Language Frame Research Articles

On the Role of Functional Categories in Code-Switching: The Igbo-English Examples

Code-switching (CS) has been defined as ‘the act of alternation of two languages within a single discourse, sentence or constituent’ Poplack (1980:583). Technically, code-switching refers to alternation between sentences while intra-sentential alternation is referred to as code-mixing. Following Poplack (1980), we use the term code-switching to refer to the intra-sentential alternation which is more amenable to grammatical description. Most scholars on codeswitching will agree that it has a grammar but differ on the nature of this grammar. Some are of the opinion that codeswitching involves two monolingual grammars with constraints that determine points where switches are possible. While some see code-switching as a monolingual grammar where the host or base language provides the mould into which lexical items from both languages could be inserted. The present researcher belongs to the last school of thought. Adopting the Functional Head Selection Constraint of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) Model proposed by Myers- Scotton (1993, 1995) and with samples of code-switched expression collected from Igbo English bilinguals, the study examines the pattern of code-switching using Igbo and English as the focal point. Igbo is the Matrix language while English is the Embedded language. Our study reveals that the functional heads such as T, Agr, Neg, Det, would normally come from Igbo and provide the skeletal mould. The choice of whether the lexical items will come from Igbo or English or both is determined by the selectional properties of the Igbo functional heads. Perhaps this is the case for all other language pairs where one language is the Matrix Language (ML) and the other Embedded Language (EL).UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities vol 14 (2) 2013

E-HR and international HRM: a critical perspective on the discursive framing of e-HR

In the current global economic climate, international HRM is facing unprecedented pressure to become more innovative, effective and efficient. New discourses are emerging around the application of information technology, with ‘e-HR’ (electronic-enablement of Human Resources), self-service portals and promises of improved services couched as various HR ‘value propositions’. This study explores these issues through our engagement with the emergent stream of ‘critical’ HRM, the broader study of organizational discourse and ethical management theories. We have found that while there is growing research into the take-up of e-HR applications, there is a dearth of investigation into the impact of e-HR on the people involved; in particular, the (re)structuring of social relations between HR functions and line managers in the move away from face-to-face HR support services, to more technology-mediated ‘self-service’ relationships. We undertake a close reading of personal narratives from a multinational organization, deploying a critical discourse lens to examine different dimensions of e-HR and raise questions about the strong technocratic framing of the international language of people management, shaping line manager enactment of e-HR duties. We argue for a more reflexive stance in the conceptualization e-HR, and conclude with a discussion about the theoretical and practical implications of our study, limitations and suggestions for future research.

Words vs. Numbers - Integrative and Distributive Language Framing in Negotiations

As communication is at the “heart” of negotiations, a negotiator’s language use is especially crucial. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of integrative and distributive language framing in negotiations. Previous research on framing in negotiation has primarily focused on dispositional frames or manipulated the negotiator’s frame before the negotiation by representing the endeavor as gain or loss. We propose that by employing different linguistic variations and highlighting different qualities, distributive and integrative language frames identical situations and factual offers differently and, in consequence, evokes different perceptions and behavioral reactions by the counterpart. In our study, we kept the substantive aspect of the offers and counteroffers constant by offering identical payoffs and concessions, yet, the identical offers were framed differently using distributive or integrative language. Whereas for a rational negotiator the wording of offers and counteroffers should not make any difference, our results show that despite being confronted with the same factual content, negotiators receiving integratively framed messages propose different counteroffers, experience better quality of communication and less negative affect, judge the outcome and the process to be more fair, and evaluate the outcome and the process more positively.

Bilingwizm w tekście zapisany

Bilingualism in text. Part 2. Transcodic markers. Genres.
 The second part of this paper is a description of bilingual speech recorded in three aspects, the formal, the functional, and the one relating to genre studies. As a textual phenomenon, bilingual speech is characterized by transcodic markers, the traces of encounters between two languages: the matrix language L1 and the embedded language L2. The author introduces into the text linguistic correlates of his or her bilingual competence. These can take the shape of code switching, code mixing, or interference between L1 and L2. Coherence mechanisms, adequate to the various forms of transcodic markers, weld transcodic markers with the text in the matrix language formally and with regard to the content. These mechanisms are: grammatical rules of code switching, the matrix language frame, the local grammatical, syntactic, and semantic congruence of the two linguistic systems in contact, and also the local convergence between the elements and rules of L1 and L2. Transcodic markers are created by bilingual authors to fulfil specific roles in texts, most importantly, to enhance the referential potential and to (de)nominate the text by opening up the access to the universe of reference of L2. Other functions are the deictic function, the metacommunicative function, the function of rendering utterances that have originally arisen in L2, the polyphonic function, and also the function of transmitting strong emotions which are intimate to the sender. Transcodic markers are a transgression of the monolingual norm which is typically considered the standard in the creation of written texts. However, the analysis of recorded bilingual speech has shown that there exist genres which not only accept the introduction of transcodic markers into the text, but even actually sanction them. On the one hand, it is the literature of personal document with such genres as letter, journal, memoirs (autobiography), and on the other, linguistic mediation. In the former case, transcodic markers verbalize genre-specific features, the documentary quality and the personal element, as they are a linguistic – and thus authentic – testimony of the experience that the author has had in his or her L2, and has formed in that language. Being an inalienable part of the experience that is being related, the second language warrants an assertion of truth, documented and narrated through the given text with bilingual speech. Transcodic markers introduce senses and content that is complementary to the text in the matrix language, which is why, for a bilingual author, they are a factor that enriches his or her linguistic repertoire in the text that they are creating.

Prolegomena to the Study of Code-Switching in the Old Irish Glosses

This article investigates the frequent alternation of Latin and Old Irish in several collections of Early Medieval Irish glosses (especially focussing on the glosses to the Epistles of St Paul in Wurzburg, Universitatsbibliothek, MS M.p.th.f.12), in the attempt to ascertain how modern language contact and code-switching theories (Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame - or MLF - model in primis) may help us understand this phenomenon, as well as the exact nature of the linguistic relationship between Hiberno-Latin and the vernacular among the medieval Irish literati. Criteria for identifying what can be legitimately defined as ‘written code-switching’ are discussed, and a methodology for the study of code-switching in medieval glosses is proposed.

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS, MOBILE LANGUAGE

The present paper addresses essential discourse elements of the English language of science in light of the so-called Anglo-American intellectual style. Emphasised here are: various linguistic devices of compression (writing succinctly, avoidingverbosity and negation etc.), keeping subject and verb close together, and common revision patterns. Key standardized discourse models and academic vocabulary – as well as their Ukrainian equivalents – are also discussed. Special attention is given to Active vs. Passive voice usage, and adequate language framing of the author’s viewpoint in scientific discourse.

Nonfinite verbs and negotiating bilingualism in codeswitching: Implications for a language production model

This paper argues that a set of codeswitching data has implications for the nature of cognitive control in bilingualism and for models of language production in general. The data discussed are Embedded Language (EL) nonfinite verbs that occur in Matrix Language (ML) frames with appropriate ML inflectional morphology in some codeswitching (CS) corpora. Notably EL infinitives are involved, as inwo muconçevoirbe nuɖe. . . “they don't imagine that something . . .” (from Ewe–French CS). The main argument is that such nonfinite forms are selected because they only need checking at the lexical-conceptual level of abstract structure with the speaker's intended semantic-pragmatic meaning. That is, they do not project information about syntactic and argument structure that is included in the abstract structure of finite verbs. Nonfinite EL verbs occur because they better satisfy the speaker's intentions regarding semantic and pragmatic meaning than NL finite verbs. The employment of nonfinite EL verbs instead of EL finite verbs partially explains why codeswitching in general and such verb phrases in particular is perceived as fast and effortless. How one lexical entry (the EL nonfinite verb) can take on the morphosyntactic role of another one (the ML finite verb) implies flexibility in cognitive control at an abstract level. It also implies a certain malleability at an abstract level in the ML morphosyntactic frame that makes it possible to take in a nonfinite verb in a slot for a finite verb.

The 2011 Estonian high school language reform in the context of critical language policy and planning

This paper seeks to situate Estonian language use and policy within the emerging field of critical language policy and planning (CLPP) by investigating the discourses that frame linguistic behaviour. This done by way of an analysis of a series of interviews carried out with key actors in language policy in Estonia. The discourses framing language use in Estonia are then related to the practices, or repeated activities, that maintain everyday language use. The aim is to uncover taken-for-granted categories framing social life, in particular those that maintain forms of inequality, and to investigate ways that these might be reshaped in order to bring about outcomes that take into account the everyday needs and realities of a greater proportion of Estonian society. The 2011 Estonian high school reform is a case in point regarding the importance of macro–micro dialogue and coordination in language policy and planning. As this paper argues, more is needed to engage local Russian-speakers in the process of learning and using Estonian and playing a bigger part in wider Estonian society, particularly in the case of the north-eastern county of Ida-Virumaa. This paper considers the ways discourses and practices in education could become more inclusive of Estonia's Russian-speakers while still furthering the key twin goals of the period of renewed independence: normalisation of the use of Estonian and societal integration.

Transnationalism, Education and Slovenian Diaspora: Exploring Online Educational Resources for Slovenian Emigrants and Their Descendants

The article addresses the use of online communication technologies for educational purposes by Slovenian emigrants and their descendants. Technologies such as web-classes, forums, blogs and social networks enable them to maintain transnational links with the homeland, especially in terms of learning the language, and exploring, preserving and negotiating cultural practices. The article builds on the extensive content analysis of web pages, portals and social network sites where they interact to discuss the variety of themes connected with Slovenian culture. It is argued that shared meanings are not necessarily communicated and negotiated within the frame of a single language, and that learning about cultural heritage and contemporary lifestyles through discussions on social networks is an efficient and popular mode of informal learning.

Executive activities in the language frames

Executive activities in the language frames

Bilingual serial verb constructions: A comparative study of Ewe-English and Ewe-French codeswitching

The paper compares serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Ewe-English and Ewe-French codeswitching (CS) spoken in Ghana and Togo respectively. It argues that Ewe, the Matrix Language (ML) in both cases, sets the morphosyntactic frames of bilingual SVCs and, thus, determines their structural possibilities. It demonstrates this by looking at the various properties of SVCs in monolingual Ewe (including monoclausality and the expression of aspect and modality categories) and comparing them to the ones found in Ewe-English and Ewe-French CS structures. It also demonstrates this by looking at the expression of complex motion using Talmy's (2000) typology. Although English and French belong to different types with English being satellite-framed and French being verb-framed, and, although neither language has SVCs, complex motion is expressed in CS with SVCs. The facts are accounted for by using Myers-Scotton's (1993, 2002) Matrix Language Frame model. One major significance of the paper is that it is the first cross-linguistic study of bilingual SVCs. It predicts that for bilingual SVCs to be characteristic of CS, the ML has to have SVCs even if the other language, the embedded language, does not have them.

Persian–English codeswitching: A test of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model

Abstract The main aim of this paper is to test Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model of code-switching with Persian–English data, and to see whether the data confirm the principles of the model or not. A Persian–English corpus was provided from the formal and informal conversations of Persian–English bilinguals on TV shows. Then the three principles of the MLF model, that is, the Matrix Language principle, asymmetry principle, and uniform structure principle were verified. The results of the analyses suggest general support for the four principles of the MLF model. It is also concluded that Persian–English codeswitching does seem to be a ‘classic’ case of code-switching.

The geospatial characteristics of a social movement communication network.

Social movements rely in large measure on networked communication technologies to organize and disseminate information relating to the movements’ objectives. In this work we seek to understand how the goals and needs of a protest movement are reflected in the geographic patterns of its communication network, and how these patterns differ from those of stable political communication. To this end, we examine an online communication network reconstructed from over 600,000 tweets from a thirty-six week period covering the birth and maturation of the American anticapitalist movement, Occupy Wall Street. We find that, compared to a network of stable domestic political communication, the Occupy Wall Street network exhibits higher levels of locality and a hub and spoke structure, in which the majority of non-local attention is allocated to high-profile locations such as New York, California, and Washington D.C. Moreover, we observe that information flows across state boundaries are more likely to contain framing language and references to the media, while communication among individuals in the same state is more likely to reference protest action and specific places and times. Tying these results to social movement theory, we propose that these features reflect the movement’s efforts to mobilize resources at the local level and to develop narrative frames that reinforce collective purpose at the national level.

Exploiting unified modelling language (UML) as a preliminary design tool for Common Logic-based ontologies in manufacturing

This paper proposes a particular method which utilises the unified modelling language (UML) as a design visualisation tool for modelling ontologies based on the Common Logic knowledge representation language. The use of this method will enable Common Logic ontological concepts to be more readily accessible to general engineers and provide a valuable ontology design aid. The method proposed is explored using the knowledge frame language (KFL) which provides constructs to facilitate ontology building and is built on Common Logic. The major constructs of KFL are briefly defined and a description of how each construct may be represented in UML is given. Examples are presented showing how the constructs may be modelled in UML and a Common Logic-based implementation founded on a UML design is illustrated and discussed. The manufacturing domain is utilised as an experimental basis for demonstrating the proposed method.

Analysing Afrikaans-English bilingual children’s conversational code switching

It has been observed that children mix languages more often if they have been exposed to mixed speech, especially if they are in bilingual company. Very little research, however, exists on the code switching (CS) of children brought up in multilingual contexts. The study discussed in this paper investigates the grammatical and socio-pragmatic characteristics of the conversational CS of three Afrikaans-English bilingual children and aims to contribute towards a better understanding of child CS. The study was conducted through the analysis of spontaneous conversational CS elicited during multiple play sessions. Data were analysed within the frameworks of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model and Conversation Analysis (CA). The study accounts for the different types of CS that occur, and examines which grammatical and/or socio-pragmatic difficulties may drive children to use specific types of CS, while also considering whether the context of an utterance has an influence on how and why CS takes place.

TERMINY WIELOZNACZNE W CHIŃSKIM, NIEMIECKIM, GRECKIM I POLSKIM JĘZYKU PRAWA

The main issue of the paper is the phenomenon of polysemy, which is present in the Chinese, German, Greek and Polish legal languages. The phenomenon is seen as the criterion of comparative studies between the specified legal languages. As polysemy is often discussed together with homonymy, the authors have decided to define polysemy in the introduction of the text, on the basis of etymology and being contrary to homonymy. The first assumption is an existence of the polysemy of certain terms (words and syntagmas), which relies on simultaneous existence of the term both in general (lay) language and in language for special purposes. The LSP may be the legal language, for example. Based on the existing research of legal language, the authors assume polysemy does not have a homogenous character as a term and moreover this is confirmed by various legilinguistic classifications. There are typologies of legal language based on the criterion of source text, but the authors also propose the consideration of a classification performed on the basis of various fields of law i.e. civil law, constitutional law, criminal law together with confirmation of classification. This criterion may be very useful when explaining the polysemy of legal terms as it originates not only from different types of legal texts, but primarily comes from legal fields. The performed comparative analysis of selected legal terms of different Chinese, German, Greek and Polish legal fields indicates that the multiplicity of meanings of the same term (word/syntagma) comes from the presence of this term in different legal fields. Simultaneously, the primarily assumed statement of the existence of polysemy in the frame of a certain language for special purposes, i.e. legal language, is confirmed. This assumption may be a valuable aspect of further research of national legal languages and may be useful for the users of legal language such as legal translators or legal comparatists.

Tapping into the field of foreign language learning games

The use of serious games has seen a remarkable growth in the past decade. This has resulted in a substantial number of people with hands–on experience. However, to our knowledge, no research has been performed to harvest this source of information. By means of an explorative study, we collected the opinions of 47 serious game and computer–assisted language learning experts on the potential of serious games for foreign language learning. The first part of this paper discusses the opinions of experts in the light of different perspectives on foreign language learning. The next part of this paper elaborates on a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of foreign language learning games, resulting in a nuanced view on the opportunities and limitations of foreign language learning games. As such, this paper explores possibilities and limitations regarding language learning games and frames those findings within the boundaries of literature on foreign language learning.

Organizational Negotiation Skills, Persuasion, and the Contested Meaning of ISO 26000

To date limited research has been conducted on how organizations persuade powerful institutional constituents to alter the meaning of ideologically contested practices. Drawing from a negotiated orders perspective of institutionalization and novel data from the development of ISO 26000, an international standard defining the practice of CSR, this paper argues that whether a constituent is persuaded will depend upon the bargaining skills of an organization. An organizational negotiation skills model of institutional persuasion is developed and tested with results suggesting that an organization’s likelihood of persuasion is strongly influenced by its ability to occupy leadership positions, be resilient in framing ideologically salient issues, and use framing language that theorizes the meaning of the practice within negotiation contexts. Unlike prior work on negotiations in which the ideological nature of issues served as a barrier to an organization’s ability to persuade our results suggest that those organizations that actively addressed and theorized around salient, ideological issues were highly persuasive.

Non-insertional code-switching in English–Japanese bilingual children: alternation and congruent lexicalisation

This article investigates English–Japanese children's code-switching (CS) from the structural point of view. Muysken categorises it into three types, that is, insertion, alternation and congruent lexicalisation. Regarding insertion, using Myers- Scotton's matrix language frame (MLF) model, for example, the matrix language (ML) of a bilingual clause can be identified and items from the other language are considered embedded. In contrast, alternation does not distinguish between the matrix and embedded languages: the speaker makes a full change from using language A to using language B. In congruent lexicalisation, on the other hand, the ML consists of two or more languages. In this article, natural data from two English–Japanese bilingual children (5;9-9;3, 3;3-6;9) are analysed primarily using the MLF model, the insertion framework, but the ML cannot be identified in 41.8% of the data. These are examined with the alternation and congruent lexicalisation frameworks. Qualitative analyses show that psycholinguistic processes and pragmatic forces underlie those non-insertional types of CS. Psycholinguistic processes of triggering and formulaic language play important roles in alternation, whereas convergence, another psycholinguistic process, leads to congruent lexicalisation. From the pragmatic point of view, English makes a pragmatic/discourse frame and Japanese expresses propositional meanings. This finding suggests that bilingual children can attribute different functions to different languages.

Mobilizing Gender to Promote Peace: The Case of Machsom Watch

The binary model that presents women as peaceful and men as warfaring is a common conception of war and peace. Despite increasing levels of gender equality in most spheres of public life and decreasing gender segregation in institutions in many parts of the world, the associational link of men to war and women to peace remains widespread. Focusing on the Israeli women’s peace organization, Machsom Watch, this article uses a content analysis of interactions between Machsom Watch activists, soldiers and Palestinians to examine how gendered political opportunity structures affect and are affected by interactions between individuals, organizations and institutions. The paper highlights the contradiction between Machsom Watch’s form as a women-only organization and their framing and report language, which is non-gender specific. I argue that this contradiction emerges from their strategic negotiation of the gendered political opportunity structure as well as their culturally bounded experiences of gendered interactions and embodied gender norms. More generally, I argue that by understanding political opportunity structures as being bound by cultural norms that create distinct sets of opportunities and constraints for different groups of people, scholars can better understand the particular manifestation of social movement action and thereby more fully account for human agency in social and political structures. Additionally, this paper encourages social movement scholars to understand social movement framing as both a product of political opportunities and constraints as well as an influence in the formation of the political opportunity structure.