Informal Features Research Articles

Emerging New Media Syntax, Violation of English Syntactic Rules, and Meaning Misrepresentations

A new variety of English syntax emerged with the new media. This study examines new media syntax to show instances of mindless violation of grammatical rules and the misrepresentation of meanings among student users of the new media. The study relies on selected social media posts. Descriptive survey, textual and content analyses, and interpretive techniques are employed. The analysis demonstrates that new media syntax, a corrupted or bastardized form of the English syntax, is characterized by syntactic deviations, grammatical violations, misrepresentation of meanings, and informal features, which affect the performance of students in English Language courses or subjects because most of them transfer the syntactic features of new media syntax to their formal compositions. The study concludes that the strained use of new media exerts adverse effects on English syntax and students’ writing and performance because they lose marks to the transferred features of new media syntax to the formal English syntax, which causes solecism, violation of grammatical rules and misrepresentation of meanings. Teachers are charged to consistently teach students how to use new media language for its associated informal contexts and purposes alone rather than mixing it with the formal variety in formal compositions.

Exploring the street economy in African cities: A review of practices, regulatory policies, and challenges of urban governance in Ghana

ABSTRACT This paper explores the governance and resilience of the urban street economy in Ghanaian cities as a reflection of the operational features of informality in African cities. The paper draws on a comprehensive review of secondary documents to explore the practices, policy regulation, urban governance challenges, and resilience of the street economy in urban Ghana. Findings show that eviction, relocation, harassment, and merchandise confiscation are the orthodox policy measures by city authorities for managing and regulating street vending. Nevertheless, the street economy continuously reproduces and spatially redistributes itself across the urban landscape, exemplifying its resilience despite state intolerance and repression. The paper concludes by recommending that city authorities embrace street vending, and by extension, urban informality, as a part of Southern urbanism and, therefore, develop more inclusive and less hostile policies to regulate such activities.

The (Lack of) Salience of T/V Pronouns in Professional Communication: Evidence from an Experimental Study for Belgian Dutch

In their quest to find a suitable tone of voice in an informalizing society, many companies are confronted with the choice of using T or V pronouns in their B2C communications. This paper presents an experimental study addressing the question of whether the recipients of these messages actually notice the difference between being addressed with a T form, which carries social meanings of informality and proximity, or a more distant V form, and to what extent the presence of additional informal linguistic features influences the salience of a pronoun switch. We furthermore investigate to what extent the professional socialization of participants impacts on the noticing of pronoun use. In a case study for Belgian Dutch, participants (N = 279) were presented with two versions of an information letter that they were asked to read quickly. The texts were manipulated for the use of T/V pronouns, as well as, depending on the condition, a number of additional informal linguistic features (i.e., informal punctuation, intensifiers, and English lexical items). Participants were not warned in advance about the changes between the two versions of the stimulus text. In a salience test following the presentation of the two text versions, less than 10% of participants noticed a switch in T/V form regardless of the presence of additional informal features. Similarly low rates of noticing were found for the other informal features, except for English loanwords. No differences were found depending on whether participants had a language-related professional background (e.g., language teachers, journalists, editors). We argue that the lack of noticing T/V pronouns may be due to the specifics of the Belgian Dutch system of pronominal address that has an additional highly salient colloquial pronoun of address which may obscure the difference in social meaning between the standard T and V pronouns. The discussion critically evaluates the implications of the study for the use of T/V pronouns in professional communication, musing on the complex relationship between noticing and evaluating.

Артель: возможность применения традиционных принципов в современных экономических отношениях

The artel is considered as a historically established institution of the Russian economy and society. Its formal and informal features are highlighted, on the basis of which the principles developed by time are formulated, which are applicable in modern conditions. It is shown that these principles can become the basis of relations in individual collectives, organizations, industries, and interstate cooperation, which is interesting for the formation of a new model of the Russian economy.

Linguistic and Rhetorical Features of Donald Trump’s Communication Style

Abstract: The article analysis Donald Trump’s communication style and political discourse through methodology including methods from linguistics and rhetoric. The research focus is in lexical and syntactic repetitions, elliptical constructions and word order changes used by Donald Trump in his political speeches sending strong signals to his real and potential voters. The assumption is Donald Trump’s communication style has the features of grandiosity, informality and dynamism. These three concepts have strong association with populist rhetoric, which plays a very important role in his political discourse, the first two concepts imply two conflicting trends: a desire to be above all and at the same time a desire to be closer to the audience. The article studies the way how, why, when and where Donald Trump uses the repetitions of words, phrases and sentences, ellipsis and word order changes as the linguistic verbalizations of grandiosity, informality and dynamism in his political discourse. Keywords: Donald Trump, political discourse, rhetoric, lexical and syntactic repetitions, ellipsis, word order change.

Email Literacy in Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study on Student-Instructor Email Communication at Dhofar University in Oman

Email is one of the means via which students in higher education institutions (HEIs) liaise with instructors to enquire about course materials, assignments, upcoming assessments and seek advice on personal or academic matters. The current study is an attempt to investigate student-instructor email communication focusing on the problematic aspects in students’ emails that affect the process of communication. The study is based on the analysis of one-hundred email messages composed and sent by undergraduate students to their instructors at Dhofar University in Oman. It is concluded that student email messages are often characterized by lack email etiquette rules, linguistic inaccuracies and traits of texting and instant messaging mediums. Several student messages, for instance, lack proper email layout and contain grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes, indicating that reviewing emails before sending them to teachers does not take place. In addition, informal features such as use of informal vocabulary, excessive use of punctuation marks, non-standard spelling, emojis and emoticons, which reflect unawareness of formality, professionalism and university setting etiquette, are noticeable in students’ email messages. Therefore, pedagogical intervention with respect to acquisition of skills required for writing and perceiving emails is recommended. Education and guidance on the conventions governing email communication can help students communicate more effectively and professionally via email in HEIs, which will promote not only decent practices but also future employability opportunities.

Ülkemizdeki Medya Araçlarının Çocuk Gelişimi ve Eğitimine Yönelik Etkilerinin İncelenmesi

While children are gaining the ability to think abstractly and make logic, this needs to be supported by education. Because children who maintain this healthy development can design things that may happen in the future. Unlike young children, who are usually dealing with the present, adolescents are interested in the future. His thoughts are no longer limited to the concrete perception of the present reality. Societies can continue their existence in a peaceful and safe way with individuals who are aware of their responsibility, educated and aware of their responsibility. Individuals who cannot realize their responsibility, are thoughtless and pursue simple pleasures, even live their daily lives with problems. Individuals who will contribute to the development of the country, recognize personal and social problems and take a role in solving these problems may have the hypocrisy to reach productive, efficient, healthy, happy and successful solutions. Existentialist philosophy adopts the approach that these qualities can be possible by raising oneself, wanting to have these qualities in oneself, and striving along this path, rather than by genetic and environmental factors. The contribution of the media to children's education is a well-known fact. In today's world, education as a phenomenon that does not need age, place or time can take place anytime and anywhere. The level of technology has undoubtedly affected education as well. Unknowingly or knowingly, many educational elements enter our lives and educate us. Changing technology has made informal education stronger and more widespread. Informal education occurs spontaneously in life. It is not planned and programmed. Therefore, it is much more difficult to control or filter informal education in terms of harm or benefit. It is an informal education for a child to learn bad words from a friend on the street. The education received by the child in the family has a more informal feature. Mom and dad are the child's leaders, role models. What they do is also the right thing for the child and it should be done. Key Words: Media Tools, Child Development, Child Education

Formalization of Mathematical Proof Practice Through an Argumentation-Based Model

Proof requires a dialogue between agents to clarify obscure inference steps, fill gaps, or reveal implicit assumptions in a purported proof. Hence, argumentation is an integral component of the discovery process for mathematical proofs. This work presents how argumentation theories can be applied to describe specific informal features in the development of proof-events. The concept of proof-event was coined by Goguen who described mathematical proof as a public social event that takes place in space and time. This new meta-methodological concept is designed to cover not only “traditional” formal proofs but all kinds of proofs and inference steps, including incomplete or purported proofs. Our approach attempts to make proof-events more comprehensive to express the complete trajectory of a mathematical proof-event until the ultimate validation of the proving outcome. Thus, we advance an extended version of proof-event calculus which is built on argumentation theories designed to capture the internal and external structure of collaborative mathematical practice and highlight the relationship between proof, human reasoning, and cognitive processes. In addition, another area in which argumentation can make a significant contribution is dealing with the defeasible knowledge of the Web which is a product of its open and ubiquitous nature. This approach seems to be sufficient for the presentation of Web-based proving processes as manifested in the case of the Mini-Polymath 4 project.

Informal features in English academic writing: Mismatch between prescriptive advice and actual practice

This study empirically investigates the mismatch between English academic writing materials and actual language use by comparing prescriptive advice on informal features given in academic style manuals with descriptive practice in published academic writing. We summarise the advice about linguistic features traditionally associated with an informal style offered in 25 style manuals, and conduct an empirical study to examine the distribution of these features in a 1.87-million-word corpus of research articles in linguistics and physics. Findings indicate that the common advice given in style manuals generally matches the actual use. Despite some disagreements among manual authors, generally it is discouraged to use most informal features, but the authors acknowledge first personal pronouns, unattended this and sentence-initial conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. In actual practice, published writers use these three categories of informal features frequently, but tend to avoid the other features. However, most style manuals tend to treat academic writing as a monolithic and homogeneous entity, or only discuss the use of informal features across broad disciplinary groupings, without capturing the disciplinary-specific use of individual features as evidenced in this corpus-based research. These findings have potential implications for English academic writing instructors as well as material designers.

The Bucharest 9 Format between Rational Ambitious Goals and Real Influence

"The 2014 invasion of Crimea, plus the hard policies displayed by Russia in the East Europe produced concern in the region. Most of the states located there, even NATO members felt they need extra defence measures, more cooperation and more help from the alliance. One major step was the formation of the Bucharest Nine format, which, despite its rather informal feature, tried to increase security benefits of its members. The article aims to analyse in a holistic manner the formation, goals, achievements and future perspectives of the B9 format. Keywords: Bucharest Nine format, NATO, security, Eastern Flank, Ukraine."

A Study on the Hair Design That Adopted the Formative Characteristics of Zaha Hadid's Architecture

The purpose of this study is to analyze constitutive and geometric formativeness from architecture designed by Zaha Hadid. We made total 4 hair design work based on analysis and the result are as follows. First, We analyze Zaha Hadid’s formativeness according to period of beginning, middle and latter in order to understand background of formation. At the beginning, the architecture was effected by de-constructivism so it features atypically geometric structure with dynamical- diagonal line. At the middle, irregular curves shows dynamic and the combination of porosity and systematic shows formativeness. At the end, the structure shows more curve used flexibly. Second, We analyze Zaha Hadid’s 4 representative architecture and realize that the architecture shows flexible and informal feature due to diagonal wall, leaned-column, systematic curve, repeated diagonal line and curve. Third, we are motivated by Zaha Hadid’s 4 representative architecture and finally make creative hair design work. Work 1 is motivated by Vitra Fire Station that features sharp direction and asymmetry. Work 1 shows informal beauty of a sculpture. Work 2 is motivated by Galaxy Soho that features repeated and intersected soft and curve. Work 2 shows repeated and successive pattern in three dimension. Work 3 is motivated by Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre that features flexible curve. Work 3 shows a sense of balance with S and C curve overlapped. Work 4 is motivated by Dongdaemun Design Plaza that features harmony of irregular and asymmetric. Work 4 shows soft and rhythmical beauty by using smooth and gross texture together. Additionally It has voluminous style and an air of mystery thanks to ash blue color. The research is to make creative hair design work motivated by Zaha Hadid’s architecture. The preceding research of hair design which has something to do with architecture is limited, specially when with Zaha Hadid’s architecture. The significance of research is to develop creative hair design.

A Multidisciplinary Comparative Study on the Informality Features of Abstracts of Research Articles

Academic papers have always been the formal style of maintaining fairness and objectivity, and the research experiment process and research results should be presented with a rigorous and calm scientific attitude. However, some scholars believe that the use of some “informality features” in academic papers can “persuade” readers to accept their own views. Therefore, the formal degree of style in academic papers has always been the focus of academic writing. Based on the theory of 10 informal styles proposed by Swales and Chang (1999), this paper studies the features of informality in abstracts of academic papers on soft science and hard science published by Chinese scholars in international journals to provide some enlightenment for academic writing of second language learners of different majors. It is found that informal words or sentences are frequently used in abstracts of papers in hard science journals, and the requirements for stylistic features are more tolerant. However, the style of writing in abstracts of journals of social science is more formal and cautious.

SMILE: An Informality Classification Tool for Helping to Assess Quality and Credibility in Web 2.0 Texts

The data made available by Web 2.0 applications such as social networks, on-line chats or blogs have give access to multiples sources of information. Due to this dramatic increase in available information, the perception of quality and credibility plays an important role in social media, thus making necessary to discard low quality and uninteresting content. Moreover, the informal features of Web 2.0 texts such as emoticons, typos, slang or loss of formatting impact negatively on user perception regarding content quality and credibility. For this reason, this paper proposes the SMILE system, a novel unsupervised real-time tool for assessing user-generated content quality and credibility using informality levels. As a test case, we focus on Yahoo! Answers, a relevant Web 2.0 application by its amount of users, content and textual diversity. The results of our study show that informality analysis can be used as criteria to help assess the credibility and quality of Web 2.0 information sources.

Moving beyond four walls and forming a learning community for speaking practice under the auspices of Facebook

There is a paucity of opportunities for Vietnamese EFL students to use and practise English speaking skills both inside and outside the classroom, attributing to students’ lack of interest and motivation in improving their speaking skills. Given that learning can be distributed across a multitude of formal and informal settings, the social and informal features of Facebook serve as potentially ubiquitous support for students to productively practise and use the target language. To date, however, much of the discussion of the promising incorporations of Facebook into EFL teaching and learning repertoire remains largely in writing and intercultural communicative effectiveness, with an evident scarcity of empirical research on students’ speaking practice. This qualitative study was conducted with 10 Vietnamese EFL learners, aiming to examine whether the Facebook-based learning community articulated any educational potentials for EFL speaking practice. The findings revealed that there were three features of the Facebook-based learning community, including flexible access, shared visions and values and collaborative relationships, which were beneficial for the members to maintain learning motivation, be more engaged in peer collaboration and co-construct essential knowledge for speaking practice. The findings suggested that the Facebook-based learning community could serve as a means for promoting more speaking practice among Vietnamese EFL learners.

The informal features of micro and small enterprises and its incompatibility with the partnership law in Ethiopia

This paper aims to analyze unfitness of micro and small enterprises with the existing trade law particularly partnership rules in Ethiopia. Qualitative research methodology is utilized in order to capture and analyze accurate and in-depth insight of the fact that micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia are not compatible with the existing partnership law though partnership form of firms are suitable for small business. The available literatures related to the issue were professionally scrutinized and analyzed for the purpose of the research. The results of this research shows that micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia are formed as simply business organization which does not specify the kind of firm structure. Formation, management, liability and dissolution of micro and small enterprises deviate from the partnership requirements stipulated under the Ethiopian commercial code. Furthermore, micro and small enterprises are operating as informal sector business though the sectors‘ development strategy clearly states that they should be organized under trade law. Therefore, micro and small enterprises system should be reformed in order to make them to be compatible with the existing commercial law.

Becoming #Instafamous

AbstractDrawing onGoffman’s (1990 [1959])metaphor of stage, this paper considers Instagram a frontstage environment where users are cautious of being watched and attune their performance to how they want to be perceived via strategic self-presentation. This understanding of online performance is particularly pertinent in the discussions of bloggers who turn to Instagram to promote their work to new audiences. Examining the self-presentation practices of three fashion bloggers, this paper argues that to gain popularity on Instagram, bloggers utilize the features of formality and informality in the construction of an authentic and likable self-image. Since in the photographs the bloggers’ professional life is usually depicted as distant from their audience’s reality, the accompanying textual caption serves as a means of providing balance for the overall image the poster seeks to present. Consequently, the caption abounds with features of informality, which connote linguistic immediacy and imitate an intimate conversation with peers.

Organized interests and trilogues in a post-regulatory era of EU policy-making

ABSTRACT Organized interests and trilogues are permanent features of the everyday policy-making of the EU, but little is known about their interaction. Can organized interests access this secluded and informal arena of EU decision making? If so, what implications does their degree of access have? Are there different patterns of interaction between different types of organized interests and the different co-decision making institutions? How do posited asymmetries between business interests and other types of civil society interests, manifest themselves when it comes to trilogues? As much as organized interests lobbying institutions, do we also find evidence of the reverse as a pathway seeking to influence trilogue negotiations? In this article we conceptualise rilogues as informal institutions delivering political choices,distinguishing between different periods of trilogue informality, and flesh out an ideal-type of contemporary trilogues as ‘complementary informal institutions’ in a ‘post-regulatory’ state. We pinpoint valuable as well as enduringly problematic features of trilogue informality and permeability. Based on a substantial recent interview survey among 100 trilogue ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, we provide evidence of extensive ties between these players, their implications for the democratic quality of EU legislation. We develop further research questions surrounding the relationship between organized interests and trilogues.

The demonstration effect of transactions between strangers on those between acquaintances: evidence from land rentals in rural China

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, introducing outer village lessees has been an important approach to increasing the marketization of land rentals in rural China. However, with large numbers of informal features among acquaintances, the effect of introducing outer village lessees is ambiguous. In this paper, data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey are used to analyse the demonstration effect of land rentals between strangers on those between acquaintances, and land rent is used to represent the marketization of land rentals. The estimated results indicate that with the emergence of outer village lessees, lessors transacting with acquaintances are more likely to obtain high land rents and to rent out farmland for profit. Evidence shows that profit motives are the key pathway by which the presence of outer village lessees affects land rents. The analysis using the sample of lessees supports our findings. Our analysis implies that the demonstration effect exists in land rental markets, and also provides a feasible instrument for promoting market-oriented land rentals between acquaintances.

“Tacit pedagogy” and “entanglement”: practice-based learning and innovation

PurposeThis paper argues that the informal dimensions of practice are critical for understanding workplace learning and innovation, but have been under-theorised and under-researched. This paper aims to build on the thinking of Ellström (2010), Billett (2012) and Guile (2014) to account for the emergence of innovation through practice, and propose two new concepts for improving our understanding of innovation as process: “tacit pedagogy” and “entanglement”. This argument is evidenced through a recent study of team-working in a high-profile engineering company.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interview data was collected on the informal features of organisational culture and work processes supporting innovation, and how these features intersect and interrelate with the formal features and procedures of the organisation.FindingsThree generic modes of team-working practice are identified which, it is suggested, are likely to be associated with innovatory working, and are observable practices available to future researchers.Practical implicationsProductive approaches to the organisation of work processes so as to enhance practitioner learning and the potential for innovation are evidenced and evaluated.Originality/valueThe concepts “tacit pedagogy” and “entanglement”, intended to improve theoretical understanding of learning and innovation through practice, are introduced.

Investigating colloquialization in the British parliamentary record in the late 19th and early 20th century

In this paper, we explore how sociocultural changes were reflected in the parliamentary record, a genre that combines elements of spoken, written and written-to-be-spoken discourses. Our main interests are in the processes of linguistic colloquialization and democratization, understood broadly as tendencies towards greater informality and equality in language use. Previous diachronic studies have established that written language has increasingly adopted features associated with spoken language, although genre and register differences are considerable. Our starting point is that as Parliament has become more demographically representative and as prescriptive norms have loosened in society on the whole, the relative frequency of informal features in parliamentary language may have increased. At the same time, profound changes took place in the practices of recording parliamentary proceedings, most importantly the introduction of the official report in 1909.Our data on British parliamentary debates come from the Hansard Corpus (Alexander and Davies, 2015). We investigate the 60-year-period 1870–1930, which includes reports of parliamentary debates and, after 1909, verbatim reports (in total ca. 40 million words). Adopting a pattern-driven approach, we focus on n-gram frequencies. The analysis first identifies major shifts in the language of the reports using unsupervised grouping methods, and then investigates in more detail the frequency trends of individual n-grams associated with spoken language, as well as their function in parliamentary debates. The findings indicate that the introduction of the official report resulted in clear changes in n-gram frequencies, which can be linked to democratization and colloquialization.