Language Groups Research Articles

A Study of Selected Racialised Linguistic Experience among International Students in the United Kingdom

The presence of linguistic diversity in many societies is widely acknowledged, yet it is often linked to various social challenges that must be addressed. These challenges are increasingly causing concern, particularly based on the experiences of immigrants from linguistically diverse backgrounds in western societies. Given the noticeable lack of discussions on the experiences of linguistic diverse groups, this study aims to investigate the experiences of linguistic diverse immigrants in Scotland. The study utilises interviews to extract responses from three immigrant international students. The interview consisted of 6 carefully crafted open-ended questions, employing a qualitative analytical approach. In the data analysis, Piller's (2016) theory of linguistic diversity was utilised. The research findings indicate that all three participants have experienced instances of linguistic discrimination due to their diverse backgrounds. Although linguistic diversity is acknowledged globally, it often leads to inequality rather than equality, as demonstrated in this study. This is because language is always assessed in relation to the speaker's skin colour and idea that only the western society has a standard mastery of English language.

“I know this language, that language, and my language”

Abstract Adopting a longitudinal dynamic perspective on the field of Family Language Policy (FLP), combined with insights from language socialization, the current study explores five Iranian immigrant family members’ language ideologies, practices and policies and aims to unfold the processes through which the language ideologies and policies are instantiated and negotiated. Particular foci are the evolving nature of family language ideologies and practices, emphasizing the influence of children’s language ideologies and societal interactions. Through detailed analyses of multiparty family interactions, the study argues the significance of considering children’s language ideologies as integral to understanding of their language practices, moving beyond a simplistic attribution of actions to mere ‘agency’.

Advancing Sustainable Cyber-Physical System Development with a Digital Twins and Language Engineering Approach: Smart Greenhouse Applications

In recent years, the integration of Internet of Things technologies in smart agriculture has become critical for sustainability and efficiency, to the extent that recent improvements have transformed greenhouse farming. This study investigated the complexity of IoT architecture in smart greenhouses by introducing a greenhouse language family (GreenH) that comprises three domain-specific languages designed to address various tasks in this domain. The purpose of this research was to streamline the creation, simulation, and monitoring of digital twins, an essential tool for optimizing greenhouse operations. A three-stage methodology was employed to develop the GreenH DSLs, a detailed metamodel for enhanced smart monitoring systems. Our approach used high-level metamodels and extended Backus–Naur form notation to define the DSL syntax and semantics. Through a comprehensive evaluation strategy and a selected language usability metrics, the expressiveness, consistency, readability, correctness, and scalability of the DSL were affirmed, and areas for usability improvement were highlighted. The findings suggest that GreenH languages hold significant potential for advancing digital twin modeling in smart agriculture. Future work should be aimed at refining usability and extending its application range. The anticipated integration with additional model-drive engineering and code generation tools will improve interoperability and contribute to digital transformation in the smart greenhouse domain and promote more sustainable food production systems.

Factors influencing kindergarten Families' perceptions of home–school interactions

AbstractThe transition to and through kindergarten is consequential for the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of children. Policies and practices are in place to smooth that transition. Researchers are working to understand which practices work best and for whom, particularly as the student population in U.S. schools continues to diversify. In this study, we analysed data from a large longitudinal study of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse families, children, and their teachers. We used multi‐level modelling to examine the factors associated with families' reports of strong home–school interactions at the transition to and through kindergarten on the Family Involvement Questionnaire. We found that children having attended preschool and lower class size were associated with family reports of strong interactions. Surprisingly, we also found that teacher–family language match, teachers' self‐efficacy for working with families, and teachers' beliefs about children were not significantly associated with families' reports of strong or weak interactions. This work has implications for family engagement policy and practice as children transition to and through kindergarten.

Agency through conversational alignment in transnational families: shaping family language policy

Agency through conversational alignment in transnational families: shaping family language policy

Gendered language and gendered violence

This study establishes the influence of sex-based grammatical gender on gendered violence. We demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between speaking a gendered language and the incidence of intimate partner violence in a cross-section of countries. Motivated by this evidence, we conduct an individual-level analysis of the effect of speaking a gendered language on beliefs about the justifiability of intimate partner violence, controlling for a wide variety of individual level socioeconomic characteristics as well as country, religion, language family and ethnicity fixed effects. Speaking a gendered language is associated with the belief that intimate partner violence is justifiable. Our results are consistent with complementarity between the cultural and cognitive effects of language on the attitudes to intimate partner violence.

Early use of professional interpreters improves trauma outcomes: Results of a single-center retrospective study

Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) experience reduced pain assessment and treatment, less comprehensive physical exams, and fewer explanations of the next steps in care. These disparities persist in hospitals with staffed professional interpreters, raising questions about interpreter access and the impact on outcomes. A retrospective review of 1133 trauma activations at a single center Level 1 Trauma Center in 2021–2022 was conducted. Demographic, injury, and outcome data were drawn from the institutional trauma registry, and patient-preferred language was pulled from EMR data. Early interpreter use was defined as documentation of professional interpreter use within 24 h of arrival. LOS and ICU LOS were compared between language groups using Cox regression, and mortality was compared using Fischer's exact test. 1114 patients had data available on initial injury severity and preferred language. Of the 70 LEP patients, 62 (88.6 %) required an interpreter, and 41 of those (66.1 %) had evidence of professional interpreter use within 24 h of arrival. LEP patients who lacked early interpreter use had longer hospital stays than both English proficient (EP) patients (HR 0.59, p < 0.05) and LEP patients with early interpreter use (HR 0.51, p < 0.05) when stratified by ISS and controlling for GCS and patient age. There is no difference in LOS between LEP trauma patients who used an interpreter and EP patients, suggesting that early use of an interpreter may improve the length of stay in LEP trauma patients.

Dual strategies consensus reaching process for ranking consensus based probabilistic linguistic multi-criteria group decision-making method

Group consensus is critical in multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM). However, the extant consensus reaching process (CRP) methods focus on the consensus on the decision matrices rather than the rankings of alternatives. This paper proposes the dual strategies CRP for ranking consensus based probabilistic linguistic MCGDM. According to the decision matrices provided by decision makers, the rankings of alternatives are generated. Then, we define ranking similarity degree based on the individual alternative rankings and opinion similarity degree based on the decision matrices, respectively. Based on the ranking similarity degrees, the group consensus index (GCI) is defined and the dual strategies CRP are proposed. In the proposed CRP method, the first strategy pays attention to DMs with low ranking similarity degree but high opinion similarity degree, while the second strategy in CRP concentrates on DMs with low ranking similarity degree and low opinion similarity degree. The first strategy constructs minimum adjustment programming model while the second strategy directly provide adjustment advice according to the reference evaluation. These two strategies both aims to change the rankings of alternatives by adjusting the evaluations in the decision matrices. At length, an actual example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the erected method and comparison analyses clarify its advantages and superiorities.

History of linguistic science of the Austroasiatic group of languages with special reference to the Mon-Khmer and Northern Munda languages of India: Retrospect and prospect

History of linguistic science of the Austroasiatic group of languages with special reference to the Mon-Khmer and Northern Munda languages of India: Retrospect and prospect

Cratoxylum formosum ssp. pruniflorum induces gastric cancer cell apoptosis and pyroptosis through the elevation of ROS and cell cycle arrest.

Cratoxylum formosum ssp. pruniflorum (CF), a traditional medicinal plant in Southern China, is widely recognized as a popular medicinal and tea plant traditionally utilized by diverse linguistic groups in the region for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments. The objective of this study was to explore the active components and mechanisms of CF against gastric cancer (GC). The chemical ingredients of CF were obtained by using UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics. MGC-803 and HGC-27 cells were employed to investigate the direct anti-GC effect. The potential targets and signaling pathway of CF were identified through network pharmacology and proteomics, followed by subsequent experimental validation. Through UPLC-MS/MS metabolomics analysis, a total of 197 chemical ingredients were identified in CF leaves. Network pharmacology and proteomics techniques revealed 25 potential targets for GC, with a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network highlighting 12 cores targets, including CTNNB1, CDK2, et al. Furthermore, seven key CF ingredients - vismione B, feruloylcholine, α-amyrin, vanillic acid, galangin, cinnamic acid, and caffeic acid - were found to mediate anti-GC effects through pathways such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell cycle signaling pathway. In vitro experiments demonstrated that CF significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of GC cells, increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, arrested the cell cycle at the S-phase, induced apoptosis and pyroptosis, and upregulated expression of apoptosis proteins (Bax, Bax/Bcl-2, cleaved-Caspase-3/Caspase-3), and pyroptosis proteins (GSDMD-N/GSDMD and GSDME-N/GSDME), while downregulating expression of cell cycle proteins (CDK2 and cyclin A1) as well as necroptosis proteins (RIP1 and MLKL). Collectively, these findings reveal CF's therapeutic potential against GC by the augmentation of ROS production, cell cycle arrest, promotion of apoptosis, and pyroptosis, offering valuable evidence for the development and utilization of CF in clinical settings.

Altaic Elements in the Chinese Variety of Tangwang: True and False Direct Loans

This paper foccusses on the Tangwang language, a Chinese variety spoken in southern Gansu that has been in contact with the Dongxiang language, a Mongolic language. Tangwang is believed to be a highly altaicised variety, as it demonstrate several traits that are usually absent in this language family are are reputed ‘typical’ of the Turkic-Mongolic languages. However, most of these traits are present in the other northwestern chinese varieties and are the result of reanalysis, thus, it is difficult to trace their exact origin. This paper aims at analyzing the influence of Mongolic languages on Tangwang from the perspective of borrowings, and in particular direct loans. Taking the formally identical features that are shared in Dongxiang and Tangwang as a starting point, we will try to determine which form can be seen as a direct borrowing due to the adstratal influence of Dongxiang and which one is probably due to an earlier altaic influence. We will try to classify which form is a ‘true’ direct loan from Dongxiang and which form could be the evidence of an earlier substrate. From the results, and based on the existing models on languages contact, we will try to understand which mechanisms from relexification, grammaticalization, and language shift is the most probable in the case of Tangwang.

TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH ISLAMIC MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/TEXAS INTO ARABIC

The present study evaluates and examines three translations, provided by three students who have master degree in translation, for a sample of English Islamic Marriage contract that is officially utilized by Muslims in the United States/ Texas. The central aim of the study is to identify the main issues which are usually faced by the legal translators in translating English International Islamic marriage contracts in the United States of America/Texas and Islamic matrimony registration forms and examining the procedures adopted by translators concerning the translation of official documentsThey followed Peter Newmark’s Theory (1988) of Semantic and Communicative translation in translating this legal document which includes cultural-bound terms related specifically to the Islamic beliefs and concepts that are considered fundamental parts of formulating such documents and raise a real challenge for legal translators due to the source language and target language related to diverse linguistic families and different legal systems and religious cultures. So, different translation issues have been committed by the translators in the usage of lexical items according to the current context. It is worth mentioning that the current document issued by "Frisco Masjid Inc.”, in which it is an organization concerning the affairs of Muslims in the American United States/Texas. The most important conclusion is the legal translator should first opt for the communicative technique due to the multiple terminologies that have no suitable equivalence in the target TL at the same time s/he should be aware of employing such procedure to grasp the alike alike ated lawful impact of the source language’s words.

Development of an English Learning Model Based on Multimedia at MTS Darul Falah Ternate

This research aims to determine the pedagogical model developed in relation to the mission of the MT language group. Overall, the research was carried out using the R &amp; D method through 4-D steps: define, design, develop, expand, and disseminate (Thiagarajan, 1974). From these 4-D steps, the first three steps in developing learning models were carried out in the first year after experiments were carried out in previous research in 2023. Furthermore, the teaching development guide manuscript was still carried out in the second year. In the second year, the teaching models that have been tested still undergo a further development stage to perfect them, and then they are tested again on a larger scale. The results in the third year will undergo the dissemination stage. The manuscript for the Guide to Developing a Multimedia-Based Teaching Model will be subjected to a limited trial to obtain input as material for improvement. So, this manuscript is still in the development stage, which will be followed by the dissemination stage in the third year

Meta-Adaptable-Adapter: Efficient adaptation of self-supervised models for low-resource speech recognition

Self-supervised models have demonstrated remarkable performance in speech processing by learning latent representations from large amounts of unlabeled data. Adapting these models to low-resource languages yields promising results, but the computational cost of fine-tuning all model parameters is prohibitively high. Adapters offer a solution by introducing lightweight bottleneck structures into pre-trained models for downstream tasks, enabling efficient parameter adaptation. However, randomly initialized adapters often underperform in extremely low-resource scenarios. To address this issue, we explore the Meta-Adapter for self-supervised models and analyzed some limitations of Meta-Adapter including poor learning in language-specific knowledge and meta-overfitting problems. To relieve these problems, we propose the Meta-Adaptable-Adapter (MAA), a new meta leaning algorithm that adapts to low-resource languages quickly and effectively. MAA learns task-specific adapters for feature extraction, and task-independent adapters for feature combination. The experiments on three datasets show superior performance on 31 low-resource languages across seven different language families compared to other adapters, showing better generalization and extensibility.

Hate speech detection in low-resourced Indian languages: An analysis of transformer-based monolingual and multilingual models with cross-lingual experiments

Abstract Warning: This paper is based on hate speech detection and may contain examples of abusive/ offensive phrases. Cyberbullying, online harassment, etc., via offensive comments are pervasive across different social media platforms like ™Twitter, ™Facebook, ™YouTube, etc. Hateful comments must be detected and eradicated to prevent harassment and violence on social media. In the Natural Language Processing (NLP) domain, the most prevalent task is comment classification, which is challenging, and language models based on transformers are at the forefront of this advancement. This paper intends to analyze the performance of language models based on transformers like BERT, ALBERT, RoBERTa, and DistilBERT on the Indian hate speech datasets over binary classification. Here, we utilize the existing datasets, i.e., HASOC (Hindi and Marathi) and HS-Bangla. So, we evaluate several multilingual language models like MuRIL-BERT, XLM-RoBERTa, etc., few monolingual language models like RoBERTa-Hindi, Maha-BERT (Marathi), Bangla-BERT (Bangla), Assamese-BERT (Assamese), etc., and perform cross-lingual experiment also. For further analyses, we perform multilingual, monolingual, and cross-lingual experiments on our Hate Speech Assamese (HS-Assamese) (Indo-Aryan language family) and Hate Speech Bodo (HS-Bodo) (Sino-Tibetan language family) dataset (HS dataset version 2) also and achieved a promising result. The motivation of the cross-lingual experiment is to encourage researchers to learn about the power of the transformer. Note that no pre-trained language models are currently available for Bodo or any other Sino-Tibetan languages.

ANALYSIS OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE’S TRANSLATION AND THE AUTHOR’S FROM ALBANIAN TO SERBIAN LANGUAGE

Literary translation, as one of the most complex forms of translation, requires a special approach and attention, given that it involves not only conveying meanings but also preserving the style of the original text. Although the translation of texts using various online tools is becoming increasingly common today, the question arises - are these tools advanced enough, and can they replace the translation done by human authors? As our corpus material, we used specific excerpts from the first chapter of Ismail Kadare’s novel ‘The Palace of Dreams,’ which we translated using Google Translate and compared with the Serbian translation of this novel by Shkëlzen Maliqi. The aim of the paper is to examine the reliability of machine translation, i.e. analysing the mistakes it makes, compared to the translation of competent and professional translators. The comparison process is based on different linguistic disciplines, and we have come to the conclusions that Google Translate has not yet improved enough to become the main tool in the translation of literary texts, where professional translators still play a key role. Of course, the question arises - whether it would perform better in translating other types of literary texts or in translating different language groups, considering its diverse corpus of literary texts in its memory?

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the UBACC questionnaire in a multi-country psychiatric study in Africa

BackgroundThe University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent (UBACC) is a tool to assess the capacity of participants to consent in psychiatric research. However, little is known about the psychometric properties in low and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the UBACC. MethodsWe examined the reliability, latent factor structure, and item response of the first attempt of the UBACC items in a sample of 32,208 adults (16,467 individuals with psychosis and 15,741 controls) in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda; exploring these properties in the full sample and stratified by country, diagnostic status, sex, and ethnolinguistic language groups. ResultsExploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested a two-factor model for the overall sample. However, a three-factor model was more appropriate when examining the latent structure across country, language, and sex. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) revealed an adequately fitting three-factor model for the full sample and across country, sex, and language. A two-factor model, however, was more appropriate for English and Amharic languages. Across all groups, the internal consistency of the UBACC was low, indicating below-threshold reliability (Cronbach's α (95 % CI = 0.58 (0.57–0.59). Using a multidimensional item-response theory framework for the full sample revealed that UBACC item 8, measuring understanding of the benefits of study participation, was the most discriminating item. Many of the other items had below-threshold discriminating characteristics. ConclusionEFA and CFA converged towards a two and three-dimensional structure for the UBACC, in line with the developers of the original scale. The differences in properties between populations and language groups, low internal consistency, and below-threshold item functioning suggest that investigations into the cultural and linguistic nuances are still warranted. Understanding the utility of consent tools, such as the UBACC, in underrepresented populations will be a part of the larger process which ensures that research participants are adequately protected.

Perceptual Benefits of Linguistic Diversity and Language Background: Evidence from Auditory Free Classification of English Dialect Accents and Asian-Accented English

Non-linguistic factors leave a distinct thumbprint on our speech production that is perceptible to listeners. A steadily growing line of research demonstrates that listeners can perceive a contrast between native and non-native (L2) speakers based on accents and further classify these speakers according to dialectal variation, even when they are not native speakers of a language. Most of these studies have focused on dialectal variation within US English speakers, a combination of US and International English dialects, or L2 speakers representing a wide range of languages. Most have also featured listeners who are monolingual native speakers of the target language coming from a homogenous background, or a contrast between these and a targeted set of L2 speakers. We therefore lack knowledge of how exposure to, or familiarity with, diverse accents and languages, or specific native language competence of the native language of L2 speakers, can guide listeners’ accent perception and categorization. In this research, we employed a free classification task, presenting listeners with speech samples of native speakers with accents representing multiple English dialects, and L2 speakers of nine Asian languages across three geographic regions speaking Asian-accented English. There were six groups of listeners: monolingual US English listeners in a diverse linguistic context, monolingual US English listeners in a homogeneous linguistic context, native speakers of a non-Asian language and English (bilinguals), and native speakers of each of the three target Asian language groups who are L2 speakers of English. The results reveal that nearly all listeners are sensitive to accents capturing native/L2 contrasts and dialectal variation in English. While regular exposure to a diversity of accents results in increased classification accuracy, classification of Asian L2-accented English speakers is best performed when there is alignment of similar language family and geographic area, as demonstrated by South Asian listeners.

Phonological Development in 3-6-Year-Old Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism, Developmental Delays, and Typical Development.

Research on the phonological development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has not yet reached consistent conclusions, and systematic studies from different language groups are needed. This study aimed to systematically investigate the characteristics of phonological development in 3-6year-old Mandarin-speaking children with ASD. We analyzed 10min speech samples from 21 children with ASD, 18 development level-matched children with developmental disorders (DD), and 15 chronological age-matched typically developing (TD) children during semi-structured parent-child free play based on Mandarin phonological features. The children with ASD had a significantly smaller inventory than those with TD on the initial and final inventories. The children with ASD had only a significantly smaller initial inventory than those with DD in Phases 2 and 4. Compared with TD children, children with ASD used a higher proportion of V1 and V1V2C and a smaller proportion of V1V2V3, CV1C, and CV1V2C. No significant differences existed between ASD and DD children in the proportion of any syllable structure, but V1V2V3, CV1, and CV1V2C numbers were significantly fewer than in DD children. Children with ASD were significantly greater than children with TD in the diversity of V1V2, CV1, and overall syllables. ASD children had significantly fewer different types of syllables in both V1V2C and CV1 than did DD children and significantly greater diversity in CV1 and overall syllables than did DD children. These preliminary data suggest that the gap between TD and ASD children's language abilities increased with age, and this gap was reflected in initial, final, and syllable complexity and diversity. Children with DD and ASD showed similar language abilities, and children with DD showed detailed differences from those with ASD regarding initial, syllable complexity and diversity.

Dynamic degree centrality in stroke-induced Broca's aphasia varies based on first language: A functional MRI study.

This study sought to explore dynamic degree centrality (DC) variability in particular regions of the brain in patients with poststroke Broca aphasia (BA) using a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) approach, comparing differences between Uyghur and Chinese BA patients. This study investigated two factors, language and BA status, and divided patients into four groups: Uyghur aphasia patients (UA), Uyghur normal control subjects (UN), Chinese aphasia patients (CA), and Chinese normal subjects (CN) who underwent rs-fMRI analysis. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to calculate the comprehensive differences in dynamic DC among these four groups. Correlations between DC and language behavior were assessed with partial correlation analyses. Two-way ANOVA revealed comparable results for the results of pairwise comparisons of dynamic DC variability among the four groups in the right middle frontal gyrus/orbital part (ORBmid.R), right superior frontal gyrus/dorsolateral, and right precuneus (PCUN.R), with results as follows: UA<UN, CA>CN, UA<CA, and UN>CN (p<.05, with the exception of the p-values for UA and UN in superior frontal gyrus/dorsolateral). In contrast, the opposite results were observed for the right calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex (CAL.R, p<.05). The observed enhancement of dynamic DC variability in ORBmid.R and PCUN.R among Chinese BA patients and in CAL.R in Uyghur BA patients may be attributable to language network restructuring. Overall, these results suggest that BA patients who use different language families may exhibit differences in the network mechanisms that characterize observed impairments of language function.