Linguistic Proximity Research Articles

Genetic variation of polymorphic NOS STR locus in ten Indian population groups

The genotyping of 313 random individuals belonging to ten different population groups from three different states of India was performed for polymorphic pentanucleotide repeat present in the 5'-flanking region of nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS2A) to study the effect of geographical and linguistic affiliations on the genetic affinities among these groups. Likelihood ratio tests showed that all the ten populations for this locus were in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. Eleven different alleles ranging from 7 repeat to 17 repeats and 46 different genotypes were observed. The observed and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.72-0.94 and 0.84-0.89, respectively. The discriminating power of this locus is > or = 0.86 and the polymorphism information content of this locus in ten population groups ranged from 0.80 to 0.85. High PIC, PD and PE value of this STR showed this marker to be informative and can be used for DNA typing and population studies. The eight populations from Kerala showed a lower GST value of 0.016 compared to the GST of ten populations (G(ST) = 0.019), thereby showing that the populations from the same state showed higher genetic proximity probably due to linguistic and geographical proximity between them.

Neurofuzzy Modeling of Context–Contingent Proximity Relations

The notion of proximity is one of the foundational elements in humans' understanding and reasoning of the geographical environments. The perception and cognition of distances plays a significant role in many daily human activities. Yet, few studies have thus far provided context–contingent translation mechanisms between linguistic proximity descriptors (e.g., “near,”“far”) and metric distance measures. One problem with previous fuzzy logic proximity modeling studies is that they presume the form of the fuzzy membership functions of proximity relations. Another problem is that previous studies have fundamental weaknesses in considering context factors in proximity models. We argue that statistical approaches are ill suited to proximity modeling because of the inherently fuzzy nature of the relations between linguistic and metric distance measures. In this study, we propose a neurofuzzy system approach to solve this problem. The approach allows for the dynamic construction of context–contingent proximity models based on sample data. An empirical case study with human subject survey data is carried out to test the validity of the approach and to compare it with the previous statistical approach. Interpretation and prediction accuracy of the empirical study are discussed.

Narrative Fiction in Galiza:1 The Long Path between Oblivion and Memory

Narrative Fiction in Galiza:1 The Long Path between Oblivion and Memory

Causes and implications of the current mass emigration process in Latin America

Since the mid-1970s, most Latin American countries have become net exporters of labour and this trend has accelerated over the past decade. Wide differences in income with industrialised countries, a low level of social investment and the existence of a large national community already established abroad are all factors that are conducive to the emigration of workers. Both geographic and linguistic proximity also play a significant role in this process. However, beyond the structural determinants, emigration also responds to short-term variations in economic activity, increasing when growth lags and unemployment rises, especially if economic conditions are strong in host countries. The linkage between migration flows and economic cycles is also reinforced by fixed exchange rates in the sending country, as labour mobility then acts as an adjustment mechanism. Although the emigration of a portion of the labour force helps the short-term adjustment of Latin American economies by reducing labour market tensions and improving the current account balance, the longterm implications give great cause for concern. In particular, the massive influx of capital through remittances sent by migrant workers to their families might generate a "Dutch disease" situation detrimental to the development of the export sector, while the brain drain might curtail human capital accumulation in Latin America, thereby reducing the region's potential growth. Consequently, Latin American governments must take action in order to try to control a process that could compromise the region's economic and social future.

Hamlet Lives Happily Ever After in Arabic

In writing the history of drama translation in Egypt, historians have mostly conceived of translation in terms of a linear progression from infidelity to fidelity. The sweeping obsession with the linguistic proximity of translated drama to its corresponding source text has tended to blind these historians to the overall network of socio-cultural and aesthetic factors that conditioned the production, circulation and reception of drama translation in late 19th- and early 20th century Egypt. This paper challenges mainstream histories of the early translations of Shakespeare’s drama in Egypt through a reading of the first published translation of ‘Hamlet’ into Arabic (1902). Drawing on Bourdieu’s genetic sociology, this translation is read against the backdrop of an emerging field of drama translation, and hence is shown to reveal the influence of the socio-cultural factors that conditioned the formation of this field.

How Far Is Too Far? – A Statistical Approach to Context‐contingent Proximity Modeling

AbstractProximity is a fundamental concept in any comprehensive ontology of space (Worboys 2001). The provision of a context‐contingent translation mechanism between linguistic proximity measures (e.g. “near”, “far”) and metric distance measures is an important topic in current GIS research. After a discussion of context factors that mediate the relationship between linguistic and metric distance measures, we present a statistical approach, Ordered Logit Regression, to the context‐contingent proximity modeling. The approach can predict proximity given the corresponding metric distance and context variables. An empirical case study with human subjects is carried out using this statistical approach. Interpretation and predictive accuracy of the empirical case study are discussed.

Disenfranchisement in Linguistically Diverse Societies. The Case of the European Union

We consider a linguistically diversified society that has to select a set of official languages. We examine the notion of language disenfranchisement that is created when one or more languages fail to be included in the list of the official ones, implying that some individuals are denied full access to the documents and to the political process in their native tongues. To derive the first of our indices, we use the dichotomous approach that does not take into account a linguistic proximity between languages. To develop a more refined disenfranchisement index, we utilize the Dyen percentage cognate distance matrix that takes into account a linguistic proximity or remoteness of any pair of two languages. We then apply survey and population data on language proficiency in the European Union, calculate disenfranchisement indices and determine optimal sets of official languages that depend on two parameters, society's sensitivity against disenfranchisement and comprehensiveness of the language regime adopted. We also discuss the language challenges faced by the European Union after its enlargement in May 2004.

Valor de la documentación real portuguesa para la historia de Galicia en la Edad Media

The special relationship between Portugal and Galicia during the Middle Ages is widely reflected in historiography. A considerable number of documents coming from the royal Portuguese «cancilleria» and concerning Galicia provides us even more information about the relationships maintained by these two territories which shared a common past until the 12th century as well as a geographical and linguistic proximity and belonged to the same ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Both territories also maintained trade relations and had some populations in common. These close ties, however, sometimes led to clashes and rivalries.

R&D in China: an empirical study of Taiwanese IT companies

This study extends the research on R&D (research and development) internationalization to a new environmental context (two Asian newly‐industrialized economies, mainland China and Taiwan). Based on a survey of 56 major Taiwanese information technology (IT) companies, the status of R&D internationalization with Taiwan as the home and mainland China as the host is investigated. Human‐capital‐augmentation is found to be the key motive for Taiwanese IT companies to extend R&D activities to the mainland. Accessing capable yet cost effective local engineers with an additional benefit of geographical and linguistic proximity is the major context of this motive. The location decision is based on three considerations – access to engineers, proximity to manufacturing site, and competition avoidance. Finally, three operational patterns of conducting the international design and development (D&D) activities are categorized, which are ‘home‐base‐integration’, ‘host‐base‐integration’, and ‘product life cycle’.

Shadows of the Past in International Cooperation: Collaboration Profiles of the Top Five Producers of Science

This article aims at a characterization of the cooperation behavior among five large scientific countries (France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and United States of America) from 1986 to 1996. It looks at the cooperation profiles of these countries using classical measures such as the Probabilistic Affinity. The results show the major influence which historical, cultural and linguistic proximities may have on patterns of cooperation, with few changes over the period of time studied.A lack of specific affinities among the three largest European countries is revealed, and this contrasts with the strong linkage demonstrated between United States and Japan. The ensuing discussion raises some questions as to the process of Europeanization in science. The intensity of bilateral cooperation linkages is then studied with regard to field specialization by country, and this analysis yields no general patterns at the scale studied. Specific bilateral behaviors are also analyzed.

Linguistic measures based on fuzzy coincidence for reaching consensus in group decision making

Assuming a linguistic framework, a model for the consensus reaching problem in heterogeneous group decision making is proposed. This model contains two types of linguistic consensus measures: linguistic consensus degrees and linguistic proximities to guide the consensus reaching process. These measures evaluate the current consensus state on three levels of action: level of the pairs of alternatives, level of the alternatives, and level of the relation. They are based on a fuzzy characterization of the concept of coincidence, and they are obtained by means of several conjunction functions for handling linguistic weighted information, the LOWA operator for aggregating linguistic information, and linguistic quantifiers representing the concept of fuzzy majority.

Comparaison des affinités linguistiques et biologiques de douze populations de langue bantu.

J. Hiernaux & A.-M. Gauthier — A Comparison of the Linguistic and Biological Affinities of Twelve Bantu-Speaking People. Despite a degree of analogy in the mechanism of differentiation, a comparison of biometrie and linguistic materials shows only moderate correlation between the two sets of data. Relative linguistic proximity can go along with an important biological distance and vice versa. The differentiating factors are not of the same order. The available biometric data used are not the most significant ones and a different choice would probably affect the results.