Related Words Research Articles

Analysis of the translation strategies used for non-equivalent Grade 4 geography concepts

Adoption of a multilingual educational system in South Africa necessitates translation services, as the diverse official languages that are spoken in South Africa and their attendant cultures rarely have conceptual equivalents. The paucity of conceptual equivalents in natural sciences like geography calls for strategies on how to equate concepts ideologically and semantically between languages such as English and Tshivenḓa. Hence, this article analyses the translation strategies applied when translating Grade 4 geography concepts from English into Tshivenḓa. A qualitative phenomenology inquiry is used. The data were examined using inductive thematic analysis. Skopos and the Scan and Balance theories served as the theoretical framework. It was found that the translators used paraphrasing, more general words, related words, transliteration and omission as strategies to attain equivalence. This article provides translators with relevant and applicable translation strategies to address the non-equivalence between English and Tshivenḓa Grade 4 geography terminologies. It prompts the Department of Education to implement the Language-in-Education Policy and translate subjects such as Grade 4 geography from English into Tshivenḓa by demonstrating the feasibility of the suggested translation strategies. The findings may also contribute to the development of Tshivenḓa, one of South Africa’s minority languages.

What Fires Together, Wires Together: The Effect of Idiomatic Co-Occurrence on Lexical Networks

This study investigated the processing of lexical elements of idioms in isolation. Using visual word priming, spreading activation for idiomatically related word pairs (e.g., pop–question) was compared to that for semantically related (e.g., answer–question) and unrelated word pairs (e.g., trim–question) in two experiments varying in SOA (500 ms and 350 ms). In line with hybrid theories of idiom representation and processing, facilitatory priming was found in both experiments for idiomatic primes, suggesting a tight link between the words of an idiom that is mediated by a common idiom representation. While idiomatic priming was stable across SOAs, semantic priming was stronger for the short SOA, implying fast and early activation. In conclusion, one lexical element of an idiom can facilitate the processing of another, even if the elements are not presented within a phrasal context (i.e., within an idiom), and without the words being semantically related. We discuss our findings in light of theories about idiom processing, as well as current findings in the field of semantic priming.

False memories through auditory distraction: When irrelevant speech produces memory intrusions in the absence of semantic interference.

Task-irrelevant speech is known to cause disruption of short-term memory, either through specific interference with encoding processes (e.g., seriation, semantic processing) or by diverting attention from the focal task. Previous studies found that semantically related background speech can induce memory intrusions of words that were not part of the to-be-remembered list. While these findings suggest false memories due to semantic interference, the present study aims to test whether the presence of task-irrelevant speech affects the susceptibility to memory intrusions also in the absence of semantic interference. Therefore, incomprehensible to-be-ignored speech was presented during encoding of semantically related words. It was found across three experiments that incomprehensible changing-state speech increased the rate of false memories of non-presented but semantically related words in a subsequent recognition (Experiments 1 and 2) or recall test (Experiment 3), compared with white noise or steady-state speech. The findings indicate that speech interfered with serial-order processing of the to-be-remembered items, thus urging participants to rely on semantic information to encode and retrieve the presented words. While a focus on semantic information enabled participants to correctly recollect the majority of presented words, it most likely also increased the proportion of false memories of words with semantic associations to the presented words both in recall and recognition tests. In all three experiments, the presence of an auditory deviant in background speech did not increase the rate of false memories, suggesting that attentional capture alone does not necessarily induce source monitoring errors. However, Experiment 3 revealed that an increase in visual task-encoding load attenuated the changing-state effect on the production of false memories. This indicates that the semantic organisation processes initiated as a result of the loss of order information in case of changing-state speech may be sensitive to attentional control.

ANTONYMY IN TERMINOLOGY (ACCORDING TO THE DICTIONARY OF ANTONYMS OF THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE)

The article examines the nature of the transmission of antonyms in dictionaries. Lexical-systematic connections, including the relationship of synonyms and antonyms within the semantic field, the influence of polysemy on the semantic relationships between words, the influence on the formation of an antonymic series, as well as the special importance of studying the expression word-formation of antonym connections in dictionaries. In lexicography, there are many types of antonym dictionaries. True, they differ from each other in the general concept of dictionaries, the structure of the dictionary, size and proximity to the industry. With the help of a dictionary of antonyms of the Kazakh language, the function of antonymy in terminology is differentiated and examples show that antonymic relations are considered a type of systematic relations in the linguistic vocabulary. Words that are in an antonymic relationship are used in the opposite sense and form a separate group. The goal and task of the antonym dictionary is to describe lexical units from the point of view of semantic opposition; it is indicated that antonyms can be formed from different roots and related words, and it is also shown that the meaning of antonyms is formed from related words. in a word, he is never aware of the opposite meaning. The appearance of words with opposite meanings is associated with the external environment. According to its logical and philosophical content, linguistic antonymy is considered as a manifestation of opposition in language.

Atypical semantic cognition in schizotypal personality disorder and borderline personality disorder

ABSTRACT Increased schizotypal traits have previously been associated with atypical semantic cognition in community samples. However, no study has yet examined whether adults diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) display atypical semantic fluency and memory. We hypothesized that 24 adults diagnosed with SPD would name more idiosyncratic words on the semantic fluency task and show decreased semantic recall for animal and fruit category words compared with 29 participants with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and a community sample of 96 age-matched controls. We examined whether atypical semantic cognition was specifically associated with disorganized and eccentric speech and thinking, or more broadly with pathological personality traits and personality functioning. Our main hypothesis was confirmed, as the SPD participants named more idiosyncratic words and recalled fewer semantically related words compared with controls. Surprisingly, participants with BPD likewise named more atypical words compared with controls. More idiosyncratic semantic fluency was associated with more eccentric speech and thinking. Increased idiosyncratic semantic fluency and reduced semantic recall were both coupled to increased detachment and lowered personality functioning, while reduced semantic recall further was related to increased interpersonal problems. Our findings suggest that persons with SPD, and to a lesser degree BPD, show atypical semantic cognition, which is associated with eccentric speech and thinking, and more broadly with impaired personality function, social withdrawal, and emotional flatness. The idiosyncratic semantic cognition may worsen difficulties with social reciprocity seen in SPD and BPD.

A Study of Strategies for Translating English Idioms in Subtitles from Riverdale Series into Thai

This qualitative research examines the strategies employed in translating English idioms in the subtitles of the TV series "Riverdale" into Thai. The aim of the study is to investigate the strategies utilized by translators to interpret idiomatic expressions, as well as to determine the frequency of each strategy and its applicability to the context of Thai subtitles. A total of 510 idioms were analyzed using Baker's Taxonomy (1992) as the theoretical framework. The findings reveal that six out of the eight identified strategies were manifested in the translation of English idioms. The most frequently used strategy was translation by paraphrase using unrelated words (43.73%), followed by translation by cultural substitution (26.86%) and translation by paraphrase using a related word (19.80%). Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word (5.49%), translation by omission (2.16%), and translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation (1.96%) were also observed. However, translation by a more general word and translation by illustration were not found in this study. The results shed light on the strategies employed by translators in conveying the meaning of English idioms in Thai subtitles, highlighting the importance of linguistic and cultural considerations. The findings underscore the importance of cultural relevance and linguistic precision in audiovisual translation, offering insights that can inform future translation practices and enhance the effectiveness of subtitles in conveying idiomatic meaning to Thai audiences.

Telerehabilitation with Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) in two participants with mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe aphasia: A single-case experimental design study

ABSTRACT Background Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) is a verb-centred aphasia treatment that targets the semantic relationships between a verb (e.g., dig) and related content words (e.g., gardener, hole), aiming to promote word retrieval and sentence production in aphasia. Previous research shows promising results of VNeST in several participants. Aims This study investigates the effects of VNeST through telerehabilitation on word retrieval and sentence production with treated and semantically related untreated verbs, as well as the possible generalisation to confrontation naming and connected speech. Further, functional communication, communicative participation, health-related quality of life and client satisfaction are explored. Methods and Procedures A single-case experimental design study with multiple baselines was conducted with two participants with stroke-induced mild-to-moderate Broca’s aphasia or moderate-to-severe Wernicke’s aphasia who received VNeST through telerehabilitation. Percentage of non-overlapping data, Baseline Corrected Tau and d-index effect size were used to measure improvement in word retrieval and sentence production elicited through video-clip stimuli. The study is registered with ClinicTrials.gov, number NCT05152979. Outcomes and Results The participant with Wernicke’s aphasia improved in word retrieval in sentences with trained and untrained verbs and showed some – albeit limited – generalisation to confrontation naming of nouns and verbs. The participant with Broca’s aphasia withdrew after half of the planned dosage, as he did not consider VNeST suitable for his needs. He did not improve in word retrieval or sentence production. Conclusions VNeST shows promise when it comes to improving word retrieval in trained and semantically related untrained stimuli in moderate-to-severe Wernicke’s aphasia. This study adds to the existing literature by showing potential improvement in VNeST through telerehabilitation.

Nothing else matters: Stimulus-response binding and retrieval is independent of affective consequences.

Stimulus-response binding and retrieval (SRBR) is a fundamental mechanism driving behavior automatization. In five experiments, we investigated the modulatory role of affective consequences (AC) on SRBR effects to test whether binding/retrieval can explain instrumental learning (i.e., the "law of effect"). SRBR effects were assessed in a sequential prime-probe design, with an orthogonal variation of response relation (response repetition vs. change) by distractor relation (word repetition vs. change). Binding/retrieval effects are measured by an interaction of the two factors, with distractor repetitions inducing a retrieval of the prime episode and a tendency to re-enact the previous response, which leads to facilitation in conditions where the response must be repeated, but leads to interference when the required response changes from prime to probe. Positive, neutral, or negative events signaling changes in points that were linked to monetary gains or losses were delivered after every trial to investigate whether AC modulate the binding/retrieval effect. Consistently across all five experiments (total N= 466), robust SRBR effects were obtained, but we did not find any evidence for an affective modulation of these binding/retrieval effects, indicating that these effects are automatic and independent of AC. In particular, Experiment 5 demonstrated a dissociation between instrumental learning via AC (reflected in higher frequencies of rewarded responses) and SRBR, which was not influenced by AC following a response. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on the Application of Semantic Network in Disease Diagnosis Prompts Based on Medical Corpus

Portion of the causes of medical errors in outpatient clinics are incorrect treatment resulting from misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis between diseases is often caused by similar and indistinguishable symptoms. Currently, disease knowledge and related symptom words that are prone to misdiagnosis are scattered in various medical literature or open online databases. Therefore, it is possible to merge symptom words of related diseases, build an ontology based on the semantic relationship between symptoms, and associate the association between diseases and symptoms. This project finally established the "Disease Symptoms" Semantic Network (DSSN). Using DSSN as a basic data set can serve as prompts for diseases that are easily misdiagnosed, assisting doctors in accurately diagnosing diseases. This plays a significant role in reducing the misdiagnosis rate.

Testing a brief attention training protocol to prevent emotional distress from a fear induction procedure

Background and objectivesAttentional hypervigilance to threat in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an important topic to investigate. Efforts to leverage attention training to prevent PTSD have been promising but underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. The current study tested whether Attention Bias Modification (ABM) prior to an emotion induction of fear could reduce self-reported fear and arousal compared to two control conditions. MethodsParticipants (N = 86) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and randomized to receive either (1) ABM where they were directed towards fear related words on every trial; (2) Attention Control Training (ACT) where they were directed towards fear related words on 50% of trials; or (3) Neutral training where all words were neutral. Participants then completed a fear emotion induction (a 2-min video), reporting fear, arousal, and mood before and after the emotion induction. ResultsParticipants in the ABM condition had lower fear compared to the Neutral condition b = 11.43, 95% CI (1.20, 21.65), d = 0.48. Participants in the ABM condition did not have lower fear compared to the ACT condition b = 9.75, 95% CI (−0.64, 19.96), d = 0.41. Importantly, attentional avoidance at baseline moderated the effect of condition for both fear and arousal; higher avoidance at baseline for the ABM condition was associated with lower fear and arousal after the emotion induction compared to the Neutral condition. LimitationsThe sample size was relatively small and limited in diversity. ConclusionsThese findings are the first experimental evidence showing that the benefit of ABM prior to a fearful experience may be in its reduction of the target emotion. Additionally, ABM may work best for those that demonstrate the most avoidance at baseline in their attention towards fearful stimuli.

False recall is associated with larger caudate in males but not in females

ABSTRACT After learning semantically related words, some people are more likely than others to incorrectly recall unstudied but semantically related lures (i.e., Deese-Roediger-McDermott [DRM] false recall). Previous studies have suggested that neural activity in subcortical regions (e.g., the caudate) is involved in false memory, and that there may be sex differences in the neural basis of false memory. However, sex-specific associations between subcortical volumes and false memory are not well understood. This study investigated whether sex modulates the associations between subcortical volumes and DRM false recall in 400 healthy college students. Volumes of subcortical regions including the caudate, accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen and thalamus were obtained from structural magnetic resonance images and measured using FreeSurfer. The results showed that males had lower true and false recall but larger subcortical volumes than females. Interestingly, higher false recall was associated with a larger caudate in males, but not in females. This association was significant after controlling for age and intracranial volume. This study provides new evidence on the neural basis of false recall. It suggests that the caudate plays a role in false recall in young men, and that future studies of the neural correlates of false memory should consider sex differences.

How do ageism, death anxiety and ageing anxiety among medical students and residents affect their attitude towards medical care for older patients: a systematic review

BackgroundAlthough the number of older patients requiring medical care is increasing, caring for older patients is often seen as unattractive by medical trainees (i.e., medical students, residents, interns, and fellows). Terror Management Theory states that people have a negative attitude towards older people, because they remind people of their own mortality. We hypothesize that ageism, death anxiety, and ageing anxiety among medical trainees negatively affect their attitude towards medical care for older patients. This review aimed to examine and generate an overview of available literature on the relationship between ageism, death anxiety, and ageing anxiety among medical trainees and their attitude towards medical care for older patients.MethodsA systematic review was performed with a review protocol based on the PRISMA Statement. PubMed, Ebsco/PsycInfo, Ebsco/ERIC and Embase were searched from inception to August 2022, using the following search terms, including their synonyms and closely related words: “medical trainees” AND “ageism” OR “death anxiety” OR “ageing anxiety” AND “(attitude AND older patient)”.ResultsThe search yielded 4072 different studies; 12 eligible studies (10 quantitative and 2 qualitative) were identified and synthesized using narrative synthesis. Findings suggest that a positive attitude towards older people was related to a positive attitude towards medical care for older patients among medical students. The available literature on the relationship between death anxiety and/or ageing anxiety and attitude towards medical care for older patients among medical trainees was limited and had a heterogeneity in focus, which hindered comparison of results.ConclusionOur findings suggest that a positive attitude towards older people in general is related to a positive attitude towards medical care for older patients among medical students. Future research should focus on further exploring underlying mechanisms affecting the attitude towards medical care for older patients among medical trainees.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF FUZZY DEFINITION OF SUBJECTS OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES USING SYNTACTICALLY RELATED WORDS

Mathematical methods are widely used to formalize the solution of problems of automatic text processing, including text classification. To classify texts, a “naive” Bayes classifier, methods of -nearest neighbors, decision trees, support vector machines, distribution of letter combinations (character -grams), logistic regression, and approaches based on artificial neural networks are used. These methods are used by modern computational linguistics. Classical computational linguistics considers text as a carrier of meaning. The purpose of the study is to formalize the definition of the topics of scientific articles using syntactically related words by a mathematical model, and therefore classical computer linguistics. We propose an abstract mathematical model of fuzzy classification based on common objects. The model assumes that some objects belong to only one class and are class identifiers. The result of a fuzzy classification can be one or more classes. For each class a degree of membership is determined. We propose a specification of the model with in which the common objects are syntactically related pairs of words. We conclude syntactically related words are more promising in research than verbal bigrams determined by sentence order. We propose the model in our international study. The study involve the creation of a corpus of scientific articles and their distribution by topic. The corpus will be used to classify scientific articles by topic.

Harmonic memory signals in the human cerebral cortex induced by semantic relatedness of words

When we memorize multiple words simultaneously, semantic relatedness among those words assists memory. For example, the information about “apple”, “banana,” and “orange” will be connected via a common concept of “fruits” and become easy to retain and recall. Neural mechanisms underlying this semantic integration in verbal working memory remain unclear. Here I used electroencephalography (EEG) and investigated neural signals when healthy human participants memorized five nouns semantically related (Sem trial) or not (NonSem trial). The regularity of oscillatory signals (8–30 Hz) during the retention period was found to be lower in NonSem than Sem trials, indicating that memorizing words unrelated to each other induced a non-harmonic (irregular) waveform in the temporal cortex. These results suggest that (i) semantic features of a word are retained as a set of neural oscillations at specific frequencies and (ii) memorizing words sharing a common semantic feature produces harmonic brain responses through a resonance or integration (sharing) of the oscillatory signals.

The influence of induced moods on aging of phonological encoding in spoken word production: an ERP study.

This study investigated the influence of induced mood on the phonological encoding involved in Chinese spoken word production with a picture-word inference task while concurrently recorded electrophysiological signals. In the experiment, young and older participants watched videos for inducing positive, negative, or neutral mood, and then they were instructed to name target picture while ignoring phonologically related or unrelated distractor words. A phonological facilitation effect was observed in young adults but not in older adults, suggesting an age-related decline of phonological encoding. Both groups showed an inhibition effect in negative mood but not in positive mood, suggesting that speakers have different processing styles in different moods. ERP data revealed a phonological effect around the time window of 250-350 ms in both groups. Meanwhile, young adults showed a phonological effect around 350-450 ms in negative mood and positive mood which may reflect self-monitoring in speech production. We suggest that the former effect may reflect phonological encoding while the latter reflects self-monitoring of internal syllables or phonemes. Furthermore, induced moods influence the phonological effect in older and young adults differently. Behavioral and ERP results provide consistent evidence for the aging decline of phonological encoding in spoken word production.

A Semantics-enhanced Topic Modelling Technique: Semantic-LDA

Topic modelling is a beneficial technique used to discover latent topics in text collections. But to correctly understand the text content and generate a meaningful topic list, semantics are important. By ignoring semantics, that is, not attempting to grasp the meaning of the words, most of the existing topic modelling approaches can generate some meaningless topic words. Even existing semantic-based approaches usually interpret the meanings of words without considering the context and related words. In this article, we introduce a semantic-based topic model called semantic-LDA that captures the semantics of words in a text collection using concepts from an external ontology. A new method is introduced to identify and quantify the concept–word relationships based on matching words from the input text collection with concepts from an ontology without using pre-calculated values from the ontology that quantify the relationships between the words and concepts. These pre-calculated values may not reflect the actual relationships between words and concepts for the input collection, because they are derived from datasets used to build the ontology rather than from the input collection itself. Instead, quantifying the relationship based on the word distribution in the input collection is more realistic and beneficial in the semantic capture process. Furthermore, an ambiguity handling mechanism is introduced to interpret the unmatched words, that is, words for which there are no matching concepts in the ontology. Thus, this article makes a significant contribution by introducing a semantic-based topic model that calculates the word–concept relationships directly from the input text collection. The proposed semantic-based topic model and an enhanced version with the disambiguation mechanism were evaluated against a set of state-of-the-art systems, and our approaches outperformed the baseline systems in both topic quality and information filtering evaluations.

The Representation of Earlier African American Vernacular English by Charles W. Chesnutt

This article examines the validity of regional speech represented in the writings of an African American short story writer, essayist, lawyer, and stenographer Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) with a corpus of dialogues extracted from his literary works (approximately 40,000 words). As a touchstone for exploring its accuracy, the Atlas data from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and the surrounding regions in Cape Fear and Pee Dee Valley− a region where the author spent his youth and his stories are set−are compared with the speech of his African American characters. The result reveals that the Atlas records and Chesnutt’s dialogues share many expressions in their regional lexicons ranging from single words to phrases. Considering the difficulty of recording all the synonyms and semantically related words from the same informant during the interview, the overall agreement between the two provides further evidence that as an African American writer who spent his formative years in a rural community in North Carolina, Chesnutt’s literary dialect offers a glimpse of earlier AAVE spoken in the region in the mid-nineteenth century. Furthermore, this article touches on Chesnutt’s racial identity and what led him to enter the literary world as it is pertinent to his linguistic background and the motive behind the use of literary dialect.

Green Trademarks and Sustainability

The new generations of consumers are increasingly aware and demand more and more sustainable products that are friendly to the environment and health in general. Nowadays, most companies know that using trademarks that are associated with the nature, sustainable or healthy goods or services could increase their sales and profit. In recent years, there has been a growing trend in companies using environmentally conscious branding to highlight their commitment to sustainability. This involves terms like “organic”, “green”, “eco”, “eco-friendly”, “sustainable” or related words in the trademarks, including in logos, or slogans to convey their dedication to environmental responsibility. (Palacio 2023) These so-called Green Trademarks could bring sustainability to the company. Green Trademarks could be a way for companies to distinguish their products or services in the market by emphasizing their eco-friendly attributes.

EXPRESS: The Dynamics of Multiword Sequence Extraction.

Being able to process multiword sequences is central for both language comprehension and production. Numerous studies support this claim, but less is known about the way multiword sequences are acquired, and more specifically how associations between their constituents are established over time. Here we adapted Rey et al.'s (2020) Hebb naming task into a Hebb lexical decision task to study the dynamics of multiword sequence extraction. Participants had to read letter strings presented on a computer screen and were required to classify them as words or pseudowords. Unknown to the participants, a triplet of words or pseudowords systematically appeared in the same order and random words or pseudowords were inserted between two repetitions of the triplet. We found that RTs for the unpredictable first position in the triplet decreased over repetitions (i.e., indicating the presence of a repetition effect) but more slowly and with a different dynamic compared to items appearing at the predictable second and third positions in the repeated triplet (i.e., showing a slightly different predictability effect). Implicit and explicit learning also varied as a function of the nature of the triplet (i.e., unrelated words, pseudowords, semantically related words, or idioms). Overall, these results provide new empirical evidence about the dynamics of multiword sequence extraction, and more generally about the role of statistical learning in language acquisition.

Language uncovers visuospatial dysfunction in posterior cortical atrophy: a natural language processing approach.

Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) is a syndrome characterized by a progressive decline in higher-order visuospatial processing, leading to symptoms such as space perception deficit, simultanagnosia, and object perception impairment. While PCA is primarily known for its impact on visuospatial abilities, recent studies have documented language abnormalities in PCA patients. This study aims to delineate the nature and origin of language impairments in PCA, hypothesizing that language deficits reflect the visuospatial processing impairments of the disease. We compared the language samples of 25 patients with PCA with age-matched cognitively normal (CN) individuals across two distinct tasks: a visually-dependent picture description and a visually-independent job description task. We extracted word frequency, word utterance latency, and spatial relational words for this comparison. We then conducted an in-depth analysis of the language used in the picture description task to identify specific linguistic indicators that reflect the visuospatial processing deficits of PCA. Patients with PCA showed significant language deficits in the visually-dependent task, characterized by higher word frequency, prolonged utterance latency, and fewer spatial relational words, but not in the visually-independent task. An in-depth analysis of the picture description task further showed that PCA patients struggled to identify certain visual elements as well as the overall theme of the picture. A predictive model based on these language features distinguished PCA patients from CN individuals with high classification accuracy. The findings indicate that language is a sensitive behavioral construct to detect visuospatial processing abnormalities of PCA. These insights offer theoretical and clinical avenues for understanding and managing PCA, underscoring language as a crucial marker for the visuospatial deficits of this atypical variant of Alzheimer's disease.