Discourse Level Research Articles

의사소통적 발음 교육을 위한 한국어 교재 분석 연구

Objectives The purpose of this paper is to analyze Korean textbooks for communicative pronunciation education. Methods Three types of textbooks developed by university-affiliated language education institutes were selected as analysis targets. As analysis tools, items that were synthesized and reconstructed from the textbook analysis frameworks of Seo (2001) and Lee (2001) were used. Results The result shows that the scope of teaching items was expanded, and it was necessary to secure areas equivalent to vocabulary and grammar, select teaching items for continuous and repetitive learning, and provide detailed grading. In addition, the educational effectiveness of the explicitness or implicitness of linguistic rule explanations had to be examined, and audiovisual materials should be abundantly utilized. The practice activities were planned to involve step-by-step practice from the word and sentence level to the discourse level, but the instructions were not clear, and even if there were directions, practice method was monotonous. For communicative pronunciation education, instructions and guidelines had to be specified and a variety of interactive and meaningful exercises had to be included. As for learning strategies, only simple repetition, memorization strategies, and strategies using visual images were induced. Effective pronunciation learning strategies should be found and learning strategies had to be developed in a variety of ways. Conclusions Considering practical application, a plan to revitalize pronunciation education was proposed while maintaining the current textbook. Improvement measures were discussed focusing on the practice stage. Integrated practice with other micro and macro skills and clear practice method instructions were emphasized. Practice and use were claimed at the word, sentence, and discourse levels in the order of presentation-controlled practice-meaningful practice-use. Interactive activities such as pair or group activities were considered.

Russia’s Wagner Group/Africa Corps: an authoritarian conflict management examination

ABSTRACT The article examines Russia’s Wagner Group and its successor, Africa Corps, through the lens of Authoritarian Conflict Management (ACM) with its three levels of discourse, space, and economy. To set the analysis, the article first identifies ACM’s rationales and components in contradistinction to liberal peacebuilding. The article then interrogates Wagner Group’s activities in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali. It closes with a scrutiny of Wagner Group’s impact and limitations with ACM in mind and investigates the degree to which Africa Corps can be framed in the same manner. Collectively, these parts reveal that Wagner Group’s presence supported democratic erosion and authoritarian entrenchment in CAR and Mali. Yet human rights transgressions against civilians and particular attention to mining and economic activities spurred grievances amongst non-fighters, rebel groups, and jihadists alike in CAR and Mali. Quantitative personnel limitations of Wagner Group/Africa Corps both inform the stance taken and limit the ability to respond and assert dominance as per ACM considerations.

Revisiting Conversation Discourse for Dialogue Disentanglement

Dialogue disentanglement aims to detach the chronologically ordered utterances into several independent sessions. Conversation utterances are essentially organized and described by the underlying discourse, and thus dialogue disentanglement requires the full understanding and harnessing of the intrinsic discourse attribute. In this paper, we propose enhancing dialogue disentanglement by taking full advantage of the dialogue discourse characteristics. First of all, in feature encoding stage , we construct the heterogeneous graph representations to model the various dialogue-specific discourse structural features, including the static speaker-role structures (i.e., speaker-utterance and speaker-mentioning structure) and the dynamic contextual structures (i.e., the utterance-distance and partial-replying structure). We then develop a structure-aware framework to integrate the rich structural features for better modeling the conversational semantic context. Second, in model learning stage , we perform optimization with a hierarchical ranking loss mechanism, which groups dialogue utterances into different discourse levels and carries training covering pair-wise and session-wise levels hierarchically. Third, in inference stage , we devise an easy-first decoding algorithm, which performs utterance pairing under the easy-to-hard manner with a global context, breaking the constraint of traditional sequential decoding order. On two benchmark datasets, our overall system achieves new state-of-the-art performances on all evaluations. In-depth analyses further demonstrate the efficacy of each proposed idea and also reveal how our methods help advance the task. Our work has great potential to facilitate broader multi-party multi-thread dialogue applications.

,Die Lehre der Sainte-Victoire‘. Metanarrative Abhandlung über programmatische Grundvoraussetzungen des Schreibens von Peter Handke

The story ,Die Lehre der Sainte-Victoire‘ by Peter Handke was published in 1980 as part of the tetralogy ,Langsame Heimkehr‘. It is a metanarrative treatise and thus represents the narrative high point in terms of an immediate discussion about poetological perspectives. This work examines the positioning of authorship in ,Die Lehre der Sainte-Victoire‘. This is analyzed on the basis of the narrative strategy used at the level of the plot and at the level of the narrative discourse in order to finally elaborate the basic poetological prerequisites that also remain influential in further works.

Facilitation of lexical form or discourse relation: Evidence from contrastive pairs of discourse markers

Research has shown that people anticipate upcoming linguistic content, but evidence regarding expectations of specific lexical markers is mixed. We use the Dutch pair of discourse markers "Aan de ene kant...Aan de andere kant" (“On the one hand...On the other hand”) and "Enerzijds...Anderzijds" (also equivalent to “On the one hand...On the other hand”) to test whether readers generate predictions of an upcoming upcoming contrast dependency based on the lexical marker for the first contrastive perspective, and whether such predictions focus on a lexical form or rather on a discourse relation. In a self-paced reading, we show that readers do generate expectations for upcoming discourse markers, but that these expectations are not specific to a lexical form. In an eye-tracking study, we replicate the facilitative effect of the first marker of a lexical pair on the processing of the second marker, and show that this effect occurs in immediate processing. These results establish expectation-driven effects at the discourse level in the earliest possible reading time measures, showing comprehenders’ awareness of the discourse dependency established by a discourse marker along with their flexibility in identifying and integrating discourse relations with different markers.

Grandpa, tell me a story! Narrative ability in healthy aging and its relationship with cognitive functions and Theory of Mind

ABSTRACT Healthy aging affects the linguistic and cognitive abilities involved in narrative production. However, few studies provided a comprehensive assessment of narrative skills in aging and their association with cognitive and Theory of Mind (ToM) functions. We explored how aging influences narrative skills, at both micro- (i.e. lexical and grammatical) and macrolinguistic (i.e. pragmatic and discourse) levels. Sixty healthy adults divided into three age-groups (20–40, 65–75, 76–86 years old) were administered tasks assessing narrative production skills, executive functions (EFs), and ToM. A network approach was used to explore how micro- and macrolinguistic skills were associated to different cognitive and ToM functions. The analyses revealed age-related effects on various aspects of language production, including phonology, semantic retrieval, sentence complexity, coherence, cohesion, and lexical informativeness. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between linguistic measures, ToM skills and cognitive functions such as working and long-term memory and inhibition.

The Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Narrative Language Abilities in Aphasia.

Although individuals with aphasia commonly exhibit challenges in executive functioning (EF) and spoken discourse, there is limited research exploring connections between these abilities within this specific population. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between verbal and nonverbal EF and narrative productions in aphasia using a multilevel linguistic approach. Participants included 22 persons with aphasia (PWA) and 24 age- and education-matched, neurologically healthy controls (NHC). All participants completed assessments for EF and a story retelling task. Narrative samples were analyzed for microlinguistic (productivity, lexical and syntactic features, semantic content, word and sentence errors) and macrolinguistic (coherence, informational content, organization, and language use) characteristics. Correlational analyses were employed to explore the relationships among narrative variables. EF factors, extracted from principal component analysis, were used as predictive variables in hierarchical stepwise regression analyses to evaluate their role in predicting narrative performances of PWA and NHC. Relative to NHC, PWA exhibited impaired narrative performance affecting both microlinguistic and macrolinguistic levels. Breakdowns at the structural level (i.e., reduced productivity, syntax, lexical retrieval, and diversity) correlated with impaired story completeness, organization, and connectedness; this relationship was more prominent for PWA. Three EF factors representing (1) verbal EF, (2) verbal and nonverbal fluency, and (3) nonverbal EF were extracted. Factors 1 and 2 largely predicted narrative performance, whereas Factor 3 (i.e., nonverbal EF) contributed prominently to predicting macrolinguistic discourse performance in both groups although accounting for less variance in the data. Overall, lower EF scores, particularly verbal EF variables, predicted poor narrative performance in both groups. Our results indicate that both linguistic and extralinguistic cognitive abilities play a role in story retelling performances among PWA. Notably, both verbal and nonverbal EF skills were found to be correlated with narrative abilities. However, the extent of their contributions varied depending on the discourse levels assessed. These findings provide a significant contribution to our understanding of the cognitive factors associated with breakdowns in discourse among PWA and highlight the importance of comprehensive assessment of EF and discourse within this population. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26485627.

Large scale structure-aware pronoun resolution using quantum natural language processing

Natural language consists of words, sentences, and larger units. Guided by grammatical structure, words compose with each other to form sentences. Similarly, guided by discourse structure, sentences compose with each other to form dialogues and documents. Classical machine learning algorithms have achieved significant success in learning the meanings of words. When it comes to meanings of sentences and discourse units, they however fall short of being compositional. The DisCoCat model of meaning, introduced by Clark, Coecke, and Sadrzadeh in 2010, provides a solution—at the sentence level—using higher-order tensors, the learning of which has been a challenge. A recent initiative known as Quantum Natural Language Processing (QNLP) introduces a translation between the DisCoCat tensors and Variational Quantum Circuits (VQC). This offers the potential of learning these higher-order tensors more efficiently when the circuits are executed on quantum computers. In previous work, we lifted the DisCoCat framework from the sentence level to the discourse level using a Fock space semantics. In this paper, we extend the DisCoCat-VQC translation to this semantics and experiment with it in a discourse task. We develop a massive dataset with 16,400 entries inspired by a major coreference resolution task, known as the Winograd Schema Challenge, proposed as a test of machine intelligence. Noisy and noiseless simulations were executed on IBMQ software, and the parameters of the discourse VQCs were learnt. The model converged to 77.5% accuracy, surpassing a Bag-of-Words model that neglects any structure. It also outperformed 2 out of 3 state-of-the-art classical coreference resolution architectures. These findings highlight the significant potential of quantum machine learning in advancing discourse analysis and structured natural language processing.

America as a Metaphor for Suffering Consciousness in Dostoevsky's Fiction and Non-Fiction Works

Dostoevskii’s journalistic writings exhibit America as a dangerous place of deception and seduction, a response to the role of America in the political consciousness of his day. At the same time, America appears in nearly all his major novels, including characters who threaten to “flee to America” and, in the case of Shatov and Kirillov from Demons, actually do. For Dostoevskii, the idea of “running off to America” elicits a dual symbolism: America was far enough away from Russia to enact a complete severing of roots (and, by extension, to serve as a metaphor for suicide), while also being profoundly dangerous in the closeness of the kinds of comparisons that could be drawn between Russian and American realities. In his fiction, America is more than a geographical concept; it serves as a reliable testing ground for suffering consciousness – for the intense self-reflection and repeated process of cognitively collecting the self for which Dostoevskii’s novels are so widely appreciated. In this article we trace the role of America across Dostoevsii’s body of work and across levels of literary discourse, with a focus on America as an occasion for philosophical reflection in the Kirillov-Shatov plotline in Demons. We highlight how the theme of America can bring one of the most complex and enduring questions of Dostoevskii’s work – the relationship between his journalistic and literary voices – into fuller relief, while also elucidating the narrative significance of America for the suffering consciousness and self-reflection so vital to his literary worlds.

Pronoun interpretation in intermediate-advanced L2 English speakers: L2 to L1 cross-linguistic effects

Aims and objectives: L2 learners who speak a null subject (L1 Spanish) and a non-null subject language (L2 English) may experience cross-linguistic interference from the L2 on L1 pronoun interpretation. In this study, we test pronoun interpretation in the L1 and L2 of adult learners, in comparison with two groups of monolingual speakers, to assess if L1 pronoun interpretation can change as a result of L2 acquisition at intermediate-advanced levels of L2 proficiency and in the absence of long L2 immersion. Methodology: A group of L2 English speakers (L1 Spanish) participated in two offline sentence comprehension tasks where they interpreted pronouns in the L1 and L2. The results are compared with English and Spanish monolingual speakers. Data and analysis: We find that adult English learners comprehend pronouns in their L1 (Spanish) differently than Spanish monolingual speakers, demonstrating a strong subject bias for interpreting null and overt pronouns. In addition, we show that pronoun interpretation patterns acquired in the L2 explain the changes to L1 interpretation biases. Conclusions: The results of this study significantly advance the understanding of the factors that contribute to bilingual language comprehension, showing the permeability of the L1 comprehension system at the discourse level as soon as the L2 sets in.

Literally or prosodically? Recognising emotional discourse in alexithymia

ABSTRACT Alexithymia is characterised by difficulties in identifying, recognising, and describing emotions. We studied alexithymia in the context of speech comprehension, specifically investigating the incongruent condition between prosody and the literal meaning of words in emotion-based discourse. In two experiments, participants were categorised as having high or low alexithymia scores based on the TAS-20 scale and listened to three-sentence narratives where the emotional prosody of a key phrase or a keyword was congruent or incongruent with its literal meaning. The incongruent condition resulted in slower reaction times and lower accuracy in recognition of emotions. This incongruence effect was also evident for individuals with high alexithymia, except for anger. They recognised anger as accurately in both congruent and incongruent conditions. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, individuals with high alexithymia did not show an overall difference in emotion recognition compared to the low alexithymia group. These findings highlight the nuanced relationship between emotional prosody and literal meaning, offering insights into how individuals with varying levels of alexithymia process emotional discourse. Understanding these dynamics has implications for both cognitive research and clinical practice, providing valuable perspectives on speech comprehension, especially in situations involving incongruence between prosody and word meaning.

The coproduction of a multilevel personal narrative intervention for people with aphasia in a community communication support group—A pilot study

IntroductionPeople with aphasia (PWA) face challenges in sharing personal stories due to communication difficulties. Discourse treatment in aphasia focusing on personal narrative macrostructure has yet to receive the attention this warrants of researchers and clinicians. Emerging person-centered approaches involve coproduction and codesign with PWA for meaningful discourse treatments. Few studies explore discourse treatment's impact on functional communication. This pilot study aims to explore whether the use of the coproduction approach in the development of a multilevel personal narrative intervention at the group level increased the production of macrostructure elements in trained and untrained narrative discourse contexts, improved aphasia severity and functional communication skills, and advanced quality of life of the participants with aphasia.MethodsAn ABA design was followed featuring a pre-treatment baseline assessment phase, a treatment phase, and a post-treatment assessment phase immediately after treatment was completed. Three people with chronic stroke-induced aphasia, three communication partners, and a moderator took part in the study. All participants were members of a university-led community aphasia communication group. The research protocol consisted of eleven, two-hour, weekly sessions over an 11-week block. Nine treatment sessions were carried out following codesign and coproduction methods that focused on participants with aphasia producing words, sentences, and total communication strategies to express macrostructure elements in their personal stories. Assessment measures were collected at baseline and post-treatment to evaluate improvements in trained and untrained narrative abilities, aphasia severity, functional communication, and the impact of aphasia on quality of life.ResultsMultilevel personal narrative therapy improved the narrative skills of the participants with aphasia at the macrostructural level of narrative discourse. Improvements were also observed in functional communication and quality of life post-treatment.DiscussionThe involvement of participants with aphasia in the codesign and coproduction of the treatment content for the group intervention facilitated improvement in narrative skills, functional communication, and overall quality of life with aphasia. It is recommended that researchers and clinicians consider using content from the personal narratives of clients with aphasia to build discourse treatment and adopt codesign and coproduction approaches, when designing interventions for people with chronic aphasia, to improve communication outcomes in everyday life.

A feminist stylistic analysis of the selected poems from My Heart in Your Hands: Poems from Namibia

This study provides a feminist stylistic analysis of fifteen (15) selected poems from My Heart in Your Hands: Poems from Namibia from a feminist stylistic perspective, thus the study examines language and gender in anthropology. The research aimed to examine how lexis is used to represent women in the selected poems; to analyse how syntax is used to show the roles of women in society and to evaluate how gender issues are communicated at the discourse level. In recent years, many Namibian women have turned to language to recast themselves and give a voice to the voiceless and marginalised through literature. The female poets disclosed the subjugation of women by the patriarchal system. Women characters were represented as second to men, wicked, weak and victims of sexual, verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their loved ones. In the poems, women are represented as emotional, and worthless. As the study was a desk study, it adopted the qualitative approach to analyse the sampled poems that were purposively sampled as they are primarily thematic concerns of gender and that are written by women. Moreover, content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the meaning from the selected poems. Finally, the poets used discourse level to communicate the gender issues faced by women such as oppression, discrimination, and exploitation and they are voiceless as men shut them through abuse when they speak up. Therefore, women are portrayed as domestic workers, caretakers, and child bearers. They are given household duties as their roles throughout the selected poems.

The Contributions of Short-Term Memory to Writing at the Sublexical, Lexical, and Discourse Level in Beginning Writers

ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect relations between short-term memory (STM), reading, oral language, and writing at the letter, word, and discourse levels in young, developing writers both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Method Participants were 449 English-speaking kindergarten students (52% female) from 41 schools in the U.S. Results The cross-sectional analysis indicated that STM was directly related to oral language (β = 0.62), letter naming fluency (β = 0.43), word reading (β = 0.54), and reading comprehension (β = 0.42), all of which were statistically significant. Results supported a complete mediation model with STM having an indirect effect on writing via reading and oral language. In the cross-sectional analysis, the total effects of STM on handwriting (β = 0.51), spelling (β = 0.57), and written composition (β = 0.47) were substantial and statistically significant. In the longitudinal analysis, the total effects of Fall STM on Spring writing outcomes, handwriting (β = 0.42), spelling (β = 0.70), and written composition (β = 0.44) were also substantial and statistically significant. Conclusion Findings confirm that STM is a foundational cognitive skill necessary for early writing; however, they provide a more nuanced understanding by showing that the contribution of STM is indirect through reading and oral language. Writing is complex, requiring interaction among higher-order domain-specific and domain-general components. Along with other recent studies, our findings highlight the need to examine the direct and indirect effects for a more precise understanding of skills that support writing development.

A God of Mockery? Revisiting the “Omnipotence Effect” in Numbers 22:21–35

The characterization of YHWH, Israel's only God, is unique in the Hebrew Bible. The deity, while a character in the narrative, transcends the narrative on the level of discourse, rising above other characters, the narrator, and even the reader. This exceptional dynamic of characterization is exemplarily illustrated in the episode of Balaam and the talking jenny (Num 22:21–35), a text loaded with irony and ambiguity that recounts the deliverance of a foreign seer from YHWH’s hands by his jenny. The characterization of YHWH in this text shows a God who manipulates both the narrated world and the formal structure of the text, exemplifying what Sternberg termed the “omnipotence effect.”

Postmodern Approach to History in the Novel "Selvitë E Tivarit" by M.Kraja

This study article aims to analyze the special way through which the important events of the historical past are integrated into the fiction of the writer Mehmet Kraja with the aim of ironizing and not documenting them. Our main argument is that in the novel "Selvitë e Tivarit" the historical context of the Tivari War is effectively portrayed through postmodern narrative tools and techniques, which highlight doubt and unreliability towards references and the absolute authenticity of historical narratives. The use of techniques such as the presence of a "dubious" narrator's voice, fragmentation, time distortion, ironic representation, etc., appear as postmodern strategies that play an important role in blurring the boundaries between reality (truth) and fiction and enable the thematization of important issues of history, culture, and human and national identity. Our methodology includes the use of analysis methods, which will enable us to delve into the interior of the text, at the levels of narration and discourse, as well as the comparative method to highlight the differences and commonalities between traditional and contemporary models of historical fiction.

A modal account of syntactically non-integrated von wegen in contemporary German

Abstract This study aims to account for the German expression von wegen (literally ‘of ways’) when used outside of the sentence structure. Drawing on corpus data for written and spoken German, we show that there are two types of syntactically non-integrated von wegen: (i) illustrating/exemplifying von wegen and, (ii) opposing von wegen. By combining both a formal and a functional perspective, we claim that these two types can be analyzed as modal expressions. In fact, from a formal point of view based on Werner Abraham’s classification in lexical and grammatical forms of modality, both illustrating/exemplifying and opposing von wegen encode a quotative/evidential meaning, whereas only the second type expresses an epistemic modal value. Nevertheless, von wegen does not belong to the prototypical forms of modality described by Abraham as it does not occupy a structural position within the sentence and therefore does not fall into any of the classes proposed by Abraham. For this reason, we also need to integrate the formal perspective with a functional one by defining modality not only structurally but also semantically. In doing so, we account for the modality of von wegen in that we assume the existence of a third strategy of modalization that is specific to syntactically non-integrated expressions and operates at the discourse level.

Indices of the Esoteric: Crime, Forensic Science, and Oral Culture

ABSTRACT: This essay explores the relationship between geography, epistemology, and genre in Nii Ayikwei Parkes's Tail of the Blue Bird (2009). More specifically, I will be discussing the perspectival modulation that both the novel and its protagonist undergo as a consequence of a simple journey into the Ghanaian provinces. Kayo Odamtten, a forensic pathologist, has been sent to investigate a suspected murder in the remote village of Sonokrom. Although he relies on standard forensic procedures when he first arrives in the village, Kayo is eventually forced to utilize other perspectives, other epistemologies, in order to solve the mystery. And as we shall see, this reorientation of the story also influences the novel at the level of discourse and genre, transforming a conventional work of detective fiction into something else altogether—something far more equivocal and difficult to categorize.

Unlocking in-depth forum discussion and perceived effectiveness: Teaching and social presence categories in online teacher communities

Online teacher communities constitute pivotal professional development contexts. Yet, there is no conclusive evidence on how best to conduct in-depth forum discussion for meaningful learning outcomes. This study combines qualitative comparative analysis of communities' forum transcripts to specify the teaching and social presence categories that promote in-depth forum discussion with teachers’ questionnaires for perceived effectiveness. Findings identify a successful online coordination and participation framework: teaching presence characterized by strong direct instruction combined with social presence exhibiting high levels of affective and cohesive discourse. This framework provides actionable insights for online professional learning communities with implications for educational research and practice.

REPRESENTATION OF THE STATE’S INTERESTS IN COURT BY THE PROSECUTOR: IN SEARCH OF TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction. The article analyzes the trends in the development of the conceptual substantiation of the prosecutor’s representation of the State’s interests in court as one of the functions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine, which is one of the constitutionally enshrined areas of the prosecutor’s office’s activities aimed at protecting the interests of the State in court in exceptional cases and in accordance with the procedure established by law. The legal uncertainty inherent in the legal regulation of this function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office leads to an active scientific and expert-practical discourse, which is periodically updated with the emergence of new legal positions of courts or legislative initiatives in this area, which creates preconditions for identifying new trends in the development of the conceptual justification of this function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The purpose of the article is to highlight the current trends in the development of the conceptual substantiation of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office through the prism of dynamic changes in legislation, ambiguity of its application practice and legislative initiatives in the field of the issues under study. Summary of the main results of the study. It is stated that the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office under the current legislative regulation is characterized by certain legal uncertainty and defects in legislative regulation. Legislative initiatives aimed at regulating this issue are not systematic and demonstrate the need for a clear legislative vision of the ways of conceptual development of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The author establishes the lack of consensus on the peculiarities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office representative function at the level of scientific discourse, especially regarding the scope of the object of prosecutorial representation. The author highlights the legal position of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and provides arguments for considering it as determining a new vector of conceptual development this function at the present stage. Conclusions. The author identifies the following current trends in the development of the conceptual justification of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office: inconsistency of the legislative regulation of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office with the constitutional provisions on the scope of the object of prosecutorial representation; insignificant attention to the issues of conceptual development of this function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the documents which form the strategic directions of development of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine; lack of a clear legislative vision of ways to conceptually bring the legislative regulation of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in line with its constitutional legal provisions; polarity of doctrinal views on the object and scope of prosecutorial representation due to their unclear regulatory definition; formation of a new vector of conceptual development of the representative function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office - monopolization of the prosecutor’s powers to represent the interests of the state in court.