constitute favourable contexts for children to experience the situated use of formal and functional linguistic features? Our results, based on 135 interactional sequences and qualitative analysis, show that under certain conditions, recasts are an efficient professional practice for scaffolding language acquisition and for involving children as active participants in dyadic interaction.

Negative concord by phase: multiple downward agree and the parametrization of edge features

Abstract We divorce Negative Concord (NC) among two or more n-items, which is invariably present in Romance languages, from the mutual exclusion or cooccurrence between clausal negation markers (CNMs) and other n-items. The standard minimalist treatment in terms of Agree with respect to a formal feature [n] (for [negation]) is maintained here. However, an EPP-like principle, conceived as a (parametrized) condition regulating the representation of [n] at phase edges is introduced to deal with CNMs. By divorcing the n-EPP condition from n-Agree, we eliminate Zeijlstra’s Upward Agree in favor of Multiple Downward Agree between a phase head probe endowed with Formal Feature FF and one or more elements endowed with the same interpretable feature FF in the WorkSpace. We argue that these theoretical moves are beneficial from an empirical point of view. Focusing on varieties spoken in Northern Italy, we argue that an exhaustive typology of Romance negative systems can be derived by the parametrized [n]-EPP. We claim that the present approach allows this variation to be accounted for within the syntax – specifically, no recourse is made to semantic variation.

Icelandic on Facebook: Linguistic practices in an informal communication space

Abstract This article is based on a PhD project that addressed the multilingual digital practices of native Icelandic speakers in so-called “computer-mediated communication” (CMC) and more specifically on Facebook. The research draws on new literacy studies as well as linguistic research on multilingualism in the context of digital environments to investigate the digital practices of Icelandic Facebook users. By applying both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the article argues for a mixed-method approach that allows for a more holistic analysis of digital discourse data. It is especially interested in the formal characteristics of Icelandic digital writing and tries to explore what linguistic resources users draw upon and how different communicative functions and contextual factors influence the users’ digital practices. Icelandic forms an interesting test case for the study of digital practices as Facebook constitutes an important communication space for Icelanders. However, the digital practices that can be observed on this social network site are characterised by informality and linguistic forms that may contrast with language regard and language ideology in Iceland.

Subjective emotional instances surpass formal perceptual features in shaping the aesthetic appeal of artworks.

Subjective emotional instances surpass formal perceptual features in shaping the aesthetic appeal of artworks.