Formal Language Research Articles

Like My Aunt Dorothy: Effects of Conversational Styles on Perceptions, Acceptance and Metaphorical Descriptions of Voice Assistants during Later Adulthood

Little research has investigated the design of conversational styles of voice assistants (VA) for adults in their later adulthood with varying personalities. In this Wizard of Oz experiment, 34 middle-aged (50 to 64 years old) and 24 older adults (65 to 80 years old) participated in a user study at a simulated home, interacting with a VA using either formal or informal language. Older adults with higher agreeableness perceived VA as being more likable than middle-aged adults. Middle-aged adults showed similar technology acceptance toward the informal and formal VA, and older adults preferred using informal VA, especially those with low agreeableness. Further, while both middle-aged and older adults frequently anthropomorphized VAs by using human metaphors for them, older adults compared formal VA with professionals (e.g., librarians, teachers) and informal VA with their close ones (e.g., spouses, relatives). Overall, the conversational style showed differential effects on the perceptions of middle-aged and older adults, suggesting personalized design implications.

Is cute AI more forgivable? The impact of informal language styles and relationship norms of conversational agents on service recovery

Conversational agents are increasingly handling a significant volume of service interactions and are projected to handle up to 95% of customer service interactions. However, like any service provider, conversational agents are not immune to service failures, which can result in negative customer experiences. Within the context of interactions between conversational agents and consumers, the informal linguistic strategies employed by conversational agents have been recognized as vital in recovering customer satisfaction after service failures. Nevertheless, research on how these linguistic strategies impact customer responses following service failures is still in its early stages. This study delves into the informal language styles used by conversational agents after service failures, examining the comparative effects of cute language styles (as informal language styles) and literal language styles (as formal language styles) on service recovery. Drawing upon the mind perception theory and the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, this research also unveils the underlying dynamics of whimsical and kindchenschema cuteness on customers’ forgiveness, along with literal language styles, in the context of service recovery. Furthermore, this study investigates the moderating influence of exchange and communal relationships, taking into account the boundary effects of relationship norms. To explore these hypotheses, three experiments were conducted. The findings of this research offer valuable theoretical insights and practical implications for designing linguistic strategies employed by conversational agents.

The Application of Non-language Symbols in Japanese Games from the Perspective of Cross Cultural Communication--Take”Animal Crossing” as an Example

In cross-cultural communication in electronic games, non-language symbols’ application scope and methods are very diverse. Studying the design and application of non-language symbols in Japanese games in cross-cultural communication can assist Chinese games in going global and contribute to the dissemination of excellent traditional Chinese culture. This article takes “Animal Crossing” as an example to analyze how nonverbal symbols are used in cross-cultural communication from scene, character, and plot setting. Finding that non-language symbols in the game assist language symbols, integrate players’ feelings, shape a complete scene, and promote cultural exchanges. It is concluded that Chinese games can build a perfect non-language symbol system from three aspects: digging deeply into the culture with national characteristics, looking for universal non-language symbols, and using non-language symbols from multiple perspectives so as to achieve the goal of cross-cultural communication.

The salient antecedents of boredom in formal English language learning

The salient antecedents of boredom in formal English language learning

Sociology of Totems, Myths, and Tawhid: Exploring the Interplay Between Symbolism and Theology with Critical Analysis of Theological or Mythical Stage of August Comte’s Law of Three Stages

Introduction: Totems and myths, integral components of social, cultural, and religious expression, carry profound symbolic meanings within diverse societies. This paper investigates the interplay between these symbolic elements and Islamic theology, exploring how Islamic communities respond to the presence of symbols and symbolism. The paper presents a critical analysis of theological stage of August Comte’s law of three stages. Objectives: The research objectives of the present paper aim to examine the prevalence of totems and myths in various societies and their negative impact in terms of theology, sociology, and identity formation. It will investigate the theological responses of Islam to the incorporation of totems and myths with a critical analysis of theological stage of August Comte’s law of three stages philosophically known as Positive Philosophy. Explore the implications of the interplay between totems, myths and Islamic theology on religious identity and belief system. Methods: The present work is qualitative in nature and hence uses qualitative methodology. Results and Conclusion: The findings of the paper suggest that Totemic and Mythical thinking must be dealt with a serious and sensitive approach to protect the fabric of Muslim society under the core teachings of Tawhid. Understanding the sociological implications of the symbolic systems, advocated by Islam, provides valuable insights into the intricate diversity of human culture, belief systems, and social organization. As societies continue to evolve, it becomes imperative to navigate the delicate balance between preserving cultural heritage, acknowledging diversity, and upholding the principles of justice and equality. Originality/Value: the research presents a unique and original perspective on the intersection of sociology, symbolism, and theology. In essence, it delves into the intricate relationship between cultural symbols, religious beliefs, and social structures. What sets this paper apart is its innovative approach to studying the role of totems and myths within the framework of Tawhid, the Islamic concept of the oneness of God. By examining how totems and myths function within different cultural contexts and their implications for theological understanding, the paper offers fresh insights into the dynamics of religious symbolism.

Building Models in Pairs for Cross‐Verification Using SDL and DEVS

AbstractThe objective of the paper is to present a methodology that can be used to translate a model from one formalism to another allowing model reuse and cross‐verification. With the use of formal languages, the model specifications can be expressed in a rigorous and univocal way, and the model can be validated against the specifications or conceptual model. Expressing the same model in different formal languages opens the conceptual model validation to a varied number of specialists. Also, in the context of modeling a new system, where there is no data to perform validation against a real system, having pairs of models can be used to perform cross‐model verification to ensure that the model specifications or conceptual models are correctly implemented by comparing the results produced by both models. Specifically, a method is presented to translate a model conceptualized on specification and description language (SDL) to discrete event system specification (DEVS). The transformation mechanism between SDL and DEVS formalisms is described. The methodology is exemplified with a disease spread model for COVID‐19, and it is shown how the results obtained by the two models can be used for cross‐verification.

“Almost a mother tongue”

Abstract Passage of Israel’s Jewish nationality law in 2018 shined more than usual light on the Druze citizens of Israel. It put into painful question their integration into Israeli society. Key to that integration is Druze mastery of the Jewish State’s official language; hence the question, “How do Israeli Druze learn Hebrew?” The answer is multivariable: pedagogy, gender, bilingualism, technology, religion, conscription, and socialization are all factors. Druze mastery of Hebrew through the IDF is being replaced by formal language education. This is reinforced through growing participation of Druze females in Israeli institutions. Arabic being the maternal tongue of Druze, unlike among the nation’s Jewish majority Hebrew surpasses English as their second language. Increasing use of social/digital media in Hebrew, particularly among the young, reinforces the bilingual identity of Israeli Druze. So do Hebrew language textbooks, which “Israelize” Druze by teaching about Judaism and emphasizing similarities between Jewish and Druze traditions.

Integrating predictive coding and a user-centric interface for enhanced auditing and quality in cancer registry data

Data curation for a hospital-based cancer registry heavily relies on the labor-intensive manual abstraction process by cancer registrars to identify cancer-related information from free-text electronic health records. To streamline this process, a natural language processing system incorporating a hybrid of deep learning-based and rule-based approaches for identifying lung cancer registry-related concepts, along with a symbolic expert system that generates registry coding based on weighted rules, was developed. The system is integrated with the hospital information system at a medical center to provide cancer registrars with a patient journey visualization platform. The embedded system offers a comprehensive view of patient reports annotated with significant registry concepts to facilitate the manual coding process and elevate overall quality. Extensive evaluations, including comparisons with state-of-the-art methods, were conducted using a lung cancer dataset comprising 1428 patients from the medical center. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the developed system, consistently achieving F1-scores of 0.85 and 1.00 across 30 coding items. Registrar feedback highlights the system’s reliability as a tool for assisting and auditing the abstraction. By presenting key registry items along the timeline of a patient’s reports with accurate code predictions, the system improves the quality of registrar outcomes and reduces the labor resources and time required for data abstraction. Our study highlights advancements in cancer registry coding practices, demonstrating that the proposed hybrid weighted neural-symbolic cancer registry system is reliable and efficient for assisting cancer registrars in the coding workflow and contributing to clinical outcomes.

The Symbolic Meaning of Traditional Woven Fabric Ulos as A Spiritual Expression in Batak Toba Rituals

Every society in the world has a certain ability to produce traditional woven cloth as a result of its culture. Likewise, for the Batak people, the traditional woven cloth is called ulos, it is accepted as a symbol of a Batak spiritual expression. In the Batak tradition, giving or receiving a ulos is done based on the rules and procedures generally accepted in society. Giving and receiving ulos also represents a number of ideal values from the people who adhere to it. In substance, these are the values that are symbolically conveyed to someone and it is hoped that they will be realized in the future, accompanied by hopes and prayers. Typically, giving ulos does not have to take into account the particular religion or belief of the person receiving it, and the person to whom the ulos is given receives it with joy. So, ulos itself is universal because it is able to strengthen the solidarity of Batak people of different religions, both personally and collectively. The theory used refers to Clifford Geertz's theory regarding religion as a symbol system found in every culture. In Sandra Niessen's perspective, ulos is an expression and spiritual image of the Toba Batak people. For this reason, it is necessary to carry out research through a study process to find out whether the traditional ulos woven cloth is closely related to the spiritual values that the Batak have had since ancient times.

FGeo-DRL: Deductive Reasoning for Geometric Problems through Deep Reinforcement Learning

Human-like automatic deductive reasoning has always been one of the most challenging open problems in the interdisciplinary field of mathematics and artificial intelligence. This paper is the third in a series of our works. We built a neural-symbolic system, named FGeo-DRL, to automatically perform human-like geometric deductive reasoning. The neural part is an AI agent based on deep reinforcement learning, capable of autonomously learning problem-solving methods from the feedback of a formalized environment, without the need for human supervision. It leverages a pre-trained natural language model to establish a policy network for theorem selection and employ Monte Carlo Tree Search for heuristic exploration. The symbolic part is a reinforcement learning environment based on geometry formalization theory and FormalGeo, which models geometric problem solving (GPS) as a Markov Decision Process (MDP). In the formal symbolic system, the symmetry of plane geometric transformations ensures the uniqueness of geometric problems when converted into states. Finally, the known conditions and objectives of the problem form the state space, while the set of theorems forms the action space. Leveraging FGeo-DRL, we have achieved readable and verifiable automated solutions to geometric problems. Experiments conducted on the formalgeo7k dataset have achieved a problem-solving success rate of 86.40%.

Counterpart Theory and Actuality

Lewis (The Journal of Philosophy, 65(5), 113–126, 1968) attempts to provide an account of modal talk in terms of the resources of counterpart theory, a first-order theory that eschews transworld identity. First, a regimentation of natural language modal claims into sentences of a formal first-order modal language L is assumed. Second, a translation scheme from L-sentences to sentences of the language of the theory is provided. According to Hazen (The Journal of Philosophy, 76(6), 319–338, 1979) and Fara & Williamson (Mind, 114(453), 1–30, 2005), the account cannot handle certain natural language modal claims involving a notion of actuality. The challenge has two parts. First, in order to handle such claims, the initial formal modal language that natural language modal claims are regimented into must extend L with something like an actuality operator. Second, certain ways that Lewis’ translation scheme for L might be extended to accommodate an actuality operator are unacceptable. Meyer (Mind, 122(485), 27–42, 2013) attempts to defend Lewis’ approach. First, Meyer holds that in order to handle such claims, the formal modal language L∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^*$$\\end{document} that we initially regiment our natural language claims into need not contain an actuality operator. Instead, we can make do with other resources. Next, Meyer provides an alternative translation scheme from L∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^*$$\\end{document}-sentences to sentences of an enriched language of counterpart theory. Unfortunately, Meyer’s approach fails to provide an appropriate counterpart theoretic account of natural language modal claims. In this paper, I demonstrate that failure.

МАЛА АЙДЕНТИКА ВУЛИЦЬ ЯК ІНСТРУМЕНТ УПРАВЛІННЯ БРЕНДОМ МІСТ ТА ТЕРИТОРІЙ

Formulation of the problem. This has already become the norm for Ukraine, when the city takes an active position in the competition for tourist and/or investment attractiveness with other cities. A necessary component of this struggle is the city brand. The city brand is the result of – impressions received, whether from communication, from one's own experience, or from a combination of the first and second. One of the tools for strengthening and influencing the impression of being in the city is the small identity of the streets. The aim of the research determining the small identity of streets as one of the tools of brand management of cities and territories. The оbject of the research was the identity of the streets. By the small identity of the streets, we understand the system of symbols, designations, names, objects that a person meets while moving through the streets of the city. The methods of the research. Among the methods we used in the research, we can single out the method of scientific abstraction in the construction of the research concept and the formation of a model of the relationship between the design process of the graphic part of the city brand, the small identity of the city streets and the perception of the target audience of the city brand communication and urban space. They also used the method of office research, the method of analysis and synthesis when studying the theoretical developments of researchers in the field of city and territory branding. The hypothesis of the research. The lack of a small identity of the city's streets makes the city's branding ineffective. The management of the city's brand should be strengthened by measures to form an appropriate system of small identity of the city's streets. The statement of basic materials. A city working on its brand must have material confirmation of what the brand is talking about. The visualization of the city brand should reflect the identity of the city, embodied in various artifacts that can be found physically in the city – from souvenir products to architecture, events and selfie songs. If they are missing – they must be created according to the concept of the city brand. If they are –, they must be adapted to the concept of the city brand to create the prerequisites for effective branding. The originality and practical significance of the research lies in proving the need for active use of a small street identity in city brand management. The originality and practical significance of the research. The small identity of the streets has high potential as a tool for managing the city's brand. The method of its use in city branding, in our opinion, is the subject of separate studies.

DESIGN MODELS OF BIT-STREAM ONLINE-COMPUTERS FOR SENSOR COMPONENTS

Context. Currently, distributed real-time control systems need the creation of devices that perform online computing operations close to the sensor. The proposed online-computers of elementary mathematical functions can be used as components for the functional conversion of signals in the form of pulse streams received from measuring sensors with frequency output.
 Objective. The objective of the study is the development of mathematical, architectural and automata models for the design of bit-stream online-computers of elementary mathematical functions in order to create a unified approach to their design, due to which the accuracy of calculating functions can be increased, functional capabilities expanded, hardware costs reduced, and design efficiency increased.
 Method. Mathematical models of devices were developed using the method of forming increments of ascending step functions based on inverse functions with minimization of calculation error. Automata models of online-computers based on Moore’s Finite State Machine have been developed, the graph diagrams of which made it possible to ensure the clarity of function implementation algorithms, to increase visibility and invariance of implementation in formal languages of programming and hardware description.
 Results. The paper presents the results of research, development and practical approbation of design models of bit-stream onlinecomputers of power functions and root extraction function. A generalized architecture of an online-computer was proposed.
 Conclusions. The considered functional online-computers are effective from the point of view of calculation accuracy, simplicity of technical implementation, and universality of the architecture

A proof of conjectured partition identities of Nandi

abstract: We generalize the theory of linked partition ideals due to Andrews using finite automata in formal language theory and apply it to prove three Rogers--Ramanujan type identities for modulus 14 that were posed by Nandi through a vertex operator theoretic construction of the level 4 standard modules of the affine Lie algebra $A^{(2)}_{2}$.

Understanding the language barriers to translating informed consent documents for maternal health trials in Zambia: a qualitative study

ObjectiveProviding comprehensible information is essential to the process of valid informed consent. Recruitment materials designed by sponsoring institutions in English-speaking, high-income countries are commonly translated for use in global health...

Raising the Roof: Situating Verbs in Symbolic and Embodied Language Processing.

Recent investigations on how people derive meaning from language have focused on task-dependent shifts between two cognitive systems. The symbolic (amodal) system represents meaning as the statistical relationships between words. The embodied (modal) system represents meaning through neurocognitive simulation of perceptual or sensorimotor systems associated with a word's referent. A primary finding of literature in this field is that the embodied system is only dominant when a task necessitates it, but in certain paradigms, this has only been demonstrated using nouns and adjectives. The purpose of this paper is to study whether similar effects hold with verbs. Experiment 1 evaluated a novel task in which participants rated a selection of verbs on their implied vertical movement. Ratings correlated well with distributional semantic models, establishing convergent validity, though some variance was unexplained by language statistics alone. Experiment 2 replicated previous noun-based location-cue congruency experimental paradigms with verbs and showed that the ratings obtained in Experiment 1 predicted reaction times more strongly than language statistics. Experiment 3 modified the location-cue paradigm by adding movement to create an animated, temporally decoupled, movement-verb judgment task designed to examine the relative influence of symbolic and embodied processing for verbs. Results were generally consistent with linguistic shortcut hypotheses of symbolic-embodied integrated language processing; location-cue congruence elicited processing facilitation in some conditions, and perceptual information accounted for reaction times and accuracy better than language statistics alone. These studies demonstrate novel ways in which embodied and linguistic information can be examined while using verbs as stimuli.

Percentage of using formulaic language in media discourseA comparison between the visual media and the written press

the language we use daily; A product of society, but each of us embodies it in his way. Therefore, the speaker produces the language, but there is another aspect of the language, which is ready-made linguistic pieces, used directly by the individual owned by the linguistic group. Formulaic language is a general term for ready-made phrases in the language that have previously been produced and stored in human memory. This language usually has a fixed grammatical formula and a special meaning according to the situation and context in which it is presented. The use of this language leads to the coordination of sentences in the process of writing and communication, as well as adopting the eloquence of the sender and can influence the recipient more and convince him of his ideas, as well as help in logical intentions, automatic translation, and smart answers. This research, titled "Percentage of using formulaic language in media discourse: A comparison between the visual media and the written press", sheds light on the intensity of the formal language in the visual media and the written press. In the beginning, the formulaic language was explained, and then its use in the Kurdish media was explained. The importance of research in linking the media discourse with formal language, the purpose of which is to know the percentage of using this language on the one hand, and on the other hand, to know the percentage of its use between the two types. To conduct the research, (18) interviews and articles were taken from the visual media and the written press. After that, six components of the grammatical language were extracted, which are (linguistic accompaniment, coins (expressions), metaphor, proverbs, phrasal verbs, and lexical expressions) according to (Wadi), and the use of each one of them was indicated in a table.

Implementation of the Use of Indonesian Language for Foreign Workers

This study is a qualitative research with descriptive analysis to describe the implementation of the use of Indonesian language for foreign workers at PT Sai Apparel Industries, Semarang. Data was obtained from documents on the implementation of Indonesian language education and training. The research analysis covers the appointment of Indonesian workers as accompanying workers, the implementation of education and training for Indonesian workers in accordance with the qualifications of the positions occupied by foreign workers, and Indonesian language education and training facilities for foreign workers. The results of questionnaires and interviews with management were also analyzed. The results show that at the beginning of its operation in 1998, the management appointed Indonesian workers as assistants to foreign workers, implemented Indonesian language education and training for Indonesian workers in accordance with their qualifications and positions, and facilitated Indonesian language education and training for foreign workers. This is so that foreign workers can transfer knowledge or transfer of know how. Furthermore, the management no longer provides formal Indonesian language education and training. For the practice of using Indonesian, foreign workers learn through google translite, learn from office mates and also practice independently when shopping using Indonesian. Assistants from office staff only observe, monitor, and correct if there are mistakes. Learning by doing, learning by hearing is more effective.

Indonesian language training, fo Implementation of the Use of Indonesian Language for Foreign Workers at PT Sai Apparel Industries, Semarang

This study is a qualitative research with descriptive analysis to describe the implementation of the use of Indonesian language for foreign workers at PT Sai Apparel Industries, Semarang. Data was obtained from documents on the implementation of Indonesian language education and training. The research analysis covers the appointment of Indonesian workers as accompanying workers, the implementation of education and training for Indonesian workers in accordance with the qualifications of the positions occupied by foreign workers, and Indonesian language education and training facilities for foreign workers. The results of questionnaires and interviews with management were also analyzed. The results show that at the beginning of its operation in 1998, the management appointed Indonesian workers as assistants to foreign workers, implemented Indonesian language education and training for Indonesian workers in accordance with their qualifications and positions, and facilitated Indonesian language education and training for foreign workers. This is so that foreign workers can transfer knowledge or transfer of know how. Furthermore, the management no longer provides formal Indonesian language education and training. For the practice of using Indonesian, foreign workers learn through google translite, learn from office mates and also practice independently when shopping using Indonesian. Assistants from office staff only observe, monitor, and correct if there are mistakes. Learning by doing, learning by hearing is more effective

FGeo-SSS: A Search-Based Symbolic Solver for Human-like Automated Geometric Reasoning

Geometric problem solving (GPS) has always been a long-standing challenge in the fields of automated reasoning. Its problem representation and solution process embody rich symmetry. This paper is the second in a series of our works. Based on the Geometry Formalization Theory and the FormalGeo geometric formal system, we have developed the Formal Geometric Problem Solver (FGPS) in Python 3.10, which can serve as an interactive assistant or as an automated problem solver. FGPS is capable of executing geometric predicate logic and performing relational reasoning and algebraic computation, ultimately achieving readable, traceable, and verifiable automated solutions for geometric problems. We observed that symmetry phenomena exist at various levels within FGPS and utilized these symmetries to further refine the system’s design. FGPS employs symbols to represent geometric shapes and transforms various geometric patterns into a set of symbolic operation rules. This maintains symmetry in basic transformations, shape constructions, and the application of theorems. Moreover, we also have annotated the formalgeo7k dataset, which contains 6981 geometry problems with detailed formal language descriptions and solutions. Experiments on formalgeo7k validate the correctness and utility of the FGPS. The forward search method with random strategy achieved a 39.71% problem-solving success rate.