Individual Language Research Articles

Uncertainty in diversity: language shift and language planning in Papua New Guinea, a Kala case study

ABSTRACT Since independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea, the most linguistically diverse country in the world, has had both unofficial and official policies of mother-tongue education. However, limited resources and support for mother-tongue education has led communities to incorporate bottom-up language planning as well. In particular, this paper examines the language planning efforts of the Kala Language Committee (KLC). The Kala language, which has four distinct dialects, is spoken in six villages in the Morobe province. In 2010, the KLC developed an orthography for their traditionally oral language leading to the expansion of mother-tongue education programmes in each of the six villages. Each village has different levels of language shift and during meetings in 2013 had developed their own individual language plans, which best suit their community’s needs. This paper compares the choices of each village to the wider choices of the KLC and to the demands of the national mother-tongue education policies.

The relationship between citations and the linguistic traits of specific academic discourse communities identified by using social network analysis

For a research article (RA) to be accepted, not only for publication, but also by its readers, it must display proficiency in the content, methodologies and discourse conventions of its specific discipline. While numerous studies have investigated the linguistic characteristics of different research disciplines, none have utilised Social Network Analysis techniques to identify communities prior to analysing their language use. This study aims to investigate the language use of three highly specific research communities in the fields of Psychology, Physics and Sports Medicine. We were interested in how these language features are related to the total number of citations, the eigencentrality within the community and the intra-network citations of the individual RAs. Applying Biber’s Multidimensional Analysis approach, a total of 771 RA abstracts published between 2010 and 2019 were analysed. We evaluated correlations between one of three network characteristics (citations, eigencentrality and in-degree), the corpora’s dimensions and 72 individual language features. The pattern of correlations suggest that features cited by other RAs within the discourse community network are in almost all cases different from those that are cited by RAs from outside the network. This finding highlights the challenges of writing for both a discipline-specific and a wider audience.

Prace Antonia Gaudiego manifestem katalonizmu?

Masterworks of Antoni Gaudí as the Manifestation of Catalanism?Catalonia is an autonomous community in Spain, possessing a unique culture. This is meticulously preserved, not only by intellectuals, but also by its citizens, who hold their individual language, common history and traditions in the highest esteem. It is the perfect example of a nation without a state, truly dedicated to the peaceful struggle for survival of its exceptional individuality. The article explains how the historical relationship between Catalonia and Spain has awakened the Catalonian sense of individuality and the will to fight for its rights, leading to the creation of a separate political idea – Catalanism. For the major part of the article the author presents the views on the Catalan issue as expressed by Antoni Gaudí – one of the most distinguished of Catalans.

Quebec-based Parents' Attitudes Towards Childhood Multilingualism: Evaluative Dimensions and Potential Predictors.

This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children's multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 825 participants raising an infant/toddler aged 0–4 years with multiple languages in the home. The results revealed three separate dimensions: status and solidarity (the same dimensions found in attitudes towards individual languages) as well as cognitive development (not previously attested as a separate dimension). Participants’ approach to promoting multilingualism (specifically, whether they used the one-person-one-language-approach) and the combination of languages transmitted (specifically, whether this included a heritage language) correlated significantly with parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Parents’ linguistic background and location within Quebec were not significant predictors of attitudes. The paper discusses implications and directions for further research.

The Emergence of L1 and L2 Dyslexia: Omnibus Case of Four Koreans with L2 English Dyslexic Signs

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between L1 and L2 dyslexia and discuss how to judge L2 English dyslexia without information on L1 development. The language developmental process of the Subject Learner (SL) was compared with three Korean cases of a Dyslexic Learner, a Giving-up Learner, and a Fast Learner. The study of DL is a 23-year-longitudinal case regarding reading disorders. GL has been self-monitoring her dyslexic signs for 15 years. The differences between L1 and L2 development of FL were checked by his mother. The individual language acquisition of participants and social background were reviewed and reinterpreted. The emergence of L1 and L2 dyslexia may depend on learners’ capacity and different language systems. The language itself and a specific talent that is operated by one’s spatial working memory may correlate to the people who have reading disabilities. Scientific study is necessary to connect the language differences and the function of the neural network for children suffering from dyslexia.

Listening comprehension in profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants: the role of auditory perception and foundational linguistic and cognitive skills.

The aim of the study was to investigate the listening comprehension (LC) skills in deaf and hard of hearing children (DHH) using cochlear implants (CI). Besides, personal and audiological variablesthat could influence the levels of competence reached were analyzed. Thirty-four children using CI were enrolled. LC skills were assessed through the standardized Italian test "Comprensione Orale-Test e Trattamento" (CO-TT). A univariate analysis was conducted to compare LC with gender, listening mode (unilateral or bilateral), maternal level of education and family income. A bivariate analysis was performed to search possible connections between children's performances and their individual characteristics, audiological conditions, and language levels. Finally, a multivariate analysis was performed using a stepwise hierarchical linear regression model which included all variables whose p value resulted ≤ 0.05. Twenty-one children using CI (61.8%) showed adequate performances in terms of chronological age, while 13 (38.2%) showed difficulties in LC. Maternal level of education, age at diagnosis and non-verbal cognitive level accounted for 43% of the observed variance. Auditory attention skills explained an additional 15% of variance. Morphosyntactic comprehension added a further 12% of variance. CI can really help many DHH children to reach adequate LC skills, but in some cases difficulties remain. Factors influencing LC need to be early investigated and considered when planning an appropriate rehabilitative intervention.

Waves of intensity in language learning: Polyglot Alan Bigulov’s project “10 Languages in 1000 days”

The study aims at identifying individual language learning strategies that allow a polyglot to effectively communicate with unfamiliar native speakers on spontaneous topics within a short learning period of 1000 days. The study was conducted from September 2018 up to June 2021 observing Alan Bigulov’s performance (the polyglot from Vladikavkaz, Russia) in the process of learning ten new, typologically different languages. The study theoretical framework was the psycholinguistic expert performance modeling – in this case, the psycholinguistic monitoring of a person, especially effective in the time management of language learning. Methodologically, the study focused on close monitoring of daily video recordings of Alan Bigulov's communication in the target language, weekly correspondence between the researcher's questions and the subject's answers, and respective linguistic analysis of the subject’s evaluative predicates during the whole 1000-day Project. The research main results have elicited the following patterns: consistent focus on one language; three-level model of a spiral entry into a communicative situation; the effectiveness of the super-intensive start; deliberate wave-like variation of classes intensity; the importance of flexible language classes algorithms aimed at avoiding routine and reaching a new intensity level.

Update about "minimally verbal" children with autism spectrum disorder.

ABSTRACTObjective:To review clinical and neurobiological features of minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder.Data source:We carried out a narrative review using the PubMed database. We considered the following search terms combined through the Boolean operator “AND”: “autism spectrum disorder”; “minimally verbal.”Data synthesis:To date, there is no shared definition of minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder. The heterogeneity in intellectual functioning and in linguistic abilities among these individuals suggests there is no single mechanism underlying their difficulties in learning to speak. However, the reasons why these children do not speak and the biological markers that can identify them are still unknown. Language impairment in these children can lead to several unfavorable consequences, including behavior problems (such as self-aggression, hetero-aggression, and property destruction), poorer daily living and social skills. Psychiatric comorbidities (including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, specific phobias, and compulsions) consist in a serious problem related to the lack of verbal language in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Although in the literature there are very few evidence-based results, several findings suggest that an alternative and augmentative communication intervention, creating an extra-verbal communication channel, may be effective in these individuals.Conclusions:The exact definition, clinical characteristics, associated disorders, etiology, and treatment of minimally verbal subjects with autism spectrum disorder must still be further studied and understood.

Conventions for unconventional language: Revisiting a framework for spoken language features in autism.

Autism has long been characterized by a range of spoken language features, including, for instance: the tendency to repeat words and phrases, the use of invented words, and "pedantic" language. These observations have been the source of considerable disagreement in both the theoretical and applied realms. Despite persistent professional interest in these language features, there has been little consensus around terminology, definitions and developmental/clinical interpretation. This review paper updates and expands an existing framework for unconventional language in autism to include a broader range of non-generative (echolalia and self-repetition) and generative (idiosyncratic phrases, neologisms and pedantic language) features often observed in the language of individuals on the autism spectrum. For each aspect of the framework, we review the various definitions and measurement approaches, and we provide a summary of individual and contextual correlates. We also propose some transitional language features that may bridge non-generative and generative domains (e.g., mitigated echolalia and gestalt language). This updated framework offers a unified taxonomy and nomenclature that can facilitate further investigation and interpretation of unconventional language in autism. There are important implications of this work for our understanding of the complex interplay between autism and language development. Equally important are the clinical ramifications that will guide evidence-based practice in assessment and intervention for individuals on the autism spectrum.

Названия калины (Viburnum) в финно-угорских языках

The paper discusses the folk names of guelder rose (Viburnum) in the Finno-Ugric languages, with more than a hundred phytonyms having been studied to reveal their origin, areal distribution, and the lexical nomination of Viburnum according to various features. Among the phytonyms studied, the Baltic-Finnish vocabulary noticeably prevails, probably due to the fact that the dialectal lexical material of Baltic-Finnish languages has been much better collected. The entire study was done from a comparative perspective. The majority of the Finno-Ugric names of guelder rose originated in separate languages and has no correspondences in the related tongues. Not more than two phytonyms belong to the ancient lexical fund. Moreover, in the languages under consideration, there are several names of guelder rose that were borrowed from Germanic, Turkic, and Slavic languages. The compound phytonyms formed in individual languages are numerous and rather diverse. The multiplicity of names given to guelder rose is more characteristic of herbaceous plants, with trees usually having far fewer names with more ancient origin. The Finno-Ugric names of guelder rose are based on a number of features, such as medicinal use, flower coloring, place of growth, and external similarity to other plants. The study has identified the lexical-semantic models by which the compound names of guelder rose were formed, with their components analyzed. Thus, each phytonym may contain two or three components. The names of guelder rose also include zoosemisms denoting various animals: a dog, a wolf, a pig, a partridge, and a crane.

Functional peculiarities of anaphoric units in the Japanese language system

This article is devoted to the analysis of the anaphoric usage of some Japanese units (copulas, nominalizers, demonstrative pronouns) at the semantic and syntactic levels. The study of anaphoric relations in the language in general and in individual languages in particular is of great interest to linguists conducting research in various areas of modern linguistics. Anaphora has been studied by functional linguists, cognitive linguists, psycholinguists, etc. Anaphoric relations have been described not only in the sentence, but also in the text. Now information about the use of anaphoric means at the level of discourse is considered to be one of the mandatory elements of a comprehensive description of the language or its pronominal system. Pronouns are given special attention, since they function as substitute words and help to make our speech more concise. Anaphoric demonstrative pronouns are used as connecting elements in the text and form intertextual links. They show that there is a predicate that identifies the previous and subsequent fragments of the utterance. Our approach can be characterized as an integral one. We attempt to present a complex description of the usage of anaphoric units in the Japanese language specifying their morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and communicative properties.

An Analysis of the Artistic Elements of TV Anchor in the Perspective of the Development of Modern Information Technology

TV anchor is a key profession in radio and television industry, and its artistic expression is of great practical significance to the development of the whole industry. In order to fully meet the needs of the current social development and the progress of the industry, we should, on the basis of improving the expression of individual language of TV anchorpersons, master the necessary communication and interaction skills, and integrate into the development features of modern information technology, improve the overall quality of the art of television broadcast hosting, effectively meet the public’s psychological expectations of television broadcast hosting. Based on the development of modern information technology, this paper makes a detailed analysis of the artistic elements of TV broadcasting.

READING IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRATED LANGUAGE DIDACTICS

The article is focused on the conceptual foundations of foreign language teaching in the multilingual environment of modern European society. Today’s societies are increasingly shaped by multilingualism, that forms the starting point for language policy and language didactic efforts aimed at putting multilingual-oriented teaching concepts into practice. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of trends in foreign language teaching in European countries directed towards the formation of a multilingual identity. Based on the analysis of the papers of famous foreign scholars, a number of new conceptual ideas on foreign language teaching have been identified and analyzed, which are integrated into the framework of the so-called didactics of multilingualism, which is the methodological paradigm of modern foreign language teaching. It has been shown that the starting point of this concept is the interpretation of multilingualism as a unique communicative competence of the individual, an integrated system of linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge and skills that expands and deepens with the development of each new language. The article highlights the main principles of multilingualism didactics, under which existing linguistic and communicative knowledge, skills and abilities, individual language learning needs and rational use of previous language learning experiences are taken into account. The aim of this paper is to review the integrated didactic approach, which focuses on reading comprehension, in particular on the reconstruction of reference chains. Based on the results of psycholinguistic studies on the reading comprehension process as well as on the (multilingual) mental lexicon, it will be shown how a multilingual task can promote a networking of entries in the mental lexicon as well as a transfer of reading competence and grammatical competence.

“CORALINE” BY NEIL GAIMAN IN UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION: LEXICO-SEMANTIC ASPECT

The article deals with translation transformations application while fiction text translation. The purpose of the article is to study lexical-semantic transformations and their combinations which allow the translator to reproduce a foreign text as accurate as possible, taking into account the principle of similarities and differences of two languages. The research is based on “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman and its Ukrainian translation performed by O. Mokrovolskyi. The main scientific results are obtained applying a set of general scientific and special methods of research, namely: analysis and generalization of scientific literature on the problems of translation transformations; theoretical generalization, analysis and synthesis; comparative, descriptive, contrastive, and analytical methods. The authors consider the translation transformation as a tool, with the help of which it is possible to carry out a transition from units of the original to units of translation; and the essence of lexical-semantic transformations is in the replacement of the translated lexical unit with a word or word combination that realizes the sema of this unit of the source language. In the process of comparative analysis of the story “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman and its Ukrainian translation performed by O. Mokrovolskyi a lot of lexical-semantic transformation can be identified. Most often, the transformations of synonymous substitution, concretization of meaning, transcoding, transposition and descriptive translation are used, less often – generalization of meaning and compression. The results of the comparative analysis of the source text and the targeted text allow the authors to state that in order to achieve the closeness of the translation to the original text, it is necessary to find correspondences to the lexemes of the English language using complex translation transformations. The authors come to the conclusion that the lexical-semantic techniques of different languages have the same basis, but their functioning in the language is different. The same techniques perform different functions, have different degrees of application and different specific role in the system of each individual language, which explains the need for transformations.

The role of the hippocampus in statistical learning and language recovery in persons with post stroke aphasia

Although several studies have aimed for accurate predictions of language recovery in post stroke aphasia, individual language outcomes remain hard to predict. Large-scale prediction models are built using data from patients mainly in the chronic phase after stroke, although it is clinically more relevant to consider data from the acute phase. Previous research has mainly focused on deficits, i.e., behavioral deficits or specific brain damage, rather than compensatory mechanisms, i.e., intact cognitive skills or undamaged brain regions. One such unexplored brain region that might support language (re)learning in aphasia is the hippocampus, a region that has commonly been associated with an individual’s learning potential, including statistical learning. This refers to a set of mechanisms upon which we rely heavily in daily life to learn a range of regularities across cognitive domains. Against this background, thirty-three patients with aphasia (22 males and 11 females, M = 69.76 years, SD = 10.57 years) were followed for 1 year in the acute (1–2 weeks), subacute (3–6 months) and chronic phase (9–12 months) post stroke. We evaluated the unique predictive value of early structural hippocampal measures for short-term and long-term language outcomes (measured by the ANELT). In addition, we investigated whether statistical learning abilities were intact in patients with aphasia using three different tasks: an auditory-linguistic and visual task based on the computation of transitional probabilities and a visuomotor serial reaction time task. Finally, we examined the association of individuals’ statistical learning potential with acute measures of hippocampal gray and white matter. Using Bayesian statistics, we found moderate evidence for the contribution of left hippocampal gray matter in the acute phase to the prediction of long-term language outcomes, over and above information on the lesion and the initial language deficit (measured by the ScreeLing). Non-linguistic statistical learning in patients with aphasia, measured in the subacute phase, was intact at the group level compared to 23 healthy older controls (8 males and 15 females, M = 74.09 years, SD = 6.76 years). Visuomotor statistical learning correlated with acute hippocampal gray and white matter. These findings reveal that particularly left hippocampal gray matter in the acute phase is a potential marker of language recovery after stroke, possibly through its statistical learning ability.

Açık ve Uzaktan Öğrenme Ders Kitaplarının Değerlendirilmesi

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the compliance of ODE textbooks published by universities in and outside Turkey to textbook preparation criteria and identify the points that require improvement in those books. Methodology: A qualitative data analysis method known as document analysis was employed to achieve this. Using the convenience sampling method, the ODE textbooks published by 10 universities in and outside Turkey and were accessible online were determined as the sample of the study. The textbooks were evaluated based on the Open and Distance Education Textbook Evaluation Checklist, developed by a previous study. The checklist comprised 44 items distributed to four domains: individual learning, content, visual design, and language. Each item was scored based on the criterion's complete fulfillment, partial fulfillment, and non-fulfillment. Finding: The evaluation indicated that the textbooks showed good compliance to the criteria in terms of language and visual design while they needed improvement in the domains of individual learning and content, particularly in providing questions, examples, feedback sections, and in-text highlighting to improve the intelligibility of the content.

A diachronic explanation for cross-linguistic variation in the use of inverse-scope constructions

This study investigates the cross-linguistic variation in the use of inverse-scope constructions such as All that glitters is not gold for expressing "Not all X are Y" propositions. In particular, it seeks to explain why these constructions are in use and even common in some languages but lacking in others. It is argued that the cross-linguistic variation is explained by competition with alternative scope-transparent constructions, but only when the history of individual languages is taken into consideration. When a language develops a novel construction such as Not all that glitters is gold, which expresses scope relations transparently, it may take several centuries before this novel construction finally pushes a pre-existing inverse-scope construction out of use. In the meantime, inverse scope is used alongside its scope-transparent competitor. Thus, the universal bias for scope transparency has a weak synchronic effect, but it drives systematic historical developments across languages.

The concept of "Contemporary Dance": cultural, philosophical, and artistic approaches

The purpose of the article is to analyze and systematize approaches to the definition of the concept of "contemporary dance". Methodology. The research methodology is based on the analysis of scientific sources related to the topic, approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "Contemporary Dance", using terminological and historical methods. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the main approaches to the definition of contemporary dance are revealed and its characteristic features are revealed. Conclusions. Contemporary dance has taken a prominent place among the directions of choreographic art, has a wide circle of admirers, is recognized as a stage phenomenon and cultural and artistic practice. Currently, there is a wide range of approaches to understanding contemporary dance, which leads to terminological differences in scientific works. Among the main positions in contemporary dance, one can single out its consideration as an avant-garde form of choreographic art that evolved from modern dance; as a dramatic virtuoso dance originating from ballet and jazz; as an intellectual dance that originated in Europe and America, based on various techniques and techniques, it is perceived as a tool for the development of the dancer's body. We adhere to the position that contemporary dance is a direction of choreographic art that arose in the late XX – early XXI centuries in Europe and America, based on techniques and techniques that act as tools for the development of the body, the formation of awareness and the individual choreographic language of the dancer.
 Keywords: contemporary dance, contemporary culture, choreography, contemporary dance, terminological approach.

Román intézménynevek magyarítása Erdélyben

The study examines the translation methods used in the translation of institutional names and their common language use within the context of Hungarian-Romanian bilingualism in Transylvania, noting the language planning tasks that arise from minority status and the results of corpus design so far. The presented translation and language use phenomena emphasize that translating institutional names in minority status is a task for (professional) translation, terminology, and language planning. Within translation, it presupposes practical skills and a high level of bilingualism. In the technical and terminological context, the translation of the name of an institution presupposes an adequate knowledge of the individual fields and languages, in the absence of which unprofessional and ambiguous translations may be created. As a language planning problem, it primarily concerns corpus planning and presupposes the expansion of language rights related to status planning and expanding the scope of using vernacular languages.

Polska sieć komunikacyjna i jej główne osie

An inalienable property of the linguistic reality is the multi-language nature of the world and the multi-variation character of the ethnic-national communication space. As regards Polish pace, one can distinguish a series of axes around which the processes of long lasting concentrate. The author discusses the following five axes: (1) idiolectal (individual languages), (2) one determined by the dichotomy: spoken language – written language (contemporarily it assumes the form: spoken language – media language – written language), (3) one connected with the opposition: dialects – literary language (today in the form: dialects – mixed languages – general language), (4) functional variations (their ‘canonical’ series: colloquial language – scientific language – journalistic language – language of the administration – religious language – artistic language), and (5) one of three styles (high – medium – low).