Language Capacity Research Articles

Hitchcock's Undertexts: Objects and Language

This article explores the way in which the generative capacity of language inflects objects and props in several films by Alfred Hitchcock, focusing in particular on Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951). Camera angle and framing, the duration of the shot, the close-up or the long shot – all give shape to the filmed object. But why is language – or its absence – not mentioned among the set of operations that determines cinematic objects? In the form of dialogue or imaged writing (words or letters visible in the frame), it notably contextualizes the object in Hitchcock's films. Language in relation to objects can be punning; it can extend the image, evoking another, unimaged object through the use of rhyme, and it may act as a verbal solution to a puzzle. When imaged as writing, language is materialized, itself an object. At their most macabre, Hitchcock films stage an oscillation between a word's literal and figurative use, generating an undertext that extends beyond the joke the film's surface makes available. This discussion teases out several functions of language in Hitchcock films as it impacts the viewer's understanding of objects, moments when language creates undertexts that are clearly intentional but resist interpretation.

Structure of personal narratives in Thai children aged 4 to 6 years old

Background: Understanding children’s narratives is crucial as it represents language capacity in a naturalistic context and also relates to children’s academic success. However, studies showed that narratives vary not only with age but also in content and structure across cultures. Objectives: To study and compare components and patterns of personal narratives in Thai children aged 4-6 years old. Also, to find narrative structure differences between genders. Materials and methods: Stories of past experiences were elicited from 86 participants aged 4-6 years old. The longest narratives from each participant were analyzed in terms of both narrative components and patterns by using high-point analysis. Comparisons were then drawn for the proportions and differences in narrative structure between age groups and between genders. Results: For narrative components, Thai children told complicating action most frequently. With age, the use of resolution increased significantly from 4-6 years old. For narrative patterns, chronological patterns were found commonly at age 4. Moreover, the incidence of classic patterns rose significantly between the ages of 4 and 6 and reached the highest proportion in usage at ages 5 and 6. No gender difference was found in the narrative structure. Conclusion: Thai children’s narrative structure was presented in this study. The abilities to range events in sequence and resolve the high-point of narratives were found more commonly with their increasing age.

The Human Language Capacity and Physics: Eleven Dimensions of Empirical Reality Proved by Construction

The Human Language Capacity and Physics: Eleven Dimensions of Empirical Reality Proved by Construction

O ulozi akademske zajednice u obrazovanju jezičkog kadra specijaliziranog za oblast evropskih integracija / On the Role of Academia in Educating Language Experts Specialised in European Integration

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been involved in the process of European integration for many years with the goal of obtaining full EU membership. This paper seeks to answer whether the process of European integration has resulted in launching specialised EU study programmes in translation, interpretation, terminology, language&law at the university level in BiH. For the purpose of this paper, curricula of eight English Departments (academic year 2021/2022) were examined: Sarajevo, Mostar (Univerzitet “Džemal Bijedić”/”Sveučilište u Mostaru”), Tuzla, Zenica, Bihać, Banja Luka, Istočno Novo Sarajevo. Private universities were disregarded. The analysis findings revealed that the departments mentioned do not offer any specialised programmes of this kind, as well as that, becoming a “lawyer-linguist” and/or a “terminologist” is not possible via the regular education system. It has been concluded that BiH universities should start promoting the importance of such study programmes as soon as possible and that academia should start opening up towards the creation of new interdisciplinary study programmes thus strengthening the language capacity of individuals willing to specialise in this field, as well as the attractiveness of higher education in BiH.

Language diversity and inclusion in humanitarian organisations

This article examines whether language diversity among staff in humanitarian organisations may affect inclusion and, if so, in what ways it does. We draw on the findings of a survey on staff’s language skills in the international NGO GOAL. We also draw parallels with practices noted in other international NGOs in previous research. Prior to the survey, data were lacking on the languages GOAL works in, which staff work multilingually, and whether gaps existed in language capacity and translation provision. The data provide evidence of the rich multilingual landscape in GOAL and reveal some patterns in the language use and multilingualism of staff. The survey investigates the notion that inclusion also has a linguistic dimension: staff and local communities speak a variety of languages, yet the main working language of the international humanitarian sector is English and, by extension, a handful of other major former colonial languages such as French and Spanish. Data-gathering such as that done in this study is important for two main reasons: without such data, INGOs cannot fully understand the level of exclusion that some of their staff may be facing because of language differences; and they are unable to grasp the extent to which they rely on the multilingual skills of their staff to provide ad hoc translation solutions that ensure effective communication and successful humanitarian assistance. The article aims to advance the debate on language challenges in the NGO sector by offering concrete data on informal translation and interpreting practices in one example that is representative of language practices in the international humanitarian sector. This contribution will hopefully encourage other international NGOs to collect similar data on language use and barriers that will help organisations to deal positively with the linguistic dimension of inclusiveness.

The Intersection of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Roman Ingarden in the Hermeneutic Experience of Fictional Worlds

ABSTRACT At the heart of our experience of literature is the idea that fiction can show us new possibilities for the world in which we live. I open up fictional worlds’ hermeneutic dimension by investigating the intersection of Roman Ingarden’s analytic phenomenology of the literary work with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. Reading Ingarden together with Gadamer, I understand a fictional world as an orientation towards a fictional environment whose foundation is our capacity for language, showing how the reciprocal relationship in which we discover its fictional objects and states of affairs is of the same kind that exists between language and world, so that fiction can be understood to orient us towards the happening of language. By thinking on the relationship between language and experience, I suggest that Ingarden and Gadamer propose to understand a fictional world as an orientation towards our very capacity to be otherwise and to exceed ourselves.

The Effective Age of Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review

The presence of language suggests that the human mind can handle a bunch of codes in an exceptional manner, which is then transformed into a bunch of significance for communication. It is important for a person to initially get familiar with the language to have the option to utilize it really for correspondence purposes. The peculiarity of language obtaining has drawn in light of a legitimate concern for linguists to lead research in this field to decide the tremendous limit that human minds give on how language is procured, both first and second language. The capacity to get and comprehend language isn’t hereditarily acquired yet the specific language that children speak is given to them socially and naturally. The outcome in language procurement can be accomplished by zeroing in on the inside factors that additionally influence it, such as maturing in language capacity and the so-called critical period. This study employed Literature Review as the research method, in which this research endeavored to investigate a portion of the current examination articles on the Critical Period Hypothesis and the impact toward Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Moreover, the consequence of the investigation was subsequently proposed to distinguish how much the SLA is dependent upon the impact of a critical period.

A Poetics of Thingification: Dawn Lundy Martin and the Black Took Collective

Abstract In the last two decades, African American poets working in innovative and avant-garde forms have produced poetry focused upon the theme of racial objectification. Individual and collaborative projects by Dawn Lundy Martin, Duriel E. Harris, and Ronaldo V. Wilson, who write and perform together as the Black Took Collective, practice what this article calls a poetics of thingification: a poetry that draws attention to language's capacity for reification in general and for racial objectification in particular. Drawing upon thing theory and recent scholarship on race and avant-garde poetry, this article focuses on Dawn Lundy Martin's poetics in order to demonstrate how poets combine innovative techniques with racial stereotypes to scrutinize hegemonic expectations at the level of poetic form, especially within the tradition of African American poetry. Rather than adopting the humanizing rhetoric and lyrical modes of conventional African American poetry, these poets use the trope of the objectified Black body to deconstruct linguistic processes of racial reification from within.

Substance use prevention among migrant children in Serbia- challenges and opportunities

Abstract Among almost millions of children asylum seekers registered in the EU in 2015-2017, there were one-fifth unaccompanied children. These children are facing many challenges, including substance use while at the same time the recommendations for prevention are underdeveloped in many countries. To address the issue of substance use among migrant children in Serbia, the Institute of Public Health of Serbia with the support of the UNICEF and in cooperation with other partners developed recommendations for preventive activities in 2022 based on the migrant needs and country-specific situation. In the first phase of development, a desk review of current legislation and available relevant data was done. In the second phase, in order to gain in-depth view of the challenges and opportunities, workshops were conducted in two migrant centers with medical and other staff. Based on the findings and consultation process, feasible, evidence-based interventions were recommended. Several barriers to the implementation of evidence-based prevention activities in migrant centers were identified. To address the knowledge gap on the management of acute intoxication and the current referral system, guidelines were developed. The diversity of professional backgrounds of staff in migrant centers was identified as a barrier and recommendations for further training were made. There are several barriers that need further action and solutions such as short periods of stay in centers that hinder the provision of structured programs, language barriers, and ethical issues for minors, especially unaccompanied children. Prevention activities in migrant centers need to consider the specific needs of migrants, such as language barrier, capacities, and relevant knowledge of available staff and country-specific situations. The development of guidelines and a flowchart for a referral system for migrants at risk for substance abuse and dependence can be a useful tool for staff in migrant centers. Key messages • Substance use prevention among migrants should be evidence-based and in line with migrant needs and country-specific situations. • Guidelines for prevention should be available to migrant centers’ staff.

Technology-Mediated Communication and Representations of Islam in Northwest China: Insights from Visual Postings on Weixin

Abstract During the last few decades, Muslim communities in China have experienced a religious revival in which belonging to a global Muslim community has been a central element. At the same time, in recent years, the State’s campaign of Sinicization of Islam (yisilan zhongguohua) has supported Chinese nationalism and targeted symbols of Islam that are alleged to distance the believers from patriotism. This study explores the capacity for texts, language, and visual choices to build and shape sociality and forms of devotion and to reflect social and political changes. The research examines visual posting on the multipurpose app Weixin (WeChat), providing insights into local forms of religiousness, self-representation, and aspirational identities of part of the Muslim community in Xining (Qinghai province, Northwest China).

The French Reception of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Belated Consecration

The French Reception of <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i>: A Belated Consecration

"Still more a fixture than before": Poe and Melville Working in Close(d) Chambers

The label "a Poeish tale" was tagged to "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" since its serial publication in 1853. In 1969, James Colwell and Gary Spitzer offered a compelling comparison between the story of the copyist who resists both obeying the orders and abandoning the chambers of his legal employer, and the tale of the stubborn raven of ill-omen who harasses the "chamber door" of a studious subject in Poe's most famous narrative poem, "The Raven." This paper tracks Poe's poem as a possible subtext for Melville's Bartleby, analyzing what, in Melville, departs from Poe's solipsistic view of the poet as reader tortured in a cloistered, immanent world of his making, and instead takes as its focus the man of letters in an expanding marketplace, and his confrontation with the scrivener and the wall, or page, which neither his eyesight nor his report can interpret or illuminate. The essay describes three structural dichotomies in both works: the settings of the chamber and the office; the tone of the refrain and the formula; and the widening scope of "letters," from literature to law, which facilitates the fluctuation of signs. The analysis argues for the centrality of language and heuristic (in)capacity as crucial for Poe and Melville, both of them heralds of the Romantic crisis of literature where the human subject is left dwelling alone, reading obscure material (in "The Raven") or writing copies (in "Bartleby"), and shut off from words or referents outside or beyond the imagination.

The atypical functional connectivity of Broca's area at multiple frequency bands in autism spectrum disorder.

As a developmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has drawn much attention due to its severe impacts on one's language capacity. Broca's area, an important brain region of the language network, is largely involved in language-related functions. Using the Autism Brain Image Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset, a mega-analysis was performed involving a total of 1454 participants (including 618 individuals with ASD and 836 healthy controls (HCs). To detect the neural pathophysiological mechanism of ASD from the perspective of language, we conducted a functional connectivity (FC) analysis with Broca's area as the seed in multiple frequency bands (conventional: 0.01-0.08Hz; slow-4: 0.027-0.073Hz; slow-5: 0.01-0.027Hz). We found that compared with HC, ASD patients demonstrated increased FC in the left thalamus, left precuneus, left anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri, and left medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus in the conventional frequency band (0.01-0.08Hz). The results of the slow-5 frequency band (0.01-0.027Hz) presented increased FC values of the left precuneus, left medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus, right medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus and right thalamus. No significant cluster was detected in the slow-4 frequency band (0.027-0.073Hz). In conclusion, the abnormal functional connectivity in patients with ASD has frequency-specific properties. Furthermore, the slow-5 frequency band (0.01-0.027Hz) mainly contributed to the findings of the conventional frequency band (0.01-0.08Hz). The current study might shed new light on the neural pathophysiological mechanism of language impairments in people with ASD.

Digital Transformation and Community Welfare of The Ijen Banyuwangi Crater Nature Park

The entry of digital technology into Banyuwangi's Ijen Crater Nature Park has resulted in numerous changes. Digital Technology or, information and communication technologies, have the potential to improve rural welfare. Rural ICTs, however, necessitates special efforts to develop suitable means for those who are unable to access the Internet or do not have the language capacity to understand the content. The aims of this study are to determine the extent to which digital technology penetration can promote transformation and improve the rural’s welfare. To assess the transformation and the level of welfare, a qualitative survey and analysis were conducted using 120 respondents household survey data . The findings show that villages have been able to reduce the digital divide and improve their quality of life, with a long-term positive impact on material well-being. This study demonstrates how digital technology can serve as a new source of social capital for rural sustainable developmen.

Integral Ecology As Theosemiotic: A Case For A Pragmatist Theological Ethics

Integral Ecology As Theosemiotic: A Case For A Pragmatist Theological Ethics

Contrasting signed and spoken languages

AbstractFor years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume ofLanguages in Contrastdevoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language research are summarized. We highlight the benefits of studying cross-modal and multimodal data, as opposed to the isolated investigation of signed or spoken languages, and point out the remaining methodological obstacles to this approach. This contextualization prefaces the presentation of the outline of the volume.

Mutual Promotion between Language Skills and Critical Thinking Training in Business English Skill-based Courses

Critical thinking is commonly acknowledged as one of the primal abilities in a Business English graduates. The problem of “deficient critical thinking ability” in foreign language majors has long plagued professionals in college foreign language teaching. Skill-based language courses that constitute the majority of the English curriculum are the root. However, Business English major can effectively overcome the problem because of its advantages in integrating language-skill training into business-knowledge learning. Teachers of Business English skill courses should convert teaching philosophy and methods, and transform the skill-based courses into knowledge- and critical-thinking-oriented training courses. This will ultimately help realize mutual promotion of language capacities and critical thinking ability in Business English majors.

THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT (Steven Pinker vs Noam Chomsky)

Language is a communication tool used in daily interaction. Language used to convey meaning to someone with easy word order understandable. Therefore, in order to convey the meaning clearly, use of the correct language is very important. This paper examines Steve Pinker’s arguments for the existence of a language instinct encoded in the genes of human beings as an explanation for the human language capacity. The analysis covers Pinker’s own arguments as well as those by Chomsky and by other authors in the 1990s. Argumen of Steven Pinker language is first and foremost a product of our biological make-up as a species. Pinker does not mean to deny the influence of culture on language, but means that language grows out of the "predisposition" or biological readiness of every normal human being. Human infants have a natural gift for quickly absorbing and then using the structures of spoken language used by others around them. According to Chomsky, children are born with the tools of acquisition Language. " language acquisition device (LAD). This tool is a biological gift that has been programmed to detail the possible items of a grammar. LAD is considered to be a specialized physiological part of the brain to process language. So it can be seen that experts have given the same theory and opinion regarding the way of language development and acquisition, which is related to the language instinct that has existed since in the womb.&#x0D; Key Word : The Language Instinct&#x0D; &#x0D;

The interaction engine: cuteness selection and the evolution of the interactional base for language.

The deep structural diversity of languages suggests that our language capacities are not based on any single template but rather on an underlying ability and motivation for infants to acquire a culturally transmitted system. The hypothesis is that this ability has an interactional base that has discernable precursors in other primates. In this paper, I explore a specific evolutionary route for the most puzzling aspect of this interactional base in humans, namely the development of an empathetic intentional stance. The route involves a generalization of mother–infant interaction patterns to all adults via a process (cuteness selection) analogous to, but distinct from, RA Fisher's runaway sexual selection. This provides a cornerstone for the carrying capacity for language.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Revisiting the human ‘interaction engine’: comparative approaches to social action coordination’.

Employers’ experiences with safe work integration of recent immigrants and refugees

Despite their important role in the safe and sustained work integration of newcomers to Canada, little is known about employers’ expectations, experiences and challenges in relation to safely integrating recent immigrants and refugees to work. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 employer representatives, 21 service providers, and five other key informants to understand employers’ experiences, challenges, and resource needs related to safe work integration of newcomer workers. An exploratory qualitative approach was used to collect and analyze the data. Employers tended to focus on individual attributes of newcomers, such as newcomer workers’ lack of health and safety knowledge and awareness, and limited language capacity as important drivers of workplace health and safety among newcomers. They also discussed their own resource needs as key challenges in managing workplace health and safety. Employers often attributed lack of safety knowledge and awareness of newcomer workers as being due to cultural differences in relation to the priority given to safety and safe work practices. There were gaps identified in employer practices, such as top down approaches in training and communication and a focus on culture and individual responsibility in explaining challenges related to managing health and safety. Our findings suggest that providing resources to employers to train newcomer workers in a way that takes into account language barriers and diverse cultural practices may create safer workplaces for all workers, but particularly for those hiring new immigrants.